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PHIJ.ADKLI'FI  1  A. 


THE    HISTORY 


OP 


GREAT     BRITAIN, 


FROM 


THE  DEATH  OF  GEORGE  H. 


TO  THE 


CORONATION    OF   GEORGE  IV. 


DESIGNED  AS  A 


CONTINUATION  OF  HUME  AND  SMOLLETT. 


BY  J.  R.  MILLER. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PUBLISHED  BY  M'CARTY  &  DAVIS— 171  MARKET  STREET. 

rrxwsoTTPiD  bt  j.  how«. 

1840. 


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CONTENTS  TO  MILLER. 


CHAP.  I. 

GEORGE  in. 

Effects  of  the  late  King's  partiality  to  his  native  Do- 
minions— Circumstances  attending  the  Accession 
of  the  new  Sovereign — His  Majesty's  first  Speech 
to  both  houses  of  Parliament— Addresses  of  the 
Lords  and  Commons— Supply  voted— Establishment 
of  the  Civil  List— Sums  granted  for  the  Support 
of  the  German  Confederacy — Subsidy  to  Prussia — 
Vote  of  Compensation  to  the  Provinces  in  North 
America  for  their  strenuous  Efforts  — Ballot  for 
Miliiia  productive  of  a  dreadful  Riot  at  Hexham— 
Loan  of  twelve  millions— Violent  outcry  against 
the  New  Duty  on  Beer— Bad  consequences  of  the 
opposition  to  the  Compulsive  Clause  in  the  new 
Act  of  Insolvency — King's  Speech  for  making  the 
Judges  independent  of  the  demise  of  the  Crown — 
Ready  Concurrence  of  both  Houses  in  so  patriotic 
a  Proposal— Arthur  Onslow,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  for  thirty-three  years,  retires— Two 
remarkable  points  in  his  Majesty's  Farewell  Speech 
to  the  Parliament — Advantageous  Position  of  the 
French  in  their  Winter  Cantonments— Prince  Fer- 
dinand's extensive  Plan  of  Attack— Fritzlar  and 
several  Magazines  taken — General  Sporken's  rapid 
Progress  on  the  side  of  Saxony— First  Check  in  this 
extraordinary  career  of  Success— Steps  taken  by 
Marshal  Broglio  to  drive  the  Allies  out  of  Hesse — 
Defeat  of  the  Troops  under  the  Hereditary  Prince— 
The  King's  Sentiments  on  the  proper  use  of  Con- 
quests   Page  11 

CHAP.  II. 

Circumstances  which  led  to  the  proposal  of  a  Con- 
gress at  Augsburg — Plausible  Reasons  for  previ- 
ously setting  on  foot  a  distinct  Negotiation  at  Lon- 
don and  Paris— Mr.  Pitt  unfavorable  to  a  Peace- 
Secret  intrigues  of  the  French  Ministry  at  the 
Court  of  Madrid — Difficulties  about  the  mutual  re- 
taining of  Possessions — Survey  of  hostile  opera- 
tions during  the  Suspension  of  the  Treaty — Expe- 
dition against  Belleisle— the  Negotiation  resumed— 
Remarks  on  the  two  main  Points  of  Dispute— In- 
flexibility of  the  English  Secretary — Some  account 
of  the  Family  Compact— Candid  Inquiries  on  which 
side  the  chief  blame  lay— The  Treaty  finally  bro- 
ken off 18 

CHAP.  III. 

Proofs  of  the  King's  Exemption  from  personal  or  po- 
litical Prejudices— His  Majesty's  Choice  of  a  Con- 
sort, the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Mecklenburgh— Em- 
bassy sent  to  make  the  Demand  of  her  most  Serene 
Highness;  with  an  Account  of  her  Voyage — Her 
Journey  to  London,  her  Reception  and  Nuptials- 
Preparations  made  for  the  Coronation  of  their  Ma- 
jesties—Entertainment given  to  the  Royal  Family 
at  Guildhall — Some  rising  Clouds  in  the  political 
Hemisphere— The  Spanish  Ambassador's  Explana- 
tion not  deemed  satisfactory— Orders  sent  to  the 
Earl  of  Bristol  at  Madrid— His  Excellency's  Dis- 
patches in  Reply— Warm  Debates  in  the  Cabinet  on 
Mr.  Pitt's  Proposal  to  attack  Spain  without  farther 
Delay— His  Resolution,  with  the  President's  An- 
swer—His Interview  with  the  King,  on  resigning 
the  Seals  of  his  office— Lord  Temple's  Resignation 
— Violent  Conflict  between  the  Admirers  and  the 
Censurers  of  Mr.  Pitt's  Conduct  sanctioned  by  the 
Abbe  Raynal — Farther  Instructions  sent  by  the 
new  Secretary  of  State  to  the  British  Ambassador 
at  Madrid— Steps  taken  by  the  Ministry— Meeting 
of  the  New  Parliament— His  Majesty's  Speech- 
Message  to  the  Queen ;  and  the  Dowry  granted  her 
in  rase  she  should  survive  his  Majesty — Repeal  of 
the  compelling  Clause  in  the.Insolvent  Act — Alac- 
rity of  the  Commons  in  providing  for  the  service  of 
the  ensuing  Year — Debate  on  the  Expediency  of 


the  German  War— Severe  Remarks  on  the  Alli- 
ances entered  into  with  some  of  the  continental 
Powers— Ingenious  Defence  set  up  by  the  Advo- 
cates for  the  German  War— Result  of  this  political 
Controversy— Effect  of  the  English  Ambassador's 
Remonstrances  at  the  Court  of  Madrid — His  Con- 
jectures on  the  Causes  of  a  sudden  Revolution  in 
the  Spanish  Councils — Propriety  of  his  Conduct  in 
so  delicate  a  Conjuncture — A  clear  and  categorical 
Explanation  at  length  insisted  upon— General 
Wall's  Letter— Manifesto  delivered  by  the  Count 
de  Fuentes,  and  Lord  Egremont's  Refutation  of  it  29 

CHAP.  IV. 

War  declared  against  Spain — Debate  in  the  Lords — 
Protest  on  a  Motion  for  withdrawing  the  Troops 
from  Germany— Popularity  of  this  Protest— Duty 
on  Beer  and  Ale  causes  a  Tumult  in  London- 
Amendments  of  the  Militia  Laws— An  Act  for 
Registering  of  Parish  Children— Bill  for  the  Exten- 
sion of  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater's  Canals — Account 
of  Harrison's  time-piece  and  Irwin's  Marine-chair 
— Addition  to  the  former  Grants  of  the  Commons 
— His  Majesty's  Message  on  the  imminent  Danger 
of  Portugal— The  Session  closed  with  a  Speech 
from  the  Throne — Extraordinary  Change  in  the 
King  of  Prussia's  Situation,  occasioned  by  the 
Death  of  the  Empress  of  Russia— Steps  immedi- 
ately taken  by  her  Successor,  Peter  III.— Deposition 
and  Death  of  Peter  III.— Prudent  Policy  of  the 
Empress  Catherine  II.  — Sketch  of  the  Prussian 
Operations  during  the  remainder  of  the  Campaign 
—Victory  obtained  by  the  Allies  at  Graebenstein 
— This  Action  a  Prelude  to  Enterprises  in  which 
Gottingen  and  Cassel  were  recovered,  and  the 
French  almost  totally  driven  out  of  Hesse— State 
of  Portugal  when  threatened  by  the  Bourbon  Con- 
federacy— Memorial  presented  to  the  Court  of  Lis- 
bon by  the  Ministers  of  France  and  Spain— Reply, 
followed  by  a  declaration  of  War — Immediate  and 
effectual  Assistance  afforded  by  Great  Britain — 
Lord  Tyrawley  dissatisfied  with  the  Portuguese 
Ministry,  and  recalled— Plan  of  the  Campaign- 
Progress  of  the  Spanish  Army  under  the  Marquis 
de  Sarria — Almeida  taken,  and  a  considerable  part 
of  the  Province  of  Beira  overrun  by  Spanish 
Troops— Good  Consequences  of  the  Count  de  la 
Lippe's  Arrival  in  Portugal— Surprise  of  Valencia 
d' Alcantara  by  General  Burgoyne— Another  more 
decisive  blow  struck  by  the  same  General  and  Colo- 
nel Lee  at  Villa  Velha— The  Spaniards  forced  to 
retreat  to  their  own  Frontiers— Triumphs  of  Great 
Britain  at  Sea— Descent  on  the  Island  of  Martinico 
—Surrender  of  the  Island  — Submission  of  the 
Grenades,  St.  Lucia,  St.  Vincent,  arid  other  depend- 
ent Isles — Armament  destined  against  the  Havan- 
nah,  its  Harbor  described- Siege  of  the  Moro — 
The  Moro  stormed  and  carried  by  assault— Opera- 
tions against  the  Town,  and  its  Surrender— Im- 
portance of  this  Conquest — Capture  of  the  Her- 
mione,  a  Spanish  Register-ship — Invasion  of  the 
Philippines  designed  — Celerity  of  the  Prepara- 
tions made  for  it  at  Madras — Arrival  of  the  Squad- 
ron at  Manilla — The  Town  taken  by  Storm,  but 
saved  from  a  justly  merited  Ptilage— The  Galleon 
from  Manilla  to  Acapulco  taken— The  only  excep- 
tion to  the  Universal  Success  of  the  British  Arms, 
the  Failure  of  a  private  Expedition  against  Buenos 
Ayres — Summary  of  the  Disasters  sustained  by 
Spain  during  her  short  Concern  in  the  War — 
France  involved  in  the  like  Calamities— Attempt 
to  burn  the  British  Squadron  in  the  Buy  of  Basque 
— Newfoundland  taken  and  retaken — A  Negotia- 
tion the  only  resource  of  the  House  of  Bourbon   39 

CHAP.  V. 

Causes  and  Effects  of  the  sincere  dispositions  of  all 
Parties  towards  Peace— Motives  of  National  Policy 


IV 


CONTENTS  TO  MILLER, 


for  encouraging  Pacific  Proposals— Want  of  perfect 
Harmony  in  the  Cabinet — Changes  in  Administra- 
tion— Dukes  of  Bedford  and  Nivernois  employed  in 
the  Negotiation — Difference  between  this  and  the 
Treaty  in  1761 — Conduct  of  the  Courts  with  Re- 
spect to  their  German  Allies — Change  in  the  Be- 
havior of  the  British  Ministry  towards  the  King  of 
Prussia  justified — France  guided  by  the  same  alter- 
ation of  Circumstances ;  and  the  Peace  of  Germany 
restored — The  Article  relating  to  Portugal  very 
easily  settled— Circumstance  which  facilitated  the 
Adjustment  of  Great  Britain's  direct  Concerns — 
Extent  of  her  Acquisitions  in  North  America  by 
this  treaty — Terms  annexed  to  the  Surrender  of  St. 
Pierre  and  Miquelon— Spain's  Renunciation  of  her 
Pretensions  to  the  Fishery — Arrangement  respecting 
the  French  West  India  Islands— The  Havannah  re- 
stored on  very  moderate  Terms — Cession  and  Ex- 
change of  the  other  Conquests  in  Africa,  the  East 
Indies,  and  Europe — Sacrifice  made  by  France  to 
the  honor  of  Great  Britain,  in  suppressing  the  old 
Claim  on  Account  of  Prizes  before  the  Declaration 
of  War — Preliminaries  signed  by  the  British  and 
French  Ministers  at  Fontainbleau — Disputes  con- 
cerning the  articles  of  the  Peace— Coalition  be- 
tween the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  and  Mr.  Pitt's  Ad- 
herents—Meeting of  Parliament— Conflict  in  the 
House  of  Commons — The  Security  of  our  Colonies 
—Majority  in  Favor  of  the  Address— Arrival  of 
three  Cherokee  Chiefs  in  England. 58 

CHAP.  VI. 

Philosophical  Survey  of  Europe  at  the  Close  of  the 
War— State  of  Russia— Of  Denmark— Of  Sweden 
—The  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Empress— Internal 
Distractions  of  France — Situation  of  Spain  ;  and 
Security  of  Great  Britain — Multiplied  Concerns  of 
the  English  Government — Plan  of  Economy  pur- 
sued by  the  Ministers— Scheme  of  the  Supplies- 
Proposed  System  of  Finance  censured  by  the  Oppo- 
sition— Instructions  and  Petitions  of  the  city  of 
London  against  the  Cider  Tax — Earl  of  Bute's 
Resignation— His  Majesty's  Speech  at  the  Close  of 
the  Session— Some  Account  of  Mr.  Wilkes,  and  of 
the  Libel  entitled  the  "North  Briton"— Wilkes's 
Commitment  to  the  Tower— Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus 
for  bringing  Wilkes  before  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas— He  is  remanded  to  the  Tower— His  second 
Speech  at  the  Bar  of  the  Court — Mr.  Wilkes's  Case 
considered  under  three  heads  by  Lord  Chief-Justice 
Pratt— Commitment  not  illegal— The  Specification 
of  Passages  in  the  Libel  not  necessary  in  the  War- 
rant— Validity  of  the  Plea  of  Privilege  allowed  in 
Cases  of  Libels— Attempts  to  bring  about  a  Coali- 
tion of  Parties  —  Promotions  occasioned  by  Lord 
Egremont's  Death— King's  Speech  at  the  Meeting 
of  Parliament— Message  about  Wilkes  to  the  House 
of  Commons— The  North  Briton  voted  a  Libel — 
Wilkes's  Complaint  of  a  Breach  of  Privilege— De- 
bate on  the  adjourned  consideration  of  his  Ma- 
jesty's Message— Pitt's  Speech  on  the  Surrender  of 
Privilege — Other  Arguments  in  support  of  Parlia- 
mentary Privilege — ^The  Resolution,  "That  Privi- 
lege does  not  extend  to  Libels,"  carried  in  the  Com- 
mons, and  concurred  in  by  the  Lords — Concurrence 
of  the  Lords  in  other  Resolutions  of  the  Lower 
House  concerning  the  Libel — The  Sheriffs  obstruct- 
ed in  burnins  the  North  Briton— Duel  between 
Martin  and  Wilkes — The  King's  Message  on  the 
Marriage  of  the  Princess  Augusta  to  the  Hereditary 
Prince  (now  Duke)  of  Brunswick— Verdict  obtained 
by  Wilkes  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas — Lord 
Chief-Justice's  Opinion  on  the  Illegality  of  General 
Warrants — Proceedings  of  the  Commons  to  ascer- 
tain the  State  of  Wilkes's  Health  — His  Letter 
from  Paris  deemed  nugatory,  and  he  himself  found 
guilty  of  a  Contempt  of  the  Authority  of  Parlia- 
ment—Convicted of  being  the  Author  of  the  con- 
demned Libel,  and  expelled— His  "  Essay  on  Wo- 
men" laid  before  the  House  of  Lords,  who  proceed 
against  him  for  a  Breach  of  Privilege,  while  he  is 
indicted  in  the  Courts  below  for  Blasphemy — The 
Ministry  very  hard  pushed  in  the  Debate  on  Gene- 
ral Warrants— New  Plan  of  National  Supplies — 
Resolutions  concerning  the  American  Trade — Bill 
for  restraining  Abuses  and  Frauds  in  the  Practice 
of  Franking— Observations  on  General  Conway's 
Dismission 67 


CHAP.  VII. 


Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  Renewal  of  Hostili* 
ties  with  the  Savage  Tribes  of  America— Extent  of 
the  Governments  of  Q.uebec,  of  East  and  Weat 
Florida — Incitements  to  War  on  the  Part  of  the 
Indians — Military  operations  against  the  Indians, 
and  Peace  with  them — Impolitic  Suppression  of 
the  commercial  Intercourse  between  the  British 
and  Spanish  Plantations,  and  between  the  Ameri- 
can Colonies  and  the  French  Islands— ColonisUi 
refuse  Compensation  for  the  Stamp  Duties— State 
of  the  British  Logwood-cutters  in  the  Bay  of  Hon- 
duras-French atone  for  outrage  at  Turks  Island 
—Progress  of  American  Stamp  Act  through  both 
Houses  — Prevention  of  Smuggling— Purchase  of 
the  Sovereignty  of  the  Isle  of  Man— A  Regency 
Bill  recommended  by  his  Majesty— New  Adminis- 
tration formed  by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 83 

CHAP.  VIII. 
Mir  Cossim's  Endeavors  to  shake  off  the  India  Com 
pany's  yoke— Military  Operations  which  effected 
the  entire  Conquest  of  Bengal — Appointment  and 
departure  of  a  select  Committee  for  Bengal— Treaty 
concluded  by  Lord  Clive  with  the  Nabob  of  Oude — 
Violent  Proceedings  against  the  Stamp  Act  in 
North  America— Debates  and  Proceedings  in  Eng- 
land as  to  the  right  of  Taxing  the  Colonies — Causes 
of  a  sudden  Change  in  the  Ministry 92 

CHAP.  IX. 

Alarming  Scarcity  of  Provisions— Dispute  between 
the  Proprietors  and  the  Directors  of  the  East  India 
Company— Substance  of  the  King's  Speech  at  the 
Meeting  of  Parliament — Bill  of  Indemnity — Reduc- 
tion of  the  Land-tax  carried  against  the  Minister 
—The  India  Company's  Right  to  Territorial  Ac- 
quisitions debated — Proposals  of  the  Company  ac- 
cepted—Bill for  regulating  India  Dividends — Duties 
laid  on  certain  Imports  from  Great  Britain  to 
America;  and  measures  taken  to  restrain  the  tur- 
bulent Spirit  of  the  Assembly  of  New- York— Some 
Changes  in  the  Great  Offices  of  the  State — The 
Ministry  strongly  opposed  on  the  Nullum  Tempus 
Bill — Corporation  of  Oxford  reprimanded  for 
Venality — Popularity  in  Ireland  of  the  Octennial 
Bill 105 

CHAP.  X. 

General  Election — View  of  Wilkes's  Conduct  and 
Adventures  since  his  Flight  from  Justice— Violent 
Opposition  to  the  Port-duties  in  America — Acts  of 
the  Convention — Debate — Wilkes's  Petition  to  the 
Commons ;  and  his  Appeal  to  the  Lords  on  a  Writ 
of  Error — Institution  of  the  Royal  Academy — De- 
bate on  the  American  Affairs — (^ivil-List  Debt — 
Hearing  of  Wilkes's  alleged  Grievances  — Suc- 
cessive Expulsions  of  Mr.  Wilkes  —  War  with 
Hyder  Ally  in  the  East  Indies— Non-imijortation 
Agreement,  and  other  Proceedings  in  America — 
Desertions  from  Ministry — Changes  that  followed 
—Endeavors  of  the  Opposition  to  aggravate  Dis- 
content— London  Remonstrance,  and  his  Majesty's 
Answer — Grenville's  Bill  for  regulating  the  Pro- 
ceedings on  controverted  Elections — Partial  Re- 
peal of  the  American  Port-duties — Affray  between 
the  Townsmen  of  Boston  and  the  Troops 113 

CHAP.  XI. 

Another  Remonstrance  from  the  City  of  London ; 
with  the  King's  Answer,  and  Beckford's  Reply- 
View  of  Wilkes's  political  Career — Dispute  witk 
Spain  relative  to  Falkland  Islands— Proceedings 
of  the  Commons  against  Printers;  and  Commit 
ment  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  of  Alderman  Oliver, 
to  the  Tower — Bill  for  disfranchising  the  Members 
of  the  Christian  Club  at  New  Shoreham  — More 
Remonstrances  to  the  Throne  from  the  City  of  Lon- 
don—  Unsuccessful  Attempts  to  enlarge  religious 
Liberty — Act  for  restraining  the  future  Marriages 
of  the  Royal  Family —  Carolina  Matilda  falls  a 
Victim  to  the  intrigues  of  the  Queen  Dowager  of 
Denmark— Changes  in  the  British  Ministry— Com- 
mittee of  Secrecy  —  The  Embarrassments  of  the 
East  India  Company —  Charges  brought  against 
Lord  Clive;  his  Acquittal;  and  Suicide— Bill  for 
Management  of  the  East  India  Company's  Affairs 


CONTENTS  TO  MILLER. 


— Summary  of  other  proceedings  of  the  Sessions — 
Expedition  against  the  Caribbs  in  St.  Vincent — 
Alarming  Events  in  America— Measures  adopted 
^y  Parliament  for  maintaining  the  Authority  of 
drcat  Britain  over  the  Colonies — Proceedings  of 
the  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia— The  Sense 
of  the  Nation  taken,  by  dissolving  the  Parliament 
at  this  Juncture— Dr.  Franklin's  Conciliatory  Plan 
—Petition  of  the  City  of  London— State  of  Affairs 
in  America— Battle  of  Lexington — Battle  of  Bun- 
ker's Hill— Meeting  and  Proceedings  of  Congress 
—General  Washington  appointed  Commander-in- 
chief— HisCharacter— Expedition  to  Canada— Forts 
taken — Cluebec  besieged— General  Montgomery  de- 
feated and  killed 130 

CHAP.  XII. 

Fatal  Effects  of  the  War— Meeting  of  Parliament- 
Defection  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton  and  General  Con- 
way from  the  Ministry — Introduction  of  foreign 
Troops — Prohibitory  Bill — Changes  in  the  Ministry 
—Affairs  of  Ireland— Debates  on  foreign  Troops- 
Conclusion  of  the  Session— Boston  Evacuated  by 
the  British — Siege  of  Quebec  raised — Americans 
defeated  on  the  Lakes — Unsuccessful  Attempt  upon 
Chariestown  —  Preparations  against  New- York — 
Declaration  of  Independence— Americans  defeated 
at  Lon;  Island — New-York  taken — Americans  re- 
treat to  the  Jerseys  and  over  the  Delaware — Rhode- 
Island  reduced— General  Lee  made  Prisoner— Hes- 
sians cut  off  at  Trenton — British  defeated  at  Prince- 
ton   159 

CHAP.  XIIL 

State  of  Great  Britain  in  the  Summer  of  1776 — 
Meeting  of  Parliament — Debate  on  the  Proclama- 
tion of  the  American  Commissioners  —  Secession 
of  the  Minority — Habeas-Corpus  Act  suspended — 
Fire  in  PortsmouthDock-Yard— Shameful  Profusion 
of  Ministers— Debates  on  the  Augmentation  of  the 
Civil-List — Address  of  the  Speaker,  Sir  F.Norton, 
to  the  King— Censured  by  Ministry— Dispute  with 
Holland  —  Campaign  in  America — Action  on  the 
Brandywine — Philadelphia  taken — Battle  of  Ger- 
man Town — American  Forts  taken — Progress  of 
General  Burgoyne— Ticonderoga  evacuated— Brit- 
ish repulsed  at  Fort  Schuyler — Defeat  of  Colonel 
Raum — Actions  at  Stillwater,  &c. — Surrender  of 
Burgoyne — Conclusion  of  the  Campaign 185 

CHAP.  XIV. 
Meeting  of  the  British  Parliament — Debates  on  the 
Address— News  arrives  of  Burgoyne's  Defeat — De- 
bates on  that  Subject— Lord  North's  conciliatory 
Bills  — Alliance  between  France  and  America- 
Debates  on  the  French  War — Ways  and  Means — 
Address  for  a  War  with  France— Death  and  Char- 
acter of  Lord  Chatham  —  Relief  of  the  Trade  of 
Ireland— To  the  Roman  Catholics— Toulon  squad- 
ron sails  for  America— Termination  of  the  Session 
— Transactions  of  the  Royal  Commissioners  in 
America— Arrival  of  D'Estaing— Philadelphia  evac- 
uated—Ambassador from  France  to  America— At- 
tempt on  Rhode-Island — Expedition  against  East 
Florida— Savannah  taken  by  the  British— Naval 
preparations —  Engagement  between  Keppel  and 
D'Orvilliers— Trial  of  Keppel— Trial  of  Sir  H.  Pal- 
liser  209 

CHAP.  XV. 
Meeting  of  Parliament— Debates  on  the  Manifesto 
of  the  Commissioners— Affairs  of  Ireland— Votes 
of  Censure  moved  on  Lord  Sandwich— Return  of 
the  Howes— Debates  thereon— Spaniards  declare 
War— Regulation  of  Militia— War  in  East  Indies 
—In  America— Descent  on  Virginia— Capture  of 
Stony  Point— British  Attack  South  Carolina— Re- 
pulsed at  Chariestown— Operations  of  French  Fleet 
—Siege  of  Savannah  by  the  French  and  Americans 
—Siege  raised— Capture  of  the  British  Settlements 
on  the  Coast  of  Africa  by  the  Fr«ncb 229 

CHAP.  XVI. 
Alarm  from  the  appearance  of  the  combined  Fleet 
off  the  Coast— Irish  Volunteers  — Proceedings  of 
the  Irish  Parliament— Depredations  of  Paul  Jones 
—Takes  the  Serapis  — Engagement  between  the 
Quebec  and  Surveillante— Secret  Enmity  between 
th«  States-General  and  the  English  Cabinet— Meet- 
ing of  Parliament— Debates  on  tbe  Address— De- 
]♦ 


bates  on  Irish  Affairs— On  Expenses  of  the  War — 
Associations  and  Petitions  from  York,  dtc.— Mr. 
Burke's  Plan  of  Ek^oiioniical  Regulation— Progresi 
of  RTr.  Burke's  Bill— Celebrated  Vote  on  tbe  In- 
fluence of  the  Crown— Riots  in  London— Siege  of 
Gibraltar — Admiral  Langra  defeated  by  Rodney — 
Chariestown  taken— Impolitic  proceedings  of  the 
English  in  Carolina — Americans  rally — Gates  de- 
feated— Distresses  of  Americans  —  Arrival  of  Ro- 
chambeau— Defection  of  General  Arnold  — Andr* 
executed  as  a  Spy 242 

CHAP.  XVII. 
Causes  which  produced  a  Rupture  with  Holland — 
Armed  Neutrality — Count  Byland's  Squadron  taken 
—Capture  of  Mr.  Laurens— Declaration  of  War- 
Affairs  of  East  Indies — Mr.  Cornwall  chosen  Speak- 
er—Dutch War— India  Affairs— Burke's  Reform  Bill 
— Petition  of  Delegates  from  Counties — Bill  to  re- 
peal tlie  Marriage  Act— Motion  on  American  War 
— Session  concluded  —  Attack  upon  Jersey — Siege 
of  Gibraltar— Capture  of  St.  Eustatia- Campaign 
in  America  —  Revolt  of  Pennsylvania  Line — Ar- 
nold's Expedition  to  Virginia— General  Greene  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  in  Carolina — Tarleton  de- 
feated by  Morgan — Masterly  Retreat  of  the  Amer- 
icans-Battle of  Guildford — Lord  Cornwallis  pro- 
ceeds to  Virginia— Ofterations  in  Virginia— Cap- 
ture of  Lord  Cornwallis — Expedition  of  Commo- 
dore Johnstone — Operations  in  the  West  Indies — 
Tobago  taken— St.  Eustatia  Convoy  taken— East 
Indies— Hyder  Ally  defeated— Cheyt  Sing— Engage- 
ment with  the  Dutch  — Combined  Fleets  in  the 
Channel 269 

CHAP.  XVIII. 
Decline  of  Lord  North's  influence— Session  of  Parlia- 
ment—King's  Speech  —  Motion  against  offensive 
War  with  America — Petitions  against  the  War — 
Misconduct  of  Admiralty— General  Conway's  Mo- 
tion against  the  War— Dissolution  of  the  Ministry 
— New  Ministry  —  Popular  Measures — Affairs  of 
Ireland  —  Reform  Bills— Minorca  taken— French 
Fleet  in  the  West  Indies  defeated  by  Rodney— Mis- 
fortunes of  the  West  India  Fleet— Bahamas  taken 
by  the  Spaniards— Defeat  of  Spaniards  at  Gibraltar 
—New  Administration 293 

CHAP.  XIX. 

Motives  for  a  general  Peace— Preliminaries  Signed 
with  America— With  France,  Spain,  &c.— Meeting 
of  Parliament — Debates  on  the  Peace — Resolutions 
carried  against  Ministry — Lord  Shelburne  resigns 
—Coalition  Ministry— Bill  preventing  appeals  from 
Ireland— India  Affairs— Pitt's  Motion  on  the  Sub- 
ject of  a  Parliamentary  Reform— The  Quakers  pe- 
tition the  House  of  Commons  against  the  Slave 
Trade — Fox  introduces  his  India  Bill — A  second 
Bill  for  the  internal  Government  of  the  British  Do- 
minions in  India— The  Bill  lost  in  the  House  of 
Peers — Contest  between  the  Crown  and  Commons 
—The  Conduct  of  tbe  High-Bailiff  of  Westminster 
in  refusing  to  return  Fox  brought  before  the  House 
of  Commons— Pitt's  India  Bill— The  Commutation 
Tax— Bill  for  the  Restoration  of  the  Estates  for- 
feited in  Scotland  in  1715  and  1745,  passed 304 

CHAP.  XX. 

Meeting  of  Parliament  — Westminster  Scrutiny  re- 
sumed by  the  Commons— Parliamentary  Reform— 
The  Shop  Tax— The  Hawkers'  and  Pedlars'  Tax- 
both  unjust  and  oppressive— The  Irish  Commercial 
Propositions  passed  the  Commons— carried  to  tbe 
Lords— amended  by  the  Lords  —  returned  to  tbe 
Commons— finally  passed— Reflections  on  the  sys- 
tem of  Commercial  Intercourse  held  out  by  the  Irish 
Propositions— Plan  of  Fortifications  submitted  to 
the  Hotise  of  Commons— Proposal  of  a  Sinking- 
Fund— Bill  passed— The  Civil-List  in  Arrears- 
Burke  commences  his  Charges  against  Warren 
Hastings  — Attempt  to  assassinate  the  King  by 
Margaret  Nicholson  —  Treaty  of  Commerce  with 
France  signed— A  Convention  with  Spain  respect- 
ing the  British  Settlements  on  the  Mosquito  Shore, 
and  the  Coast  of  Honduras— Consideration  of  the 
French  Commercial  Treaty— Embarrassed  Circum- 
stances of  the  Prince  of  Wales  —  Hastings'  Im- 
peachment resumed  by  the  Commons— Interference 
of  tbe  CourU  of  London  and  Berlin  in  the  Affaire 
of  HoUaod— Meeting  of  Parliament— Tbe  Em«  Ib 


VI 


CONTENTS  TO  MILLER. 


dia  Declaratory  Act— Hastings'  Trial— A  Bill  to  reg- 
ulate the  Transportation  of  Slaves  passed  —  The 
King's  Indisposition— Disputes  on  the  Mode  of  Es- 
tablishing a  Regency — Notification  of  the  King's 
recovery— Parliament  regularly  opened— The  Shop 
Tax  repealed — Test  and  Corporation  Acts — African 
Slave  Trade— Prorogation  of  Parliament 319 

CHAP.  XXI. 

Meeting  of  Parliament — Burke's  first  Philippic  against 
France— The  Sentiments  of  Fox  and  Sheridan  on 
the  same  Subject — Opposition  to  the  Motion  for 
Repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts— A  Re- 
form in  Parliament  moved  by  Mr.  Flood— and  with- 
drawn—State of  Settlements  in  India— Royal  Mes- 
sage announces  a  Rupture  with  Spain— The  Dis- 
pute settled,  and  a  Convention  signed — War  com- 
menced in  India— To  defray  the  Expenses  of  the 
Spanish  Armament  the  Minister  proposes  seizing 
the  unclaimed  Dividends  in  the  Bank— Violently 
opposed  —  Compromised  —  (iuestion  whether  Im- 
peachments abate  or  not  by  a  Dissolution  of  Par- 
liament—Bill in  favor  of  the  Catholics  passed— 
Bill  for  settling  the  Rights  of  Juries  in  cases  of 
Libel— The  Slave  Trade— The  Establishment  of 
the  Sierra  Leona  Company — Bill  for  the  better 
Government  of  Canada — Burke's  Invective  against 
the  French  Revolution — Answered  by  Fox — Ter- 
minates in  a  Breach  of  Friendship — Rupture  with 
Russia— Grounds  of  the  duarrel— The  French  Rev- 
olution divides  the  Nation  into  Parties — Birming- 
ham thrown  into  a  Ferment  by  an  inflammatory 
and  seditious  Hand-bill — Dr.  Priestley's  House,  &;c. 
destroyed 336 

CHAP.  XXII. 
Meeting  of  Parliament  —  Flattering  Picture  of  the 
Finances  of  the  Country — Marriage  of  the  Duke 
of  York— Motion  for  Abolition  of  Slave  Trade- 
Gradual  Abolition  carried  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons— Opposed  and  delayed  in  the  House  of  Lords 
— Westminster  Police  Bill  passes — New  Forest  Bill, 
introduced  by  the  Ministry,  rejected  —  Mr.  Rose, 
charged  with  Mal-practices  in  Office,  acquitted — 
Libel  Bill  passes  — Bill  in  favor  of  the  Scottish 
Episcopalians,  passes— The  London  Corresponding 
Society,  and  the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the 
People,  instituted,  to  obtain  a  Parliamentary  Re- 
form—Notice of  a  Motion  for  a  Reform  in  the  Re- 
presentation, alarms  Ministers  —  Royal  Proclama- 
tion against  Seditious  Writings— Statement  of  the 
Revenues  of  India  — Indian  War  against  Tippoo 
Saib— Sues  for  Peace— Granted— Terms 349 

CHAP.  XXIIL 

Dr.  Price's  Sermon  on  the  Love  of  our  Country,  be- 
fore the  Revolution  Society — Address  of  Congratu- 
lation to  the  National  Assembly  of  France  from 
the  Society— Burke's  celebrated  Pamphlet  well  re- 
ceived by  the  Tory  Faction— Answered  by  Thomas 
Paine— Effects  produced  by  the  publication  of  the 
Rights  of  Man— Official  Complaint  by  the  French 
Ambassador— The  King  of  the  French  solicits  the 
friendly  Offices  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  to  preserve 
the  Peace  of  Europe— Declined  by  the  British  Cabi- 
net—Manifestoes against  France— Deposition  of 
the  King  of  the  French— The  British  Ambassador 
leaves  Paris— Multitudes  of  French  Priests  arrive 
in  England— National  Convention  of  France  con- 
stituted—Dr.  Priestley  and  Thomas  Paine  chosen 
Members— Address  of  English  Society  at  Paris  to 
the  National  Convention— The  Convention  pass 
the  famous  Decree  of  Fraternization— The  English 
Government  offers  Assistance  to  Holland— Refused 
—Artifices  used  to  inflame  the  Passions  of  the 
People  against  the  French  — Proclamations  for 
calling  out  the  Militia,  and  for  assembling  Parlia- 
ment   359 

CHAP.  XXIV. 

Meeting  of  Parliament  —  Fox  in  opposition  to  the 
Address— Burke  for  it— Opposition  reduced  by  De- 
sertion —  Motions  for  adjusting  Differences  with 
France  by  Negotiation,  and  for  sending  a  Minister 
to  Paris— The  French  Ambassador's  Memorial  on 
the  relative  Situation  of  France  and  En<fland— An- 
swered by  Lord  Grenville— Memorial  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Council  of  France— Lord  GrenvilJe's  Reply 
—French  Ambassador  ordered  to  leave  the  Kin;:- 
dom— Message  from  his  Majesty  to  the  Ccmmons 


on  French  Affairs— Pitt's  Speech  on  moving  the 
Address— Opposed  by  Lord  Wycombe— by  Whit- 
bread— and  by  Fox  — The  French  declare  War 
against  England  and  Holland 367 

CHAP.  XXV. 

Motion  to  ascertain  the  precise  grounds  of  War-~ 
Motion  for  Peace  —  Barracks — Motion  for  an  In- 
quiry respecting  Sedition  —  Message  on  German 
Auxiliaries — Ways  and  Means — Traitorous  Corre- 
spondence Bill— The  French  propose  to  treat  for' 
Peace,  but  receive  no  reply — Subsidy  to  Sardinia — 
Numerous  Bankruptcies,  and  Aid  given  for  relief 
of  Commerce — Motions  of  Censure  on  Lord  Auck- 
land—  Proceedings  of  British  Parliament — Hast- 
ings' Trial — Parliament  prorogued — Proceedings  of 
Irish  Parliament— Military  Transactions  on  the 
Continent — Capture  of  Pondicherry  and  Tobago — 
Insurrection  of  the  Royalists  in  Brittany  and  Poitou 
— The  French  Convention  declares  War  against 
Spain — Proceedings  of  the  two  leading  Parties  in 
France — Death  of  Marat 384 

CHAP.  XXVI. 
Reform  Societies  in  Great  Britain — Edinburgh  Con- 
vention— Transportation  of  the  Secretary  and  two 
Delegates— French  Affairs — Trial  and  Execution 
of  Q,ueen  Marie  Antoinette— The  Port  and  Fleet 
of  Toulon  surrender  to  the  English — Evacuation 
of  Toulon— French  Calendar  — Extraordinary  Ef- 
forts to  Recruit  the  French  Armies — Operations  on 
the  Frontiers  of  France — Meeting  of  Parliament — 
Augmentation  of  the  Army  and  Navy — Motion 
against  the  War— Message  respecting  Democratic 
Societies,  and  Suspension  of  the  Habeas-Corpus — 
State  Trials— Foreign  Troops  landed  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight — Augmentation  of  the  Forces — Voluntary 
Contributions  in  aid  of  the  War— Enlistment  of 
French  Emigrants— Supply — M.  la  Fayette — Sub- 
sidy to  Prussia  —  Prorogation  of  Parliament  — 
Changes  in  the  Ministry— Military  Operations  on 
the  Continent — Corsica  annexed  to  the  British 
Crown— Lord  Howe's  Victory  —  Other  Naval 
Achievements— Capture  of  Martinique,  St.  Lucia, 
and  Guadaloupe — Loss  of  the  latter — Acquisitions 
in  St.  Domingo 391 

CHAP.  XXVII. 

State  of  the  French  Government — Sanguinary  Pro- 
ceedings— Progress  of  the  French  in  Holland — Es- 
cape of  the  Stadtholder— Embassy  to  China— Swe- 
den and  Denmark — Disputes  with  America — Meet- 
ing of  Parliament — Proceedings — Earl  Fitzwilliam, 
Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  recalled,  and  subse- 
quent discontents  of  the  Catholics — Marriage  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales — Arrangement  respecting  his 
Debts— Acquittal  of  Warren  Hastings  — Proroga- 
tion of  Parliament — Naval  Affairs  —  Occurrences 
in  the  West  Indies— The  French  Government  con- 
cludes Peace  with  Prussia,  Spain,  Hanover,  Hesse, 
&.C. — Operations  in  La  Vendue,  and  unsuccessful 
result  of  an  Expedition  to  Quiberon  Bay— Insur- 
rection in  Paris — Death  of  the  Dauphin  —  New 
French  Constitution — Return  of  the  English  Army 
from  the  Continent  —  Hostile  Operations  on  the 
Rhine — War  between  England  and  Holland — Cap- 
ture of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  other  Dutch 
Settlements— Unpopularity  of  the  War  —  Outrage 
against  the  King — Address  in  consequence— Speech 
from  the  Throne— Address— Bills  against  Treason 
and  Sedition — Scarcity  of  Corn— Supplies — Birth 
of  Princess  Charlotte  —  Dissolution  of  Parlia- 
ment   404 

CHAP.  XXVIII. 
Hostile  Operations  in  Italy  and  Germany— Disturb- 
ances in  La  Vendee  terminated  —  Success  of  the 
British  in  the  West  Indies— Capture  of  a  Dutch 
Squadron  in  Saldanha  Bay— Evacuation  of  Corsica 
by  the  British — Invasion  of  Ireland  attempted  by 
the  French  — Naval  Operations  — Differences  be- 
tween France  and  America — Spain  and  Holland 
declare  War  against  Great  Britain — State  of  France 
— Measures  against  British  Commerce — Opening 
of  the  New  Parliament— Negotiations  for  Peace- 
Unsuccessful  Result  —  Increase  of  the  National 
Force— Financial  Measures— Suspension  of  Cash 
Payments  by  the  Bank— Alarming  Mutiny  in  the 
Navy— Discontents  in  Ireland — Naval  Operations 
— Admiral  Jervis's  Victory  off  Cape  St.  Vincent — 


CONTENTS  TO  MILLER. 


vu 


Admiral  Duncan's  Victory  off  Camperdown— Bom- 
bardment of  Cadiz— Capture  of  Trinidad— Failure 
at  Porto  Rico — Unsuccessful  attempt  on  Teneriffe 
—French  Troops  land  in  Wales— Surrender  of 
Mantua,  and  Expulsion  of  the  Austrians  from 
Italy  — The  French  advance  into  the  Hereditary 
Dominions,  and  compel  the  Emperor  to  make 
Peace— Treaty  of  Campo  Formio— Internal  Affairs 
of  France 414 

CHAP.  XXIX. 

Negotiations  for  Peace  renewed  and  broken  off- 
Meeting  of  Parliament— Address  on  the  King's 
Speech  — On  the  late  Negotiation  — Finance  — 
Triple  Assessment  —  Voluntary  Contributions  — 
Redemption  of  the  Land-Tax— Plans  for  National 
Defence— Duel  between  Pitt  and  Titerney— Second 
Estimate  of  Supplies— Slave  Trade  — Tender  of 
extended  Service  by  the  Militia— Volunteer  Corps 
—Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Rebellion  in  Ireland 
—Severe  Contests  between  the  Military  and  Insur- 
gents—Suppression of  the  Rebellion— Trials  and 
Executions  for  Treason— Lord  Cornwallis  appoint- 
ed Viceroy— Act  of  Amnesty— Objects  of  the  Re- 
bellion—French land  at  Killala,  and  surrender  — 
Naval  Victory  of  Sir  J.  B.  Warren— Close  of  the 
Insurrection  in  Ireland 429 

CHAP.  XXX. 

Hostile  Movements  of  the  French  against  Switzer- 
land— They  enter  Berne,  after  several  Contests — 
New  Constitution — Revolution  at  Rome,  and  Sub- 
version of  the  Papal  Government— Grand  Expedi- 
tion to  Egypt  under  Buonaparte — Malta  taken — 
Alexandria  and  Rosetta  subdued — Severe  Engage- 
ments with  the  Mamelukes— Cairo  taken— Victory 
of  the  Nile — New  Coalition  against  the  French — 
Turkey,  Russia  and  Naples,  severally  declare  War 
against  France — The  Neapolitan  Troops,  after  ad- 
vancing to  Rome,  signally  defeated,  and  Ferdinand 
IV.  compelled  to  quit  the  Continent— Expedition 
against  Ostend— Capture  of  Minorca— Evacuation 
of  St.  Domingo — Meeting  of  Parliament — Finance 
— Income  Tax  first  imposed— Union  with  Ireland 
proposed — Proceedings  thereon 444 

CHAP.  XXXI. 

Affairs  of  Egypt— Capture  of  Jaffa— Siege  of  Acre- 
Gallant  Defence— The  French  raise  the  Siege  and 
return  from  Syria  to  Egypt — Tippoo  Saib,  at  the 
instigation  of  Buonaparte,  concerts  measures 
against  the  India  Company,  who  declare  War  in 
consequence  — Seringapatam  taken  by  General 
Harris;  Death  of  Tippoo— Partition  of  the  Mysore 
Territory — Buonaparte  returns  to  France — Naples 
proclaimed  a  Republic — The  Austrian  and  French 
Forces  take  the  Field— Encounters  on  the  Rhine- 
Campaign  in  Italy  and  Switzerland  —  Retreat  of 
the  Russians  under  Suwarrow— Expedition  to  North 
Holland— Capture  of  Surinam— Party  Contentions 
in  France — The  Directory  overthrown,  and  Buo- 
naparte nominated  First  Consul— He  proposes  a 
Negotiation  for  Peace,  which  is  rejected  by  the 
British  Government— Meeting  of  Parliament— De- 
bate on  Buonaparte's  Pacific  Overture — Subsidiary 
Treaties  — Finance  — Subsidy  to  the  Emperor  — 
Union  with  Ireland  completed— Scarcity  of  Corn- 
Attempt  on  the  King's  Life 453 

CHAP.  XXXIL 
Recall  of  the  Russian  troops — Genoa  evacuated  by 
the  French— Buonaparte  crosses  the  Alps,  and  gains 
the  Battle  of  Marengo— Armistice  concluded  in 
Italy— Campaign  in  Germany,  and  Armistice— Pre- 
liminaries Signed— Disavowed  by  the  Emperor- 
Naval  Armistice  proposed  to  England  by  France, 
and  rejected — Armistice  with  Austria  prolonged- 
Hostilities  resumed— Treaty  of  Peace  concluded  at 
Luneville  between  Austria  and  France— Affairs  of 
Egypt— Assassination  of  General  Kleber— Naval 
Operations — Unsuccessful  Attempt  on  Ferrol  and 
Cadiz— Reduction  of  Malta— War  with  Russia- 
Confederacy  of  the  Northern  Powers— Parliament 
Assembled  on  account  of  the  Scarcity  of  Corn — 
Population  Bill— New  Royal  Title— Meetinj  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament— King's  Speech,  and  Debates 
on  the  Address  —  Dispute  in  the  Cab! net  on  the 
Catholic  (Question — Niw  Ministry— The  Kings  re- 
turn of  Illness— Parliamentary  Froceedincs— Pro- 
rogation—Embargo  on  Rui^sian,  Danish,  and  Swe- 


dish VeBselB- Measures  of  the  Northern  Powers, 
and  Occupation  of  Hanover — Nelson's  Victory  at 
Copenhagen  —  Armistice  —  Death  of  the  Emperor 
Paul— Final  Adjustment  with  the  Northern  Powers 
— Invasion  of  Portugal  by  Spain,  and  subsequent 
Pacification— Madeira  occupied  by  the  English — 
Expedition  to  Egypt,  and  final  Expulsion  of  the 
French— Projected  Invasion  of  England— Conven- 
tion between  Buonaparte  and  the  Pope — Naval  Ac- 
tions— Attack  on  the  Boulogne  Flotilla — Peace  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  France 467 

CHAP.  XXXIII. 
Meeting  of  Parliament  —  Address  —  Sentiments  on 
the  Peace— Debts  of  the  Civil-List— Claim  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  to  Arrears  of  Cornish  Revenues — 
Repeal  of  the  Income  Tax— Loan— New  Taxes — 
Sinking-Fund— Abbot  elected  Speaker— Debates  on 
the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace— Militia  Augment- 
ation—Vaccine Inoculation— Parliament  dissolv- 
ed— French  Expedition  to  St.  Domingo  and  Guada- 
loupe— Mutiny  in  Bantry  Bay— Affairs  of  Switzer- 
land—Annexation of  Piedmont  to  France— Seizure 
of  the  Maltese  Property  in  Spain  — Buonaparte 
elected  First  Consul  for  life— New  Constitution  in 
France— Legion  of  Honor— Affairs  of  France  in 
the  West  Indies— Despard's  Conspiracy— New  Par- 
liament—Symptoms of  Hostility  between  France 
and  England— The  British  Ambassador  leaves  Paris 
—Grant  to  the  Prince  of  Wales — Messages  respect- 
ing France,  and  the  Militia,  and  announcing  Hos- 
tilities-Military Preparation  —  Levy  en  masse— 
Finance  —  Volunteer  Associations  —  Preparations 
for  Invasion  by  France — Act  to  relieve  Catholics — 
Attempt  to  Murder  made  capital— Vote  of  Thanks 
to  the  Volunteers— The  Prince  of  Wales  is  refused 
Military  Promotion  —  Rebellion  in  Ireland,  and 
Murder  of  Lord  Kilwarden— Ireland  placed  under 
-Martial  Law,  and  Habeas  Corpus  Act  suspended- 
Emmet  and  others  executed  for  Treason— Capture 
of  St.  Lucia,  Tobago,  &;c.— The  French  expelled 
from  St.  Domingo— Movements  in  Europe — Inva- 
sion of  Hanover— Blockade  of  the  Elbe  and  Weser 
— War  with  Holland  —  Exactions  of  Buonaparte — 
Sale  of  Louisiana — English  Travellers  in  Franco 
made  Prisoners  of  War — Naval  Operations 460 

CHAP.  XXXIV. 
Meeting  of  Parliament — Speech  and  Address— Martial 
Law  in  Ireland— Indisposition  of  the  King — Ex- 
tension of  Irish  Militia  Service— Motions  for  In- 
vestigation into  the  Naval  and  Military  Force- 
Formidable  Opposition  to  Ministers— Finance- 
Change  of  Administration  —  Slave  Trade — Addi- 
tional Force  Act — Corn  Bill — Civil-List  Augment- 
ation— India  Budget — Parliament  prorogued — War 
in  India — Loss  and  Recapture  of  Goree — Capture 
of  Surinam  —  Naval  Operations  —  Attack  on  the 
Boulogne  Flotilla  — Failure  of  the  Catamarian 
Project— Repulse  of  Admiral  Linois— Rupture  with 
Spain,  and  forcible  detention  of  Treasure-Ships — 
Murder  of  the  Duke  D'Enghien — Com  plaints  against 
British  Envoys — Seizure  of  Sir  George  Rumbold — 
Buonaparte  elected  Emperor  of  the  French— The 
Emperor  of  Germany  declared  Emperor  of  Austria 
— Dispute  between  France  and  Russia— Prepara- 
tions for  Hostilities — Convention  between  France 
and  Genoa 492 

CHAP.  XXXV. 

Letter  from  Buonaparte  to  His  Majesty — The  Answer 
— Addington  raised  to  the  Peerage,  and  joins  the 
Ministry— Other  Appointments — Opening  of  Par- 
liament—King's Speech— Supply— Budget — Catho- 
lic Claims— Vote  of  Credit — Proceedings  against 
Lord  Melville— Resignation  of  Lord  Sidmouth  and 
the  Earlof  Buckinghamshire— Illness  of  Pitt— New 
Coalition  against  France — Commencempnt  of  Hos- 
tilities-Surrender of  General  Mack— Buonaparte 
enters  Vienna — Advances  into  Moravia — Move- 
ments in  Italy — The  Archduke  Charli-s  falls  back 
towards  Vienna— State  of  the  Russian  Forces— 
l?attle  of  Austerlitz  — Armistice— Return  of  the 
Russians— The  Archduke  Ferdinand  defeats  a  Corps 
of  Bavarians  — Treaty  of  Presburg  — Treaty  be- 
tween France  and  Prus.'^ia— Fr»;Mch  Fleets  pit  to 
Sea— Attempts  on  the  West  India  Islands— Lord 
Nelson's  Pursuit— Sir  Robert  Caldt;rs  Engagenieni 
with  Villeneuve- Victory  of  Trafalgar,  and  Death 
of  Lord  Nelson- War  inlndia— Us  Termiualion— 


VIU 


CONTENTS  TO  MILLER. 


Marquis  Cornwallis  appointed  Governor-General— 
His  Death 501 

CHAP.  XXXVI. 
State  of  Europe— Meeting  of  Parliament— Death  of 
Pitt — Change  in  the  Ministry— New  Military  Ar- 
rangements—Finance— Prevention  of  Abuses — 
Corn  Trade  with  Ireland— Intercourse  between  the 
West  Indies  and  America— Slave  Trade — Impeach- 
ment of  Lord  Melville— India  Affairs— Prorogation 
of  Parliament — Negotiation  for  Peace — Death  of 
Fox — Ministerial  Appointments  —  Dissolution  of 
Parliament— Admiral  Sir  J,  T.  Duckworth's  Vic- 
tory— Other  Naval  Successes — Capture  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope — Unauthorized  Expedition  to  Buenos 
Ayree — Court  Martial  on  Sir  Home  Popham — Dis- 
pute with  America — Elevation  of  Joseph  Buona- 
parte to  the  throne  of  Naples — Resistance  to  the 
French  Arms— Battle  of  Maida  — Occupation  of 
Hanover  by  Prussia — Consequent  Hostility  with 
England  and  Sweden — Revolution  in  her  Politics — 
Confederation  of  the  Rhine — Louis  Buonaparte  de- 
clared King  of  Holland— Titles  conferred  by  Buona- 
eirte  on  his  Followers— Murder  of  Palm— Fourth 
oalition  against  France  —  Movements  of  the 
French  and  Prussian  Forces— Battle  of  Auerstadt, 
or  Jena — Its  Consequences  —  Seizure  of  British 
Property  at  Hamburgh— Buonaparte's  Berlin  De- 
cree— Negotiation  for  an  Armistice — Advance  of 
the  Russians— Their  Repulse — Levies — Operations 
in  Silesia— Battle  of  Eylau — Surrender  of  Dantzic 
—Success  of  the  French  in  Swedish  Pomerania— 
Battle  of  Friedland— Treaty  of  Tilsit— War  with 
Turkey  and  Russia,  followed  by  Hostilities  be- 
tween England  and  the  former — Expeditions  to 
Constantinople  and  Egypt  —  Capture  of  Monte 
Video — Attack  on  Buenos  Ayres— Its  Failure — 
General  Whitlocke  tried  by  Court-Martial,  and 
cashiered — Capture  of  Curacoa  —  Insurrection  of 
the  Sepoys  in  India '. 511 

CHAP.  XXXVII. 
A  new  Parliament — The  late  Negotiations — Finance 
—Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade— Change  of  Ad- 
ministration—Dissolution of  Parliament  —  New 
Election  — New  Military  Plan— Bill  respecting 
Ireland  —  Reversions  —  Prorogation  —  Expedition 
against  Copenhagen — Capture  of  the  Danish  Fleet 
—War  with  Denmark— With  Russia— Restrictions 
on  Commerce  —  Action  between  a  British  and 
American  frigate— Capture  of  the  Danish  West 
India  Islands — The  French  enter  Portugal — The 
Royal  Family  embark  for  Brazil— Affairs  of  Spain 
—Buonaparte's  efforts  to  place  his  Brother  on  the 
throne  —  Expedition  to  Portugal  —  Convention  of 
Cintra — Advance  of  the  British  Forces  into  Spain, 
under  Sir  John  Moore— His  Retreat— Battle  of  Co- 
runna,  and  death  of  Sir  John  Moore 524 

CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

Parliamentary  Proceedings- Expedition  against  Den- 
mark—Droits  of  Admiralty  —  Enlistment— Local 
Militia— Finance— Criminal  Law— Administration 
of  Justice— Distilleries — Spani-^h  Cause — Proroga- 
tion— Austria  declares  agains^t  Englauii — Efforts  of 
the  Swedes  against  Russia  and  Denmark  —Affairs 
of  Italy— Militia— Convention  of  Cintra— Charges 
against  the  Duke  of  York— Traffic  in  East  India 
Appointments— Corrupt  practices  respecting  seats 
in  Parliament,  and  Bill  for  their  Prevention- 
Budget — Dutch  Commissioners— Rupture  between 
Austria  and  France — Campaign  in  Germany — Over- 
throw of  Austrians— Treaty  of  Peace— Efforts  of 
Tyrolese — Annexationof  Rome  to  France — Divorce 
of  Buonaparte  and  Josephine— Affairs  of  Sweden 
—Expedition  to  Walcheren— Attack  on  a  French 
Fleet- French  Convoy  destroyed —  Martinique, 
Cayenne,  and  Bourbon  taken — Differences  with 
America — Ministerial  Disputes  and  Changes— Ju- 
ftilee —Campaign  in  Spain— Battle  of  Talavera— 
8iege  of  Cadiz — Attempt  to  rescue  Ferdinand — 
Operations  in  Portugal 535 

CHAP.  XXXIX. 

Parliament  convened— Inquiry  as  to  Walcheren  Ex- 
pedition—  Breach  of  Privilege — Sir  Francis  Bur- 
tU-n's  Motion  and  Conduct  thvreon.  and  his  com- 
mittal to  the  Tower — Bullion  Q,iiestinn,  and  other 
Proceedings— Oapture  of  Amboyna  IslaMds,  of  Bour- 
bon, France,  Guadakiupe,  aiid'Sa:ila  Maura— Mar- 


riage of  Buonaparte— Annexation  of  Holland  to 
France — Other  Annexations — Burning  Decrees  of 
Buonaparte — Attempt  on  Sicily — War  with  Russia 
—Differences  with  the  United  States- State  of 
Spanish  America — The  King's  Mental  Malady — 
Regency — Opening  of  Parliament— Proceedings  as 
to  commercial  Distress,  and  other  Affairs— Ameri- 
can Disputes— Capture  of  Java — Naval  Actions — 
Farther  Measures  against  British  Commerce  .  ..552 

CHAP.  XL. 
Surrender  of  Tortosa  and  Olivenca — Battles  of  Ba- 
rossa  and  Albuera,  and  various  Operations  of  the 
contending  Armies— Loss  of  Tarragona  and  Valen- 
cia—Capture  of  CiudadRodrigo  and  Badajoz — Lord 
Wellington  enters  Spain— Battle  of  Salamanca- 
Capture  of  Madrid— Retreat  of  Allies  to  Portu- 
fuese  Frontier — Parliament  assembled — The  King 
and  the  Regent — Overtures  to  Lords  Grey  and  Gren- 
ville — Assassination  of  Perceval — Ministerial  Ne- 
gotiations—Riots in  Manufacturing  Districts— Re-- 
peal  of  Orders  in  Council — War  by  Americans — 
Proceedings  in  Parliament— Invasion  of  Russia  by 
Buonaparte — Battles  of  Smolensko  and  Borodino — 
Destruction  of  Moscow— Disastrous  retreat  of  the 
French— Invasion  of  Canada — Actions  at  Sea  — 
Meeting  of  Parliament— Charges  against  Princess 
of  Wales— Appointment  of  Vice-Chancellor  —  De- 
claration on  the  American  War  —  Treaty  with 
Sweden — Proceedings  and  Prorogation  of  Parlia- 
ment   562 

CHAP.  XLI. 
Prussia  declares  against  France — Battle  of  Lutzen — 
Armistice — Renewal  of  Hostilities — Austria  joins 
the  Grand  Alliance — Battle  before  Dresden — Battle 
of  Dennevitz — Bavaria  joins  the  Allies — Rout  of 
Buonaparte  at  Leipzic — Revolution  in  Holland  and 
Successes  in  Spain — Battle  of  Vittoria — Capture 
of  St.  Sebastian — Lord  Wellington  enters  France 
— Failure  of  Sir  John  Murray  before  Tarragona — 
Campaign  in  America  —  Naval  Engagements  — 
Meeting  of  Parliament — Proceedings — Peace  with 
Denmark — Transfer  of  Norway  to  Sweden— Murat 
joins  the  Allies  —  Lord  Wellington  crosses  the 
Adour— Battle  of  Orthes— Soult  retreats  to  Tou- 
louse— The  Allies  cross  the  Rhine,  and  enter  France 
—Treaty  of  Chaumont— Battle  of  Craone— Occu- 
pation of  Paris  by  Capitulation  —  Abdication  of 
Buonaparte — Battle  of  Toulouse — Convention  of 
Paris— Entrance  of  Louis  XVIII.— Treaty  of  Peace 
— Royal  Visitors  to  England — Restoration  of  the 
Pope— Return  of  Ferdinand  to  Spain— South  Amer- 
ican Affairs — Parliamentary  Proceedings — Honors 
conferred  on  Duke  of  Wellington  —  Princess  of 
Wales— State  of  Ireland— Treaty  with  Holland- 
Congress  of  Vienna 576 

CHAP.  XLIL 

Negotiations  with  America — Campaign  in  Canada — 
Failure  at  Plattsburg— Expedition  to  Washington 
— Attacks  on  Alexandria  and  Baltimore  —  Naval 
Actions— Failure  against  New-Orleans— Capture 
of  li'ort  Bowyer — Peace  with  America — Capture  of 
President  frigate — Meeting  and  Proceedingsof  Par- 
liament—Return  of  Buonaparte  from  Elba,  his 
march  to  Paris — Measures  of  Allied  Powers — State 
of  Paris— Movements  of  French  and  Allied  Forces 
—  Buonaparte  attacks  the  Prussians  —  Battle  of 
Waterloo — Buonaparte's  Return  to  Paris — His  Ab- 
dication— Advance  of  Allies — Capitulation  of  Paris 
—Return  of  Louis  XVIII.- Buonaparte  surrenders 
to  the  English,  is  sent  to  St.  Helena — Murat  at- 
tempts Naples,  and  loses  his  Life — Parliament  re- 
assembled—Corn Laws,  and  other  Measures  — 
Terms  imposed  upon  France — Continental  Affairs 
—Hostilities  in  India 592 

CHAP.   LXIII. 

Parliament  called— Holy  Alliance— Marriage  of  Prin- 
cess Charlotte  to  Prince  Leopold — Distressed  State 
of  the  Country— Riots  and  Tumults— Expedition 
against  Algiers— East  India  Affairs — Meeting  of 
Parliament— The  Prince-Regent  attacked  by  the 
Populace — Message  as  to  Illegal  Meetings — Relin- 
quishment of  Income  by  Prince-Regent  and  Minis- 
ters—Meeting in  Spa-Fields,  and  Palace-Yard  — 
Commitments  to  the  Tower — Loan  of  Exchequer- 
Bills  for  Public  Works— Catholic  Claims  rejected- 
Lord    Sidmouth's    Circular  —  Mesffages    from    tlie 


CONTENTS  TO  MILLER, 


IX 


Prince-Regent— Disturbancee  at  Manchester— State 
Trials— Death  of  Princess  Charlotte— Foreign  Af- 
fairs—Mectirtg  and  Proceedings  of  Parliament  — 
Royal  Marriages  —  Education  of  the  Poor,  and 
Charitable  Institutions — Army  of  Occupation  with- 
drawn from  France — Disturbances  at  Manchester, 
Itc— Death  of  Queen  Charlotte 605 

CHAP.  XLIV. 
Parliament  convoked— Royal  Speech— Criminal  Code 
— Measures  for  return  to  Cash  Payments — National 
Income  and  Expenditure — State  of  the  Nation — 
Catholic  (iuestion — Foreign  Enlistment  Bill,  and 
other  Proceedings— Emigration  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  —  Radical  Reformers  —  Popular  Meetings  — 
Arrests  for  Sedition-^Violent  dispersion  of  a  Meet- 
ing at  Manchester — Hunt  and  his  Associates  found 
Guilty  —  Earl  Fitzwilliam  dismissed  from  Lord- 
Lieutenancy  of  the  West  Riding — Address  of  Cor- 
poration of  London  —  Meeting  of  Parliament — 
Documents  on  state  of  the  Country— Bill  to  Pre- 
vent Traversing  of  Informations  or  Indictments — 
Other  Restraining  Bills — Cession  of  Parga  —  Res- 
toration of  Java — Change  in  the  King's  Health — 
Death  of  the  Duke  of  Kent— Death  of  George  the 
Third— Concluding  Remarks 620 

CHAP.  L 

GEORGE  IV. 

Accession  of  King  George  IV.— The  King's  declara- 
tion to  his  Council — Proclamation  of  his  Majesty 
— King's  Illness  and  Recovery — Detailed  Ceremo- 
nial of  the  late  King's  lying  in  State  and  Royal 
Funeral — Parliament  Dissolved  by  Commission — 
Discovery  of  Cato-Street  Conspiracy  — Detection, 
Trial,  and  Execution  of  Thistlewood  and  others — 
Tumultuous  Proceedings  in  the  North— Attack  on 
the  Soldiery  at  Bonnymuir— Defeat  of  those  con- 
cerned therein— Trial  of  Disaffected  Persons— Con- 
duct of  Ministry— General  Election— New  Parlia- 


ment-King's first  Speech— Proceedings  in  Parlia- 
ment—Lord John  RusBers  Motion  on  Elective  Fran- 
chise—Allusion to  Queen's  Arrival— Revision  and 
Amendment  of  Criminal  Code— Education  of  the 
Poor— Statf!  of  Agriculture— Afflicting  Position  of 
Public  Affairs- Petition  of  London  Merchants- 
Ways  and  Means  for  1820— Delicate  Situation  of 
their  Majesties  —  Commission  of  Inquiry  —  Mr. 
Broughams  Proposition  to  Government— Proimsed 
Compromise  with  the  (iueen — Offer  of  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds  ayear  to  the  Queen— Queen's  Narra- 
tive —  Her  Majesty's  Progress  —  Mission  of  Lord 
Hutchinson— Sudden  Departure  of  her  Majesty  from 
St.  Omers- Landing  of  Queen  Caroline  in  Eng- 
land—  The  King's  Message  to  Parliament  —  The 
Queen's  Communication  to  House  of  Commons- 
Proceedings  in  the  Commons— Statement  of  Min- 
isters— Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Lords — Bill  of 
Pains  and  Penalties— Account  of  Trial— Speeches 
therein— Bill  abandoned  by  Ministers— Parliament 
prorogued— State  of  Continental  Afiairs 636 

CHAP.  IL 
Opening  of  Parliament— His  Majesty's  Speech— De- 
bates on  the  Conduct  of  Ministers  relative  to  the 
Queen — Country  Petitions  to  restore  Queen's  Name 
to  Liturgy — Queen's  Message  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons— Provision  for  her  Majesty — Discussion  on 
the  Question  of  emancipating  the  Catholics— Bill 
for  Relief  of  Catholics  introduced  and  passed 
through  the  House  of  Commons — Rejected  in  the 
House  of  Lords — Borough  of  Grampound  disfran- 
chised—The Franchise  transferred  to  the  County 
of  York— Committee  to  inquire  into  Cause  of  Ag- 
ricultural Distress— Report  of  Committee  — Bank 
of  England  resumption  of  Cash  payments— Ways 
and  Means  for  the  current  Year— Parliament  pro- 
rogued—Death of  Napoleon,  ex-Emperor  of  France, 
in  Captivity  at  Saint  Helena— Situation  of  the 
Queen  —  Her  Conduct,  and  Correspondence  with 
Officers  of  State— Coronation  of  George  IV.  . .  .694 


THE 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN, 

FROM  THE 

DEATH  OF  GEORGE  II.  TO  THE  CORONATION  OF  GEORGE  IV. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Effects  of  the  late  King's  partiality  to  his  native  Dominions — Circumstances  attending 
the  Accession  of  the  new  Sovereign — His  Majesty's  first  Speech  to  both  Houses  of 
Parliament — Addresses  of  the  Lords  and  Commons — Supply  voted — Establishment 
of  the  Civil  lAst — Sums  granted  for  the  Support  of  the  German  Confederacy — Sub- 
sidy to  Prussia — Vota  of  Compensation  to  the  Provinces  in  North  America  for  their 
strenuous  Efforts — Ballot  for  Militia  productive  of  a  dreadful  Riot  at  Hexham — 
Loan  of  twelve  Millions — Violent  outcry  against  the  New  Duty  on  Beer — Bad  Con- 
sequence of  the  opposition  to  the  Compulsive  Clause  in  the  new  Act  of  Insolvency — 
King^s  Speech  for  making  the  Judges  independent  of  the  Demise  of  the  Crown — 
Ready  Concurrence  of  both  Houses  in  so  patriotic  a  Proposal — Arthur  Onslow, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  thirty-three  years,  retires — Two  remarkable 
Points  in  his  Majesty'' s  Farewell  Speech  to  the  Parliament — Advantageous  Position 
of  the  French  in  their  Winter  Cantonments — Prince  Ferdinand's  extensive  Plan  of 
Attack — Fritzlar  and  several  Magazines  taken — General  Sporken's  rapid  Progress 
on  the  Side  of  Saxony — First  Check  in  this  extraordinary  career  of  Success — Steps 
taken  by  Marshal  Broglio  to  drive  the  Allies  out  of  Hesse — Defeat  of  the  Troops 
under  the  Hereditary  Prince — The  King^s  Sentiments  on  the  proper  Use  of  Con- 
quests. 


THE  LATE  KING'S  PARTIALITY  TO  ms 
NATIVE  DOMINIONS. 
Few  princes  ever  died  at  a  moment  more 
favorable  to  their  popularity  than  George  11. 
All  the  spots  and  blemishes  in  his  character 
seemed  to  vanish  in  the  blaze  of  glory  which 
had  been  reflected  on  it  by  the  late  successes 
of  his  fleets  and  armies  in  every  quarter  of 
the  globe.  But  these  borrowed  splendors 
could  not  long  conceal  the  fatal  effects  of 
his  partiality  to  his  native  dominions, — a  par- 
tiality, to  which  not  only  the  blood  and  trea- 
siu-e,  but  the  valor,  the  virtue  and  public 
spirit  of  the  British  nation  had  been  repeat- 
edly sacrificed.  The  aggrandizement  of  his 
darling  electorate,  and  the  support  of  all  his 
schemes  for  preserving  an  imaginary  balance 
between  the  contmental  powers,  whatever 
might  be  the  expense  to  England,  were  the 
only  conditions,  on  which  any  ministry  could 
obtain  his  favor,  or  secure  their  own  contin- 
uance in  ofiice.  As  none  were  admitted  into 
his  confidence  but  on  these  terms,  so  none 
were  dismissed  but  from  their  inability  to 
fulfil  such  engagements.  Every  change  of 
his  servants  was  therefore  a  fresh  wound  in- 
flicted on  the  real  interests  of  his  country. 
The  frequent  shifl;ing  of  power  through  such 
a  variety  of  hands,  and  from  motives  so  in- 
consistent with  liberal  policy,  was  productive 


of  another  evil:  it  scattered  the  seeds  of 
disunion,  jealousy,  and  hatred  among  all  the 
great  families  of  the  kingdom ;  and  pre- 
pared for  the  succeeding  prince  a  series  of 
struggles  with  the  intrigues  of  party,  and 
the  turbulence  of  domestic  factions,  a  thou- 
sand times  more  vexatious  than  any  combi- 
nation of  foreign  enemies. 

ACCESSION  OF  GEORGE  III. 
The  death  of  the  late  king  having  been 
notified  in  form  to  the  heir  apparent,  who 
was  then  at  Kew,  he  immediately  repaired 
to  Carleton  House,  to  meet  the  privy-coun- 
cil, on  the  twenty-second  of  October.  As 
soon  as  the  members  had  taken  the  custom- 
ary oaths  of  fidelity  to  their  new  sovereign, 
he  expressed  his  deep  sense  of  the  loss  sus- 
tained by  the  nation,  and  of  his  own  insuf- 
ficiency to  support,  as  he  wished,  the  load 
which  fell  upon  him  at  so  critical  and  unex- 
pected a  juncture:  "But,"  said  he,  "ani- 
mated by  the  tenderest  affection  for  my  na- 
tive country,  and  depending  upon  the  Eidvice, 
experience,  and  abilities  of  your  lordships, 
on  the  support  of  every  honest  man,  I  enter 
with  cheerfulness  into  this  arduous  situation, 
and  shall  make  it  the  business  of  my  life  to 
promote  in  everything  the  glory  and  happi- 
ness of  these  kingdoms,  to  preserve  and 
strengthen  the  constitution  in  both  church 


12 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  state ;  and,  as  I  mount  the  throne  m  the 
midst  of  an  expensive,  but  just  and  necessa- 
ry war,  I  shall  endeavor  to  prosecute  it  in 
the  manner  the  most  likely  to  bring-  on  an 
honorable  and  lasting  peace,  in  concert  w^ith 
my  allies."  This  declaration  was  ordered 
to  be  made  public,  at  the  request  of  all  the 
members  present.  They  also  witnessed  two 
instruments  of  an  oath  relating  to  the  secu- 
rity of  the  church  of  Scotland,  which  was 
taken  and  subscribed  by  his  majesty  on  this 
occasion,  as  the  law  required. 

Next  morning  his  majesty  was  proclaimed 
with  the  usual  solemnities ;  and,  the  follow- 
ing day,  having  added  the  duke  of  York, 
and  the  earl  of  Bute,  to  his  privy-council, 
he  ordered  the  parliament  to  be  prorogued 
to  the  eighteenth  of  November.  Daring 
this  interval,  the  chief  objects  that  engaged 
the  public  attention  were  the  equipment  of 
a  large  squadron  of  men-of-war  and  trans- 
ports at  Portsmouth,  with  the  embarkation 
of  a  formidable  train  of  artillery,  all  an- 
nouncii^  some  important  enterprise;  and 
the  preparations  making  for  the  funeral  ob- 
sequies of  the  late  king,  which  were  per- 
formed on  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  of 
November  with  becoming  magnificence. 
The  testimonies  of  joy  for  the  accession  of 
his  grandson,  in  which  all  ranks  of  men  vied 
with  each  other,  certainly  expressed  the  sen- 
timents of  their  hearts.  The  great  body  of 
the  people  could  not  but  be  delighted  to  see 
the  throne  at  length  filled  by  a  prince  who 
was  born  and  bred  among  them  ; — who  was 
acquainted  with  their  language  and  manners, 
with  their  laws  and  constitution ; — whose  pre- 
judices, if  he  had  any,  must  be  in  favor  of 
his  native  land,  and  must  of  course  exclude 
all  idea  of  that  fatal  predilection  for  Germa- 
ny, which,  in  the  two  preceding  reigns,  had 
proved  so  injurious  to  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  Britain. 

HIS  MAJESTY'S  FIRST  SPEECH  TO  BOTH 
HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT, 

On  the  day,  to  which  the  meeting  of  par- 
liament had  been  prorogued,  the  king  went 
to  the  house  of  peers  and  opened  the  sessions 
with  a  speech,  in  which,  besides  the  obvious 
and  usual  topics,  his  majesty  thus  expressed 
his  personal  sentiments  at  his  accession,  and 
announced  the  principles  of  his  future  gov- 
ernment. 

"Born  and  educated  in  this  country,  I 
glory  in  the  name  of  Briton ;  and  the  pecu- 
liar happiness  of  my  life  will  ever  consist  in 
promoting  the  welfare  of  a  people,  whose 
loyalty  and  warm  affection  to  me,  I  consider 
as  the  greatest  and  most  permanent  security 
of  my  throne ;  and  I  doubt  not,  but  their 
steadiness  in  those  principles  will  equal  the 
firmness  of  my  invariable  resolution  to  ad- 
here to,  and  strengthen  this  excellent  con- 
stitution in  church  and  state ;  and  to  main- 


tain the  toleration  inviolable.  The  civil  and 
religious  rights  of  my  lovmg  subjects  are 
equally  dear  to  me  with  the  most  valuable 
prerogatives  of  my  crown ;  and,  as  the  surest 
foundation  of  the  whole,  and  the  best  means 
to  draw  down  the  divine  favor  on  my  reign, 
it  is  my  fixed  purpose  to  countenance  and 
encourage  the  practice  of  true  religion  and 
vu-tue. 

"  Happier  still  should  I  have  been,  had  I 
found  my  kmgdoms,  whose  true  interest  I 
have  entirely  at  heart,  in  full  peace:  but 
since  the  ambition,  injurious  encroachments, 
and  dangerous  designs  of  my  enemies,  ren- 
dered the  war  both  just  and  necessary,  and 
the  generous  overture,  made  last  wmter,  to- 
wards a  congress  for  a  pacification  has  not 
yet  produced  any  suitable  return,  I  am  de- 
termined, with  your  cheerful  and  powerful 
assistance,  to  prosecute  this  war  with  vigor, 
in  order  to  that  desirable  object,  a  safe  and 
honorable  peace.  For  this  purpose,  it  is  ab- 
solutely incumbent  upon  us  to  be  early  pre- 
pared ;  and  I  rely  upon  your  zeal  and  hearty 
concurrence  to  support  the  king  of  Prussia, 
and  the  rest  of  my  allies,  and  to  make  am- 
ple provision  for  carrying'  on  the  war,  as  the 
only  means  to  bring  our  enemies  to  equita- 
ble terms  of  accommodation." 

This  speech,  which  his  majesty  delivered 
with  energy,  grace  and  dignity,  could  not 
fail  of  confirming  all  the  former  preposses- 
sions of  the  people  in  his  favor.  Every 
noble,  patriotic,  and  endearing  sentiment, 
that  it  contained,  produced  a  corresponding" 
emotion  in  the  breasts  of  his  hearers ;  and 
the  moment  it  was  published,  the  whole  na- 
tion read  it  with  eagerness  and  rapture. 
The  addresses  of  the  lords  and  commons 
were  dictated  by  the  same  spirit,  and  were 
most  heartily  concurred  in  by  evenr  true 
lover  of  his  country,  by  every  man  of  sense 
and  virtue  in  the  kingdom. 
ADDRESS  OF  THE  LORDS  AND  COMMONS. 

As  soon  as  the  king  retired,  after  the  de- 
livery of  a  speech  so  well  calculated  to  give 
general  satisfaction,  the  members  of  both 
houses  proceeded  to  take  the  oaths  and  to 
comply  with  the  forms  prescribed  by  law  at 
the  first  session  of  a  new  reign.  The  speech 
being  then  reported  to  the  lords  by  the  keep- 
er of  the  great  seal,  and  to  the  commons  by 
their  speaker,  addresses  were  drawn  up  and 
unanunously  agreed  to,  breathmg,  as  before 
intimated,  the  warmest  spu-it  of  duty  and 
affection ;  and  replete  with  unequivocal  tes- 
timonies of  the  most  hearty  concurrence  in 
all  his  majesty's  sentiments  and  wishes. 
"Animated  by  that  duty,"  said  the  lords, 
"  which  we  owe  to  your  majesty,  and  by  our 
zeal  for  the  honor  and  interest  of  these  kingf- 
doms,  we  give  your  majesty  the  strongest 
assurances,  that  we  will  cheerfully  support 
you  in  prosecuting  the  war ;  assist  the  king 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


13 


of  Prussia,  and  the  rest  of  your  allies  ;  and 
iieartily  concur  in  all  such  measures  as  sliall 
be  necessary  for  the  defence  of  your  majes- 
ty and  your  dominions,  and  for  the  other  na- 
tional and  important  ends  which  you  have 
ho  fully  laid  before  us."  The  members  of 
the  lower  house  were  still  more  explicit  on 
the  subject  of  effectual  support  "  We  as- 
sure your  majesty,"  said  they,  "  that  your 
faithful  commons,  thoroughly  sensible  of  this 
important  crisis,  and  desirous,  with  the  di- 
vine assistance,  to  render  your  majesty's 
reig-n  successful  and  glorious  in  war,  happy 
and  honorable  in  peace  (the  natural  return 
of  a  grateful  people  to  a  gracious  and  affec- 
tionate sovereign)  will  concur  in  such  mea- 
sures as  shall  be  requisite  for  the  vigorous 
and  effectual  prosecution  of  the  war ;  and 
that  we  will  cheerfully  and  speedily  grant 
such  supplies  as  shall  be  found  necessary  for 
that  purpose,  and  for  the  support  of  the  king 
of  Prussia,  and  the  rest  of  your  majesty's 
allies ;  and  that  we  will  make  such  an  ade- 
quate provision  for  your  majesty's  civil  gov- 
ernment, as  may  be  sufficient  to  maintain 
the  honor  and  dignity  of  your  crown  with 
all  proper  and  becoming  lustre." 
SUPPLY  VOTED. 

Such  manifestations  of  love  and  attach- 
ment were  answered  by  the  king  in  terms 
of  the  liveliest  sensibility ;  and  his  reply  to 
the  commons  in  particular  made  such  an  im- 
pression on  them,  that,  suspending  the  usual 
orders  and  regulations  at  the  beginning  of 
every  session,  they  agreed  to  a  second  ad- 
dress of  thanks  for  the  gracious  manner  in 
which  the  first  had  been  received.  The 
best  proofs  of  their  sincerity  were  the  libe- 
rality and  dispatch  with  which  they  pro- 
vided for  all  the  possible  exigencies  of  the 
state.  The  commons,  in  a  committee  of  sup- 
ply, voted  for  the  services  of  the  ensuing 
year,  nineteen  millions,  six  hundred  and  six- 
teen thousand  one  hundred  and  nineteen 
pounds,  nineteen  shillings  and  nine-pence 
three  farthings.  A  detail  of  all  the  different 
purposes,  for  which  the  several  sums  were 
specifically  granted,  would  be  tedious. 
ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  LIST. 

On  the  twenty-fiflh  of  November,  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  by  his  majesty's 
command,  acquainted  the  house,  "  that  his 
majesty,  ever  desirous  of  giving  the  most 
substantial  proofs  of  his  tender  regard  to  the 
welfare  of  his  people,  was  pleased  to  signify 
his  consent,  that  whenever  the  house  should 
enter  upon  the  consideration  of  making  pro- 
vision for  the  support  of  his  household,  and 
the  honor  and  dignity  of  his  crown,  such 
disposition  might  be  made  of  his  majesty's 
interest  in  the  hereditary  revenues  of  the 
crown,  as  might  best  conduce  to  the  utility 
and  satisfaction  of  the  public."  In  conse- 
quence of  this  niessao-e  the  houee  came  to  a 

Vol.  IV.  ^  2 


resolution  on  the  next  day,  that  the  said 
hereditary  revenues  be  carried  to,  and  made 
part  of  the  aggregate  fund ;  and  that,  in  lieu 
thereof,  there  should  be  granted  to  his  ma- 
jesty such  a  revenue  as  should  amount  to  the 
clear  yearly  sum  of  eight  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  to  commence  from  the  demise  of  his 
late  majesty,  and  to  be  charged  upon,  and 
made  payable  out  of  the  said  aggregate  fund. 
This  resolution,  or  bargain,  was  equally 
beneficial  to  the  crown  and  satisfactory  to 
the  public ;  for  though  the  funds  appropriat- 
ed to  the  payment  of  the  civil  list  revenue, 
which  had  been  settled  on  the  two  preceding 
sovereigns,  ought  to  have  produced  a  great 
deal  more  than  eight  hundred  thousand 
pounds  a-year,  yet  it  appeared  by  the  ac- 
counts laid  before  the  house,  that  the  re- 
ceipts of  his  late  majesty,  during  the  thirty- 
three  years  of  his  reign,  had  constantly  fallen 
short  of  that  sum  (1).  The  burthen,  there- 
fore, lay  heavy  on  the  subject,  while  the  pro- 
posed supplies  were  in  reality  withheld,  or 
diminished  by  the  frauds  of  the  collectors. 
But  by  the  above  plan  the  income  of  the 
crown  became  certain  ;  and  the  former  reve- 
nues being  all  carried  to  the  aggregate  fund, 
the  people  were  relieved  from  the  most 
grievous  of  all  taxes,  that  of  embezzlement 

SUPPLIES  GRANTED  FOR  THE  GERMAN 
CONFEDERACY. 
After  providing  by  various  grants  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  British  forces  and 
seamen  employed  at  home  and  abroad,  the 
commons  proceeded,  according  to  their 
promise,  to  enable  his  majesty  to  give  the 
most  effectual  support  to  his  German  allies, 
by  voting  various  sums  for  defraying  the 
charges  of  the  troops  of  Hanover,  Wolfen- 
buttle,  Saxe-Gotha,  and  count  of  Bucko- 
burgh,  actually  employed  against  the  com- 
mon enemy,  in  concert  with  the  king  of 
Prussia,  for  one  year,  to  be  issued  in  advance 
every  two  months ;  the  troops  to  be  mustered 
by  an  English  commissary,  and  the  effective 
state  thereof  to  be  ascertained  by  the  signa- 
ture of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  said 
forces ;  and  for  defraying  the  charge  of  the 
troops  of  the  landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel  in 
the  pay  of  Great  Britain,  for  one  year ;  in- 
cluding tlie  annual  subsidy,  pursuant  to 
treaty  ;  and  for  defraying  the  charge  of  the 
troops  of  the  reigning  duke  of  Brunswick  ia 
the  pay  of  Great  Britain,  for  the  service  of 
the  next  campaign,  together  with  the  annual 
subsidy,  pursuant  to  treaty;  and  for  the 
charge  of  five  battalions  serving  with  hi* 
majesty's  army  m  Germany,  with  a  corps  of 
artillery  ;  also  one  million,  upon  account,  to-* 
wards  defraying  the  charges  of  forage,  bread- 
wagons,  train  of  artillery,  provisions,  wood, 
straw,  and  other  extraordinary  expenses  and 
contmgencies  of  his  majesty's  combined 
army,  under  the  commaod  of  prince  Ferdi- 


14 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


nand.  If  to  these  sums  we  add  the  king  of 
Prussia's  annual  subsidy  of  six  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  pounds ;  and  two  millions, 
upon  a  very  moderate  calculation,  for  keep- 
ing up  an  army  of  five  and  twenty  thousand 
British  troops  in  Westphalia,  including  the 
transport  service,  and  other  incidental 
charges,  with  various  deficiencies  and  extra- 
ordinary expenses  which  the  commons  were 
afterwards  obliged  to  make  good ;  we  shall 
find  that  the  generosity  of  Great  Britain  to 
her  continental  allies  cost  her  at  least  five 
millions  annually. 

No  part  of  this  contribution  was  voted 
with  more  cheerfulness  than  the  subsidy  to 
Prussia.  The  news  of  the  battle  of  Torgau 
had  reached  England  just  before  the  meet 
ing  of  parliament;  and  the  circumstantial 
account  and  confirmation  of  that  splendid 
victory,  with  which  baron  Coceii,  the  king 
of  Prussia's  aid-de-camp,  arrived  a  few  days 
after,  did  not  fail  to  operate  very  powerfully 
in  his  master's  favor.  He  was  received  by 
his  majesty  at  St.  James's  in  a  most  gra- 
cious manner.  This  single  blow  counter- 
balanced all  the  losses  he  had  sustained 
during  the  campaign :  it  made  him  master 
of  all  Saxony  except  Dresden.  Laudohn 
abruptly  raised  the  siege  of  Cossel,  and 
evacuated  Silesia;  the  Russians  abandoned 
the  siege  of  Colberg,  and  fell  back  into  Po- 
land, while  the  Swedes  were  driven  with 
great  loss  out  of  Western  Pomerania.  The 
annual  treaty  or  convention  between  the 
courts  of  Great  Britain  and  of  Prussia  was 
renewed  on  the  twelfth  of  December ;  and 
on  tiie  twenty-third  of  the  same  month  the 
commons  agreed  to  the  resolution  of  the 
committee  of  supply,  to  enable  his  majesty 
to  make  good  his  engagements  with  the  king 
of  Prussia.  The  popularity  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, however,  did  not  shield  them  from 
the  censure  of.  some  very  able  political  wri- 
ters at  that  time. 
COMPENSATION  TO  NORTH  AMERICANS. 

1761. — The  grant  of  three  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  voted  by  the  commons  on  the 
twentieth  of  January,  to  enable  his  majesty 
to  give  a  proper  compensation  to  the  respec- 
tive provinces  in  North  America  for  the  ex- 
penses incurred  by  them  in  the  levying, 
clothing,  and  pay  of  their  troops,  though 
not  more  popular  than  the  king  of  Prussia's 
subsidy,  was  certainly  more  unexceptiona- 
ble. The  states  had  acted  with  the  utmost 
vigor  and  dispatch  in  the  raising  and  equip- 
ment of  tliose  troops ;  and  the  troops  them- 
selves, particularly  the  Virginians,  had  dis- 
played uncommon  firnmess  and  courage  in 
several  perilous  situations ;  and  had,  upon 
every  occasion  that  offered,  co-operated 
with  the  forces  of  the  mother  country,  in 
the  most  hearty  and  eifectual  manner. 


BALLOT  FOR  MILITIA  PRODUCTIVE  OF 
A  RIOT  AT  HEXHAM. 

The  militia  in  the  northern  counties  had 
already  served  the  term  of  three  years, 
prescribed  by  law:  it  become  requisite  to 
ballot  for  a  succession  of  men ;  and  the  de- 
puty-lieutenant and  justices  of  the  peace 
for  the  county  of  Northumberland  accord- 
ingly met  at  Hexham  on  the  ninth  of  March 
for  that  purpose.  The  common  people  be- 
ing determined  to  oppose  the  measure, 
which  they  looked  upon  as  an  insupportable 
grievance,  assembled  to  the  number  of  five 
thousand,  of  both  sexes,  and  of  all  ages, 
some  of  them  armed  with  bludgeons,  and 
others  with  pikes  and  firelocks.  The  jus- 
tices had  procured  a  battalion  of  the  York- 
shire militia  for  their  guard,  and  these  were 
drawn  up  in  the  market-place.  The  mob, 
being  reinforced  by  a  large  body  of  pitmen 
from  the  collieries,  ridiculed  the  menace, 
assaulted  the  troop,  and  shot  an  ensign  dead, 
and  two  of  the  private  men.  The  militia, 
thus  exasperated,  poured  in  upon  them  a 
regular  discharge,  by  which  forty-five  of  the 
populace  were  killed  upon  the  spot,  and  three 
hundred  miserably  wounded.  One  of  the 
ringleaders  was  taken  up,  tried,  and  execut- 
ed for  an  example. 

One  of  the  articles,  fixed  upon  by  the 
committee  of  ways  and  means  for  raising 
the  before  mentioned  supplies,  seemed  to 
threaten  a  more  dangerous  commotion  in 
the  capital  than  that  which  the  renewal  or 
the  militia  had  excited  in  a  different  county. 
LOAN  OF  TWELVE  MILLIONS. 

The  principal  expedient  was  a  loan  of 
twelve  millions,  the  interest  of  which  was 
to  be  paid  by  an  additional  duty  of  three 
shillings  per  barrel  on  all  strong  beer,  or  ale, 
the  sinking  fund  being  a  collateral  security. 

This  tax,  in  addition  to  the  former  duties 
of  excise  on  beer,  excited  a  great  outcry 
among  the  lower  classes  of  people. 
NEW  ACT  OF  INSOLVENCY. 

Petitions  in  favor  of  confined  debtors 
had  of  late  been  presented  to  the  house  with 
the  fullest  confidence  in  its  kind  and  com- 
passionate regard.  The  hopes  of  the  appli- 
cants were  greatly  encouraged  by  the  ac- 
cession and  character  of  the  new  sovereign. 
They  had  also,  at  this  juncture,  other  strong- 
claims  to  the  consideration  of  the  legisla- 
ture :  all  the  prisons  in  the  kingdom  were 
crowded,  and  many  thousands  of  valuable 
subjects  lost  to  society,  at  a  time  when  the 
people  were  thinned  by  a  consuming  war, 
and  when  several  manufactures  were  stand- 
ing still  or  totally  abandoned  for  want  of 
workmen.  The  commons  were  not  inatten- 
tive to  remonstrances  so  well  supported  by 
humanity  and  policy.  A  bill  was  brought 
in,  and  s.x)n  passed  into  an  cct  for  the  re- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


15 


lief  of  such  unfortunate  captives,  and  con- 
taining a  clause  framed  with  a  view  to  per- 
petual, but  well-regulated  indulgence.  By  it, 
any  creditor  might  compel  a  prisoner,  charg- 
ed in  execution,  to  appear  at  the  quarter  ses- 
sions with  the  copy  of  his  detainer,  and  to  de- 
liver, upon  oath,  a  just  schedule  of  his  estate. 
After  producing  and  subscribing  the  schedule, 
he  was  to  be  discharged  ;  but,  if  he  refused 
to  do  so,  or  concealed  to  the  value  of  twenty 
pounds,  he  was  to  suffer  as  a  felon.  This 
clause  seemed  likely  to  be  productive  of  the 
best  effects :  it  was  designed  to  operate  as 
a  penal  check  on  persons  of  a  difterent  de- 
scription, who  might  be  inclined  to  continue 
in  prison  and  to  spend  their  substance  there, 
rather  than  give  up  their  property  for  the 
satisfaction  of  their  creditors.  But  the  laud- 
able intentions  of  the  legislature  were  de- 
feated, and  its  clemency  abused  by  fraud 
and  collusion.  Great  numbers  of  people  in 
all  stations  of  life  seized  this  opportunity  of 
disencumbering  themselves  of  their  debts. 
The  alarm,  in  consequence,  was  so  great, 
and  personal  credit  received  such  a  shock, 
that  the  common  council  of  London  instruct- 
ed their  representatives  in  the  new  parlia- 
ment to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  procure 
the  repeal  of  the  compulsive  clause,  as  a 
manifest  grievance  to  the  public. 

INDEPENDENCY  OF  THE  JUDGES. 

In  the  beginning  of  March  the  king  pro- 
posed a  step  for  securing  the  independency 
of  the  judges,  which  was  justly  admired  as 
an  eminent  proof  of  his  majesty's  canilor, 
rioderation,  and  public  spirit.  Having  tone 
to  the  house  of  lords  to  give  his  assent  to 
some  bills  then  ready,  he  commanded  the  at- 
tendance of  the  commons,  and  explained  his 
purpose  in  the  following  manner  : 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

"  Upon  granting  new  commissions  to  the 
judges,  the  present  state  of  their  offices  fell 
naturally  under  consideration. 

"  In  consequence  of  the  act  passed  in  the 
reign  of  my  late  glorious  predecessor  king 
William  III.  for  settling  the  succession  of 
the  crown  in  my  family,  their  commissions 
have  been  made  during  their  good  behavior ; 
but,  notwithstanding  that  wise  provision, 
their  offices  have  determined  upon  the  de- 
mise of  the  crown,  or  at  the  expiration  of 
six  months  afterwards,  in  every  instance  of 
that  nature  which  has  happened. 

"  I  look  upon  the  independency  and  up- 
rightness of  the  judges  of  the  land,  as  essen- 
tial to  the  impartial  administration  of  jus- 
tice; as  one  of  the  best  securities  to  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  my  loving  subjects ; 
and  as  most  conducive  to  the  honor  of  the 
crown :  and  I  come  now  to  recommend  this 
interesting  object  to  the  consideration  of 
parliament,  in  order  that  such  farther  pro- 
vision may  be  made  for  securing  the  judges 


in  the  enjoyment  of  their  offices,  durmg 
their  good  behavior,  notwithstanding  any 
such  demise,  as  shall  be  most  expedient. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons, 

"  I  must  desire  of  you,  in  particular,  that 
I  may  be  enabled  to  grant,  and  establish 
upon  the  judges  such  salaries  as  1  shall  think 
proper,  so  as  to  be  absolutely  secured  to 
them,  during  the  continuance  of  their  com- 
missions." 

This  speech  was  received  with  the  ap- 
plause due  to  such  a  declaration.  The  com- 
mons, to  whom  he  had  more  particularly  ad- 
dressed himself  on  the  occasion,  acknow- 
ledged their  most  grateful  sense  of  his  ma- 
jesty's attention  to  an  object  so  interesting 
to  his  people :  they  assured  him,  that  his 
faithful  commons  saw  with  joy  and  venera- 
tion the  warm  regard  and  concern,  which 
animated  his  royal  breast,  for  the  security 
of  the  religion,  laws,  liberties,  and  properties 
of  his  subjects ;  that  the  house  would  imme- 
diately proceed  upon  the  important  work, 
recommended  by  his  majesty  with  such  ten- 
der care  of  his  people ;  and  would  enable 
him  to  establish  the  salaries  of  the  judges 
hi  such  a  permanent  manner,  that  they 
might  be  enjoyed  during  the  continuance  of 
their  commissions.  These  assurances  were 
converted  into  so  many  resolutions  of  the 
house  on  the  fifth  of  March,  and  became  the 
basis  of  a  law,  by  which  the  independency 
of  the  bench  was  better  secured. 

THE  SPEAKER  RETIRES. 

The  commons  concluded  their  proceed- 
ings with  some  very  flattering  testimonies  of 
their  regard  for  Mr.  Onslow,  the  speaker, 
who  had  signified  his  intention  to  resign  the 
chair,  which  he  had  filled  during  the  course 
of  above  thirty-three  years,  in  five  successive 
parliaments. 

The  king  closed  the  scene  on  the  nme- 
teenth  of  March  with  a  speech  to  both  houses 
in  which  his  majesty  touched  upon  the  fur- 
ther progress  of  the  war  in  Germany,  where, 
as  his  majesty  observed,  the  superior  ability 
and  indefatigable  activity  of  prince  Ferdi- 
nand, and  the  spirit  and  ardor  of  the  other 
officers  and  troops,  had  been  surprisingly  ex- 
erted, notwithstanding  all  the  difficulties 
arising  from  the  season. 

ADVANTAGEOUS  POSITION  OF  THE 
FRENCH. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  campaign,  the 
French  continued  masters  of  the  whole  ter- 
ritory of  Hesse,  where  they  had  amassed 
large  stores,  and  strengthened  all  the  tena- 
ble places  with  additional  works.  On  their 
left,  they  had  driven  the  allies  from  the 
lower  Rhine,  and  kept  so  considerable  a 
body  of  troops  there  as  to  check  any  hostile 
effort  in  that  quarter.  On  their  right,  hav- 
ing forced  prince  Ferdinand  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Grottmgen,  they  remained  in  quiet 


16 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


possession  of  that  important  fortress,  while 
the  electorate  of  Hanover  lay  quite  open  to 
their  enterprises.  Thus  their  cantonments 
presented  the  appearance  of  an  immense 
crescent,  the  two  advanced  points  of  which 
were  at  Gottingen  and  Wesel,  and  the  body 
extended  in  Hesse :  so  that  being  perfectly 
well  provided  with  magazines,  and  unob- 
structed in  all  their  communications  neces- 
sary for  their  current  subsistence,  with 
strong  places  in  their  rear,  and  in  both 
their  flanks,  they  seemed  to  have  nothing 
more  to  do,  next  campaign,  than  to  advance 
their  several  posts  in  a  manner  to  inclose 
the  allied  army,  which,  without  some  signal 
success,  would  find  itself  absolutely  incapa- 
ble of  making  any  stand  against  them. 
PRINCE  FERDINAND'S  PLAN  OF  ATTACK. 

Prince  Ferdinand  was  sensible  of  the 
inconveniencies  of  his  own  situation,  and  of 
the  advantages  the  enemy  had  over  him. 
He  therefore  resolved  to  strike  the  first  blow ; 
and  having,  on  the  ninth  of  February,  as- 
sembled his  forces  at  three  different  places 
of  rendezvous  with  all  possible  secrecy,  he 
communicated  his  designs  to  his  generals  next 
day,  and  immediately  began  to  carry  them 
into  execution. 

The  centre  of  the  army  was  led  on  by 
his  serene  highness  in  person :  it  marched 
directly  into  Hesse,  and  made  its  way  to- 
wards Cassel.  The  right  and  left  wings,  or 
rather  detachments,  were  each  at  a  consid 
erable  distance  from  the  main  body,  but  so 
disposed  that  their  separate  effects  might 
fully  concur  in  the  general  plan  of  opera- 
tions. The  hereditary  prince  commanded 
on  the  right;  he  pushed  forward  with  the 
utmost  expedition  into  the  heart  of  the 
French  quarters,  leaving  the  country  of 
Hesse  a  little  to  the  east.  General  Sporken, 
at  the  head  of  the  third  division  of  the  forces 
on  the  left,  had  orders  to  penetrate  into 
Thuringia,  and  to  endeavor,  by  a  rapid  and 
judicious  movement,  to  break  the  commu- 
nication of  the  French  and  Imperialists,  to 
open  one  for  the  allies  with  the  Prussians, 
and  to  cut  off"  all  intercourse  between  the 
grand  army  of  the  enemy  and  their  garrison 
at  Gottingen. 

FRITZLAR  AND  SEVERAL  MAGAZINES 
TAKEN. 
By  this  sudden,  extensive,  and  vigorous 
attack,  the  French  were  thrown  into  the  ut- 
most consternation.  They  retreated,  or  ra- 
ther fled  on  every  side.  But,  happily  for 
them,  they  had  very  sufficient  means  of 
securing  their  retreat,  and  such  a  number  of 
garrisons  as  the  allies  could  not  leave  be- 
hind them  in  their  career,  without  being  ex- 
posed to  the  most  imminent  danger.  Fritz- 
lar  was  the  first  place,  on  which  the  hered- 
itary prince  made  an  attack,  with  only  a 
few  battalions  and  musketry,  having  been 


informed  that  he  might  easily  surprise  it. 
But  he  was  deceived  in  his  intelligence  :  he 
found  the  garrison  prepared  and  resolute; 
after  an  assault,  therefore,  conducted  with 
his  usual  spirit,  he  was  obliged  to  draw  off' 
with  no  inconsiderable  loss.  Cannon  and 
mortars,  which  the  hereditary  prince  had 
before  neglected,  were  brought  before  Fritz- 
lar,  and  soon  obliged  it  to  surrender.  A 
large  magazine  was  found  there.  Some 
forts  and  castles  in  the  neighborhood  were 
also  reduced  by  the  marquis  of  Granby. 
The  victorious  troops  then  continued  their 
progress,  and  as  they  advanced,  the  French 
gradually  retired,  abandoning  post  after  post, 
till  they  were  nearly  driven  to  the  banks  of 
the  Maine.  In  their  retreat,  they  set  fire 
to  their  magazines;  but  the  allies  pursu- 
ed with  so  much  rapidity,  that  they  saved 
five  capital  stores,  one  of  which  contained 
eighty  thousand  sacks  of  meal,  fifty  thousand 
sacks  of  oats,  and  a  million  rations  of  hay, 
a  very  small  part  of  which  had  been  de- 
stroyed. These  acquisitions  were  of  tjie 
utmost  advantage :  as  it  was  almost  impossi- 
ble that  the  troops  could  otherwise  have 
been  supplied  with  subsistence,  and  the 
horse  with  provender,  in  such  a  season,  and 
at  so  great  a  distance  from  their  original 
quarters. 

Notwithstanding  the  success  of  the  allies 
in  front,  it  was  not  there  the  grand  object 
of  their  operations  lay.  Cassel,  Gottingen, 
Marpurg,  Ziegenhayn,  and  several  smaller 
posts  were  still  nrj reduced  at  their  backs, 
and  might  cut  o:!'  tlieir  retreat,  in  case  of 
any  reverse  of  ibnune.  As  soon  tlierefore 
as  the  army,  under  the  command  of  marshal 
Broglio,  had  been  driven  quite  out  of  Hesse, 
and  had  retreated  towards  Frankfort  on  the 
Maine,  prince  Ferdinand  ceased  to  advance, 
and  made  the  best  dispositions  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  other  objects.  The 
marquis  of  Granby,  with  a  large  body  of 
troops,  was  ordered  to  Marpurg,  which  the 
French  abandoned  at  his  approach.  An- 
other detachment  was  sent  oft'  to  the  block- 
ade of  Ziegenhayn :  but  this  fortress  held 
out  with  great  obstinacy.  The  siege  of 
Cassel  was  committed  to  the  count  of  Lippe 
Schamburgh,  a  sovereign  prince  of  the  em- 
pire, who  was  reputed  to  be  one  of  the 
ablest  engineers  in  Europe,  and  whose  for- 
mer management  of  the  artillery  at  Thorn- 
hausen  had  been  a  principal  cause  in  the 
acquisition  of  that  great  victory.  Prince 
Ferdinand  himself  formed  the  part  of  the 
army  which  remained  with  him,  into  a  chain 
of  cantonments,  so  as  to  watch  all  the  steps 
of  marshal  Broglio's  army,  and  to  cover  the 
progress  of  the  before  mentioned  operations. 
The  siege  of  Cassel  in  particular  attracted 
his  notice,  and  required  his  utmost  vigilance. 
Trenches  were  opened  on  the  first  of  March ; 


GEORGE  III.   1760.— 1820. 


17 


and  every  effort  of  vigor  and  judgment 
called  forth  in  an  enterprise,  on  the  success 
of  which  the  whole  fortune  of  the  campaign 
depended. 

VICISSITUDES  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

In  the  mean  time,  general  Sporken  and 
the  troops  under  his  command,  who  had 
taken  their  route  to  the  left,  on  the  side  of 
Saxony,  advanced  with  an  intrepidity  equal 
to  the  rest  of  the  allied  forces.  Having 
be^i  joined  by  a  corps  of  Prussians,  they 
attacked  the  Saxons  in  one  of  their  strongest 
posts  on  the  Unstrut,  and  totally  defeated 
them.  A  great  number  were  killed  in  the 
action:  five  entire  battalions  were  made 
prisoners,  and  several  pieces  of  cannon  were 
taken,  besides  a  large  magazine,  which  the 
routed  enemy  had  not  time  to  destroy.  This 
blow  was  well  followed :  one  body  of  the 
combined  army  pushed  on  to  Eisemach  and 
Gotha,  whilst  another  by  forced  marches 
got  forward  to  Fulda :  the  French  gave  way 
on  their  right,  and  the  army  of  the  empire 
on  the  left,  abandoning  a  very  large  tract  of 
country  to  their  pursuers. 

Such  was  the  flattering  posture  of  affairs, 
as  detailed  in  the  last  advices  from  Germa- 
ny, when  the  king  was  about  to  put  an  end 
to  the  sessions  of  parliament.  It  was  there- 
fore very  natural  for  him  to  speak  of  it  to 
both  houses  with  some  degree  of  exultation. 
But  this  extraorduiary  course  of  prosperity 
was  not  of  long  continuance.  The  allies 
were  obliged  to  undertake  too  many  enter- 
prises at  the  same  time,  and  these  too  ardu- 
ous for  the  number  of  which  their  army 
consisted.  In  proportion  as  general  Spor- 
ken's  victorious  troops  were  carried  forward 
by  their  activity  and  success,  they  left  the 
countries  on  their  rear  more  and  more  ex- 
posed to  the  powerful  garrison  of  Gottingen. 
The  count  de  Vaux,  who  commanded  there, 
no  sooner  perceived  that  the  allies  were 
wholly  intent  upon  pushing  the  advantages 
they  had  acquired,  than  he  marched  out 
with  a  strong  detachment;  attacked  and 
routed  a  Hanoverian  convoy ;  fell  upon  the 
town  of  Duderstadt  with  great  violence  ; 
and  after  some  checks,  made  himself  master 
of  that  post  and  of  the  most  considerable 
places  near  it.  He  thus  prevented  general 
Sporken's  corps  fron\  returning  by  the  way 
they  had  advanced,  and  even  put  it  out  of 
their  power  to  act  separately  from  their 
main  army,  to  which  their  junction  soon 
after  became  necessary  on  another  account. 


Marshal  Broglio,  toward  the  close  of  the 
last  campaign,  had  been  obliged,  by  the  bold 
projects  of  the  hereditary  prince,  to  detach 
from  his  army  in  Hesse  a  large  body  to  the 
lower  Rhine.  He  now  found  it  equally 
proper  to  recall  this  body,  together  with 
further  reinforcements,  in  order  to  maintain 
his  ground  in  the  country  northward  of  the 
Maine,  where  he  was  closely  pressed  by  the 
allies,  and  which  he  must  be  compelled 
shamefully  to  relinquish,  if  Cassel  was  not 
relieved  in  time. 
DEFEAT  OF  THE  HEREDITARY  PRINCE. 

He  advanced  without  delay.  The  troops 
under  the  hereditary  prmce  were,  from  their 
situation,  exposed  to  the  first  attack.  This 
was  made  by  the  dragoons  of  the  enemy, 
whose  charge  was  so  impetuous  as  instantly 
to  break  the  whole  foot,  consisting  of  nine 
regiments,  Hanoverians,  Hessians,  and 
Brunswickers.  Two  thousand  prisoners,  and 
several  trophies  of  victory  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  French  ;  though  very  few  were  killed 
or  wounded  on  either  side.  The  blow  was 
decisive.  The  allies  could  no  longer  think 
of  maintaining  their  ground.  They  broke 
up  the  blockade  of  Ziegenhayn :  raised  the 
siege  of  Cassel,  after  twenty-seven  days 
open  trenches;  and  evacuated  the  whole 
country  of  Hesse,  retiring  behind  the  Dy- 
mel,  and  falling  back  nearly  to  the  quarters 
they  possessed  before  this  undertaking.  But, 
notwithstandmg  the  failure  of  their  expedi- 
tion in  other  respects,  they  accomplished 
one  very  great  and  important  purpose  in  the 
destruction  or  seizure  of  so  many  of  the 
principal  magazines  of  the  enemy.  Such 
stores  could  not  be  quickly  replaced ;  and 
the  French,  for  want  of  them,  were  disabled 
from  taking  the  field  till  the  end  of  June. 
PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED. 

As  it  was  in  the  moment  of  the  most  as- 
tonishing success  that  the  king  took  notice 
of  the  operations  of  the  allied  army,  he 
showed  great  wisdom  and  temper  in  adding, 
"  that  the  only  use  he  proposed  to  make  of 
such  victories,  and  of  the  important  acquisi- 
tions gained  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
was  to  secure  and  promote  the  welfare  of 
his  kingdoms,  and  to  procure  to  them  the 
blessings  of  peace  on  safe  and  honorable 
conditions." 

With  such  sentiments,  the  king  took  hie 
farewell  of  the  parliament,  which  was  im- 
mediately dissolved ;  and  writs  were  issued 
for  the  election  of  new  members. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  I. 


1  The  civil  list  revenues  for  those! 
thirty-three  years,  aad  the  sums 
granted  at  different    times  to| 


make  good  deficiencies,  amount- 1 
ed   only  to  26,182,981/.  which! 


was  217.019/.  short  of  the  ex- 
pected contribution. 


2* 


18 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  11. 

Circumstances  which  led  to  the  Proposal  of  a  Congress  at  Augsburg — Plausible  Rea- 
sons for  previously  setting  on  foot  a  distinct  Negotiation  at  London  and  Paris — Mr. 
Pitt  unfavorable  to  a  Peace — Secret  intrigues  of  the  French  Ministry  at  the  Court 
of  Madrid — Difficulties  about  the  mutual  retaining  of  Possessions — Survey  of  hostile 
operations  during  the  Suspension  of  the  Treaty — Expedition  against  Belleisle — The 
Negotiation  resumed — Remarks  on  the  two  main  Points  of  Dispute — Inflexibility  of 
the  English  Secretary — Some  Account  of  the  Family  Compact — Candid  Inquiries 
on  which  side  the  chief  blame  lay — The  Treaty  finally  broken  off. 


PROPOSAL  OF  A  CONGRESS  AT  AUGS- 
BURG. 
The  liberal  supplies  granted  by  parliament 
for  the  ensuing  campaign  on  the  continent, 
and  for  tlie  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war 
in  general,  astonished  all  Europe,  and  made 
the  courts  of  Vienna  and  Versailles  sensible 
of  the  necessity  of  proposing  terms  of  peace. 
They  had  slighted  some  overtures  made  by 
the  kings  of  England  and  Prussia  in  the 
close  of  the  year  1759 ;  but  the  posture  of 
affairs  at  that  time  rendered  it  very  evident 
that  those  offers  were  dictated  by  a  wish  to 
keep  up  the  show  of  moderation  in  the  height 
of  prosperity,  and  to  reconcile  the  subjects 
of  the  former  sovereign  to  what  must  then 
appear  a  necessary  continuance  of  the  war, 
rather  than  by  a  hope  that  tlie  adverse  par- 
ties would  pay  any  serious  regard  to  such 
proposals.  As  the  advantages  were  almost 
wholly  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  France 
could  not  then  expect  very  favorable  terms 
for  herself  or  her  allies.  She  therefore 
looked  forward  to  the  issue  of  another  cam- 
paign in  Germany,  to  counterbalance  her 
losses  elsewhere,  and  to  place  her,  at  least, 
on  a  footing  of  honorable  equality.  In  this, 
however,  she  met  with  some  disappointment. 
The  success  of  the  war  proved  so  fluctuating, 
even  where  all  her  hopes  lay,  and  where  her 
utmost  strength  was  exerted,  that  she  at 
lengtli  began  to  relent,  and  apparently  to 
desire  peace  in  earnest  The  other  members 
of  the  grand  alliance  could  not  decently,  or 
safely  oppose  these  dispositions  on  the  part 
of  France,  as  she  v/as  not  only  the  prime 
mover,  but  the  chief  supporter  of  their  hos- 
tile confederacy.  The  court  of  Sweden,  in 
particular,  was  given  to  understand,  that  the 
diminished  resources  of  France  put  it  out  of 
her  power  to  furnish  any  longer  the  stipulat- 
ed subsidies,  or  to  comply  with  the  exact 
letter  of  her  engagements.  In  consequence 
of  these,  and  other  hints  on  the  uncertainty 
of  being  at  any  future  period  in  a  better  con- 
dition to  treat  than  at  present,  the  five  par- 
ties to  the  war  on  that  side  made  as  many 
pecific  declarations,  which  were  signed  at 
Paris  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  March,  and  de- 


livered at  London  on  the  thirty-first  of  the 
same  month.  The  counter-declaration  of 
Great  Britain  and  Prussia,  expressing  their 
cheerful  acceptance  of  the  offer,  appeared 
on  the  third  of  April;  and  Augsburg,  an 
independent  city  in  the  circle  of  Suabia, 
was  fixed  upon  as  the  most  convenient  place 
for  the  proposed  congress.  Lord  Egremont, 
lord  Stormont,  at  that  time  ambassador  in 
Poland,  and  general  Yorke,  who  acted  in  the 
same  capacity  at  the  Hague,  were  nominated 
as  the  English  plenipotentiaries  :  the  count 
de  Choiseul  was  appointed  on  the  part  of 
France.  Augsburg  now  became  the  centre 
of  attention  to  all  Europe ;  and  each  court 
prepared  everything  towards  this  important 
meeting  which  it  could  furnish  of  splendor 
for  the  display  of  its  dignity,  and  of  ability 
for  the  support  of  its  interest.  The  thoughts 
and  conversation  of  men  were  for  a  while 
diverted  from  scenes  of  horror,  bloodshed, 
and  pillage ;  and  every  mind  was  more  agree- 
ably employed  on  the  public  shows  of  mag- 
nificence, and  the  private  game  of  policy,  in 
which  so  many  contending  powers  were 
brought  into  the  closest  and  most  eager  com- 
petition. 

REASON  FOR  A  NEGOTIATION. 
In  order  to  lessen  the  intricacy  of  their 
future  proceedings,  it  was  unanimously 
agreed,  m  the  first  place,  that  none  should 
be  admitted  to  the  congress  but  the  parties 
principally  concerned,  and  their  allies.  But 
although  this  exclusion  of  the  neutral  states 
tended  greatly  to  disembarrass  and  simplify 
the  treaty,  yet  such  was  the  variety  of  sepa- 
rate and  independent  matters  which  still  re- 
mained to  be  discussed,  that  it  became  ad- 
visable to  make  a  farther  separation,  with  a 
view  to  an  easier  and  more  speedy  adjust- 
ment of  their  respective  concerns.  For  this 
purpose  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the 
causes  of  the  different  quarrels  in  so  compli- 
cated a  war  to  their  first  principles ;  and  to 
disengage  the  several  interests  which  origin- 
ally, and  in  their  own  nature,  had  no  con- 
nexion, from  that  mass,  in  which  mutual  in- 
juries and  a  common  animosity  had  blended 
and  confounded  tliem.    The  court  of  France 


GEORGE  m.  1760-1820. 


19 


therefore  proposed  to  settle  the  American 
dispute  by  a  distinct  negotiation  at  London 
and  Paris,  previously  to  the  discussion  of  the 
German  aflairs  at  Augsburg.  Nothing  could 
aflbrd  a  stronger  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  her 
intentions;  for  it  was  very  certain  that,  if 
matters  could  be  satisfactorily  accommodated 
betvi^een  her  and  Great  Britain,  and  if  they 
both  should  carry  to  the  general  congress 
the  same  candor  and  good  faith,  their  influ- 
ence must  necessarily  tend  to  inspire  senti- 
ments of  moderation  into  the  rest,  and  must 
contribute  largely  to  accelerate  the  great 
work  of  pacification. 
MR.  PITT  UNFAVORABLE  TO  A  PEACE. 

Ministers  were  mutually  sent  from  both 
courts :  Mr.  Stanley  on  the  part  of  England ; 
and  Mr.  Bussy  on  that  of  France.  The  for- 
mer embarked  for  Calais  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  May;  and  the  latter  arrived  in 
London  on  the  thirty-first  of  the  same  month. 
But  unfortunately  the  plan  and  disposition  of 
the  treaty  were  much  more  easily  adjusted 
than  the  matter  and  the  substance  of  it ;  and 
it  is  also  very  probable  that  the  secret  in- 
trigues, or  private  views  of  both  parties,  did 
not  perfectly  correspond  with  their  public 
professions. 

Mr.  Pitt,  one  of  the  British  secretaries  of 
state,  whose  talents  and  popularity  had  en- 
abled him,  for  the  last  three  years,  to  give 
the  law  in  the  council,  felt  that  his  influence 
there  was  likely  to  expire  with  the  war. 
Notwithstanding  the  greatness  of  his  mind, 
and  the  dignity  of  his  sentiments  in  many 
other  respects,  he  was  too  much  actuated  by 
contempt  and  hatred  of  the  French.  But,  as 
he  could  not  absolutely  reject  their  fair  pro- 
posal of  a  treaty,  his  aim  was  to  obstruct  its 
progress,  and  to  renew  the  quarrel  on  such 
grounds  as  might  flatter  the  pride  of  his 
countrymen,  and  reconcile  them  to  the  prose- 
cution of  expensive  measures,  against  which 
they  now  began  to  revolt.  The  posture  of 
aflRiirs  was  singularly  favorable  to  his  wishes. 
England  had  been  everywhere  victorious, 
except  in  Germany ;  and  he  knew  that  the 
people,  elated  by  a  series  of  conquests,  would 
not  approve  of  much  condescension  to  an 
enemy,  whom  they  detested,  and  whom  they 
considered  as  lying  at  their  mercy.  But  it 
v/as  evident  that,  without  a  sacrifice  of  some 
of  the  objects  on  which  they  had  set  their 
hearts,  it  would  be  impossible  to  procure  any 
satisfactory  terms  for  their  allies,  whose  af- 
fairs were  only  not  ruined  in  the  struggle, 
and  who  had  on  that  account  a  stronger 
claim  to  the  generous  attachment  of  Great 
Britain.  Here,  therefore,  Mr.  Pitt  foresaw 
that  he  could  fix  the  bar  of  honor,  which 
was  to  impede  and  finally  break  oflf  the 
treaty,  if  no  other  pretence  occurred  in  the 
course  of  the  negotiation. 


DUPLICITY  OF  THE  FRENCH  MINISTRY, 
France,  on  her  part,  was  equally  sensible, 
that  she  could  not  expect  a  peace,  without 
some  mortifying  concessions.  The  moment 
her  particular  concerns  came  to  be  separated 
from  the  general  cause,  she  had  every  dis- 
advantage in  the  treaty,  because  she  had 
suflfered  almost  every  disaster  in  the  war. 
The  landgraviate  of  Hesse,  the  county  of 
Hannau,  and  the  town  of  Gottingen,  were 
the  only  acquisitions  which  she  had  to  bal- 
lance  her  immense  losses  throughout  the 
rest  of  the  globe.  She  had  reason  to  sup- 
pose, that  the  Spaniards  could  not  behold 
with  indiflference  the  principal  branch  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon  humbled  and  stripi>ed  of 
its  American  possessions ;  because  such  an 
event  would  in  a  manner  leave  their  own 
colonies  at  the  mercy  of  England.  The  late 
king  of  Spain,  Ferdinand  VL  had,  indeed, 
refused  to  interfere  in  those  disputes;  but 
his  successor,  Charles  III.  was  more  likely 
to  take  the  alarm  at  the  farther  progress  of 
the  English ;  and  it  was  also  probable,  that 
every  sacrifice  or  cession  of  American  ter- 
ritory, which  might  be  exacted  from  France 
in  the  course  of  the  treaty,  would  prove  a 
fresh  incentive  to  the  suspicions  and  jealous- 
ies of  the  Spanish  monarch.  Thus  the  cabi- 
net of  Versailles  had  a  double  game  to  play, 
in  supporting  at  London  the  appearance  of 
the  most  earnest  desire  of  peace,  and  exert- 
ing at  Madrid  all  the  secret  springs  of  po- 
litical intrigue  to  continue  and  spread  still 
wider  the  calamities  of  war. 

DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  THE  RETAINING 
OF  POSSESSIONS. 
Such  was  the  mixture  of  hostile  and  pa- 
cific sentiments,  of  seeming  candor  and  dark 
design,  with  which  both  parties  entered  upon 
the  negotiation.  The  first  proposal  of  the 
French  minister  was,  "  that  the  two  crowns 
shall  remain  in  possession  of  what  they  have 
conquered  one  from  the  other:"  and  as 
France  had  assuredly  been  the  greatest 
loser,  so  unexpected  an  oflfer  on  her  part  ap- 
peared to  every  dispassionate  and  unpreju- 
diced member  of  the  British  cabinet,  an  in- 
stance of  singular  moderation,  if  not  hu- 
mility. But  Mr.  Pitt,  who  directed  all  things, 
did  not  treat  it  with  that  attention  which  its 
apparent  fairness  deserved.  He  barely  ac- 
quiesced in  the  general  principle,  while  he 
took  care  to  render  that  acquiescence  nuga- 
tory by  his  opjx)sition  to  another  article  with 
which  it  was  necessarily  connected.  As  the 
war  still  continued,  and  might  tlierefore 
make  a  daily  alteration  in  the  fortune  of  the 
contracting  powers,  tlie  French  minister,  had 
proposed,  "  That  the  situation,  in  which  they 
shall  stand  at  certain  periods,  shall  be  the 
position  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  treaty  that 
is  to  be  concluded  between  them."    He 


20 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


named,  for  this  purpose,  the  first  of  May  in 
Europe,  the  first  of  July  in  Africa  and  the 
West  Indies,  and  the  first  of  September  in 
the  East  Indies;  observing,  at  the  same  time, 
that  as  those  periods  might  seem  too  near  or 
toa  distant  for  the  interests  of  Great  Britain 
the  court  of  Versailles  was  extremely  will- 
ing to  enter  into  an  explanation  on  that  sub- 
ject. 

Pitt's  answer  was,  "that  his  Britannic 
majesty  would  admit  of  no  other  epoch,  but 
that  of  the  signing  of  the  peace."  To  this 
blunt  declaration  the  court  of  Versailles  re- 
plied, with  that  coolness  and  temper  which 
ought  to  govern  all  such  transactions,  "  That 
if  not  those,  already  named,  at  least  some 
fixed  periods,  during  the  war,  ought  to  be 
agreed  upon ;  as  the  uti  possidetis,  or  mu- 
tual retaining  of  possessions,  could  not  rea- 
sonably have  reference  only  to  the  time  of 
signing  the  treaty  of  peace :  that  if  these 
difficulties  occurred  in  the  simplicity  of  a 
possessory  article,  they  must  be  increased 
tenfold  upon  every  other,  and  would  come 
to  such  a  height,  as  to  preclude  all  possi- 
bility of  negotiation  on  things  of  so  intricate 
a  nature  as  exchanges  and  equivalents." 

SURVEY  OF  HOSTILE  OPERATIONS. 

This  dispute  occasioned  some  delay,  and 
afforded  the  French  ministry,  if  they  had 
been  so  disposed,  a  decent  pretext  for  break- 
ing ofif  the  negotiation.  In  the  mean  time 
Iiostilities  were  everywhere  carried  on,  as 
if  no  such  negotiation  subsisted.  But  the 
campaign  was  distinguished  by  few  memo- 
rable events. 

In  the  East  Indies  very  little  remained  to 
be  achieved,  after  the  reduction  of  Pondi- 
cherry  and  some  other  advantages  which 
were  gained  about  the  same  time.  The  day 
before  colonel  Coote  took  possession  of  that 
fortress,  the  Mogul  army  was  defeated  by 
major  Carnac  in  the  neighborhood  of  Guya. 
The  hopes  of  the  French  in  Bengal  were 
completely  blasted;  nor  was  fortune  more 
favorable  to  them  on  the  coast  of  Malabar. 
They  still  had  a  garrison  at  Mihie,  which, 
though  of  little  consequence  as  a  trading 
port,  they  had  fortified  at  a  vast  expense, 
and  mounted  the  works  with  above  two  hun- 
dred pieces  of  cannon.  But  it  did  not  long 
hold  out  against  the  well-directed  efforts  of 
a  body  of  forces  sent  from  Bombay  under 
Hector  Monro,  to  whom  Louet,  the  com- 
mander of  the  fort,  surrendered  it,  with  all 
its  dependencies,  in  the  beginning  of  Feb- 
ruary. Count  d'Estaigne  was  the  only 
French  adventurer  in  the  east,  who  had  ef- 
fected anything  which  might  be  placed  m 
the  opposite  scale  to  those  successes  of  the 
Englisih.  He  began  his  career  towards  the 
close  of  the  year  1759 ;  and  with  only  two 
ordinary  frigates  under  his  command,  he 
destroyed  the  fort  of  Bender-Abassi  on  the 


Persian  gulf,  and  took  two  frigates  of  almost 
equal  force  to  his  own,  besides  three  other 
vessels  belonging  to  the  company.  Early  in 
the  succeeding  year,  the  fort  of  Natal  sur- 
rendered to  him  without  any  terms,  and  he 
found  two  ships  in  the  road.  He  then  struck 
over  to  the  island  of  Sumatra,  where  he  soon 
reduced  Bencoolen,  Tappanopoli,  and  fort 
Marlborough ;  which  last,  though  in  a  good 
state  of  defence,  was  ingloriously  given  up 
by  the  garrison,  after  they  themselves  had 
burned  a  rich  company's  ship  that  lay  in  the 
harbor.  The  count,  however,  did  not  gain 
so  much  reputation  by  these  exploits,  as  he 
incurred  disgrace  from  having  engaged  in 
them,  contrary  to  the  most  sacred  laws  of 
arms ;  for  he  was  at  the  very  time  a  pris- 
oner upon  parole. 

On  the  coast  of  Africa  there  were  still 
fewer  objects  to  excite  any  particular  vigi- 
lance, or  exertion.  England  had  become 
mistress  of  all  the  French  forts  and  factories 
on  the  river  Senegal,  and  had  also  taken 
the  island  of  Goree,  valuable  on  account  of 
its  harbor,  and  its  convenient  situation,  be- 
uig  within  cannon-shot  of  Cape  Verd.  She, 
therefore,  had  nothing  more  to  do  in  that 
quarter  than  to  preserve  her  former  acquisi- 
tions. 

In  America  and  the  West  Indies,  ever 
since  the  taking  of  Guadaloupe,  and  the  re- 
duction of  Canada,  nothing  had  been  at- 
tempted by  land,  except  the  quelling  of  the 
Cherokees,  a  very  numerous  and  powerful 
Indian  nation,  who,  alike  regardless  of  past 
treaties  and  of  past  chastisement,  had  begun 
to  renew  their  barbarous  ravages  on  the  firon- 
tiers  of  South  Carolina. 

The  Jamaica  and  Leeward  island  squad- 
rons did  not  remain  idle  :  rear-admiral 
Holmes,  who  had  the  command  on  the  for- 
mer station,  planned  some  cruises  with  judg- 
ment and  success.  The  squadron  off  the 
Leeward  Islands,  under  the  direction  of 
commodore  Su-  James  Douglas,  was  not  less 
alert  in  scouring  those  seas  of  the  Martinico 
privateers ;  and  had  also  the  merit  of  as- 
sisting in  the  conquest  of  Dominica,  one  of 
the  islands  called  neutral,  but  which  the 
French  had  fortified  and  settled. 

Those  successes  were,  indeed,  highly 
honorable  to  the  small  parties  by  whom  they 
were  obtained;  but  they  fell  far  short  of 
what  might  have  been  reasonably  expected 
from  the  employment  of  a  greater  force  in 
that  part  of  the  world  where  the  enemy  was 
most  vulnerable. 

It  has  been  before  observed,  that  although 
the  great  purpose  of  the  early  and  strenu- 
ous eflTort  made  by  prince  Ferdinand  was 
not  fully  answered,  it  nevertheless  produced 
a  very  considerable  and  useful  effect.  The 
destruction  of  the  French  magazines  re- 
tarded their  operations  in  such  a  manner, 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


21 


tiiat  tlie  greatest  part  of  tlie  month  of  June 
was  spent,  before  their  armies  found  them- 
selves in  a  condition  to  act.  But  as  soon  as 
they  had  taken  proper  measures  for  their  sub- 
sistence, marshal  Broglio  assembled  his  forces 
at  Cassel,  and  moved  towards  the  Dymel,  in 
order  to  effect  a  junction  with  another  PVench 
army  under  the  prince  of  Soubise,  who  was 
advancing  on  the  side  of  Munster.  The 
first  blow  was  struck  by  marshal  Broglio. 
He  surprised  a  body  of  troops  commanded 
by  general  Sporken,  and  very  advantage- 
ously posted  on  the  Dymel,  in  front  of  the 
allied  army.  The  French  took,  upon  this 
occasion,  eight  hundred  prisoners,  nineteen 
pieces  of  cannon,  four  hundred  horses,  and 
upwards  of  a  hundred  and  seventy  wagons. 
The  same  day,  which  was  the  twenty-ninth 
of  June,  they  passed  the  Dymel ;  and  while 
prince  Ferdinand,  as  if  discouraged  by  so 
sudden  a  check,  fell  back  to  the  Lippe,  they 
made  themselves  masters  of  Warburg,  Drin- 
gleburg,  and  Paderbom.  The  allies,  how- 
ever, soon  recovered  their  spirit ;  and  seve- 
ral parties,  conducted  by  general  Luckner 
and  other  able  officers,  undertook  some  bold 
and  very  distant  enterprises,  attacked  the 
enemy  where  they  were  least  upon  their 
guard,  routed  their  convoys,  destroyed  a 
grea,t  many  of  their  magazines,  and  carried 
off  their  prey,  even  from  the  gates  of  Cas- 
sel. These  irritating  skirmishes  hastened 
the  union  of  the  French  forces,  and  made 
them  resolve  on  a  general  action. 

The  moment  Prince  Ferdinand  was  ap- 
prized of  the  intention  of  the  enemy,  he 
called  in  all  his  detachments,  and  made  the 
most  admirable  disposition  of  his  army.  The 
whole  centre  and  the  right  wing  were  cov- 
ered in  front  by  the  Saltzbach,  a  small,  but 
very  deep  river,  while  the  flank  was  well 
defended  by  rugged,  bushy,  and  almost  im- 
practicable ground.  The  other  wing  was 
posted  on  an  isthmus  between  two  rivers, 
the  left  extremity  leaning  to  the  Lippe,  by 
which  it  was  perfectly  secured,  as  the  right 
was  supported  by  the  village  of  Kirch-Den- 
kern,  situated  immediately  on  the  Aest.  The 
marquis  of  Granby  had  the  command  of  this 
wing ;  and  as  it  protected  a  liigh  road  which 
formed  the  only  communication  with  the  ad- 
jacent country,  and  was  also  the  most  ex- 
posed in  front,  so  that  it  would  probably  be 
the  object  of  the  enemy's  most  considerable 
efforts,  the  strength  and  flower  of  the  army, 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  artillery,  were 
placed  there.  But  before  all  these  precau 
tions  could  be  taken,  or  the  necessary  ar- 
rangements made,  the  enemy,  by  a  rapid 
motion  in  the  evening  of  the  fifteenth  of  July, 
came  up  to  the  marquis  of  Granby's  posts, 
and  attacked  them  with  great  fiiry.  The 
British  troops,  though  then  unsupported 
withstood  for  some  hours  the  whole  torrent 


of  that  impetuosity  which  distinguishes  the 
onsets  of  the  French.  At  last,  general  Wut- 
genau,  according  to  the  plan  originally  pro- 
jected, got  round  with  a  large  reinforcement 
to  lord  Granby's  left,  and  attacking  the  ene- 
my in  flank,  obliged  them,  after  an  obstinate 
struggle  which  continued  till  it  was  quite 
dark,  to  take  shelter  in  the  woods  behind 
them.  By  the  next  morning,  prince  Ferdi- 
nand's disposition  of  his  forces  was  perfect- 
ed ;  and  it  was  evident  that  the  French,  far 
from  being  dismayed  by  repulse,  were  pre- 
pared for  a  more  general,  and  still  better 
sustained  attack  than  the  former.  Marslial 
Broglio  led  on  their  right  wing  agamst  the 
left  of  the  allied  army,  which,  as  on  the 
evening  before,  was  the  principal  object  of 
the  enemy :  their  centre  and  their  left  wing 
were  commanded  by  the  prince  of  Soubise, 
who  had  directed,  but  failed  m  the  assault 
of  the  preceding  day.  The  engagement 
began  at  three  in  the  morning,  and  a  severe 
fire  was  continued  for  upwards  of  five  hours 
before  the  least  effect  could  be  perceived  on 
either  side.  The  weight  of  the  conflict  this 
day  lay  on  general  Wutgenau's  corps,  who 
supported  it  with  a  degree  of  bravery  that 
rivalled  the  firm  and  intrepid  stand  which 
had  been  lately  made  by  the  British  forces. 
About  nine  o'clock,  prince  Ferdinand  receiv- 
ing intimation  that  the  enemy  were  prepar- 
ing to  erect  batteries  on  an  eminence  in  the 
front  of  the  marquis  of  Granby's  camp,  im- 
mediately ordered  a  body  of  troops  to  defeat 
their  purpose.  This  service  was  performed 
with  so  much  vigor,  that  the  enemy  fell  into 
confusion,  and  precipitately  quitted  the  field. 
Their  centre  and  left,  which  had  not  been 
able  to  pass  the  Saltzbach,  after  a  long  and 
ineffectual  cannonade,  retired  with  the  rest, 
and  covered  their  retreat;  so  that  favored 
by  this  circumstance,  and  by  the  closeness 
of  the  country  which  was  full  of  hedges,  they 
marched  off  in  tolerable  order,  and  were 
pursued  but  a  little  way.  Their  loss,  how- 
ever, amounted  to  near  five  thousand  men, 
including  the  regiment  of  Rouge,  which 
consisted  of  four  Imttalions,  and  was  entirely 
taken  with  its  cannon  and  colors  by  the  sin- 
gle battalion  of  Maxwell.  The  allies  had 
no  more  than  three  hundred  killed,  a  thou- 
sand wounded,  and  about  two  hundred  miss- 
ing. In  other  respects,  the  victory  would 
have  been  attended  with  little  advantage, 
had  the  enemy  continued  to  act  in  concert, 
and  to  avail  themselves  of  their  great  supe- 
riority in  point  of  number.  But  their  gen- 
erals were  said  to  be  influenced  by  motives 
of  personal  pique,  and  to  have  mutually 
thwarted  each  other's  schemes.  It  is  at 
least  certain,  that,  after  the  action  of  Kirch- 
Denkern,  their  armies  were  disunited  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  campaign.  The  party 
under  the  prince  of  Soubise  passed  the  Lippe, 


22 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  made  dispositions  for  the  siege  of  Mun- 
ster ;  whilst  marshal  Broglio's  forces  turned 
off  on  the  other  side,  crossed  the  Weser,  and 
threatened  to  fall  upon  Hanover. 

Prince  Ferdinand  had  not  troops  sufficient 
to  form  two  distinct  armies ;  but  he  chose  a 
central  position  for  his  main  body,  and  con- 
tented himself  with  sending  out  such  de- 
tachments as  he  could  spare  to  the  relief  of 
any  places  that  might  be  attacked.  The 
wisdom  and  vigor  of  his  measures  prevent- 
ed the  enemy  from  making  any  important 
conquests,  but  could  not  guard  so  wide  a  seat 
of  war  against  their  destructive  ravages.  A 
successful  attack  upon  the  French  garrison 
at  Dorsten,  where  ovens  and  other  prepara- 
tions had  been  made  for  the  siege  of  Mun- 
ster,  put  an  effectual  stop  to  their  project, 
and  compelled  the  prince  of  Soubise  to  re- 
tire from  the  Lippe.  But  as  his  formidable 
opponent,  the  hereditary  prince,  was  soon 
after  called  off  to  another  quarter,  the  French 
commander  spread  his  army  all  over  Lower 
Westphalia,  pillaging  some  towns  and  sub- 
jecting others  to  ruinous  contributions.  Mar- 
shal Broglio  was  also  obliged  to  relinquish 
liis  designs  upon  Hanover,  in  order  to  protect 
Hesse,  where  his  chief  subsistence  lay,  and 
where  some  of  the  smaller  magazines  had 
been  destroyed  by  the  incursions  of  the  alli- 
ed army.  His  brother  the  count  de  Broglio, 
and  prince  Xavier  of  Saxony,  having  made 
a  forced  march  with  a  strong  body  of  troops, 
took  possession  of  Wolfenbuttle  on  the  tenth 
of  October,  and  then  invested  Brunswick ; 
but  at  the  approach  of  the  hereditary  prince, 
joined  by  general  Luckner,  they  abandoned 
their  enterprise  and  evacuated  Wolfenbuttle 
with  such  precipitation  as  to  leave  some  of 
their  cannon  behind,  and  above  five  hundred 
men  who  were  made  prisoners.  The  sea- 
son being  now  far  advanced,  nothing  more 
was  attempted  by  any  part  of  the  marshal's 
forces,  except  in  the  way  of  depredation, 
which  was  severely  felt  by  the  wretched  in- 
habitants of  the  country  to  the  eastward  of 
the  Weser.  The  marshal  himself  remained 
strongly  encamped  at  Eimbeck  till  the  begin- 
ning of  November,  when  prince  Ferdinand, 
by  a  variety  of  bold  and  skilful  manceuvres, 
reduced  hun  to  the  alternative  of  retreating, 
or  coming  to  an  engagement  on  equal  terms. 
He  chose  the  former,  and  marched  with 
more  booty  than  laurels  into  winter-quarters 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Cassel.  The  forces 
of  Soubise  were  distributed  at  Dusseldorp 
and  along  the  Lower  Rhine.  The  allies 
fixed  their  cantonments  at  Hildersheim, 
Munster,  Hamelen,  and  Eimbeck.  The 
British  cavalry  wintered  in  East  Friesland, 
and  the  infantry  in  the  bishopric  of  Osna- 
burffh. 

Though  the  issue  of  the  campaign  in 
Westphalia,  where  the  utmost  efforts  of  the 


allies  could  barely  support  a  system  of  par- 
tial defence,  afforded  very  little  cause  of 
triumph  to  the  advocates  ibr  a  German  war ; 
they  must  have  been  still  more  mortified  at 
the  disappointment  of  all  their  hopes  in  the 
king  of  Prussia's  enterprising  genius.  That 
impetuous  hero,  as  if  fatigued  by  indecisive 
victories,  seemed  now  to  adopt  the  caution 
and  slowness  which  had  been  so  long  oppos- 
ed to  his  vivacity.  This  change  of  conduct 
on  his  part  was,  indeed,  rendered  almost  un- 
avoidable by  circumstances.  Count  Daun 
w  ith  a  powerful  army  lay  upon  the  watch  at 
Dresden,  ready  to  seize  the  first  favorable 
opportunity  of  recovering  Saxony.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  that  prince  Henry,  the 
king's  brother,  should  remain  in  his  Lntrench- 
ments  imder  Leipsic,  to  counteract  the  de- 
signs of  so  vigilant  an  enemy.  The  king 
himself  was  obliged  to  adopt  a  similar  plan 
of  defensive  measures  by  the  alarming  pro- 
gress of  the  Russians  and  Austrians  in  other 
parts  of  his  dominions.  The  Russian  army 
was  divided  into  two  strong  bodies,  one  of 
which,  commanded  by  general  Romanzow, 
penetrated  through  Pomerania,  and  laid 
siege  to  Colberg ;  the  other,  under  general 
Butterlin,  marched  into  upper  Silesia,  where 
the  king  was  strongly  posted ;  and  advanced 
towards  Breslau.  Laudohn  entered  the  same 
province  on  the  opposite  side,  with  a  view 
of  joining  the  Russians,  in  order  to  attack 
the  king,  or  to  take  Breslau  or  Schweidnitz 
in  his  presence.  A  remarkable  drought  in 
the  begmning  of  the  season,  which  had 
greatly  lowered  the  Oder,  facilitated  the 
proposed  junction.  The  Russians  spread 
themselves  over  all  the  open  country  of  Si- 
lesia, and  exacted  heavy  contributions.  A 
considerable  party  of  them  appeared  before 
Breslau,  on  the  first  of  August,  and  began 
to  cannonade  the  town  from  seven  batteries. 
Laudohn  exerted  the  whole  of  his  skill  to 
draw  the  king  from  his  strong  hold,  and  to 
engage  him  in  a  disadvantageous  action : 
sometimes  he  advanced,  as  if  he  meant  to 
join  the  Russians:  sometimes  his  motions 
indicated  a  design  on  Schweidnitz:  these 
attempts  failing,  he  turned  off,  and  made  a 
feint,  as  if  he  proposed  to  fall  upon  lower 
Silesia,  in  hopes  that  he  might  at  least  oblige 
the  king  to  divide  his  forces:  but  all  his 
stratagems  proved  for  some  time  ineffectual. 
The  sagacious  Frederic  continued  immova- 
ble in  his  post,  which  protected  Schweid- 
nitz :  and  with  regard  to  the  lower  parts  of 
Silesia,  he  had  already  filled  the  fortresses 
there  with  such  garrisons  as  put  them  out 
of  the  reach  of  any  sudden  insult. 

The  king  of  Prussia  was  not  equally  free 
from  alarm  at  the  danger  of  Colberg-,  the 
key  of  his  northern  possessions  ;  and  though 
he  had  full  employment  for  all  his  forces 
nearer  home,  he  resolved  to  send  a  large  de- 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


23 


tachment  under  general  Platen,  to  the  re- 
lief of  that  valuable  city.  The  fertility  of 
his  genius  proposed  two  ends  from  this  sin 
gle  expedient.  He  ordered  Platen  to  direct 
his  inarch  through  Poland,  and  to  destroy 
the  Russian  magazines,  which  had  been 
amassed  on  the  frontiers  of  that  kingdom, 
and  from  which  their  army  in  Silesia  drew 
their  whole  subsistence.  This  service  might, 
he  hoped,  be  performed  without  any  -consid 
erable  interruption  to  the  progress  of  the 
detachment  towards  Colberg.  The  event 
was  so  far  answerable  to  his  wishes.  Gene- 
ral Platen  ruined  three  principal  magazines 
of  the  enemy,  attacked  a  great  convoy  of 
their  wagons,  five  hundred  of  which  he  de 
stroyed,  and  having  killed  or  made  prison' 
ers  the  greater  part  of  four  thousand  men 
who  defended  them,  he  pursued  his  march 
with  the  utmost  diligence  into  Pomerania 
The  news  of  this  blow  struck  the  Russians 
in  Silesia  with  consternation :  they  imme- 
diately relinquished  all  the  objects  of  their 
junction  with  the  Austrians :  their  main 
body  repassed  the  Oder,  and  hurried  back 
into  Poland,  lest  some  more  of  their  maga 
zines  should  share  the  same  fate  with  the 
tJiree  above  mentioned,  and  their  future 
subsistence  be  thereby  rendered  wholly  pre^ 
carious. 

Notwithstanding  this  gleam  of  good  for- 
tune, the  king  of  Prussia's  difficulties  were 
so  multiplied,  that  his  wisest  schemes  and 
happiest  successes  could  hardly  answer  any 
other  end  than  to  vary  the  scene  of  his  dis- 
tress. The  storm  which  had  been  diverted 
fi-om  Silesia  by  general  Platen's  expedition, 
v/as  only  removed  thence  to  be  discharged 
With  irresistible  fury  on  Colberg.  The  Rus- 
sian army  which  had  retreated  into  Poland, 
no  sooner  established  its  convoys,  than  it  di- 
rected its  course  towards  Pomerania,  in  or- 
der to  co-operate  v/ith  the  other  forces  un- 
der general  Romanzow,  and  to  wipe  away, 
by  a  conquest  of  much  greater  importance, 
tlie  disgrace  of  having  failed  at  Breslau. 
As  Butterlin  was  also  master  of  Landsberg, 
he  sent  out  several  parties  from  thence,  that 
cruelly  wasted  all  the  adjoining  marche  of 
Brandenburgh,  without  diverting  himself, 
by  these  ravages,  from  his  grand  object.  It 
was  impossible  for  the  king  to  spare  such  a 
number  of  troops  as  could  contend  with  the 
enemy  in  the  field  ;  but  he  ordered  general 
Knoblock  to  make  the  most  rapid  advances 
with  another  detachment,  and  hoped  that  by 
the  union  of  these  several  corps,  and  by 
their  intercepting,  or  at  least  retarding  the 
Russian  convoys  of  provision,  the  place 
might  be  enabled  to  hold  out,  until  the  se- 
vere setting  in  of  \yinter  should  render  tlie 
operations  of  a  siege  impracticable. 

P>nt  while  the  king's  attention  was  thus 
wholly  taken  up  in  studying  new  methods 


for  the  relief  of  Colberg,  an  event  happened 
just  by  him,  and,  as  it  were,  under  his  eye, 
almost  as  distressing  as  the  loss  of  that 
place,  and  so  much  the  more  distressing  as 
it  was  entirely  unsuspected.  Afler  the  re- 
treat of  the  Russians  out  of  Silesia,  the  king 
feeling  some  inconvenience  with  respect  to 
provisions  in  his  camp  near  Schweidnitz, 
and  concludmg  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
dreaded  from  the  Austrians,  now  almost  de- 
serted by  their  powerful  auxiliaries,  ap- 
proached nearer  to  the  Oder,  for  the  sake 
of  procuring  supplies  more  easily.  He  was 
so  little  in  fear  of  any  hostile  annoyance, 
that,  on  making  this  movement,  he  drafled 
four  thousand  men  from  the  garrison  of 
Schweidnitz :  he  thought  that  the  prepara- 
tions necessary  to  a  siege  would  give  him 
sufficient  notice  and  sufiicient  leisure  to  pro- 
vide for  the  safety  of  that  place,  from  which, 
afler  all,  he  had  removed  but  to  a  very  small 
distance.  Laudohn,  who  watched  the  king 
with  a  steady  and  penetrating  eye,  did  not 
let  slip  this  single  instant  of  opportunity. 
He  formed  a  plan  of  sudden  attack  on  the 
uncovered  fortress,  and  accomplished  his 
purpose  with  a  facility  that  far  exceeded  his 
most  sangume  hopes.  On  the  first  of  Octo- 
ber, at  three  in  the  morning,  the  troops  se- 
lected for  this  service  made  their  approacli 
with  so  much  precaution,  under  the  favor  of 
a  thick  fog,  that  they  fixed  their  scaling- 
ladders  to  all  the  four  outworks  of  the  forti- 
fications, before  they  were  perceived  by  the 
garrison,  who  scarce  had  time  to  fire  a  few^ 
cannon  at  the  assailants.  A  short  contest 
was,  however,  maintained  with  small-arms, 
until  a  powder  magazine  in  one  of  the  out- 
works blew  up,  which  killed  very  rear 
three  hundred  on  each  side.  The  Austrians, 
taking  advantage  of  the  confusion  occasion- 
ed by  this  accident,  rushed  forward,  and 
bursting  open  the  gates,  made  themselves 
masters  of  the  town  before  daybreak,  with 
only  the  loss  of  about  six  hundred  men,  in- 
cluding those  who  perished  in  the  explosion. 
Lieutenant-general  Zastrow,  the  governor, 
and  his  whole  garrison  amounting  to  three 
thousand  men,  were  made  prisoners;  be- 
sides a  quantity  of  artillery  and  a  large 
magazine  of  meal,  which  added  to  the  value 
of  this  important  capture.  The  king  of  Prus- 
sia felt  the  blow  to  the  quick.  Im  the  first 
agitations  of  his  mind,  he  was  disposed  to 
attribute  the  misfortune  to  treachery;  but 
recovering  his  temper,  he  sent  the  following 
lines  to  the  unfortunate  governor :  "  We 
may  now  say,  what  Francis  the  first  of 
France  said  to  his  mother,  afler  the  battle 
of  Pavia,  We  have  lost  all  except  our  honor. 
As  I  cannot  comprehend  what  hath  happen- 
ed to  you,  I  shall  suspend  my  judgment : 
the  aiSiir  is  very  extraordinary." 

Schweidnitz  was  lost  suddenly ;  but  Col- 


24 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


berg  made  a  long  and  noble  defence.     The 
Swedish  and  Russian  fleets  blocked  it  up  by 
sea,  for  several  months,  till  the  boisterous 
season  forced  them  to  retire,  and  afforded 
the  garrison  an  opportunity  of  receiving  a 
large  supply  of  provisions  from  Stetin.     In 
the  mean  time  the  siege  by  land  was  push- 
ed (Ml  with   incredible  perseverance ;  and 
Romanzow  having  reduced  a  fort  that  com- 
manded the  harbor,  any  repetition  of  the 
former  succors  was  totally  cut  off!     Still, 
however,  the  garrison  and  its  brave  com- 
mander, Heyde,  seemed  determined  to  hold 
out  to  the  last  extremity.     Their   efforts 
were  well  seconded  by  the  prince  of  Wur- 
temburg,  who  was  strongly  intrenched  with 
six  or  seven  thousand  men,  under  the  can- 
'  non  of  the  town,  and  by  general  Platen  who 
found  means  to  join  him  in  that  post.     But 
as  there  was  soon  a  necessity  for  revictual- 
ling  the  garrison,  at  every  risk,  Platen  quit- 
ted the  intrenChments  in  order  to  hasten 
and  protect  the  arrival  of  some  convoys, 
which  the  numerous  scouting  parties  of  the 
Russians  had  hitherto  kept  at  a  distance. 
His  spirited  enterprise  did  not  succeed  :  he 
had  the  misfortune  to  be  met  by  an  infinite- 
ly superior  body  of  the  enemy ;  was  beaten, 
and  escaped  with  some  loss  and  great  diffi- 
culty, to  Stetin.     General  Knoblock,  whom 
the  king  had  also  sent  to  the  relief  of  Col- 
berg  with  a  second  detachment,  proved  still 
more  unsuccessful.  Having  established  him- 
self at  Treptow,  which  was  to  serve  as  a 
resting-place  to  the  convoys,  he  was  attack- 
ed there,  soon  afler  Platen's  defeat,  by  a 
force  to  which  his  numbers  were  so  unequal, 
that  with  the  utmost  skill  and  intrepidity  he 
could  only  protract  for  five  days  the  ulti- 
mate necessity  of  a  surrender.     Afler  these 
disasters  the  prince  of  Wurtemburg  became 
apprehensive  lest  his  troops,  by  delaying  any 
longer  under  the  walls  of  the  town,  would 
only  share  its  fate,  or  be  driven  by  famme 
into  humiliating  terms.     He  therefore  re- 
solved, whilst  his  men  retained  their  vigor, 
to  break  through  a  part  of  the  Russian  army, 
and  leave  a  place,  which  he  could  no  longer 
defend,  to  make  the  best  capitulation  its  cir- 
cumstances would  admit.     He  effected  his 
purpose  with  inconsiderable  loss;  but  the 
garrison,  now  hopeless  of  relief,  exhausted 
by  fatigue,  their  provision  low,  and  the  for- 
tifications in  many  places  battered  to  pieces, 
surrendered  to  the  Russians  on  the  sixteenth 
of  December,  after  a  peculiarly  distressing 
siege  of  near  six  months. 

The  loss  of  two  such  places  as  Schweid- 
nitz  and  Colberg,  at  the  two  extremities  of 
his  dominions,  were  decisive  against  the 
king  of  Prussia.  The  Austrians  took  up 
their  winter-quarters  in  the  former  and  its 
neighborhood  ;  and  the  king  was  fully  sen- 
sible, that,  whilst  they  held  that  place,  he 


could  make  no  motion  for  the  relief  of  any 
other  part  of  his  dominions,  without  expos- 
ing Breslau  and  the  whole  of  upper  Silesia 
to  certain  and  irrecoverable  conquest.  The 
Russians,  on  the  other  hand,  by  possessing 
Colberg,  possessed  almost  everything.  They 
were  masters  of  the  Baltic  ;  and  they  now 
acquired  a  port,  by  which  their  armies  could 
be  well  provided,  without  the  necessity  of 
tedious,  uncertain,  and  expensive  convoys 
from  Poland.  The  eastern  parts  of  Pome- 
rania  afforded  them  good  winter-canton- 
ments ;  and  nothing  but  the  advanced  sea- 
son could  save  Stetin  from  their  immediate 
grasp,  or  obstruct  their  progress  into  the 
very  heart  of  Brandenburg.  Thus,  after 
having  suffered  and  inflicted  so  many  dread- 
ful calamities  in  the  course  of  five  years, 
Frederic  had  no  prospect  before  him  but  to 
perish  in  a  flame  of  his  own  kindling ;  and 
all  that  he  could  reasonably  expect  was  to 
give  it  brilliancy  by  some  act  of  heroism,  as 
his  absolute  salvation  seemed  far  beyond 
the  reach  of  any  human  endeavors.  Such 
events  were  also  very  ill  suited  to  the 
haughty  tone  of  the  English  minister  in  hig 
negotiation  with  France.  But  several  ac- 
tions happened  at  sea,  between  single  ships 
and  small  squadrons,  greatly  to  the  honor 
of  the  British  flag ;  and  a  naval  armament, 
which  had  excited  the  highest  hopes  while 
its  destinatian  remained  a  secret,  was  pre- 
pared early  in  the  spring,  and  crowned  with 
success. 

The  armament  fitted  out  for  this  enter- 
prise consisted  of  ten  ships  of  the  line  under 
commodore  Keppel,  and  near  ten  thousand 
land  forces  commanded  by  major-general 
Hodgson.  They  sailed  from  Spithead  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  March,  and  came  to 
anchor  in  the  great  road  of  Belleisle,  on  the 
seventh  of  April.  A  descent  was  imme- 
diately attempted  at  three  different  places. 
Major  Purcel  and  captain  Osborne,  at  the 
head  of  a  party  of  grenadiers,  got  on  shore, 
and  advanced  for  some  time  with  great  in- 
trepidity. But  the  enemy,  who  had  intrench- 
ed themselves  on  the  heights,  appeared  sud- 
denly above  them,  and  poured  in  such  a  se- 
vere fire  as  threw  them  into  confusion,  and 
intimidated  the  rest  of  the  troops  from  land- 
ing. The  major  and  captain  were  both 
killed :  and  all  their  brave  followers  shared 
the  same  fate,  or  were  made  prisoners.  The 
flat-bottomed  boats,  and  two  large  ships  that 
convoyed  them  to  the  landing-place,  v/ere 
obliged,  in  spite  of  their  most  vigorous  ef- 
forts, to  retire,  with  the  loss  of  five  hundred 
men.  Some  tempestuous  weather,  which 
immediately  followed  this  first  failure,  pre- 
vented a  second  trial  for  several  days.  At 
length  the  wind  having  abated,  and  the 
whole  coast  having  been  diligently  examin- 
ed,  proper  dispositions    lor  landing   wer 


GEORGE  ni.   1760-1820. 


25 


again  made  on  the  twenty-second  of  April, 
and  succeeded.  The  troops  were  rowed  to 
various  parts  of  the  island,  as  if  they  in- 
tended to  disembark  in  different  places,  so 
as  to  distract  the  attention  and  divide  the 
forces  of  the  enemy,  whilst  the  men-of-war 
directed  their  fire  with  great  judgment  and 
effect  on  the  hills.  These  manoBuvres  gave 
brigadier-general  Lambert,  with  a  small  de- 
tachment of  grenadiers  and  marines,  an 
opportunity  of  climbing  up  a  very  steep  rock 
without  molestation.  Here  they  directly 
formed  themselves  in  good  order;  and  though 
attacked  by  superior  numbers,  they  main- 
tained their  ground,  till  the  whole  corps, 
which  had  now  ascended  in  the  same  man- 
ner, arrived  to  their  assistance,  and  repulsed 
the  enemy.  The  landing  of  all  the  forces 
was  made  good  in  a  short  time  after.  In 
one  or  two  places  the  enemy  seemed  dispos- 
ed to  make  a  stand ;  but  a  body  of  light 
horse,  which  was  embarked  in  this  expedi- 
tion, soon  drove  them  into  Palais,  the  capi- 
tal of  the  island.  The  siege  of  Palais  was 
commenced  with  vigor ;  and  the  garrison, 
commanded  by  the  chevalier  de  St.  Croix, 
a  brave  and  experienced  officer,  threatened 
a  long  and  obstinate  defence.  This  was  a 
place  of  extraordinary  strength,  having  been 
built  by  the  famous  Vauban,  who  supplied 
by  art  what  nature  had  left  undone,  to  make 
it  almost  impregnable ;  and  it  was  now  de- 
fended by  St.  Croix  with  a  show  of  the  most 
desperate  resolution.  Parallels  were  finish- 
ed, barricadoes  made,  and  batteries  con- 
structed ;  and  a  continual  fire  from  mortars 
and  artillery  was  kept  up  on  both  sides,  by 
night  and  by  day,  from  the  thirteenth  of 
May  to  the  twenty-fifth,  when  that  of  the 
enemy  began  to  abate.  By  the  end  of  the 
month  a  breach  was  made  in  the  citadel; 
and  notwithstandmg  the  indefatigable  indus- 
try of  the  garrison  and  the  governor  m  re- 
pairing the  damage,  the  fire  of  the  besieg- 
ers increased  to  such  a  degree,  that  a  great 
part  of  the  defences  was  rumed,  and  the 
breach  rendered  practicable  on  the  seventh 
of  June.  Then  St.  Croix,  having  no  pros- 
pect of  relief,  and  being  apprehensive  of  a 
general  assault,  thought  it  prudent  to  capit- 
ulate. 

NEGOTIATIONS  RESUMED. 

The  taking  of  Belleisle,  which  was  cele- 
brated with  bonfires,  illuminations,  and  every 
expression  of  tumultuous  joy,  contributed 
greatly  to  elate  the  pride  of  the  English 
populace,  and  was  no  small  mortification  to 
France.  But  the  expedition  having  failed 
in  its  ultimate  aim,^  which  was  to  oblige  the 
French  to  weaken' their  army  m  Westpha- 
lia, in  order  to  defend  their  own  coast,  and 
by  that  means  to  enable  prince  Ferdinand 
to  strike  some  decisive  blow;  Pitt  conde- 
scended to  name  certain  periods,  to  which 

Vol.  IV.  3 


the  reciprocal  holding  of  possession  should 
refer ;  and  the  negotiation  with  France  was 
resumed. 

The  epochs  named  by  the  British  minister 
were,  the  first  of  August  for  Europe,  the 
first  of  September  for  Africa  and  America, 
and  the  first  of  November  for  the  Ea^  In- 
dies. To  these  epochs  France  agreed,  though 
reluctantly,  on  account  of  the  nearness,  as 
at  this  juncture  she  wished  and  hoped  to 
make  some  acquisitions  in  Westphalia  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  campaign,  which  might 
at  least  counterbalance  the  loss  of  Belleisle. 
She  also  agreed,  that  everything  settled 
between  the  two  crowns,  relative  to  their 
particular  disputes,  should  be  finally  conclu- 
sive and  obligatory,  mdependent  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  congress  to  be  held  at  Augs- 
burg :  and  she  farther  agreed,  that  the  de- 
finitive treaty  of  peace  between  the  two 
kingdoms,  or  preliminary  articles  to  that 
purpose,  should  be  signed  and  ratified  before 
the  first  of  August.  France  even  gave  up 
the  point  of  honor,  and  frankly  made  an 
offer  of  what  places  she  was  willing  to  cede 
and  exchange.  Her  first  proposals  came 
through  the  medium  of  Stanley ;  and  after 
some  difficulties  had  been  removed,  and  a 
few  claims  relinquished,  Bussy  delivered,  on 
the  twenty-third  of  July,  a  memorial  in 
form,  contaming  a  regular  digest  of  the 
sacrifices  acquiesced  in,  and  the  compensa- 
tions required  by  the  French  ministry.  The 
followmg  were  the  chief  articles  of  their 
conciliating  plan.  They  proposed  to  cede 
and  guaranty  all  Canada  to  England,  and 
to  ascertain  the  boundaries  of  that  province 
and  Louisiana  in  such  a  manner  as  to  pre- 
clude all  possibility  of  any  future  dispute 
on  the  subject.  They  only  stipulated  that 
the  free  and  public  exercise  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  should  be  permitted  there, 
and  that  such  of  the  old  French  colonists  as 
chose  to  retire  might  have  leave  to  take 
away  or  dispose  of  their  effects,  and  might 
be  supplied  by  the  English  government  with 
the  means  of  conveyance  on  the  most  rea- 
sonable terms.  In  return  for  this,  they  re- 
quired a  confirmation  of  their  former  privi- 
lege of  fishing  on  the  coast  of  Newfound- 
land, with  the  restitution  of  Cape  Breton, 
as  some  harbor  was  necessary  for  carrying 
on  that  fishery  to  advantage  ;  but  excluding 
themselves  from  erecting  any  kind  of  forti- 
fication. They  offered  to  exchange  Minor- 
ca for  Guadaloupe  and  Marigalante ;  and 
that,  with  respect  to  the  neutral  islands  in 
the  West  Indies,  two  of  them,  namely  Do- 
minica and  St  Vincent,  were  to  be  held  by 
the  native  inhabitants  the  Caribbees,  while 
France  occupied  St  Lucia,  and  England 
took  possession  of  Tobago.  In  the  Ea^t 
Indies  they  had  no  equivalent  to  offer  for 
the   recovery  of   the  English  acquisitions 


26 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


there ;  but  they  proposed  the  treaty  of  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-iive,  be- 
tween the  Sieur  Godeheu  and  g-overnor 
Saunders,  as  a  basis  for  the  re-establishment 
of  peace  in  Asia.  On  the  side  of  Africa, 
they  required  the  settlements  at  Senegal,  or 
the  isle  of  Goree  to  be  given  up  by  Eng- 
land ;  for  which,  together  with  the  restora- 
tion of  Belleisle,  they  consented  to  evacu- 
ate Gottingen,  Hesse,  and  Hanau ;  but  these 
evacuations  were  to  be  preceded  by  a  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities  between  the  two  crowns, 
and  a  positive  engagement  that  their  armies 
in  Germany  should  observe  an  exact  neutral- 
ity, not  affording  the  least  assistance,  nor 
giving  the  least  offence  to  the  allies  of  either 
party. 

MAIN  POINTS  OF  DISPUTE. 
So  far  the  advances  of  the  French  minis- 
try had  a  very  plausible  and  even  captivating 
appearance  :  but  they  strictly  adhered  in 
their  memorial  to  two  points,  which  had 
been  already  the  cause  of  much  dispute  with 
the  negotiators  at  both  courts.  The  one  was 
an  absolute  refusal  on  the  part  of  France  to 
give  up  Wesel  and  Gueldres,  which  she  had 
conquered  from  the  king  of  Prussia,  in  the 
name  of  the  empress-queen,  whose  consent 
to  a  separate  peace  between  France  and 
England  had  been  obtained  only  under  two 
conditions,  first,  that  the  empress  should 
keep  possession  of  the  countries  belonging 
to  the  king  of  Prussia,  and  secondly,  that 
England  should  not  afford  him  any  succor 
(1).  The  other  article  was  a  demand  very 
strongly  urged  for  having  all  the  captures 
restored,  which  had  been  made  by  England, 
previous  to  the  declaration  of  war.  The  ar- 
guments for  and  against  this  claim  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  words.  It  was  said,  on 
the  one  hand,  that  the  practice  of  declaring 
war  had  been  established  by  the  law  of  na- 
tions, to  make  subjects  acquainted  with  the 
quarrels  of  their  sovereigns,  and  to  give 
them  a  fair  warning  to  take  care  of  their 
persons  and  effects;  that,  in  the  late  in- 
stance, the  merchants  of  France  reposing 
themselves  on  the  faith  of  treaties,  and  ig- 
norant of  the  facts  or  circumstances  which 
led  to  a  rupture  between  the  two  kingdoms, 
had  been  plundered  without  the  least  regard 
to  equity  or  honor ;  and  that  even  supposing 
any  improper  encroachments  to  have  been 
made  on  the  back  of  the  English  colonies  in 
Am.erica,  the  aggression  ought  first  to  b^ 
complained  of,  and  a  reparation  of  the  in- 
jury peremptorily  insisted  upon,  as  nothing 
but  an  absolute  denial  of  redress,  and  a  pub- 
lic appeal  to  the  sword  could  justify  the  com- 
mencement of  hostilities.  To  this  it  was 
replied,  that  when  a  nation  is  insidiously 
robbed  of  her  right,  she  has  a  natural  claim 
to  instant  retaliation ;  that  a  faithless  assas- 
sin is  not  entitled  by  any  law  to  the  formali- 


ties of  a  challenge ;  and  that  the  alarming 
steps  taken  by  the  French  in  America  to 
gain  ground  on  the  English  colonies,  and  the 
preparations  making  at  home  to  send  out 
vast  bodies  of  troops  to  support  and  extend 
such  encroachments,  amidst  the  most  solemn 
assurances  of  amicable  intention,  neither  de- 
served a  return  of  candor,  nor  allowed  time 
for  a  scrupulous  regard  to  the  usual  punc- 
tilios. 

INFLEXIBILITY  OF  THE  ENGLISH 
MINISTER. 

On  whatever  side  the  scale  of  reason  and 
justice  may  be  thought  to  incline  in  this 
controversy,  the  British  minister  seemed  in- 
flexible in  his  refusal  to  restore  the  disputed 
captures,  while  he  was  no  less  absolute  in 
demanding  the  evacuation  of  Wesel  and 
Gueldres.  He  was  also  averse  from  the  pro- 
posed ground  of  pacification  in  the  East  In- 
dies, as  well  as  from  the  giving  up  of  the 
island  of  Cape  Breton  in  America,  and  of 
Senegal  or  Goree  on  the  coast  of  Africa ; 
nor  would  he,  astonishing  as  it  may  appear, 
agree  to  a  neutrality  in  regard  to  Germany. 
He  treated  such  an  intimation  with  disdain, 
as  an  insult  on  the  honor  of  his  country ; 
though  it  would  certainly  have  been  m.ore 
easy  and  no  less  honorable  for  Great  Britain 
to  mediate,  or  even  purchase  a  peace  for  the 
king  of  Prussia,  in  the  congress  at  Augs- 
burg, than  to  enable  him  to  continue  any 
longer  a  very  unequal  and  ruinous  struggle. 
But,  besides  these  contentious  points  which 
were  not  likely  to  be  soon,  or  easily  adjusted, 
a  new  circumstance  occurred,  against  which 
Pitt's  opposition  was  directed  with  still  more 
unqualified  vehemence. 

At  the  time  of  presenting  the  above  me- 
morial to  the  court  of  London,  Bussy  deliv- 
ered a  private  paper,  signifying  the  desire 
of  his  most  Christian  majesty,  that,  in  order 
to  establish  the  peace  upon  solid  foundations, 
not  to  be  shaken  by  the  contested  interests 
of  a  third  power,  the  king  of  Spain  might 
be  invited  to  guaranty  the  treaty  between 
the  two  crowns ;  and  farther  proposing,  with 
the  consent  and  communication  of  his  Cath- 
olic majesty,  that  three  subjects  of  dispute 
which  subsisted  between  England  and  Spain, 
and  which  might  produce  a  new  war  in  Eu- 
rope and  America,  should  be  finally  settled 
in  this  negotiation ;  namely,  the  restoration 
of  some  ships  taken  in  the  course  of  the 
present  war,  under  Spanish  colors ;  the  lib- 
erty claimed  by  the  Spanish  nation  to  fisli 
on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland ;  and  the  de- 
molition of  certain  settlements  made,  con- 
trary to  treaty,  by  the  English  logwood-cut- 
ters in  the  bay  of  Honduras.  From  what 
has  been  already  hinted  of  Pitt's  sentiments, 
with  respect  to  the  treaty,  it  may  be  easily 
imagined  in  what  manner  he  received  this 
private  memorial.     He  expressed  his  sur- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


27 


prise  and  indignation  at  an  humbled  enemy's 
undertaking  to  settle  differences  between  de- 
clared friends :  he  called  upon  the  Spanish 
ambassador  to  disavow  the  step  which  had 
been  said  to  be  taken  with  the  knowledge  of 
his  court :  he  returned  as  wholly  inadmissi- 
ble the  offensive  paper,  declaring  that  it 
would  be  looked  upon  as  an  affront  to  the 
dignity  of  his  master,  and  incompatible  with 
the  sincerity  of  the  negotiation  on  the  part 
of  France,  to  make  any  farther  mention  of 
such  a  circumstance ;  and  he  prepared  with- 
out delay  a  very  unaccommodating  reply  to 
the  other  porposals  of  the  French  ministry. 
In  this  answer,  bearing  date  the  tw^enty- 
ninth  of  July,  all  the  before-recited  objec- 
tions were  urged  with  little  temper  or  deli- 
cacy ;  and  the  secretary  took  care  to  embit- 
ter his  assent  to  the  most  unexceptionable 
articles,  either  by  some  new  and  mortifying 
condition,  or  by  the  imperious  style  in  which 
it  was  given. 

THE  FAMILY  COMPACT. 
•  The  views  of  the  different  parties  began 
now  gradually  to  unfold  themselves ;  but  the 
haughtiness  and  impetuosity  of  Pitt's  char- 
acter gave  the  French  ministry  a  considera 
ble  advantage  over  him.  They  seemed  to- 
tally unaffected  by  his  tone  of  arrogance, 
tliough  bordering  upon  insult :  they  digested 
every  mortification  in  silence:  tliey  made 
an  apology  for  having  proposed  a  discussion 
of  the  points  in  disp'ite  with  Spain :  and,  in 
reply  to  the  English  secretary's  last  dictates, 
as  well  as  in  the  private  instructions  sent 
with  it  to  Bussy  in  the  beginning  of  August, 
they  appeared  willing  to  make  farther  sacri- 
fices for  the  re-establishment  of  peace. 
Whether  they  really  hoped  to  accomplish 
that  object,  or  not,  by  these  new  concessions, 
their  conduct  was  equally  moderate  and  po- 
litic. At  least,  it  insured  the  success  of  their 
intrigues  at  the  court  of  Madrid,  where  the 
domineering  language  of  the  British  minis- 
ter could  not  fail  to  give  disgust,  while  the 
increasing  humiliations  of  the  French  mon- 
archy excited  alarm.  The  famous  family 
compact  was  the  consequence.  By  this 
treaty,  which  was  signed  on  the  fifteenth  of 
August,  the  several  branches  of  the  house 
of  Bourbon  were  entwined  in  the  closest 
union ;  and  France  derived  from  her  misfor- 
tunes and  disgrace  an  advantage  which  she 
could  not  have  expected  from  the  most  suc- 
cessfiil  issue  of  the  war.  Spain  now  en- 
gaged to  assist  her  with  as  much  zeal  and 
vigor  as  if  the  two  kingdoms  had  been  in- 
corporated ;  and  to  admit  her  subjects  to  all 
tlie  privileges  of  natives.  The  two  Sicilies 
and  the  dutchy  of  Parma  were  vmited  in  the 
same  bonds  of  mutual  guarantee  of  domin- 
ions and  community  of  interest.?. 

Strong  motives  of  policy,  chieily  arising 
from  the  danger  to  whicli  Spain  would  have 


been  at  that  moment  exposed  by  an  imme- 
diate rupture  with  England,  made  the  con- 
tracting parties  use  every  endeavor  ibr  some 
time  to  keep  their  late  alliance  a  profound 
secret.  The  negotiation  between  the  courts 
of  London  and  Versailles  was  therefore  still 
carried  on  with  seeming  sincerity  ;  but  the 
real  eagerness  of  the  latter  to  terminate  the 
war  must  have  been  greatly  abated  by  an 
assurance  of  support  from  a  power  untouched 
in  its  resources  of  men,  money,  and  stores. 
It  may  also  be  fairly  presumed,  that  Pitt's 
aversion  to  a  peace  was  not  lessened,  but 
greatly  increased  by  his  well-founded  sus- 
picions of  the  private  correspondence  be- 
tween France  and  Spain.  He  did  not  wish, 
however,  to  put  an  end  to  the  treaty,  till  he 
could  furnish  himself  with  sufficient  proofs 
of  the  engagements  which  the  two  branches 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon  had  entered  into 
against  Great  Britain,  as  he  thought  such 
proofs  would  be  the  best  justification  of  his 
own  conduct.  Thus,  while  the  forms  of  pa- 
cific discussion  were  preserved,  on  both  sides, 
all  that  cordiality  vanished  which  is  so  ne- 
cessary towards  smoothing  and  clearing  a 
road,  which  a  long  hostility  had  broken  up, 
and  so  many  intricate  topics  had  contributed 
to  embarrass. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  NEGOTIATION. 
In  order  to  judge  which  party  w^as  most 
blamable  for  the  failure  of  the  negotiation, 
nothing  more  is  necessary  than  to  examine, 
without  prejudice,  the  ostensible  grounds  on 
which  the  treaty  was  broke  off,  after  it  had 
been  protracted  considerably  beyond  the  term 
fixed  for  signing  it.  The  last  papers  inter- 
changed by  the  ministers  of  both  courts  are 
the  proper  documents  to  be  appealed  to  in 
this  case.  The  final  resolutions  of  the  Brit- 
ish cabinet  were  transmitted  to  Versailles  in 
the  latter  end  of  August ;  and  the  reply  of 
the  French  ministry  was  delivered  to  Pitt 
on  the  thirteenth  of  September.  From  these 
papers  it  appears,  that  the  most  interesting 
objects  of  concern  were  settled,  or  in  a  fair 
way  of  adjustment ;  and  that  mere  points  of 
honor  were  made  the  specious  pretext  for 
keeping  Europe  involved  in  the  calamities 
of  war.  The  cession  of  Canada  was  agreed 
to  in  the  most  extensive  form ;  and  though 
some  difficulty  remained  concerning  the 
bounds  of  Louisiana,  it  was  too  trifling  to  ob- 
struct the  progress  or  conclusion  of  the  treaty. 
The  African  contest  seemed  to  have  been 
attended  with  still  less  difficulty.  Tlie 
French  consented  to  give  up  both  Senegal 
and  Goree,  provided  Anamaboo  and  Aera 
were  guarantied  to  them ;  and  they  very 
plausibly  urged  their  compliance  in  this  re- 
spect as  a  demonstration  of  their  readinef.3 
to  embrace  e'v'ery  temperament  tending  to 
reconcile  the  tvro  nations.  The  momentous 
question  of  tlie  fishery  was  likewise  deter- 


28 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


mined.  The  French  relinquished  their  claim 
tx)  Cape  Breton  and  St.  John's ;  and  were 
satisfied  to  receive  the  little  islands  of  St. 
Peter  and  Miquelon,  even  under  the  restric- 
tion of  not  keeping  any  military  establish- 
ment there.  The  privileges  of  fishing  on 
the  coast  of  Newfoundland,  as  enjoyed  by 
the  Fiench  before  the  war,  under  the  thir- 
teenth article  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  were 
continued  to  them ;  but  in  return  for  such 
privileges,  and  in  conformity  to  another  ar- 
ticle of  that  treaty,  the  king  of  France  con- 
sented to  demolish  the  fortifications  of  Dun- 
kirk. As  to  the  islands  of  Guadaloupe,  Mari- 
galante,  Minorca,  and  Belleisle,  no  great  con- 
troversy had  subsisted  on  their  account  from 
the  beginning :  it  had  all  along  been  agreed 
that  these  conquests  should  be  reciprocally  re- 
stored. Nor  did  the  French  any  longer  press 
the  consideration  of  the  old  treaty  between 
Godeheu  and  Saunders  in  the  East  Indies, 
but  agreed  to  refer  the  settlement  of  all  dis- 
putes there  to  commissioners  appointed  by 
the  companies  of  the  two  nations.  In  short, 
the  only  points  of  difference  were  the  con- 
duct to  be  observed  with  respect  to  their  al- 
lies, the  evacuation  of  one  or  two  places  in 
Germany,  and  the  restoration  of  the  mer- 
chant-men taken  previous  to  the  declaration 
of  war.  On  the  first  head,  the  French  had 
made  repeated  proposals  of  neutrality,  which 
were  uniformly  and  positively  rejected  by 
the  English  minister  as  derogating  from  the 
good  faith  and  integrity  of  the  nation ;  nor 
was  he  willing  to  come  to  any  agreement 
about  the  succors  which  the  two  states  might 
be  at  liberty  to  afford  their  allies.  He  in- 
sisted with  equal  positiveness  on  the  surren- 
der of  all  the  conquests  made  by  France  upon 
any  of  the  allies  in  Germany,  particularly 
Wesel,  and  the  territories  of  the  king  of 
Prussia,  though  the  French  ministry  had  de- 
clared, that  they  could  neither  evacuate  that 
town  nor  Gueldres,  as  such  a  cession  would 
be  a  direct  breach  of  the  engagements  they 
were  under  to  the  empress-queen  of  Hun- 
gary, for  whom  those  places  had  been  taken, 
and  in  whose  name  alone  they  were  govern- 
ed. This  matter,  they  said,  ought  to  be  re- 
ferred to  the  congress  at  Augsburg.  Their 
other  acquisitions  on  the  continent,  Hesse, 


Hanau,  and  Gottingen,  which  were  of  great- 
er importance,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  give 
up,  as  part  of  the  equivalent  for  the  islands 
ceded  by  Great  Britain.  To  the  French  de- 
mand of  compensation  for  the  captures  made 
before  war  was  formally  declared,  Pitt  had 
given  an  irrevocable  negative.  The  cen- 
surers  of  his  policy  then  asserted,  "  that 
rather  than  make  restitution  of  a  few  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  plundered  from  the 
subjects  of  France,  while  trading  under  the 
security  of  peace  and  the  faith  of  treaties, 
false  pride  co-operating  with  the  secretary's 
personal  influence,  induced  government  to 
prosecute  the  war,  at  the  annual  expense  of 
twelve  millions;  or  that  this  enormous  charge, 
together  with  a  farther  waste  of  British 
blood,  and  the  risk  of  fortune's  inconstancy, 
was  a  sacrifice  made  to  the  interest  of  a  Ger- 
man ally,  who  had  already  drained  so  much 
from  the  nation,  which  his  friendship  or  ani- 
mosity could  not  possibly  afiect  1" 
TREATY  BROKEN  OFF. 
Pitt  did  not  deign  to  answer  the  last 
memorial  of  the  French  ministry ;  but  in  a 
few  days  after  the  receipt  of  it,  he  sent  di- 
rections to  Stanley  to  return  to  England,  and 
to  desire  that  Bussy  might  have  the  like  or- 
ders of  recall  from  his  court.  The  leading 
negotiation  in  London  and  Paris  being  now 
broken  off",  that  which  was  proposed  at  Augs- 
burg never  took  place ;  and  the  fond  hopes 
of  the  public,  which  had  teen  Iropt  alive  for 
almost  six  months,  expired  in  the  most  pain- 
ful disappointment.  So  far  was  the  treaty 
from  producing  any  of  the  happy  effects  that 
were  expected  from  it — so  far  was  it  from 
appeasing  the  animosities  of  the  contending 
powers,  that  they  parted  with  intentions  more 
hostile,  and  opinions  more  adverse  than  ever. 
New  subjects  of  jealousy  and  debate  had 
also  arisen ;  and  there  was  reason  to  appre- 
hend that  other  powers  would  be  tempted  to 
engage  in  the  quarrel,  and  to  throw  off  the 
veil  of  neutrality,  under  which  they  had 
hitherto  concealed  their  secret  attachments. 
Thus  all  the  seeming  advances  towards 
peace  operated  like  oil  poured  upon  the  fire 
of  contention,  which,  instead  of  extinguish- 
ing it,  served  to  spread  the  flame  wider,  and 
to  make  it  burn  with  greater  rapidity. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  U. 


1  These  conditions  were  specified  in  a  separate  note,  which  Mr.  Pitt  returned  with  another  paper  relatiy* 
to  Spain,  declaring  both  to  be  totally  inadmissible. 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Proofs  of  the  King's  Exemption  from  personal  or  political  Prejudices. — His  Majesty's 
Choice  of  a  Consort,  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Mecklenhurgh — Embassy  sent  to 
make^  the  Demand  of  her  Most  Serene  Highness ;  with  an  Account  of  her  Voyage — 
Her  journey  to  London,  her  Reception  and  Nuptials — Preparations  made  for  the 
Coronation  of  their  Majesties — Entertainment  given  to  the  Royal  Family  at  Guild- 
hall— Some  rising  Clouds  in  the  political  Hemisphere — The  Spanish  Ambassador's 
Explanation  not  deemed  satisfactory — Orders  sent  to  the  Earl  of  Bristol  at  Madrid — 
His  Excellency's  Dispatches  in  Reply — Warm  Debates  in  the  Cabinet  on  Mr.  Pitt's 
Proposal  to  attack  Spain  without  further  Delay — His  Resolution,  with  the  President's 
Answer — His  Interview  with  the  King,  on  resigning  the  Seals  of  his  Office — Lord 
Temple's  Resignation —  Violent  Conflict  between  the  Admirers  and  the  Censurers  of 
Mr.  Pitt's  Conflict  sanctioned  by  the  Abbe  Raynal — Farther  Instructions  sent  by  the 
new  Secretary  of  State  to  the  British  Ambassador  at  Madrid — Steps  taken  by  the 
Ministry — Meeting  of  the  new  Parliament — His  Majesty's  Speech — Message  to  the 
Queen ;  and  the  Dowry  granted  her  in  Case  she  should  survive  his  Majesty — Repeal 
of  the  compelling  Clause  in  the  Insolvent  Act — Alacrity  of  the  Commons  in  providing 
for  the  Service  of  the  ensuing  Year — Debate  on  the  Expediency  of  the  German 
War — Severe  Remarks  on  the  Alliances  entered  into  with  some  of  the  continental 
Powers — Ingenious  Defence  set  up  by  the  Advocates  for  the  German  War — Result 
of  this  political  Controversy — Effect  of  the  English  Ambassador's  Remonstrances  at 
the  Court  of  Madrid — His  Conjectures  on  the  Causes  of  a  sudden  Revolution  in  the 
Spanish  Councils — Propriety  of  his  Conduct  in  so  delicate  a  Conjuncture — A  clear 
and  categorical  Explanation  at  length  insisted  upon — General  WaWs  Letter — Man- 
ifesto delivered  by  the  Count  de  Fuentes,  and  Lord  Egremont's  Refutation  of  it. 


KING'S  FREEDOM  FROM  POLITICAL 
PREJUDICES. 

After  so  long  continued  a  view  of  ope- 
rations in  the  field  and  of  intrig^iies  in  the 
cabinet,  it  will  be  some  relief  to  the  mind  to 
contemplate  a  few  events  of  a  more  tranquil 
and  domestic  nature,  which  happened  during 
the  same  period.  It  was  very  pleasing  to 
the  whole  nation  to  see  their  young  kin^^ 
ascend  the  throne  with  so  little  partiality  or 
prejudice,  either  of  a  personal  or  political 
nature,  that  for  almost  twelve  months  no 
change  was  made  in  any  of  the  great  offices 
of  state,  which  could  excite  the  least  clamor. 
Ix)rd  Henley,  afterwards  created  Earl  of 
Northington,  who  had  distinguished  himself 
at  the  bar  by  his  talents  and  integrity,  and 
had  for  some  time  acted  as  keeper  of  the 
great  seal,  was  continued  in  the  same  im- 
jwrtant  trust,  but  with  the  higher  title  of 
lord  chancellor.  The  earl  of  Holdemesse, 
secretary  of  state  for  the  northern  depart- 
ment, having  retired  from  business,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  earl  of  Bute,  who  had  spent 
some  years  on  terms  of  very  friendly  mter- 
course  with  lord  Temple  and  Mr.  Pitt,  and 
all  the  leading  members  of  the  opposition 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  late  prince  of 
Wales.  The  earl  of  Halifax  was  removed 
from  the  board  of  trade  to  be  lord-lieutenant 
of  Ireland ;  and  some  other  removals  or  pro- 
motions from  one  department  of  administra- 
tion to  another  took  place,  but  not  a  single 
3* 


dismission,  except  that  of  Mr.  Legge,  in 
whose  room  lord  Barrington  was  appointed 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 

KING'S  CHOICE  OF  A  CONSORT. 

His  majesty's  conduct  in  another  affair  of 
very  great  moment  afforded  still  fuller  cause 
of  general  satisfaction.  This  was  his  choice 
of  a  consort,  whose  endearments  might 
sweeten  the  cares  of  royalty,  and  whose  vir- 
tues should  make  his  private  happiness  coin- 
cide with  the  happiness  of  his  people.  The 
first  circumstance,  it  is  said,  that  directed 
his  attention  to  the  princess  Charlotte  of 
Mecklenhurgh  Strelitz,  was  a  letter  which 
her  serene  highness  had  written  to  the  king 
of  Prussia  on  his  entering  her  cousin's  ter- 
ritories, and  which  that  monarch  had  sent 
over  to  George  11.  as  a  miracle  of  good  sense 
and  patriotism  in  so  young  a  princess. 

The  king  had  privately  employed  some 
persons  in  whom  he  could  confide,  to  ascer- 
tain the  correctness  of  the  report  of  her  ami- 
able qualifications ;  and  having  received  the 
fullest  satisfaction  on  that  head,  he  resolved 
to  make  a  formal  demand  of  her  in  mar- 
riage. On  the  eighth  of  July,  he  made  a 
declaration  of  his  sentiments  at  a  very  full 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  privy-council. 
AN  EMBASSY,  &c. 

This  declaration  was  so  agreeable  to  the 
council,  that  they  unanimously  requested  it 
might  be  made  public.  Proper  stepe  were 
then  talten  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 


30 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


majesty's  wishes.  The  earl  of  Harcourt  was 
fixed  upon  to  go  out  as  ambassador  plenipo- 
tentiary, to  mg,ke  the  demand  of  her  serene 
highness;  the  dutchesses  of  Ancaster  and 
Hamilton,  and  the  countess  of  Effingham 
were  appointed  ladies  of  the  bed-chamber  to 
take  care  of  her  person ;  and  the  Carolina 
yacht,  being  new  named  the  Charlotte,  was 
got  in  readiness  to  convey  her  to  England, 
under  convoy  of  a  squadron  commanded  by 
lord  Anson.  The  fleet  put  to  sea  the  eighth 
of  August ;  and  on  the  fourteenth,  lord  Har- 
court and  the  other  lords  and  ladies  sent  on 
this  embassy,  arrived  at  Strelitz.  Next  morn- 
ing the  ceremony  of  asking  her  highness  in 
marriage  for  the  king  of  England  was  per- 
formed, and  the  contract  was  signed.  The 
ambassador  and  his  suite  were  magnificent- 
ly entertained ;  and  the  event  was  celebrated 
with  the  most  splendid  rejoicings.  She  em- 
barked in  the  yacht  at  Cuxhaven,  where  she 
was  saluted  by  the  whole  squadron  destined 
for  her  convoy.  After  a  voyage  often  days, 
the  yacht  arrived  at  Harwich  on  the  sixtli 
of  September. 

On  the  eighth  of  September  her  highness 
arrived  at  St.  James's  palace,  and  in  the  gar- 
den she  was  met  by  the  king  himself,  who 
in  a  very  affectionate  manner  raised  her  up 
by  the  hand,  which  he  kissed,  as  she  was 
going  to  pay  her  obeisance,  and  then  led  her 
up  stairs  into  the  palace,  where  she  dined 
with  his  majesty,  the  princess  dowager,  and 
the  rest  of  the  royal  family.  In  the  evening 
the  nuptial  ceremony  was  performed  by  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  royal  chapel. 
The  cities  of  London  and  Westminster  were 
illummated  in  honor  of  the  auspicious  event, 
and  addresses  of  felicitation  poured  in  from 
all  parts  of  the  British  dominions. 
THE  CORONATION. 

A  PROCLAMATION  had  been  issued  in  July, 
appointing  the  twenty-second  of  September 
for  the  king's  coronation ;  and  a  similar  no- 
tice was  now  published  in  the  gazette,  de- 
claring it  to  be  his  majesty's  intention  that 
Ihe  queen  should  be  crowned  at  the  same 
time.  A  commission  had  also  passed  the 
great  seal,  constituting  a  court  to  decide  the 
pretensions  of  such  persons  as  laid  claim  to 
different  offices  and  privileges  upon  that  oc- 
casion (1).  Westminster-hall  was  prepared 
for  the  coronation  banquet. 

CITY  FEAST  TO  THEIR  MAJESTIES. 

The  city  endeavored  to  rival  the  court  in 
Ihe  brilliancy  of  public  shows,  and  in  testi- 
monies of  the  most  affectionate  regard  for 
the  young  king  and  his  amiable  consort 
CONFERENCES  WITH  SPAIN. 

These  bright  effusions  of  national  joy,  to 
which  the  king's  marriage  and  coronation 
had  given  so  full  a  scope,  were  now  for  a 
little  time  checked  and  obscured  by  some 
rising  clouds  in  the  political  hemisphere,  of 


the  progress  and  effects  of  which  it  will  be 
necessary  to  give  a  very  particular  account. 
Pitt's  views  in  the  course  of  the  treaty  with 
France,  and  his  indignant  rejection  of  the 
memorial  concerning  Spain,  have  been  al- 
ready noticed.  It  was  farther  observed,  that 
he  then  called  upon  the  Spanish  ambassador 
to  disavow  that  irregular  procedure.  His 
excellency  at  first  explained  himself  verbally 
on  the  subject,  and  was  soon  after  author- 
ized by  his  court  to  deliver  to  the  English 
secretary  a  written  answer. 

This  explanation,  though  written  with  a 
great  show  of  candor  and  spirit,  did  not  pro- 
duce the  desired  effect :  it  neither  softened 
Pitt's  prejudices,  nor  did  it  remove  his  sus- 
picions. It  appeared  to  him,  that  Spain,  as 
a  kind  of  party,  had  been  made  acquainted 
with  every  step  taken  in  the  negotiation 
between  France  and  England ;  that  her  au- 
thority was  called  in  aid  to  force  the  accept- 
ance of  the  terms  offered  by  the  former, 
which  he  considered  little  short  of  a  decla- 
ration of  war  in  reversion ;  in  a  word,  that 
there  was  a  perfect  union  of  affections,  in- 
terests and  councils  between  the  courts  of 
Versailles  and  Madrid. 

In  the  mean  time,  orders  had  been  sent  to 
the  earl  of  Bristol,  the  British  ambassador 
at  Madrid,  to  remonstrate  with  energy  and 
firmness  on  the  unexampled  and  offensive 
irregularity  of  the  late  proceeding,  and  to 
demand  an  eclaircissement  of  the  actual 
measures  and  designs  of  that  court ;  to  ad- 
here to  the  negative  put  upon  the  Spanish 
pretensions  to  fish  upon  the  banks  of  New^- 
foundland ;  to  rest  on  the  justice  of  the  Eng- 
lish tribunals  the  claim  concerning  the  res- 
titution of  prizes  made  against  the  flag  of 
Spain,  or  supposed  to  have  been  taken  in 
violation  of  the  territory  of  that  kingdom ; 
to  continue  the  former  professions  of  the 
court  of  London,  indicating  a  desire  of  an 
amicable  adjustment  of  the  logwood  dispute, 
and  the  willingness  of  his  Britannic  ma- 
jesty to  cause  the  settlements  on  the  coast 
of  Honduras  to  be  evacuated,  as  soon  as  his 
Catholic  majesty  should  suggest  another 
method  by  which  the  British  subjects  could 
enjoy  that  traffic,  to  which  they  had  a  right 
by  treaty,  and  which  the  court  of  Madrid 
had  farther  confirmed  to  them  by  repeated 
promises.  The  secretary's  letter  which  con- 
veyed these  orders  to  the  earl  of  Bristol, 
concluded  thus:  "Although  in  the  course 
of  this  instruction  to  your  excellency,  I 
could  not,  with  such  an  insolent  memorial 
before  me,  but  proceed  on  the  supposition, 
that,  insidious  as  that  court  is,  she  could  not 
dare  to  commit  in  such  a  manner  the  name 
of  his  Catholic  majesty,  without  being  au- 
thorized thereto ;  I  must  not,  however,  con- 
ceal from  your  excellency,  that  it  is  thought 
possible  here,   that  tlie   court  of  France, 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


though  not  wholly  unauthorized,  may,  with 
her  usual  artifice  in  negotiation,  have  put 
much  exaggeration  into  this  matter ;  and  in 
case,  upon  entering  into  remonstrances  on 
this  affair,  you  shall  perceive  a  disposition 
in  Mr.  Wall  [the  Spanish  secretary  of  state] 
to  explain  away  and  disavow  the  authoriza- 
tion of  Spain  to  this  offensive  transaction  of 
France,  and  to  come  to  categorical  and  sat- 
isfactory declarations  relatively  to  the  final 
intentions  of  Spain,  your  excellency  will, 
with  readiness  and  your  usual  address,  adapt 
yourself  to  so  desirable  a  circumstance,  and 
will  open  to  the  court  of  Madrid  as  hand- 
some a  retreat  as  may  be,  m  case  you  per- 
ceive from  the  Spanish  minister,  that  they 
sincerely  wish  to  find  one,  and  to  remove, 
by  an  effectual  satisfaction,  the  unfavorable 
impressions  which  the  memorial  of  the  court 
of  France  has  justly  and  unavoidably  made 
on  the  mind  of  his  majesty." 

By  the  earl  of  Bristol's  reply  to  Mr.  Pitt, 
dated  the  thirty-first  of  August,  and  receiv- 
ed the  eleventh  of  September,  it  appears 
that  the  Spanish  minister  applauded  the 
magnanimity  of  the  king  of  Great  Britain 
in  declaring,  that  he  would  never  add  facili- 
ties towards  accommodating  differences  with 
another  sovereign,  in  consideration  of  any 
intimation  from  a  power  at  war,  or  the 
threatenings  of  an  enemy.  Wall  farther 
affirmed,  that  the  assent  given  by  his  court 
to  the  king  of  France's  offer  of  endeavoring 
to  adjust  the  disputes  between  England  and 
Spain  was  totally  void  of  any  design  to  re- 
tard the  peace,  and  absolutely  free  from  the 
least  intention  of  giving  offence  to  his  Brit- 
annic majesty.  The  Catholic  king,  he  said, 
did  not  think  England  would  look  upon  the 
French  ministers  as  a  tribunal  to  which  the 
court  of  London  would  make  an  appeal,  nor 
did  he  mean  it  as  such,  when  the  statement 
of  grievances  was  conveyed  through  that 
channel.  His  excellency  assured  the  earl 
of  Bristol,  that  the  Catholic  king,  both  be- 
fore and  then,  esteemed  as  well  as  valued 
the  frequent  professions  of  friendship  made 
by  the  British  court,  and  of  its  desire  to  set- 
tle all  differences  amicably:  and  asked, 
whether  it  was  possible  to  be  imagined  in 
England,  that  the  Catholic  king  was  seeking 
to  provoke  Great  Britain  in  her  most  flour- 
ishing and  exalted  condition,  occasioned  by 
tlie  greatest  series  of  prosperities  that  any 
single  nation  had  ever  met  with?  But  he 
refused  to  give  up  any  of  the  three  points 
in  dispute,  and  owned  that  the  most  perfect 
harmony  subsisted  between  the  courts  of 
PVance  and  Spain ;  that,  in  consequence  of 
that  harmony,  the  most  Christian  king  had 
offered  to  assist  his  Catholic  majesty,  in  case 
the  discussions  between  Great  Britain  and 
Spain  should  terminate  in  a  rupture;  and 


that  this  offer 
light 

DEBATES  IN  THE  I 
PROPOSAL  OF 
On  receiving  these  dispatches,  Pitt  was 
of  opinion,  that  the  intentions  of  Spain  were 
by  no  means  equivocal,  and  that  her  only 
motive  for  delaying  a  more  open  avowal  of 
her  hostile  designs  was  in  order  to  strike 
the  blow  at  her  own  time  and  with  the 
greater  effect.  He  accordmgly  declared  in 
council,  that  we  ought  to  consider  the  eva- 
sions of  that  court  as  a  refusal  of  satisfac- 
tion, and  that  refusal  as  a  declaration  of  war; 
that  we  ought  from  prudence  as  well  as 
spirit  to  secure  to  ourselves  the  first  blow ; 
that  no  new  armament  would  be  necessary; 
that,  if  any  war  could  provide  its  own  re- 
sources, it  must  be  a  war  with  Spain ;  that 
her  flota,  or  American  plate  fleet,  on  which 
she  had  great  dependence,  was  not  yet  ar- 
rived ;  and  that  the  taking  of  it  would  at 
once  strengthen  our  hands  and  disable  hers. 
Such  a  spirited  measure,  he  added,  would 
be  a  lesson  to  his  Catholic  majesty,  and  to 
all  Europe,  how  dangerous  it  was  to  pre- 
sume to  dictate  in  the  affairs  of  Great  Brit- 
ain. After  the  fullest  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject at  three  different  meetings  of  the  cabi- 
net ministers,  Pitt  was  unable  to  bring  over 
any  of  them  to  his  way  of  thinking,  except 
lord  Temple,  his  brother-in-law.  The  proposal 
was  looked  upon  by  all  the  other  members 
as  equally  precipitate  and  base, — as  equally 
repugnant  to  the  dictates  of  sound  policy, 
and  to  the  laws  of  honor  and  justice.  They 
owned  that  Spain  had  concurred  in  a  very 
extraordinary  step ;  yet  it  was  not  impossi- 
ble but  some  farther  remonstrances  might 
persuade  that  court  to  recall  a  proposition, 
into  which  it  had  been,  perhaps,  unwarily 
seduced  by  the  artifices  of  France.  They 
also  admitted,  that  we  ought  not  to  be 
frightened  from  asserting  our  reasonable  de- 
mands, by  the  menaces  of  any  power ;  but 
they  afiirmed,  at  the  same  time,  that  this  de- 
sire of  adding  war  to  war,  and  enemy  to 
enemy,  whilst  the  springs  of  government 
were  already  very  much  stramed,  was  ill 
suited  to  our  national  strength ;  that  to  shun 
war  upon  a  just  occasion  was  cowardice, 
but  to  provoke  or  court  it  madness ;  and  that 
to  hasten  a  rupture  with  Spain  in  prticular, 
if  it  could  be  by  any  means  avoided,  was 
giving  a  wanton  blow  to  the  commercial  in- 
terest of  both  countries.  Besides,  said  they, 
if  we  plunge  into  such  measures,  in  the  man- 
ner proposed,  and  upon  no  better  grounds, 
we  shall  alarm  all  Europe :  nor  can  we  de- 
rive any  advantage  from  this  violent  con- 
duct, which  shall  not  be  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  jealousy  and  terror  it  must 
excite  in  every  nation  round  us.    Before  we 


32 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


draw  the  sword,  let  the  world  he  convinced 
of  the  perfidious  designs  of  those  whom  we 
attack :  let  us  not  endeavor  to  surpass  them 
in  treachery ;  and  let  not  the  lion  debase 
himself  to  act  the  part  of  a  fox.  As  to  the 
seizure  of  the  flota,  added  they,  the  thing  it- 
self may  be  impracticable :  perhaps  that  fleet 
is  now  safe  in  harbor;  which  conjecture 
proved  to  have  been  well  founded,  as  the 
flota  had  entered  Cadiz  almost  on  the  very 
day  that  Pitt  had  urged  the  expediency  of 
intercepting  it.  But  were  we  even  sure  of 
success,  would  not  such  a  step  be  regarded 
as  an  arbitrary  act  of  piracy, — as  an  unwar- 
rantable invasion  of  the  property  of  others, 
without  expostulation  or  warning  1  If  Spain, 
blind  to  her  true  interests,  and  misled  by 
French  counsels,  should  enter  more  deci- 
sively into  the  views  of  that  hostile  court,  it 
will  be  then  the  true  time  to  declare  war, 
when  all  the  neighboring  and  impartial 
powers  are  convinced  that  we  act  with  as 
much  temper  as  resolution,  and  when  every 
thinking  man  in  the  kingdom  must  be  satis- 
fied, that  he  is  not  hurried  into  the  hazards 
and  expenses  of  war,  from  an  idea  of  chi- 
merical heroism,  but  from  inevitable  neces- 
sity, and  must  therefore  cheerfully  contribute 
to  the  support  of  an  administration,  which, 
however  firm,  and  confident  of  the  resources 
of  the  state,  yet  dreads  to  waste  them  wan- 
tonly, or  to  employ  them  unjustly. 

Pitt,  unaccustomed  to  such  vigorous  op- 
position, and  probably  stung,  though  not  con- 
vinced by  the  arguments  of  the  majority, 
gave  full  scope  to  his  pride,  and  declared, 
that  this  was  the  moment  for  humbling  the 
whole  house  of  Bourbon  ;  that  if  so  glorious 
an  opportunity  were  let  slip,  it  might  never 
be  recovered ;  and  if  he  could  not  prevail 
in  the  present  instance,  he  was  resolved  this 
should  be  the  last  time  of  his  sitting  in  that 
council.  "  I  was  called  to  the  administra- 
tion of  public  affairs,"  said  he,  "  by  the  voice 
of  the  people  :  to  them  I  have  always  con- 
sidered myself  as  accountable  for  my  con- 
duct; and  therefore  cannot  remain  in  a  situ- 
ation which  makes  me  responsible  for  mea- 
sures I  am  no  longer  allowed  to  guide."  To 
this  declaration  lord  Granville,  the  president 
of  the  council,  very  coolly  replied :  "  The 
gentleman,  I  find,  is  determined  to  leave  us, 
and  I  cannot  say  I  am  sorry  for  it,  as  he 
would  otherwise  have  certainly  compelled 
lis  to  leave  him  ;  for,  if  he  is  determined  to 
assume  solely  the  right  of  advising  his  ma- 
jesty, and  directing  the  operations  of  the 
war,  to  what  purpose  are  we  here  assem- 
bled 1  He  may  possibly  have  convinced  him- 
self of  his  infallibility :  still  it  remains,  that 
we  should  be  equally  convinced,  before  we 
cm  resign  our  understandings  to  liis  direc- 
tion, or  join  with  him  in  the  measure  he 
proposes." 


PITT'S  RESIGNATION  AND  INTERVIEW 
WITH  THE  KING. 

In  conformity  to  the  resolution  then  ta- 
ken by  Pitt  and  lord  Temple,  they  both  re- 
signed their  employments.  When  Pitt  car- 
ried the  seals  to  the  king,  his  majesty  re- 
ceived them  with  ease  and  firmness :  he  ex- 
pressed his  regret  for  the  loss  of  so  able  a 
servant ;  but  he  did  not  solicit  him  to  resume 
his  office  :  he  candidly  declared,  that  he  was 
not  only  satisfied  with  the  opinion  of  the 
majority  of  his  council,  but  that  he  would 
have  found  himself  under  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty how  to  have  acted,  had  that  council 
concurred  as  fully  in  supporting  the  measure 
proposed  by  Pitt,  as  they  had  done  in  reject- 
ing it.  In  order,  at  the  same  time,  to  show 
his  high  opinion  of  Pitt's  merit,  his  majesty 
made  him  a  most  gracious  offer  of  any  re- 
wards in  the  powder  of  the  crown  to  bestow. 
Pitt  was  sensibly  touched  with  the  candor, 
the  dignity,  and  condescension  of  this  pro- 
ceeding. "  I  confess,  sir,"  said  he,  "  I  had 
but  too  much  reason  to  expect  your  majes- 
ty's displeasure.  I  did  not  come  prepared 
for  this  exceeding  goodness.  Pardon  me, 
sir, — it  overpowers — it  oppresses  me."  He 
burst  into  tears.  He  declined  the  distinction 
of  nobility  for  himself,  but  accepted  of  other 
marks  of  royal  favor.  His  majesty  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  direct,  that  a  warrant  be 
prepared  for  granting  to  the  lady  Hester 
Pitt,  his  wife,  a  barony  of  Great  Britain,  by 
the  name,  style,  and  title  of  baroness  of 
Chatham  to  herself,  and  of  baron  of  Chat- 
ham to  her  heirs  male ;  and  also  to  confer 
upon  the  said  William  Pitt,  esq.  an  annuity 
of  three  thousand  pounds  sterling,  durmg 
his  own  life,  and  that  of  lady  Hester  Pitt, 
and  their  son  John  Pitt,  esq.  The  duke  of 
Bedford,  the  late  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
was  appointed  keeper  of  the  privy-seal,  upon 
the  resignation  of  lord  Temple. 

ON  MR.  PITT'S  CONDUCT. 

It  cannot  be  a  matter  of  surprise,  that  the 
resignation  of  so  popular  a  minister  as  Pitt 
should  have  spread  a  momentary  alarm,  and 
excited  the  most  violent  conflict  between 
the  admirers  and  the  censurers  of  his  con- 
duct. The  splendor  of  his  talents,  and  the 
general  success  of  his  measures,  afforded  the 
former  ample  subjects  of  encomium  ;  while 
the  latter  found  equal  room  for  censure  in 
the  inconsistency  of  his  opinions  respecting 
the  war  on  the  continent,  in  his  frequent 
misapplication  of  the  national  strength,  but 
particularly  in  the  overbearing  haughtiness 
of  his  temper,  which  had  obstructed  the 
work  of  peace,  had  multiplied  enemies 
abroad,  and  destroyed  at  home  that  happy- 
union  of  counsels,  and  combination  of  abili- 
ties, which  were  of  the  highest  importance 
at  so  dangerous  a  crisis.  The  only  remark, 
which  can  be  fairly  made  on  Pitt's  avowed 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


83 


motive  for  resigning,  "  because  he  would  no 
longer  be  responsible  for  the  measures  he 
did  not  guide,"  is,  that  he  showed  himself 
more  strongly  attached  to  his  own  personal 
glory  than  to  the  interests  of  his  country. 
This  opinion  of  the  moderate  part  of  the  na- 
tion at  that  time,  has  since  received  the 
sanction  of  the  abbe  Raynal,  one  of  the  most 
enlightened  and  impartial  of  modern  histo- 
rians. 

INSTRUCTIONS  TO  THE  AMBASSADOR 
AT  MADRID. 

Though  the  majority  of  the  council  had 
opposed  the  late  secretary's  proposal  for  an 
immediate  attack  upon  Spain,  they  were  far 
from  being  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  an- 
swers of  that  court,  or  with  its  professions 
of  amicable  intention  towards  Great  Britain. 
The  French  agents  at  foreign  courts  had 
also  been  very  busy  in  circulating  reports  of 
tlie  family  compact  between  the  diflferent 
branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  in  ex- 
pectation, no  doubt,  of  frightening  the  new 
ministry  of  George  HI.  after  Pitt's  seces- 
sion, into  a  treaty  of  peace  on  their  own 
terms.  But  they  were  unacquainted  with 
the  characters  of  the  men  whom  they  hoped 
to  intimidate.  The  earl  of  Egremont,  who 
had  succeeded  to  the  office  of  secretary  for 
the  southern  department,  wrote  to  the  Brit- 
ish ambassador  at  Madrid,  to  desire  him  to 
make  use  of  the  most  pressing  instances  to 
obtain  an  explicit  account  of  that  secret, 
though  so  much  vaunted  convention  be- 
tween France  and  Spain,  as  absolutely  ne- 
cessary before  any  farther  negotiation  could 
be  entered  into  on  the  former  points  of  dis- 
pute. "And  in  order,"  says  he,  "  to  prevent 
any  perverse  impressions,  which  Mr.  Pitt's 
retiring  from  public  business  might  occa- 
sion, it  is  proper  that  I  should  assure  your 
excellency,  that  the  measures  of  govern- 
ment will  suffer  no  relaxation  on  that  ac- 
count ;  the  spirit  of  the  war  will  not  subside 
with  him :  and  the  example  of  the  spirit  of 
the  late  measures  will  be  a  spur  to  his  ma- 
jesty's servants  to  persevere,  and  to  stretch 
every  nerve  of  this  country,  in  forcing  the 
enemy  to  come  into  a  safe,  honorable,  and, 
above  all,  a  lasting  peace. 

STEPS  TAKEN  BY  THE  MINISTRY. 

The  British  ministry  soon  convinced  their 
countrymen,  and  all  Europe,  that  the  spirit 
of  the  nation,  and  the  wisdom  of  its  coun- 
cils, were  not  confined  to  a  single  man. 
They  prepared  for  a  rupture,  in  case  it  could 
not  be  honorably  avoided,  with  the  utmost 
viafor  and  judgment.  A  squadron  of  men- 
of-war,  having  under  convoy  a  number  of 
transports  with  four  battalions  from  Belle- 
isle,  sailed  from  England,  the  latter  end  of 
October,  and  was  to  be  joined  in  the  West 
Indies  by  such  an  accession  of  naval  and 
military  forces  as  would  render  the  v/hole 


armament  the  most  formidable  that  had 
been  ever  before  seen  in  that  part  of  the 
world.  The  immediate  object  of  this  expe- 
dition was  the  conquest  of  Martinico,  and 
of  the  remaining  French  islands ;  after 
which  a  part  of  the  armament  was  to  co-op- 
erate with  another  fleet  from  England,  ui  an 
attack  on  the  Havanna,  as  soon  as  the  refu- 
sal of  proper  satisfaction  should  render  the 
commencement  of  hostilities  justifiable.  A 
third  enterprise,  to  be  directed  against  the 
Philippine  islands,  those  great  connecting 
links  of  the  Spanish  commerce  in  Asia  and 
America,  was  also  resolved  upon,  in  con- 
formity to  a  plan  of  operations  presented  by 
colonel  Draper  to  the  first  lord  of  the  admi- 
ralty and  to  the  new  secretary  of  state. 
A  NEW  PARLIAMENT. 

During  the  suspension  of  those  projects 
which  were  to  make  Spain  repent  of  her 
baseness,  presumption,  and  temerity,  the 
new  parliament  met  on  the  third  of  Novem- 
ber. The  choice  of  a  speaker  imanimously 
fell  on  Sir  John  Gust,  the  member  for  Grant- 
ham :  he  was  presented  to  his  majesty  on  the 
sixth,  when  the  king,  after  signifying  his 
approbation,  made  a  speech  to  both  houses ; 
in  which,  after  noticing  his  marriage,  hia 
majesty  vindicated  himself  from  the  failure 
of  the  late  negotiation  with  France  for 
peace,  and  stated  the  recent  successes  at 
Belleisle  and  Dominica,  and  the  reduction 
of  Pondicherry  which  had  annihilated  the 
French  power  in  the  East  Indies.  But  the 
part  of  his  speech,  with  which  both  houses 
seemed  most  aiFected,  was  his  patriotic  de- 
claration, that  nothing  should  ever  make  him 
depart  from  the  true  interests  of  his  king- 
doms. Warmed  by  so  endearing  a  senti- 
ment, they  begged  his  majesty  to  accept 
their  most  affectionate  assurances,  that  they 
would  dutifully  and  zealously  correspond  to 
the  confidence  he  reposed  in  them,  and  con- 
cur with  firmness  and  unanimity  in  what- 
ever might  contribute  to  the  public  welfare, 
might  tend  to  defeat  the  views  and  expect- 
ations of  his  enemies,  and  convince  the 
world  that  there  were  no  difficulties  which 
his  majesty's  wisdom  and  perseverance,  with 
the  assistance  of  his  parliament,  could  not 
surmount 
JOINTURE  GRANTED  TO  THE  QUEEN. 

The  commons,  besides  the  usual  address 
in  answer  to  his  majesty's  speech,  farther 
resolved  to  send  a  message  to  tlie  queen  to 
congratulate  her  also  on  her  nuptiala  On 
the  nineteent'i  of  November,  two  days  after 
the  delivery  of  the  message,  the  commons 
gave  her  majesty  a  proof  of  the  sincerity  of 
their  professions.  They  resolved,  that  in 
case  she  should  survive  his  majesty,  she 
should  enjoy  a  provision  of  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  per  annum  during  her  life, 
together  with  the  palace  of  Somerset-house, 


34 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  the  lodge  and  lands  at  Richmond  Park ;  i 
and  that  the  annuity  should  be  charged  upon 
all  or  any  part  of  those  revenues  of  the 
crown,  which,  by  an  act  made  in  the  last 
session,  were  consolidated  with  the  aggre- 
gate fund.  A  bill  formed  on  these  resolu- 
tions passed  both  houses  without  opposition, 
and  received  the  royal  assent  on  the  second 
of  December,  when  the  queen,  who  was  pres- 
ent, and  placed  in  a  chair  of  state  on  the 
kuig's  right  hand,  rose  up,  and  made  her 
obeisance.  She  had  also  the  pleasure  to 
hear  the  speaker  renew,  upon  presenting  the 
bill,  the  former  assurances  of  the  duty  and 
affection  of  the  commons,  blended  with  the 
most  respectful  and  delicate  compliments  to 
her  majesty. 

REPEAL  OF  THE  COMPELLING  CLAUSE 
IN  THE  INSOLVENT  ACT. 
Much  clamor  and  discontent  having  been 
excited  by  the  abuse  of  the  compelling 
clause  in  the  act,  passed  during  the  last 
session,  for  the  relief  of  insolvent  debtors,  a 
motion  for  its  repeal  w^as  the  first  legislative 
measure  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
new  parliament.  The  majority  being  per- 
haps influenced  by  the  violent  outcry  raised 
against  the  clause  in  the  city  of  London 
and  in  some  other  mercantile  towns,  leave 
was  given  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  its  repeal, 
which  soon  passed  through  the  necessary 
stages,  and  received  the  sanction  of  royal 
authority. 

PROVISION  FOR  THE  SERVICE  OF  THE 
ENSUING  YEAR. 
Within  a  month  after  the  first  estimates 
had  been  laid  before  the  house,  they  adjusted 
the  whole  business  of  supplies,  and  of  ways 
and  means,  for  the  service  of  the  ensuing 
year.  They  voted  seventy  thousand  sea- 
men: they  agreed  to  maintain  the  land 
forces,  to  the  number  of  sixty-seven  thousand 
six  hundred  and  seventy-six  effective  men, 
over  and  above  the  militia  in  England,  the 
two  regiments  of  fencibles  in  North  Britain, 
the  provincial  troops  in  America,  and  sixty- 
seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
German  auxiliaries  to  support  the  war  in 
Westphalia.  In  proportioning  the  supply, 
they  likewise  made  good  the  foreign  subsi- 
dies, as  well  as  the  deficiencies  in  the  grants 
of  the  last  session :  a  loan  of  twelve  millions 
was  found  necessary,  which,  of  course,  ren- 
dered some  new  taxes  unavoidable.  These 
were  a  farther  tax  upon  windows,  and  addi- 
tional duties  on  spirituous  liquors.  The  va- 
rious sums  voted  by  the  commons,  from  the 
twenty-first  of  November  till  the  twenty- 
second  of  December,  amounted  to  very  near 
sixteen  millions;  to  which  were  added,  a 
few  months  after,  above  t^vo  millions  more, 
for  the  defence  of  Portugal  and  various  other 
purposes ;  so  that  the  sum  total  of  the  sup- 


plies for  the  year  1762  exceeded  eighteen 
millions. 

DEBATE  ON  THE  GERMAN  WAR. 

The  only  debate,  to  which  such  liberal 
grants  of  the  public  money  gave  rise  at  the 
present  juncture,  was  on  the  expediency  of 
the  German  war.  This  question  had  often 
before  been  agitated  in  parliament;  and  it 
seemed  rather  too  late  now  to  resume  the 
discussion  of  measures  in  which  Great  Brit- 
ain was  so  far  engaged  that  she  could  not 
recede  with  honor.  The  opponents  of  the 
continental  system  had  another  year's  expe- 
rience to  bring  in  support  of  their  former 
assertions,  that  no  adequate  advantage  could 
result  from  the  most  vigorous  efforts  in 
that  quarter.  They  had  also  on  their  side 
the  great  body  of  the  people,  who,  being 
no  longer  dazzled  by  brilliant  exploits,  had 
fallen  into  an  almost  general  dislike  of  the 
plan  of  operations  for  the  last  two  years, 
and  who  expected  that  their  representatives 
would  not  silently  acquiesce  in  the  applica- 
tion of  almost  half  the  new  loan  to  the  sup- 
port of  a  useless  and  consuming  war  in  Ger- 
many. 

The  speakers  against  the  German  system 
represented  it  as  a  system  of  all  others  the 
most  absurd,  in  which  defeats  were  attended 
with  their  usual  fatal  effects,  and  victory 
itself  would  rob  her  of  the  fruits  of  her 
naval  successes,  and  drain  her  exchequer  to 
such  a  degree  as  would  force  her  to  buy 
peace  by  the  restitution  of  all  her  conquests ; 
"  that  we  never  can,  consistently  with  com- 
mon prudence,  engage  in  a  continental  war 
against  France,  without  a  concurrence  in 
our  favor  of  the  other  powers  on  the  conti- 
nent. This  was  the  maxim  of  the  great 
king  William,  and  this  the  fouDdation  of 
the  grand  alliance  which  he  projected,  and 
at  the  head  of  which,  in  defence  of  the  lib- 
erties of  Europe,  he  made  the  most  august 
appearance  of  which  human  nature  is  capa- 
ble. It  was  on  this  principle,  that,  in  con- 
junction with  half  Europe,  we  carried  on 
the  war  with  so  m.uch  honor  and  success 
against  France,  under  the  duke  of  Marlbo- 
rough. But  to  engage  in  a  continental  war 
with  that  power,  not  only  unassisted  but 
opposed  by  the  greater  part  of  those  states 
with  whom  we  were  then  combined,  is  an 
attempt  never  to  be  justified  by  any  compar- 
ative calculation  of  the  populousness,  the 
revenues,  or  the  general  strength  of  the  two 
nations.  It  is  a  desperate  struggle,  which 
must  finally  fend  in  our  ruin." 

In  addition  to  these  arguments  against 
continuing  such  destructive  operations  on 
the  continent,  they  anticipated  a  reply  which 
they  knew  would  be  made  by  their  adversa- 
ries, namely,  that  the  war  in  Germany  had 
proved  a  most  fortunate  diversion  in  favor 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


85 


of  the  English,  by  drawing  off  the  forces 
and  revenues,  as  well  as  the  attention  of 
France  from  her  navy,  from  the  defence  of 
her  colonies,  and  from  any  formidable  en- 
terprises against  Great  Britain.  All  this 
they  positively  contradicted.  "  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,"  they  urged,  "while 
there  was  any  possibility  of  supporting  their 
marine,  the  French  attended  to  this  object 
with  the  most  assiduous  care  ;  and  while 
they  saw  any  likelihood  of  uivading  Eng- 
land with  success,  they  had  not  the  least 
idea  of  marching  into  Germany.  The  elec- 
torate of  Hanover  was  so  far  from  being 
thought  in  danger,  that  a  body  of  troops  was 
brought  over  thence  to  defend  this  country. 
But  afterwards  when  France  perceived  that 
we  were  guarded  against  insult ;  that  her 
own  navy  was  destroyed,  and  her  colonies 
exposed;  she  then  bethought  herself  of 
Germany ;  and  it  was  she,  in  reality,  that 
diverted  or  transferred  the  war  to  the  only 
place  where  she  was  capable  of  acting,  and 
where  she  knew  Great  Britain  must  be  ex- 
hausted, even  by  a  succession  of  victories. 
The  German  war  was  not,  on  the  part  of 
England,  a  v/ar  of  diversion,  but  a  war  of 
defence,  in  favor  of  abarren  electorate,  which, 
if  put  up  to  sale,  would  not  fetch  half  the 
money  that  is  yearly  expended  in  its  behalf; 
for  the  protection  of  a  country,  whose  in^ 
habitants  are  rendered  miserable  by  the  as- 
sistance they  receive ;  and  for  the  support 
of  an  ally,  from  whom  no  mutual  service 
can  be  expected.  If  a  third  part  of  the 
money  thus  squandered  away  on  the  conti- 
nent had  been  employed  in  giving  addi- 
tional vigor  to  the  naval  armaments  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  by  this  time,  would 
not  have  one  settlement  left  in  the  West 
Indies ;  all  the  profits  of  her  external  com- 
merce must  have  ceased ;  and  she  must  have 
been  absolutely  obliged  to  accept  such  terms 
of  peace  as  England  should  think  proper  to 
prescribe." 

ON  CONTINENTAL  ALLIANCES. 
After  having  thus  commented  upon  the 
infatuation  of  Great  Britain  in  renouncing 
the  advantages  of  her  naval  superiority,  and 
in  leaving  her  enemies  the  choice  of  a  field 
where  defeat  could  do  them  little  harm,  and 
where  she  herself  must  be  exhausted  even 
by  a  succession  of  her  own  victories,  the 
patriotic  speakers  made  some  very  severe 
remarks  on  the  particular  engagements  we 
had  entered  into  with  some  of  the  continen- 
tal powers.  "  We  had,"  as  they  asserted, 
"  officiously  meddled  with  the  internal  broils 
of  the  empire,  and  taken  a  part  in  disputes 
which  would  have  been  much  better  adjust- 
ed without  our  interference.  We  had  not 
only  sent  oflf  from  more  useful  service,  the 
flower  of  our  armies  to  defend  the  territories 
of  some  petty  German  princes,  but  we  con- 


tracted enormous  debts  to  pay  those  princes 
for  assisting  us  in  guarding  their  rights,  and 
in  fighting  their  lM,ttles.     Was  such  an  ab- 
surdity in  politics,"  they  asked,  "  ever  before 
heard  of?    Is  England  to  be  the  knight-er- 
rant of  Europe,  and  to  neglect  her  own  im- 
mediate concerns  and  her  solid  interests  in 
the  pursuit  of  foreign  phantoms  1  Are  we  to 
waste  all  our  resources  upon  Hanoverians, 
Hessians,   Brunswickers ; — allies,   who,   if 
they  merit  that  name,  serve  only  to  protract 
the  feeble  eflbrts  of  a  system,  in  which  no- 
thing could  so  effectually  contribute  to  our 
safety  as  an  early  and  total  defeat  1  But  even 
these  connexions,"  they  said,  "  though  bur- 
densome and  unavailing,  did  not  half  so  much 
expose  the  ignorance  of  our  negotiators,  as 
the  treaty  made  with  the  king  of  Prussia,  to 
whom  we  annually  paid  a  sum  exceeding 
the  whole  amount  of  the  subsidies  granted 
in  queen  Anne's  war  to  all  her  German  allies 
put  together ;  and  who  was  so  far  from  being 
able  to  aflford  any  relief  to  our  armies,  that 
he  was  scarcely  in  a  condition  to  support 
himself     We  look  upon  him,  it  is  true,  as 
the  protector  of  the  Protestant  religion :  but 
how  lightly  he  thinks  of  all  religion,  his 
writings  testify ;  and  what  mischiefs  he  has 
done  the  Protestant  cause  in  particular,  this 
war  will  be  a  lasting  memorial.     He  invad- 
ed and  cruelly  oppressed  Saxony,  a  Protest- 
ant country,  where  he  found  the  people  se- 
cured from  any  molestation  on  account  of 
their  religious  opinions.     Even  among  the 
Roman  Catholics,  persecution  had  lost  much 
of  its  edge,  when  he  revived  its  memory ; 
and,  by  forcing  the  popish  powers  into  a  strict 
union,  brought  more  calamities  upon  the  di- 
vided Protestants  than  they  had  ever  expe- 
rienced during  the  utmost  rancor  of  a  holy 
war." 

Those,  however,  who  embraced  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  question,  made  a  very  inge- 
nious defence.  They  ridiculed  the  idea  of 
going  back  half  a  century  to  the  reign  of 
king  William  or  queen  Anne,  to  examine 
the  principles  of  a  continental  war,  or  to 
compare  the  policy  and  resources  of  the  two 
contending  nations.  "The  present  time," 
said  they,  "is  the  only  just  criterion  by 
which  we  can  judge;  and  here  we  have 
manifestly  the  advantage.  The  success 
which  our  arms,  alone  and  unassisted,  have 
had  in  this  contest  with  France,  is  a  suf- 
ficient proof  that  we  are  an  overmatch  for 
aU  her  power." 

In  answer  to  what  had  been  urged  against 
the  folly  of  waging  war  on  the  continent, 
they  ascribed  to  this  very  scheme  the  happy 
issue  of  all  our  other  operations.  The  at- 
tention of  our  rival  was  thereby  distracted 
between  the  different  enterprises  at  sea  and 
land :  eagerly  grasping  at  two  grand  objects, 
she  had  missed  both  ;  and  the  only  fruits  of 


36 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


her  mighty  exertions  were  the  ruin  of  her 
trade,  the  destruction  of  her  marine,  the  loss 
of  her  colonies,  and  the  impending  terrors 
of  a  national  bankruptcy.  "  Was  it  not," 
they  added,  "by  involving  France  in  the 
German  war,  that  we  diverted  her  from  the 
vigorous  defence  of  her  distant  possessions, 
and  that  we  have  become  masters  of  some 
of  the  most  considerable  of  them  1  Was  it 
not  in  consequence  of  her  embarking  so 
heartily  in  that  war,  that  she  afforded  us  an 
opportunity  of  giving  such  a  blow  to  her  na- 
val power  as  she  may  never,  perhaps,  be 
able  to  recover  1  And  has  she  made  any  pro- 
gress in  Germany  to  counterbalance  her  dis- 
appointments elsewhere  1  Far  from  it.  At 
this  instant  she  is  less  advanced  than  she 
was  the  first  year  she  entered  that  country, 
after  having  spent  immense  sums  of  money, 
and  lost  by  the  sword,  by  disease,  and  deser- 
tion, at  least  one  hundred  thousand  of  her 
people.  Even  on  the  continent,  where  our 
enemies  have  made  the  most  desperate  push, 
have  they  not  been  frequently  defeated 
Has  not  Hanover  been  recovered  and  pro- 
tected 1  Has  not  the  king  of  Prussia  been 
preserved,  so  long  at  least,  from  the  rage  of 
his  enemies  1  And  have  not  the  liberties  of 
Germany  in  general  been  hitherto  secured? 
Had  we  lain  by,  and  tamely  beheld  that  vast 
empire  in  part  possessed,  and  the  rest  com^ 
pelled  to  receive  laws  from  France,  the  war 
there  would  soon  have  been  brought  to  an 
end ;  and  France,  strengthened  by  victory, 
conquest,  and  alliance,  would  have  the  whole 
force  and  the  whole  revenue  of  her  monar- 
chy to  act  against  us  alone." 

They  argued  farther,  "  that  if  the  support 
of  the  Protestant  religion  be  any  part  of  our 
care,  that  religion  must  suffer  eminently  by 
the  ruin  of  the  king  of  Prussia;  for  though 
the  writings  attributed  to  his  Prussian  ma- 
jesty be  such  as,  if  really  his,  reflect,  on  ac- 
count of  their  impiety,  great  disgrace  on  his 
character  as  a  man ;  yet  as  a  king,  in  his 
public  and  political  capacity,  he  is  the  nat- 
ural protector  of  the  Protestant  religion  in 
Germany ;  and  it  will  always  be  his  interest 
to  defend  it." 

Whatever  might  have  been  the  senti- 
ments of  the  new  ministry  respecting  the 
original  policy  of  the  German  war,  they  saw 
very  well  that  it  could  not  now  be  honora- 
bly or  consistently  relinquished.  The  faith 
of  parliament  was  also  pledged  to  assist  the 
allies ;  and  the  best  judges  were  of  opinion, 
that  vigorous  efforts  for  one  campaign  more 
would  terminate  the  contest,  and  bring  the 
French  to  reasonable  terms.  The  opposi- 
tion therefore  to  continental  measures,  how- 
ever well  supported  by  argument,  was  over- 
ruled by  numbers,  and  expired  in  the  warmth 
of  debate.  Yet  it  waa  not  wholly  unpro- 
ductive of  good  effects.     It  showed  govern- 


ment very  clearly  what  the  sense  of  the  na- 
tion was  on  the  subject;  and  it  prevented 
the  renewal  of  the  annual  convention  with 
the  king  of  Prussia,  though  assurances  were 
at  the  same  time  given  him  of  pecuniary 
aid,  as  before. 

THE  FAMILY  COMPACT  AVOWED. 

The  parliament  adjourned  to  the  nine- 
teenth of  January.  During  that  recess  the 
public  attention  was  roused  to  an  incident 
of  national  importance.  Before  the  earl  of 
Egremont's  dispatches  concerning  the  fam- 
ily compact  could  reach  Madrid,  the  English 
ambassador  there  had  hunself  received  in- 
telligence of  the  treaty,  and  of  the  hopes 
which  the  French  made  no  secret  of  deriv- 
ing from  it.  He  therefore  thought  it  his 
duty  to  desire  some  satisfaction  on  that  head 
from  Wall,  the  Spanish  secretary  of  state. 
But  though  he  expressed  his  uneasiness  in 
consequence  of  such  rumors  with  equal 
force  and  delicacy,  Wall,  evading  a  direct 
reply  to  the  main  point  of  inquiry,  entered 
into  a  long  and  bitter  complaint,  not  only  of 
the  treatment  which  Spain  had  received 
from  the  British  court,  but  of  the  haughti- 
ness of  its  late  proceedings  with  France. 
"  He  told  me,"  says  the  earl  of  Bristol  in  his 
letter  of  the  second  of  November,  "  we  were 
intoxicated  with  all  our  successes,  and  a 
continued  series  of  victories  had  elated  us 
so  far,  as  to  induce  us  to  contemn  the  rea- 
sonable concessions  France  had  consented 
to  make ;  but  that  it  was  evident,  by  this  re- 
fusal, all  we  aimed  at  was,  first  to  ruin  the 
French  power,  in  order  more  easily  to  crush 
Spain,  to  drive  all  the  subjects  of  the  Chris- 
tian king  not  only  from  their  island  colonies 
in  the  new  world,  but  also  to  destroy  their 
several  forts  and  settlements  upon  the  con- 
tinent of  North  America,  to  have  an  easier 
task  in  seizing  upon  all  the  Spanish  domin- 
ions in  those  parts,  thereby  to  satisfy  the 
utmost  of  our  ambition,  and  to  gratify  our 
unbounded  thirst  of  conquest."  Wall  add- 
ed, with  uncommon  warmth,  "  that  he  would 
himself  be  the  man  to  advise  the  king  of 
Spain,  since  his  dominions  were  to  be  over- 
whelmed, at  least  to  have  them  seized  witli 
arms  in  his  subjects'  hands,  and  not  to  con- 
tinue the  passive  victim  he  had  hitherto 
appeared  to  be  in  the  eyes  of  the  world." 

Such  a  sudden  change  of  sentiments  and 
discourse, — such  an  abrupt  and  unprovoked 
transition,  in  the  Spanish  secretary  of  state, 
from  the  most  cordial  and  conciliatory  tone 
of  friendly  profession  and  amicable  adjust- 
ment, to  the  most  peremptory  and  haughty 
style  of  menace  and  hostility,  could  not  but 
astonish  and  perplex  the  earl  of  Bristol.  He 
was  naturally  led  into  various  conjectures, 
to  account  for  this  incoherency  of  behavior. 
At  first,  he  imagined  that  the  late  arrival  at 
Cadiz  of  two  ships  with  extraordinary  rich 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


37 


carg-oes,  containing  the  remainder  of  the 
wealtli  that  was  expected  from  Spanish 
America,  had  raised  the  language  of  the 
court  of  Madrid,  added  to  the  progress, 
whicli,  it  was  reported,  the  French  army  was 
making  in  the  king  of  England's  electoral 
dominions,  and  the  success  attending  the 
Austrian  operations  in  Silesia.  He  ascribed 
the  former  soothing  declarations  of  the  Span- 
ish ministers  to  the  consciousness  of  their 
naval  inferiority ;  and  he  supposed  that  those 
fears  were  now  removed,  or  greatly  abated 
by  the  safe  arrival  of  the  above  ships,  and  by 
the  continual  flatteries  of  the  French,  who, 
whilst  they  inflamed  the  jealousy  of  Spain 
at  the  British  conquests,  and  solicited  a  junc- 
tion of  forces  to  put  a  stop  to  them,  never 
ceased  assuring  the  Spaniards,  that  even  the 
signing  of  an  alliance  between  the  two  great 
branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon  would  in- 
timidate England,  not  only  upon  account  of 
its  being  exhausted  by  the  present  long  and 
expensive  war,  but  by  its  having  felt  t^e  fa- 
tal consequences  of  an  interruption  of  the 
Spanish  trade,  during  the  last  war.  But, 
though  all  these  circumstances  very  proba- 
bly co-operated  in  producing  so  great  a  revo- 
lution in  the  Spanish  councils ;  yet  the  earl 
of  Bristol  was  afterwards  convinced,  that  its 
immediate  cause  was  the  intelligence  then 
received  at  Madrid  of  Pitt's  violent  proposal 
in  the  cabinet,  before  he  went  out  of  office. 
Mis  excellency's  sentiments  on  this  point 
are  thus  expressed  in  a  subsequent  letter  to 
the  earl  of  Egremont,  dated  Madrid,  De- 
cember the  seventh. 

"  What  occasioned  the  great  fermentation 
at  this  court,  the  effects  of  which  I  felt  from 
general  Wall's  animated  discourse  at  the 
Escurial,  was  notice  having  reached  the 
Catholic  king,  that  the  change  which  had 
happened  in  the  English  administration  was 
relative  to  measures  proposed  to  be  taken 
against  this  country.  Hence  arose  that  sud- 
den wrath  and  passion,  which,  for  a  short 
time,  affected  the  Spanish  court :  as  it  was 
thought  most  extraordinary  here,  that  the 
declaring  war  agamst  the  Catholic  king 
should  ever  have  been  moved  in  his  majes- 
ty's councils,  since  the  Spaniards  have  al- 
ways looked  upon  themselves  as  the  aggriev' 
ed  party ;  and,  of  course,  never  could  im- 
agine that  the  English  would  be  the  first  to 
begin  a  war  with  them." 

But  whatever  impression  Pitt's  proposal 
may  have  made  on  the  minds  of  the  Span- 
iards, the  justest  praise  was  certainly  due  to 
the  earl  of  Bristol's  conduct  in  this  delicate 
conjuncture.  Though  totally  unprepared  for 
a  conference  that  differed  so  widely  from  all 
former  conversations  on  the  same  subject,  he 
replied  with  coolness  to  the  invectives,  and 
with  firmness  to  the  menaces  of  the  Span- 
ish minister.  After  refuting  in  the  best  man- 

VoL.  IV.  4 


ner  what  Wall  had  urged,  he  returned  to 
his  first  demand,  an  explanation  concerning 
the  treaty.  As  often  as  a  direct  answer  was 
evaded,  the  same  question  was  again  put; 
and  at  length  the  only  reply,  that  could  with 
difficulty  be  extorted,  was,  "  That  his  Catho- 
lic majesty  had  judged  it  expedient  to  re- 
new his  family  compacts  with  the  most 
Christian  king.  Then  Wall,  as  if  he  had 
gone  beyond  what  he  intended,  suddenly 
broke  off  the  discourse ;  and  no  further  sat- 
isfaction could  be  obtained. 

AMBASSADOR  AT  MADRID  RECALLED. 
On  the  receipt  of  these  advices  from  the 
earl  of  Bristol,  the  ministry  did  not  hesitate 
a  moment,  respecting  the  line  they  were  to 
pursue.  They  saw  evidently  that  there  was 
little  reason  to  hope  for  any  good  efiectd 
from  farther  patience  and  forbearance ;  that 
the  continuance  of  their  former  moderation 
might  be  attributed  to  timidity ;  and  that  the 
language  of  Spain  would  no  longer  permit 
any  doubt  of  her  hostile  intentions.  Not  a 
moment  was  therefore  lost  in  sending  back 
orders  to  the  English  ambassador,  directing 
him  to  renew  his  former  instances  relative 
to  the  treaty  with  France,  and  to  demand  a 
clear  and  categorical  declaration  from  tlie 
court  of  Madrid,  whether  they  meaned  to 
depart  in  any  manner  from  their  professed 
neutrality,  and  to  join  in  hostilities  agamst 
Great  Britain.  These  points  he  was  to  urge 
with  energy,  but  without  the  mixture  of  any 
thing  which  might  irritate  ;  and  he  was  far- 
ther authorized  to  signify,  that  a  peremptory 
refusal  to  communicate  the  treaty,  or  to  dis- 
avow an  intention  to  take  part  with  the  de- 
clared and  inveterate  enemies  of  Great 
Britain,  could  not  be  looked  upon  by  the 
king  of  England  in  any  light,  but  as  an  ag- 
gression on  the  part  of  Spain,  and  as  an  ab- 
solute declaration  of  war.  The  earl  of  Bris- 
tol acted  in  strict  conformity  to  such  decisive, 
yet  temperate  instructions.  He  gradually 
unfolded  the  purport  and  extent  of  them  in 
two  conferences  wdth  Wall,  on  the  sixth  and 
the  eighth  of  December ;  and,  in  two  days 
afler,  he  received  a  letter  from  that  minis- 
ter, stating  that  "  the  spirit  of  haughtiness 
and  of  discord,  which,  for  the  misfortune  of 
mankind,  still  reigns  so  much  m  the  British 
government,  is  what  made,  in  the  same  m- 
stant,  the  declaration  of  war,  and  attacked 
the  king's  dignity.  Your  excellency  may 
think  of  retiring  when,  and  in  what  man- 
ner, it  is  convenient  to  you ;  which  js  the 
only  answer  that,  without  detaining  you,  his 
majesty  has  ordered  me  to  give  you." 

SPANISH  AMBASSADOR'S  MANIFESTO. 
The  earl  of  Bristol  left  Madrid  the  ser- 
enteenth  of  December ;  and  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  tlie  same  month  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador in  London  received  letters  of  recall 
from  hie  court     The  note,  which  he  delir- 


38 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ered  on  that  occasion  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  was  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  a  mani- 
festo, charging  the  war  on  the  pride  and  un- 
measurable  amhition  of  the  late  secretary, 
and  on  the  little  respect  shown  to  his  Catlio- 
lic  majesty,  both  during  that  minister's  con- 
tinuance in  office,  and  since  his  resignation. 
Lord  Egremont's  memorial  in  reply,  dated 
the  thirty-first  of  December,  did  not  stoop 


to  personal  invectives,  but  proved  by  an  ex- 
act and  faithful  detail  of  what  had  passed 
between  the  two  courts,  that  Spain  alone 
was  to  be  blamed  for  all  the  misfortunes  in- 
separable from  a  rupture.  The  facts  already 
related  will  best  show  what  degree  of  stress 
should  be  laid  on  the  assertions  of  either 
party. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  TIL 


1  These  were  net  mere  mattefs  of  ceremony,  as  the  tenures  of  sundry  manors,  and  the  enjoyment  of  cor  > 
tain  nghta  and  iAheritances  depended  «n  i^  JMrfomtaAce  of  particular  a^xviua  at  the  corouation. 


GEORGE  m.   1760.— 1820.  39 


CHAPTER  IV. 

War  declared  against  Spain — Debate  in  the  lAyrds — Protest  on  a  Motion  for  withdraw- 
ing the  Troops  from  Germany — Popularity  of  this  Protest — Duty  on  Beer  and  Ale 
causes  a  tumult  in  London — Amendments  of  the  Militia  Laws — An  Act  for  Regis- 
tering of  Parish  Children — Bill  for  the  Extension  of  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater*8 
Canals — Account  of  Harrison's  Time-piece  and  Inoin's  Marine-chair — Addition  to 
the  former  Grants  of  the  Commons — His  Majesty* s  Message  on  the  imminent  Dan- 
ger of  Portugal — The  Session  closed  with  a  Speech  from  the  Throne — Extraordi- 
nary Change  in  the  King  of  Prussia's  Situation,  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  the 
Empress  of  Russia — Steps  immediately  taken  by  her  Successor,  Peter  HI. — Depo- 
sition and  Death  of  Peter  HI. — Prudent  Policy  of  the  Empress  Catherine  11. — 
Sketch  of  the  Prussian  Operations  during  the  Remainder  of  the  Campaign —  Vic- 
tory obtained  by  the  Allies  at  Graebenstein — This  Action  a  Prelude  to  Enterprises, 
in  which  Gottingen  and  Cassel  were  recovered,  and  the  French  almost  totally  driven 
out  of  Hesse — State  of  Portugal  when  threatened  by  the  Bourbon  Confederacy — 
Memorial  presented  to  the  Court  of  Lisbon  by  the  Ministers  of  France  and  Spain 
— Reply  followed  by  a  Declaration  of  War — Immediate  and  effectual  Assistance  af- 
forded by  Great  Britain — Lord  Tyrawley  dissatisfied  with  the  Portuguese  Ministry, 
and  recalled — Plan  of  the  Campaign — Progress  of  the  Spanish  Army  under  the 
Marquis  de  Sarria — Almeida  taken,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  Province  of  Bei- 
ra  overrun  by  Spanish  Troops — Good  Consequences  of  the  Count  de  la  Lippe's  Ar- 
rival in  Portugal — Surprise  of  Valencia  d* Alcantara  by  General  Burgoyne — An- 
other more  decisive  blow  struck  by  the  same  General  and  Colonel  Lee  at  Villa  Velha 
— The  Spaniards  forced  to  retreat  to  their  own  Frontiers — Triumphs  of  Great  Brit- 
ain at  Sea — Descent  on  the  Island  of  Martinico — Surrender  of  the  Island — Submis- 
sion of  the  Grenades,  St.  Lucia,  St.  Vincent,  and  other  dependent  Isles — Armament 
destined  against  the  Havannah — Its  Harbor  described — Siege  of  the  Moro — The 
Moro  stormed,  and  carried  by  assault — Operations  against  the  Town,  and  its  Sur- 
render— Importance  of  this  Conquest — Capture  of  the  Hermione,  a  Spanish  Regis- 
ter-ship— Invasion  of  the  Philippinps  designed — Celerity  of  the  Preparations  made 
for  it  at  Madras — Arrival  of  the  Squadron  at  Manilla — The  Town  taken  by  Storm, 
but  saved  from  a  justly  merited  Pillage — The  Galleon  from  Manilla  to  Acapulco 
taken — The  only  Exception  to  the  universal  Success  of  the  British  Arms,  the  Fail- 
ure of  a  private  Expedition  against  Buenos  Ay  res — Summary  of  the  Disasters  sus- 
tained by  Spain  during  her  short  Concern  in  the  War — France  involved  in  the  like 
Calamities — Attempt  to  burn  the  British  Squadron  in  the  Bay  of  Basque — New- 
foundland taken  and  retaken — A  Negotiation  the  only  Resource  of  the  House  of 
Bourbon. 


WAR  DECLARED  AGAINST  SPAIN. 
It  would  not  be  very  easy  to  point  out  any 
period  of  the  history  of  England,  in  which 
the  character  of  the  nation  was  better  sup- 
ported by  its  government  than  at  the  opening 
of  the  year  1762.  Calm,  yet  resolute; 
threatened  by  an  extraordinary  combination 
of  enemies,  yet  prepared  to  resist  their  per- 
fidious efforts ;  the  British  ministry  discov- 
ered no  precipitation  or  alarm  at  Spain's 
having  finally  thrown  off"  the  mask,  but  took 
the  most  effectual  measures  to  revenge  so 
daring  an  abuse  of  their  candor  and  forbear- 
ance. A  clear  account  of  the  endeavors 
which  had  been  used  to  accommodate  the 
disputes  with  Spain  in  an  amicable  manner, 
and  of  the  circumstances  which  now  ren- 
dered a  rupture  unavoidable,  was  given  at 
full  length  in  his  majesty's  declaration  of  the 
second  of  January  :  war  against  that  country 


was  formally  proclaimed  on  the  fourth ;  and, 
on  the  nineteenth,  being  the  day  to  which 
both  houses  of  parliament  had  adjourned,  the 
king  informed  them  of  the  steps,  which  he 
was  obliged  to  take  since  their  recess. 

PROTEST  AGAINST  THE  WAR  IN  GER- 
MANY. 
The  commons  were  unanimous  in  their 
approbation  of  his  majesty's  conduct  respect- 
ing Spain,  and  in  their  assurances  of  steady 
and  vigorous  support  to  prosecute  this  just 
and  necessary  war.  The  lords  agreed  to  an 
address  expressive  of  the  same  sentiments ; 
but  the  consideration  of  the  speech  gave  rise 
to  a  debate  on  the  most  effectual  means  of 
carrying  on  the  war,  in  which  they  discov- 
ered great  difference  of  opinion.  No  com- 
plete report  of  this  debate  has  been  pre- 
served ;  but  the  spirit  of  it  may  be  collected 
from  a  protest,  which  was  then  entered  on 


40 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  journals.  By  this  it  appears,  that  on 
Friday  the  fifth  of  February,  when  the  lords, 
according  to  order,  proceeded  to  take  the 
speech  into  consideration,  a  motion  was  made 
for  declaring  it  to  be  the  opinion  of  the  house, 
"  that  the  war  then  carried  on  in  Germany 
was  necessarily  attended  with  a  great  and 
enormous  expense,  and  that,  notwithstanding 
all  the  efforts  that  could  possibly  be  made, 
there  seemed  no  probability  the  army  there, 
in  the  pay  of  Great  Britain,  so  much  inferior 
to  that  of  France,  could  be  put  into  such  a 
situation  as  to  effectuate  any  good  purpose 
whatsoever ;  and  that  the  bringing  the  Brit- 
ish troops  home  from  Germany  would  ena- 
ble his  majesty  more  effectually  to  carry  on 
with  vigor  the  war  against  the  united  forces 
of  France  and  Spain,  give  strength  and  secu- 
rity to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  support  the 
public  credit,  and,  by  easing  the  nation  of  a 
load  of  expense,  be  the  likeliest  means,  un- 
der the  blessing  of  God,  to  procure  a  safe  and 
honorable  peace  ;"  which  motion  was  strong- 
ly objected  to,  and  the  previous  question  car- 
ried by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and  five 
against  sixteen.  Seven,  however,  of  the 
latter,  uicluding  the  duke  of  Bedford,  one 
of  the  principal  members  of  administration, 
signed  a  protest,  expressive  of  their  dissent 
from  such  proceedings  for  the  following  rea- 
sons: 

"  1st.  Because  the  main  question  being  so 
true  in  every  particular,  which  was  assented 
to  by  most  of  the  lords  who  spoke  in  this  de- 
bate, and  no  argument  being  alleged  that  it 
was  unconstitutional,  the  previous  question 
should  not,  in  the  present  case,  have  been 
insisted  on,  as  thereby  the  lords  were  de- 
barred from  laying  before  the  throne  their 
sense  on  a  matter  of  this  importance. 

"  2dly.  Because  in  the  debate  there  was 
no  shadow  of  argument  used,  to  show  the 
impropriety  of  this  question  being  brought 
before  the  house  at  this  time,  or  that  it  was 
prematurely  undertaken  by  the  lord  who 
moved  it :  on  the  contrary,  it  was  proved  by 
irrefragable  arguments,  that  if  the  matter 
was  right  to  be  done,  no  time  should  be  lost 
in  bringing  the  British  forces  home  during 
their  winter-quarters,  which  was  the  only 
season  when  it  could  be  done  with  safety, 
and  without  any  possible  impediment  from 
the  enemy. 

"  3dly.  The  present  situation  of  the  war, 
by  the  additional  weight  of  the  crown  of 
Spain  being  thrown  into  the  scales  against 
us,  doth  undoubtedly  require,  at  this  very 
critical  time,  the  utmost  frugality  towards 
easing  the  nation  from  any  unnecessary  ex- 
pense, and,  as  the  present  war  in  Germany 
is  indisputably  carried  on  at  a  great  and 
enormous  expense,  and,  in  the  general  con- 
ception of  mankmd,  without  any  possibility 
of  any  good  being  reaped  from  it,  it  seems 


the  undoubted  right  of  every  lord  of  this 
house  to  submit  to  parliament  his  opinion 
against  a  longer  continuance  of  sucli  mea- 
sures, as  have  already  proved  so  detrimental 
to  the  public,  by  involving  this  nation  in  an 
additional  debt  of  near  six  millions  yearly, 
without  serving  any  one  British  purpose,  or 
even  supporting  with  efficacy  those  coun- 
tries for  whose  preservation  it  has  been  pre- 
tended these  immense  supplies  have  been 
granted. 

"  4thly.  A  continental  war  carried  on  in 
Germany  without  allies,  and  at  the  sole  ex- 
pense of  Great  Britain,  whilst  this  nation  is 
involved  in  a  war  with  the  two  most  con 
siderable  maritime  powers  of  Europe,  can 
not  be  esteemed  a  system  of  true  policy ;  as 
France,  let  the  success  against  her  arms  be 
ever  so  great,  is  not  vulnerable  from  that 
quarter ;  and  Spain,  on  account  of  her  dis- 
tance, would,  doubtless,  not  be  intimidated 
by  the  success  of  the  British  arms  in  Ger- 
many. 

"5thty.  The  expedience  of  tlie  present 
continental  war  cannot  be  justified,  either 
on  the  principles  of  its  being  a  war  for  the 
diversion  of  the  forces  of  France  from  the 
invading  his  majesty's  dominions,  or  the  suc- 
coring their  own  colonies,  both  of  whicli 
they  are  incapacitated  from  doing,  by  the 
ruin  of  their  naval  force  ;  neither  can  it  be 
alleged  as  a  measure  calculated  to  support 
the  king  of  Prussia,  who  is  not  at  war  witli 
France,  nor  in  danger,  though  the  Britisli 
troops  should  be  withdrawn,  of  being  crush- 
ed by  that  pov/er,  whose  interest  will  un- 
doubtedly restrdin.  iier  from  taking  a  step, 
which  could  only  tend  to  the  ag'grandize- 
ment  of  the  house  of  Austria,  the  ancient 
and  natural  rival  of  the  house  of  Bourbon. 

"  6thly.  The  present  great  scarcity  of  spe- 
cie, and  the  low  state  of  the  public  funds, 
render  it  the  indispensable  duty  of  this 
house  to  suggest  to  the  throne  every  means 
of  preventing  an  unnecessary  profusion  of 
the  public  treasure,  more  especially  when 
the  payments  that  must  be  daily  made,  and 
which  must  be  done  by  the  exportation  of 
bullion,  must  unavoiJably  cause  such  a  stag- 
nation of  trade  and  industry  as  may  be  of 
the  most  fatal  consequence  to  this  country, 
which  can  in  no  degree  be  compensated  for 
on  the  ill-grounded  notion  that  the  expenses 
of  the  enemy  are  equally  great  and  burden- 
some to  them,  which  is  not  only  denied,  as 
it  can  never  be  proved,  but  is  moreover  ex- 
ploded by  this  undeniable  truth,  that  France, 
by  withdrawing  her  troops,  can  put  an  end 
to  it  w^henever  she  pleases,  and  without  any 
danger  to  herself  of  being  attacked  by  an 
inferior  number  on  her  own  frontiers  on  that 
side,  and  which,  as  she  has  not  yet  done,  is 
a  sufficient  proof  of  the  truth  of  this  propo- 
sition. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


41 


"7thly.  The  agreeing  to  the  resolution 
proposed,  could  be  in  no  degree  construed 
as  a  breach  of  faith  to  our  allies,  or  a  stain 
to  the  honor  of  the  nation,  as  we  are  bound 
by  no  treaties  to  keep  an  army  in  Germany, 
and  the  war  on  that  continent  seems  to  have 
been  entered  into  voluntarily  by  us,  without 
being  called  upon  by  any  other  powers,  and 
most  precipitately  taken  up  again,  when  it 
had  been  so  happily  extinguished  by  the 
convention  of  Closter-Seven." 

This  protest,  which  contained  a  summary 
of  the  most  forcible  arguments  that  had 
been  urged  against  the  prosecution  of  the 
German  war,  was  highly  and  almost  univer- 
sally applauded  by  the  people ;  and  though 
it  produced  no  immediate  change  in  the 
measures  of  government,  it  strengthened 
the  impression  made  by  the  former  debate 
of  the  commons  on  the  same  subject ;  and  it 
showed  very  evidently,  that,  if  the  ensuing 
campaign  should  not  put  an  end  to  the  con- 
tinental struggle,  any  farther  supplies  for  its 
continuance  would  be  obtained  with  ex- 
treme difficulty. 

TUMULT  OCCASIONED  BY  THE  DUTY 
ON  BEER. 

The  other  transactions  in  this  sessions  of 
parliament  make  so  little  show,  when  com- 
pared with  the  occurrences  of  the  same  pe- 
riod on  the  theatre  of  war,  as  to  admit  of 
only  a  few  concise  remarks.  The  operation 
of  the  act  for  laying  a  further  duty  on  beer 
and  ale,  being  now  felt  in  its  fullest  extent, 
the  streets  of  London  and  Westminster  were 
filled  with  tumult,  vowed  revenge  against 
the  brewers  for  exacting  a  higher  price  than 
usual  from  the  publicans,  and  threatened  to 
pull  down  the  houses  of  any  of  the  latter 
who  should  continue  to  charge  an  additional 
halfpenny  for  every  quart  of  porter.  The 
intimidated  parties,  under  the  terror  of  such 
menaces,  petitioned  the  house  of  commons  ; 
a  bill  was  passed  in  favor  of  their  request, 
which  had  the  desired  effect :  it  not  only  re- 
strained the  mob  from  committing  any  acts 
of  outrage,  but  tended  greatly  to  abate  their 
clamor. 

AMENDMENTS  OF  THE  MILITIA  AND 

OTHER  LAWS. 
A  GREAT  deal  of  confusion  was  also  pre- 
vented by  some  wise  and  wholesome  amend- 
ments of  the  militia  laws.  An  exact  line 
was  drawn  between  those  who  were  liable 
to  serve,  and  such  as  were  exempted  from 
any  compulsion.  The  former  were  to  be 
chosen  by  ballot,  as  before ;  or  otherwise 
the  parish  officers,  with  the  consent  of  the 
inhabitants,  were  authorized  to  provide  vol- 
unteers, by  a  rate  on  the  parish,  in  propor- 
tion to  that  for  the  relief  of  their  poor.  Thus 
every  man  was  obliged  to  pay  his  quota ; 
and  all  parishes  had  it  in  their  power  to 
keep  their  useful  hands  at  home,  and  to  em- 


ploy the  idle  and  dissolute  in  the  service  of 
their  country. 

As  a  check  upon  the  cruelties,  which 
were  strongly  suspected  to  be  exercised  by 
the  nurses  of  parish  children,  a  law  was 
enacted  for  keeping  an  annual  register  of 
those  infants  in  every  parish,  under  the  age 
of  four,  that  it  might  always  be  known  in 
what  parishes  the  greatest  mortality  pre- 
vailed among  these  children. 

In  this  session,  a  bill  readily  passed 
through  both  houses,  for  enabling  the  duke 
of  Bridge  water  to  extend  his  canal,  from 
Longford  Bridge  to  the  river  Mersey,  so  as 
to  open  a  communication  with  Liverpool. 
The  branches  of  this  inland  navigation  have 
since  been  extended  to  all  the  manufacturing 
towns  of  the  adjoining  counties ;  and  the 
duke  lived  to  complete  an  undertaking  of 
greater  magnitude,  and  of  more  national 
utility,  than  had  ever  before  been  attempted 
by  any  individual. 

REWARDS  FOR  METHODS  OF  ASCER- 
TAINING THE  LONGITUDE. 

Rewards  for  the  discovery  of  the  longi- 
tude had  long  been  the  object  of  an  express 
law ;  but  it  was  now  deemed  necessary  to 
render  that  act  more  effectual,  by  extending 
the  benefit  of  it  to  persons  who  should  make 
any  satisfactory  progress  towards  so  desira- 
ble an  end,  though  their  experiments  might 
fall  short  of  its  full  accomplishment.  Har- 
rison, a  clock-maker,  of  London,  had  con- 
trived a  curious  time-piece,  which,  under 
the  direction  of  his  son,  was  tried  in  a  voy- 
age to  the  West  Indies,  and  found  to  suc- 
ceed infinitely  be3^ond  anything  hitherto  in- 
vented for  the  same  purpose.  He  and  his 
son  were  immediately  rewarded  with  a  grant 
of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  :  and,  the  year 
afler,  he  obtained  from  parliament  five  thou- 
sand pounds  more,  for  discovering  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  his  instrument  was  con- 
structed. Irwin,  a  native  of  Ireland,  had 
also  contrived  a  marine-chair,  by  means  of 
which  the  immersions  and  emersions  of  Ju- 
piter's satellites  might  be  accurately  observ- 
ed, in  the  roughest  weather  at  sea,  and  the 
longitude,  of  course,  ascertained.  Afler 
some  satisfactory  trials  of  this  machine,  five 
hundred  pounds  were  bestowed  on  the  in- 
ventor, as  the  recompense  of  his  mgenuity. 
VOTE  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  PORTUGAL. 

Besides  the  other  supplies  voted  for  the 
service  of  the  year,  the  house  of  commons, 
afler  a  short  debate,  concurred  in  granting 
his  majesty  one  million  upon  account,  for 
the  purposes  specified  in  the  following  mes- 
sage, which  was  laid  before  the  house  on 
the  eleventh  of  May,  and  taken  into  consid- 
eration on  the  thirteenth : 

"  His  majesty  relying  on  the  known  zeal 
and  affection  of  his  faithful  commons,  and 
considering"  that  in  this  conjuncture,  emer- 


42 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


gencies  may  arise,  which  may  be  of  the  ut- 
most importance,  and  be  attended  with  the 
most  pernicious  consequences,  if  proper 
means  should  not  be  immediately  applied  to 
prevent  or  defeat  them ;  and  his  majesty  also 
taking  into  his  most  serious  consideration 
the  imminent  danger  with  which  the  king- 
dom of  Portugal,  an  ancient  and  natural  ally 
of  his  crown,  is  threatened  by  the  powers 
now  in  open  war  with  his  majesty,  and  of 
what  importance  the  preservation  of  that 
kingdom  is  to  the  commercial  interests  of 
this  country,  is  desirous  that  this  house  will 
enable  him  to  defray  any  extraordinary  ex- 
penses of  the  war  incurred,  or  to  be  mcurred 
tor  the  service  of  the  year  1762;  and  to 
take  all  such  measures  as  may  be  necessary 
to  disappoint,  or  defeat  any  enterprises,  or 
designs  of  his  enemies  against  his  majesty, 
or  his  allies,  and  as  the  exigency  of  affau-s 
may  require." 

In  the  debate,  to  which  this  message  gave 
rise,  Pitt  supported,  with  becoming  consist- 
ency, the  resolution  of  the  committee  of 
supply. 

SESSION  CLOSES. 

Both  houses  sat  a  few  days  longer  to  com- 
plete the  business  then  before  them;  and, 
on  the  second  of  June,  his  majesty  put  an 
end  to  the  session  with  a  speech,  in  which 
he  expressed  the  highest  approbation  of  the 
zeal,  unanimity  and  dispatch,  so  signally 
manifested  in  the  course  of  their  proceed- 
mgs.  He  said,  that  his  own  sentiments  re- 
specting war  and  peace  continued  invariably 
the  same,  and  that  it  gave  him  great  satis- 
faction to  find  them  confirmed  by  the  voice 
of  his  parliament.  He  took  notice  of  a  late 
change  in  the  government  of  Russia,  and  of 
its  probable  consequences:  he  mentioned 
the  rupture  with  Spain,  and  the  danger  that 
threatened  Portugal,  as  proofs  of  the  wisdom 
and  necessity  of  the  vigorous  measures 
which  had  been  resolved  upon :  he  pointed 
out  some  of  the  happy  eflfects  already  pro- 
duced by  these  measures,  in  the  conquest 
of  Martinico,  and  the  acquisition  of  many 
other  valuable  settlements  in  the  West  In- 
dies. 

DEATH  OF  THE  EMPRESS  OF  RUSSIA, 
AND  SUCCESSION  OF  PETER  III. 
The  hopeless  situation  of  the  king  of 
Prussia  at  the  close  of  the  last  campaign  has 
been  already  described.  The  loss  of  Col- 
berg,  on  one  side,  and  of  Schweidnitz,  on  the 
other,  left  his  dominions  almost  witliout  a 
barrier ;  and  his  army  was  too  much  reduc- 
ed to  face  any  of  the  invaders  in  the  open 
field.  No  resource  of  policy,  no  effort  of 
skill  or  heroism,  could  any  longer  be  tried 
with  the  least  probability  of  success.  At 
this  alarming  crisis,  the  storm  just  ready  to 
burst  upon  his  head,  was  happily  dissipated 
by  one  of  those  unexpected  events  which 


give  a  sudden  turn  to  the  fortune  of  na 
tions,  after  all  the  means  of  human  fore- 
sight and  exertion  have  failed.  His  most 
dangerous  and  inveterate  enemy,  the  em- 
press of  Russia,  died  on  the  second  of  Jan- 
uary, and  was  succeeded  by  her  nephew, 
the  duke  of  Holstein,  a  prince  of  very  dif- 
ferent sentiments.  As  none,  however,  but 
those  who  were  most  intimately  acquainted 
with  his  character  and  disposition,  could 
pretend  to  determine  whether  he  would 
abandon  or  pursue  the  system  of  his  prede- 
cessor, the  eyes  of  all  Europe  were  anxious- 
ly turned  towards  the  court  of  Petersburgh, 
m  order  to  observe  the  direction  of  his  early 
councils. 

The  new  czar,  who  ascended  the  throne 
by  the  name  of  Peter  III.  began  his  reign 
with  some  very  laudable  and  popular  regu- 
lations. His  foreign  politics,  in  which  Eu- 
rope was  principally  concerned,  seemed  to 
be  governed  by  the  same  mild  spirit.  He 
ordered  a  memorial  to  be  delivered,  on  the 
twenty-third  of  February,  to  the  ministers 
of  his  allies,  in  which  he  declared.  That,  in 
order  to  procure  the  re-establishment  of 
peace,  as  he  preferred  to  every  other  con- 
sideration the  first  law  which  God  prescrib- 
ed to  sovereigns,  the  preservation  of  the 
people  intrusted  to  them,  he  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  all  the  conquests  made  by  tlie  arms 
of  Russia  during  the  war,  in  hopes  that  the 
allied  courts  would,  on  their  part,  equally 
prefer  the  restoration  of  peace  and  tranquil- 
lity to  the  advantages  which  they  might  ex- 
pect from  the  war,  but  which  they  could  ob- 
tain only  by  a  continuance  of  the  effusion 
of  human  blood.  He  ordered  a  cessation 
of  arms,  the  sixteenth  of  March,  on  receiv- 
ing an  unsatisfactory  answer  to  his  memo- 
rial, from  the  courts  of  Vienna  and  Ver- 
sailles ;  and,  in  about  six  weeks  after,  he 
entered  into  an  alliance  with  his  favorite 
monarch,  without  paying  the  least  regard  to 
the  interests  of  his  former  confederates.  He 
even  joined  part  of  his  forces  to  those  of  his 
new  ally,  in  order  to  drive  the  Austrians  out 
of  Silesia,  while  he  commanded  another 
army  to  march  towards  Holstein.  Sweden 
soon  followed  the  example,  or  rather  acted 
under  the  direction  of  Russia,  in  concluding 
a  peace  with  the  court  of  Berlin. 
SUCCESSES  OF  THE  KING  OF  PRUSSIA. 

The  king  of  Prussia  lost  no  time  to  profit 
by  this  great,  and  almost  miraculous  revolu- 
tion in  his  favor.  The  load  which  had  so 
long  oppressed  him,  and  against  which  he 
had  borne  up  with  astonishing  fortitude,  be- 
ing now  much  lightened,  he  was  again  en- 
abled to  exert  the  full  powers  of  his  genius 
agamst  his  remaming  enemies.  His  first 
object  was  the  recovery  of  Schweidnitz,  the 
next  the  expulsion  of  the  Austrians  out  of 
Silesia ;  and  in  the  attainment  of  these  im- 


GEORGE  III.  1760-^1820. 


43 


portant  ends  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  i 
valor  and  military  skill  of  his  brother,  who 
gained  a  sig-nal  victory,  on  the  twelt'th  of 
May,  over  the  Austrians  and  imperialists, 
near  Freyberg  in  Saxony.  By  this  blow 
prince  Henry  became  so  fully  master  of  that 
electorate,  that  the  Austrians  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  withdraw  a  considerable  body  of 
troops  from  the  war  in  Silesia,  to  prevent, 
if  possible,  his  making  irruptions  into  the 
heart  of  Bohemia.  Marshal  Daun,  however, 
with  a  large  army,  still  occupied  some  em- 
inences in  the  neighborhood  of  Schweid- 
nitz,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  protect 
that  city.  But  the  king  of  Prussia,  being 
jomed  by  the  Russian  troops,  in  the  latter 
end  of  June,  undertook  to  dislodge  the  Aus- 
trian general  from  those  advantageous  posts, 
and  finally  succeeded.  As  a  direct  attack 
was  found  to  be  impracticable,  the  king  had 
recourse  to  a  variety  of  masterly  move- 
ments, which  made  his  adversary  apprehen- 
sive for  the  safety  of  his  principal  maga- 
zine, and  even  that  his  communication  with 
Bohemia  might  be  cut  off.  The  cautious 
Daun  accordingly  fell  back  to  the  frontiers 
of  Silesia,  and  left  Schweidnitz  exposed. 
His  Prussian  majesty  immediately  prepared 
i'ov  the  siege  ;  whilst  different  detachments 
of  his  troops,  some  on  the  side  of  Saxony, 
others  on  that  of  Silesia,  penetrated  deep 
into  Bohemia,  laid  many  parts  of  the  coun- 
try under  contribution,  and  spread  universal 
alarm.  A  body  of  Russian  irregulars  also 
made  an  irruption  into  the  same  kingdom, 
and  there  retaliated  on  the  Austrians  those 
cruel  ravages,  which,  at  the  instigation  of 
the  court  of  Vienna,  the  same  barbarous  en- 
emy had  formerly  committed  on  the  Prus- 
sian dominions. 

Whilst  the  indefatigable  Frederic,  was 
thus  conducting,  with  equal  spirit  and  abili 
ty,  that  bold  plan  of  operations  which  unex 
pected  circumstances  had  enabled  him  to 
form,  he  was  threatened  with  a  sudden  re- 
verse of  fortune,  in  consequence  of  another 
ravolution  in  Russia.  Peter  III.  in  his  rage 
for  reform,  made  more  new  regulations,  in 
a  few  weeks,  than  a  prudent  prince  would 
have  hazarded,  in  a  long  reign.  His  first 
measures,  as  before  observed,  seemed  well 
calculated  to  procure  him  the  affections  of 
his  people  ;  but,  being  of  a  rash  and  irregu- 
lar turn  of  mind,  he  in  many  instances 
shocked  their  prejudices,  even  while  he 
consulted  their  interests. 

DEPOSITION  AND  DEATH  OF  PETER  III, 
AND  SUCCESSION  OF  CATHERINE  II. 
Whilst  he  was  taking  these  steps  to 
alienate  the  minds  of  the  people  in  general, 
and  especially  of  those  bodies  whose  attach- 
ment it  was  his  great  interest  to  secure,  he 
had  not  the  good  fortune  to  live  in  union 
with  his  own  family.    He  had  long  slighted 


his  consort,  the  present  empress,  a  woman 
of  a  masculine  understanding,  by  whoise 
counsels  he  might  have  profited ;  and  lived 
in  a  very  public  manner  with  the  countess 
of  Woronzoff!  The  dissatisfied  part  of  the 
nobility,  clergy,  and  chief  officers  of  the 
army,  encouraged  by  this  domestic  dissen- 
sion, assembled  in  the  capital  during  the 
czar's  absence  at  one  of  his  country-seats, 
deposed  him  formally,  and  invested  his  wife 
with  the  imperial  ensigns.  She  put  herself 
at  the  head  of  the  malcontents,  and  marched 
without  delay  in  quest  of  her  husband.  He 
was  indulging  himself  in  indolent  amuse- 
ments at  a  house  of  pleasure  near  the  sea- 
shore, when  the  terrible  news  reached  him. 
As  soon  as  he  recovered  from  the  first  shock, 
he  attempted  to  escape  to  Holstem,  but  was 
seized  and  thrown  into  prison,  after  having 
been  induced  by  the  vain  hope  of  life  to  sign 
a  paper,  in  which  he  declared  his  conviction 
of  his  inability  to  govern  the  empire,  and 
his  sense  of  the  distress  it  must  be  involved 
in  were  he  to  continue  at  the  head  of  affairs. 
This  cowardly  sacrifice  of  his  character  did 
not  preserve  his  life :  he  expired  a  few  days 
after,  on  the  sixth  of  July ;  and  his  sudden 
death  excited  neither  surprise  nor  specula- 
tion, as  dethroned  princes  have  seldom  been 
allowed  to  languish  long  in  the  glooms  of  a 
dungeon. 

Catherine  II.  who  now  assumed  the  reins 
of  empire,  pursued  a  Ime  of  conduct  almost 
diametrically  opposite  to  that  of  her  infatu- 
ated husband.  It  w^as  even  supposed,  that 
she  would  disclaim  and  annul  the  treaty  con- 
cluded between  the  late  czar  and  the  king 
of  Prussia,  which  was  a  very  unpopular 
measure  at  Petersburgh.  But  fortunately 
for  Frederic,  the  new  empress  did  not  think 
her  situation  sufficiently  secure  to  enga^-e 
in  foreign  hostilities.  It  is  also  said,  that 
upon  searching  among  her  husband's  papers 
for  the  Prussian  monarch's  correspondence, 
she  found  that  his  majesty  had  disapproved 
of  all  Peter's  violent  measures,  and  had 
counselled  him  to  be  tender  of  his  consort, 
to  desist  from  his  pretensions  to  Sleswick, 
and  not  to  attempt  any  changes  in  the  re- 
ligion, or  the  fundamental  laws  of  his  coun- 
try. Letters  of  this  kind  must  have  tended 
very  much  to  confirm  her  in  her  pacific  dis- 
position. She  accordingly  declared  to  the 
Prussian  minister  at  her  court,  "  that  she 
was  resolved  to  observe  inviolably,  in  all 
pomts,  the  perpetual  peace  concluded  under 
the  preceding  reign ;  but  that  she  had  thought 
proper,  nevertheless,  to  order  back  to  Rus- 
sia, by  the  nearest  roads,  all  her  troops  in 
Silesia,  Prussia,  and  Pomerania."  And  al- 
though this  change  from  a  strict  alliance  to 
a  mere  neutrality,  made  no  small  difTerence 
in  the  state  of  the  king  of  Prussia's  alTairs ; 
yet  it  must  be  regarded,  all  things  consid- 


44 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ered,  as  an  escape  scarcely  less  wonderful 
than  the  former,  especially  as  all  the  impor- 
tant places,  which  the  Russians  had  with  so 
much  bloodshed  acquired,  were  faithfully  re- 
stored to  that  monarch. 

PRUSSIAN  OPERATIONS. 
His  Prussian  majesty,  instead  of  being 
discouraged  by  the  order  sent  for  the  return 
of  the  Russians,  only  acted  with  the  more 
vigor.  He  attacked  marshal  Daun  the  day 
after  its  arrival,  but  before  the  news  had 
reached  the  Austrian  camp,  and  drove  him, 
by  terror,  no  less  than  force  of  arms,  from 
the  heights  of  Buckersdorf,  with  considera- 
ble loss.  He  next  invested  Schweidnitz  in 
person ;  and  obliged  that  much-contested 
town,  though  defended  by  a  garrison  of  nine 
thousand  men,  to  surrender,  after  a  siege  of 
two  months,  in  spite  of  the  utmost  efforts  of 
Laudohn  and  Daun  to  obstruct  his  opera- 
tions. The  moment  he  found  himself  mas- 
ter of  this  city,  and  eventually  of  all  Sile- 
sia, he  began  to  turn  his  eye  towards  Saxony. 
He  reinforced  his  brother's  army  in  that 
electorate,  and  took  some  other  steps  which 
seemed  to  indicate  a  design  upon  Dresden. 
These  preparations,  and  another  victory  ob- 
tained by  prince  Henry  near  Freyberg,  far 
more  decisive  than  the  former,  induced  the 
court  of  Vienna  to  conclude  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  with  his  Prussian  majesty  for 
Saxony  and  Silesia.  In  consequence  of  this 
impolitic  and  partial  truce,  which  provided 
neither  for  the  safety  of  the  dominions  of 
the  house  of  Austria,  nor  of  those  members 
of  the  empire  that  were  attached  to  its  in- 
terests, one  body  of  the  Prussian  army  broke 
into  Bohemia,  advanced  nearly  to  the  gates 
of  Prague,  and  destroyed  a  valuable  maga- 
zine ;  while  another  fell  upon  the  same 
country  in  a  different  quarter,  and  laid  the 
greater  part  of  the  town  of  Egra  in  ashes, 
by  a  shower  of  bombs  and  red-hot  bullets. 
Some  parties  penetrated  into  the  heart  of 
Franconia,  and  even  as  far  as  Suabia,  laying 
waste  the  country,  exacting  heavy  contribu- 
tions, and  spreading  ruin  and  dismay  on 
every  side.  The  money  levied  in  these  pre- 
datory expeditions  is  supposed  to  have 
amounted  to  a  million  sterling,  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  which  were  paid  by  the 
industrious  and  free  city  of  Nuremberg. 
Many  of  the  princes  and  states  found  them- 
selves obliged  to  sign  a  neutrality,  in  order 
to  save  their  territories  from  farther  rav- 
ages ;  and  most  others  were  so  disabled  by 
the  late  defeat  in  Saxony,  or  exhausted  by 
the  subsequent  incursions,  that  no  prospect 
remained  of  their  being  able  to  furnish,  for 
the  next  campaign,  any  army  under  the  im- 
perial name  and  authority. 

OPERATIONS  OF  THE  ALLIES  IN  GER- 
MANY. 
The  other  part  of  the  German  war,  which 


rested  wholly  on  the  support  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, was  pushed  with  a  degree  of  spirit  and 
perseverance  by  no  means  inferior  to  those 
signal  exertions  of  the  Prussian  arms.  The 
forces  under  prince  Ferdinand  being  amply 
provided  with  all  necessaries,  and  recruited 
to  the  number  of  one  hundred  thousand  ef- 
fective men,  were  the  first  to  take  the  field ; 
and  soon  found  an  opportunity  of  striking  a 
blow,  the  consequences  of  which  were  not 
recovered  by  the  enemy,  during  the  remain- 
der of  the  campaign.  This  did  the  allies 
the  greater  honor,  because  the  French  ar- 
mies had  also  been  augmented,  so  as  still  to 
preserve  their  former  superiority  of  num- 
bers ;  but  their  generals  were  changed. 
Marshal  Broglio  was  recalled,  and  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  on  the  Weser  was  given 
to  his  rival,  the  prince  of  Soubise,  assisted 
by  marshal  d'Etrees ;  while  the  army  on 
the  Lower  Rhine  was  committed  to  the  di- 
rection of  the  prince  of  Conde.  The  hered- 
itary prince  was  posted  with  a  strong  de- 
tachment in  the  bishopric  of  Munster,  to 
check  the  progress  of  the  latter ;  and  prince 
Ferdinand  in  person,  with  the  main  body  of 
his  forces,  lay  behind  the  Dymel,  to  make 
head  against  the  former,  and,  if  possible,  to 
strip  them  of  their  conquests  in  Hesse. 
Their  numbers  and  the  strength  of  their  po- 
sition seemed  equally  discouraging  to  such 
an  attempt  Their  infantry  consisted  of  one 
hundred  battalions:  that  of  the  allies  was 
composed  but  of  sixty.  The  ground,  on 
which  the  French  were  encamped  near  the 
village  of  Graebenstein,  in  the  frontiers  of 
Hesse,  had  been  very  judiciously  chosen, 
both  for  command  of  the  coimtry,  and  the 
difficulty  of  approaching  them.  Their  centre 
occupied  an  advantageous  eminence :  their 
left  wing  was  almost  inaccessible,  owing  to 
several  deep  ravines;  and  their  right  was 
covered  by  the  adjoining  village,  by  several 
rivulets,  and  a  large  detachment  under  one 
of  their  best  officers,  Monsieur  Castries.  In 
such  a  situation,  they  imagined  they  had 
nothing  to  fear,  particularly  as  a  considera- 
ble corps  of  the  allied  army  under  general 
Luckner  was  employed  at  some  distance  in 
watching  the  motions  of  prince  Xavier  of 
Saxony ;  so  that  they  thought  it  impossible 
for  troops  thus  separated  to  unite  in  any  st^d- 
den  attack  on  their  camp.  Prince  Ferdinand 
availed  himself  of  their  security.  He  sent 
proper  instructions  to  Luckner,  who,  leaving 
a  party  of  Hessian  hussars  behind  him  to 
amuse  the  prince  of  Saxony,  and  marching 
full  speed  in  the  night  with  the  rest,  crossed 
the  Weser,  turned  the  right  of  the  French 
army,  and,  without  being  discovered,  placed 
himself  upon  their  rear.  General  Sporken 
had  orders  to  advance  in  another  direction, 
and  to  charge  the  same  wing  in  flank. 
Prince  Ferdinand  was  to  fall  upon  the  cen- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


45 


tre ,  while  the  honor  and  danger  of  attack- 
ing their  \et\  wing  were  consigned  to  tlie 
marquis  of  Granby.  All  the  necessary  pre- 
parations were  made  with  so  much  judg- 
ment, celerity,  and  good  order,  that  the 
French  had  no  intimation  of  the  design  be- 
fore they  found  themselves  attacked  with 
the  utmost  impetuosity  in  front,  flank,  and 
rear.  The  right  wing,  under  Castries,  re- 
tired without  much  loss,  and  in  tolerable  or- 
der ;  but  the  rest  of  the  army  must  have 
been  totally  routed,  if  Monsieur  Stainville, 
who  commanded  on  the  left,  had  not  thrown 
himself  with  the  flower  of  the  French  in- 
fantry into  a  wood,  which  enabled  him  for 
some  time  to  stop  the  career  of  the  victors. 
His  brave  corps  was  a  devoted  sacrifice.  All 
but  two  battalions  were  taken  or  cut  to 
pieces.  The  other  bodies,  covered  by  this 
resolute  manceuvre,  precipitately  escaped  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Fulda,  or  took  shelter 
under  the  cannon  of  CasseL  About  three 
thousand  were  made  prisoners,  and,  among 
them,  almost  two  hundred  officers.  The 
loss  of  the  allies  was  inconsiderable.  The 
English,  who  were  most  engaged,  had  only 
a  few  men  killed,  and  no  officer  of  rank  but 
lieutenant-colonel  Townshend,  who  fell  with 
great  honor  to  himself,  and  to  the  regret  of 
the  v.-hole  army. 

This  action,  which  took  place  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  June,  was  a  prelude  to  a 
series  of  bold,  masterly,  and  well-connected 
enterprises.  Whilst  the  French,  under  the 
hurry  and  confusion  of  their  late  disaster, 
were  unable  to  provide  against  sudden  acci- 
dents, the  marquis  of  Granby  and  lord  Fred- 
eric Cavendish,  at  the  head  of  a  large  body 
of  British  and  Hanoverian  troops,  appeared 
thirty  miles  behind  them,  with  an  intention 
to  cut  off  their  communication  with  Frank- 
fort, whence  they  drew  all  their  subsistence. 
In  this  emergency,  Rochambeau  collected 
some  brigades  at  Homburg  to  oppose  the  de- 
sign of  the  English  commanders;  but  his 
party,  after  a  vigorous  resistance,  was  dis- 
persed ;  and  almost  all  the  important  posts 
in  the  south  of  Hesse  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  allies.  To  the  north  they  were  equally 
successful.  They  obliged  prince  Xavier, 
with  his  Saxon  troops,  to  abandon  his  ad- 
vanced situation  in  the  territories  of  Hano- 
ver, and  to  leave  the  French  garrison  at 
Gottingen  without  support.  The  forces  there, 
despairing  of  their  ability  to  defend  it,  soon 
evacuated  the  place,  happy  in  being  able  to 
eflfect  their  escape,  though  with  great  man- 
agement and  difficulty.  Some  other  advan- 
tages were  gained  near  Munden,  where 
eleven  hundred  of  the  enemy  were  made 
prisoners,  the  intrenchments  of  their  left 
wing  were  seized,  and  all  the  works  de- 
stroyed. Thus  harassed  on  every  side,  they 
had  no  resource  but  to  call  the  army  of  the 


Lower  Rhine  to  their  assistance.  Being  re- 
solved not  to  hazard  an  engagement  before 
its  arrival,  they  quitted  the  heights  of  Mul- 
singen,  though  a  post  of  the  utmost  strength 
and  consequence;  fell  back  a  considerable 
distance  behind  the  Fulda ;  and  left  Cassel 
uncovered,  but  not  defenceless,  as,  in  their 
retreat,  they  threw  into  it  a  garrison  of  ten 
thousand  men,  to  resist  any  immediate  at- 
tempts that  might  be  made  by  prince  Ferdi- 
nand. He  began  the  siege,  however,  with- 
out loss  of  time ;  nor  did  he  relinquish  that 
object,  notwithstanding  the  defeat  of  the 
hereditary  prince  by  the  prince  of  Conde  at 
Johannisberg,  in  which  the  former  lost  above 
three  thousand  men,  and  was  himself  dan- 
gerously wounded.  After  a  variety  of  sub- 
sequent eflforts,  on  the  part  of  the  united 
French  armies,  to  relieve  Cassel,  they  were 
at  length  forced  to  abandon  it  to  its  fate ; 
and  the  garrison  surrendered  on  the  first  of 
November  to  the  victorious  arms  of  the  al- 
lies, who  closed  with  this  exploit  the  career 
of  their  military  operations. 

CONDUCT  OF  FRANCE  AND  SPAIN  TO 
PORTUGAL. 
The  events  of  this  campaign  in  Germa- 
ny, though  distinguished  for  their  brilliancy 
and  magnitude,  were  not  of  so  much  real 
importance  to  Great  Britain  as  those  which 
took  place  at  the  same  time  on  a  narrower 
and  less  splendid  theatre  in  the  south  of  Eu- 
rope. One  of  the  first  schemes  projected 
by  the  courts  of  Versailles  and  Madrid,  after 
their  avowed  junction,  was  an  attack  upon 
the  kingdom  of  Portugal.  The  ministers  of 
France  and  Spain  presented  to  the  court  of 
Lisbon  a  joint  memorial,  in  order  to  per- 
suade his  most  faithful  majesty  to  enter  into 
the  alliance  of  the  two  crowns,  and  to  co- 
operate in  their  scheme  for  the  humiliation 
of  Great  Britain.  In  that  memorial,  they 
insisted  largely  on  the  tyranny  exercised  by 
England  over  all  other  powers,  especially  in 
maritime  afliairs ;  and  which  the  kings  of 
Spam  and  Portugal  were  equally  command- 
ed by  the  ties  of  blood  and  their  common  in- 
terests to  oppose.  They  concluded  with  de- 
claring, that  as  soon  as  his  most  faithful 
majesty  had  taken  his  resolution,  which  they 
doubted  not  would  prove  favorable,  their 
troops  were  ready  to  enter  Portugal  and 
garrison  the  fortresses  of  that  kingdom,  in 
order  to  avert  the  danger  to  which  it  might 
otherwise  be  exposed  from  the  naval  force 
of  Great  Britain,  To  this  extraordinary 
memorial  the  two  ministers  added,  that  tliey 
were  ordered  by  their  courts  to  demand  a 
categorical  answer  in  four  days,  and  that 
any  farther  deliberation  w^ould  be  considered 
as  a  negative. 

The  king  of  Portugal's  situation  was  now 
truly  critical,  but  his  firmness,  on  so  trying" 
an  occasion,  is  worthy  of  applause.    In  an* 


46 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


swer  to  the  insulting  proposition  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon  he  observed,  with  judg- 
ment and  temper,  that  his  alliance  with 
England  was  ancient,  and  consequently 
could  give  no  reasonable  offence  at  the  pres- 
ent crisis :  that  it  was  purely  defensive,  and 
therefore  innocent  in  all  respects.  The 
Bourbon  courts  denied  that  this  alliance  was 
purely  defensive,  or  entirely  innocent ;  and 
for  this  astonishing  reason,  that  the  defen- 
sive alliance  is  converted  into  an  offensive 
one,  "  from  the  situation  of  the  Portuguese 
dominions,  and  the  nature  of  the  English 
power."  The  English  fleets,  said  they,  can- 
not keep  the  sea  in  all  seasons,  nor  cruise 
on  the  coasts  best  calculated  for  cutting  off 
the  French  and  Spanish  navigation,  without 
the  harbors  and  the  friendly  assistance  of 
Portugal:  "  nor,"  added  they,  "could  these 
liaughty  islanders  insult  all  the  maritime 
powers  of  Europe,  if  the  riches  of  Portugal 
did  not  pass  into  their  hands."  They  also 
endeavored  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of  his 
most  faithful  majesty,  by  representing  his 
kingdom  as  under  the  yoke  of  England ;  and 
told  him,  that  he  ought  to  be  thankful  for 
"the  necessity  which  they  had  laid  upon 
him  to  make  use  of  his  reason,  in  order  to 
take  the  road  of  his  glory,  and  embrace  the 
common  interest." 

THEY  DECLARE  WAR. 

Although  the  king  of  Portugal  was  sen- 
sible, that  the  necessity  here  alluded  to  was 
the  immediate  march  of  the  Spanish  army 
to  take  possession  of  his  dominions,  he  was 
not  intimidated  from  his  honorable  resolu- 
tion. The  treaties  of  league  and  commerce, 
subsisting  between  Great  Britain  and  Por- 
tugal, were  such,  he  maintained,  as  the 
laws  of  God,  the  laws  of  nature,  and  the 
laws  of  nations  have  always  deemed  inno- 
cent. He  entreated  their  most  Christian 
and  Catholic  majesties  to  open  their  eyes  to 
the  crying  injustice  of  turning  upon  Portu- 
gal the  hostilities  kindled  against  Great 
Britain :  to  consider,  that  they  were  giving 
an  example  which  would  lead  to  the  utter 
destruction  of  mankind ;  that  there  was  an 
end  of  public  safety,  if  neutral  powers  were 
to  be  attacked,  because  they  have  entered 
into  defensive  alliances  with  the  powers  at 
war ;  that  if  their  troops  should  invade  his 
dominions,  he  would,  therefore,  in  vindica- 
tion of  his  neutrality,  endeavor  to  repel 
them  with  all  his  forces  and  those  of  his 
allies.  In  consequence  of  this  magnani- 
mous declaration,  the  ministers  of  France 
and  Spain  immediately  left  Lisbon ;  and  their 
departure  was  soon  followed  by  a  joint  de- 
nunciation of  war  against  Portugal,  in  the 
name  of  their  most  Christian  and  Catholic 
majesties. 

BRITAIN  ASSISTS  PORTUGAL. 

The  grand  reliance  of  his  most  faithful 


majesty  was  on  the  support  of  England,  for 
whose  sake  and  in  whose  quarrel  he  had 
been  drawn  into  the  unequal  contest.  His 
ambassador  at  London  explained  to  the  min- 
istry his  master's  alarming  situation,  and 
urged  with  great  propriety  and  force  the 
justice  of  his  claims  to  the  most  immediate 
and  effectual  relief  Besides  a  formal  de- 
mand of  the  succors  stipulated  by  subsisting 
treaties,  he  expressed  a  desire  that  his  mas- 
ter should  be  supplied  with  a  number  of 
able  officers  to  command,  train,  and  conduct 
the  forces  of  Portugal,  which  had  been  long 
disused  to  war ;  and  that  his  Britannic  ma- 
jesty would  continue  to  favor  him  with  such 
farther  help  as  his  pressing  necessities  might 
require.  The  ready  and  liberal  vote  of  par- 
liament when  this  matter  was  laid  before 
them,  and  the  dispatch  used  by  the  ministry 
in  forwarding  the  desired  assistance,  will  do 
the  nation  inmiortal  honor.  The  greater 
the  weakness  of  Portugal  was,  the  more 
conspicuous  were  the  magnanimity  and  re- 
sources of  Great  Britain,  who  alone  seemed 
to  balance  all  Europe,  and  was  able,  in  the 
close  of  an  expensive  war,  to  prop  up  by 
her  generous  support  the  tottering  fortune 
of  so  feeble  an  ally.  She  sent  to  Portugal 
officers,  troops,  artillery,  arms,  military 
stores,  provisions,  money,  everything  which 
could  enable  the  Portuguese  to  exert  their 
natural  strength,  and  everything  which 
could  supply  that  strength  where  it  was  de- 
ficient. 

Before  the  actual  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities, lord  Tyrawley,  a  nobleman  of  great 
military  talents  and  experience,  and  who 
had  formerly  resided  as  ambassador  at  Lis- 
bon, was  sent  thither  as  plenipotentiary, 
with  instructions  to  examine  the  state  of 
the  Portuguese  forces,  and  to  assist  the  min- 
istry of  that  kingdom  with  his  best  advice 
in  forming  their  army,  and  in  making  prop- 
er dispositions  for  the  defence  of  their  fron- 
tiers. He  was  also  to  have  the  command 
of  the  British  auxiliaries,  consisting  of 
about  eight  thousand  troops,  partly  drawn 
from  Belleisle,  and  partly  from  Ireland, 
where  two  regiments  of  Roman  Catholics 
had  been  raised  for  this  service.  But  his 
lordship,  though  in  other  respects  very  high- 
ly accomplished  both  as  a  general  and 
statesman,  was  rather  proud  and  impetuous. 
He  took  offence  at  the  conduct  of  the  king 
of  Portugal's  ministers,  at  the  want  of  vigor 
in  their  councils,  and  at  their  unwillingness 
to  adopt  any  of  his  spirited  suggestions.  In 
the  dispatches  he  sent  home,  his  lordship 
complained,  that  they  had  misrepresented 
the  state  of  their  forces  to  the  court  of  Great 
Britain ;  that  they  had  not  taken  any  proper 
steps  to  secure  their  frontier  places ;  that 
they  amused  him  with  general  promises,  and 
evasive  answers,  and  started  frivolous  objec- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


47 


tions  to  the  execution  of  those  measures 
which  he  proposed  for  the  operations  of  the 
war.  He  even  charged  them  with  want  of 
sincerity,  and  made  no  scruple  of  hinting  a 
suspicion  that  the  rupture  between  Portugal 
and  Spain  was  a  mere  collusion,  to  make 
a  diversion  of  the  British  troops  and  treasure 
in  favor  of  the  latter.  As  these  suspicions 
were  evidently  the  effect  of  disgust  and  ca- 
price, his  lordship  was  recalled,  very  early 
in  the  campaign,  from  a  situation  where  he 
could  be  no  longer  useful. 

CAMPAIGN  OPENS. 
When  the  Bourbon  courts  made  war 
against  Portugal,  the  declared  object  was  to 
cut  off  Great  Britain  from  the  use  of  the 
ports  of  that  kingdom.  As  they  did  not  think 
it  possible  to  attain  this  object  by  naval  ope- 
rations, they  attempted  it  by  military  ones, 
and  aimed  their  principal  endeavors  at  the 
two  great  ports  to  which  the  English  prin- 
cipally resort,  Qporto  and  Lisbon.  With 
this  view  three  inroads  were  proposed  to  be 
made,  one  to  the  north,  another  more  to  the 
south,  and  the  third  in  the  middle  provinces, 
to  preserve  a  communication  between  the 
two  former. 

PARTIAL  SUCCESSES  OF  THE  SPAN- 
IARDS. 

The  first  army  that  entered  upon  the  exe- 
cution of  this  plan,  was  commanded  by  the 
marquis  de  Sarria.  It  penetrated  into  the 
north-east  angle  of  Portugal,  and  advanced 
towards  Miranda.  This  town,  though  not  in 
a  good  state  of  defence,  might  have  held  out 
for  some  time :  but  a  powder-magazine  hav- 
ing blown  up  by  accident,  the  fortifications 
were  ruined ;  and  the  Spaniards,  before  they 
had  raised  their  first  battery,  marched  into 
the  town  by  the  breaches  in  the  wall.  They 
met  with  still  less  opposition  at  Braganza, 
a  considerable  city,  from  which  the  royal 
family  of  Portugal  derives  its  ducal  titles. 
The  garrison  retired  with  precipitation  at 
their  approach,  and  the  magistrates  present- 
ed the  keys  of  the  town  to  the  Spanish 
coramajider.  The  town  of  Moncorvo  surren- 
dered in  tlie  same  manner  to  one  of  their 
detachments;  and  everything  was  cleared 
before  them  to  the  banks  of  the  Douro.  A 
party  under  count  O'Reilly  made  a  forced 
march  of  fourteen  leagues,  in  two  days,  to 
the  city  of  Chaves,  which  was  immediately 
evacuated.  By  these  successes  they  became 
masters  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  exten- 
sive province  of  Tralos  Montes,  and  their 
progress  spread  a  general  alarm.  Oporto 
was  almost  given  up  as  lost :  and  the  admi- 
ralty of  England  prepared  transports  to  carry 
off  the  effects  of  the  British  factory.  How- 
ever, the  body  which  had  traversed  this 
province  without  resistance,  was  repulsed  m 
attempting  to  cross  the  river  Douro.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  country,  animated  and  guid- 


ed by  some  English  officers,  with  a  rein- 
forcement of  regular  troops,  seized  a  diffi- 
cult pass,  and  drove  the  enemy  back  to  Torre 
de  Montcorvo.  In  ravaging  the  open  coun- 
try, the  Spanish  soldiers  committed  some 
barbarities  on  the  peasants,  which  were 
afterwards  severely  retaliated.  The  common 
people,  on  both  sides,  naturally  ferocious, 
had  not  been  sufficiently  inured  to  war,  to 
moderate  its  fiiry,  and  reduce  it  under  laws : 
an  inveterate  enmity  subsisted  between 
them ;  and,  in  every  encounter,  the  victori- 
ous party  attended  only  to  the  dictates  of 
rancor  and  revenge. 

Another  corps  of  Spanish  troops,  which 
took  the  central  route,  in  order,  as  before 
intimated,  to  keep  up  an  easy  communica- 
tion between  the  forces  employed  in  the 
northern  and  southern  expeditions,  entered 
the  province  of  Beira,  at  the  villages  called 
Val  de  la  Mula  and  Val  de  Coelha.  They 
were  joined  by  strong  detachments,  amount- 
ing to  almost  the  whole  army  in  Tralos 
Montes,  and  immediately  laid  siege  to  Al- 
meida, the  strongest  and  best  provided  place 
on  the  frontiers  of  Portugal.  Besides,  it 
was  of  the  greatest  importance  from  its 
middle  situation,  as  the  possession  of  it 
would  greatly  facilitate  the  operations  upon 
every  side,  and  would  especially  tend  to 
forward  an  attempt  upon  Lisbon,  the  grand 
object,  towards  which,  at  this  time,  all  the 
endeavors  of  the  Spaniards  seem  to  have 
been  directed.  The  trenches  were  opened 
on  the  twenty-fifith  of  July :  next  day  the 
besiegers  were  reinforced  by  eight  tliousand 
French  auxiliaries ;  and  on  the  twenty-fiflh 
of  August  the  garrison  capitulated,  after 
having  made  a  much  longer  and  more  reso- 
lute defence  than  was  at  first  expected.  This 
conquest  left  all  the  adjoining  country  at 
the  mercy  of  the  invaders.  They  spread 
themselves  over  the  whole  territory  of  Castel 
Branco,  a  principal  district  of  the  province 
of  Beira,  making  their  way  to  the  south- 
ward, until  they  approached  the  banks  of 
the  Tagus. 
PORTUGUESE  RECOVER  THEMSELVES. 

This  rapid  career  of  tlie  Spaniards,  was 
not,  however,  of  long  continuance.  Lord 
Tyrawley's  disputes  with  the  Portuguese 
ministry  had  hitherto  prevented  the  allies 
from  acting  in  perfect  harmony  and  concert 
against  the  enemy.  But  after  his  recall, 
and  the  arrival  from  Germany  of  a  very 
celebrated  officer,  who  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief of  all  the  forces,  the  affairs 
of  the  country  began  quickly  to  assume  a 
different  appearance.  This  officer  was  the 
count  de  la  Lippe  Buckeburg,  who  had 
commanded  the  artillery  of  the  British  army 
in  Westphalia  during  the  whole  course  of 
the  war,  and  who  had  given  the  most  une- 
quivocal proofe  of  his  valor  and  capacity.  He 


48 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITALN. 


was  accompanied  by  one  of  the  princes  of 
Mecklenburg-Ji  Strelitz,  brother  to  the  queen 
of  Great  Britain,  who  resolved  to  make  this 
campaign  in  Portugal.  He  also  found  at  the 
head  of  the  British  troops  some  generals 
well  qualified  to  assist  him  both  in  council 
and  in  the  field.  Lord  Tyrawley  had  left 
behind  him  his  second  in  command,  the  earl 
of  Ix)udon,  a  man  of  great  experience  and 
sagacity.  The  next  post  was  filled  by  lieu- 
tenant-general Townshend,  who  had  served 
with  very  high  reputation  in  America ;  and 
the  subordinates  were  lord  George  Lenox, 
with  the  brigadier-generals  Crawford  and 
Bur^ojme,  all  of  them  officers  of  approved 
merit  As  the  Count  de  la  Lippe  was  an 
entire  stranger  to  all  the  subjects  of  debate, 
which  had  existed  between  the  late  British 
commander  and  the  court  of  Lisbon,  more 
unanimity  was  now  likely  to  prevail:  the 
spirits  of  the  whole  nation  began  to  revive ; 
and  the  hopes  then  formed  of  more  success- 
ful exertions  were  fully  justified  by  the 
event 

GENERAL  BURGOYNE  PENETRATES 
INTO  SPAIN. 

Tins  third  body  of  Spanish  troops,  destin- 
ed for  the  southern  inroad  into  Portugal,  as- 
sembled on  the  frontiers  of  Estremadura, 
with  an  intention  of  penetrating  into  the 
province  of  Alentejo.  Had  this  third  corps 
been  joined  to  the  others  already  in  Portugal, 
it  would  probably  have  formed  such  an  army 
as  might,  in  spite  of  any  obstruction,  have 
forced  its  way  to  Lisbon ;  had  it  acted  sepa- 
rately, it  might  have  greatly  distracted  the 
defence,  so  as  to  enable  some  other  corps  to 
penetrate  to  that  city.  It  was  necessary  to 
prevent,  if  possible,  their  entrance  into  Por- 
tugal ;  since  their  mere  entrance  would  have 
been  almost  equal  to  a  victory  on  their  side. 
The  count  de  la  Lippe,  therefore,  formed  a 
design  of  attacking  an  advanced  party  of 
them  in  a  town  on  the  frontiers,  called  Va- 
lencia d' Alcantara,  where  he  heard  they  had 
amassed  considerable  magazmes.  The  con- 
duct of  this  enterprise  was  committed  to 
brigadier-general  Burgoyne.  This  active 
and  judicious  officer,  though  at  a  distance  of 
five  days'  march,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  dis- 
appointments and  obstructions  to  which  ser- 
vices of  this  kind  are  so  liable,  when  they 
cannot  be  executed  immediately,  effected  a 
complete  surprise  of  the  enemy  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  twenty-seventh  of  August.  He 
hoped  to  have  reached  the  place  the  night 
before,  and  had  made  the  disposition  for  at- 
tack accordingly.  But  finding  himself  over- 
taken by  daylight,  he  altered  his  plan,  and 
advancing  with  his  own  dragoons  and  a  small 
party  of  irregular  cavalry  in  full  gallop,  he 
entered  the  town  of  Valencia  sword  in  hand; 
dispersed  the  guards  that  were  in  the  great 
stpare;  and  secured  the  entrances  into  it 


with  very  little  difficulty.  The  rest  of  nis 
forces,  consisting  of  all  the  British  grena- 
diers, and  eleven  companies  of  Portuguese 
grenadiers,  with  some  infantry  and  a  few 
armed  peasants,  soon  came  up  to  support 
their  gallant  leader.  The  Spanish  general 
who  was  to  have  commanded  in  the  intend- 
ed invasion,  and  a  great  quantity  of  arms 
and  ammunition,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victor,  who  brought  away  hostages  tor  the 
care  of  the  wounded,  and  the  payment  of 
the  king's  revenue  for  one  year,  which  he 
exacted  as  a  consideration  for  having  spared 
the  town  and  convents.  This  unportant  ser- 
vice was  performed  with  very  little  loss  on 
the  part  of  the  British  troops.  The  enemy 
had  to  lament  the  total  destruction  of  one  of 
the  best  regiments  in  the  Spanish  service. 

Although  the  information  which  the  count 
de  la  Lippe  had  received  about  the  maga- 
zines proved  to  be  groundless,  the  other  ad- 
vantages resulting  from  the  enterprise  made 
ample  amends  for  that  disappointment.  The 
taking  of  the  Spanish  general  disconcerted 
the  plan  which  he  was  then  on  the  point  of 
carrying  into  execution :  for,  at  the  very 
moment  of  his  being  made  prisoner,  he  was 
actually  employed  in  reconnoitring  the  en- 
trance into  the  province  of  Alentejo,  where 
he  proposed  to  march  in  a  few  days.  This 
seemed  to  have  been  for  some  time  the  des- 
tination not  only  of  the  troops  under  the 
captured  general's  command,  but  also  the 
great  object  of  the  Spanish  army  which  ha^l 
hitherto  acted  in  Beira.  The  former  of 
these  provinces  is  a  plain,  open,  fertile  coun- 
try, where  their  cavalry,  which  constituted 
their  chief  force,  might  have  acted  decisive- 
ly :  whereas  the  latter  was  a  rough,  moun- 
tainous region,  in  which  the  horse  v*'ere  sub- 
sisted with  difficulty,  and  could  be  of  little 
service.  To  prevent  therefore  the  entry  of 
the  Bourbon  army  from  any  quarter  into 
Alentejo,  was  to  the  allies  an  object  of  the 
highest  moment  General  Burgoyne,  by 
this  expedition  into  the  Spanish  territories, 
had  already  prevented  it  in  one  part ;  and  the 
vigilance  and  activity  of  the  same  officer 
had  no  small  share  in  preventing  it  also  on 
the  other. 

That  part  of  the  Bourbon  anny,  which 
acted  in  the  territory  of  Castel  Branco,  liad 
made  themselves  masters  of  several  import- 
ant passes,  which  they  obliged  some  bodies 
of  the  Portuguese  to  abandon.  They  at- 
tacked the  rear  of  the  combined  army,  which 
was  passing  the  river  Alveito,  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  retreat ;  but  in  reality,  with 
a  view  to  draw  them  insensibly  into  the 
mountainous  tracts.  Here  they  were  re- 
pulsed with  loss;  but  still  they  continued 
masters  of  the  country;  and  nothing  re- 
mained but  the  passage  of  the  Tagus,  to 
enable  them   to  take  up  their  quarters  in 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


49 


Alentejo.  General  Burgoyne,  who  was  post- 
ed with  an  intention  to  obstruct  them  in 
their  passage,  lay  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
within  view  of  a  detached  camp,  composed 
of  a  considerable  body  of  their  cavalry,  near 
a  village  called  Villa  Velha.  As  he  observ- 
ed that  the  enemy  kept  no  very  soldierly 
guard  in  this  post,  and  were  uncovered  in 
their  rear  and  their  flanks,  he  conceived  a 
design  of  falling  on  tliem  by  surprise.  He 
confided  the  execution  of  this  design  to 
colonel  Lee,  who  turned  their  camp,  fell 
upon  their  rear  in  the  night  of  the  sixth  of 
October,  made  a  considerable  slaughter,  dis- 
persed the  whole  party,  destroyed  tiieir  mag- 
azines, and  returned  with  scarce  any  loss. 
Burgoyne,  in  the  mean  time,  supported  him 
by  a  feint  attack  in  another  quarter,  which 
prevented  the  enemy's  being  relieved  from 
the  adjacent  posts. 

SPANIARDS  RETREAT. 

This  advantage,  being  obtained  in  a  criti- 
cal moment,  was  attended  with  important 
consequences.  The  season  was  now  far  ad- 
vanced; and  the  roads  became  impassable 
through  the  heavy  rains  which  fell :  so  that 
the  enemies,  destitute  of  strong  posts,  and 
of  magazines  for  the  subsistence  of  their 
horse,  retreated  to  the  frontiers  of  their  own 
country,  where  their  supplies  were  at  hand, 
and  vv^here  they  were  not  liable  to  be  har- 
assed by  the  efforts  of  the  combined  army. 
Thus  was  Portugal  saved  by  the  wise  con- 
duct of  the  count  de  la  Lippe,  and  the  dis- 
tinguished valor  of  the  English  commanders 
and  soldiery ;  and  thus  did  the  insolent  men- 
aces of  the  Bourbon  confederacy  terminate 
in  their  own  disappointment  and  confusion. 
There  never  was  probably  so  heavy  a  storm 
of  national  calamity,  ready  to  fall  upon  an 
unprovided  people,  so  happily  averted,  or  so 
speedily  blown  over. 
TRIUMPH  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  AT  SEA. 

But  it  was  at  sea,  the  favorite  element  of 
Britain,  that  the  success  of  her  arms  was 
most  conspicuous.  In  vain  had  her  enemies 
endeavored  to  draw  off  her  attention  from 
maritime  enterprises,  and  to  employ  her 
chief  strength  in  continental  wars:  she 
found  means  to  baffle  their  most  vigorous 
efforts  both  in  Germany  and  Portugal ;  her 
glorious  exertions  by  land  in  the  defence  of 
her  friends  and  allies,  did  not  divert  her 
from  giving  the  fullest  scope  to  her  naval 
power  in  the  enlargement  of  her  commerce 
and  her  conquests.  Tlie  French  West  In- 
dia islands  were  the  first  objects  of  attack ; 
and  the  failure  of  the  armament  sent  out 
against  Martmico  in  the  year  1759,  under 
Mr.  Pitt's  administration,  did  not  discourage 
his  successors  in  office  from  making  another 
attempt.  The  plan  they  laid  down  for 
this  purpose,  and  the  preparations  made  to 
give  it  effect  and  to  extend  its  advantages, 

Vol.  IV.  5 


have  been  already  explained.  Every  part 
of  it  was  executed  with  a  degree  of  pre- 
cision and  spirit  which  corresponded  well 
with  the  boldness  and  wisdom  of  the  con- 
ception. 

CAPTURE  OF  MARTINICO,  AND  OTHER 
WEST  INDIA  ISLANDS. 

The  squadron  designed  for  this  purpose, 
which  had  sailed  from  England  in  October 
with  four  battalions  drafted  from  the  garri- 
son of  Belleisle,  having  been  reinforced  at 
Barbadoes  by  eleven  battalions  from  New- 
York  and  some  regiments  from  the  Leeward 
islands,  proceeded  with  the  fleet  already  on 
that  station  towards  Martinico,  on  the  fifth 
of  January.  The  whole  armament  con- 
sisted of  about  ten  thousand  land  forces, 
commanded  by  general  Monckton,  and  eigh- 
teen ships  of  the  line,  besides  frigates,  fire- 
ships,  and  bomb-ketches,  under  the  direction 
of  rear-admiral  Rodney.  They  came  within 
sight  of  Martinico  on  the  seventh  of  Janua- 
ry ;  and  the  troops  landed  at  a  creek  called 
Cas  Navire,  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  the 
ships  having  been  disposed  so  properly,  and 
having  directed  their  fire  with  such  effect, 
that  the  enemy  was  obliged  in  a  short  time 
to  abandon  the  batteries  which  they  had 
erected  to  defend  this  inlet. 

The  whole  island,  which  is  mountainous 
and  unequal,  is  intersected  with  deep  gullies 
hollowed  out  by  rapid  torrents,  so  as  greatly 
to  impede  the  prepress  of  an  army,  particu- 
larly with  regard  to  its  artillery.  These 
obstructions  were  nowhere  greater  than  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Fort-Royal,  against 
which  the  first  regular  attack  was  proposed. 
This  town  is  commanded  by  two  considera- 
ble eminences,  called  Morne  Tortenson  and 
Mome  Gamier,  the  natural  strength  of 
which  was  improved  by  every  contrivance 
of  art.  The  former  was  first  to  be  reduced. 
A  body  of  regulars  and  marines,  supported 
by  a  thousand  sailors  in  flat-bottomed  boats, 
advanced  on  the  right  along  the  sea-shore, 
in  order  to  force  the  redoubts  which  ky  in 
the  lower  grounds.  On  the  left:,  towards 
the  country,  a  detachment  of  light  infantry, 
with  a  proper  reserve  behind  them,  was  to 
turn  the  enemy's  flank;  whilst  the  attack 
in  the  centre  was  made  by  the  British  gren- 
adiers and  the  remainder  of  the  army,  under 
the  fire  of  batteries  erected  with  great  labor 
on  the  opposite  heights.  They  drove  the 
French  from  post  to  post,  till,  after  a  sharp 
struggle,  the  British  banners  were  fixed  on 
the  top  of  the  hill.  Some  of  the  fugitives 
were  pursued  to  the  very  gates  of  the 
town:  others  saved  themselves  on  Morne 
Gamier,  which  being  much  higher  than 
Morne  Tortenson,  left  the  victorious  troops 
still  exposed  to  great  annoyance  from  the 
enemy. 

Three   days   elapsed,  before  proper  ar- 


50 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


rangements  could  be  made  for  dislodging  the 
French  from  their  second  eminence.  In  the 
midst  of  these  preparations,  their  whole 
force  descended  from  the  hill,  sallied  out  of 
the  town,  and  made  a  furious  assault  on  the 
advanced  posts ;  but  they  were  immediately- 
repulsed  by  the  British  troops,  who,  hurried 
on  by  their  ardor,  improved  a  defensive  ad- 
■vantage  into  an  attack,  passed  the  gullies, 
mingled  with  the  enemy,  scaled  the  hill, 
seized  the  batteries,  dispersed  the  militia, 
and  drove  the  regulars  into  the  town.  All 
the  positions  which  overlooked  and  com 
inanded  Port-Royal  being  now  secured,  the 
batteries  against  it  were  no  sooner  com- 
pleted, than  it  surrendered  on  the  fourth  of 
February ;  and  in  three  days  after,  Pidgeou 
island,  which  was  deemed  one  of  the  best 
defences  of  the  harbor,  followed  the  example 
of  the  citadel.  Fourteen  French  privateers 
were  found  there ;  and  a  much  greater  num 
ber,  from  other  ports  in  the  island,  were 
afterwards  delivered  up  to  admiral  Rodney, 
in  consequence  of  the  favorable  terms  grant- 
ed to  the  inhabitants. 

Still,  however,  St.  Pierre,  the  capital,  re- 
mained to  be  reduced ;  and  it  was  appre- 
hended that  the  resistance  there  might  be 
considerable,  if  the  spirit  and  perseverance 
of  the  garrison  corresponded  with  the 
strength  of  the  fortifications,  and  with  the 
natural  advantages  of  the  country.  But 
the  reduction  of  Fort-Royal  had  greatly 
abated  the  enemy's  confidence.  The  militia, 
in  particular,  despaired  of  making  any  effec 
tual  defence.  Influenced  by  these  motives, 
and  disheartened  by  the  train  of  misfortunes 
which  had  everywhere  attended  the  French 
arms,  they  resolved  to  hold  out  no  longer 
and  on  the  twelfth  of  February,  just  as  gen 
eral  Monckton  was  ready  to  embark  for  the 
reduction  of  St.  Pierre,  he  was  prevented 
by  the  arrival  of  two  deputies,  who  came  to 
capitulate  for  the  surrender  of  that  place 
and  of  the  whole  island. 

The  conquest  of  Martinico,  which  was 
the  seat  of  the  superior  government,  the 
principal  mart  of  trade,  and  the  centre  of 
the  French  force  in  the  Caribbees,  naturally 
drew  after  it  the  submission  of  all  the  de 
pendent  islands.  Grenada,  though,  from  the 
nature  of  its  situation,  it  might  have  made 
a  vigorous  defence,  surrendered  without  op- 
position. The  British  troops  found  as  little 
difficulty  in  taking  possession  of  St.  Lucia, 
Tobago,  and  St.  Vincent,  the  right  to  which 
had  so  long  been  an  object  of  dispute  be 
tween  the  two  nations.  The  Grenadillas 
and  the  other  little  isles,  which  are  scatter 
ed  up  and  down  in  the  same  seas,  were  in- 
capable  of  making  any  resistance ;  and  it  is 
also  probable,  that  if  they  had  been  places 
of  much  greater  strength,  the  prosperity  of 
Guadaloupe  under  the  British  government 


would  have  been  a  strong  temptation  to  their 
easy  and  general  surrender.  St.  Domingo 
was  the  only  spot  which  the  French  still 
retained  in  the  Archipelago  of  America; 
and  the  loss  of  that  did  not  appear  to  be  far 
distant.  An  object  of  more  consequence 
diverted  the  storm  to  one  of  tlie  most  valu- 
able possessions  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
West  Indies. 

ARMAMENT  DISPATCHED  AGAINST 
THE  HAVANNAH. 

Before  the  success  of  the  expedition 
against  Martinico  was  known  in  England, 
the  ministry,  confident  that  it  could  not  have 
failed,  had  given  orders  for  a  considerable 
part  of  the  forces  employed  there  to  re- 
imbark,  and  to  sail  in  a  westerly  direction 
to  a  certain  rendezvous,  where,  in  case  of  a 
rupture  with  Spain,  they  were  to  be  joined 
by  another  armament,  in  order  to  make  a 
descent  upon  the  island  of  Cuba.  The 
latter  squadron  left  Portsmouth  the  fifth  of 
March,  and  very  happily  met  the  proposed 
division  of  the  former  fleet,  under  Sir  James 
Douglas,  at  Cape  Nichola,  the  north-west 
point  of  Hispaniola,  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  May.  After  this  junction,  their  force 
amounted  to  nineteen  ships  of  the  line, 
eighteen  small  vessels  of  war,  and  near  one 
hundred  and  fifty  transports,  with  about  ten 
thousand  troops  on  board.  A  supply  of  four 
thousand  more  was  also  expected  from  north 
America.  Lord  Albemarle,  the  friend  and 
disciple  of  the  duke  of  Cumberland,  had  the 
command  of  the  land  forces:  the  marine 
was  under  admiral  Pococke,  who  having 
contributed  by  his  valor  towards  that  sove- 
reignty which  his  country  had  obtained  in 
the  East  Indies,  was  now  chosen  to  extend 
its  empire  in  the  West. 

As  the  hurricane  season  was  more  to  be 
dreaded  than  the  resistance  of  the  enemy, 
the  utmost  expedition  was  necessary.  The 
admiral,  therefore,  instead  of  keeping  to  the 
south  of  Cuba,  which  though  very  safe,  would 
prove  by  far  the  most  tedious  way,  resolved 
to  run  along  the  northern  shore  of  that 
island,  pursuing  his  career  from  east  to  west 
through  the  old  straits  of  Bahama,  a  much 
shorter,  but  more  dangerous  passage,  being 
very  narrow,  and  bounded  on  the  right  and 
left  by  sands  and  shoals,  which  render  the 
navigation  so  hazardous,  that  it  has  usually 
been  avoided  by  single  and  small  vessels. 
There  was  no  pilot  in  the  fleet  whose  expe- 
rience could  be  depended  on  to  conduct  them 
safely  through  it.  The  admiral,  however, 
being  provided  with  a  good  chart  of  lord 
Anson's,  was  determined  to  make  the  experi- 
ment, and  to  trust  to  his  own  sagacity,  con- 
duct, and  vigilance.  So  bold  an  attempt 
had  never  been  made ;  but  every  precaution 
was  taken  to  guard  this  boldness  from  the 
imputation  of  temerity.     A  vessel  was  sent 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


51 


to  reconnoitre  the  passage,  and,  when  re- 
turned, was  ordered  to  take  the  lead :  some 
frigates  followed:  sloops  and  boats  were 
stationed  on  the  shallows  to  the  right  and 
left,  with  well-adapted  signals  both  for  the 
day  and  the  night :  the  fleet  moved  in  seven 
divisions;  and  being  favored  with  pleasant 
weather,  and  secured  by  the  admirable  dis- 
positions which  were  made,  they,  without 
the  smallest  loss,  or  interruption,  got  clear 
through  this  perilous  passage,  seven  hundred 
miles  in  length,  on  the  fifth  of  June,  having 
entered  it  the  twenty-seventh  of  May. 

The  Havannah,  the  object  of  their  long 
voyage,  and  of  so  many  anxious  hopes  and 
fears,  was  now  before  them.  This  place  is 
not  denominated  the  capital  of  Cuba :  St. 
Jago,  situated  at  the  south-east  part  of  the 
island,  has  that  title:  but  the  Havannah, 
though  the  second  in  rank,  is  the  first  in 
wealth,  size,  and  importance.  The  harbor, 
which  is  perhaps  the  best  in  the  world,  is 
entered  by  a  narrow  passage  about  half  a 
mile  long,  and  expanding  itself  afterwards 
into  a  capacious  basin,  sufficient  to  contain 
a  thousand  sail  of  the  largest  ships,  having 
almost  throughout  six  fathom  water,  and 
being  perfectly  covered  from  every  wind. 
Here  the  rich  fleets  from  the  several  parts 
of  the  Spanish  settlements  rendezvous,  be- 
fore they  finally  set  out  on  their  voyage  to 
Europe; — a  circumstance  which  has  ren- 
dered the  Havannah  one  of  the  most  opulent, 
flourishing,  and  populous  cities  in  the  west- 
ern world.  Suitable  to  its  importance  was 
the  care  with  which  the  narrow  entrance 
into  the  bay  was  fortified.  On  a  projecting 
point  of  land,  to  the  east  of  the  channel, 
stood  the  Moro,  a  very  strong  fort,  having 
two  bastions  towards  the  sea,  and  two  more 
on  the  land-side,  with  a  wide  and  deep  ditch 
cut  out  of  a  rock.  The  opposite  point  to 
the  westward  was  secured  by  another  fort 
called  the  Puntal,  which  was  also  surround- 
ed by  a  ditch  cut  in  the  same  manner,  and 
was  every  way  well  calculated  for  co-opera- 
thig  with  the  Moro  in  the  defence  of  the 
harbor.  It  had  likewise  some  batteries  that 
opened  upon  the  country,  and  flanked  part 
of  the  town  wall.  But  this  wall  and  the 
fortifications  of  the  city  itself  were  not  in 
very  good  condition.  The  wall  and  the 
bastions  wanted  repair :  the  ditch  was  dry 
and  of  no  considerable  width ;  and  the  cov- 
ered-way was  almost  in  ruins,  but  it  was 
utterly  impracticable  to  attack  it  by  sea,  the 
entrance  of  the  harbor  being  not  only  de- 
fended by  the  forts,  but  by  fourteen  Spanish 
ships  of  the  line,  three  of  which  were  after- 
wards sunk  in  the  channel,  and  a  boom  laid 
across  it. 

SIEGE  OF  THE  MORO. 

Lord  Albemarle  resolved  to  begin  with 
the  sicire  of  tlie  Moro.     He  knew  that  the 


reduction  of  that  fort  must  infallibly  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  surrender  of  the  city ;  whereas, 
if  he  had  attacked  the  town  first,  his  army 
might  have  been  so  much  weakened  as  to 
be  unable  to  surmount  the  vigorous  resist- 
ance of  the  fort,  defended  by  the  garrison, 
and  by  the  flower  of  the  inhabitants,  zealous 
to  save  their  ov^ti  and  the  public  treasiu-e. 

All  was  confusion  and  alarm,  at  the  first 
sight  of  a  hostile  armament.  Common  pru- 
dence would  have  suggested  the  propriety 
of  keeping  their  fleet  ready  for  action ;  and 
as  they  were  not  far  from  an  equality,  and 
could  be  of  very  little  service  in  the  port, 
they  should  have  put  out  to  sea,  and  hazard- 
ed the  issue  of  an  engagement.  A  battle 
maintamed  with  spirit,  though  finally  unsuc- 
cessfiil,  might  have  so  far  disabled  their 
opponents  as  to  unfit  them  for  any  farther 
attempts,  after  a  dear-bought  naval  victory. 
The  loss  of  the  whole  Spanish  fleet  in  this 
way  might  have  saved  the  city ;  but  the  city 
once  taken,  nothing  could  possibly  save  the 
fleet.  Either  through  extreme  cowardice  or 
infatuation,  the  only  use  they  made  of  their 
shipping  was  to  sink  three  of  them  behind 
a  strong  boom  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor. 

When  the  British  commanders  had  got 
everything  in  readiness  for  landing,  the 
admiral,  with  a  great  part  of  the  fleet,  bore 
away  to  the  westward,  and  made  a  feint  of 
disembarking  the  troops;  while  a  detach- 
ment, protected  by  commodore  Keppel  and 
captain  Harvey,  approached  the  shore  to  the 
eastward,  and  landed  there  without  opposi- 
tion, a  small  fort  which  might  give  some 
disturbance,  having  been  previously  silenced. 
On  this  side,  the  principal  army  was  des- 
tined to  act.  It  was  divided  into  two  bodies ; 
the  one  being  immediately  occupied  in  the 
attack  on  Fort  Moro,  and  the  other  in  cov- 
ering the  siege,  and  in  protecting  the  parties 
employed  in  procuring  water  and  provisions. 
The  former  corps  was  commanded  by  major- 
general  Keppel,  and  the  latter  by  lieutenant- 
general  Elliot.  A  detachment  under  colo- 
nel Howe  was  encamped  near  the  west  side 
of  the  town,  to  cut  off"  its  communication 
with  the  country,  and  to  keep  the  enemy's 
attention  divided. 

The  hardships,  which  the  troops  sustained 
in  carrying  on  the  siege,  are  almost  incredi- 
ble. The  earth  was  everywhere  so  thin, 
that  it  was  with  great  difficulty  they  could 
cover  themselves  in  their  approaches.  The 
want  of  water  was  also  very  distressing. 
They  were  obliged  to  fetch  it  from  a  great 
distance,  as  there  was  not  any  spring  or  river 
near  them ;  and  so  scanty  and  precarious 
was  the  supply,  procured  with  much  labor, 
that  they  often  found  it  necessary  to  have 
recourse  to  what  the  ships  could  afford. 
Roads  of  communication  were  to  be  cut 
through  thick  woods ;  and  the  artillery  was 


52 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


to  be  dragged,  for  a  vast  way,  over  a  rough 
rocky  shore.  In  these  painful  efforts,  under 
a  burning  sun,  many  of  the  men  dropped 
down  dead  with  heat,  thirst,  and  fatigue. 
Every  obstacle  was  at  length  surmounted  by 
the  most  astonishing  perseverance  ;  and  bat- 
teries, erected  along  a  ridge  on  a  level  with 
the  fort,  were  opened  with  great  effect.  The 
ships  in  the  harbor  were  driven  farther  bacii ; 
so  as  not  to  be  able  to  molest  the  besiegers ; 
and  a  sally  made  by  the  garrison  was  re- 
pulsed with  great  slaughter. 

Whilst  these  works  were  vigorously 
pushed  on  shore,  the  navy,  not  contented 
with  the  great  assistance  which  they  had  be- 
fore lent  to  every  part  of  the  land  service, 
resolved  to  make  an  attempt  which  was 
more  directly  within  their  province.  Ac- 
cordingly, on  the  first  of  July,  the  very  day 
that  the  batteries  were  opened,  three  of  the 
largest  ships,  under  captain  Harvey,  laid 
their  broadsides  against  the  fort,  and  began 
a  terrible  fire,  which  lasted  seven  hours  with- 
out intermission.  The  Moro  returned  it 
with  great  constancy,  and  being  situated  on 
a  very  high  and  steep  rock,  was  proof  against 
all  efforts.  Besides,  the  guns  from  the  op- 
posite fort  of  Puntal,  and  from  the  town, 
galled  them  extremely;  insomuch,  that  in 
order  to  save  the  ships  from  absolute  destruc- 
tion, they  were  obliged  at  length,  and  un- 
willingly, to  bring  them  off.  Even  this  re- 
treat was  not  effected  without  difHculty,  as 
they  were  very  much  shattered  in  so  long 
and  unequal  a  contest.  But,  though  no  im- 
pression was  made  on  the  works  which  the 
ships  attacked,  the  attempt  was  nevertheless 
of  considerable  service.  The  attention  of 
the  defendants  was  so  much  engaged  that 
they  neglected  the  other  side  of  the  fort,  and 
allov/ed  the  fire  of  the  English  batteries  to 
become  superior. 

As  soon,  however,  as  the  Spaniards  were 
released  from  the  ships  of  war,  they  re- 
turned to  their  duty  on  the  land-side,  and  re- 
vived their  defence  with  great  spirit.  An 
unremitted  cannonade  was  kept  up  by  both 
parties  for  several  days  with  a  fierce  emula- 
tion :  and  the  military  skill  and  spirit  of  the 
assailants  were  put  to  the  severest  trial.  In 
the  midst  of  this  sharp  and  doubtful  conten- 
tion, the  capital  battery  against  the  fort  took 
fire,  and  being  chiefly  constructed  of  timber 
and  fascines  dried  by  intense  heat,  the  flames 
soon  became  too  powerful  for  opposition. 
The  battery  was  almost  wholly  consumed. 
The  labor  of  six  hundred  men  for  seventeen 
days  was  destroyed  in  a  few  hours,  and  all 
was  to  begin  anev/.  This  stroke  was  the 
more  severely  felt,  as  it  happened  at  a  time 
when  the  other  hardships  of  the  siege  were 
become  almost  intolerable.  The  diseases  of 
the  climate,  increased  by  rigorous  duty,  had 
reduced  the  army  to  half  its  number.     Five 


thousand  soldiers  were  at  one  time  unfit  for 
service,  through  various  distempers ;  and 
three  thousand  sailors  were  ix\  the  same 
miserable  condition.  The  want  of  necessa- 
ries and  refreshments  aggravated  their  suffer- 
ings, and  retarded  their  recovery.  The  pro- 
visions were  bad ;  and  the  necessity  of  bring- 
ing, from  a  distance,  a  scanty  supply  of  water, 
exhausted  all  their  force.  Besides,  as  the 
season  advanced,  the  prospect  of  succeeding 
grew  fainter.  The  hearts  of  the  most  san- 
guine sunk  within  them,  when  they  beheld 
this  gallant  army  wasting  away ;  and  con- 
sidered that  the  noble  fleet,  which  had  rode 
so  long  on  an  open  shore,  must  be  exposed 
to  inevitable  ruin,  if  the  hurricane  season 
should  come  on  before  the  reduction  of  the 
place.  A  thousand  languishing  and  impa- 
tient looks  were  cast  out  for  the  reinforce- 
ment, which  was  expected  from  North  Ame- 
rica :  but  none  appeared  ;  and  the  few,  who 
still  preserved  some  remains  of  strength, 
were  obliged  to  bear  up  under  the  load  of 
double  duty,  and  of  afflicting  accidents.  An- 
other battery  took  fire,  before  the  former 
could  be  repaired ;  and  the  toil  of  the  be- 
siegers unfortunately  increased,  in  proportion 
as  their  strength  was  diminished.  Many 
fell  iiito  despair  and  died,  overcome  with  fa- 
tigue, anguish,  and  disappointment. 

But  however  great  the  distresses,  however 
small  the  numbers  of  those  that  v/ere  left, 
they  made  efforts  which  Vvov  ;(1  nut  [.rive  dis- 
graced the  largest  and  the  best  appointed 
army.  The  rich  prize  which  lay  before 
them,  the  shame  of  returning  home  baffled, 
and  even  the  strenuous  resistance  of  the 
enemy,  engaged  their  interest,  their  honor, 
their  pride ;  and  roused  them  to  the  exertion 
of  every  nerve.  The  batteries  were  re- 
placed :  their  fire  became  equal,  and  soon 
superior  to  that  of  the  fort :  they  silenced  its 
guns ;  they  dismantled  its  upper  works ;  and, 
on  the  twentieth  of  July,  they  made  a  lodg- 
ment in  the  covered-way.  Not  many  days 
after,  they  received  a  considerable  part  of 
the  reinforcement  from  America.  Four  of 
the  transports  had  been  wrecked  in  the 
straits  of  Bahama  ;  but  the  men  were  saved 
on  the  adjacent  islands,  and  were  happily 
brought  off  by  five  sloops,  which  the  admi- 
ral had  immediately  detached  on  this  service. 
Five  other  transports,  having  about  five  hun- 
dred soldiers  on  board,  had  been  taken  by  a 
French  squadron.  All  the  rest  of  the  troops 
arrived  in  perfect  health. 

These  favorable  events  gave  fresh  vigor 
to  the  operations  of  the  siege :  but  a  sudden 
difficulty  appeared,  just  at  the  seeming  ac- 
complishment of  the  work.  An  immense 
ditch,  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  eighty  feet  deep, 
and  forty  wide,  yawned  before  them  and 
stopped  their  progress.  To  fill  it  up  by  any 
means  appeared  impossible.    Difficult  as  the 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


53 


work  of  mining  was  in  those  circumstances, 
it  was  the  only  expedient.  It  might  have 
proved  impracticable,  had  not  a  thin  ridge 
of  rock  been  fortunately  left,  to  cover  the 
ditch  towards  the  sea.  On  this  narrow  ridge, 
the  miners,  though  quite  exposed,  passed  the 
gulf  with  very  little  loss,  and  buried  them- 
selves in  the  wall. 

It  now  became  visible  to  the  governor  of 
the  Havannah,  that  the  Moro  must  be  speedi- 
ly reduced,  if  left  to  its  own  strength.  He 
therefore  resolved  to  attempt  something  for 
its  relief.  Accordingly,  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  July,  before  break  of  day,  a  body 
of  twelve  hundred  men,  mostly  composed  of 
the  country  militia,  mulattoes  and  negroes, 
were  transported  across  the  harbor,  climbed 
the  hills,  and  made  three  different  attacks  on 
the  English  posts.  The  ordinary  guards, 
though  surprised,  defended  themselves  so 
resolutely,  that  the  Spaniards  made  little 
impression,  and  were  not  able  to  ruin  any 
part  of  the  approaches.  The  attacked  posts 
were  speedily  reinforced  ;  and  the  enemy 
who  were  little  better  than  a  disorderly  rab- 
ble, and  not  conducted  by  proper  officers,  fell 
into  terror  and  confusion.  They  were  driven 
precipitately  down  the  hill  with  great  slaugh- 
ter :  some  gained  their  boats ;  others  were 
drowned ;  and  they  lost  in  this  well  imagined, 
but  ill  executed  sally,  upwards  of  four  hun- 
dred men. 

This  was  the  last  effort  for  the  relief  of 
the  Moro ;  which,  abandoned  as  it  was  by 
the  city,  and  while  an  enemy  was  under- 
mining its  walls,  held  out  with  a  sullen  reso- 
lution, and  made  no  sort  of  proposal  to  ca- 
pitulate. The  mines  at  length  did  their 
business.  On  the  thirtieth  of  July,  a  part 
of  the  wall  was  blown  up,  and  fell  into  the 
ditch,  leaving  a  breach,  which,  though  very 
narrow  and  difficult,  was  judged  practicable 
by  the  general  and  engineer.  The  troops, 
ordered  on  this  most  dangerous  of  all  ser- 
vices, rejoiced  that  they  had  so  near  a  pros- 
pect of  terminating  their  dreadful  toils. 
They  cheerfully  prepared  for  the  assault, 
and  mounting  the  breach,  under  the  com- 
mand of  lieutenant  Forbes,  supported  by 
lieutenant-colonel  Stuart,  they  entered  the 
fort  with  so  much  order  and  intrepidity,  as 
entirely  disconcerted  the  garrison.  Four 
hundred  of  the  Spaniards  were  cut  in  pieces, 
or  perished  in  attempting  to  make  their  es- 
cape by  water  to  the  city.  The  rest  threw 
down  tfieir  arms,  and  received  quarter.  The 
marquis  de  Gonzalez,  tlie  second  in  command, 
was  killed  in  making  brave  but  ineffectual 
efforts  to  stop  the  flight  of  his  countrymen  ; 
and  don  Lewis  de  Velasco,  the  governor, 
having  collected  a  small  body  of  resolute 
soldiers,  in  an  intrenchment  round  the  flag- 
staff, gloriously  fell  in  defendmg  his  colors, 
which  nothing  could  induce  him  to  strike. 
5* 


The  English  had  but  two  lieutenants  and 
twelve  men  killed  ;  and  one  lieutenant,  with 
four  Serjeants,  and  twenty-four  privates 
wounded. 

SURRENDER  OF  THE  MORO,  AND  THE 
ISLAND. 
No  sooner  did  the  Spaniards  m  the  town 
and  in  Fort  Puntal  see  the  besiegers  in  pos- 
session of  the  Moro,  than  they  directed  all 
their  fire  against  that  place.  Meanwhile 
the  British  troops,  encouraged  by  their  suc- 
cess, were  vigorously  employed  in  remounts 
ing  the  guns  of  the  captured  fort,  and  in 
erecting  batteries  upon  an  eminence  that 
commanded  the  city.  These  batteries  being 
completed,  and  sixty  pieces  of  cannon  ready 
to  play  upon  the  Havannah,  lord  Albemarle, 
willing  to  prevent  an  unnecessary  carnage, 
sent  his  aid-de-camp,  on  the  tenth  of  August, 
with  a  flag  of  truce,  to  summon  the  governor 
to  surrender,  and  make  him  sensible  of  the 
unavoidable  destruction  that  was  ready  to 
fall  upon  the  place.  The  governor  replied, 
that  he  was  under  no  uneasy  apprehensions, 
and  would  hold  out  to  the  last  extremity. 
But  he  was  soon  brought  to  reason.  The 
very  next  morning,  the  batteries  were  open- 
ed against  him  with  such  effect,  that  in  six 
hours  all  his  guns  were  silenced :  flags  of 
truce  were  hung  out  in  every  quarter  of  the 
town ;  and  a  deputy  was  sent  to  the  camp 
of  the  besiegers,  in  order  to  settle  the  terms 
of  capitulation.  A  cessation  of  hostilities 
immediately  took  place ;  and,  as  soon  as  the 
terms  were  adjusted,  the  city  of  Havannah, 
and  a  district  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  to  the  westward  included  in  its  gov- 
ernment, the  Puntal  castle,  and  the  ships  in 
the  harbor,  were  surrendered  to  his  Britan- 
nic majesty.  The  Spaniards  struggled  a 
long  time  to  save  the  men-of-war,  and  to 
have  the  harbor  declared  neutral ;  but  after 
two  days'  altercation,  they  were  obliged  to 
give  up  those  capital  points  as  wholly  inad- 
missible. The  garrison  were  allowed  the 
honors  of  war,  and  were  to  be  conveyed  to 
Spain.  Private  property  was  secured  to  the 
iuhabitants,  with  the  enjo5m[ient  of  their  for- 
mer laws  and  religion.  Without  violatmg 
this  last  article,  which  rendered  the  proper- 
ty of  individuals  sacred,  the  conquerors,  who 
took  possession  of  the  city  on  the  fourteenth 
of  August,  found  a  booty  there,  computed  at 
near  three  millions  sterling,  in  silver  and 
valuable  merchandise  belonging  to  the  Cath- 
olic king,  besides  an  immense  quantity  of 
arms,  artillery,  and  military  stores. 

This  was  the  most  considerable,  and  in  its 
consequences  the  most  decisive  blow  which 
had  been  struck  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  It  united  in  itself  all  the  honors  and 
advantages  tliat  can  be  acquired  in  hostile 
enterprises.  It  was  a  military  triumph,  that 
reflected  the  brightest  lustre  on  the  courage. 


54 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


steadiness,  and  perseverance  of  the  British 
troops.  Its  effect  on  the  enemy's  marine 
made  it  equal  to  the  greatest  naval  victory. 
Nine  ships  of  the  line  and  four  frigates  were 
taken :  three  of  the  former  description  had 
been  sunk  by  the  Spaniards,  as  already  men- 
tioned, at  the  beginning  of  the  siege,  to  stop 
up  the  entrance  into  the  port ;  and  two  more, 
that  were  in  forwardness  on  the  stocks,  were 
destroyed  by  the  conquerors.  The  harbor 
itself  was  of  still  greater  value  than  the  fleet. 
It  absolutely  commanded  the  only  passage  by 
which  the  Spanish  ships  could  sail  from  the 
bay  of  Mexico  to  Europe ;  so  that  the  court 
of  Madrid  could  no  longer  receive  any  sup- 
plies from  the  West  Indies,  except  by  such 
routes  as  were  equally  tedious  and  uncertain. 
The  reduction  of  the  Havannah,  therefore, 
not  only  distressed  the  enemy  by  stopping 
the  sources  of  their  wealth,  but  likewise 
opened  to  the  English  an  easy  avenue  to  the 
centre  of  their  American  treasures.  The 
plunder  found  at  this  place  should  also  be 
taken  into  the  account:  it  impoverished 
Spain,  and  enriched  the  capiors ;  and  though 
it  contributed  nothing  directly  to  the  public 
service,  it  might  be  said  to  increase  the 
stock  of  the  British  nation,  and  to  supply 
those  prodigious  drains  of  specie,  foreign 
subsidies  and  foreign  armies. 

CAPTURE  OF  THE  HERMIONE. 

The  capture  of  the  Spanish  register-ship, 
the  Hermione,  which  happened  in  the  latter 
end  of  May,  just  as  she  was  on  the  point  of 
entering  one  of  the  ports  of  old  Spain,  must 
be  added  to  these  resources.  She  was  load- 
ed with  treasure  and  valuable  effects,  esti- 
mated at  one  million  sterlmg,  which  was 
considerably  more  than  had  ever  before  been 
taken  in  any  one  bottom.  The  prize  was 
brought  from  Gibraltar  to  England :  and  the 
gold  and  silver,  being  conveyed  in  covered 
wagons  to  London,  was  carried  to  the  Tower 
with  great  parade.  The  wagons  entered 
St.  James's  street  in  the  morning  of  the 
twelflh  of  August,  just  after  her  majesty 
had  been  safely  delivered  of  her  first  son, 
the  prmce  of  Wales ;  and  the  king,  with 
many  of  the  nobility,  who  were  present, 
went  to  the  windows  over  the  palace  gate, 
to  see  the  procession,  and  joined  their  accla- 
mations to  those  of  the  populace  on  two 
such  joyful  occasions. 

INVASION  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

But  these  losses,  though  immense,  were 
not  the  only  ones,  in  which  Spain  was  in- 
volved by  her  treacherous  and  precipitate 
junction  with  France.  She  soon  received 
another  dangerous  wound  in  a  very  remote 
quarter,  where  she  little  expected  so  sudden 
an  attack.  Tlie  plan  for  invading  the  Phi- 
lippine islands,  which  colonel  Draper  had 
laid  before  ministry  upon  the  first  rumor  of 
a  war  with  Spain,  was  now  carried  into  ex- 


ecution. Nothing  was  demanded  but  a  light 
frigate  to  carry  colonel  Draper  to  Madras, 
where  he  arrived  in  the  latter  end  of  June, 
with  orders  to  employ  such  of  the  troops  and 
squadrons  then  in  India  as  could  be  spared, 
to  execute  his  important  project. 

This  plan  seemed  the  more  feasible,  as  no 
great  force  was  thought  necessary  to  be  kept 
in  the  peninsula  after  the  total  expulsion  of 
the  French  and  the  humiliation  of  the  Dutch 
in  that  quarter.  The  whole  force  for  the 
land  operations  amounted  to  two  thousand 
three  hundred  men,  commanded  by  brigadier 
general  Draper,  who  had  been  promoted  to 
that  rank  on  his  arrival:  the  naval  force 
consisted  of  nine  men-of-war  and  frigates, 
besides  some  store-ships,  under  the  direction 
of  rear-admiral  Cornish.  In  three  weeks 
the  preparations  for  forming  this  body,  and 
getting  ready  all  the  stores,  were  begun, 
completed,  and  the  whole  shipped  through  a 
raging  and  perpetual  surf 

A  ship  of  force  was  dispatched  before  the 
fleet  through  the  straits  of  Malacca,  in  or- 
der to  watch  the  entrance  of  the  Chinese 
sea,  and  to  intercept  whatever  vessels  might 
be  bound  to  Manilla,  or  sent  from  the  neigh- 
boring settlements,  to  give  the  Spaniards 
notice  of  the  design.  The  East  India  com- 
pany were  to  have  a  third  of  the  booty  or 
ransom :  the  government  of  the  conquered 
country  was  also  to  be  vested  in  them :  and 
the  land  and  sea  forces  were,  by  mutual  con- 
sent, to  share  between  them  the  several 
captures  according  to  the  rules  established 
in  the  navy. 

The  fleet  sailed  from  Madras  the  first  of 
August.  Proper  dispositions  were  made  for 
landing  to  the  south  of  the  town,  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  September.  The  garrison 
consisted  of  eight  hundred  regular  troops ; 
and  as  the  place  was  too  extensive  to  be  en- 
tirely surrounded  by  the  English  army,  its 
communication  was  open  with  the  country, 
which  poured  in  to  its  assistance  ten  thou- 
sand natives,  a  fierce  and  daring  race,  as 
remarkable  for  their  hardiness  and  contempt 
of  death,  as  most  of  the  otlier  Indians  are 
for  their  cowardice  and  effeminacy.  Had  it 
been  the  interest  of  the  Spaniards  to  have 
taught  them  the  use  of  arms,  Manilla  would 
have  been  impregnable.  The  governor, 
who  was  also  the  archbishop  of  the  Philip- 
pine islands,  united  in  his  own  person,  by  a 
policy  not  wholly  without  precedent  in  the 
Spanish  colonies,  the  civil  power,  the  com- 
mand of  the  forces,  and  the  ecclesiastical 
dignity.  But  however  unqualified  by  his 
priestly  character  for  the  defence  of  a  city 
attacked,  he  seemed  not  unfit  for  it  by  his 
intrepidity  and  resolution.  In  less  than  two 
days  all  the  defences  of  the  Spaniards  were 
completely  destroyed;  and  they  had  no 
resource  left  but  in  vigorous  sallies. 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


55 


MANILLA  AND  THE  PHILIPPINES  TAKEN. 

General  Draper  therefore  took  the  most 
effectual  means  for  carrying  the  place  by 
assault.  The  governor  retired  into  the  cita- 
del ;  but  as  that  place  was  not  tenable,  he 
soon  surrendered  at  discretion.  The  hu- 
manity and  generosity  of  the  British  com- 
manders saved  the  town  from  a  general  and 
justly-merited  pillage.  A  ransom  of  four 
millions  of  dollars  was  promised  for  this  re- 
laxation of  the  laws  of  war.  It  was  stipu- 
lated, at  the  same  time,  that  all  the  other 
fortified  places  in  the  island,  and  in  all  the 
islands  dependent  on  its  government,  should 
also  be  surrendered  to  his  Britannic  majesty. 
The  whole  range  of  the  Philippines  fell  with 
the  city  of  Manilla. 

A  valuable  addition  was  made  to  this  con 
quest,  and  a  fresh  wound  was  given  to  the 
enemy  by  a  small  part  of  the  victorious  fleet. 
During  the  siege,  admiral  Cornish  received 
intelligence  by  the  capture  of  an  advice- 
ship,  that  the  galleon  from  Acapulco  was 
arrived  at  the  straits  which  form  the  en 
trance  into  the  archipelago  of  the  Philip- 
pines. Two  ships  of  the  squadron,  the  Pan- 
ther man-of-war  and  the  Argo  frigate,  were 
immediately  dispatched  in  quest  of  her. 
They  were  out  six  and  twenty  days,  when 
the  Argo,  in  the  evening  of  the  thirtieth  of 
October,  discovered  a  sail,  which  they  did 
not  doubt  to  be  the  same  they  looked  for 
Just  as  the  two  ships  in  company  were  ap- 
proaching their  object,  the  Panther  was 
driven  by  the  rapidity  of  a  counter-current 
among  shallows,  and  obliged  to  cast  anchor. 
The  Argo  escaped  the  danger,  overtook  the 
galleon,  and  began  a  hot  engagement  with 
her,  which  continued  for  two  hours.  But 
the  frigate  was  so  unequally  matched,  and 
so  roughly  received  by  the  Spaniard,  that 
she  was  obliged  to  desist,  and  to  bring-to  in 
order  to  repair  her  damage.  In  this  pause 
of  action,  the  current  slackened;  and  the 
Panther,  by  strenuous  exertion,  and  judi 
cious  management,  got  under  sail  with  the 
galleon  in  sight,  and  about  nine  the  next 
morning  got  up  to  her.  It  was  not  until  she 
was  battered  for  two  hours,  within  half-mus- 
ket-shot, that  she  struck.  So  obstinate  a  re- 
sistance, with  very  little  activity  of  opposi- 
tion, surprised  the  English.  In  her  first  en- 
gagement with  the  Argo,  this  galleon 
mounted  only  six  guns,  though  she  was 
pierced  for  sixty.  She  had  but  thirteen  in 
her  engagement  with  the  Panther.  But  she 
was  a  huge  vessel  lying  like  a  mountain  in 
the  water;  and  the  Spaniards  trusted  en- 
tirely to  the  excessive  thickness  of  her  sides, 
not  altogether  without  reason,  for  the  shot 
made  no  impression  upon  any  part,  except 
lier  upper  works.  Another  subject  of  sur- 
prise occurred  afler  she  struck.  Instead  of 
the  American  galleon,  as  was  expected,  re- 


turning with  the  treasures  of  Mexico  to  the 
Philippines,  she  proved  to  be  that  from  Ma- 
nilla, bound  to  Acapulco,  She  had  proceeded 
a  considerable  way  on  her  voyage,  but  meet- 
ing with  a  hard  gale  of  wind  in  the  great 
South  Sea,  she  was  dismasted,  and  obliged 
to  put  back  to  refit.  Though  the  captors 
were  disappointed  in  their  hopes  of  a  ship- 
full  of  silver,  their  prize  was  of  immense 
value,  her  cargo  in  rich  merchandise  being 
worth  more  than  half  a  million. 

FAILURE  OF  AN  EXPEDITION  AGAINST 
BUENOS  AYRES. 

Nothing  could  reflect  greater  honor  on 
the  wisdom  and  vigor  of  the  administration, 
under  whose  auspices  so  many  important 
enterprises  were  carried  into  effect  in  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  globe,  than  the  signal 
success  which  almost  everywhere  attended 
them.  Only  one  expedition,  of  inferior  mo- 
ment, failed  during  the  whole  campaign; 
and  that  failure  was  not  owing  to  the  te- 
merity of  the  attempt,  but  to  an  unfortunate 
accident  which  could  not  have  been  guarded 
against  by  any  stretch  of  human  foresight. 
The  circumstances  attending  it  were  equally 
melancholy  and  unexpected. 

It  was  deemed  expedient  to  encourage 
some  private  adventurers  to  add  to  the  other 
operations  against  so  extensive  a  sphere  of 
commerce,  an  attack  upon  the  colony  of 
Buenos  Ayres  in  South  America.  The  con- 
quest of  this  place  was  doubly  desirable,  as 
it  would  afford  great  security  to  the  Portu- 
guese settlements,  and  prove,  at  the  same 
time,  an  excellent  station  for  farther  enter- 
prises against  the  dominions  of  Spain  upon 
the  South  Seas.  The  Portuguese,  therefore, 
being  no  less  interested  than  the  English  in 
the  issue  of  this  undertaking,  readily  con- 
curred to  promote  its  success.  The  em- 
barkation was  made  from  the  Tagus,  on  the 
thirtieth  of  August,  and  the  force  consisted 
of  three  stout  frigates,  and  some  small  arm- 
ed vessels  and  store-ships,  with  five  hundred 
troops  on  board.  They  had  for  their  com- 
mander captain  Macnamara,  an  officer  of 
courage  and  experience.  Their  voyage  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Plata  was  expeditious  and 
favorable.  They  arrived  there  on  the  sec- 
ond of  November ;  but  no  sooner  had  they 
entered  that  vast  river,  than  they  were  at- 
tacked by  a  violent  storm  attended  with 
thunder  and  lightning.  Tlie  river  itself  is 
shoaiy,  and  its  navigation  dangerous.  The 
Spaniards  were  also  found  better  armed  and 
better  prepared  for  resistance  than  was  ex- 
pected, having  even  acted  on  tJie  offensive 
with  succes.5,"and  taken,  some  time  before, 
the  Portuguese  settlement  of  Nova  Colonia, 
in  which  they  found  a  very  great  booty,  and 
a  large  quantity  of  military  stores.  On  this 
view  of  things,  the  adventurers  consulted 
together,  and,  after  deliberation,  judged  it 


56 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


necessary  to  begin  with  the  recovery  of 
Nova  Colonia,  before  they  made  any  attack 
upon  Buenos  Ayres.  An  English  pilot,  who 
knew  the  place  and  river,  undertook  to  carry 
the  commodore's  vessel  into  the  harbor,  and 
Nvifhin  pistol-shot  of  the  enemy's  principal 
battery.  They  advanced  to  the  attack  with 
the  fullest  confidence  of  victory,  and  began 
a  fierce  fire,  which  was  quickly  returned,  and 
supported,  on  both  sides,  for  four  hours  with 
uncommon  resolution.  The  Spanish  batte- 
ries were  almost  silenced,  when,  just  as  their 
success  seemed  certain,  the  ship  by  some 
unknown  accident  took  fire.  The  same  mo- 
ment discovered  the  flames,  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  extinguishing  them.  The  scene 
- 'f  horror  and  confusion  that  followed  is  un- 
<iescribable.  The  commodore  was  drowned ; 
and  of  three  hundred  and  forty  souls,  only 
seventy-eight  in  all  escaped.  The  other 
vessels  of  the  squadron,  far  fi-om  being  able 
to  yield  any  assistance  to  the  sufferers,  were 
obliged  to  get  off  as  expeditiously  as  they 
rould,  lest  they  should  have  been  involved 
in  the  same  fate.  As  they  had  also  received 
«^ome  damage  in  the  action,  it  was  with  great 
difficulty  tliat  they  made  good  their  retreat 
to  the  Portuguese  settlement  at  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro. 

DISASTERS  SUSTAINED  BY  SPAIN  AND 
FRANCE. 

As  this  was  the  only  check  which  Great 
Britain  met  with  in  tlie  career  of  conquest, 
so  it  was  the  only  little  triumph  that  Spain 
enjoyed  after  a  continual  series  of  defeats 
and  disasters.  In  the  course  of  one  year, 
^!:e  saw  herself  stripped  of  the  most  valua- 
ble of  her  distant  possessions :  her  ships  of 
war,  her  merchant-men,  her  treasures,  had 
everywhere  become  the  prey  of  a  watchful, 
victive,  and  irresistible  enemy:  the  inter- 
course between  the  mother  country  and  her 
remaining  ■colonies  was  almost  totally  cut 
ou.  Such  were  the  fruits  of  her  treachery 
to  Great  Britain, — such  tlie  consequences  of 
iier  yielding  bo  the  artful  mid  self-interested 
suggestions  of  France. 

France  had  as  little  reason  to  exult  in  the 
success  of  her  intrigues  at  the  court  of  Mad- 
rid. The  Bourbon  confederacy  served  only 
to  involve  both  powers  in  the  same  distresses. 
The  attempts  in  Germany  and  Portugal, 
where  their  fondest  hopes  lay,  ended  in  the 
most  mortifying  disappointment.  The  loss 
of  Martinico  and  its  dependencies  was  a  se- 
vere blow  to  France.  So  far  from  being 
able  to  make  any  attempts  to  regain  those 
islands,  she  had  it  not  in  her  pwer  to  send 
out  a  sufficient  force  to  secure  the  only  set- 
tlements that  still  remained  to  her  from 
sharing  the  same  fate.  Her  navy  was  so 
much  reduced,  that  she  could  only  spare 
very  small  squadrons  for  any  undertaking ; 
and  she  was  frequently  obliged  to  trust  to 


smgle  frigates  and'  transports  for  the  con- 
veyance of  reinforcements  to  St.  Domingo 
and  Louisiana.  These  seldom  escaped  the 
vigilance  of  the  British  cruisers.  Her  mer- 
chant-ships were,  for  the  same  reason,  lefl 
equally  exposed.  A  detail  of  all  the  single 
captures  made  upon  her  trade  would  be  end- 
less. She  lost,  at  one  time,  a  fleet  of  twenty- 
five  sail,  richly  laden  with  sugar,  coffee,  and 
indigo,  which  had  taken  their  departure  from 
Cape  Francois  for  Europe,  under  convoy  of 
four  frigates.  Five  of  the  merchant-men 
were  surprised  and  taken  in  the  night  by 
some  privateers  of  New- York  and  Jamaica. 
Next  day  commodore  Keppel  fell  in  with 
the  remainder,  and  having  captured  them 
and  their  convoy,  sent  the  whole  into  Port- 
Royal  harbor. 

ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  A  BRITISH 
SQUADRON. 
If  France  was  thus  incapable  of  defend- 
ing herself  at  sea,  it  was  not  likely  that  her 
offensive  operations  on  the  same  element 
could  be  very  vigorous  or  formidable.  She 
made  some  attempts,  however,  which  proved 
ultimately  fruitless.  Two  of  them  de- 
serve notice.  The  object  of  the  first  was  to 
burn  the  British  ships  of  war  at  anchor  in 
Basque-road,  where  they  were  stationed  to 
watch  the  coast  of  Brittany,  and  Brest  har- 
bor in  particular.  The  enemy  prepared  three 
fire  vessels,  which,  being  chained  together, 
were  towed  out  of  the  port,  and  set  on  fire, 
with  a  strong  breeze  that  wafted  them  di- 
rectly towards  the  English  squadron.  Through 
hurry,  mistake,  or  accident,  two  of  them 
blew  up  with  a  terrible  explosion ;  and  every 
person  on  board  perished.  The  wind,  also, 
suddenly  shifting,  drove  them  clear  of  the 
ships  which  they  were  intended  to  destroy. 
Had  they  been  managed  with  the  coolness 
and  intrepidity  so  requisite  upon  such  occa- 
sions, they  might  have  done  some  execu- 
tion. 

NEWFOUNDLAND  TAKEN  BY  THE 
FRENCH,  BUT  RETAKEN. 

The  next  offensive  effort  of  any  moment, 
which  France  made  upon  the  ocean,  was 
directed  against  Newfoundland.  Monsieur 
de  Ternay,  with  a  squadron  of  four  men-of- 
war,  and  a  proportionable  number  of  land 
forces  under  the  command  of  Monsieur  de 
Hausonville,  having  at  first  eluded  observa- 
tion in  their  departure  from  Brest,  and  af- 
terwards baffled  pursuit  in  their  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic,  entered  the  Bay  of  Bulls  on 
the  24th  of  June,  and  landed  some  troops 
without  opposition.  Having  taken  posses- 
sion of  an  inconsiderable  settlement  in  that 
bay,  they  advanced  to  the  town  of  St  John's, 
whicli  being  in  no  condition  of  defence, 
readily  capitulated.  One  company  of  sol- 
diers, of  which  the  garrison  of  the  fort  con- 
sisted, were  made  prisoners  of  war.     This 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


57 


exercise  of  their  power  was  of  very  short 
duration.  As  soon  as  the  news  reached 
England,  a  force  was  immediately  fitted  out 
to  retake  those  places.  But  the  vigilance 
and  activity  of  general  Amherst,  who  had 
the  chief  command  in  North  America,  su- 
perseded the  necessity  of  this  armament 
He  detached  colonel  Amherst  with  a  body 
of  forces,  and  lord  Colville  with  a  small,  but 
sufficient  squadron,  to  recover  the  island. 
The  land  forces  attacked  some  detachments 
of  the  French  advantageously  posted  in  the 
neighborhood  of  St.  John's ;  and  prepared  to 
attack  St.  John's  itself  with  so  much  vigor 
and  activity,  that  Monsieur  de  Hausonville, 
who  had  remauied  there  as  governor,  thought 
proper  to  deliver  up  that  place  on  the  eigh- 
teenth of  September,  and  to  surrender  him- 
self and  garrison  prisoners  of  war,  before 
lord  Colville  could  arrive  from  the  place 
where  the  troops  had  been  landed,  to  co- 
operate with  them.  Monsieur  de  Ternay 
escaped  with  the  fleet,  partly  by  having  gain- 
ed a  considerable  distance,  by  means  of  a 
thick  fog ;  and  partly  because  lord  Colville, 
after  their  having  been  discovered,  did  not 
apprehend  that  they  really  were  the  ships  of 
tlie  enemy. 

OVERTURES  FOR  PEACE. 
Thus  did  all  the  operations,  both  naval 


and  military,  of  l]je  year  1762  remarkably 
concur  to  humble  the  pride,  and  to  dash  the 
hopes  of  the  Bourbon  confederacy.  France 
was  convinced  by  woful  experience,  that  the 
present  at  least  was  not  the  favorable  time 
for  drawing  from  the  family  compact  all  the 
advantages  with  which  she  had  vainly  flat- 
tered herself  Disconcerted  in  her  views 
of  giving  the  law  to  Great  Britain,  she  now 
felt  in  good  earnest  those  moderate  and  pa- 
cific sentiments,  which  she  had  formerly 
professed,  but  the  sincerity  of  which  was  at 
that  time  rather  questionable.  Spain,  in 
like  manner,  having  suffered  beyond  exam- 
ple, during  her  short  engagement  in  the 
contest,  and  laboring  under  the  most  dread- 
ful apprehensions  of  future  misfortunes, 
keenly  repented  of  the  steps  she  had  taken, 
and  wished  to  recede.  As  every  day  brought 
intelligence  to  both  of  some  mortifying 
stroke,  they  did  not  wait  for  the  issue  of  all 
the  enterprises  before  related,  but  endeavor- 
ed, in  the  beginning  of  September,  to  put  a 
stop  by  early  negotiation  to  calamities,  which 
they  foresaw  the  improbability  of  averting 
by  war.  Happily  for  them,  as  well  as  for 
the  general  tranquillity,  they  found  the  court 
of  I^ndon  favorably  disposed  to  listen  to  their 
peaceful  overtures. 


58 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Causes  and  Effects  of  the  sincere  Dispositions  of  all  Parties  towards  Peace — Motives 
of  national  Policy  for  encouraging  Pacific  Proposals —  Want  of  Perfect  Harmony 
in  the  Cabinet — Changes  in  Administration — Dukes  of  Bedford  and  Nivernois  em- 
ployed in  the  Negotiation — Difference  between  this  and  the  Treaty  in  1761 — Con- 
duct of  the  Courts  with  Respect  to  their  German  Allies — Change  in  the  Behavior 
of  the  British  Ministry  towards  the  King  of  Prussia  justified — France  guided  by  the 
same  Alteration  of  Circumstances ;  and  the  Peace  of  Germany  restored — The  Ar- 
ticle relating  to  Portugal  very  easily  settled — Circumstance  which  facilitated  the 
Adjustment  of  Great  Britain's  direct  Concerns — Extent  of  her  Acquisitions  in  North 
America  by  this  Treaty — Terms  amiexed  to  the  Surrender  of  St.  Pierre  and  Mi- 
quelon — Spain^s  Renunciation  of  her  Pretensions  to  the  Fishery — Arrangement 
respecting  the  French  West  India  Islands — The  Havannah  restored,  on  very  mode- 
rate Terms — Cession  and  Exchange  of  the  other  Conquests  in  Africa,  the  East  In- 
dies, and  Europe — Sacrifice  made  by  France  to  the  Honor  of  Great  Britain,  in  sup- 
pressing the  old  Claim  on  Account  of  Prizes  before  the  Declaration  of  War — Pre- 
liminaries signed  by  the  British  and  French  Ministers  at  Fontainbleau — Disputes 
concerning  the  Articles  of  the  Peace — Coalition  between  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's 
and  Mr.  Pitt's  Adherents — Meeting  of  Parliament — Conflict  in  the  Hou.se  of  Com- 
mons— The  Security  of  our  Colonies — Majority  in  Favor  of  the  Address — Arrival 
of  three  Cherokee  Chiefs  in  England. 


SITUATION  OF  THE  BELLIGERENTS. 

The  delays  that  frequently  took  place  in 
the  course  of  the  former  negotiation,  and 
the  pretexts  finally  made  use  of  to  break  it 
offj  form  a  striking  contrast  when  opposed 
to  the  dispatch  with  which  concerns  of  still 
greater  importance  were  afterwards  adjust- 
ed, as  soon  as  the  intentions  of  all  parties 
towards  peace  became  cordial  and  sincere. 
France  and  Spain  had,  indeed,  no  other  re- 
source ;  and  Great  Britain  herself  was  not 
so  intoxicated  with  success,  as  to  prefer  the 
continuance  of  expensive  and  hazardous 
efforts  to  a  satisfactory  termination  of  hos- 
tilities. The  sentiments  of  the  sovereign, 
the  temper  of  the  people  at  the  time,  the 
state  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  parties,  and 
many  other  motives  of  humanity,  policy,  and 
patriotism,  concurred  to  render  the  ministry 
very  earnest  in  their  advances  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  so  desirable  an  object. 

In  all  the  king's  speeches  to  parliament, 
lie  had  constantly  expressed  an  anxious  wish 
to  see  the  tranquillity  of  his  kingdoms  re- 
stored; and  had  declared,  as  before  taken 
notice  of,  that  the  only  use  he  proposed  to 
make  of  the  advantages  gained  over  the 
enemy  in  war,  was  to  procure  for  his  sub- 
jects the  blessings  of  peace,  on  safe  and 
honorable  conditions.  The  happy  moment 
was  now  arrived,  when  the  offers  made  by 
the  humbled  house  of  Bourbon  enabled  his 
majesty  to  demonstrate  to  the  world,  that 
those  were  not  studied  or  delusive  profes- 
sions, but  that  he  had  really  spoken  the  lan- 
guage of  his  heart. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  country, 


in  the  midst  of  all  her  successes,  had  the 
most  urgent  occasion  for  peace.  Though  her 
trade  had  been  greatly  augmented,  a  circum- 
stance without  example  favorable;  and 
though  many  of  her  conquests  were  not  less 
valuable  than  glorious ;  yet  her  supplies  of 
money,  great  as  they  were,  did  not  keep 
pace  with  her  expenses.  The  supply  of 
men  too,  which  was  necessary  to  furnish 
the  waste  of  so  extensive  a  war,  became 
sensibly  diminished;  and  the  troops  were 
not  recruited  but  with  some  difficulty,  and 
at  a  heavy  charge.  Besides,  every  end  tliat 
could  be  rationally  proposed  in  carrying  on 
the  war,  was  answered :  the  designs  of  the 
enemy  were  frustrated  in  all  parts  of  the 
globe :  their  daring  encroachments  had  been 
!  repressed,  and  such  conquests  made  upon 
I  them,  as  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  insist 
upon  any  terms  but  those  which  might  be 
dictated  by  the  moderation  and  generosity 
of  Great  Britain.  These  strong  motives  of 
public  polity,  for  encouraging  pacific  pro- 
posals, were  farther  enforced  by  other  con- 
siderations. A  change  in  the  system  of  the 
British  ministry  had  begun  this  war:  an- 
other change  made  it  expedient  to  put  an 
end  to  it. 

It  has  been  already  observed,  that  the 
whole  council,  except  lord  Temple,  were 
unanimous  in  their  opposition  to  Pitt's 
scheme  for  precipitating  the  rupture  with 
Spain.  But  their  unanimity  upon  that  oc- 
casion did  not  imply  a  perfect  coincidence 
of  opinion,  or  harmony  of  sentiment  in  other 
respects.  He  was  not  long  removed  from 
office,  before  it'  appeared  that  the  remaining 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


59 


part  of  the  system  was  framed  upon  princi- 
ples so  very  discordant,  that  it  was  by  no 
means  liJiely  to  stand.  The  liberal  ideas  of 
the  new  king's  friends,  and  the  exclusive 
spirit  of  the  old  king's  ministers,  when 
brought  up  as  it  were  into  immediate  colli- 
sion, kindled  a  flame,  the  violence  of  which 
was  not  to  be  easily  to  be  subdued  by  any 
efforts  of  human  sagacity. 

Pitt  had  originally  associated  himself 
with  the  tory  patriots,  and  first  acquired 
distinction  by  opposing  the  corrupt  mea- 
sures of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  the  declared 
head  of  the  whigs.  After  the  latter  was 
driven  from  the  seat  of  power,  Pitt  occa- 
sionally temporized,  being  sometimes  reput- 
ed a  whig,  sometimes  a  tory,  till  he  got  the 
chief  direction  of  public  affairs,  when  he 
indiscriminately  employed  persons  of  all 
parties,  with  equal  honor  to  himself  and  ad- 
vantage to  the  state.  Struck  with  such  an 
example,  that  justified  in  practice  the  wis- 
dom, as  well  as  the  liberality  of  the  king's 
views,  his  majesty  would  have  gladly  avail- 
ed himself  of  Pitt's  assistance  to  complete 
so  noble  a  design ;  to  do  away  all  local  and 
party  distinctions;  and  to  establish  a  plan 
of  administration,  which  would  afford  the 
most  impartial  encouragement  to  every  man 
of  virtue  and  abilities  throughout  the  whole 
empire. 

But  his  majesty's  hopes  of  Pitt's  concur- 
rence were  unhappily  disappointed.  This 
minister  was,  indeed,  of  no  party;  but  it 
was  rather  owing  to  a  defect,  than  to  any 
excellence  in  his  character.  An  imperious 
and  unaccommodating  disposition  rendered 
him  incapable  of  acting  any  otherwise  than 
alone.  Placing  too  great  a  confidence  in  the 
superiority  of  his  own  genius,  he  treated  the 
opinions  of  others  with  too  little  delicacy. 
The  want  of  more  conciliating  manners  was 
a  bar  to  any  permanent  union  between  him 
and  his  colleagues  in  office.  Thus  the  state 
was  prevented  from  enjoying  the  joint  fruit 
of  the  wisdom  of  many  able  men,  who 
might  mutually  have  tempered,  and  mutually 
forwarded  each  other:  and  Pitt's  extraor- 
dinary talents  became  not  merely  useless, 
but,  upon  some  occasions,  injurious  to  his 
country. 

Soon  after  the  resignation  of  Pitt,  the  duke 
of  Newcastle,  first  commissioner  of  the  trea- 
sury, grew  extremely  jealous  of  the  earl  of 
Bute's  influence  in  the  cabinet.  This  noble- 
man enjoyed  a  very  distinguished  share  of 
his  sovereign's  esteem  and  confidence.  His 
conduct  was  irreproachable ;  but  he  was  said 
to  be  a  tory.  On  this  ground,  therefore,  the 
duke,  who  had  long  been  considered  as  the 
head  of  the  whigs,  hoped  he  could  ruin  the 
credit  of  his  rival,  by  reviving  those  factious 
distinctions,  on  which  his  own  merit  princi- 
pally rested.     A  loud  clamor  was  therefore 


raised  by  the  duke's  hirelings  against  the 
tory  favorite.  But  their  malignant  efforts 
served  only  to  rivet  the  king's  attachment  to 
the  object  of  their  unmerited  obliquity;  and 
the  duke  found  his  own  weight  in  adminis- 
tration daily  decline.  He  accordingly  thought 
himself  obliged  to  resign  in  the  latter  end 
of  May ;  and  the  earl  of  Bute  was  immedi- 
ately placed  at  the  head  of  the  treasury. 
Mr.  George  Grenville,  brother  to  earl  Tem- 
ple, became  secretary  of  state  in  the  room  of 
his  lordship;  and  the  place  of  first  commis- 
sioner of  the  admiralty  being  vacated  by  the 
death  of  lord  Anson,  that  office  was  bestow- 
ed on  the  earl  of  Halifax,  now  returned 
from  Ireland. 

CHANGES  IN  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  two  last  appointments  were  well  cal- 
culated to  lessen  the  unpopularity  of  the  earl 
of  Bute's  promotion.  Grenville's  character 
for  integrity  and  patriotism  stood  as  high  in 
public  estimation  as  that  of  his  brother,  lord 
Temple ;  and,  in  point  of  application  and 
abilities,  he  was  certainly  his  superior.  Any 
unfavorable  impression,  therefore,  whicl) 
might  be  made  by  the  resignation  of  the  one, 
ought  naturally  to  have  been  effaced  or  coun- 
teracted by  the  other's  acceptance  of  an  of- 
fice under  the  new  minister.  The  earl  of 
Halifax  had  acquitted  himself  in  a  variety 
of  public  employments  with  great  applause. 
Such  were  the  men,  whom  the  earl  of  Bute 
was  desirous  of  having  associated  with  him 
in  office  ;  and  it  is  not,  perhaps,  the  least  of 
his  praise,  that  all  the  vacancies  which  hap- 
pened in  the  higher  departments  of  the  state, 
during  his  administration,  were  uniformly 
filled  by  men  of  reputation  and  abilities. 

The  earl  of  Bute  also  thought  it  sound 
policy,  in  conformity  with  the  system  of  libe- 
ral comprehension  already  explained,  to  at- 
tempt a  coalition  with  the  great  body  of  the 
tories,  or  country  gentlemen  of  ancient  femi- 
lies,  who  were  able  to  yield  him  effectual 
support.  They  readily  came  into  his  mea- 
sures ;  and  as  they  had  long  been  excluded 
from  any  share  in  the  management  of  tlie 
state,  they  were  now  doubly  zealous  to  show 
themselves  worthy  of  the  confidence  of  their 
king  and  country.  Their  eflTorts,  however, 
were  as  vigorously  opposed  by  the  discon- 
tented party. 

Whilst  the  nation  was  thus  distracted  by 
violent  cabals,  the  conduct  of  a  war  became 
difficult ;  its  continuance  unsafe ;  and  its 
supplies  uncertain.  If  the  administration 
failed,  their  failure  would  be  imputed  to  in- 
capacity :  if  they  succeeded,  their  success 
would  be  converted  into  an  argument  for 
such  terms  of  peace,  as  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  procure.  Above  all,  the  an- 
cient and  known  connexion  between  the 
chiefs  of  the  moneyed  interest  and  the  prin- 
cipal persons  in  the  opposition,  must  have 


80 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


been  a  subject  of  great  anxiety  to  the  minis- 
try. These  motives  co-operated  to  render 
them  most  heartily  inclined  to  peace. 

The  Bourbon  courts  and  that  of  England 
thus  concurring  in  the  same  point,  all  diffi- 
culties were  speedily  smoothed.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  fifth  of  September,  the  duke 
of  Bedford  set  off  for  Paris,  with  the  charac- 
ter of  ambassador  and  plenipotentiary  from 
the  court  of  England,  to  negotiate  a  peace ; 
and  on  the  twelfth  of  the  same  month,  the 
duke  of  Nivernois  arrived  in  London,  with 
the  like  commission  from  the  French  court. 

NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE. 

Very  little  time  was  spent  in  adjusting 
the  outlines  of  the  treaty,  or  explaining  the 
principles  on  which  it  was  to  proceed.  The 
negotiators  seemed,  in  some  measures,  to  as- 
sume as  a  basis  those  points  which  were 
nearest  to  a  settlement  in  the  treaty  of  1761 ; 
and  to  commence  where  that  transaction 
concluded.  The  spirit  of  the  two  negotia- 
tions, so  far  as  regarded  the  peculiar  interest 
of  Great  Britain,  was  almost  perfectly  simi- 
lar. There  was  scarcely  any  other  differ- 
ence than  that  Great  Britain,  in  consequence 
of  her  successes  since  that  time,  acquired 
more  than  she  then  demanded.  With  regard, 
indeed,  to  some  of  her  allies,  the  principle 
of  the  two  treaties  was  greatly  varied  ;  but 
this  change  was  sufficiently  justified  by  the 
alteration  which  happened  in  the  affairs  of 
Germany,  during  the  interval  between  both. 
Those,  who  conducted  the  negotiation  in 
1761,  were  steady  in  rejecting  every  propo- 
sition, in  which  they  were  not  left  at  liberty 
to  aid  the  king  of  Prussia  with  the  whole 
force  of  Great  Britain  :  those,  who  concluded 
the  peace  in  1762,  paid  less  attention  to  the 
ambitious  or  interested  views  of  that  mon- 
arch, though  they  did  not  neglect  his  safety. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  before 
they  had  entered  into  this  negotiation,  they 
refused  to  renew  that  article  of  the  annual 
treaty,  by  which  his  Britannic  majesty  would 
have  been  engaged  to  conclude  no  peace 
without  the  king  of  Prussia ;  though,  at  the 
same  time,  they  declared  themselves  willing 
to  assist  him  with  the  usual  subsidy.  He, 
on  his  part,  refused  the  subsidy  unconnected 
with  that  article ;  and  a  coolness  was  sup- 
posed to  take  place  between  both  courts  for 
some  tune  after. 

The  adjustment  of  affairs  in  the  empire 
did  not  form  any  material  obstruction  to  the 
progress  of  the  treaty.  Both  parties  readily 
agreed  to  withdraw  themselves  totally  from 
the  German  war.  They  thought,  and  right- 
ly, that  nothing  could  tend  so  much  to  give 
peace  to  their  respective  allies,  as  mutually 
to  withdraw  their  assistance  from  them ;  and 
to  stop  that  current  of  English  and  French 
money,  which,  as  long  as  it  ran  into  Germa- 


ny, would  be  sure  to  feed  a  perpetual  war  in 
that  country. 

When  the  former  negotiation  was  on  foot, 
the  affairs  of  the  king  of  Prussia  were  at  the 
lowest  ebb :  he  was  ovei*powered  by  the 
whole  weight  of  Austria,  of  Sweden,  of  the 
empire,  and  of  Russia,  as  determined  as  ever 
in  her  enmity,  and  then  successful ;  to  say 
nothing  of  France.  It  would  have  been  un- 
generous, on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  to 
have  deserted  him  in  that  situation.  But,  at 
the  tune  of  makmg  the  last  treaty,  the  con- 
dition of  his  affairs  was  absolutely  reversed. 
He  had  got  rid  of  the  most  powerful,  and 
one  of  the  most  implacable  of  his  enemies. 
He  had  also  concluded  a  peace  with  Sweden. 
The  treaty  itself  freed  him  from  all  appre- 
hensions of  France.  He  had,  then,  none  to 
contend  with,  but  a  nominal  army  of  the 
empire,  and  one  of  Austria,  which,  though 
something  more  than  nominal,  was  wholly 
unable  to  oppose  his  progress.  His  situation, 
from  being  pitiable,  was  become  formidable. 
It  was,  perhaps,  good  policy  to  prevent  the 
balance  of  Germany  from  being  overturned 
to  his  prejudice:  it  would  have  been  the 
worst  in  the  world  to  overturn  it  in  his  favor. , 
These  principles  sufficiently  explain  and  jus- 
tify the  British  ministy  for  so  remarkable  a 
change  in  their  behavior  towards  the  king 
of  Prussia. 

The  conduct  of  France  on  both  those  oc- 
casions may  be  accounted  for,  nearly  in  the 
same  manner.  She  had  very  justly  excepted 
to  the  demand  of  the  evacuation  of  Wesel, 
Cleves,  and  Gueldres,  when  made  by  Pitt  in 
the  first  negotiation ;  because  he  refused  to 
put  an  end  to  the  German  war.  In  this  last 
treaty,  the  French  assented,  without  hesita- 
tion or  difficulty,  to  the  very  same  demand ; 
because  we  agreed,  in  common  with  them, 
to  be  neutral  in  the  disputes  of  the  empire  ; 
the  other  contendmg  powers,  being  left  to 
themselves,  soon  terminated  their  differences. 

As  the  Bourbon  confederacy  had  no  pre- 
text for  the  quarrel  with  Portugal,  but  the 
advantages  which  Great  Britain  derived 
from  her  friendly  intercourse  with  that  coun- 
try during  the  war,  the  article  relating  to  his 
most  faithfiil  majesty  did  not  admit  of  the 
least  altercation.  Any  of  his  territories  or 
possessions  in  Europe,  or  in  any  other  part 
of  the  globe,  which  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  French  and  Spaniards,  were  to  be 
evacuated  by  their  troops,  and  restored  in  the 
same  condition  they  were  in  when  conquered. 

After  the  concerns  of  the  allies  were  pro 
vided  for,  the  most  important  part  of  the 
treaty  stUl  remained,  which  was  to  adjust 
everything  that  related  to  the  settlements 
and  commerce  of  Great  Britam  and  of  the 
Bourbon  courts.  The  circumstance,  which 
so  much  impeded  this  adjustment  in  the  pre- 
1  ceding  negotiation,  was  the  intervention  of 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


61 


t-he  claims  of  Spain.  The  attempt  of  the 
15()iirbon  powers  to  intermix  and  confound 
thoir  aflairs  at  that  juncture,  had  a  share  in 
makini?  the  war  more  general :  on  this  occa- 
sion it  had  a  contrary  effect.  As  the  whole 
was  now  ne|[^otiated  together,  it  facilitated 
tlie  peace,  by  affording  easier  methods  of 
ro<rnlating  the  system  of  compensation,  and 
furnishing  more  largely  to  the  general  fund 
of  equivalents. 

The  great  object,  and  the  original  cause 
of  the  war,  had  been,  the  establishment  of 
precise  boundaries  in  America.  This  was 
therefore  the  very  first  point  to  be  now  at- 
tended to ;  and  it  must  be  observed,  that  it 
was  settled  much  more  accurately,  than  it 
promised  to  be  in  the  negotiation  of  the 
foregoing  year.  For  the  French,  not  hav- 
ing ascertained  the  limits  between  their 
own  possessions,  w^ith  greater  exactness 
than  they  had  those  which  separated  them 
from  the  British  possessions,  it  was  not  clear, 
in  ceding  Canada,  how  much  they  really 
gave  up.  Disputes  might  have  arisen,  and, 
in  fact,  did  immediately  arise  upon  this  sub- 
ject. Besides,  the  western  limits  of  the 
southern  British  colonies  were  not  mention- 
ed ;  and  those  limits  were  extremely  ob- 
scure, and  subject  to  many  discussions, 
Such  discussions  contained  in  them  the 
seeds  of  a  new  war.  In  the  present  treaty, 
it  was  agreed,  that  a  line  drawn  along  the 
middle  of  the  river  Mississippi,  from  its 
f^ource  to  the  river  Iberville,  and  thence 
along  the  middle  of  this  river,  and  the  lakes 
of  Maurepas  and  Pontchartrain,  to  the  sea, 
should  irrevocably  fix  the  bounds  of  the  two 
nations  in  North  America,  This  line  includ 
ed  a  very  large  tract  of  country,  which  for- 
merly made  a  part  of  Louisiana,  in  addition 
to  what  was  properly  called  Canada;  and 
these  newly  acquired  territories  of  Great 
Britain,  were  farther  enlarged  and  com 
pletely  rounded  by  the  cession  of  Florida, 
on  the  part  of  Spain.  As  the  northern 
boundaries  had  been  long  since  settled  by 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  all  occasions  of  lim- 
itary disputes  seemed  to  be  effectually  cut 
off;  and  the  British  possessions  in  America 
were  as  well  defined,  as  the  nature  of  such 
a  country  could  possibly  admit. 

The  Newfoundland  fishery  was  a  subject 
of  much  controversy.  In  a  commercial  view 
it  is  C3rtainly  of  great  estimation :  but  it 
has  been  considered  as  even  more  material 
in  a  political  light.  It  is  a  grand  nursery  of 
seamen,  and  consequently  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal resources  of  the  marine.  Scarcely  any 
obiect  could  be  of  more  importance  to  two 
nations,  who  contended  for  a  superiority  of 
naval  power.  The  English  ministry  de 
spaired  of  excluding  the  French  entirely 
fi'om  the  fishery,  and  endeavored  as  much 
as  possible  to  diminish  its  value  to  them. 

VoL.rv.  6 


In  this  respect  they  followed  the  plan  of  the 
former  negotiation,  except  that  some  im- 
provements were  added. 

In  the  first  place,  that  article  of  the  trea^ 
ty  of  Utrecht  was  established,  by  which  the 
French  were  admitted  to  fish,  and  to  dry 
their  fish  on  the  north-east  and  north-west 
parts  of  Newfoundland,  from  Cape  Bona- 
vista  to  Point  Biche ;  and  were  excluded 
from  the  rest  of  the  island.  They  were  also 
permitted  to  fish  within  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Laurence ;  but  with  this  limitation, — that 
they  should  not  approach  within  three 
leagues  of  any.  of  the  coasts  belonging  to 
England. 

The  second  restriction  imposed  on  the 
French  fishery  was,  that  it  should  not  be  ex- 
ercised but  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  leagues 
from  the  coasts  of  the  island  of  Cape  Bre- 
ton, which  was  ceded  to  England.  In  re- 
turn for  this,  the  French  obtained  the  full 
right  of  the  small  islands  of  St  Pierre  and 
Miquelon,  his  most  Christian  majesty  en- 
gaging not  to  erect  any  fortifications  on 
these  islands,  nor  to  keep  more  than  fifty 
soldiers  there  to  enforce  the  police.  In  this 
article  the  plan  of  the  former  negotiation 
was  pursued. 

With  regard  to  the  pretensions  of  Spain, 
she  entirely  desisted  from  the  right  she 
claimed  of  fishing  on  these  coasts.  A  more 
satisfiictory,  or  more  unequivocal  expression 
should,  and  undoubtedly  would  have  been 
insisted  upon,  if  it  had  been  of  any  great 
consequence,  in  what  terms  a  right  was  re- 
nounced, which  for  a  long  time  had  never 
been  exercised.  The  claim  itself  was  al- 
most as  obsolete  as  that  of  the  king  of  Eng- 
land to  the  dominions  of  France.  The  Brit- 
ish ministry  laid  very  little  stress  on  such  a 
trifle  ;  but  they  suffered  it  to  be  thrown,  as 
a  sort  of  make-weight,  into  the  scale  of 
Spanish  sacrifices. 

When  the  affairs  of  the  West  Indies  came 
to  be  settled,  though  they  caused  great  dif- 
ference of  opinion  among  the  public,  they 
did  not  seem  to  raise  any  considerable  diffi- 
culty in  the  negotiation.  There  England 
had  made  great  conquests,  and  there  also 
she  had  made  great  concessions.  She  re- 
stored to  France  the  islands  of  Martinico, 
Guadaloupe,  and  Marigalante,  besides  an 
assignment,  or  surrender,  of  the  neutral  isl- 
and of  St  liucia.  Of  her  late  acquisitions 
she  only  retained  Dominica,  Tobago,  St 
Vincent's,  and  the  Grenades.  To  the  three 
former  she  had  an  old  claim,  which  was  now 
confirmed  :  the  latter  were  ceded  and  guM- 
antied  to  her  in  fiill  right 

As  the  intelligence  of  the  success  of  the 
British  arms  at  the  Havannah  had  arrived 
before  the  settlement  of  this  part  of  the  trea- 
ty relative  to  the  West  Indies,  it  was  in  or- 
der to  obtain  the  restoration  of  that  valuable 


62 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


conquest,  that  Spain  agreed  to  some  articles 
before  enumerated,  namely,  the  evacuation 
of  all  conquests  made  upon  Portugal,  or  her 
foreign  colonies  ;  the  cession  of  Florida, 
with  the  forts  of  St.  Augustine  and  Pensa- 
cola ;  the  renunciation  of  the  right  to  the 
Newfoundland  fishery;  and,  in  addition  to 
these,  Spain  also  consented  not  to  disturb 
the  English  in  their  occupation  of  cutting 
logwood  in  the  bay  of  Honduras,  and  to  per- 
mit them  to  build  houses  there  for  the  con- 
veniency  of  their  trade.  It  was  stipulated, 
however,  in  this  last  grant,  that  they  should 
demolish  their  fortifications  on  that  coast,  as 
a  tacit  acknowledgment,  that  the  privilege 
they  were  now  suffered  to  enjoy  was  not 
founded  upon  right,  but  derived  from  favor. 

In  Africa,  Goree  was  restored  to  France, 
and  Senegal  remained  to  Great  Britain.  In 
the  East  Indies,  all  the  factories  and  settle- 
ments taken  from  the  French  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  were  given  up  to  them, 
on  condition  of  their  engaging  in  the  first 
place,  not  to  erect  any  forts,  nor  to  keep  any 
number  of  soldiers  whatsoever  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Bengal ;  and  secondly,  to  acknow- 
ledge the  reigning  subas  of  Bengal,  Decan, 
and  the  Carnatic,  as  the  lawful  sovereigns 
of  these  countries.  In  Europe,  Minorca  and 
Belleisle  were  to  be  restored  to  their  former 
possessors ;  and  the  fortifications  and  harbor 
of  Dunkirk  were  to  be  demolished,  agreea- 
bly to  the  stipulations  of  former  treaties. 

There  was  one  article  totally  omitted  in 
the  present  treaty,  though  it  had  been  the 
subject  of  the  most  warm  and  obstinate  con- 
troversy in  the  former  negotiation.  This 
was,  the  restitution  of  the  prizes  made  by 
England  previous  to  the  declaration  of  war. 
On  this  point,  the  ministers  of  the  two  courts 
appeared  at  that  time  equally  positive,  the 
one  to  demand,  the  other  to  refuse,  such  a 
restitution.  It  was,  indeed,  impossible,  for 
the  former  to  relinquish,  or  for  the  latter  to 
admit  the  claim,  without  bringing  some  re- 
proach on  their  respective  governments. 
France  could  not  now  make  a  greater  sacri- 
fice to  the  honor  of  Great  Britain,  in  the 
eyes  of  all  Europe,  than  by  passing  over 
that  matter  in  total  silence. 

But  if  the  honor  of  the  British  crown  was 
consulted  with  so  much  delicacy  in  this  very 
disputable  affair,  the  fears  of  the  Bourbon 
courts  were  not  less  effectually  removed  by 
another  article,  which  stipulated,  that  the 
conquests  not  included  in  the  treaty,  either 
as  cessions,  or  restitutions,  should  be  given 
up  without  compensation.  France  and  Spain 
knew  themselves  exposed  in  almost  every 
quarter:  they  had  no  armament  on  foot, 
from  which  they  could  expect  any  consider- 
able advantages :  whereas  the  British  min- 
istry had  great  reason  to  hope,  that  the  im- 
portant expedition  against  tlie  Philippines 


could  not  fail  of  success.  The  reduction  of 
Manilla  had  actually  taken  place ;  but  the 
news,  though  conveyed  with  extraordinary 
dispatch,  did  not  reach  England  till  the 
April  following. 

PRELIMINARIES  OF  PEACE  SIGNED. 

Such  were  the  chief  articles  of  a  treaty 
which  put  an  end  to  the  most  sanguinary 
and  expensive  war  in  which  Great  Britain 
had  ever  been  engaged.  But,  to  her  honor, 
it  must  be  added,  that  her  efforts  had  not,  in 
any  contest,  been  ever  crowned  with  great- 
er glory  and  success.  The  preliminaries 
were  signed  by  the  British  and  French  min- 
isters, at  Fontainbleau,  the  third  of  Novem- 
ber; and  the  twenty-fourth  of  the  same 
month,  the  duke  of  Nivernois,  who  had  been 
employed  in  the  negotiation  at  the  court  of 
London,  as  ambassador  extraordinary  and 
plenipotentiary  from  the  most  Christian  king, 
made  a  speech  to  his  Britannic  majesty  on 
the  occasion. 

But  however  highly  the  French  ambassa- 
dor might  estimate  the  blessings  of  peace, 
the  people  of  England  were  very  much  di- 
vided in  their  sentiments  respecting  the 
merits  of  the  treaty.  This  clash  of  contend- 
ing interests  and  opinions  excited  through- 
out the  kingdom  the  most  violent  heats, 
which  were  blown  into  a  combustion  by 
every  art,  and  every  instrument  of  party, 
that  had  ever  proved  effectual  upon  similar 
occasions. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CABINET. 

In  the  course  of  these  political  conflicts, 
and  particularly  after  the  signing  of  the  pre- 
liminaries had  been  formally  announced  to 
the  public,  some  efforts  were  used  to  bring 
about  a  coalition  between  the  duke  of  New- 
castle and  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  hitherto  kept 
aloof  from  each  other,  at  the  head  of  their 
respective  adherents.  They  were  not  so  ir- 
reconcilable, so  completely  hostile  to  one 
another,  as  each  of  them  was  to  the  earl  of 
Bute.  Common  enmity  therefore  united  the 
two  parties ;  and  they  joined  their  endeavors 
to  persuade  the  people,  that  the  parliament 
would  never  ratify,  or,  at  least,  pass  over 
without  heavy  censure,  the  conditions  of  a 
peace  so  inadequate  to  the  successes  of  the 
war,  so  far  below  the  just  expectations  of 
the  nation. 

The  ministry,  thus  threatened  by  a  formi- 
dable opposition,  did  not  fail  to  take  the  most 
effectual  steps  for  securing  the  approbation 
of  the  legislature.  Mr.  Fox  was  eminently 
useful  to  them  on  this  occa-sion.  Though  he 
continued  in  his  old  place  of  pay-master,  he 
undertook  to  conduct  the  aflairs  of  govern- 
ment in  the  house  of  commons,  for  which  no 
man  could  be  better  qualified.  George  Gren- 
ville,  whose  employment  would  naturally 
have  engaged  him  in  that  t^sk,  resigned  the 
sea]?  of  i^xiretary  of  state,  and  was  appoint- 


GECJRGE  III.   1760—1820. 


6S 


ed  first  lord  of  the  admiralty.  The  earl  of 
Halifax  had  vacated  his  seat  at  the  head  of 
this  board,  in  order  to  accept  of  Grenville's 
place,  as  joint  secretary  with  the  earl  of 
Element.  This  exchange,  as  it  may  be 
called,  was  made  in  order  to  give  full  scope 
to  Mr.  Fox's  talents,  with  which  the  useful 
parliamentary  duties  of  a  secretary  of  state, 
if  a  commoner,  might  in  some  degree  inter- 
fere. Other  arrangements  were  also  made, 
and  almost  the  whole  landed  interest  was 
found  to  be  well  affected  to  the  measures  of 
administration. 

PARLIAMENT  MEETS,  DISCUSSIONS  ON 
THE  PEACE. 

While  the  most  vigorous  preparations 
were  thus  making  by  both  parties  for  a  trial 
of  strength,  the  parliament  met  on  the  twen- 
ty-fifth of  November ;  and  the  session  was 
opened  by  a  speech  from  his  majesty. 

In  answer  to  this  speech,  each  house  pre- 
pared an  address,  containing  general  com- 
pliments of  congratulation  on  the  approach 
of  peace,  and  on  the  birth  of  the  prince  of 
Wales. 

That  part  of  the  public,  which  had  been 
flattered  with  the  hope  that  the  peace  would 
be  severely  censured  by  parliament,  was  to- 
tally disappointed,  when  the  preliminary  ar- 
ticles came  to  be  taken  into  consideration  by 
both  houses.  The  opposition  in  the  lords 
was  feeble,  and  the  house  did  not  divide,  but 
approved  of  the  preliminaries,  without  any 
qualification  or  reserve. 

The  triumph  of  the  minister  in  the  com- 
mons was  not  so  easily  obtained.  The  clian- 
cellor  of  the  exchequer  had  laid  a  copy  of 
the  preliminary  articles  before  the  house  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  and  on  the 
ninth  of  December  they  were  taken  into 
consideration,  and  the  house  was  moved  to 
concur  in  an  address  to  his  majesty  expres- 
sive of  their  approbation  of  such  advantageous 
terms.  This  motion  was  made  by  Fox,  who 
took  the  lead  in  support  of  the  peace,  and 
was  strongly  resisted  by  Pitt,  at  the  head  of 
the  few  who  disapproved  of  the  conditions. 

The  first  article  which  the  censurers  of 
the  peace  attacked  was  the  Tegulation  of  the 
cod  fishery.  They  compared  it  with  what 
had  been  proposed  in  the  former  treaty.  "At 
a  time,"  they  said,  "  when  Great  Britain  had 
not  half  so  much  right  as  at  present  to  pre- 
scribe terms  to  her  enemies,  she  only  con- 
sented to  give  up  one  small  island,  that  of 
St.  Pierre,  as  a  shelter  to  the  French  fishing- 
boats,  and  with  indispensable  restrictions. 
If  these  were  deemed  expedient  in  the  ces- 
sion of  one  island,  they  were  doubly  neces- 
sary in  the  cession  of  two.  But  nothing 
could  justify  the  absolute,  unconditional  sur- 
render of  St.  Pierre  and  of  Miquelon,  which 
would  enable  France  to  recover  her  marine, 
and  by  degrees  to  acquire  the  best  part  of  a 


fishery,  from  which  she  ought,"  as  they  al- 
leged, "  to  haye  been  entirely  excluded." 

In  reply  to  this,  it  was  asserted,  "  that 
France  would  never  have  agreed  to  a  total 
dereliction  of  the  fishery :  that  the  cession, 
on  her  part,  of  the  isles  of  Cape  Breton,  and 
St.  John  to  England,  was  more  than  an  equiv- 
alent to  the  sheltering  places  of  St  Pierre 
and  Miquelon,  which  she  was  not  allowed  to 
fortify,  nor  to  keep  any  troops  in,  except 
such  a  small  number  as  were  barely  neces- 
sary to  enforce  the  police." 

But  the  restitution  of  the  conquests,  par- 
ticularly of  those  which  had  been  made  in 
the  West  Indies,  was  the  object  of  the  se- 
verest and  most  vehement  censure.  "  The 
authors  of  such  an  infamous  and  improvident 
treaty,"  said  the  opponents  of  administration, 
"  seem  to  have  lost  sight  of  that  great  fun- 
damental principle,  That  France  is  chiefly, 
if  not  solely  to  be  dreaded  by  us  in  the  light 
of  a  maritime  and  commercial  power.  By 
the  impolitic  concessions  made  to  her  in  the 
fishery,  and  by  restoring  all  her  valuable 
West  India  islands,  we  have  put  into  her 
hands  the  means  of  repairing  her  prodigious 
losses,  and  of  becoming  once  more  formida- 
ble at.  sea.  The  fishery  trained  up  an  innu- 
merable multitude  of  young  seamen;  and 
the  West  India  trade  employed  them  when 
they  were  trained.  France,"  they  observed, 
"  had  long  since  gained  a  decided  superiori- 
ty over  us  in  this  lucrative  branch  of  com- 
merce, and  supplied  almost  all  Europe  with 
the  rich  commodities,  which  are  produced 
only  in  that  part  of  the  world.  By  this  com- 
merce she  enriched  her  merchants,  and  aug- 
mented her  finances;  whilst,  from  a  want 
of  sugar-land,  which  has  been  long  known 
and  severely  felt  by  England,,  we  at  once 
lost  the  foreign  trade,  and  suffered  all  the 
inconveniencies  of  a  monopoly  at  home." 

They  looked  upon  the  concessions  made 
to  Spain,  in  the  same  part  of  the  world,  as 
equally  unjustifiable.  "  Florida,"  they  main- 
tained, was  no  compensation  for  the  Havan- 
nah.  The  Havannah  was  an  important  con- 
quest. From  the  moment  it  was  taken,  all 
the  Spanish  treasures  and  riches  in  America 
lay  at  our  mercy.  Spain  had  purchased  the 
security  of  all  these,  and  the  restoration  of 
Cuba  also,  with  the  cession  of  Florida  only. 
It  was  no  equivalent.  There  had  been  a  bar- 
gain ;  but  the  terms  were  inadequate.  They 
were  inadequate  in  every  point,  where  the 
principle  of  reciprocity  was  affected  to  be 
introduced." 

They  represented  the  privilege  obtained 
fi-om  Spain,  in  favor  of  our  logwood-cutters, 
as  too  uncertain  and  precarious  to  be  consid- 
ered among  the  list  of  equivalents.  "  In- 
stead of  establishing,"  said  they,  "  a  solid 
right  in  this  long-contested  trade,  we  have 
engaged  to  pull  down  our  forts,  and  to  de- 


64 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


stroy  the  only  means  of  protecting  it.  What '  her  power  and  increase  there  could  never 
security  have  we,  that  our  logwood-cutters  become  formidable,  because   the  existence 


shall  not  be  molested  in  their  naked  and  de 
fenceless  situation?  The  king  of  Spain's 
promise  !  It  is  not  words,  but  the  power  of 
repelling  force  by  force,  that  can  prevent 
hostilities  or  injustice." 

They  concluded  their  strictures  on  the 
subject  of  restitutions  with  asserting  that 
Goree  on  the  coast  of  Africa  had  been  sur- 
rendered without  the  least  apparent  necessi- 
ty ;  that  in  the  East  Indies,  though  the  trea- 
ty mentioned  an  engagement  for  mutual  res- 
titution of  conquests,  the  restitution  was  all 
from  one  side.  We  had  conquered  every- 
thing, we  retained  nothing.  In  Europe, 
France  had  only  one  conquest  to  restore, 
Minorca ;  and  for  this  island,  we  had  given 
her  the  East  Indies,  the  West  Indies,  and 
Africa.  Belleisle  alone,  they  affirmed,  was 
a  sufficient  equivalent. 

The  advocates  for  the  peace  defended  all 
those  concessions  on  the  following  grounds  : 

"The  original  object  of  the  war,"  said 
they,  "  was  the  security  of  our  colonies  upon 
the  contment  of  America.  The  danger  to 
which  these  colonies  were  exposed,  and,  in 
consequence  of  that  danger,  the  immense 
waste  of  blood  and  treasure  which  ensued 
to  Great  Britain,  together  with  the  calami- 
ties which  were,  from  the  same  source,  pour- 
ed upon  the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  left 
no  sort  of  doubt  that  it  was  not  only  our 
best,  but  our  only  policy,  to  guard  against 
all  possibility  of  the  return  of  such  evils. 
Experience  has  shown  us,  that  while  France 
possesses  any  single  place  in  America, 
whence  she  may  molest  our  settlements, 
they  can  never  enjoy  any  repose;  and,  of 
course,  that  we  are  never  secure  from  being 
plunged  again  into  those  calamities,  from 
which  we  have  at  length,  and  with  so  much 
difficulty,  happily  emerged.  To  remove 
France  from  our  neighborhood  in  America, 
or  to  contract  her  power  within  the  narrow- 
est limits  possible,  was,  therefore,  the  most 
capital  advantage  we  could  obtain,  and  was 
worth  purchasing  by  almost  any  concession 

(1)." 

They  insisted  that  the  absolute  security 
derived  from  this  plan,  included  in  itself  an 
indemnification :  they  pointed  out  the  great 
increase  of  population  in  those  colonies 
within  a  few  years.  They  showed,  that 
their  trade  with  the  mother  country  had 
uniformly  increased  with  this  population. 
North  America  alone  would  supply  the  de- 
ficiencies of  our  trade  in  every  other  part  of 
the  world. 

Having,  for  these  reasons,  made  very 
large  demands  in  North  America,  it  was 
necessary  to  relax  in  other  parts.  France 
would  never  be  brought  to  any  very  con- 
siderable cession  in  the  West  Indies :  but 


of  her  settlements  depended  upon  ours  in 
North  America,  she  not  being  any  longer 
left  a  place,  whence  they  can  be  supplied 
with  provisions. 

They  did  not  deny  the  importance  of  the 
Havannah ;  but  they,  at  the  same  time,  in- 
sisted upon  the  value  of  the  objects  which 
had  been  obtained  in  return  for  it.  The 
whole  country  of  Florida,  with  fort  St.  Au- 
gustine and  the  bay  of  Pensacola,  was  far 
from  being  a  contemptible  acquisition.  It 
extended  the  British  dominions  along  the 
coast  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi :  it 
removed  an  asylum  for  the  slaves  of  the 
English  colonies,  who  were  continually  mak- 
ing their  escape  to  St.  Augustine  :  it  afford- 
ed a  large  extent  of  improvable  territory, 
a  strong  frontier,  and  a  good  port  in  the  bay 
of  Mexico,  both  for  the  convenience  of  trade, 
and  the  annoyance  of  the  Spaniards  in  any 
future  contest.  The  liberty  and  security, 
which  the  king  of  Spain  engaged  to  afford 
to  the  English  logwood-cutters,  was  another 
material  consideration ;  and  though  the  for- 
tifications on  the  coast  were  to  be  demolish- 
ed, it  did  not  appear  by  what  other  means 
a  claim  of  such  a  peculiar  nature  could  be 
adjusted.  "  We  never,"  said  they,  "  set  up 
any  pretensions  to  the  territory,  nor  even 
directly  to  the  produce ;  but  only  a  privilege 
of  cutting  and  taking  away  this  wood  by 
indulo-ence.  That  privilege  is  now  confirm- 
ed. What  more,  consistently  with  reason 
and  justice,  cor>ld  we  demand  ?  The  right 
of  erecting  ioriifications  would  imply  an 
absolute,  direct,  and  exclusive  dominion  over 
the  territory  itself,  to  which  we  had  not  even 
the  shadow  of  a  claim." 

They  asked,  whether  his  Catholic  maies''' 
could  have  made  a  fuller  or  more  adetjuatc? 
compensation  for  the  Havannah,  without  dis- 
membering his  empire,  or  exposing  its  com- 
merce to  inevitable  ruin]  "Had  Great 
Britain,"  as  they  argued,  "  fought  for  her- 
self alone,  and  restricted  her  efforts  to  lier 
own  element,  she  might  have  assumed  a 
more  peremptory  tone  in  dictating  the  terms 
of  the  treaty ;  and  if  they  were  not  acqui- 
esced in,  she  might  have  resolved  to  keep 
all  her  conquests,  and  to  prosecute  hostili- 
ties to  the  full  accomplishment  of  her  wishes. 
But  she  was  saddled  with  the  protection  of 
her  allies ;  and,  on  their  account,  nivolved 
in  a  double  continental  war,  the  expense  of 
which  overbalanced  all  the  advantages  she 
could  derive  from  the  success  of  her  anns. 
France  and  Spain  had  declared,  in  plain 
terms,  that,  without  the  restitution  of  the 
islands  and  of  the  Havannah,  peace  could 
be  of  no  service  to  tliem ;  that  they  would 
rather  hazard  the  continuance  of  the  war, 
which,  in  the  long  run,  must  exhaust  the 


GEORGE  III.  1760-^1820. 


65 


finances  and  credit  of  England ;  and,  in  the 
mean  time,  redouble  their  efforts  in  making 
an  entire  conquest  of  Portugal,  which  it 
could  not  be  in  the  power  of  the  British 
auxiliaries  to  prevent" 

With  respect  to  the  other  cessions,  they 
thought  the  rock  of  Goree  of  very  little 
consequence,  while  Great  Britain  retained 
the  possession  of  Senegal,  which  gave  her 
the  command  of  the  chief  trade  of  the  in- 
terior parts  of  the  country.  The  article 
which  related  to  the  East  Indies,  was,  in 
their  opinion,  perfectly  agreeable  to  the 
wishes  of  the  directors  of  the  English  com- 
pany ;  and  did  not  afford  all  those  advan- 
tages to  France,  which  might  be  imagined 
at  first  view.  "  If,"  said  they,  "  we  exam- 
ine this  matter  closely,  we  shall  find,  that 
our  late  enemies  have  not  gained  much  by 
having  their  factories  and  settlements  re- 
stored to  them :  first,  because  the  fortifica- 
tions, erected  at  a  vast  expense  in  all  those 
settlements,  have  been  totally  destroyed; 
and  it  cannot  be  expected,  in  the  present 
situation  of  the  French  company,  that  they 
can,  in  the  course  of  many  years,  if  at  all, 
rebuild  them  in  the  same  manner.  Besides, 
they  are  restrained  by  an  express  article 
from  even  making  the  attempt  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Bengal,  and  the  kingdom  of  Orixa, 
or  from  keeping  the  least  military  force  in 
either.  Secondly,  they  have  also  agreed  to 
acknowledge  the  reigning  Subas  of  the 
chief  provinces  in  the  Peninsula,  as  the 
lawful  sovereigns ;  and  these  princes  are  all 
in  our  interest,  as  either  owing  the  acquisi- 
tion, or  depending  for  the  preservation  of 
their  power  on  our  arms ;  by  which  means 
our  company  is  become,  in  effect,  arbiter  of 
that  great  and  opulent  coast,  from  the  Gan- 
ges to  Cape  Comorui,  and  from  the  same 
Cape  to  the  mouth  of  the  Indus.  What 
important  sacrifices,  then,  have  we  made 
in  the  East  Indies?  And,  if  the  points 
yielded  by  Great  Britain  in  all  other  parts 
of  the  globe  are  so  fully  justifiable  on  the 
principles  of  sound  and  liberal  policy,  surely, 
the  most  wilful  perverseness  will  not  dare 
to  deny  that  in  Europe  the  balance  is  con- 
siderably in  her  favor,  the  island  of  Minor- 
ca, having  been  given  her  m  exchange  for 
Belleisle,  besides  obliging  France  to  demol- 
ish the  works  belonging  to  the  harbor  of 
Dunkirk." 

WTien  the  house  divided,  there  appeared 
three  hundred  and  nineteen  for  the  address, 
and  sixty-five  against  it.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  prepare  it ;  and  on  its  being 
reported  next  day,  another  debate  ensued, 
in  which  nothing  new  was  introduced,  ex- 
cept a  reproach  on  the  ministry  for  not  hav- 
ing insisted  on  the  dissolution  of  the  family 
compact  It  was  not  likely,  that  such  an 
extravagant  and  presumptuous  idea  should 
6* 


have  occurred  to  them  in  the  course  of  the 
negotiation.  That  compact,  after  all  the 
noise  it  made  in  the  political  world  at  that 
time,  was  notliing  more  than  a  defensive 
alliance  between  the  two  branches  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon  for  the  mutual  guarantee 
of  their  respective  dominions,  wjiich  any 
two  nations  have  a  right  to  contract ;  and  a 
mutual  concession  of  commercial  privileges, 
with  which  every  power  has  an  undoubted 
right  to  indulge  its  allies,  without  giving 
just  cause  of  offence  to  any  neighboring 
nation.  On  the  twenty-first  of  December 
both  houses  adjourned  to  the  twentieth  of 
January. 

THREE  CHEROKEE  CHIEFS  ARRIVE  IN 
ENGLAND. 
Public  curiosity  was  soon  after  amused 
by  the  arrival  of  three  Cherokee  chiefs  from 
South  Carolina,  the  object  of  whose  embassy 
was  to  settle  a  lastmg  peace  with  the  Eng- 
lish nation.  They  arrived  in  May,  but  haid 
not  their  first  audience  of  the  king  till  the 
ninth  of  July.  The  principal  person  of  the 
three,  called  Outacite,  or  Man-killer,  on  ac- 
count of  his  martial  exploits,  was  introduced 
by  lord  Eglinton,  and  conducted  by  the 
master  of  the  ceremonies.  The  kmg  re- 
ceived them  with  great  affability,  and  di- 
rected that  they  should  be  entertained  at  his 
expense.  Their  behavior  in  his  presence 
was  remarkably  decent.  They  expressed  no 
emotions  of  surprise  at  any  object,  however 
curious  in  its  own  nature,  or  seemingly 
adapted  to  strike  the  imagination  of  a  savage. 
This  was  accounted  for  by  some  people  from 
their  total  ignorance  of  our  language,  and 
their  want  of  means  to  express  their  senti- 
ments otherwise  than  by  their  gestures.  But 
even  these  would  have  served  to  indicate, 
however  imperfectly,  the  impression  made 
upon  them  by  such  sights.  Their  indiffer- 
ence to  all  those  objects  of  novelty  and  gran- 
deur was  therefore  ascribed  to  a  sort  of 
brutal  insensibility,  which  seems  to  be  the 
character  of  the  North  American  tribes  in 
general,  notwithstanding  all  the  encomiums 
'  which  some  writers  have  lavished  on  the 
natural  good  sense  and  sagacity  of  those 
savages.  They  carried  home  with  them  ar- 
ticles of  peace  between  his  majesty  and 
their  nation,  with  a  handsome  present  of 
warlike  instruments,  and  such  other  things 
as  they  seemed  to  place  the  greatest  value  on. 
In  vain  have  some  cynics,  as  if  actuated 
by  a  wish  to  degrade  their  own  species, 
drawn  labored  and  disingenuous  parallels 
between  savage  and  civilized  life,  in  which 
they  strove  to  turn  the  scale  in  fevor  of  the 
former.  Such  men  wrote  from  their  closets, 
and  wrote  the  dictates  of  ignorance,  affecta- 
tion, or  malignity.  Their  fancifiil  remarks 
want  the  necessary  foundation  of  facts,  or 
experience,  for  their  support.    Every  oppor- 


66 


tunity  of  intercourse  with  the  savages  of 
North  America  has  shown  them  to  be  stupid 
and  unsocial  in  time  of  peace,  and  in  war 
capable  only  of  acta  of  treachery  and  fero- 
city. Such  were  the  impressions  made  upon 
the  minds  of  the  most  accurate  observers  by 
the  Cherokee  chiefs,  during  their  singular 
embassy  in  England ;  and  such  is  the  general 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

testimony  of  those  who  have  intermixed 
much  with  the  savages  in  their  own  country, 
or  have  been  engaged  in  hostilities  against 
them.  But  war  between  civilized  nations 
frequently  presents,  in  the  midst  of  all  its 
horrors,  objects  which  afford  exquisite  plea- 
sure to  the  feeling  heart. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 


1  It  was,  however,  strongly  sus- 
pected by  a  few  politicians,  that 
the  idea  of  security  to  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  in  North  America 
had  been  carried  too  far  by  the 
peace-makers,  and  woufd  prove 


the  source  of  new  evils.  They 
thought  that  the  total  expulsion 
of  the  French  would  embolden 
those  colonies  to  shake  off  the 
control  of  the  mother  country, 


since  they  no  longer  stood  in 
need  of  her  protection  against 
a  restless,  active,  and  warlike 
neighbor.  The  conjecture  has 
since  been  verified  by  events. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


67 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Philosophical  Survey  of  Europe  at  the  Close  of  the  War — Slate  of  Russia — Of  Den- 
mark— Of  Sweden — The  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Empress — Internal  Distractions 
of  France — Situation  of  Spain  ;•  and  Security  of  Great  Britain — Multiplied  Con- 
cerns of  the  English  Government — Plan  of  Economy  pursued  by  the  Ministers — 
Scheme  of  the  Supplies — Proposed  System  of  Finance  censured  by  the  Opposition 
— Instructions  and  Petitions  of  the  City  of  London  against  the  Cider  Tax — Earl 
of  Bute^s  Resignation — His  Majesty^ s  Speech  at  the  Close  of  the  Session — Some 
Account  of  Mr.  Wilkes,  and  of  the  Libel  entitled  "  The  North  Briton''^ —  Wilkes's 
Commitment  to  the  Tower — Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  for  bringing  Wilkes  before  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas — He  is  remanded  to  the  ToiDcr — His  second  Speech  at  the 
Bar  of  the  Court — Mr.  Wilkes's  Case  considered  under  three  Heads  by  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  Pratt — Commitment  not  illegal — The  Specification  of  Passages  in  the  Libel 
not  necessary  in  the  Warrant —  Validity  of  the  Plea  of  Privilege  allowed  in  Cases 
of  Libels — Attempts  to  bring  about  a  Coalition  of  Parties — Promotions  occasioned 
by  Lord  EgremonVs  Death — King's  Speech  at  the  Meeting  of  Parliament — Mes- 
sage about  Wilkes  to  the  House  of  Commons — The  North  Briton  voted  a  Libel 
—  Wilkes's  Complaint  of  a  Breach  of  Privilege — Debate  on  the  adjourned  Considera- 
tion of  his  Majesty's  Message — Pitt's  Speech  on  the  Surrender  of  Privilege — Other 
Arguments  in  support  of  Parliamentary  Privilege — The  Resolution,  "  That  Priv- 
ilege does  not  extend  to  Libels,"  carried  in  the  Commons,  and  concurred  in  by  the 
Lords — Concurrence  of  the  Lords  in  other  Resolutions  of  the  Lower  House  concern- 
ing the  Libel — The  Sheriffs  obstructed  in  burning  the  North  Briton — Duel  between 
Martin  and  Wilkes — The  King's  Message  on  the  Marriage  of  the  Princess  Augus- 
ta to  the  Hereditary  Prince  {now  Duke)  of  Brunswick — Verdict  obtained  by  Wilkes 
in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas — Lord  Chief- Justice's  Opinion  on  the  Illegality  of 
General  Warrants — Proceedings  of  the  Commons  to  ascertain  the  State  of  Wilkes's 
Health — His  Letter  from  Paris  deemed  nugatory,  and  he  himself  found  guilty  of  a 
Contempt  of  the  Authority  of  Parliament — Convicted  of  being  the  Author  of  the  con- 
demned Libel,  and  expelled — His  "  Essay  on  Woman"  laid  before  the  House  of 
Lords,  who  proceed  against  him  for  a  Breach  of  Privilege,  while  he  is  indicted  in 
the  Courts  below  for  Blasphemy — The  Ministry  very  hard  pushed  in  the  Debate  on 
General  Warrants — New  Plan  of  National  Supplies — Resolutions  concerning  the 
American  Trade— Bill  for  restraining  Abuses  and  Frauds  in  the  Practice  of  Frank- 
ing— Observations  on  General  Conway's  Dismission. 


SURVEY  OF  EUROPEAN  AFFAIRS. 
Soon  after  the  close  of  so  fierce  and  gen- 
eral a  war,  Europe  exhibited  a  reviving 
prospect  to  the  philosophical  observer.  Na- 
tions, tired  of  hostile  strife,  began  now  to 
confine  their  efforts  to  objects  of  nobler  emu- 
lation,— to  the  arts  of  utility  and  happiness, 
— to  the  pursuits  of  industry,  genius,  and 
science.  Even  the  most  ambitious  among 
their  sovereigns  appeared  to  be  at  length 
convinced,  that  extent  of  dominion  was  too 
dearly  purchased  by  the  lives  of  thousands ; 
that  sanguinary  glory  was  equally  perni- 
cious and  contemptible;  and  that  more 
wealth  and  real  power  could  be  derived 
from  the  honest  endeavors  of  their  subjects 
to  enrich  themselves,  than  fi-om  making  use 
of  their  servile  assistance  to  plunder,  destroy, 
or  enslave  others.  In  short,  a  calm  and  be- 
nign peace  seemed  spreading  over  this  quar- 
ter of  the  globe ;  and  the  internal  state  of 
every  country  afforded  the  best  pledge  for 
the  continuance  and  increase  of  its  bless- 
ings. 


RUSSIA. 

Russia,  though  at  a  distance  from  the 
theatre  of  war,  had  felt  its  havoc  in  the  most 
sensible  and  tender  part, — the  decrease  of 
inhabitants.  The  particular  situation  of  the 
empress,  also,  concurred  with  these  motives 
of  national  policy  to  render  her  averse  to 
any  precipitate  quarrels  with  her  neighbors. 
She  could  not  look  upon  herself  as  suffi- 
ciently secured  from  domestic  danger,  to 
provoke  the  attacks  of  a  foreign  enemy.  It 
was  necessary,  for  some  time  at  least,  that 
she  should  confine  her  views  solely  to  her 
own  safety. 

DENMARK. 

The  attention  of  Denmark  and  Sweden 
was  not  less  engrossed  by  objects  of  domes- 
tic concern.  His  Danish  majesty,  Frederic 
V.  having  amicably  settled  with  Russia  what- 
ever was  in  dispute  concerning  the  dutchy 
of  Holstein,  resumed  his  former  measures 
for  promoting  the  happiness  of  his  people, 
and  converting,  to  the  most  profitable  ac- 
count, the  opportunities  of  a  friendly  inter- 


68 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


course  with  the  nations  around  liim.  His 
death,  which  happened  about  three  years 
after  the  peace,  did  not  produce  aiiy  change 
in  the  system  of  administration.  Chris- 
tian VII.  seemed  desirous  of  treading  in  his 
lather's  footsteps,  or  rather  of  improving 
upon  his  pacific  and  beneficent  plans.  All 
his  councils  were  directed  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  agriculture,  to  the  relief  of  the 
peasantry  from  some  remaining  oppressions, 
and  to  the  most  effectual  means  of  inviting 
foreign  merchants  to  his  ports,  as  well  as  of 
giving  new  life  and  vigor  to  the  commerce 
of  his  own  subjects.  His  marriage  to  the 
Princess  Caroline  Matilda  of  England  was 
another  very  pleasing  circumstance  at  that 
time,  though  it  ended  unfortunately,  through 
the  intrigues,  as  it  was  said,  of  his  step- 
mother, the  queen-dowager.  But  his  public 
conduct,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  ap- 
peared to  be  guided  by  a  strict  regard  to  his 
father's  dying  admonitions.  "  My  dear  son," 
said  that  amiable  monarch,  "  you  will  soon 
be  king  of  a  flourishing  people ;  but  remem- 
ber, that  to  be  a  great  monarch,  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  be  a  good  man.  Have 
justice  and  mercy  therefore  constantly  be- 
fore your  eyes;  and  above  all  things  reflect, 
that  you  were  born  for  the  welfare  of  your 
country,  and  not  your  country  created  for 
your  mere  emolument.  In  short,  keep  to 
the  golden  rule  of  doing  as  you  would  be 
done  by ;  and  whenever  you  issue  an  order 
as  a  sovereign,  examine  how  far  you  would 
be  willing  to  obey  such  an  order,  had  you 
been  a  subject  yourself." 

SWEDEN. 

The  genius  of  the  Swedes  had  too  long 
been  turned  to  arms.  Dazzled  by  the  splen- 
dor of  occasional,  but  extraordinary  success, 
tliey  had  fancied  themselves  born  only  to 
conquer,  and  to  regulate  the  destinies  of  em- 
pires. The  hope  of  plunder  had  been  united 
to  the  love  of  glory.  It  required  the  expe- 
rience of  a  century  and  a  half  to  undeceive 
them  in  their  false  notions  of  grandeur,  and 
to  convince  them  that  their  natural  poverty 
was  not  to  be  remedied  by  martial  exploits. 
The  exhausted  state  of  the  kingdom,  the 
loss  of  former  conquests,  the  elevation  of 
Russia,  and  the  near  example  of  Danish  in- 
dustry, made  them  sensible  that  it  was  time 
for  them  to  lay  aside  the  military  character, 
imd  to  betake  themselves  to  the  useful  arts. 
Peace  was  become  the  wish  of  the  whole 
nation ;  and  their  king  favored  this  rational 
propensity,  not  only  from  a  just  perception 
of  its  advantages,  but  from  being  constantly 
harassed  by  factions  in  the  senate,  and  by 
the  jealousy  or  intrigues  of  his  enemies  at 
home,  without  seeking  abroad  for  others  to 
contend  with. 

PRUSSIA. 

With  regard  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  after 


having  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  his  gt^ 
nius  in  the  course  of  a  long  and  dreadful 
struggle,  toward  the  close  of  which  his  sal- 
vation was  entirely  owiiig  to  an  incident  be- 
yond the  reach  not  only  of  human  foresight, 
but  of  hope  itself,  it  was  not  probable  that 
he  would  be  very  forv/ard  again  to  commit 
his  affairs,  so  miraculously  preserved,  to  the 
chances  of  war.  The  empress-queen,  on  hei- 
part,  had  as  little  temptation  to  disturb  the 
general  tranquillity.  Since  she  failed  to  re- 
duce Silesia,  or  even  to  recover  the  smallest 
particle  of  her  losses,  with  such  an  exertion 
of  her  own  strength,  and  with  such  an  al- 
liance as  never  was  seen  united  before,  she 
must  have  been  satisfied  of  the  folly  and 
madness  of  renewing  the  calamities,  with 
which  Germany  had,  for  the  last  six  years, 
been  unceasingly  afflicted.  To  this  considera- 
tion was  also  added  her  natural  desire  to  set- 
tle her  numerous  offspring,  and  particularly 
to  secure  the  archduke  Joseph's  succession 
to  the  imperial  diadem,  by  having  him  pre- 
viously elected  kmg  of  the  Romans.  She 
herself  had  experienced  the  difficulty  of  es- 
tablishmg  the  claims  of  birth,  even  under 
the  sanction  of  assenting  powers,  at  the  death 
of  her  father,  who  left  no  male  issue.  It 
was  therefore  necessary  to  behave  in  the 
most  conciliating  manner  towards  the  elec- 
tors, in  order  to  prevent  any  opposition  to  the 
choice  of  her  son.  In  consequence  of  her 
prudent  policy,  he  was  crowned  at  Frank- 
fort, the  third  of  April  1764 ;  and,  the  year 
after,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  he  ascended 
the  tlirone  with  as  little  noise  and  bustle  as 
if  it  had  been  hereditary. 
FRANCE. 
In  France,  the  prevalence  of  interior  dis- 
sensions afforded  some  farther  pledges  of  her 
external  inoffensiveness.  The  king  of  France 
had  hardly  put  an  end  to  foreign  hostilities, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  a  contest  almost 
as  perplexing  with  his  own  parliaments. 
These  parliaments,  according  to  their  origin- 
al constitution,  were  supreme  courts  of  jus- 
tice, and  had  no  share  in  the  other  concerns 
of  government.  But  since  the  meeting-s  of 
the  states  had  been  laid  aside,  the  parlia- 
ments became  in  fact  the  only  guardians  of 
the  rights  of  the  nation ;  and  though  they 
did  not  deny  that  the  whole  legislative  as 
well  as  executive  power  resided  in  the  king, 
yet  they  contrived  a  method  of  controlling 
the  crown  in  the  exercise  of  both,  and  of  in- 
terposing their  authority  in  every  matter  of 
religion,  of  civil  police,  of  revenue,  and  even, 
in  some  instances,  in  matters  of  state.  As 
no  edict,  or  arret,  had  the  force  of  law,  till 
it  was  registered  by  them,  they  gradually 
assumed  the  liberty  of  suspending  the  regis- 
try for  some  time,  and  of  remonstrating 
against  the  measure,  if  unpopular  or  oppresh 
sive.    The  court  often  found  it  expedient  to 


GEORGE  in.   17B0— 1820. 


69 


act  with  seeming  condescension,  till  the  par- 
liaments, encouraged  by  success,  carried  tiieir 
resistance  to  greater  lengths.  Soon  after 
the  peace,  the  king  issued  an  edict  for  the 
continuance  of  some  taxes  which  were  to 
have  ended  with  the  war,  and  for  imposing 
new  ones.  Some  regulations  were  made  in 
like  manner  for  enabling  the  crown  to  re- 
deem its  debts  at  twenty  years  purchase  of 
their  then  produce,  which  was  very  low. 
The  parliaments  considered  those  edicts  as 
burdens  on  the  people,  and  as  violations  of 
the  public  faith.  Without  any  previous  con- 
cert, they  all  resolved  on  the  most  strenu- 
ous opposition,  and  determined  to  take  this 
opportunity,  not  only  of  frustrating  the  im- 
mediate plans  of  despotism,  but  of  setting 
up  their  own  authority  at  so  high  a  point,  as 
to  prevent  all  abuses  of  the  same  kind  in 
future.  They  peremptorily  refused  to  regis- 
ter the  edicts,  and  prepared  remonstrances, 
in  which  the  language  of  fair  argument  de- 
rived irresistible  force  and  animation  from 
the  spirit  of  manly  freedom,  [See  note  A, 
at  the  end  of  this  Vol.]  The  court  was 
alarmed,  yet  did  not  tamely  give  up  the 
point.  Governors  were  sent  down  into  the 
several  provinces  with  orders,  in  the  king's 
name,  to  enforce  obedience.  But  the  par- 
liaments, rather  provoked  than  terrified  by 
such  proceedings,  issued  arrets  for  seizing 
and  imprisoning  any  of  the  governors  who 
dared  to  become  the  instruments  of  arbitrary 
power.  In  short,  a  civil  convulsion  seemed 
almost  inevitable,  when  the  king  thought 
proper  to  compromise  the  dispute ;  and  from 
that  moment  it  was  evident,  that  any  rash 
attempt  of  Lewis  to  embroil  himself  with 
his  neighbors,  and  consequently  to  increase 
the  burdens  of  his  subjects,  would  endanger 
the  overthrow  of  the  French  monarchy. 
SPAIN. 

As  to  Spain,  the  wounds  she  had  lately 
received  were  so  deep  and  so  dangerous, 
that  a  great  deal  of  time  and  the  utmost 
care  were  necessary  to  heal  them.  She 
could  not  want  any  fresh  proofs  of  the  ruin- 
ous consequences  of  pride,  treachery,  and 
precipitance.  As  she  also  remained  under 
the  influence  of  French  councils,  there  was 
the  strongest  reason  to  believe,  that  as  long 
as  France  found  it  her  interest  to  continue 
punctual  in  the  observance  of  the  peace, 
Spain  would  not  take  any  step  to  violate  it. 
Thus  Great  Britain  had  little  to  apprehend 
from  the  turbulence  of  the  German  powers, 
or  from  the  intrigues  of  the  house  of  Bour- 
bon, especially  as  her  moderate  demands,  and 
her  Qfenerous  concessions  in  the  late  treaty, 
could  have  left  no  just  causes  of  irritation 
to  rankle  in  the  breasts  of  her  humbled  ene- 
mies. 

GREAT  BRITAIN. 

But,  while  the  aspect  of  the  great  politi- 


cal bodies  of  Europe  was  so  perfectly  favor- 
able towards  each  other,  the  British  govern- 
ment never  felt  greater  occasion,  than  in  the 
midst  of  this  surrounding  tranquillity,  for  the 
exertions  of  its  vigilance  and  wisdom,  to  ex- 
tinguish the  flames  of  a  new  war,  which 
suddenly  burst  out  from  the  ashes  of  the 
former,  with  most  of  the  savage  nations  iii 
America ;  to  regulate  the  distracted  afiairs 
of  the  East  Indies ;  and,  above  all,  to  defeat 
at  home  the  designs  of  the  factious.  As 
these  domestic  struggles  were  objects  of  the 
most  immediate  and  pressing  concern,  they 
claim  the  first  place  in  the  following  nar- 
ration. 

The  issue  of  the  debates  on  the  prelimi- 
nary articles,  in  both  houses,  afforded  a  very 
clear  proof,  that  the  opposition  which  was 
made  to  any  approbation  of  the  peace,  had 
been  much  more  warm  than  effective.  It 
was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  nation 
should  repose  itself  for  a  long  time.  The 
conditions  of  the  peace,  at  least,  had  a  gene- 
ral merit  sufficient  to  dispose  the  people  to 
acquiesce  in  them.  But  the  spirit  of  the 
party  was  not  exhausted  in  the  former  at- 
tempt. They  lay  in  wait  to  fall  upon  the 
administration  in  the  most  critical  time,  and 
to  wound  them  in  the  most  sensible  part,  tlie 
supplies.  For  though  taxes  were  fill  as 
necessary  at  the  conclusion  as  during  the 
continuance  of  the  war,  that  necessity  was 
not,  to  every  person,  so  glaringly  evident ; 
nor  were  they  by  any  means  so  palatable,  as 
when  victory  and  plunder  seemed  to  pay,  in 
glory  and  profit,  for  every  article  of  national 
expense.  The  advantages  of  the  peace, 
though  far  more  certain  and  solid,  were  les^ 
sudden  and  less  brilliant. 

In  these  dispositions,  the  people  were 
ready  to  fall  into  very  ill  humors,  upon  any 
plan  of  supply  which  could  be  suggested. 
The  administration  was  fully  aware  of  this ; 
and,  therefore,  determined  to  lay  as  few  new 
taxes  as  the  public  service  could  possibly 
admit.  Every  scheme  of  economy,  every 
mode  of  retrenching  superfluous  expenses, 
had  been  carefully  studied,  and  carried  into 
effect,  before  government  could  be  reconciled 
to  the  ungracious  necessity  of  increasing  the 
burdens  of  the  subject.  The  profusion  of 
the  two  late  reigns,  in  supporting  the  parlia- 
mentary interest  of  the  court,  had,  indeed, 
left  considerable  room  for  retrenchment 
The  sums  lavished  in  that  manner  were 
found,  upon  minute  inquiry,  to  be  extrava- 
gant almost  beyond  belief,  as  a  chain  of  venal 
dependency  reached  from  the  highest  mmis- 
ter  down  to  the  meanest  domestic,  each  be- 
ing allowed,  without  any  restraint  or  exami- 
nation, to  accumulate,  in  the  most  shameful 
manner,  profits  and  perquisites  amomiting 
often  to  ten  times  the  value  of  their  regulat- 
ed appointments.  The  reform  of  such  abuses, 


70 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  of  those  impositions  which,  instead  of 
contributing  to  the  dignity  and  support  of  the 
executive  power,  debased  and  weakened  it, 
occasioned  an  outcry  from  the  numerous  de- 
pendants of  the  late  ministers,  who  pleaded 
practice  and  prescription  in  their  favor. 
Many  of  them  even  alleged,  that  they  had 
bought  their  posts  from  their  superiors  in 
office,  and  that  they  had  therefore  a  right  to 
make  as  much  of  them  as  they  could.  In 
lopping  off  those  excrescences  of  corruption, 
a  due  regard  was  paid  to  the  just  claims  of 
individuals.  Though  useless  offices  were 
abolished,  an  equitable  compensation  was 
made  to  the  persons  dismissed  ;  and  with  re- 
gard to  such  as  were  retained,  care  was 
taken  that  the  servants  of  the  state  should 
receive  no  more  than  their  lawful  wages. 
SUPPLIES  FOR  THE  YEAR. 

The  savings  by  all  those  laudable  means, 
great  as  they  were,  did  not  prove  adequate 
to  the  necessities  of  the  public :  some  na- 
tional method  of  supply  became,  of  course, 
unavoidable.  In  this,  however,  the  ministry 
were  doubly  perplexed,  not  only  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  of  opening  new  resources 
at  the  close  of  a  very  expensive  war,  but  also 
in  consequence  of  their  own  repeated  de- 
clarations, that  a  peace  was  necessary,  in 
order  to  lighten  the  pressures  of  the  people. 
The  following  expedients  appeared  to  them 
most  eligible.  They  proposed  to  take  two 
millions  from  the  sinking  fund  ;  to  issue  ex- 
chequer-bills to  the  amount  of  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  pounds,  chargeable 
on  the  first  aids  to  be  granted  the  next  ses- 
sion ;  to  borrow  two  millions  eight  hundred 
thousand  pounds  on  annuities ;  and,  lastly, 
to  raise  the  sum  of  seven  hundred  thousand 
pounds  by  two  lotteries  in  the  course  of  the 
year.  To  defray  the  interest  of  these  loans, 
amounting  in  the  whole  to  seven  millions 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds,  an  addition- 
al duty  of  eight  pounds  a  tun  was  to  be  laid 
on  French  wines,  and  four  pounds  a  tun 
upon  all  other  wines.  No  objection  could 
well  be  urged  against  such  imposts  ;  but  as 
they,  alone,  would  have  been  insufficient, 
another  duty  was  added,  which  gave  the  dis- 
contented an  opportunity  of  raising  a  popu- 
lar clamor,  and  of  inflaming  the  whole  na- 
tion. This  was  a  duty  of  four  shillings  a 
hogshead  on  cider  and  perry,  to  be  paid  by 
the  maker,  and  to  be  subjected,  with  certain 
qualifications,  to  all  the  laws  of  excise. 

No  sooner  was  this  last  tax  laid  before 
the  house  of  commons,  than  opposition  un- 
masked, as  it  were,  all  its  batteries,  and  at- 
tacked not  only  the  ways  and  means  pro- 
posed, but  the  very  basis  of  economy  and 
frugality  on  which  the  whole  plan  of  the 
supplies  was  founded.  They  proceeded  to 
examine  its  several  branches,  and  differed 


in  opinion  with  the  ministry,  upon  every 
particular. 

But  the  cider-tax  was  the  chief  subject 
of  declamation  and  invective.  The  opposi- 
tion contended,  that  this  tax  was,  with  re- 
gard to  its  object,  partial  and  oppressive; 
with  regard  to  the  means  of  collecting  it, 
dangerous  and  unconstitutional ;  that  it  laid 
the  whole  burden  of  expenses,  incurred  in 
the  general  defence  of  the  kingdom  and  in 
the  protection  of  the  national  commerce,  on 
a  few  particular  counties,  which  m  every 
other  article  of  the  public  charge  contribut- 
ed their  full  share. 

The  friends  of  the  administration  were 
not  deficient  in  reply.  "Can  anything," 
they  asked,  "  be  so  flagrantly  absurd  as  to 
argue  that  the  tax  is  unequal,  or  that  it  lies 
heavy  on  some  particular  counties;  when 
every  body  must  know,  that  it  does  not  even 
bring  them  on  a  par  with  all  the  other  coun- 
ties, where  the  people  drink  beer  1  In  these 
counties,  all  private,  as  well  as  public  con- 
sumption, is  charged  in  the  malt-tax :  the 
charge  on  cider  is  not  so  great :  it  has  ex- 
emptions in  favor  of  the  poor,  which  are  not 
indulged  in  the  malt-tax  :  so  that  the  cider 
counties  have  rather  reason  to  be  thankful 
for  their  long  immunity,  than  querulous  that 
they  are  at  last  obliged  to  contribute  rather 
less  than  their  proportion  towards  the  sup- 
port of  the  national  burdens." 

As  the  main  point  insisted  upon  by  the 
opposition  was  the  mode  of  levying  the  tax, 
by  making  it  a  branch  of  the  excise,  the 
proposers  of  the  new  duty  said,  "  that  a  very 
unfair  advantage  had  been  taken,  in  this 
controversy,  of  the  loose  sense  of  the  words, 
'extension  of  the  excise  laws.'  If  these 
words  meaned  simply,  that  the  excise  was 
extended  with  regard  to  its  object,  the  fact 
was  true :  but  if  they  were  made  use  of  to 
insinuate,  that  the  powers  of  the  excise  were 
also  extended,  nothing  could  be  more  false. 
Instead  of  being  extended,  those  powers 
were,  in  many  material  circumstances,  with 
regard  to  this  new  object,  very  much  con- 
tracted ;  and  the  makers  of  cider  were  far 
more  favored  than  any  other  class  of  people 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  excise.  To 
call  it,  therefore,  a  dangerous  precedent, 
must  be  the  effect  of  wilful  misrepresenta- 
tion, or  of  a  total  ignorance  of  English  his- 
tory. The  excise  is  coeval  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  civil  liberty  in  this  country; 
and  the  enlightened  sons  of  freedom,  who 
brought  about  the  glorious  revolution,  could 
never  believe  that  they  sacrificed  any  essen- 
tial part  of  their  rights,  by  adopting  the 
cheapest  and  most  productive  means  of  col- 
lecting certain  branches  of  the  public  rev- 
enu-s." 

Whatever    impression   these  arguments 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


71 


must  have  made  on  the  majority  of  both 
houses  of  parliament,  it  is  certain  that  they 
were  found  insufficient  to  quiet  the  clamors 
which  had  been  excited,  and  of  which  the 
subject  of  complaint  relative  to  the  supplies 
had  been  the  pretence  only,  and  not  the 
cause.  The  lord-mayor,  aldermen,  and  com- 
mons, of  London,  instructed  their  represent- 
atives, in  terms  that  conveyed  no  fiivorable 
ideas  of  the  intentions  of  the  government, 
to  oppose  the  cider-bill;  and  many  other 
members,  in  consequence  of  having  receiv- 
ed similar  instructions  from  their  constitu- 
ents, did  not  support  the  ministry  on  this  oc- 
casion. The  latter,  however,  steadily  pur- 
sued their  point,  and  accomplished  it,  though 
petitions  against  the  bill,  from  the  city  of 
London,  were  presented  to  both  houses. 
These  having  proved  ineffectual,  the  city 
carried  up  a  third  petition  to  his  majesty, 
the  very  instant  it  was  known  the  bill  had 
passed  the  lords,  imploring  him  not  to  give 
his  royal  assent  to  so  much  of  it  as  subject- 
ed the  makers  of  cider  and  perry  to  the 
laws  of  excise.  The  cooler  and  more  disin- 
terested part  of  the  public  could  not  help 
considering  this  last  step  as  extremely  pre 
sumptuous  and  indecent  It  meant  nothing 
less,  in  fact,  than  beseeching  his  majesty  to 
prefer  the  advice  and  opinion  of  the  corpo- 
ration of  London,  to  that  of  both  houses  of 
parliament. 

LORD  BUTE  RESIGNS. 
A  FEW  days  after  the  passing  of  this  bill, 
in  which  alone  the  minister  had  not  so  con- 
siderable a  majority  as  usual,  the  earl  of 
Bute  resigned  his  office  of  first  lord  of  the 
treasury,  and  Sir  Francis  Dash  wood  that  of 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  The  resigna- 
t  on  of  the  latter  excited  very  little  sur- 
prise. The  business  of  finance  was  neither 
suited  to  his  inclination,  nor  to  his  talents ; 
and  as  he  had  accepted  the  place  solely  in 
compliance  with  the  importunities  of  the 
minister,  who  had  a  high  and  very  just  opin- 
ion of  his  integrity,  the  example  of  his 
friend  now  afforded  him  the  best  excuse  for 
retirement  But  the  earl  of  Bute's  conduct 
was  the  subject  of  much  astonishment  and 
criticism.  The  assertions  which  gained  most 
ground  among  the  credulous  multitude  were, 
that  the  earl  of  Bute,  being  alarmed  at  the 
rising  tempest  of  popular  fury,  and  afraid  of 
a  parliamentary  inquiry  into  some  of  his  late 
measures,  had  bargained  for  his  personal 
safety,  with  his  successors  in  office ;  and 
tliat,  though  he  had  quitted  an  ostensible 
situation,  everything  was  still  governed  by 
his  secret  influence.  The  earl  of  Bute  was 
not  driven  from  office :  he  left  it  with 
powerful  majority  in  his  favor ;  so  that  his 
divesting  himself  of  that  support^  and  retir- 
iao'  to  a  private  etation,  might  rather  be 
looked  upon  as  a  bold  challenge  to  his  ene- 


mies, and  as  dictated  by  a  consciousness  of 
unimpeachable  rectitude.  But  whatever 
might  have  been  the  cause  of  his  resigna- 
tion, it  certainly  did  not  abate  the  popular 
ferment,  as  the  ends  of  the  popular  leaders 
were  not  in  any  respect  answered  by  it 
The  door  still  remained  shut  against  their 
admission  into  office.  Grenville  was  ap- 
pointed first  commissioner  of  the  treasury 
and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer ;  and  his 
former  seat  at  the  head  of  the  admiralty 
was  filled  by  lord  Sandwich.  The  earls  of 
Halifax  and  Egremont  continued  to  be  the 
two  secretaries  of  state  :  Fox  was  removed 
to  the  upper  house,  on  being  created  lord 
Holland  ;  but  as  no  new  characters  were  in- 
troduced, the  conduct  of  public  affairs  did 
not  appear  to  be  in  the  smallest  degree  af- 
fected by  the  late  minister's  retirement 
SESSION  CLOSES. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  April,  just  three 
days  after  those  arrangements  in  adminis- 
tration had  taken  place,  his  majesty  went  to 
the  house  of  lords,  and  closed  the  session 
with  a  speech,  stating,  that  "an  establish- 
ment of  peace,  upon  conditions  so  honorable 
to  my  crown,  and  so  beneficial  to  my  peo- 
ple, was  highly  increased  by  my  receiving 
from  both  houses  of  parliament  the  strong- 
est and  most  grateful  expressions  of  their 
entire  approbation.  These  articles  have  been 
established,  and  even  rendered  still  more 
advantageous  to  my  subjects,  by  tlie  defini- 
tive treaty ;  and  my  expectations  have  been 
fully  answered  by  the  happy  effects  which 
the  several  allies  of  my  crown  have  derived 
from  this  salutary  measure.  The  powers  at 
war  with  my  good  brother  the  king  of  Prus- 
sia, have  been  induced  to  agree  to  such 
terms  of  accommodation  as  that  great  prince 
has  approved ;  and  the  success,  which  has 
attended  my  negotiation,  has  necessarily  and 
immediately  diffused  the  blessings  of  peace 
through  every  part  of  Europe. 

"  I  acquamted  you  with  my  firm  resolution 
to  form  my  government  on  a  plan  of  strict 
economy.  The  reductions  necessary  for  this 
purpose  shall  be  completed ; — although  the 
army  maintamed  in  these  kingdoms  will  be 
inferior  in  number  to  that  usually  kept  up  in 
former  times  of  peace,  yet  I  trust  that  tlie 
force  proposed,  with  the  establishment  of 
the  national  militia,  (whose  services  I  have 
experienced,  and  caimot  too  much  com- 
mend,) will  prove  a  sufficient  security  for 
the  future. 

"  I  have  seen,  with  the  highest  concern, 
the  great  anticipations  of  the  revenue,  and 
the  heavy  debts  unprovided  for  during  the 
late  war,  which  have  reduced  you  to  the 
unhappy  necessity  of  imposing  further  bur- 
dens on  my  people.  Under  tliese  circum- 
stances, it  is  my  earnest  wish  to  contribute 
by  every  means  to  theii*  relief.     The  utmost 


12 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


frugality  shall  be  observed  in  the  disposition 
of  the  supplies  which  you  have  granted; 
and  when  the  accounts  of  the  money  arising 
from  the  sale  of  sucli  prizes  as  are  vested  in 
tlie  crown  shall  be  closed,  it  is  my  intention 
to  direct  that  the  produce  shall  be  applied 
to  the  public  service." 

THE  NORTH  BRITON. 

This  speech,  though  breathing  the  true 
v^pirit  of  a  patriot  king,  and  carrying  with  it 
an  indisputable  proof  of  its  sincerity  in  the 
promised  application  of  the  French  prize- 
money  to  the  public  service,  was  a  few  days 
after  criticized  with  the  utmost  malignity 
und  insolence  in  a  periodical  publication  en- 
titled The  North  Briton.  The  author  of  so 
shameless  a  libel  was  .John  Wilkes ;  he  was 
at  that  time  member  of  parliament  for  Ayles- 
bury. Though  he  had  no  pretension  to  ge- 
nius, or  eloquence,  he  possessed  the  more 
dangerous  talent  of  expertness  in  seasoning 
his  writings  to  suit  the  taste,  and  to  inflame 
the  minds  of  the  vulgar.  Perceiving  the 
stoical  indifference  of  the  ministry  with  re- 
gard to  their  own  persons,  he  aimed  his 
abuse  at  majesty  itself,  and  in  the  forty-fifth 
number  of  his  paper,  animadverted  upon  the 
king's  speech  with  such  daring  acrimony, 
that  the  secretaries  of  state  thought  them- 
selves obliged,  in  vindication  of  the  grossly 
insulted  honor  of  the  sovereign,  to  take  up 
the  author.  The  process  for  this  purpose 
was  a  loose  office  form,  which  had  been  con- 
stantly practised  ever  since  the  revolution, 
and  never,  in  any  instance,  censured  during 
that  period.  It  was  a  warrant  of  a  general 
nature,  signed  by  lord  Halifax,  and  directed 
tx)  four  of  his  majesty's  messengers,  com- 
manding them  to  apprehend,  without  speci- 
fyino^  any  names,  the  authors,  printers,  and 
{)ublishers  of  that  seditious  and  treasonable 
paper. 

WILKES  SENT  TO  THE  TOWER. 

In  consequence  of  these  orders,  George 
Keamsley,  the  publisher,  and  several  print- 
ers were  apprehended ;  and  their  examina- 
tion affording  sufficient  ground  for  fixing 
upon  Wilkes  as  the  author,  the  messengers 
went  to  his  house  on  the  twenty-ninth  of 
April,  late  at  night,  and  produced  their  war- 
rant. Wilkes  excepted  to  its  generality, 
and  as  his  name  was  not  mentioned  in  it,  he 
threatened  the  first  man  who  should  offer 
violence  to  his  person  in  his  own  house  at 
that  unseasonable  hour.  The  messengers 
thought  proper  to  retire ;  but  they  returned 
next  morning,  and  carried  him  in  a  coach 
before  one  of  the  secretaries  of  state,  partly, 
as  he  alleged,  by  force.  On  his  refusing 
to  answer  any  questions  relative  to  the 
charge  brought  against  him,  the  following 
warrant  for  his  commitment  was  signed  by 
both  the  secretaries  of  state,  and  was  ad- 


dressed to  the  constable  of  the  Tower,  or 
his  deputy  : 

"These  are,  in  his  majesty's  name,  to 
authorize  and  require  you  to  receive  into 
your  custody  the  body  of  John  Wilkes,  Esq, 
herewith  sent  you,  for  being  the  author  and 
publisher  of  a  most  infamous  and  seditious 
libel,  entitled.  The  North  Briton,  No.  XLV. ; 
tending  to  inflame  the  minds  and  alienate 
the  affections  of  the  people  from  his  majesty, 
and  to  excite  them  to  traitorous  insurrec- 
tions against  the  government ;  and  to  keep 
him  safe  and  close,  until  he  shall  be  deliv- 
ered by  due  course  of  law ;  and  for  so  doing 
this  shall  be  your  warrant.  Given  at  St. 
James's,  the  thirtieth  of  April,  1763,  in  the 
third  year  of  his  majesty's  reign." 

A  copy  of  this  warrant  was  readily  granted 
to  Wilkes's  solicitor  by  major  Rainsford,  the 
commanding  officer  at  the  Tower ;  but  no 
persons  were  admitted  to  speak  with  the 
prisoner.  Though  the  like  measures  had 
been  constantly  adopted  upon  similar  occa- 
sions ;  and  though  the  zeal  and  indignation 
of  the  secretaries  of  state  against  so  auda- 
cious a  delinquent  might  well  excuse  much 
greater  severity ;  yet  the  refusal  of  admit- 
tance to  Wilkes  was  represented  as  an  in- 
fringement of  the  rights  of  the  subject,  and 
a  wanton  stretch  of  tyrannical  cruelty.  The 
seizure  and  sealing  up  of  his  papers,  a  thing 
never  omitted  upon  taking  into  custody  any 
person  charged  with  being  the  author  of  a 
treasonable  libel,  was  called  downright  rob- 
bery, notwithstanding  the  peculiar  delicacy 
that  was  observed  in  the  i>resent  case :  for 
the  under-secretar}'^  of  state,  and  the  solicitor 
to  the  treasury  attended,  and  invited  the 
friends  of  Wilkes  to  be  present  at  sealing 
up  his  papers,  an  operation  which  had  in 
past  times  been  always  performed  by  the 
messenger,  were  he  ever  so  rude  or  illiterate. 
Even  the  committal  to  the  Tower,  which 
was  chosen  from  respect  to  the  person  of  a 
member  of  parliament,  was  employed  by  the 
agents  of  faction  to  excite  terror,  and  to 
swell  the  popular  alarm. 

Immediately  on  the  first  intimation  of 
Wilkes's  having  been  apprehended  by  the 
king's  messengers,  a  motion  was  made  in 
the  court  of  common  pleas  for  an  habeas 
corptcs,  which  was  granted;  but  the  pro- 
thonotary's  office  not  being  open,  the  habeas 
corpus  could  not  be  sued  out  till  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  before  which  time  Wilkes 
had  been  committed  to  the  Tower.  The 
Monday  morning  after,  the  court  of  common 
pleas  ordered  a  return  to  the  writ,  which 
having  been  served  upon  the  messengers 
only,  their  return  was,  that  Wilkes  was  not 
then  in  their  custody.  The  court  not  judg- 
ing that  return  to  be  sufficient,  would  not 
suffer  it  to  be  filed;  and  another  writ  of 


GEORGE  III.   1760-1820. 


73 


habeas  corpus  was  granted,  directed  to  the 
constable  of  the  Tower  and  his  officers ;  in 
consequence  of  which  the  prisoner  was 
brought  up  next  day,  May  the  third,  to 
Westminster-hall. 

As  soon  as  Wilkes  was  conducted  to  the 
bar  of  the  court,  he  made  a  formal  speech, 
replete  with  virulent  expressions  against  the 
ministry,  affected  compliments  to  the  king, 
and  labored  encomiums  upon  himself  as  a 
dauntless  champion  and  persecuted  sufferer 
in  the  cause  of  liberty.  Pleadings  followed 
on  both  sides ;  and  the  prisoner  was  remand- 
ed to  the  Tower,  till  Friday  the  sixth  of 
May,  that  the  judges  might  have  leisure  to 
consider  the  case,  and  to  form  their  opinion ; 
but,  in  the  intermediate  time,  his  friends 
and  lawyers  were  to  have  free  access  to  his 
person. 

When  Wilkes  was  again  brought  to  West- 
minster-hall, he  made  a  second  speech,  of 
the  same  inflammatory  tendency  as  the  for- 
mer, and  of  which,  as  it  was  then  cried  up 
as  a  master-piece  of  oratory,  it  may  be  proper 
to  subjoin  a  copy. 

"  My  lords,"  said  the  prisoner,  "  far  be  it 
fVom  me  to  regret  that  I  have  passed  so  many 
more  days  in  captivity,  as  it  will  have  afforded 
you  an  opportunity  of  doing,  upon  mature  re- 
flection and  repeated  examination,  the  more 
signal  justice  to  my  country.  The  liberty 
of  all  peers  and  gentlemen,  and  what  touches 
rae  more  sensibly,  that  of  all  the  middling 
and  inferior  class  of  people,  who  stand  most 
in  need  of  protection,  is  in  my  case  this  day 
to  be  finally  decided  upon:  a  question  of 
such  importance  as  to  determine  at  once, 
whether  English  liberty  be  a  reality  or  a 
shadow.  Your  own  free-born  hearts  will 
feel  with  indignation  and  compassion  all  that 
load  of  oppression  under  which  I  have  so 
long  labored.  Close  imprisonment,  the  effect 
of  premeditated  malice,  all  access  for  more 
than  two  days  denied  to  me,  my  house  ran- 
aicked  and  plundered,  my  most  private  and 
secret  concerns  divulged,  every  vile  and 
malignant  insinuation,  even  of  high  treason 
itself,  no  less  industriously  than  falsely  cir- 
culated by  my  cruel  and  implacable  enemies, 
together  with  all  the  various  insolence  of 
OTice,  form  but  a  part  of  my  unexampled 
ill-treatment  Such  inhuman  prmciples  of 
stir-chamber  tyranny  will,  I  trust,  by  this 
court,  upon  this  solemn  occasion,  be  finally 
extirpated ;  and  henceforth  every  innocent 
man,  however  poor  and  unsupported,  may 
nope  to  sleep  in  peace  and  security  in  his 
own  house,  unviolated  by  king's  messengers 
find  the  arbitrary  mandates  of  an  overbear- 
ing secretary  of  state. 

"  1  will  no  longer  delay  your  justice.  The 
nation  is  impatient  to  hear,  nor  can  be  safe 
or  happy  till  that  is  obtained.  If  the  same 
persecution  is,  after  all,  to  carry  me  before 

Vol.  IV.  7 


another  court,  I  hope  I  shall  find  that  the 
genuine  spirit  of  Mogna  Charta,  that  glori- 
ous inheritance,  that  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  Englishmen,  is  as  religiously  re- 
vered there,  as  I  know  it  is  here,  by  the 
great  personages  before  whom  I  have  now 
the  happiness  to  stand ;  and  (as  in  the  ever- 
memorable  case  of  the  imprisoned  bishops) 
that  an  independent  jury  of  free-born  Eng- 
lishmen will  persist  to  determine  my  fate, 
as  in  conscience  bound,  upon  constitutional 
principles,  by  a  verdict  of  guilty,  or  not 
guilty.  I  ask  no  more  at  the  hands  of  my 
countrymen." 

The  sentence  of  the  court  is  the  best 
comment  on  this  speech,  which,  though 
seemingly  addressed  to  the  judges,  was  in 
reality  an  appeal  to  the  passions  of  the  mul- 
titude. 

Lord  chief-justice  Pratt,  in  delivering  the 
opinion  of  the  court,  stated  the  case  under 
three  heads,  which  had  been  chiefly  insisted 
upon  in  the  pleadings :  first,  the  legality  of 
Wilkes's  commitment ;  secondly,  the  neces- 
sity for  a  specification  of  those  particular 
passages  in  the  forty-fiflh  number  of  the 
North  Briton,  which  had  been  deemed  a 
libel ;  and  thirdly,  Wilkes's  privilege  as  a 
member  of  parliament 

In  regard  to  the  first,  his  lordship  remark- 
ed, that  he  would  consider  a  secretary  of 
state's  warrant,  through  the  whole  affair,  os 
nothing  superior  to  the  warrant  of  a  common 
justice  of  the  peace ;  and  that  no  magistrate 
had,  in  reality,  a  right,  ex  officio,  to  appre- 
hend any  person,  without  stating  the  partic- 
ular crime  of  which  he  was  accused ;  but, 
at  the  same  time  he  observed,  there  v-'ere 
many  precedents  where  a  nice  combination 
of  circumstances  gave  so  strong  a  suspicion 
of  facts,  that  though  the  magistrate  could 
not  be  justified  ex  officio,  he  was,  neverthe- 
less, supported  in  the  commitment,  even 
without  receiving  any  particular  informa- 
tion for  the  foundation  of  his  charge.  The 
word  charge,  his  lordship  took  notice,  was 
in  general  much  misunderstood,  and  did  not 
mean  the  accusation  brought  against  any 
person  taken  up,  but  his  commitment  by  the 
magistrate  before  whom  he  might  be  brought. 
Upon  the  whole  of  this  point,  according  to 
the  customary  rule  which  had  been  for  a 
series  of  years  observed  by  the  sages  of  the 
law,  his  lordship  was  of  opinion,  that 
Wilkes's  commitment  was  not  illegal. 

As  to  the  second  point  in  discussion,  which 
Wilkes's  counsel  had  contended,  that  a  spe- 
cification of  the  particular  passages  in  the 
North  Briton  which  were  deemed  libellous, 
ought  to  have  been  inserted  in  the  body  of 
the  warrant,  his  lordship  did  not  Uiink  any 
such  specification  necessary ;  for  even  sup- 
posing the  whole  of  the  obnoxious  paper  to 
have  been  copied  into  the  warrant,  yet  it  by 


74 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


no  means  came  under  the  cognizance  of  the 
court  at  that  time.  The  matter  then  in  con- 
sideration was  not  the  nature  of  the  offence, 
but  the  legality  of  the  commitment;  the 
nature  of  the  offence  not  resting  in  the 
bosom  of  a  judge  without  the  assistance  of 
a  jury,  and  not  being  a  proper  subject  of  in- 
quiry, till  regularly  brought  on  to  be  tried  in 
the  usual  way  of  proceeding. 

With  respect  to  the  third  head,  which 
was  the  plea  of  privilege,  his  lordship  re- 
marked, that  there  were  but  three  cases 
which  could  possibly  affect  the  privileges  of 
a  member  of  parliament,  and  these  were 
treason,  felony,  and  the  peace.  The  peace, 
•  as  it  is  written  in  the  institutes  of  the  law, 
his  lordship  explained  to  signify  a  breach  of 
the  peace.  He  said  that  the  commitment 
of  the  seven  bishops  for  endeavoring  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  happened  in  an  arbitrary 
reign,  when  there  was  but  one  honest  judge, 
out  of  four  in  the  court  of  king's  bench,  and 
he  had  declined  giving  any  opinion.  "If 
then,"  continued  his  lordship,  "the  privilege 
of  parliament  is  to  be  held  sacred  and  in- 
violable, except  in  the  three  particular  cases 
wherein  it  is  forfeited,  it  only  remains  to 
examine  how  far  Wilkes's  privilege  is  en- 
dangered in  the  present  instance.  He  stands 
accused  of  writing  a  libel.  A  libel,  in  the 
sense  of  the  law,  is  a  high  misdemeanor,  but 
does  not  come  within  the  description  of  trea- 
son, felony,  or  breach  of  the  peace.  At  most, 
it  has  but  a  tendency  to  disturb  the  peace, 
and  consequently  cannot  be  sufficient  to  de^ 
stroy  the  privilege  of  a  member  of  parlia 
ment." 

WILKES  DISCHARGED. 

The  court  then  discharged  Wilkes,  who 
returned  the  judges  his  thanks  in  the  name 
of  the  public,  of  the  whole  English  nation, 
and  of  all  the  subjects  of  the  English 
crown,  for  his  liberty  ;  though  it  is  very 
evident,  that  he  obtained  it  only  under  the 
circumstance  of  his  being  a  member  of  par- 
liament. 

In  the  morning  after  Wilkes's  release 
from^the  Tower,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
two  secretaries  of  state,  complaining,  that, 
during  his  confinement,  his  house  had  been 
robbed :  and  that,  being  informed  the  stolen 
goods  were  in  the  possession  of  their  lord- 
ships, he  insisted  upon  restitution.  Next  day 
he  repaired  to  a  justice  of  peace,  and  de- 
manded a  warrant  to  search  the  houses  of 
the  two  secretaries ;  which  was  refused  by 
the  magistrate.  Though  nothing  could  be 
more  impotent  and  extravagant  than  such 
proceedings,  yet  the  secretaries  of  state 
thought  proper  to  return,  under  their  own 
hands,  a  serious  answer  to  his  absurd  charge. 
They  took  notice  of  the  indecency  and  scur- 
rility of  his  language ;  but  they  very  can- 
didly explained  the  legal  motives  for  the 


seizure  of  his  papers,  informing  him,  that 
such  of  them  as  did  not  lead  to  a  proof  of 
his  guilt  should  be  restored,  but  that  the 
rest  would  be  delivered  over  to  those  whose 
office  it  was  to  collect  the  evidence,  and  to 
manage  the  prosecution  against  him. 

Another  circumstance  happened  about  the 
same  time,  which  Wilkes  laid  before  the 
public.  One  of  the  secretaries  of  state  had 
written  to  earl  Temple,  who  was  lord-lieu- 
tenant of  the  county  of  Buckingham,  sig- 
nifying to  him  his  majesty's  pleasure,  that 
Wilkes  should  be  dismissed  from  being 
colonel  of  the  militia  for  that  county.  This 
order  was  communicated  to  Wilkes  with 
much  seeming  concern  by  his  lordship,  who 
was  himself  soon  after  removed  from  the 
lieutenancy  of  the  county,  to  make  way  for 
j  lord  Despenser,  late  Sir  Francis  Dashwood. 
The  letters  that  passed  on  this  occasion  were 
printed  and  industriously  circulated,  as  a 
farther  proof  of  the  cruel  persecution  Wilkes 
suffered.  The  rabble,  whose  pity  he  thus 
I  endeavored  to  secure,  were  incapable  of  re- 
flecting, that  the  libeller  of  the  king  and 
:  government  of  any  country  is  a  very  im- 
I  proper  person  to  be  intrusted  with  the  chief 
means  of  its  internal  security  and  defence. 

The  reappearance  of  the  North  Briton, 
with  all  his  farther  efforts  to  increase  the 
number  of  his  seditious  adherents,  was  so 
far  from  intimidatmg  ministry,  that  an  in- 
formation was  filed  against  him  in  the  court 
of  king's  bench,  at  his  majesty's  suit,  as  the 
author  of  the  aforesaid  libel. 

The  printers,  and  some  other  persons, 
who,  as  well  as  Mr.  Wilkes,  had  been  taken 
up  by  general  warrants,  sought  redress  at 
law ;  and  such  was  the  temper  of  the  times, 
which,  by  being  diffused  among  the  people, 
was  supposed  to  have  influenced  the  juries, 
that  they  obtained  damages  greatly  beyond 
their  real  sufferings,  and,  possibly,  beyond 
their  own  most  sanguine  hopes.  These  ac- 
tions were  prosecuted  in  such  a  manner, 
that  the  public  attention  to  them  was  kept 
constantly  alive.  It  seemed  as  if  freedom 
had  every  day  a  new  conflict  to  undergo, 
and  obtained  every  day  a  new  victory.  Ad- 
ministration, on  the  other  hand,  opposed 
them  by  all  the  advantages,  which  the  law 
allows  to  those  who  act  on  the  defensive ; 
and  sometimes  by  the  interposal  of  privilege 
kept  this  matter  still  longer  m  agitation; 
insomuch  that,  until  the  meeting  of  parlia- 
ment, scarcely  anything  else  could  enter 
into  the  thoughts  or  conversation  of  the 
people.  On  this  point,  therefore,  it  was  ex- 
pected the  great  trial  of  strength  and  skiU 
in  the  ensuing  session  would  be  made. 
CHANGES  IN  THE  MINISTRY. 

While  both  parties  were  vigorously  pre- 
paring for  the  intended  struggle,  an  event 
took  place,  which  for  a  few  days  diverted 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


75 


their  attention  to  another  object,  and  seemed 
at  first  likely  to  occasion  a  change  in  the 
ministry.  This  was  the  earl  of  P^gremont's 
sudden  death,  of  a  fit  of  the  apoplexy,  on 
the  twenty-first  of  August.  His  majesty, 
upon  this  event,  gave  way  to  some  overtures 
for  a  coalition  of  interests.  The  proposal, 
which  was  first  made  to  Pitt  by  the  earl  of 
Bute,  was  readily  embraced  by  the  former, 
and  he  appeared  at  court  with  great  alacri- 
ty. Grenville  offered,  for  the  tranquillity  of 
his  majesty's  government,  to  resign  his  place 
of  first  commissioner  of  the  treasury,  and  to 
accept  of  any  post  that  was  not  utterly  in- 
consistent with  his  rank  in  life.  The  ac- 
commodation appeared  the  more  practicable, 
as  none  of  the  great  leaders  testified  the 
smallest  unwillingness  to  be  again  associat- 
ed in  office  with  the  earl  of  Bute.  But 
when  Pitt,  at  a  second  interview  with  the 
king,  came  to  propose  the  particular  arrange- 
ments, it  appeared  that  he  wished  to  engross 
for  himself  and  his  friends  all  the  important 
offices  of  the  state,  and  that  none  but  sub- 
ordinate situations  were  to  be  lefl  for  those 
to  whom  the  king  thought  himself  bound 
by  the  strongest  ties  of  honor  and  justice. 
The  treaty,  therefore,  proved  ineffectual ;  but 
his  majesty's  firmness  made  up  for  all  incon- 
veniencies,  and  the  administration  soon  re- 
lumed to  its  natural  channel. 

There  were  at  this  time  two  very  impor- 
tant vacancies,  that  of  secretary  of  state 
occasioned  by  lord  Egremont's  death,  and 
that  of  president  of  the  council,  which  had 
not  been  filled  since  the  decease  of  lord 
Granville.  The  seals  of  the  former  office 
were  given  to  lord  Sandwich,  who  had  been 
named  to  go  ambassador  to  Spain ;  and  the 
duke  of  Bedford  succeeded  to  the  president's 
chair.  Some  other  promotions  took  place 
on  the  same  occasion,  the  most  remarkable 
of  which  were  the  removal  of  lord  Egmont 
from  the  post-office  to  the  admiralty,  the 
duke  of  Marlborough's  acceptance  of  the 
privy-seal,  and  the  appointment  of  the  earl 
of  Hillsborough  to  be  first  lord  of  trade  and 
plantations,  in  the  room  of  lord  Shelburne. 
The  earl  of  Bute's  continuance  in  retire- 
ment, and  several  other  circumstances  which 
appeared  while  the  late  treaty  was  on  foot, 
made  it  evident  to  the  world,  that  the  sub- 
sisting administration  did  not,  from  the  be- 
ginning, by  any  means  act  under  the  in- 
fluence, nor  altogether  in  concurrence  with 
the  opinion  of  that  minister,  whose  resigna- 
tion had  raised  them  to  the  direction  of  af- 
fairs. 

Pitt,  the  duke  of  Newcastle,  and  their 
respective  friends,  had  looked  upon  the  pro- 
posals made  to  them  as  an  ncknowledgment, 
that  the  persons  then  in  office  could  not  go 
on  without  the  access'on  of  their  strength : 
and  this  mistaken  idea  had  occasioned  tlie 


unreasonable  demands  of  the  popular  lead- 
ers, which  amounted  little  short  of  a  pro- 
scription of  the  king's  most  faithful  servants. 
But  as  soon  as  the  negotiation  was  broken 
off,  and  when  they  saw  the  helm  of  state, 
which  they  had  just  fancied  to  be  within 
their  grasp,  intrusted  to  other  hands,  they 
determmed  to  rally  all  their  forces ;  to  re- 
new their  attacks  on  the  infirmities  of  the 
peace  (1) ;  to  destroy  the  credit  of  the  ma- 
gistracy, by  representing  every  step  taken 
to  preserve  good  order  as  so  many  strides  to- 
wards the  establishment  of  despotism  ;  and 
to  render  the  late  exercise  of  the  royal 
prerogative  odious. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

At  the  meeting  of  parliament  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  November,  the  king  made  a  speech 
to  both  houses,  stating,  amongst  the  usual 
matters,  as  follows : — "  To  ease  my  people  of 
some  share  of  those  burdens,  I  have  directed, 
as  I  promised  at  the  end  of  last  session  of 
parliament,  that  the  money  arising  from  the 
sales  of  the  prizes  vested  in  the  crown  should 
be  applied  to  the  public  service.  It  is  my  in- 
tention to  reserve  for  the  same  use,  whatever 
sums  shall  be  produced  by  the  sale  of  any 
of  the  lands  belonging  to  me  in  the  islands 
in  the  West  Indies,  which  were  ceded  to  us 
by  the  late  treaty." 

PROCEEDINGS  RESPECTING  WILKES. 

The  instant  the  commons  were  returned 
to  their  own  house  from  the  lords,  and  be- 
fore the  king's  speech  was  reported  to  them, 
according  to  the  usual  form,  the  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  acquainted  the  housp,  by 
his  majesty's  command,  "that  his  majesty 
having  received  information,  that  John 
Wilkes,  a  member  of  that  house,  was  the 
author  of  a  most  seditious  and  dangerous 
libel,  published  since  the  last  session  of  par- 
liament, he  had  caused  the  said  John  Wilkes 
to  be  apprehended  and  secured,  in  order  to 
his  being  tried  for  the  same,  by  due  course 
of  law  ;  and  Wilkes,  having  been  discharg- 
ed out  of  custody,  by  the  court  of  common 
pleas,  upon  account  of  his  privilege  as  a 
member  of  that  house;  and  having,  when 
called  upon  by  the  legal  process  of  the  court 
of  king's  bench,  stood  out,  and  declined  to 
appear  and  answer  to  an  information,  which 
was  exhibited  against  him,  by  his  majesty's 
attorney-general,  for  the  same  offence;  in 
this  situation  his  majesty,  being  desirous  to 
show  all  possible  attention  to  the  privileges 
of  the  house  of  commons,  in  every  instance 
wherein  they  can  be  supposed  to  be  con- 
cerned ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  thinking  it 
of  the  utmost  importance  not  to  suffer  the 
public  justice  of  the  kingdom  to  be  eludetl, 
had  chosen  to  direct  the  said  libel,  rnd  nlso 
copies  of  the  examination  upon  which  Wilkes 
was  apprehended  and  secured,  to  be  laid  be- 
fore  that  house   for    their    consideration.'^ 


76 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Grenville  concluded  this  message  with  lay- 
ing the  papers  on  the  table ;  and  with  mov- 
ing a  resolution,  to  which  the  house  unan- 
imously assented,  viz.  "  that  an  humble  ad- 
dress be  presented  to  his  majesty,  to  re- 
turn him  the  thanks  of  the  house  for  his 
most  gracious  message,  and  for  the  tender 
regard  therein  expressed  for  the  privileges 
of  the  house,  and  to  assure  his  majesty  that 
the  house  would  forthwith  take  into  their 
most  serious  consideration  the  very  important 
matter  communicated  by  his  majesty's  mes- 
sage." 

Then  the  house  proceeded  to  examine 
the  papers,  which  were  copies  of  the  North 
Briton,  No.  XLV.,  and  of  the  examinations 
of  Richard  Balfe,  the  printer,  and  of  George 
Kearsley,  the  publisher;  by  which  it  ap- 
peared, tliat  government  had  been  well 
founded  in  the  proceedings  against  Wilkes, 
as  the  author  of  that  production.  A  very 
long  and  warm  debate  ensued.  It  was 
strongly  urged  by  the  opposition,  that  no 
greater  liberties  had  been  taken  by  the  au- 
thor of  the  obnoxious  paper,  with  regard  to 
his  majesty's  speech,  than  what  had  been 
common  upon  former  occasions  of  the  same 
kind ;  and  that  the  speech  of  the  king  had 
never  been  considered  in  any  other  light 
than  that  of  the  minister,  and  had  always 
been  treated  with  equal  freedom.  But  these 
arguments  were  easily  refuted  by  a  refer- 
ence to  the  words  of  the  libel  itselfj  which 
far  surpassed,  in  the  vulgarity  of  its  abase, 
and  the  grossness  of  its  scurrilous  reflections 
on  the  king's  probity  as  well  as  his  person, 
the  most  daring  invectives  that  had  ever 
been  uttered  against  government.  It  was 
therefore  resolved  by  a  majority  of  two 
hundred  and  seventy-three,  against  one 
liundred  and  eleven,  "  that  the  paper,  en- 
titled the  North  Briton,  No.  XLV.,  is  a  false, 
scandalous,  and  seditious  libel,  containing 
expressions  of  the  most  unexampled  inso- 
lence and  contumely  towards  his  majesty, 
the  grossest  aspersions  upon  both  houses  of 
parliament,  and  the  most  audacious  defiance 
of  the  authority  of  the  whole  legislature ; 
and  most  manifestly  tending  to  alienate  the 
affections  of  the  people  from  his  majesty,  to 
withdraw  them  from  their  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  the  realm,  and  to  excite  them  to 
traitorous  insurrections." 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  an  or- 
der was  agreed  to  by  the  house,  that  the 
said  paper  should  be  burnt  by  the  hands  of 
the  common  hangman.  Wilkes,  who  had 
several  times  stood  up,  being  now  admitted 
to  speak,  complained  to  the  house  of  breach 
of  privilege,  by  the  imprisonment  of  his  per- 
son, the  plundering  of  his  house,  the  seiz- 
ure of  his  papers,  and  the  serving  him  with 
a  subpoena  upon  an  information  in  the  court 
of  king's  bench.    As  no  legal  conviction  yet 


lay  against  Wilkes,  of  his  being  the  author 
of  the  paper,  his  complaint  was  perfectly- 
regular.  A  more  particular  hearing  of  it,  and 
the  farther  consideration  of  the  king's  mes- 
sage, were  adjourned  to  the  twenty-third  of 
November. 

The  commons  met  on  the  sLxteenth.  The 
address  contained  nothing  remarkable,  ex- 
cept the  congratulations  of  the  house  on  the 
auspicious  birth  of  another  prince,  and  on 
the  queen's  happy  recovery. 

PRIVILEGES  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  November,  the 
commons  resumed  the  adjourned  considera- 
tion of  his  majesty's  message  of  the  fifteenth ; 
and  a  motion  was  made,  "  That  privilege  of 
parliament  does  not  extend  to  the  case  of 
writing  and  publishing  seditious  libels,  nor 
ought  to  be  allowed  to  obstruct  the  ordinary 
course  of  the  laws,  in  the  speedy  and  effec- 
tual prosecution  of  so  heinous  and  dangerous 
an  offence."  As  this  resolution  tended  to 
confine  within  narrower  limits  the  supposed 
privileges  of  every  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture, and  was  also  diametrically  opposite  to 
the  late  determination  of  the  court  of  com- 
mon pleas,  the  ministry  were  deserted  by  a 
few  of  their  usual  supporters,  and  the  oppo- 
sition made  a  vigorous,  though  finally  inef- 
fectual stand  against  it.  Pitt  exerted  him- 
self with  extraordinary  ardor  in  this  debate ;  ^ 
and  as  the  extent  of  his  concejitions,  the 
acuteness  of  his  remarks,  nrsd  the  powers  of 
his  eloquence,  left  very  little  to  be  i'aid  by  any 
other  person,  on  the  same  side  of  the  ques- 
tion, his  speech,  which  has  been  faithfully 
preserved,  precludes  every  vain  attempt  to 
give  a  more  impressive  form  to  the  chief  ar- 
guments that  were  urged  against  the  sur- 
render of  privilege. 

He  represented  such  a  surrender  "as 
highly  dangerous  to  the  freedom  of  parlia- 
ment, and  an  infringement  on  the  rights  of 
the  people.  No  man,"  he  said,  "  could  con- 
demn the  paper  or  libel  more  than  he  did  ; 
but  he  would  come  at  the  author  fiiirly, — not 
by  an  open  breach  of  the  constitution,  and  a 
contempt  of  all  restraint.  This  proposed 
sacrifice  of  privilege  was  putting  every  mem- 
ber of  parliament,  who  did  not  vote  with  the 
minister,  under  a  perpetual  terror  of  impris- 
onment. To  talk  of  an  abuse  of  privilege, 
was  to  talk  against  the  constitution,  against 
the  very  being  and  life  of  parliament.  It 
was  an  arraignment  of  the  justice  and  honor 
of  parliament,  to  suppose  that  they  would 
protect  any  criminal  whatever.  Whenever 
a  complaint  was  made  against  any  member, 
the  house  could  give  him  up.  This  privilege 
had  never  been  abused :  it  had  been  reposed 
in  parliament  for  ages.  But  take  away  this 
privilege,  and  the  whole  parliament  is  laid 
at  the  mercy  of  the  crown.  Why,"  contin- 
ued he,  "  is  a  privilege,  which  has  never 


GEORGE  IIL   1760—1820. 


77 


been  abused,  to  be  voted  away  ]  Parliament 
has  no  right  to  vote  away  its  privileges. 
They  are  the  inherent  right  of  the  succeed- 
ing members  of  this  house,  as  well  as  of  the 
present  members;  and  I  very  much  doubt 
whether  a  sacrifice  made  by  this  house  is 
valid  and  conclusive  against  the  claim  of  a 
future  parliament." 

With  respect  to  the  paper  itself,  or  the 
libel  which  had  given  pretence  for  this  re- 
quest to  surrender  the  privileges  of  parlia- 
ment, he  observed  that  the  house  had  alrea- 
dy voted  it  a  libel — he  joined  in  that  vote. 
He  condemned  the  whole  series  of  North 
Britons :  he  called  them  illiberal,  unmanly, 
and  detestable.  He  abhorred  all  national  re- 
flections. "The  king's  subjects,"  he  said, 
"  were  one  people.  Whoever  divided  them 
was  guilty  of  sedition.  His  majesty's  com- 
{)laint  was  well  founded :  it  was  just :  it  was 
necessary.  The  author  did  not  deserve  to 
be  ranked  among  the  human  species — he 
was  the  blasphemer  of  his  God  (3)  and  the 
libeller  of  his  king.  He  had  no  connexion 
with  him:  he  had  no  connexion  with  any 
«uch  writer :  he  neither  associated  nor  com- 
municated with  any  such.  It  was  true  that 
he  had  friendships,  and  warm  ones :  he  had 
obligations,  and  great  ones :  but  no  friend- 
ships, no  obligations  could  induce  him  to  ap- 
prove what  he  firmly  condemned.  It  might 
be  supposed,  that  he  alluded  to  his  noble  re- 
lation [lord  Temple].  He  was  proud  to  call 
"him  his  relation :  he  was  his  friend,  his  bo- 
som friend,  whose  fidelity  was  as  unshaken 
as  his  virtue.  They  went  into  office  together, 
and  they  came  out  together :  they  had  lived 
together,  and  would  die  together.  He  knew 
nothing  of  any  connexion  with  the  writer  of 
the  libel.  If  there  subsisted  any,  he  was  to- 
tally unacquainted  with  it.  The  dignity,  the 
honor  of  parliament  had  been  called  upon  to 
5?npport  and  protect  the  purity  of  his  majes- 
ty's character ;  and  this  they  had  done  by  a 
strong  and  decisive  condemnation  of  the 
libel  which  his  majesty  had  submitted  to  the 
consideration  of  the  house.  But  having  done 
tliis,  it  was  neither  consistent  with  the  honor 
and  safety  of  parliament,  nor  with  the  rights 
and  interests  of  the  people,  to  go  one  step 
farther.  The  rest  belonged  to  the  courts 
below." 

The  other  arguments  made  use  of  by  the 
opposers  of  the  resolution  were  little  more 
than  repetitions  of  the  doctrine  so  lately  con- 
firmed by  the  court  of  king's  bench ;  that 
the  privilege  of  parliament  extended  to  all 
cases,  except  treason,  felony,  and  those  of- 
fences in  which  sureties  of  the  peace  might 
be  demanded  ;  that  libels  were  breaches  of 
the  peace  only  by  inference,  and  by  construc- 
tion, not  actually,  and  in  their  own  nature ; 
that  this  doctrine  was  supported  by  the  high- 
est law  authorities,  by  the  records  of  parlia- 
7* 


ment,  and  particularly  by  two  plain  resolu- 
tions of  the  house  of  peers,  so  far  as  the 
question  concerned  their  privilege ;  and  that 
to  relax  the  rule  of  privilege,  case  by  case, 
would  be  attended  with  the  greatest  incon- 
venience, by  rendering  the  rule  itself  pre- 
carious, in  consequence  of  which  the  judges 
would  neither  know  how  to  decide  with  cer- 
tainty, nor  the  subject  to  proceed  with  safety 
in  this  doubtfiil  and  perilous  business. 

With  whatever  plausibility  and  eloquence 
Pitt  and  his  party  endeavored  to  support 
these  opinions,  the  advocates  for  tlie  motion 
very  fully  demonstrated  their  fallacy,  and 
established  the  contrary  doctrine  on  every 
ground  of  popularity,  liberty,  law,  precedent, 
and  reason.  They  first  took  a  view  of  the 
nature  of  the  offence,  and  showed  that  a 
libel  was  not  only  productive  of  consequences 
injurious  to  the  peace  of  individuals,  but  in 
many  cases,  pregnant  with  danger  to  the 
safety,  and  to  the  very  being  of  the  common- 
wealth. They  asserted,  that  the  distinction 
between  actual  and  constructive  breaches 
of  the  peace  was  trifling  and  sophistical : 
that  the  question  was  concerning  the  nature 
and  weight  of  the  offence,  and  not  the  name 
by  v/hich  it  was  called :  that  it  would  be 
ridiculous  to  allow  a  seditious  libeller  advan- 
tages which  were  denied  to  an  ordmary 
breaker  of  the  peace,  when  sedition  was  a 
crime  of  much  greater  guilt  and  importance 
than  a  menacing  gesture,  or  even  an  actual 
assault:  that  the  privOege  of  parliament 
was  a  privilege  of  a  civil  nature,  instituted 
to  preserve  the  member  from  being  distract- 
ed in  his  attention  to  the  business  of  the  na- 
tion, by  litigations  concerning  his  private 
property,  but  by  no  means  to  prove  a  protec- 
tion for  crimes.  "  If,"  said  they,  "  this  dis- 
tinction of  breaches  of  the  peace  were  to 
hold,  members  of  parliament  might  not  only 
libel  public  and  private  persons  with  impu- 
nity, but  might,  with  the  same  unpunity, 
commit  many  other  misdemeanors  and  of- 
fences of  the  grossest  nature,  and  the  most 
destructive  to  morality  and  order ;  because 
they,  as  well  as  libels,  are  breaches  of  the 
peace,  but  by  construction,  and  in  their  con- 
sequence. If  privilege  were  of  this  nature, 
the  freedom  of  the  members  would  be  the 
slavery  of  the  subject,  and  the  danger  of  the 
state. 

"Privilege  of  parliament,"  they  added, 
"  being  defined  solely  by  the  discretion  of 
either  house  for  itself,  was  a  matter  of  the 
most  delicate  nature :  it  was  therefore  to  be 
used  with  the  utmost  moderation.  If  it  should 
be  so  exercised  as  to  appear  incompatible 
with  the  public  peace  or  order,  or  even,  per- 
haps, with  the  safety  and  quiet  of  individu- 
als, the  people  might  come  to  think  that 
they  lived  under  a  constitution,  injudicious- 
ly, and  even  absurdly  framed,  in  which  the 


78 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


personal  liberty  of  the  representatives  of  a 
free  people  might  become  inconsistent  with 
their  own.  That  the  house,  instead  of  en- 
larging- its  immunities  beyond  their  original 
intention  and  spirit, — instead  of  claiming  an 
invidious  and  no  very  honorable  privilege, 
ought  to  stand  forward  in  giving  a  noble  ex- 
ample of  its  moderation  and  its  regard  to 
justice.  By  agreeing  to  the  resolution,  it 
would  give  this  practical  lesson,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  this  comfortable  security  to  the 
people,  that  no  situation  was  a  sanctuary  for 
those  who  presumed  to  violate  the  law  in 
any  of  its  parts." 

Such  were  some  of  the  chief  points  in- 
sisted on  by  those  who  justified  the  proposed 
resolution ;  and  the  debate  being  adjourned 
till  next  day,  the  question  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five. 
One  of  the  members  was  then  nominated  to 
go  up  to  the  house  of  lords,  to  desire  a  con- 
ference for  obtaining  the  concurrence  of 
their  lordships ;  which  was  accordingly 
granted ;  and  their  lordships,  in  a  few  days 
after,  agreed  to  the  resolution,  though  not 
without  a  more  obstinate  and  violent  strug- 
gle than  even  that  which  had  taken  place  in 
tiie  commons.  The  protest,  signed  by  sev- 
enteen of  them,  affords  a  proof  of  what  has 
been  already  remarked,  tliat  Mr.  Pitt  left 
very  little  room  for  the  display  of  novelty 
or  of  originality  on  that  side  of  the  question. 
But  the  speech  of  lord  Lyttleton  in  support 
of  the  resolution  and  published  by  himself, 
though  less  ardent  than  Pitt's,  has  been  gen- 
erally deemed  more  convincing  and  unan- 
swerable. 

NORTH  BRITON  BURNED  BY  THE  COM- 
MON HANGMAN. 

The  majority  of  the  lords  concurred  in 
the  resolution  of  the  commons  on  the  ques- 
tion of  privilege,  and  in  other  resolutions  of 
the  lower  house  relative  to  the  libel; — in 
the  order  for  its  being  burned  by  the  com- 
mon hangman ;  and  in  the  propriety  of  ad- 
dressing the  king  to  testify  their  indignation 
at  such  unparalleled  insolence. 

But  though  both  houses  of  parliament,  ac- 
tuated by  the  strongest  motives  of  loyalty 
and  of  true  patriotism,  had  resolved  that  no 
plea  of  privilege  should  obstruct  the  regular 
course  of  justice  in  matters  of  such  high 
concern  to  the  public,  and  had  also  ordered 
the  North  Briton,  No.  XLV.  to  be  burned 
by  the  common  hangman;  yet,  v/hen  tliis 
order  was  on  the  point  of  being  executed  at 
the  Royal  Exchange,  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  the  city  .sheriffs,  Ilarley  and 
Blunt,  the  mob  became  so  riotous  as  to  rescue 
the  paper  from  the  executioner  before  it  was 
consumed,  and  to  fling  a  billet  snatched  from 
the  fire  at  Harley's  chariot,  in  consequence 
of  wliich  he  was  slightly  wounded.  This 
riot  being  reported  to  the  lords  and  com- 


mons, they  took  up  the  matter  with  becom- 
ing seriousness ;  and  resolved,  after  the  lord* 
had  examined  Harley,  "that  the  rioters 
were  perturbators  of  the  public  peace,  dan- 
gerous to  the  liberties  of  this  country,  and 
obstructors  of  the  national  justice."  The 
sheriffs,  at  the  same  time,  had  the  thanks  of 
parliament  for  their  spirited  conduct  on  the 
occasion;  and  both  houses  unanimously 
joined  in  an  address  to  his  majesty,  that  he 
would  give  directions  for  the  discovery  of 
the  rioters. 
DUEL  BETWEEN  MARTIN  AND  WILKES- 

After  these  steps,  taken  by  the  whole 
legislative  body,  to  brand  the  libel  itself  with 
the  strongest  marks  of  their  abhorrence,  the 
commons  proceeded  in  the  complaint  against 
Wilkes  as  the  author  of  it.  But  their  earn- 
estness in  the  prosecution  was  for  some  tune 
checked  by  an  accident,  which,  though  per- 
ilous to  Wilkes,  proved  very  useful  to  his 
party,  by  keeping  the  hopes  and  spirit  of  the 
mob  alive,  which  would  probably  have  ex- 
pired under  an  early  and  final  decision  of 
the  house  against  him.  In  the  course  of  the 
first  day's  debate  on  the  kmg's  message  re- 
specting the  libel,  Samuel  Martin,  member 
of  parliament  for  Camelford,  and  late  first 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  whose  character 
had  been  virulently  attacked  in  some  of  the 
early  numbers  of  the  North  Briton,  took  an 
opportunity  of  remarking,  "  that  the  author 
of  these  papers  was  a  malignant  and  mfa- 
mous  coward."  When  the  house  was  up, 
Wilkes  sent  a  note  to  Martin,  acknowledg- 
ing himself  to  be  the  author.  A  duel  with 
pistols  ensued,  in  which  Wilkes  was  so  dan- 
gerously wounded,  that  he  could  not  appear 
in  the  house  of  commons,  when  the  matter 
of  his  complaint  was  to  be  heard.  In  con- 
sequence, therefore,  of  a  letter  from  Wilkes 
to  the  speaker,  requestmg  that  the  farther 
consideration  of  his  case  might  be  deferred 
until  he  was  able  to  attend,  tlie  commons 
put  off"  the  hearing  of  evidence  on  the 
charge  against  him  as  the  author  of  the  li- 
bel ;  but  decided  the  other  questions  resjxDct- 
ing  the  plea  of  privilege,  and  the  criminality 
of  the  paper,  as  has  been  already  related. 
MARRIAGE  OF  THE  PRINCESS  AUGUSTA. 

During  this  delay  of  the  direct  proceed- 
ings of  the  commons  against  Wilkes,  tiiey 
received  another  message  from  the  king,  to 
inform  them  that  his  majesty,  having  re- 
ceived proposals  for  a  marriage  between  the 
princess  Augusta  and  tlie  hereditary  prince 
of  Brunswick,  had  agreed  to  the  same  ;  and 
as  he  could  not  doubt  but  that  sucli  an  alli- 
ance would  be  to  the  general  satisfaction  of 
all  his  subjects,  he  promised  himself  the  as- 
sistance of  that  house,  to  enable  him  to  give 
his  eldest  sister  a  portion  suitable  to  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  the  crown.  The  com- 
mons, tlierefore,  as  well  as  the  lords,  to 


GEORGE  ni.    1760—1820. 


79 


whom  the  like  information  was  communi- 
cated, unanimously  resolved  to  address  the 
king  to  declare  their  entire  satisfection  at 
the  prospect  of  an  alliance  with  so  illustri- 
ous a  Protestant  family,  which  had  so  sig- 
nally distinguished  itself  in  the  defence  of 
the  liberties  of  Europe.  The  address  was 
presented  by  the  whole  house;  and  they 
voted  eighty  thousand  pounds  as  a  dowry  to 
her  royal  highness.  The  prince  arrived  in 
England  the  twelfth  of  January  following  : 
the  nuptials  were  celebrated  on  the  evening 
of  the  sixteenth,  in  the  most  splendid  man- 
ner. 

GENERAL  WARRANTS  DECLARED  IL- 
LEGAL. 
Mr.  Wilkes,  though  confined  by  his 
\vound,  and  almost  deserted  by  his  party  in 
both  houses  of  parliament,  made  an  effort  of 
another  kind,  which  was  crowned  with  tem- 
porary success.  Encouraged  by  the  verdicts 
which  had  been  given  in  favor  of  several 
persons  taken  up,  like  himself,  on  general 
warrants,  he  commenced  an  action  in  the 
court  of  common  pleas,  against  Robert 
Wood,  Esq.  the  late  under-secretary  of  state, 
for  seizing  his  papers ;  and  on  the  sixth  of 
December,  after  a  hearing  of  near  fifteen 
hours,  before  lord  chief-justice  Pratt,  and  a 
special  jury,  he  obtained  a  verdict  with  lOOOZ. 
damages,  and  costs  of  suit.  In  the  charge 
given  on  this  occasion  by  the  judge  to  the 
jury,  his  lordship  pronounced  the  warrant, 
under  which  Wilkes  had  been  apprehended, 
unconstitutional,  illegal,  and  absolutely  void ; 
but  he  also  declared,  that  he  was  far  from 
wishing  a  matter  of  such  consequence 
should  rest  solely  on  his  opinion,  as  he  was 
only  one, of  the  twelve  judges,  and  as  there 
was  also  a  still  higher  court,  before  which 
tlie  question  might  be  canvassed.  "  If,"  said 
he,  "these  higher  jurisdictions  should  de- 
clare my  opinion  erroneous,  I  submit,  as  will 
become  me,  and  kiss  the  rod :  but  I  must 
Fay,  I  shall  always  consider  it  as  a  rod  of 
iron  for  the  chastisement  of  the  people  of 
Great  Britain."  It  is  but  justice  to  so  truly 
respectable  a  character  to  observe,  in  direct 
contradiction  to  the  insinuations  at  that  time 
thrown  out  by  some  of  the  intemperate 
friends  of  the  ministry,  that  this  opinion  was 
not  tinctured  with  party  spirit,  nor  influ- 
enced by  party  attachments.  It  was  the  re- 
sult of  the  most  profound  knowledge,  and 
of  the  fullest  conviction  (4).  It  was  the  very 
opinion,  which  this  great  lawyer,  when  at- 
torney-general, had  stated,  with  equal  can- 
dor and  firmness,  to  Pitt,  who  was  at  that 
time  secretary  of  state,  and  who,  notwith- 
standing his  learned  friend's  declaration 
against  the  legality  of  general  warrants, 
thought  himself  justified  by  the  practice  of 
office,  and  by  the  exigency  of  the  occasion, 
in  having  recourse  to  such  extraordinary  acts 


of  power.  So  solemn  a  decision  was  con- 
sidered by  the  opposition  as  a  matter  of  great 
triumph. 

WILKES  AVOIDS  THE  HOUSE  OF  COM- 
MONS. 
On  the  sixteenth  of  December,  the  house 
of  commons,  being  tired  out  by  repeated  de- 
lays of  Wilkes's  appearance  on  account  of 
his  wound,  and  suspecting  that  there  might 
be  some  collusion  between  him  and  such  of 
the  faculty  as  attended  him,  made  an  order 
that  doctor  Heberden  and  Mr.  Hawkins,  the 
former  a  physician  and  the  latter  a  surgeon, 
should  observe  the  progress  of  his  cure,  and 
report  their  opinion  to  the  house.  Wilkes 
declined  to  admit  them,  though  he  had  be- 
fore received  their  visits  at  the  request  of 
Martin.  But  in  justification  of  the  charac- 
ters of  his  own  medical  attendants,  and  of 
the  reports  they  had  made  from  tune  to  time 
of  the  state  of  his  health,  he  sent  for  doctor 
Duncan,  one  of  his  majesty's  surgeons  in 
ordinary,  and  Middleton,  one  of  his  majes- 
ty's Serjeant  surgeons,  observing,  in  his 
usual  strain  of  sarcastic  humor,  "  that,  as 
he  found  the  house  of  commons  thought  it 
proper  he  should  be  watched,  he  himself 
thought  two  Scotchmen  most  proper  for  his 
spies."  It  seems,  however,  that  the  superior 
powers  of  Scotch  surgery,  or  the  kind  care 
and  concern  of  the  house  of  commons  for 
Wilkes's  speedy  recovery,  had  the  happiest 
eifect :  for  the  house  having,  on  the  twen- 
tieth of  December,  adjourned  during  the 
Christmas  holidays,  Wilkes  found  himself 
well  enough,  on  the  twenty-fourth,  to  set 
out  for  France,  in  order  to  visit  his  daugh- 
ter, who,  he  said,  was  then  dangerously  ill 
at  Paris.  The  truth  is,  that  Wilkes,  very 
justly  intimidated  by  the  decision  of  all  the 
preliminary  questions  relative  to  his  case, 
and  by  the  sentence  passed  on  his  seditious 
libel,  seized  the  present  opportunity  aflforded 
him  by  the  adjournment  of  the  conmions,  to 
make  his  escape. 

During  the  recess,  it  was  very  confidently 
asserted  by  several  of  Wilkes's  friends,  that 
he  would  attend  the  house  on  the  nineteenth 
of  January,  which  was  the  last  day  fixed  for 
his  appearance.  But,  when  that  day  arrived, 
the  speaker  produced  a  letter  he  had  receiv- 
ed by  the  post  from  Wilkes  at  Paris,  stating 
the  impossibility  of  his  attending  his  duty 
in  parliament  at  the  time  required,  with  a 
paper  inclosed,  purporting  to  be  a  certificate 
of  one  of  the  French  king's  physicians,  and 
of  a  surgeon  of  the  French  army,  relatmg 
to  the  state  of  Wilkes's  health,  but  not  au- 
thenticated before  a  notary  public,  nor  the 
signature  thereof  verified  in  any  manner. 
Those  papers  being  read,  some  medical  gen- 
tlemen, wlio  attended  according  to  order, 
were  called  in  and  interrogated  at  the  bar. 
It  appeai-ed  by  their  testimony,  that  Wilkes 


80 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


had  refused  to  admit  surgeons  appointed  by 
that  house  to  examine  into  the  state  of  his 
wounds ;  and  his  retreat  into  France  rather 
indicating  a  distrust  of  his  cause,  than  any- 
thing amiss  in  his  constitution,  the  house  re- 
solved,  that  in  so  doing,  he  was  guilty  of  a 
contempt  of  their  authority,  and  that  they 
would  therefore  proceed  to  hear  the  evidence 
in  support  of  the  charge  against  him.  They 
considered  the  letter  and  the  apology  he  had 
sent  for  his  non-appearance,  together  with 
the  certificate  that  accompanied  it,  as  quite 
nugatory.  If  his  wound  had  been  in  the  con 
dition  in  which  he  represented  it,  a  journey 
to  Paris  was  a  strange  measure ;  and  the 
consequences  arose  from  his  own  voluntary 
act 

WILKES  EXPELLED. 

After  the  examination  of  the  witnesses 
against  Wilkes  had  been  entered  upon  by 
the  house,  repeated  efforts  were  made  by  a 
few  of  his  friends  to  interrupt,  or  to  procure 
an  adjournment  of  the  farther  hearing  of  evi 
dence  :  but,  to  no  purpose.  The  witnesses 
were  all  successively  called  in ;  and  their 
information  appearing  satisfactory  as  to  the 
author  of  the  libel,  on  the  atrocious  crimi- 
nality of  which  the  house  had  already  passed 
sentence,  the  expulsion  of  Wilkes  was  voted 
by  a  very  considerable  majority ;  and  a  new 
writ  was  ordered  for  electing  another  mem- 
ber for  Aylesbury  in  his  room. 

To  complete  the  degradation  of  this  late 
idol  of  the  populace,  a  book,  entitled  "  An 
Essay  on  Woman,"  which  he  had  privately 
printed  and  dispersed  among  his  friends,  was 
presented  by  one  of  the  secretaries  of  state 
to  the  house  of  lords.  This  book,  full  of  the 
most  indecent  and  profane  ribaldry,  reflected 
on  the  character  of  a  right  reverend  member 
of  that  house  (5),  whose  vast  extent  of  eru- 
dition and  genius  added  dignity  and  lustre 
to  his  high  station.  The  peers  proceeded 
against  the  author  for  a  breach  of  privilege, 
while  he  was  indicted  in  the  courts  below 
for  blasphemy.  The  warmest  of  his  former 
advocates  were  now  ashamed  to  utter  a  word 
m  his  favor ;  and  even  the  mob,  though  they 
did  not  disrelish  faction,  could  not  digest 
profaneness:  they  could  forgive  party-malice, 
but  were  shocked  at  offences  against  morali- 
ty, religion,  and  common  decency.  Wilkes 
was  soon  run  to  an  outlawry  for  not  appear- 
ing to  the  indictments  against  him  ;  and  the 
suits,  which  he  had  carried  on  against  the 
secretaries  of  state,  fell  of  course  to  the 
ground. 

GENERAL  WARRANTS. 

So  far  the  triumph  of  the  ministry  was 
complete.  Sentence  was  passed  on  the  cause, 
as  well  as  on  the  person  of  their  most  ma- 
il £-nant  slanderer.  But  the  secretaries  of 
state  were  soon  attacked  on  a  point,  which 
could  hardly  be  defended  by  the  utmost  ex- 


ertions of  their  strength  and  influence.  On 
the  fourteenth  of  February,  a  motion  wa? 
made  in  the  house  of  commons,  "  that  a  gen- 
eral warrant  for  apprehending  and  seizing 
the  authors,  printers,  and  publishers  of  a  se- 
ditious libel,  together  with  their  papers,  was 
not  warranted  by  law."  The  friends  of  ad- 
ministration were  far  from  vindicating  the 
practice  of  general  warrants ;  but  they 
thought  that  the  abuse  of  them  could  not  be 
effectually  prevented  by  a  resolution  of  one 
branch  of  the  legislature  on  a  single  case, 
and  that  the  remedy  should  be  provided  by 
an  act  of  parliament,  distinguishing  cases, 
and  specifying  those  discretionary  powers, 
which  the  contingent  exigencies  of  govern- 
ment might  require  to  be  vested  in  a  secre- 
tary of  state.  They  also  insisted  very  strong- 
ly on  the  impropriety  of  deciding  in  the  house 
of  commons  a  question  then  depending  in  a 
court  of  judicature.  It  was  thus  they  en- 
deavored to  ward  off  the  intended  blow  ;  and 
having,  though  by  a  small  majority,  procured 
an  adjournment  of  the  question  till  the  seven- 
teenth, one  of  their  friends  moved,  that  after 
the  words,  "  That  a  general  warrant  for  ap- 
prehending and  seizing  the  authors,  printers, 
and  publishers  of  a  seditious  and  treasonable 
libel,  together  with  their  papers  is  not  war- 
ranted by  law ;"  might  be  added,  "  although 
such  warrant  had  been  issued  according  to 
the  usage  of  office,  and  hath  been  frequently 
produced  to,  and,  so  far  as  appears  to  this 
house,  the  validity  thereof  hath  never  been 
debated  in  the  court  of  king's  bench,  but  the 
parties  thereupon  have  been  freq^ently  bailed 
by  the  said  court"  This  state  of  the  ques- 
tion subjected  it  to  new  and  insurmountable 
difficulties,  because  a  resolution  of  the  com- 
mons, so  worded,  would  imply  no  less  than 
an  imputation  of  perjury  on  the  court  of 
king's  bench,  for  admitting  to  bail  persons 
committed  upon  such  illegal  warrants,  in- 
stead of  giving  them  a  free  discharge.  It 
was  likewise  thought  a  little  extraordinary, 
that  the  word  "  treasonable,"  contained  in 
the  earl  of  Halifax's  general  warrant,  was 
omitted  in  the  original  motion.  After  a  very 
long  and  warm  debate,  it  was  carried,  that 
the  farther  consideration  of  the  question 
should  be  adjourned  for  four  months,  which 
was,  in  the  usual  phrase,  civilly  dismissing 
it  The  minority,  however,  on  this  point 
was  so  very  considerable,  being  two  hundred 
and  twenty  against  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
four,  that  the  ministry  may  rather  be  said  to 
have  escaped  than  conquered.  The  whole 
fabric  of  their  power  seemed  to  be  shaken 
by  this  contest ;  but  the  progress  of  the  ses- 
sion showed  that  the  formidable  numbers  of 
their  opponents  were  mustered  only  on  this 
single  occasion.  On  all  others  there  was  no 
great  difficulty ;  and  the  whole  scheme  of 
the  supplies  in  particular  met  with  the  most 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


81 


perfect  acquiescence.  A  short  account  of 
the  plan,  on  which  they  were  raised,  will 
show  how  far  they  were  deserving  of  gene- 
ral approbation. 

NEW  PLAN  OF  SUPPLIES. 
In  contriving  this  new  scheme,  the  minis- 
try found  means  to  cut  oft'  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal sources  of  popular  clamor.    Agreeably 
to  the  principles  which  they  had  laid  down 
in  the  former  session,  in  which  they  declared 
for  the  most  sparing  use  of  taxation,  and 
from  the  experience  concerning  the  taxes 
they  had  then  ventured  to  propose,  they  now 
resolved  neither  to  open  a  loan,  nor  to  have 
recourse  to  a  lottery ;  though   it  is  well 
known,  that,  in  some  respects,  these  loans 
and  lotteries  afford  no  unpleasing  opportuni- 
ties to  a  minister  of  obliging  his  friends,  and 
strengthening  his  coimexions.     The  objects, 
to  which  they  confined  their  attention,  were 
first,  the  settlement  of  exchequer-bills  to  the 
amount  of  one  million  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  which  had  been  issued  by  vir- 
tue of  an  act  passed  in  the  preceding  year, 
and  then  made  chargeable  on  the  first  aids 
to  be  granted  in  the  present  session ;  second- 
ly, the  discharge  of  two  millions  of  a  debt 
contracted  on  account  of  the  war,  and  which 
still  remained  to  be  satisfied ;  and,  thirdly, 
the  ways  and  means  for  the  service  of  the 
ensuing  year.     As  the  bank  contract  was  to 
be  renewed,  the  treasury  availed  itself  very 
prudently  of  so  favorable  a  conjuncture,  and 
stipulated  that  this  body  should  take  a  mil- 
lion of  the  exchequer-bills  for  two  years,  at 
an  interest  reduced  by  one-fourth,  and  should 
also  pay  a  fine,  on  the  renewal,  of  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  thousand  pounds.     This  was 
certainly  the  most  beneficial  contract  ever 
bafore  made  with  that  corporation,  whose 
vast  money  trade  is  supported  by  the  credit 
of  government.     For  the  rest  of  the   ex 
chequer-bills,  they  struck  new  ones.     They 
brought  to  the  service  of  the  nation  about 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-three  thousand 
pounds,  the  produce  of  the  French  prizes 
taken  before   the  declaration  of  war,  and 
which  the  king  generously  bestowed  upon 
the  public.     They  also  brought  to  account 
what  had  been  long  neglected,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  service,  and  the  reproach  of 
former  administrations,  the  saving  on  the 
non-effective  men  ;  and  this  saving  amount- 
ed to  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  pounds. 
With  these  resources,  with  the  land-tax  now 
grown  into  a  settled  and  permanent  revenue 
of  four  shillings  in  the  pound,  with  the  duty 
nrtoii  malt,  with  two  millions  taken  from  the 
sinking  flmd,  being  the  overplus  of  that  fund, 
joined  to  some  other  savings,  they  paid  off 
the  before-mentioned  debt,  and  provided  for 
the  current  service  in  all  its  establishments 
and  contingencies.    They  justified  their  em- 
ployment of  the  overplus  of  the  sinking  fund 


by  former  precedents,  by  the  propriety  and 
wisdom  of  the  measure  itself,  but  principal- 
ly on  the  credit  of  having  augmented  ii  by 
near  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  in  the 
single  article  of  tea,  an  immense  quantity 
of  which  had  been  brought  to  pay  duty  by 
the  prudent  measures  taken  for  the  preven- 
tion of  smuggling,  and  the  vigilant  collec- 
tion of  the  revenue. 

Nothing  could  more  evidently  demonstrate 
the  malignant  purpose  of  those  writers  than 
their  total  silence.  The  points  which  did 
the  ministry  indisputable  honor,  were  the 
application  of  the  French  prize-money  by 
the  favor  of  the  crown,  at  a  time  when  there 
were,  perhaps,  other  calls,  plausible  and 
pressing  enough,  to  divert  it  another  way ; 
the  beneficial  contract  with  the  bank,  by 
which  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  pounda 
were  brought  to  the  service  of  the  year,  be- 
sides the  transfer  and  delayed  payment  at 
reduced  interest  of  a  million  of  exchequer- 
bills;  and  the  saving  on  the  non-effective 
men,  which  amounted  to  so  large  a  sum ; 
were  matters  of  such  striking  merit  and  im- 
portance, that  none  but  the  devoted  tools  of 
a  party  could  pass  them  over  unnoticed. 

Among  the  ways  and  means  of  this  session 
were  some  regulations  of  the  American 
trade,  and  some  duties  imposed  on  various 
articles  of  import  and  export  in  that  exten- 
sive sphere  of  commerce,  which,  though 
they  occasioned  but  little  debate  at  the 
time,  proved  very  soon  afterwards  a  source 
of  the  most  violent  contests,  and  gradually 
led  to  all  the  horrors  and  calamities  of  a 
civil  war. 

The  fourteenth  resolution  of  the  commit- 
tee of  ways  and  means,  which  stated,  "  that 
towards  farther  defraying  the  said  expenses, 
it  might  be  proper  to  charge  certain  stamp 
duties  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations," 
was  thrown  out,  or  rather  postponed  to  the 
next  session,  in  order  to  give  the  coloniea 
an  opportunity  of  petitioning  against  it, 
should  they  deem  it  exceptionable,  and  of 
offering  some  equivalent  for  the  supposed 
produce  of  such  a  tax. 

But  a  bill  was  passed  for  restraining  the 
increase  of  paper  money  in  the  colonies,  by 
declaring  that  any  such  paper,  which  might 
be  in  future  issued  there,  should  not  be  con- 
sidered as  a  legal  tender  in  payment  It  is 
remarkable,  that  all  those  measures,  many 
of  which  were  extremely  delicate  and  haz- 
ardous, were  proposed,  acquiesced  in,  and 
passed  into  laws,  without  the  least  animad- 
version, as  if  the  leaders  of  party,  who  had 
been  so  clamarous  about  trifles,  anticipated 
with  silent  joy  the  fatal  issue  of  such  experi- 
ments, and  looked  upon  them  as  the  probable 
means  of  introducing  themselves  into  power, 
even  through  the  distresses  and  convulsions 
of  the  whole  empire. 


82 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Among  the  bills  prepared  for  the  royal 
assent  at  the  close  of  the  session  on  the 
eighteenth  of  April,  was  one  which  had  for 
its  object  the  increase  of  the  revenue  of  the 
post-office,  by  correcting  and  restraining 
abuses  and  frauds  in  the  practice  of  frank- 
ing. Upon  the  whole,  it  was  estimated  that 
the  loss  to  the  revenue,  in  consequence  of 
franking  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty thousand  pounds  annually.  It  there- 
fore became  necessary  for  a  government, 
which  valued  itself  upon  economy,  to  check 
those  abuses,  and  to  regulate  the  privilege. 
It  was  made  felony  and  transportation  for 
seven  years  to  forge  a  frank. 

GENERAL  CONWAY  DISMISSED. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  make  any  remarks 
on  the  speech,  with  which  his  majesty  closed 
this  session,  as  it  contained  only  the  usual 
return  of  thanks  to  both  houses  for  their 
wise  and  public-spirited  exertions ;  a  renewal 
of  the  assurances  which  his  majesty  contin- 
ued to  receive  of  the  pacific  sentiments  of 
foreign  powers ;  and  an  exhortation  to  em- 
ploy this  season  of  tranquillity  in  considering 
of  the  most  effectual  means  for  perfecting 
the  works  of  peace,  so  happily  begun.  Thus 
ended  the  parliamentary  campaign  for  this 
season ;  and  the  ministry,  to  whose  duration 
a  very  short  date  had  been  assigned  by  their 
adversaries,  not  only  weathered  the  storms 
of  the  session,  but  seemed  to  gather  new 
strength  to  contend  with  future  tempests. 
In  the  moment  of  triumph,  and  of  indigna- 
tion also  at  those  who  had  deserted  them  in 
the  hour  of  greatest  danger,  they  showed 
their  power  and  resentment,  perhaps  too  in- 
discreetly, by  dismissing  some  persons  of 


high  military  rank  from  the  service,  and, 
among  the  rest,  lieutenant-general  Conway, 
an  officer  of  distinguished  merit  and  abili- 
ties. So  harsh  a  step  admitted,  however, 
of  some  little  excuse.  In  the  debate  on 
general  warrants,  the  division  in  the  com- 
mons ran  so  near,  as  before  observed,  that 
the  ministry  carried  the  question  only  by  a 
majority  of  fourteen.  Had  the  question 
been  decided  in  favor  of  the  opposition,  the 
monument  was  to  have  been  illuminated  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  year  1732,  when 
the  famous  excise  scheme  was  defeated; 
and  the  greatest  testimonies  of  joy  were  to 
have  been  displayed.  Preparations  for  those 
purposes  having  been  openly  made,  were 
considered  as  so  many  insults  upon  govern- 
ment; and  however  the  zeal  of  the  citizens 
or  of  the  uninformed  populace  might  influ- 
ence them,  it  was  thought  indecent  in  any 
of  the  king's  servants  to  countenance  such 
proceedings.  The  general  officer  already 
mentioned  was  represented  as  being  an  im- 
portant acquisition  to  the  minority,  and  was 
charged  with  not  only  voting  against  the 
court  in  the  debate  on  general  warrants,  but 
with  speaking  in  the  most  disrespectful 
terms  of  the  minister's  person  and  capacity 
for  business.  The  general  and  his  friends 
very  properly  insisted  upon  his  being  as  in- 
dependent as  any  other  gentleman  in  tlie 
house  of  commons,  and  that  he  ought  to  be 
as  free  in  giving  his  vote.  The  ministry 
were  far  from  disputing  that  principle ;  but 
they  said,  that  the  king  ought  to  have  an 
equal  freedom  in  employing  whom  he  pleas- 
ed in  the  departments  that  were  in  his  dis- 
posal (6). 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 


1  All  Mr.  Pitt's  former  harsh  and 
outrageous  censures  of  the  peace 
were  softened  into  this  courtly 
phrase,  in  his  conversation  with 
the  king. 

2  The  present  duke  of  York. 

3  The  orator  here  alluded  to  Mr. 
Wilkes's  famous,  or  rather  in- 
famous "  Essay  on  W^oman." 

4  His  lordship  acquired  great  pop- 
ularity hy  his  judicial  decisions 
on  the  illegality  of  general  war- 
rants. The  corporation  of  Dub- 
lin took  the  lead  in  voting  him 
the  freedom  of  their  city  in  a 
gold  box,  accompanied  with  the 
thanks  of  the  sheriffs  and  com- 


mon council  for  his  just  and 
spirited  conduct  in  the  late  tri- 
als. The  lord-mayor,  alder- 
men, and  common  council  of 
London  improved  upon  the  ex- 
ample by  a  vote,  that  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  should  be  pre- 
sented to  his  lordship,  and  that 
he  should  also  be  requested  to 
sit  for  his  picture,  to  be  placed 
in  Guildhall,  as  a  lasting  me- 
morial of  their  gratitude.  Sim- 
ilar compliments  were  trans- 
mitted to  him  from  some  other 
communities  in  England  and 
Ireland  ;  and  the  seal  of  royal 
approbation  was  soon  after  af- 


fixed to  those  testimonies  of 
popular  esteem,  by  creating  him 
a  peer  of  the  realm. 

5  Dr.  Warburton,  bishop  of  Glou- 
cester, whose  name  was  most 
scurrilously  inserted  in  the  title 
page  as  the  author  of  the  notes. 
The  complaint  could  not  other- 
wise  have  been  properly  brought 
before  the  house  of  lords. 

6  In  little  more  than  a  year  after, 
the  general  had  ample  amend* 
made  him  for  the  unpleasant- 
ness of  this  dismission,  by  be- 
ing appointed  one  of  the  secre- 
taries of  state. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  Renewal  of  Hostilities  vnth  the  Savage  Tribes  in  Amer- 
ica— Extent  of  the  Governments  of  Quebec,  of  East  and  West  Florida — Incitements 
to  War  on  the  Part  of  the  Indians — Military  Operations  against  the  Indians,  and 
Peace  with  them — Impolitic  Suppression  of  the  commercial  Intercourse  between  the 
British  and  Spanish  Plantations,  and  between  the  American  Colonies  and  the  French 
Islands — Colonists  refuse  Compensation  for  the  Stamp  Duties — State  of  the  British 
Logwood-cutters  in  the  Bay  of  Honduras — French  atone  for  outrage  at  Turk's 
Island — Progress  of  American  Stamp  Act  through  both  Houses — Prevention  of 
Smuggling — Purchase  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Isle  of  Man — A  Regency  Bill  re- 
commended by  his  Majesty — New  Administration  form£d  by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland. 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  WITH  THE 
INDIANS. 

1763. — The  renewal  of  hostilities  on  the 
part  of  the  savages  in  America  was  barely 
noticed,  early  in  the  last  chapter,  among  the 
important  concerns  of  the  British  ministry ; 
but  any  farther  details  on  that  head  were 
then  postponed,  on  account  of  the  more  im- 
mediate and  more  interesting-  pressure  of 
domestic  occurrences.  In  order  now  to  lead 
the  reader  to  a  proper  idea  of  the  events  of 
that  savage  war,  it  will  be  necessary  to  trace 
out  the  causes  which  probably  gave  rise  to 
it ;  and  to  explain  the  measures,  which  were 
cautiously  though  at  first  unsuccessfully  de- 
signed to  prevent  any  such  disturbances. 

By  the  fourth  and  seventh  articles  of  the 
treaty  of  peace,  Canada  was  ceded  to  Great 
Britain  in  its  utmost  extent.  This  stretched 
the  northern  part  of  her  possessions  on  the 
continent  of  America  from  one  ocean  to  the 
other.  The  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  of  the  Spanish  Florida  on  both 
seas,  made  her  American  empire  complete. 
No  frontiers  could  be  more  distinctly  defin- 
ed, nor  more  perfectly  secured.  The  only 
care  which  seemed  left  for  Great  Britain, 
was  to  render  these  acquisitions  as  beneficial 
in  traffic,  as  they  were  extensive  in  terri- 
tory. In  order  to  come  at  an  exact  know- 
ledge of  everything  necessary  for  this  pur- 
pose, it  was  judged  expedient  to  divide  the 
new  acquisitions  on  the  continent  into  three 
separate  and  independent  governments. 

The  first  and  most  northerly  of  these  di- 
visions was  called  the  government  of  Quebec, 
the  limitation  of  which  within  narrower 
boundaries  than  those  formerly  assigned  by 
the  French  to  Canada,  excited  some  surprise 
and  no  inconsiderable  clamor  at  home.  The 
southern  divisions  were  more  easily  adjusted, 
as  the  two  provinces  of  East  and  West  Flor- 
ida were  regularly  parted  by  the  river  Apa- 
lachicola.  The  coast  of  Labrador  from  the 
river  St.  John  to  Hudson's  Straits,  and  all 
the  neighboring  islands  in  the  gulf  of  St. 
Laurence,  were  subject  to  the  authority  and 


mspection  of  the  governor  of  Newfoundland, 
their  value  depending  wholly  on  the  fishery. 
The  islands  of  St.  John  and  Cape  Breton 
were  annexed,  as  their  situation  required, 
to  Nova  Scotia. 

This  distribution  of  the  newly-acquired 
territories  was  announced  to  the  public,  in  a 
royal  proclamation  of  the  seventh  of  Octo- 
ber, 1763.  Most  people  were,  indeed,  as- 
tonished, to  find,  that  the  environs  of  the 
great  lakes,  the  fine  countries  on  the  whole 
course  of  the  Ohio  and  Ouabache,  and  al- 
most all  that  tract  of  Louisiana  which  lies 
on  the  hither  branch  of  the  Mississippi,  were 
left  out,  and,  as  it  were,  disregarded  in  this 
boasted  plan  of  territorial  regulation.  But 
the  ministry  had  many  reasons  for  such  an 
apparent  omission.  A  consideration  of  the 
Indians  carried  with  it  no  small  weight,  be- 
cause it  might  have  given  a  sensible  alarm 
to  that  people,  if  they  had  seen  their  whole 
country  formally  cantoned  out  into  regular 
establishments.  It  was  in  this  idea  that  the 
proclamation  strictly  forbade  any  purchases 
or  settlements  beyond  the  limits  of  the  three 
before-mentioned  governments,  or  any  ex- 
tension of  the  old  colonies  beyond  the  heads 
of  the  rivers  which  fall  from  the  westward 
into  the  Atlantic  ocean ;  reserving  expressly 
all  the  territories  behind,  as  a  hunting- 
ground  for  the  Indians.  Another  reason, 
probably,  why  no  disposition  had  been  made 
of  the  inland  country,  was,  that  the  charters 
of  many  of  the  old  colonies  gave  them  no 
other  bounds  to  the  westward  but  the  South 
Sea ;  and  consequently  comprehended  almost 
all  the  conquered  districts.  But  where  the 
western  boundary  ought  to  be  settled,  was  a 
matter  which  admitted  of  great  dispute ;  and, 
to  all  appearance,  could  only  be  finally  ad- 
justed by  the  interposition  of  parliament. 

That  the  ministry  were  not  guilty  of  any 
blamable  neglect  is  evident  from  their  earn- 
est attention  to  the  improvement  of  those 
parts  which  they  could  perfectly  command. 
In  order  to  invite  soldiers  and  seamen,  who 
had  served  in  the  American  war,  to  settle  in 


84 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  country  they  had  conquered,  lots  of  land 
were  offered  to  them  as  the  rewards  of  their 
services,  and  in  proportion  to  the  rank  they 
held  in  the  army  or  navy.  Every  field-officer 
was  to  have  five  thousand  acres,  every  cap- 
tain three  thousand,  every  subaltern  two 
thousand,  every  non-commissioned  officer 
two  hundred,  and  every  private  soldier  or 
seaman  fifty.  But  as  no  encouragement  un- 
connected with  the  idea  of  liberty  could  be 
flattering  to  Englishmen,  a  civil  establish- 
ment, comprehending  a  popular  representa- 
tive, agreeably  to  the  plan  of  the  royal 
governments  in  the  other  colonies,  was  di- 
rected as  soon  as  the  circumstances  of  these 
countries  would  admit  of  it;  and  in  the 
mean  time,  such  regulations  were  provided 
as  held  out  to  every  individual  the  full  en- 
joyment and  benefit  of  the  laws  of  England. 
And,  lastly,  that  nothing  might  be  wanting 
for  the  security  of  new  settlers,  and  for 
awing  as  well  as  protecting  the  Indian  na- 
tions, a  regular  military  establishment  also 
was  formed  there,  consisting  of  ten  thousand 
men,  divided  into  twenty  battalions,  part  of 
whom  were  to  be  employed  m  the  defence 
of  the  West  India  islands. 
THE  INDIANS  COMMENCE  HOSTILITIES. 
But  though  the  most  prudent  steps  were 
thus  taken,  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  the 
Indians  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  intimidate 
their  ferocity  on  the  other,  they  suddenly 
fell  upon  the  frontiers  of  the  most  valuable 
settlements,  and  upon  all  the  outlying  forts, 
with  such  a  unanunity  in  the  design,  and 
such  persevering  fury  in  the  attack,  as  had 
not  been  experienced  even  in  the  hottest 
times  of  any  former  war.  Various  causes 
concurred  to  urge  them  on  to  this  very  un- 
expected violence.  The  English  had  treat- 
ed the  savages  at  all  times  with  too  much 
indifference,  but  more  especially  since  the 
close  of  the  French  war.  The  usual  pres- 
ents were  omitted.  Contrary  to  the  inten- 
tions of  government,  settlements  were  at- 
tempted beyond  the  just  limits.  Purchases, 
indeed,  were  made  of  the  lands,  and  some- 
times fair  ones.  But  the  Indians,  conscious 
of  the  weakness  and  facility  of  their  own 
character  in  all  dealings,  have  often  consid- 
ered a  purchase  and  an  invasion  as  nearly 
the  same  thing.  They  expect,  that  the  rea- 
son of  enlightened  nations  will  rather  aid, 
than  take  advantage  of  their  imbecility,  and 
will  not  suffer  them,  even  when  they  are 
willing,  to  do  those  things  which  must  end 
in  their  ruin  when  done.  They  were  also 
alarmed  at  seeing  all  the  places  of  strength 
in  the  possession  of  the  British  troops,  and  a 
chain  of  forts  drawn  round  the  best  hunting 
coimtry  they  had  left,  which  was  an  object 
of  the  more  serious  concern  to  them,  as  such 
ground  became  every  day  more  scarce,  not 
only  from   the   gp-adual   extending  of  the 


British  settlements,  but  from  their  own  bad 
economy  of  this  single  resource  of  savage 
life.  It  was  therefore  very  natural  for  them 
to  look  upon  every  garrison  as  the  first  ad- 
vances of  an  encroaching  colony;  and,  in 
the  midst  of  all  these  fears,  a  report  having 
been  spread  amongst  them,  that  a  scheme 
was  formed  for  their  entire  extirpation,  they 
did  not  hesitate  a  moment  longer  to  take  up 
the  hatchet. 

The  Delawares  and  Shawanese,  who,  as 
the  cultivation  of  Pennsylvania  advanced, 
had  retired,  and  settled  upon  the  Ohio,  took 
the  lead  in  this  renewal  of  hostilities.  They 
had  even  the  address  to  engage  the  Senecas, 
one  of  the  five  nations  to  whom  they  them- 
selves had  been  formerly  tributaries,  to  es- 
pouse their  quarrel,  and  to  join  in  the  pro- 
posed attack  on  the  British  forts  and  colonies. 

General  Amherst,  the  commander-in-chief, 
sensible  of  the  danger  to  which  all  the  Brit- 
ish conquests  were  exposed  by  the  sudden 
breaking  out  of  this  war,  sent  off  detach- 
ments as  early  as  possible  to  strengthen  the 
chief  posts.  Detroit  was  the  first,  where 
one  of  the  detachments  arrived  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  July,  and  where  a  plan  was  immedi- 
ately formed  by  captain  Dalyel,  who  had  the 
command  of  these  troops,  for  surprising  the 
savages  in  their  camp,  which  was  about 
three  miles  from  the  fort.  The  captain  set 
out  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  and  forty- 
five  men,  between  two  and  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  with  all  the  precautions  possi- 
ble. He  was  also  attended  by  two  armed 
boats,  to  co-operate  with  the  land  forces, 
whose  march  lay  along  the  bank  of  the  lake, 
or  to  cover,  if  necessary,  their  retreat.  They 
were  not  far  from  the  Indian  quarters,  when 
they  received  a  brisk  fire  in  their  front.  In- 
stantly after  it  began  upon  their  rear.  They 
were  attacked  on  all  sides,  and  their  com- 
mander fell  early  in  the  action.  The  dark- 
ness of  the  night  hindered  their  seeing  the 
enemy;  and  the  whole  party  was  on  the 
point  of  falling  into  irremediable  confusion. 
The  Indians  had  been  apprized  of  their  de- 
sign, and  had,  with  their  usual  subtlety, 
posted  themselves  in  such  a  manner  behind 
hedges,  and  m  huts  on  each  side  of  the  road, 
as  gave  them  a  considerable  advantage  over 
the  exposed  assailants.  In  this  emergency, 
captain  Grant,  on  whom  the  command  of  the 
British  troops  devolved,  saw  that  nothing 
was  left  but  a  retreat.  He  also  saw  that 
even  this  could  be  effected  only  by  first 
making  a  spirited  attack  on  the  enemy's 
posts,  which  was  done  with  great  order  and 
resolution.  The  Indians  were  driven  from 
the  road,  and  at  length  repulsed  every  v/here. 
Captain  Grant  then  made  good  his  retreat  to 
the  boats,  which  carried  off  the  wounded ; 
and  the  rest  of  the  detachment  regained  the 
fort,  though  with  great  difficulty,  and  con- 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


85 


siderable  loss,  as  very  near  a  third  of  their 
cumber  fell  in  the  action.  At  the  very 
time  when  one  party  of  them  was  thus  foil- 
ed in  their  stratagems  near  Detroit,  another 
more  numerous  and  formidable  body  invest- 
ed Fort  Pitt,  at  the  distance  of  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  from  the  former  place. 

In  the  mean  time  general  Amherst,  fully 
persuaded,  from  the  importance  and  situa- 
tion of  Fort  Pitt,  that  it  would  become  one 
of  the  principal  objects  of  savage  fury,  or- 
dered colonel  Bouquet  to  march  to  its  relief, 
with  a  large  quantity  of  provisions  and  stores 
under  a  strong  escort.  The  Indians,  who 
had  their  scouts  all  over  the  country,  were 
no  sooner  informed  of  the  march  of  the  Eng- 
lish troops,  than  they  abandoned  the  blockade 
of  the  fort,  in  order  to  seize  the  first  favor- 
able opportunity  of  cutting  off  the  intended 
reuiforcement  Colonel  Bouquet  having  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  Ligonier,  on  the  extreme 
verge  of  the  British  settlements,  without 
receiving  any  intelligence  of  the  position  or 
motions  of  the  enemy,  very  prudently  re- 
solved to  disencumber  himself  there  of  the 
wagons  and  of  a  considerable  part  of  the 
ammunition  and  provisions;  while  he  pro- 
ceeded with  the  troops,  and  about  three  hun- 
dred and  forty  horses  loaded  with  flour  and 
Guch  other  supplies  as  were  absolutely  neces- 
sary. Being  thus  disburdened,  the  English 
army  entered  a  rough  and  mountainous 
country.  Before  them  lay  a  dangerous  de- 
file, called  Turtle  Creek,  several  miles  in 
length,  commanded  the  whole  way  by  high 
and  craggy  hills.  It  was  therefore  deemed 
most  advisable  not  to  attempt  passing  this 
defile  but  by  night,  in  order,  if  possible,  to 
elude  the  vigilance  of  their  alert  enemies. 

While  the  colonel  and  his  party  were 
making  the  necessary  arrangements  to  re- 
fresh themselves,  after  a  fatiguing  march  of 
seventeen  miles,  the  Indians  made  a  sudden 
attack  on  his  advanced  guard,  which,  being 
speedily  and  finnly  supported,  the  enemy 
was  beat  off,  and  even  pursued  to  a  conside- 
rable distance.  As  soon  as  the  savages  w^ere 
driven  from  one  eminence,  they  immediately 
occupied  another ;  till  by  constant^reinforce- 
ments,  they  were  able  to  surround  the  whole 
detachment,  and  to  attack  the  convoy  in  the 
ear,  which  forced  the  main  body  to  fall  back 
for  its  protection.  The  action  now  became 
general;  and  though  the  savages  poured 
down  on  every  side  in  considerable  numbers, 
an<i  fought  with  unusual  regularity  and 
kpirit,  the  superior  skill  and  steady  courage 
of  the  British  troops  at  length  prevailed. 
Above  sixty  of  the  English  were  killed  or 
tvonnded ;  and  as  the  ground,  on  which  they 
i-rrxxl,  was  not  ill  adapted  to  an  encampment, 
t^ie  convoy  and  the  wounded  were  placed  in 
Vao  centre ;  and  the  troops  forming  a  circle, 
<^T^<"^mpa«!sed  the  whole.     In  this  mancrr, 

Vol.  IV.  «  • 


and  with  little  repose,  they  passed  an 
anxious  night,  obliged  to  the  strictest  vigi- 
lance by  a  daring  enemy,  who,  notwithstand- 
ing this  first  check,  seemed  to  wait  only  for 
the  morning  to  complete  their  destruction. 

Those  who  have  only  experienced  the  se- 
verities and  dangers  of  a  campaign  in  Eu- 
rope, can  scarcely  form  an  idea  of  what  is 
to  be  done  and  endured  in  an  American  war. 
To  act  in  a  country  cultivated  and  inhabited, 
where  roads  are  made,  magazines  are  estab- 
lished, and  hospitals  provided ;  where  there 
are  strong  towns  to  afford  refuge  in  case  of 
misfortune;  or,  at  the  worst,  a  generou* 
enemy  to  yield  to,  from  whom  no  consola- 
tion, but  the  honor  of  victory,  can  be  want- 
ing ;  this  may  be  considered  as  the  exercise 
of  an  active  and  adventurous  mind,  rather 
than  a  rigid  contest  for  mutual  destruction ; 
and  as  a  dispute  between  rivals  for  glory, 
rather  than  a  struggle  between  sanguinary 
enemies.  But  in  an  American  campaign, 
every  object  is  terrible:  the  face  of  the 
country,  the  climate,  the  enemy.  There  is 
no  refreshment  for  the  healthy,  no  relief  for 
the  sick  or  wounded.  A  vast  inhospitable 
desert,  unsafe  and  treacherous,  extends  on 
every  side.  Victories  are  not  decisive,  but 
defeats  are  ruinous ;  and  simple  death  is  the 
least  misfortune  that  can  befall  a  soldier. 
This  forms  a  service  truly  critical,  in  which 
all  the  firmness  of  the  body  and  mind  is  put 
to  the  severest  trial ;  and  all  the  exertions 
of  courage,  perseverance,  and  address  are 
called  forth  by  the  unceasing  perils  of  every 
moment.  Some  remarks  of  this  kind  seem- 
ed necessary,  to  place  in  a  proper  light  the 
dreadful  situation  and  unparalleled  efforts 
of  the  brave  detachment  under  colonel  Bou- 
quet. 

At  the  first  dawn  of  light,  in  the  morning 
of  the  sixth  of  Auo-ust,  the  savages,  at  the 
distance  of  about  five  hundred  yards,  emit- 
ted the  most  horrid  shouts  and  yells,  in  order 
to  intimidate  by  an  ostentation  of  their  num- 
bers and  their  ferocity.  After  this  alarming 
preparative,  they  rushed  on  with  the  utmost 
fury,  and,  under  the  favor  of  an  incessant 
fire,  made  several  bold  effi)rts  to  penetrate 
into  the  camp.  They  were  repulsed  in  every 
attempt,  but  by  no  means  discouraged  from 
new  ones.  The  British  troops,  continuaUj 
victorious,  were  continually  in  danger. 

Colonel  Bouquet,  seeing  that  all  depend- 
ed on  bringing  the  savages  to  a  close  en- 
gagement, and  that,  when  pressed,  they 
always  flew  off  in  order  to  rally  with  the 
greater  effect,  formed  a  plan  for  giving  new 
strength  to  their  audacity  by  making  dispo- 
sitions for  an  apparent  retreat  The  savage* 
gave  entirely  into  the  snare :  imagining  that 
those  movements  were  sure  indications  of 
an  attempt  to  escape,  they  rushed  from  the 
woods  which  had  hitherto  covered  thesi. 


86 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  hurrying  on  headlong  witli  the  utmost 
intrepidity,  galled  the  English  with  their 
heavy  fire.  But  at  the  very  instant,  when 
they  thought  the  victory  certain,  and  the 
camp  taken,  the  two  first  companies  made  a 
sudden  turn,  and  sallying  out  from  a  part  of 
the  hill  which  was  not  observed,  fell  furi- 
ously upon  their  right  flank.  The  barbarians 
inade  for  a  little  time  a  desperate  stand,  re- 
turning the  first  fire  with  great  resolution ; 
but  they  fled  at  the  second  volley.  As  they 
turned  their  backs,  two  other  companies 
presented  themselves  in  their  front,  and  to- 
tally routed  them  with  great  slaughter.  The 
victorious  army,  notwithstanding  this  advan- 
tage, had  suffered  so  much,  and  had  lost  so 
many  horses,  that,  before  they  could  move, 
they  were  obliged  to  destroy  the  greatest 
part  of  their  flour  and  provisions,  and  conse- 
quently to  give  up  one  of  the  principal  ob- 
jects of  their  expedition.  About  two  miles 
farther  on  at  a  place  called  Bushy  Run,  the 
savages  made  another  attack  upon  them, 
but  less  vigorously  than  before ;  after  which 
they  suffered  little  molestation  during  the 
rest  of  their  march,  but  arrived  safe  at  Fort 
Pitt,  in  four  days  from  the  action.  The  loss 
sust'iined  by  the  English  in  these  engage- 
ments was  fifty  killed,  and  about  sixty 
wounded :  that  of  the  savages  was  not  much 
greater,  owing  to  their  manner  of  fighting ; 
but  their  tribes  being  very  thin,  they  thought 
it  an  almost  irreparable  havoc,  particularly 
as  seme  of  their  bravest  leaders  had  fallen 
upon  the  occasion. 

Though  the  two  forts  of  Detroit  and  Pitt 
were  thus  secured  by  tunely  reinforcements, 
the  Indians  in  other  parts  of  the  country  were 
not  discouraged  from  farther  attempts.  Ni- 
agara was  a  place  equally  worthy  of  their 
regard ;  and  they  endavored  to  distress  it  by 
every  method,  which  the  meanness  of  their 
skill  in  attacking  fortified  places  would  per- 
mit. They  chiefly  directed  their  attention 
to  the  convoys,  hoping  to  starve  what  they 
could  not  otherwise  reduce.  The  vast  dis- 
tance of  the  forts  from  each  other,  and  all 
of  them  from  the  settled  countries,  favored 
their  design.  Near  the  carrying-place  of 
Niagara,  a  body  of  five  hundred  of  them 
surromided  an  escort  consisting  of  two  com- 
panies of  English  soldiers,  on  the  fourteenth 
of  September,  and  killed  seventy-two  of  the 
privates,  besides  officers  and  Serjeants.  On 
the  lake  Erie,  with  a  crowd  of  canoes,  they 
attacked  a  schooner,  which  was  conveying 
provisions  to  Fort  Detroit:  but  here  they 
were  not  so  successful.  Though  in  this  sav- 
age navy  they  had  employed  near  four  hun- 
dred men,  and  had  but  a  single  vessel  to  en- 
gage, they  were  repulsed,  after  a  hot  en- 
gagement, with  great  loss.  The  schooner 
was  to  them  as  a  fortification  on  the  water ; 
and  they  knew  not  how  to  make  their  ap- 


proaches, or  onsets,  with  the  same  advantage 
as  upon  the  convoys  by  land. 

TREATY  WITH  THE  INDIANS. 

While  the  war  was  thus  raging  in  the 
remoter  parts  of  the  colony,  Sir  William 
Johnson  applied  himself  with  indefatigable 
zeal  to  secure  the  attachment  of  such  of 
the  Indians  as  had  not  yet  commenced  hos- 
tilities. For  this  purpose  he  opened  con- 
ferences at  the  German  Flats,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  September,  with  the  Six  Nations 
and  some  others,  who  appeared  desirous  of 
continuing  in  quiet  dependence  upon  Eng- 
land. They  could  not,  however,  prevent  the 
Senecas  and  their  allies  from  continuing 
their  depredations  and  massacres.  Vigorous 
measures  were  therefore  adopted  to  reduce 
these  refractory  savages  to  reason ;  and  it 
was  not  till  they  severely  felt  the  scourge 
of  powerful  vengeance,  that  the  Senecas 
were  induced  to  solicit  peace.  In  the  treaty 
concluded  between  them  and  Sir  William 
Johnson,  all  occasions  of  future  dispute  were 
removed;  their  boundaries  were  precisely 
ascertained ;  their  past  transgressions  were 
forgiven ;  and  in  consequence  of  their  sol- 
emn engagements  never  more  to  make  war 
upon  the  English,  nor  to  suffer  any  of  their 
people  to  commit  any  acts  of  violence  on 
the  persons  or  properties  of  any  of  his  Bri- 
tannic majesty's  subjects,  they  were  not 
only  admitted  once  more  into  the  covenant 
chain  of  friendship,  but  were  to  be  indulged 
with  a  free,  fair,  and  open  trade. 

This  treaty  took  place  in  April  1764  ;  and 
one  of  the  most  considerable  succors  being 
thereby  withdrawn  from  the  other  hostile 
tribes,  it  was  not  likely  that  they  would 
hold  out  much  longer.  Colonel  Bradstreet 
was  ordered  to  advance  with  a  large  body 
of  men  from  Niagara  to  the  countries  of 
those  savages ;  and  colonel  Bouquet  set  out 
with  another  body  for  the  same  purpose  from 
Canada,  intending  to  carry  the  war  through 
their  most  remote  habitations,  if  they  did 
not  submit  in  time.  Such  appearances  of 
determined  resolution  produced  the  proper 
effects :  for  when  colonel  Bradstreet  arrived 
at  Presque  Isle  in  August,  deputies  from  the 
several  nations  waited  upon  him,  and  en- 
gaged by  solemn  treaty  to  deliver  up  all  the 
prisoners  in  their  hands,  and  to  renounce  all 
claim  to  the  posts  and  forts  possessed  in 
their  country  by  the  English,  who  should  be 
at  liberty  to  erect  as  many  more  as  might 
be  thought  necessary  for  the  security  of 
their  trade,  with  as  much  land  to  each  fort, 
for  raising  provisions,  as  a  cannon-shot  can 
fly  over.  Some  other  conditions  were  added^ 
tending  to  inspire  the  barbarians  with  a 
sense  of  humanity  and  justice,  and  to  give 
them  some  idea  of  the  English  government 
Colonel  .Bouquet  was  equally  successful, 
though,     ^iie    savages,    against   whom    lie 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


87 


marched,  were  by  far  the  most  perfidious 
and  intractable.  He  penetrated  into  the 
very  heart  of  their  country  about  the  latter 
end  of  October ;  and  when  they  found  that 
he  was  neither  to  be  checked  by  any  show  of 
resistance,  nor  amused  by  delusive  promises, 
they  agreed  to  treat  in  good  earnest,  faith- 
fully giving  up  all  their  prisoners,  even  the 
children  born  of  white  women,  admitting  de- 
tachments of  his  army  into  their  towns, 
giving  some  of  their  chiefs  as  hostages,  and 
appointmg  deputies  finally  to  settle  the  terms 
of  peace  with  Sir  William  Johnson.  These 
wise  and  resolute  measures  restored  security 
to  the  interior  colonists,  or  back  settlers  in 
North  America. 
DISSATISFACTIOxN  OF  THE  COLONISTS. 
But  while  the  British  government  was 
thus  taking  the  most  effectual  steps  to  se- 
cure the  peaceable  submission  of  the  Ameri 
can  savages,  a  spirit  of  much  more  danger 
ous  resistance  began  to  appear  among  its 
civilized  subjects  on  the  same  continent. 
This  was  first  excited  by  some  attempts 
made  to  break  off  all  kind  of  commercial  in 
tercourse  between  the  British  colonies  and 
the  French  and  Spanish  settlements.  The 
trade  was  certainly  illicit ;  but  as  many  parts 
of  it  were  highly  beneficial  to  those  who 
carried  it  on,  and  ultimately  to  the  mother 
countries  in  Europe,  every  restraint  ought  to 
have  been  imposed  with  the  utmost  delicacy 
and  caution. 

The  first  branch  of  commerce  which  felt 
the  weight  of  the  blow  was  that  whicli  had 
b^en  for  a  long  time  carried  on  between  the 
British  and  Spanish  plantations,  to  the  great 
advantage  of  both,  but  especially  the  former, 
the  chief  materials  of  it  being,  on  the  side 
of  the  British  colonies,  British  manufactures, 
or  such  of  their  own  produce  as  enabled 
them  to  purchase  those  manufactures ;  and, 
on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards,  gold  and  silver 
in  bullion  and  in  coin,  cochineal,  and  medi- 
cinal drugs,  besides  live  stock  and  mules, 
with  which  the  West  India  islands  used  to 
be  supplied  by  the  same  channel,  and  which 
were  still  more  necessary  than  the  precious 
metals.  Though  this  trade  did  not  clash 
with  the  spirit  of  any  of  the  prohibitory  acts, 
yet  it  was  found  to  vary  from  the  letter  of 
them  sufficiently  to  afford  the  revenue  offi- 
cers a  plea  for  doing  that  from  duty,  which 
they  had  strong  temptations  to  do  from  mo- 
tives of  interest.  Accordingly  they  seized, 
indiscriminately,  all  British  as  well  as  foreign 
ships  engaged  in  that  traffic. 

The  same  mistake  attended  the  trade  car- 
ried on  by  the  American  colonies  with  the 
French  West  India  islands,  and  which  was 
no  less  lucrative  than  the  former.  It  de- 
pended on  a  mutual  exchange  of  articles 
which  would  have  otherwise  remained  use- 
less encumbrances  on  the  hands  of  the  pos- 


sessors, so  that  it  united  all  the  advantages 
which  liberal  minds  include  in  the  idea  of 
a  well  regulated  commerce.  It  had  been 
interrupted  during  the  war,  but  was  soon 
likely  to  flourish  again,  had  not  the  clamor 
of  some  selfish  West  Indians  prevailed  upon 
government  to  issue  orders  for  its  suppres- 
sion, as  not  being  strictly  conformable  to 
law.  Sound  policy  would  rather  have  con- 
nived at  such  a  resource,  which  not  only 
prevented  the  North  American  colonies  from 
being  drained  of  their  current  cash  by  the 
calls  of  the  mother  country  upon  them,  but 
aflTorded  supplies  of  specie  for  the  purposes 
of  internal  circulation.  This  was  of  the 
greater  importance,  as  their  domestic  trade 
necessarily  increased  from  day  to  day,  in 
proportion  to  the  remarkable  increase  of 
mankind  in  that  part  of  the  world,  where 
the  cheapness  of  land  determines  the  great- 
er part  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  exercise  of 
the  rural  arts,  so  favorable  to  population. 

In  consequence  of  these  prohibitions,  which 
were  for  some  time  enforced  by  the  naval 
officers  with  the  utmost  severity,  not  only  all 
the  contraband,  but  the  fair  and  lawful  trade 
of  the  Americans  was  threatened  with  irre- 
vocable ruin.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  won- 
dered at,  that  the  inhabitants  of  many  of  the 
colonies,  being  no  longer  able  to  make  the 
usual  remittances  to  the  mother  country  for 
the  usual  supplies,  began  to  turn  their 
thoughts  to  retrenchment  and  industry  ;  and 
renouncing  all  finery,  came  to  a  resolution 
not  to  buy  any  clothes,  or  other  articles  which 
they  could  possibly  do  without,  that  were 
not  of  their  own  manufacturing.  Though 
the  English  mmistry,  on  the  first  mtimation 
of  those  grievances,  immediately  softened 
the  rigor  of  their  former  orders,  and  pre- 
pared those  regulations  of  the  American 
commerce,  mentioned  ui  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, which  were  passed  into  laws  before  the 
close  of  the  session  in  April ;  yet  all  these 
expedients  were  not  attended  with  the  de- 
sired effect.  The  Americans  still  complained, 
that  the  mode  of  restriction  was  only  changed, 
and  that  the  show  of  indulgence  was  rather 
an  aggravation  of  their  distresses.  They 
did  not  deny  that  their  intercourse  with  the 
other  European  colonies  was  now  rendered 
in  some  respects  legal ;  but  they  said,  that 
the  best  part  of  it  was  loaded  with  duties  so 
far  above  its  strength  to  bear,  as  became  in 
reality  prohibitions  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses. They  were  equally  dissatisfied  with 
being  obliged  to  pay  those  duties,  in  specie, 
mto  the  English  exchequer,  tliough  it  was 
expressly  stated  m  the  act,  that  the  money 
arising  from  them  was  to  be  reserved  for  de- 
fraying the  charges  of  protecting  the  colonics 
on  which  it  was  levied.  They  laid  but  little 
stress  on  the  laws  made  at  the  same  time  for 
the   encouragement  and   increase   of  their 


68 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


commercial  intercourse  with  the  mother 
country ;  because,  as  they  alleged,  the  bene- 
fits to  be  derived  from  that  farther  mtercourse 
were,  at  best,  very  remote,  if  not  uncertam, 
whereas  the  effects  of  the  laws  for  restrain- 
ing their  foreign  trade  and  cramping  domes- 
tic industry  by  the  want  of  specie  and  the 
destruction  of  paper  currency,  were  certain 
and  instantaneous. 

THE  ASSEMBLIES  REFUSE  COMPENSA- 
TION FOR  THE  STAMP- ACT. 
But  the  object,  against  which  the  colonists 
raised  the  loudest  clamor,  was  the  postponed 
intention  of  charging  them  with  stamp  du- 
ties. That  measure  had,  as  before  intimated, 
been  delayed  by  the  minister,  till  the  sense 
of  their  several  assemblies  could  be  taken, 
how  far  they  were  willing  to  make  a  com- 
pensation in  any  other  form,  for  the  revenue 
that  such  a  tax  might  produce.  This  was 
so  uncommon  an  instance  of  condescension 
that  the  agents  for  the  colonies  residing  in 
London  thought  it  their  duty  to  wait  upon 
him,  and  to  return  him  thanks  in  the  name 
of  their  constituents.  He  took  that  oppor- 
tunity to  inform  them,  that  it  was  then  in  the 
power  of  the  colonies,  by  agreeing  to  that 
tax,  to  establish  a  precedent  for  their  being 
consulted  for  the  future,  before  any  tax  was 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  British  parliament. 
The  candor  and  generosity  of  this  proceed- 
ing did  not  make  a  suitable  impression  on 
the  minds  of  the  Americans,  prejudiced  and 
irritated,  as  they  were,  by  the  late  commer- 
cial restrictions.  So  far  from  complying, 
they  resolved  to  remonstrate  :  and  some  of 
their  assemblies  sent  over  petitions,  to  be 
presented  to  the  king,  lords,  and  commons, 
positively  and  directly  questioning  the  au- 
thority and  jurisdiction  of  parliament  over 
their  properties.  Even  those  provinces,  that 
were  most  moderate  in  their  remonstrances, 
did  not  instruct  their  agents  either  to  agree 
to  the  tax  in  question,  or  to  offer  any  com- 
pensation to  be  exempted  from  it.  Two  of 
the  agents,  indeed,  answered  for  the  colonies 
they  served,  bearing  their  proportion  of  the 
stamp  duty  by  methods  of  their  own ;  but 
they  did  not  venture,  when  questioned,  to 
say,  that  they  were  authorized  to  agree  for 
any  particular  sum.  All  imaginable  methods 
were  taken,  though  to  little  purpose,  to  con- 
vince the  colonists  of  their  mistake,  before 
the  matter  came  under  a  parliamentary  con- 
sideration. 

1765. — After  a  much  longer  relief  from 
public  duty  than  the  parliament  had  for  some 
years  experienced,  it  met  on  the  tenth  of 
January,  when  his  majesty  opened  the  session 
with  a  speech,  informing  both  houses  among 
other  usual  topics  that  his  majesty  had  agreed 
with  his  good  brother  the  king  of  Denmark, 
to  cement  the  union  which  had  long  subsist- 
ed between  the  two  crowns,  by  the  marriage 


of  the  prince  royal  of  Denmark  with  his  sis- 
ter the  princess  Caroline  Matilda,  whicli 
would  be  solemnized  as  soon  as  their  re- 
spective ages  would  permit. 

PETTY  DISTURBANCES  FROM  SPAIN  AND 
FRANCE  APOLOGIZED  POR. 
By  accounts  received  from  the  West  In- 
dies in  the  month  of  June,  it  appeared  that» 
in  consequence  of  an  order  from  Don  Re- 
mires,  the  Spanish  governor  of  Jucatan,  the 
English  logwood-cutters  had  been  not  only 
disturbed  in  their  business,  contrary  to  the 
last  treaty,  but  ordered  to  remove  suddenly 
from  their  usual  places  of  settlement,  on  pre- 
tence of  their  having  nothing  to  prove  their 
being  subjects  to  his  Britannic  majesty ;  and 
granting  they  were,  they  had  roved  too  ^eely 
about  the  country,  gathering  the  fruits  of  it, 
as  if  it  belonged  to  them.  The  sufferers 
joined  in  a  petition  to  the  governor  of  Ja- 
maica, under  whose  protection  they  were,  re- 
presenting the  distresses  to  which  they  were 
reduced  by  such  captious  and  arbitrary  pro- 
ceedings. Governor  Lyttleton  having  satia- 
fied  himself  of  the  truth  of  the  complaint, 
sent  off  dispatches  to  England,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  earl  of  Rochford,  then 
ambassador  at  the  court  of  Madrid,  was 
ordered  to  make  serious  remonstrances  to 
that  court  on  the  subject.  The  reply  of  the 
Spanish  ministry  was,  that  they  had  not  re- 
ceived any  advice  from  the  governor  of  Juci- 
tan  relative  to  this  affair ;  but  that  the  Catli- 
olic  king  had  certainly  given  him  positive 
orders  to  abide  by  and  observe  the  seven- 
teenth article  <;i'  ur^  definitive  treaty ;  and 
that  h's  majesty  would  not  approve  of  the 
conduct  of  any  of  his  governors,  ministers, 
or  subjects,  who  acted  in  contravention  to  it. 
But  this  answer  not  being  deemed  sufficient- 
ly explicit  or  satisfactory  by  some  of  tho 
English  ministry,  the  ambassador  was  direct- 
ed to  renew  the  remonstrances ;  upon  which 
orders  were  dispatched  by  his  Catholic  ma- 
jesty to  Remires,  censuring  his  behavior  to- 
wards the  logwood-cutters ;  expressing  a 
desire  of  giving  the  king  of  England  the 
greatest  proofs  of  friendship,  and  of  presen'- 
ing  peace  with  the  British  nation  ;  and  com- 
manding Remires  to  re-establish  the  logv^ood- 
cutters  in  the  several  places  from  which  he 
had  obliged  them  to  retire,  and  to  let  them 
know  that  they  might  return  to  their  occu- 
pation, without  being  disquieted  under  any 
pretence  whatsoever. 

In  another  instance,  which  occurred  about 
the  same  tune,  the  Spanish  government 
showed  an  equal  readiness  to  remove  any 
just  cause  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain.  The  commodore  of  some  Spanish 
xebeques,  that  were  cruising  against  the  Al- 
gerines  in  the  Mediterranean,  attacked  an 
English  merchant-ship,  commanded  by  one 
captain  Sybrand,  who  immediately  hoisted 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


89 


English  colors,  but  having  no  guns  on  board, 
cried  out  for  mercy.  Tliis,  however,  had 
no  effect  on  the  Spaniards,  who  continued 
their  fire,  till  the  English  ship  was  rendered 
almost  a  wreck ;  many  of  the  crew  were 
wounded  ;  one  of  the  passengers  lost  his 
arm  ;  and  the  ship  was  carried  into  Cartha- 
gena.^  On  the  discovery  of  the  mistake,  into 
which  the  very  unpardonable  precipitancy 
of  the  Spanish  commodore  had  hurried  him, 
the  damages  done  to  the  English  ship  were 
immediately  repaired  out  of  the  arsenal  at 
Carthagena;  and  in  consequence  of  the 
strong  representations  made  on  that  head  by 
lord  Rochford  to  the  Catholic  king,  his  ma- 
jesty defrayed  the  expense  of  curing  the 
wounded  English ;  indemnified  their  cap- 
tain for  the  interruption  of  his  voyage  ;  and 
gave  the  passenger  a  gratification  for  the  un- 
fortunate loss  of  his  arm. 

Some  proceedings  of  the  French  in  the 
West  Indies  afforded  fresh  matter  for  in- 
creasing the  apprehensions  of  a  war.  At 
no  great  distance  from  the  coast  of  Hispani- 
ola  are  several  small  islands,  the  most  con- 
siderable, or  rather  the  least  insignificant  of 
which  is  called  Turk's  island,  and  gives  its 
name  to  the  rest.  Though  it  is  an  uncom- 
fortable barren  spot,  with  very  little  fresh 
water,  without  any  vegetables  except  low 
shrubs,  or  any  animals  except  lizards,  and 
land-crabs  ;  yet  the  coast  abounds  with  fish, 
turtle,  and  sea-fowls ;  and  the  soil  itself  pro- 
duces salt.  As  it  was  impossible  for  any 
settlement  to  subsist  upon  the  island,  the 
property  of  it  remained  undetermined  ;  but 
the  Bermudians  and  other  British  subjects 
used  to  resort  thither  annually  in  March  for 
the  benefit  of  gathering  salt  in  the  dry  sea- 
son. Their  manner  of  living  was  the  most 
wretched  that  can  well  be  conceived  :  they 
dwelt  in  huts  covered  with  leaves :  a  kettle 
and  a  knife  were  their  only  utensils :  salt 
pork,  and  now  and  then  a  turtle  or  a  lizard, 
was  their  food ;  and  their  dress  consisted  of 
a  straw  hat,  a  check  shirt,  and  a  pair  of 
coarse  linen  trowsers.  Their  chief  custom- 
ers were  the  people  of  New-England,  who 
purchased  the  salt  for  their  fisheries,  at  the 
rate  of  from  four-pence  to  six-pence  a  bushel, 
and  paid  a  small  part  in  money,  and  the  rest 
in  bad  rum,  and  worse  provisions.  Here 
was  nothing  to  invite  invasion,  or  rapine. 
Yet,  on  the  first  of  June,  the  crews  of  a 
French  seventy-four  gun  ship,  and  of  two  or 
three  small  vessels  in  company,  landed  on 
the  island ;  plundered  and  burnt  all  the  cabins 
that  were  erected  there  ;  and  carried  off  the 
inhabitants,  about  two  hundred  in  number, 
with  nine  English  vessels  which  they  found 
of^'  the  coast,  to  cape  Francois,  where  they 
released  them  next  day,  with  orders  not  to 
return  to  Turk's  island.  Governor  Lyttleton, 
on  being  informed  of  those  unaccountable 
8* 


hostilities,  lost  no  time  in  communicating 
iiis  intelligence  to  the  ministry,  nor  they  in 
transmitting  it  to  the  earl  of  Hertford,  the 
English  ambassador  at  the  court  of  France. 
The  gazette  of  the  eleventh  of  September, 
informed  the  nation,  that  the  court  of  France, 
in  answer  to  the  earl  of  Hertford's  demand 
of  immediate  satisfaction  and  reparation  for 
those  acts  of  violence,  had  disavowed  the 
whole  proceedings;  had  disclaimed  all  in- 
tention or  desire  of  acquiring  or  conquering 
the  Turk's  islands ;  and  had  given  orders  to 
the  count  d'Estaigne,  governor  of  St.  Do- 
mingo, to  cause  the  said  islands  to  be  im- 
mediately abandoned  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  to  restore  everything  therein  to  the 
condition  in  which  it  was  on  the  first  of  June 
last,  and  to  make  reparation  of  the  damages 
which  any  of  his  Britannic  majesty's  sub- 
jects should  be  found  to  have  sustained,  in 
consequence  of  the  said  proceedings,  accord- 
ing to  an  estimation  to  be  forthwith  settled 
by  the  said  governor,  with  the  governor  of 
Jamaica. 

To  these  proofs  of  the  sincere  intentions 
of  France  to  preserve  the  peace,  and  to  fulfil 
her  engagements,  another  very  strong  and 
unequivocal  one  was  lately  added,  in  the 
proposals  submitted  to  his  majesty  by  the 
French  ambassador  for  the  discharge  of  the 
balance  due  for  the  subsistence  of  French 
prisoners  in  the  British  dominions  during  the 
last  war.  His  excellency  w^as  authorized  by 
his  court  to  offer  six  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  pounds  in  acquittal  of  the  whole 
demand,  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
pounds  to  be  paid  immediately,  and  the  re- 
mainder at  the  rate  of  forty  thousand  pounds 
a  quarter. 

THE  AMERICAN  STAMP-ACT  PASSED. 

But  the  attention  of  parliament  was  soon 
called  to  a  subject  of  much  greater  impor- 
tance, the  propriety  of  laying  nearly  the 
same  stamp  duties  upon  the  British  colonies 
in  America  as  were  payable  in  England.  No 
less  than  fifly-five  resolutions  of  the  commit- 
tee of  ways  and  means,  relative  to  that 
branch  of  the  revenue,  were  agreed  to  by 
the  house  on  the  seventh  of  February ;  and 
were  aflerwards  formed  into  a  bill,  which 
met  with  fewer  checks  or  delays  in  its  pro- 
gress through  both  houses,  than  the  most 
trifling  measures  which  had  been  hitherto 
proposed  by  government.  Petitions,  indeed, 
as  before  intunated,  had  been  sent  over  by 
several  of  the  provincial  assemblies,  directly 
questioning  the  jurisdiction  of  the  British 
parliament:  but  they  were  not  suffered  to 
be  read  in  the  house  of  commons ;  nor  did 
any  member  at  that  time  stand  forward  to 
defend  such  pretensions.  Grenville,  at  the 
head  of  the  treasury,  felt  the  impossibility 
of  Great  Britain's  supporting  such  an  estab- 
[lishment  as  her  former  successes  had  made 


90 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


indispensable,  and  at  the  same  time  of  giv- 
ing any  sensible  relief  to  foreign  trade,  and 
to  the  weight  of  the  public  debt.  He  thought 
it  equitable  that  those  parts  of  the  empire 
which  had  benefited  most  by  the  expenses 
of  the  war,  should  contribute  something  to 
the  expenses  of  the  peace ;  and  he  had  no 
doubt  of  the  constitutional  right  vested  in 
parliament  to  raise  the  contribution.  But 
unfortunately  for  this  country,  Pitt  and  lord 
Camden  were  to  be  the  patrons  of  America, 
because  they  were  in  opposition.  Their 
declaration  gave  spirit  and  argument  to  the 
colonies ;  and  while  perhaps  they  meant  no 
more  than  the  ruin  of  a  minister,  they  in 
eifect  divided  one  half  of  the  empire  from 
the  other. 

MEASURES  FOR  PREVENTING  SMUG- 
GLING, &c. 
Grenville's  plans,  for  the  increase  of  the 
revenue  at  home,  and  for  the  prevention  of 
snmggling  on  the  British  coasts,  were  at- 
tended with  much  greater  facility  and  suc- 
cess. The  Isle  of  Man,  which  was  not  sub- 
ject to  the  custom-house  laws,  as  not  only 
the  property  but  the  sovereignty  of  it  be- 
longed to  the  duke  of  Athol,  lay  so  con- 
veniently for  the  purpose  of  smuggling,  that 
it  defeated  the  utmost  vigilance  of  govern- 
ment Grenville  presented  to  the  house  of 
commons,  "  a  bill  for  more  effectually  pre- 
venting the  mischiefs  arising  to  the  revenue 
and  commerce  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
from  the  illicit  and  clandestine  trade  to  and 
irom  the  Isle  of  Man."  It  was  obvious  that 
no  effectual  remedy  could  be  applied,  but  by 
vesting  the  sovereignty  of  the  island  in  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain.  Before  the  second 
reading  of  the  bill,  the  duke  and  dutchess 
of  Athol  presented  a  petition  for  liberty  to 
be  heard  by  counsel  against  it.  The  object 
was  to  obtain  a  proper  compensation  or 
equivalent  for  the  surrender  of  their  heredi- 
tary fights  and  title.  An  abstract  of  the 
clear  revenue  of  the  island  for  the  last  ten 
years,  and  the  proposals  of  the  duke  and 
dutchess  in  their  correspondence  with  the 
commissioners  of  the  treasury  on  the  subject, 
were  also  laid  before  the  house ;  and  the  re- 
sult of  all  was,  that  on  the  sixth  of  March, 
two  resolutions  were  agreed  to,  and  after- 
wards passed  into  a  law,  for  vesting  in  the 
crown  all  rights,  jurisdictions,  and  interests, 
in  and  over  the  said  island  and  its  depen- 
dencies, excepting  what  related  to  the  landed 
property;  and  for  allowing  the  proprietors 
seventy  thousand  pounds  as  a  full  compen- 
sation for  those  rights.  The  liberality  of 
government  went  still  farther,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  the  former  sum,  granted  a  pension  of 
two  thousand  pounds  a-year  to  the  late  duke, 
and  to  the  dutchess  his  wife,  during  their 
lives,  by  way  of  douceur  for  their  relin- 
qui^uaent  of  titular  royalty. 


REGENCY  ACT. 

Before  the  bills,  founded  on  the  abovo 
proceedings  and  resolutions  of  the  commons, 
could  go  through  all  the  necessary  stages, 
another  matter  of  great  national  concern  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  the  public  at  large, 
as  well  as  of  parliament.  Towards  the 
spring  of  the  year,  his  majesty  was  attacked 
with  an  illness,  which  excited  the  greater 
alarm,  as  nothing  could  be  gathered  from 
the  newspapers,  but  that  the  state  of  his 
health  was  precarious.  The  first  day  that 
his  health  would  permit  him  to  appear 
abroad,  which  was  on  the  twenty-fourtli  of 
April,  he  repaired  to  parliament,  where,  after 
giving  his  assent  to  the  bills  that  were  ready, 
he  made  a  speech  to  both  houses,  in  whicii 
he  told  them,  that  the  tender  concern  he  felt: 
for  his  faithful  subjects,  made  him  anxious 
to  provide  for  every  possible  event,  whicii 
might  aflect  their  happiness,  and  security : 
that  his  late  indisposition,  though  not  attend- 
ed with  danger,  had  led  him  to  consider  the 
situation  in  which  his  kingdoms  and  his 
family  might  be  left,  if  it  should  please  God 
to  put  a  period  to  his  life  whilst  his  successor 
was  of  tender  years :  and  as  his  health,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  was  now  restored,  he 
took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  meeting 
them,  and  of  recommending  to  their  most 
serious  deliberation  the  making  such  pro- 
vision as  would  be  necessary,  ip  case  any  of 
his  children  should  succeed  to  his  throne  be- 
fore they  should  respectively  attain  the  age 
of  eighteen  years.  To  this  end  his  majesty 
proposed  to  their  consideration,  whether,  un- 
der the  present  circumstances,  it  would  not 
be  expedient  to  vest  in  him  the  power  of 
appointing,  from  time  to  time,  by  instrument 
in  writing,  under  his  sign-manual,  either  the 
queen,  or  any  other  person  of  his  royal 
family  usually  residing  in  Great  Britain,  to 
be  the  guardian  of  the  person  of  such  suc- 
cessor, and  the  regent  of  these  kingdoms, 
until  such  successor  should  attain  the  age. 
of  eighteen  years,  subject  to  the  like  restric- 
tions and  regulations,  as  were  specified  in 
the  act  made  on  occasion  of  his  father's 
death ;  the  regent  so  appointed  to  be  assisted 
by  a  council,  composed  of  the  several  per- 
sons, who,  by  reason  of  their  dignities  ana 
offices,  were  constituted  members  of  the 
council  established  by  that  act,  together  with 
those  whom  they  might  think  proper  to  leave 
to  his  nomination. 

This  affecting  and  gracious  speech  having 
been  answered,  as  soon  as  forms  would  ad- 
mit, by  a  joint  address  from  both  houses, 
well  adapted  to  express  those  sentunenta 
which  it  deserved,  and  those  emotions  which 
the  occasion  of  it  had  so  justly  excited,  the 
lords  ordered  a  bill  to  be  brought  in,  con- 
formable to  his  majesty's  recommendation; 
and  when  passed  their  house,  sent  it  to  the 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


91 


commons.  But  when  the  bill  came  down  to 
them  for  their  concurrence,  it  gave  rise  to 
very  long  debates,  the  clauses  of  it  being  so 
worded  as  to  exclude  the  princess  dowager 
of  Wales  from  any  share  in  the  guardian- 
ship or  regency,  though,  next  to  the  queen, 
it  was  most  natural  tor  his  majesty  to  wish 
his  own  mother  invested  with  such  trusts. 
An  amendment  was  therefore  moved,  and 
carried  by  a  majority  of  a  hundred  and  sixty- 
Beven  against  thirty-seven,  for  inserting  the 
name  of  the  princess  dowager  of  Wales, 
next  after  that  of  the  queen,  as  one  of  the 
persons  whom  his  majesty  might  appoint  to 
the  guardianship  of  his  successors  under  age, 
and  to  the  regency  of  his  realms.  The  bill, 
so  amended,  was  returned  to  the  house  of 
lords ;  and,  that  amendment  being  approved 
by  their  lordships,  received  the  royal  assent 
on  the  fifteenth  of  May. 

NEW  ADMINISTRATION. 

Since  the  earl  of  Bute's  retirement  from 
public  business,  the  agents  of  faction  had 
been  indefatigable  in  their  endeavors  to 
make  the  multitude  believe,  that  no  import- 
ant measure  was  determined  upon  by  gov- 
ernment without  his  private  advice ;  and 
that  his  successors  in  office  were  but  nomi- 
nal substitutes,  or  rather  mere  puppets  ex- 
hibited on  the  stage,  while  he  stood  behind 
the  curtain  managing  the  wires  that  regu- 
lated all  their  motions.  The  great  popular 
speakers  in  both  houses  of  parliament  took 
care  to  countenance,  and  as  far  as  they  were 
able,  to  strengthen  those  reports,  by  frequent 
insinuations  of  a  secret  influence.  Such  re 
proaches,  however  groundless  and  absurd 
could  not  be  very  agreeable  to  any  of  the 
ministers ;  but  they  were  particularly  sting- 
ing to  the  duke  of  Bedford,  a  man  almost  as 
proud,  as  irritable,  and  as  jealous  of  his  in- 
dependency as  Mr.  Pitt  liimself  From  too 
violent  a  desire  to  wipe  off  the  aspersion, 
and  to  afford  the  most  unquestionable  proofs 
of  disregard  for  the  earl  of  Bute,  his  grace 
contrived  to  have  that  nobleman's  brother 
turned  out  of  a  very  honorable  and  lucrative 
employment,  enjoyed  by  him  m  his  own 
country,  and  in  the  discharge  of  which  he 
had  not  given  the  least  room  for  complaint. 
It  was  impossible  this  step  should  not  be  con- 
sidered by  the  king  as  an  affront  put  upon 
himself  But  the  duke  and  his  colleagues 
went  still  fcirther ;  and  dismissed  lord  Hol- 
land and  the  earl  of  Northumberland,  for  no 
other  reason  but  because  they  were  supposed 
to  be  the  earl  of  Bute's  friends.  About  the 
time  these  changes  took  place,  parliament 


was  prorogued  with  the  usual  acknowledg- 
ments from  the  throne. 

The  ministry  did  not  long  enjoy  those 
gratifications.  Offers  were  made  to  the 
principal  members  of  the  opposition,  and 
though  declined  by  Mr.  Pitt  and  lord  Tem- 
ple, were  accepted  by  the  duke  of  Newcas- 
tle, the  marquis  of  Rockingham,  and  their 
friends.  General  Conway,  who  at  the  close 
of  the  last  session  had  been  deprived  of  all 
his  employments,  and  the  duke  of  Graflon, 
were  made  secretaries  of  state.  Lord  Wey- 
mouth's late  appointment  to  the  lord-lieuten- 
ancy of  Ireland  was  superseded  by  that  of 
the  earl  of  Hertford,  general  Conway's  bro- 
ther. The  president's  chair,  lately  filled  by 
the  duke  of  Bedford,  was  given  to  the  earl 
of  Wmchelsea ;  and  the  places,  which  Gren- 
ville  had  united  in  his  own  person,  were  now 
divided,  the  marquis  of  Rockingham  becom- 
ing first  lord  of  the  treasury,  and  Mr.  Dow- 
deswell  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  Most 
of  the  other  great  offices  of  state  were  also 
filled  with  new  men,  except  that  lord  Eg- 
mont  was  continued  at  the  head  of  the  ad- 
miralty, and  the  duke  of  Newcastle  chose 
to  be  lord  privy-seal,  a  place  of  ease  well 
suited  to  his  years,  and  yet  of  honor  and  con- 
fidence, the  things  of  which  his  grace  had 
ever  appeared  most  ambitious.  It  was  upon 
the  same  occasion  that  the  very  popular 
chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas  obtained 
a  peerage. 

This  arrangement,  or  alteration  of  the 
ministry,  was  entirely  the  work  of  the  duke 
of  Cumberland,  who  continued  for  some  time 
to  assist  them  with  his  advice,  but  did  not 
live  long  enough  to  see  the  consequences  of 
the  most  important  of  their  deliberations. 
On  the  evening  of  the  thirty-first  of  Octo- 
ber, as  his  royal  highness  was  preparing  to 
assist  at  a  council  on  affairs  of  state,  which 
was  to  be  held  at  his  own  house  in  Upper 
Grosvenor-street,  he  was  seized  with  a  dis- 
order, of  which  he  had  some  symptoms  tlio 
night  before,  and  in  a  fit  of  shivering,  sunk 
senseless,  almost  instantaneously,  in  the 
arms  of  the  earl  of  Albemarle.  In  less  than 
two  months  after,  the  royal  family  sustained 
another  loss  in  the  death  of  prince  Frede- 
rick William,  his  majesty's  youngest  brother. 
This  event,  following  the  former  at  so  short 
an  interval,  thickened  the  glooms  of  melan- 
choly round  the  court,  and  damped  the  joy 
which  had  been  lately  felt  there,  as  well  as 
throughout  the  kingdom,  in  consequence  of 
the  queen's  happy  delivery  of  a  third  son, 
prince  William  Henry,  since  created  duke 
of  Clarence. 


92 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Mir  Cossirn's  Endeavors  to  shake  off  the  India  Company's  yoke — Military  operations 
which  effected  the  entire  Conquest  of  Bengal — Appointment  and  Departure  of  a  se- 
lect Committee  for  Bengal — Treaty  concluded  by  Lord  Clive  with  the  Nabob  of  Oude 
— Violent  Proceedings  against  the  Stamp- Act  in  North  America — Debates  and  Pro- 
ceedings in  England  as  to  the  Right  of  taxing  the  Colonies — Causes  of  a  sudden 
Change  in  the  Ministry. 


During  the  painful  suspense  which  the 
people  of  England  must  have  felt  with  re- 
gard to  the  effects  of  the  stamp-act  in  Ame- 
rica, and  while  the  most  enlightened  pa- 
triots saw  with  concern  some  heavy  clouds 
collecting  over  the  western  hemisphere, 
a  brighter  prospect  presented  itself  in  the 
east,  where  the  affairs  of  the  India  company 
were  said  to  go  on  in  a  brilliant  career  of 
success. 

MIR  COSSIM'S  ATTEMPT  AGAINST  THE 
EAST  INDIA  COMPANY. 
In  some  former  remarks  on  the  occur- 
rences of  the  year  1761,  it  was  observed 
that  Mir  Cossim,  the  subah  of  Bengal,  who 
had  been  enabled  by  the  assistance  of  the 
English  to  check  Sha  Zaddah's  progress, 
was  influenced  by  private  motives  to  treat 
the  conquered  prince  with  extraordinary 
respect.  Mir  Cossim,  though  indebted  to 
the  English  for  the  acquisition  of  the  subah- 
ship  in  the  first  instance  (1),  and  for  the 
secure  possession  of  it  afterwards,  conceived 
the  design  of  freeing  himself  from  what  he 
thought  the  chains  of  ruinous  and  dishonora- 
ble dependence.  Instead,  therefore,  of  im- 
posing hard  terms  on  the  Mogul  prince,  he 
strove  to  secure  his  friendship,  of  which  he 
foresaw  the  value  as  soon  as  he  should  be 
prepared  to  avow  his  intentions.  But  these 
he  artfully  concealed  for  some  time,  and 
even  continued  to  avail  himself  of  the  pow- 
er of  the  English,  whilst  he  found  it  ser- 
viceable to  him.  By  their  means  he  cleared 
his  government  of  invaders,  and  strengthen- 
ed his  frontiers:  he  reduced  the  rajahs  or 
independent  Indian  chiefs,  who  had  rebelled 
during  the  feeble  admmistration  of  his  pre- 
decessor; and  by  compelling  them  to  pay 
the  usual  tribute,  repaired  his  exhausted 
finances,  and  thus  secured  the  discipline  and 
fidelity  of  his  troops.  Peace  and  order  be- 
ing restored  to  his  province,  his  next  step 
was  to  remove  his  court  from  Murshudabad, 
the  vicinity  of  which  to  Calcutta  gave  the 
factory  an  opportunity  of  watching  his  con- 
duct too  narrowly,  and  of  crushing  all  his 
efforts  on  the  first  suspicion.  He  moved 
two  hundred  miles  higher  up  the  Ganges, 
and  fixed  his  residence  at  Mongheer,  which 
he  fortified  as  strongly  and  expeditiously  as 


he  could.  Here  he  began  to  form  his  army 
on  a  new  model.  He  drew  together  all  the 
Persians,  Tartars,  Armenians,  and  other 
soldiers  of  fortune,  whose  military  spirit  he 
wished  to  infuse  into  his  Indian  forces,  and 
whose  example  might,  he  hoped,  teach  them 
to  overcome  their  natural  timidity.  Sensible 
of  the  superiority  of  European  discipline, 
he  neglected  nothing  to  acquire  it.  Every 
wandering  Frenchman,  every  Seapoy  who 
had  been  dismissed  from  the  English  service, 
he  carefully  picked  up,  and  distributed 
amongst  his  troops,  in  order  to  train  thenv 
to  the  most  perfect  exercise.  He  changed 
the  fashion  of  the  Indian  muskets  from 
matchlocks  to  firelocks ;  and  because  his 
cannon  was  nearly  as  defective  as  his  small- 
arms,  he  procured  from  the  English  a  pat- 
tern of  one,  on  which  he  formed  an  excel- 
lent train  of  artillery.  Attentive  to  his 
army,  he  was  not  forgetful  of  his  court,  the 
treachery  and  factious  dissensions  of  which 
had  hitherto  been  more  fatal  to  the  Indian 
princes  than  the  feebleness  of  tlieir  arms. 
He,  therefore,  cut  off  without  remorse,  or 
threw  into  prison,  every  considerable  person 
in  his  dominions,  who  had  shown  any  attach- 
ment to  the  English.  Thus  strengthen- 
ed by  every  measure,  which  a  subtle  and 
enterprising  man,  unchecked  by  conscience, 
could  take,  he  began  to  exert  that  authority, 
which  he  thought  so  firmly  and  so  justly 
established.  His  revenue,  though  on  a  much 
better  footing  than  that  of  his  predecessor, 
still  fell  very  short  of  its  ancient  limits. 
The  free  trade,  which  his  own  and  his  fa- 
ther-in-law's necessities  had  extorted  in  fa- 
vor of  the  company's  servants,  threatened  to 
annihilate  his  customs,  as  it  diverted  all  the 
domestic  and  foreign  commerce  of  Bengal 
into  a  channel  from  which  he  could  derive 
no  benefit.  To  remedy  this  evil,  he  sub- 
jected all  the  English  private  traders  to  the 
regular  and  equal  payment  of  duties  through- 
out his  dominions ;  and  issued  an  order, 
that  their  disputes,  if  they  happened  in  his 
territories,  should  be  decided  by  his  magis- 
trates. 

The  English  factory  took  the  alarm.  Mr. 
Vansittart,  the  governor,  went,  in  the  latter 
end  of  the  year  1762,  to  Mongheer,  in  or- 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


93 


der  to  expostulate  with  the  subah,  who  an- 
swered his  remonstrances  with  a  command 
of  temper  equal  to  the  force  of  his  reason- 
ing. "If,"  said  he,  "the  servants  of  the 
company  were  permitted,  as  they  now  de- 
eire,  to  trade  custom-free  in  all  ports,  and 
in  all  commodities,  they  must  of  course 
draw  all  trade  into  their  own  hands;  and 
my  customs  would  be  of  so  little  value, 
that  it  would  be  more  for  my  interest  to  lay 
trade  entirely  open,  and  to  collect  no  duties 
upon  any  kind  of  merchandise.  This  would 
invite  numbers  of  merchants  into  the  coun- 
try, and  increase  my  revenues  by  encour- 
aging the  cultivation  and  manufacture  of 
goods  for  sale,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
would  cut  off  the  principal  source  of  our 
quarrels,  an  object,  which  I  have  more  than 
any  other  at  heart."  The  truth  of  these 
emarks  could  not  be  controverted ;  but  Mir 
Cossim's  conduct  was  still  a  direct  violation 
of  the  treaty  or  bargain  he  made  with  the 
company's  servants  on  his  obtaining  the  sn 
bahship,  by  which  they  were  entitled  to  the 
privileges  in  question.  The  matter,  hoW' 
ever,  was  evidently  in  his  power,  unless  a 
war  prevented  him.  The  governor,  though 
long  accustomed  to  dictate  on  such  occa 
sions,  submitted  to  certain  regulations,  which, 
if  not  unreasonable,  were  very  unpleasing 
These  were  instantly  put  in  execution  ;  and 
the  Indian  magistrates  began  to  exercise 
their  power  with  a  proper  spirit,  as  they  said, 
but,  as  the  English  traders  complained,  with 
partiality  and  rigor. 

As  soon  as  the  effect  of  the  negotiation 
was  made  known  at  Calcutta,  it  threw  the 
factory  into  a  flame.  They  were  filled  with 
indignation  and  astonishment,  at  finding, 
that  an  Asiatic  prince,  created  by  them- 
selves, had  dared  to  assert  his  independency. 
They  be^an  to  repent  of  their  late  change, 
and  to  wish  that  they  had  left  the  timid  and 
indolent  Mir  Jaffier  to  slumber  quietly  on 
his  throne.  The  council  disavowed  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  governor ;  sent  orders  to  all 
the  factories,  forbidding  them  to  submit  to 
any  ofthe proposed  restrictions;  and  solicited 
Cossim  to  enter  into  a  new  agreement. 
But  now  grown  confident  of  his  strength, 
he  charged  them  with  inconstancy  and  inso- 
lence, and  refused  to  negotiate  with  their 
deputies.  The  English  factory,  yielding  in 
nothing  to  his  spirit,  prepared  to  draw  their 
army  into  the  field,  and  once  more  proclaim- 
ed Mir  Jaffier  subah  of  Bengal. 

In  this  war,  the  first  blow  was  struck  by 
the  English.  At  Patna,  a  great  commercial 
city,  three  hundred  miles  up  the  Ganges, 
they  had  a  fortified  factory,  and  some  Euro- 
pean as  well  as  Indian  soldiers.  These 
suddenly  attacked  the  town  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  June  1763,  and  made  themselves 
masters  of  it  without  much  difficulty,  not- 


withstanding its  fortifications  had  been  newly 
repaired,  and  that  it  was  defended  by  a  strong 
garrison.  The  Indian  governor  and  h\n 
troops  fled  at  the  first  assault  into  the  coun- 
try ;  but  being  reinforced,  he  returned  in  a 
few  hours  to  Patna,  and  surprised  the  Eng- 
lish, who  had  neglected  every  precaution, 
and  were  widely  dispersed  on  every  side, 
wasting  and  plundering  that  opulent  ancl 
feeble  city.  Many  of  them  were  cut  to 
pieces,  the  rest  took  refuge  in  the  fort.  But 
even  this  they  soon  abandoned,  so  spiritless 
did  they  become  in  consequence  of  the  un- 
expected turn  of  their  affairs.  Crossing  the 
Ganges,  they  marched  for  three  days  with- 
out interruption ;  but  were  at  length  over- 
taken by  a  superior  force.  In  the  first 
engagement  fortune  proved  favorable;  in 
the  second  they  were  entirely  routed,  and 
shared  that  fate  which  might  naturally  be 
expected  from  so  rash  and  precipitate  a 
resolution.  At  a  distance  from  all  succor, 
and  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country, 
they  had  no  safety  to  hope  for,  but  from  the 
defence  of  their  factory,  where  they  miglit 
have  maintained  themselves  for  a  long  time, 
the  Indians  being  very  inexpert  in  the  art 
of  reducing  fortified  places. 

Though  the  deputies,  sent  to  Mongheer, 
had  the  nabob's  pass,  and  ought  to  have  been 
by  the  law  of  nations  sacred,  they  were  at- 
tacked in  their  return,  and  miserably  slaugh- 
tered with  their  attendants.  This  act  of 
barbarity  hastened  the  march  of  the  army 
under  major  Adams,  who,  at  first,  had  only 
one  royal  regiment,  a  few  of  the  company's 
forces,  two  troops  of  European  cavalry,  ten 
companies  of  Seapoys,  and  twelve  pieces  of 
cannon.  With  these  he  proved  victorious 
in  several  brisk  skirmishes,  and  cleared  the 
country  as  far  as  the  Cossimbuzar,  a  branch 
of  the  Ganges,  which  it  was  necessary  to 
pass,  before  any  attempt  could  be  made  on 
Murshudabad,  the  capital  of  the  province. 
The  enemy  did  not  oppose  his  passage;  but 
had  drawn  out  their  army,  consisting  of  ten 
thousand  men,  in  an  advantageous  post  at  a 
place  called  Ballasara,  between  the  river 
and  the  city.  By  a  judicious  movement,  he 
obliged  them  to  begin  the  action,  which  they 
did  with  great  spirit,  and  bore  the  cannon- 
ade very  firmly ;  but,  at  the  distance  of  fifty 
yards,  they  received  such  a  storm  of  musket- 
ry, as  made  them  retreat  in  the  utmost  con- 
fusion and  precipitancy.  Adams,  with  that 
rapidity  which  is  always  useful  in  war,  but 
was  here  indispensable,  as  the  periodical 
rains  began  to  fall,  marched  forward;  but 
found  the  enemy  again  in  his  way,  defended 
by  an  intrenchment  fifteen  feet  high,  and  by 
a  numerous  artillery.  It  would  have  been 
an  unjustifiable  boldness  to  think  of  forcing' 
so  strong  a  post ;  he  had  recourse  to  a  strat- 
agem, which  succeeded.    He  made  a  feint 


94 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  attacking  them  where  their  principal 
strength  lay,  while  the  body  of  his  army 
marched  in  the  night  to  the  opposite  quarter 
of  their  line,  and  mastered  it  at  daybreak, 
with  little  difficulty.  Astonished  at  this 
stroke,  the  Indians  fled,  and  abandoned  the 
camp,  and  the  city  which  it  covered,  to  the 
conqueror. 

So  considerable  an  advantage,  which  the 
English  gained  on  the  twenty-third  of  July 
1763,  did  not  slacken,  but  increased  their 
diligence  and  exertions.  They  penetrated 
into  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  province,  and 
crossing  the  numerous  and  wide  branches 
of  the  Ganges,  sought  out  the  subah  through 
marshes  and  forests.  He  was  not  remiss  in 
his  own  defence.  Knowing  the  inferiority 
of  his  troops,  and  the  slight  attachment  of 
Indian  subjects  to  their  prince,  he  never 
ventured  the  final  decision  of  the  war  on  a 
single  battle,  nor  hazarded  his  person  in  any 
engagement.  The  faithlessness  of  his  gran- 
dees, who  might  by  treason  erect  their  own 
fortune  on  his  ruin,  deterred  him  from  the 
latter ;  and  the  former  could  never  be  deem- 
ed advisable  by  a  man,  whom  the  experience 
of  others  had  taught  that  an  immense  mul- 
titude of  undisciplined  troops  only  confounds 
veterans,  and  contributes  to  the  greatness 
of  a  defeat.  In  short,  his  whole  conduct 
was  formed  upon  wise  principles;  but  his 
troops  had  not  time  to  be  completed  in  their 
new  exercise.  The  English  were  also  in 
the  career  of  victory,  and  nothing  could 
stand  before  them.  Yet  they  found  a  sensi- 
ble difference  in  the  opposition  they  now 
met  with,  though  it  was  not  able  fully  to 
obstruct  their  progress.  Ten  days  after 
their  late  victory,  they  found  twenty  thou- 
sand horse,  and  eight  thousand  foot,  excel- 
lently posted  on  the  banks  of  the  Nuncas 
Nullas,  well  defended  by  a  formidable  train 
of  artillery,  divided  into  regular  brigades, 
armed  and  clothed  like  Europeans,  and  in 
every  respect  displaying  th»  same  order  and 
spirit  as  themselves.  What  was  never  be- 
fore observed  in  India,  the  enemy  did  not 
discharge  a  cannon,  till  the  English  began 
the  attack.  A  constant  fire  was  kept  up  on 
both  sides  for  the  space  of  four  hours,  during 
which  time  the  Indian  cavalry  charged  the 
European  regulars,  at  the  distance  of  twenty 
yards,  with  uncommon  resolution.  But  in 
spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  their  improved  dis- 
cipline and  courage,  they  were  at  length 
compelled  to  fly,  with  the  loss  of  all  their 
artillery. 

After  this  decisive  proof  of  the  superiority 
of  the  English  forces,  the  Indians  never  at- 
tempted a  regular  engagement  in  the  open 
field  during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign. 
But  they  showed  neither  want  of  spirit  nor 
Fkill  in  defending  their  towns  and  fortresses. 
At  Auda  Nulla  particularly,  they  held  out 


with  wonderful  art  and  perseverance,  baf- 
fling every  operation  against  them,  from  the 
twenty-first  of  August  till  the  fourth  of 
September,  when,  being  overpowered  by 
one  of  major  Adams's  well-concerted  strata- 
gems, they  suffered  an  incredible  slaughter. 
The  carrying  of  this  strong-hold  laid  open 
the  whole  country  to  the  victorious  arms  of 
the  English  as  far  as  the  gates  of  Mongheer, 
which  surrendered  to  them  after  only  nine 
days'  open  trenches. 

Nothing  now  remained  to  complete  the 
reduction  of  the  whole  province,  but  the 
taking  of  Patna.  This  was  the  last  hope 
of  Mir  Cossim,  who  had  accordingly  taken 
every  possible  precaution  to  strengthen  and 
secure  it.  He  placed  in  the  city  a  garrison 
of  ten  thousand  men,  and  hovered  at  some 
distance  with  several  large  bodies  of  horse 
to  annoy  the  besiegers.  But  this  barbarian 
merited  by  his  cruelties  the  ill  success  which 
constantly  attended  all  his  measures,  how- 
ever well  chosen.  Irritated  at  the  progress 
of  Adams,  and  unable  to  avenge  himself  in 
the  field,  he  issued  orders  for  massacring 
about  two  hundred  Englishmen,  who  had 
been  made  prisoners  at  Patna,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  troubles.  One  Someraw,  a  Ger- 
man, who  had  deserted  from  the  company's 
service,  was  chosen  for  the  perpetration  of 
this  horrid  villany.  On  the  day  intended 
for  butchering  these  unfortunate  persons,  he 
invited  forty  of  the  most  considerable  to  sup- 
per at  his  house ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  con- 
vivial mirth,  when  they  thought  themselves 
protected  by  the  laws  of  hospitality  as  well 
as  of  war,  the  ruffian  ordered  the  Indians 
under  his  command  to  cut  their  throats. 
These  barbarous  soldiers  revolted  at  the 
savage  order :  they  refused  at  first  to  obey, 
desiring  that  arms  might  be  given  to  the 
English,  and  that  they  would  then  engage 
them.  Someraw,  fixed  in  his  purpose,  com- 
pelled them  by  threats  and  blows  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  that  odious  service.  The 
unfortunate  victims,  though  suddenly  attack- 
ed and  wholly  unarmed,  made  a  long  and 
brave  defence,  killing  some  of  the  assailants 
with  their  plates  and  bottles.  In  the  end 
they  were  all  murdered ;  and  the  rest  of  the 
prisoners  met  with  the  same  fate. 

This  enormous  crime  was  not  long  unre- 
venged.  Adams  soon  laid  siege  to  Patna ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  strength  of  the  gar- 
rison, and  the  unusual  intrepidity  and  suc- 
cess of  some  of  their  sallies,  he  took  the 
place  by  storm  in  eight  days,  and  forced  the 
perfidious  Cossim  to  seek  an  asylum  in  the 
territories  of  Sujah  Doula,  a  neighboring 
subah,  who  voted  as  vizir  to  the  great  Mogul, 

No  campaign  had  ever  been  conducted 
with  more  ability;  no  plan  better  laid,  or 
more  systematically  followed ;  no  operations 
more  rapid.     In  less  than  four  months  major 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


95 


Adams  completed,  the  first  of  any  European, 
the  entire  conquest  of  Bengal.  He  gained 
in  that  time  four  capital  victories,  forced  the 
strongest  intrenchments,  stormed  two  forti- 
fied cities,  took  five  hundred  pieces  of  can- 
non, and  drove  into  exile  the  most  artful, 
resolute  and  implacable  enemy  the  English 
had  ever  before  encountered  in  India. 

Mir  Cossim's  expulsion  was  not,  however, 
attended  with  any  lasting  security  to  the 
company's  affairs  in  the  east:  it  removed 
rather  than  extinguished  the  fire.  The  In- 
dian princes  sensible  that,  against  European 
invaders,  the  cause  of  one  was  the  cause  of 
all,  were  alarmed  for  their  own  independ- 
ence, and  at  the  instigation  of  the  fugitive 
subah,  took  up  arms  against  the  English. 
The  death  of  Adams,  whose  name  was  so 
terrible  to  them,  contributed  very  much  to 
this  resolution.  The  Shah  Zaddah,  and  the 
nabob  Sujah  Doula  united  their  forces,  and 
threatened  to  restore  the  exiled  Cossim,  at 
the  head  of  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men, 
with  a  suitable  train  of  artillery.  Major 
Munro,  who  succeeded  Adams,  showed  him- 
self by  no  means  unworthy  of  such  an  ap- 
pointment He  marched  directly  in  quest 
of  the  enemy,  and  came  up  with  them  on 
tiie  twenty-second  of  October  1764,  at  a 
place  called  Buxar,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Caranassary,  about  one  hundred  miles  above 
Patna,  where  they  were  encamped  with  all 
the  ad  vanfciges  [nature  and  art  could  bestow. 
Before  them  lay  a  morass  judiciously  lined 
v/ith  cannon,  which  could  neither  be  passed 
nor  doubled  without  extreme  danger.  At 
t'lG  only  end  by  which  they  seemed  accessi- 
liL:^,  stood  a  wood  occupied  by  a  large  body 
of  Indians,  who  were  destined  to  gall  the 
English  in  their  approach.  The  first  appear- 
ance of  such  a  situation  was  alone  sufficient 
to  make  major  Munro  defer  an  attack,  till  it 
could  be  properly  explored.  On  tlie  day, 
therefore,  of  his  arrival  in  sight  of  the  ene- 
my, he  pitched  his  tents  just  out  of  the  reach 
of  their  cannon,  and  disposed  his  men  so  as 
to  be  ready  to  form  on  any  emergency.  This 
i precaution  was  far  from  being  superfluous; 
^or,  going  out  next  morning  at  daybreak  to 
reconnoitre  the  enemy,  he  found  them  al- 
ready under  arms.  Upon  this,  returning  to 
liis  camp,  he  called  in  all  his  advanced  posts, 
and,  in  consequence  of  the  wise  dispositions 
uiade  the  day  before,  saw  his  line  of  battle 
completely  formed  in  less  than  twenty  min- 
utes. The  Indians  began  to  cannonade  the 
English  at  nine  o'clock ;  and  in  half  an  hour 
Jil^er  the  action  became  general.  For  above 
two  hours  it  was  impossible  to  press  forward 
H gainst  the  regular  and  galling  fire  of  the 
enemy  in  front ;  till  Munro,  by  a  variety  of 
rji'mneuvres  directed  with  judgment  and  ex- 
<  ;!3tcd  with  intrepidity,  having  cleared  tfie 
ic  i  wing  of  the  morass,  the  amail-arms  be- 


gan, and  the  whole  Indian  army  was  soon 
put  to  flight,  leaving  six  thousand  men  on 
the  spot,  with  a  hundred  and  thirty  pieces 
of  cannon,  a  proportionable  quantity  of  mil- 
itary stores,  and  all  their  tents  ready  pitch- 
ed. This  advantage  cost  the  victors,  in  killed 
and  wounded,  but  one  hundred  and  nine 
Europeans,  and  seven  hundred  Indians. 

The  mdefatigable  Munro  followed  the 
blow  by  an  attempt  on  the  only  fort  which 
was  still  left  to  Sujah  Doula  on  the  same 
side  of  the  river  Camnassary.  This  fort, 
called  Chanda  Geer,  was  a  place  of  very 
great  strength,  from  its  elevated  and  almost 
inaccessible  situation  on  a  craggy  rock ;  and, 
as  it  appeared  afterwards,  was  still  stronger 
by  the  courage  and  fidelity  of  the  Indian  of- 
ficer who  commanded  there.  A  practica- 
ble breach  in  the  walls  being  eflfected  by  ar- 
tillery, a  party  of  the  English  forces  was 
sent  to  storm  it  in  the  night-time ;  but  while 
they  were  vainly  endeavoring  to  clamber  up 
the  steep  ascent,  the  Indians  with  equal  vigi- 
lance and  activity,  poured  down  upon  them 
such  torrents  of  stones,  as  forced  them  to 
desist,  after  many  were  buried  under  the 
rubbish  made  by  their  own  cannon.  Shame, 
and  a  sense  of  honor,  tempted  them  to  re- 
new the  attack  on  the  ensuing  night,  but 
they  met  with  no  better  success.  Munro, 
therefore,  finding  it  to  be  a  place  which  no 
art  was  requisite  to  defend,  though  a  great 
deal  to  take  it,  drew  off  his  troops,  resotvmg 
to  reserve  their  courage  and  conduct  for 
some  better  occasion ;  and  encamped  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Benares,  an  almost  open  and 
opulent  city,  which  it  was  of  importance  to 
protect  against  the  incursions  of  a  plunder- 
ing enemy. 

Affairs  were  thus  circumstanced  in  the 
begmning  of  the  year  1765,  when  major 
Munro  being  recalled  home,  the  temporary 
command  of  the  army  devolved  on  Sir  Rob- 
ert Fletcher ;  who,  emulous  of  the  glory 
gained  by  his  predecessors,  resolved  to  do 
something  to  signalize  himself,  before  gene- 
ral Carnac,  named  by  the  governor  and 
council  of  Bengal,  could  arrive  to  preclude 
him.  With  this  view,  he  broke  up  his  camp 
near  Benares  at  midnight  of  the  fourteenth 
of  January,  and  marched  in  quest  of  the 
enemy,  whom  he  chased  before  him.  He 
next  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  reduction  of 
the  fort,  the  siege  of  which  Munro  had  found 
it  so  imprudent  to  continue.  As  he  attacked 
it  in  the  same  manner,  he  would  probably 
have  found  it  equally  impregnable :  but  great 
discontents  now  prevailed  among  the  garri- 
son, in  consequence  of  their  having  received 
no  pay  for  six  months,  so  that  they  no  lon- 
ser  thought  it  worth  their  while  to  expose 
themselves  to  any  more  trouble  or  danger  in 
such  unprofitable  service.  Three  breaches 
being  made  in  the  walls,  the  governor  came, 


96 


mSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIT;. 


in  sight  of  his  tnwps,  to  Sir  Robert,  and  de- 
livered up  the  keys,  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  a  speech,  which,  at  the  same  time  that 
it  contained  the  highest  compliment  to  his 
enemy,  argued  the  greatest  nobleness  of 
mind  in  himself.  **  I  have,"  said  he,  "  en- 
deavored to  act  like  a  soldier ;  but  deserted 
by  my  prince,  and  threatened  by  a  mutinous 
garrison,  what  could  I  do]  God  and  you 
(here  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  koran,  and 
pointed  to  his  soldiers)  are  witnesses  that  I 
yield  through  necessity,  and  that  to  the  faith 
of  the  English  I  now  trust  my  life  and  for- 
tune." The  surrender  of  this  fort  was  quickly 
followed  by  a  much  greater,  though  not  a 
more  difficult  conquest.  Sir  Robert  met 
with  little  resistance  in  making  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  enemy's  capital,  called  Eliabad, 
a  large  and  strong  city  about  seventy  miles 
higher  up  the  Ganges,  and  of  such  import- 
ance as  seemingly  to  complete  the  ruin  of 
iSujah  Doula. 

Soon  after  the  taking  of  Eliabad,  general 
(^amac  assumed  the  command  of  the  army, 
and  made  the  best  dispositions  for  securing 
the  new  conquests,  as  well  as  for  restoring 
order  and  government  to  the  country.  No- 
thing occurred  for  some  time  to  give  him 
the  least  molestation.  Sujah  Doula  was  not 
in  a  condition  immediately  to  oppose  him. 
The  battle  of  Buxar  had  given  a  terrible 
blow  to  the  nabob's  credit  and  power :  Shah 
Zadda,  the  mogul,  had  then  deserted  him, 
and  gone  over  to  the  English :  his  forces  had 
also  gradually  crumbled  away  by  frequent 
and  bloody  defeats :  still  finding  a  resource 
in  his  own  steadiness  and  courage,  he  re- 
solved not  to  fall  in  a  weak  and  inglorious 
manner.  He  gathered  together,  with  great 
assiduity,  the  remains  of  his  routed  armies, 
and  as  he  knew  that  they  alone  could  not 
prop  his  falling  fortune,  he  applied  for  as- 
pistance  to  the  Marattas,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  mountainous  country  to  the  south-west 
of  Oude,  his  province.  They  are  an  original 
tribe  of  Indians,  who  were  never  perfectly 
subdued  by  the  Mogul  Tartars.  Their  prin- 
cipal strength  consisted  in  their  horse,  with 
which  they  overran,  and  rendered  tributary 
several  provinces,  spreading  terror  and  de- 
vastation around  them.  But  their  fame  in 
arms  ceased,  when  they  encountered  the 
English.  Meeting  Carnac  at  Calpi  on  the 
twentieth  of  May,  they  were  totally  routed, 
and  obliged  to  seek  for  shelter  in  their  own 
mountains. 

Foiled  in  all  his  military  attempts,  Sujah 
Doula  took  a  resolution  altogether  worthy 
of  the  spirit  and  policy  of  his  character. 
Thinking  it  better  to  throw  his  life  and  for- 
tune upon  tlie  generosity  of  a  brave  enemy, 
than  to  wander  a  forlorn  exile,  dependent  en 
the  uncertain  hospitality  of  neighbors,  who 
might  purchase  their  own  eafety  by  his  ruin, 


he  determined  to  anticipate  his  fate,  and  to 
surrender  himself  Having,  with  a  spirit  of 
fidelity  unusual  in  that  country,  allowed 
Cossim  and  the  assassin  Someraw  to  escape, 
he  appeared  three  days  after  the  action  at 
Calpi,  in  general  Carnac's  camp,  nothing 
being  previously  stipulated  in  his  favor,  but 
that  he  should  await  lord  Clive's  determina- 
tion. 

A  SELECT  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED  FOR 
BENGAL. 

On  the  first  intelligence  received  by  the 
India  company  that  this  war  had  broken  out, 
they  were  struck  with  the  utmost  conster- 
nation. Under  the  influence  of  such  a  panic 
nothing  seemed  to  them  capable  of  re-estab- 
lishing their  affairs,  but  the  name  and  for- 
tune of  lord  Clive,  to  whom  former  success 
had  given  the  character  of  invincible  among 
the  superstitious  Indians.  The  company  for- 
got, that  other  officers  had  gained  equal  honor, 
though  not  equal  fortunes,  in  that  part  of  the 
world.  As  if  the  enemies  were  at  their 
gates,  they  created  a  dictator :  they  invested 
him  and  four  other  gentlemen  with  unlim- 
ited authority  to  examine  and  determine 
everything,  independently  of  the  council,  as 
long  as  Bengal  remained  in  a  state  of  war 
or  confusion.  These  extraordinary  powers* 
were  not  granted  without  a  vigorous  oppo- 
sition. Two  considerable  proprietors,  who 
entered  a  strong  protest  against  them,  repre- 
sented the  commission  as  illegal  and  inex- 
pedient :  but  the  general  fear  overruled  their 
objections ;  and  the  select  committee,  as  it 
was  called,  sailed  for  Bengal. 

Before  the  committee's  arrival  there,  Mir 
Jaffier,  who  had  experienced  such  a  variety 
of  fortunes,  died,  and  nominated  his  son, 
Naijem  Doula,  his  successor.  The  council 
of  Calcutta,  after  some  deliberation,  confirm- 
ed his  choice,  even  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
male  issue  of  a  deceased  elder  son,  because 
it  was  conformable  to  the  Mussulman  cus- 
tom, which  permits  the  latter  to  leave  the 
succession  to  any  of  his  own  surviving  sons, 
in  preference  to  his  grandson  in  the  elder 
branch ;  and  because,  from  the  favorite  son'a 
personal  character,  he  seemed  likely  to  be 
contented  with  a  moderate  share  of  power. 
But  previous  to  his  receiving  this  honor,  tlie 
terms  were  prescribed,  on  which  he  was  to 
be  admitted  to  it 

He  objected  to  several  of  the  regulations 
that  were  proposed,  in  regard  to  the  collec- 
tion of  the  revenues;  and  insisted  on  the 
sole  and  uncontrolled  nomination  of  his  own 
officers.  But  the  force  of  his  remonstrances 
on  any  of  those  points  was  of  little  service 
to  him ;  and  his  attempts  to  soften  the  depu- 
ties, who  had  been  sent  to  negotiate  tlie 
treaty,  proved  equally  fruitless.  Not  the 
smallest  relaxation  was  to  be  obtained ;  end 
disagreeable  as  the  terms  were,  he  found  it 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


97 


necessary  to  sign  them,  or  to  relinquish  all 
his  fondest  hopes  and  pretensions.  Large 
presents  were  also  bestowed,  according  to 
constant  practice,  on  the  English  negotia- 
tors, who,  though  inflexible  with  respect  to 
tlie  articles,  were  ready  to  accept  of  any 
other  acknowledgments  from  the  subah,  as 
the  price  of  his  elevation.  Bemg  in  a  coun- 
try distinguished  for  riches  and  venality, — a 
country  where  the  feeble  protection  of  the 
laws,  and  the  precariousness  of  private 
property  have  always  rendered  sumptuous 
presents  customary,  they  did  not  think 
tliemselves  obliged  to  give  the  natives  an 
example  of  self-denial  or  disinterestedness. 

Among  various  abuses,  which  had  lately 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  company,  this 
very  practice  of  receiving  presents,  however 
beneficial  to  private  persons,  was  deemed 
most  injurious  to  the  general  interest.  Cov- 
enants were  therefore  sent  out  from  Eng- 
land to  be  signed  by  all  the  company's  ser- 
vants, not  to  accept  of  any  such  presents  for 
tlie  future.  These  instruments,  though  they 
had  arrived,  were  not  signed  before  the  date 
of  the  treaty  with  Naijem  Doula ;  and,  as 
particular  mention  was  made  that  they 
should  affect  no  previous  acts,  the  negotia- 
tors did  not  imagine  that  their  late  conduct 
could  be  called  in  question.  Matters  appear- 
ed in  a  different  light  to  the  secret  com- 
mittee. They  began  a  rigorous  mquiry  into 
the  whole  proceedings,  and  passed  several 
resolutions  severely  reflecting  on  the  coun- 
cil and  its  deputies.  Their  pretence  was, 
that  luxury,  corruption,  and  the  avidity  of 
amassing  large  fortunes  in  a  little  time,  had 
so  universally  infected  the  company's  ser- 
vants, that  nothing  less  than  a  total  reform, 
a  perfect  eradication  of  these  vices,  could 
preserve  the  settlement  from  immediate 
ruin.  "Fortunes  of  a  hundred  thousand 
pounds,"  said  lord  Clive,  "  have  been  acquir- 
ed in  the  space  of  two  years ;  and  individu- 
als, very  young  in  the  service,  are  returning 
home  with  a  million  and  a  half."  The  charge 
was  retorted  by  the  accused  party  with  no 
inconsiderable  force.  "  Such  objections,' 
said  they,  "  come  with  a  very  bad  grace  from 
men  who  are  much  more  culpable.  Have 
not  you,  who  arraign  us,  amassed  princely 
fortunes  by  the  very  same  means  1  Yet  you 
cannot  boast  superior  merit.  The  danger, 
which  was  removed  by  the  battle  of  Plassey, 
was  not  greater  than  what  threatened  us  be- 
fore the  battle  of  Buxar.  Why  should  you 
monopolize  rewards  1  The  happy  situation 
of  aflairs  is  owing  to  our  conduct,  spirit,  and 
industry.  We  cannot  be  bound  by  covenants 
which  we  did  not  sign.  The  presents,  which 
we  received,  were  conformable  to  the  cus- 
tom of  the  country,  and  to  the  practice  of 
the  company's  servants  in  all  former  peri- 
ods ;   and  they  were  accepted   with  great 

Vol.  IV  9 


honor,  as  all  the  proposed  articles  were  pre- 
viously settled,  without  giving  up  a  single 
point,  though  large  ofiers  had  been  made  for 
that  purpose." 
TREATY  WITH  THE  NABOB  OF  OUDE. 

In  the  mean  time,  lord  Clive  repaired  to 
the  army  at  Eliabad ;  full  powers  being  vested 
in  him  and  general  Carnac  by  the  select 
committee  to  conclude  a  peace  with  Sujah 
Doula,  whom  the  council,  on  account  of  his 
obstinacy  and  implacability,  had  deprived  of 
his  dominions.  The  Shah  Zadda,  who  had 
now  succeeded  his  father  as  mogul,  and  had 
remained  with  the  English  since  the  battle 
of  Buxar,  was  to  take  possession  of  the  de- 
posed nabob's  territories,  as  he  had  discover- 
ed an  attachment  to  the  English,  and  engaged 
in  the  war  against  his  inclination.  These 
arrangements  were  entirely  disapproved  of 
by  lord  Clive :  he  restored  his  province  to 
Sujah  Doula,  and  disappointed  the  sanguine 
hopes  of  the  mogul.  He  said,  that  the  com- 
pany's affairs  were  likely  to  be  involved  in 
an  inextricable  labyrinth;  that  the  success 
of  their  arms  promised  nothing  but  a  suc- 
cession of  future  wars ;  and  that  to  ruin  Su- 
jah Doula  was  to  break  down  the  strongest 
barrier  which  the  Bengal  provinces  could 
have  against  the  invasions  of  the  Marattas, 
Afghans,  and  other  powers,  who  had  so  long 
desolated  the  northern  districts. 

The  advantages  accruing  to  the  company 
from  this  treaty  were  said  to  be  immense. 
According  to  the  noble  lord,  who  concluded 
it,  they  would  receive  a  clear  yearly  income 
of  one  million,  seven  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  exempt  from  all  charges,  expenses, 
and  deductions.  By  such  a  large  accession 
of  treasure,  they  would  be  enabled  to  make 
proper  investm.ents  fi-om  Bengal  to  China, 
without  draining  England  of  its  silver,  for 
the  payment  of  the  great  balance  in  trade, 
which  is  constantly  due  to  that  country. 
The  security  and  permanence,  which  the 
company  were  likely  to  acquire  in  conse- 
quence of  the  treaty,  tended  greatly  to  en- 
force the  policy  of  such  a  measure.  But  the 
discontented  party  at  Calcutta  represented 
the  treaty  in  a  very  difierent  light,  as  equal- 
ly inccHQsistent  with  the  honor  and  interest 
of  the  company.  Major  Munro  might  long 
before  have  obtained  as  advantageous  terms ; 
but,  as  a  previous  condition,  he  insisted  that 
Cossim,  the  author  of  the  war,  and  Someraw, 
the  murderer  of  seventy-two  Englisli  gen- 
tlemen, should  be  delivered  up.  Have  not 
then  the  honor  and  justice  of  the  nation 
been  again  betrayed,  in  departing  from  those 
requisitions  1 

The  shaineflil  connivance  at  Someraw's 
escape  from  justice  will  excite  particular 
indignation  in  the  breast  of  the  English 
reader :  his  astonishment,  however,  will 
cease,  when  he  reflects  that  the  negotiation 


98 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


was  chiefly,  if  not  wholly  directed  by  Clive, 
who  was  himself  said  to  be  deeply  stained 
with  innocent  blood.  But  whatever  horror 
many  parts  of  Clive's  conduct  must  excite, 
he  certainly  introduced  at  that  time  several 
judicious  regulations  into  the  army.  He  put 
the  troops  in  the  country  on  a  new  footing : 
he  ordered  barracks  to  be  built  for  them  in 
proper  places:  he  also  divided  them  into 
three  parts,  each  of  which  was  to  consist  of 
one  regiment  of  European  infantry,  one  com- 
pany of  artillery,  and  seven  battalions  of 
Seapoys,  each  battalion  to  consist  of  seven 
hundred  rank  and  file.  One  of  these  divi- 
sions was  stationed  at  Eliabad,  a  second  at 
Patna,  and  the  third  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Calcutta.  These  arrangements  were  well 
calculated  to  preserve  the  tranquillity  of  the 
empire,  and  to  secure  to  the  company  the 
fruits  of  their  late  acquisitions.  What 
steps  were  afterwards  taken  by  the  English 
ministry  to  render  the  prosperity  of  the  com- 
pany subservient  to  the  welfare  of  the  na- 
tion at  large,  will  be  a  subject  of  future 
consideration.  Their  thoughts  were  at  that 
time  unfortunately,  though  unavoidably,  en- 
gaged by  objects  of  keener  and  more  imme- 
diate concern. 
DISTURBANCES  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 
Almost  every  day  brought  alarming  in- 
telligence of  the  violent  proceedings  of  the 
populace  against  the  stamp-act  in  North 
America.  When  the  report  of  its  having 
received  the  royal  assent  first  reached  Bos- 
ton, the  ships  in  the  harbor  hung  out  their 
colors  half-mast  high,  in  token  of  deep 
mourning:  the  bells  being  muffled  rang  a 
dumb  peal :  the  act  itself  was  printed  with 
a  death's  head  impressed  upon  it,  in  the 
place  where  it  is  usual  to  fix  the  stamp ;  and 
was  publicly  cried  about  the  streets  by  the 
name  of  the  "  folly  of  England  and  ruin  of 
America :"  essays,  denying  not  only  the  ex- 
pediency, but  the  equity  and  legality  of  the 
measure,  appeared  in  various  newspapers: 
to  these  were  added  caricatures,  pasquinades, 
puns,  criticisms,  and  such  vulgar  sayings 
fitted  to  the  occasion,  as,  on  account  of  their 
brevity,  were  easily  circulated  and  retained, 
and  from  their  inflammatory  tendency  could 
not  fail  of  preparing  the  minds  of  the  rabble 
to  take  fire  the  moment  any  attempt  should 
be  made  to  carry  the  act  into  execution. 
The  ferment  gradually  spread  to  the  mid- 
dling and  to  the  higher  ranks  of  the  people ; 
and  when  authentic  copies  of  the  act  from 
the  king's  printing-house  appeared  amongst 
them,  it  was  treated  with  all  the  contempt 
and  indignation,  which  could  be  expressed 
by  public  authority  agamst  the  most  offen- 
sive libel.  It  was  burned  in  various  places 
with  the  effigies  of  the  men  supposed  to  be 
most  active  in  getting  it  passed:  and  the 
warmest  gratitude  and  respect  were  testified 


towards  those  who  had  made  the  most  stren 
uous  opposition  to  it  in  the  English  house  of 
commons.  But  the  general  assemblies  went 
still  farther.  Instead  of  barely  conniving  at 
the  tumultuous  acts  of  the  people  in  sup- 
port of  what  was  termed  independence, 
they  proceeded  to  justify  them  by  arguments ; 
and  though  they  resolved  to  petition  the  le- 
gislature of  Great  Britain  against  the  stamp- 
act,  it  was  in  such  terms  as  served  rather  to 
express  their  weakness  than  their  submis- 
sion. Committees  of  correspondence  were  es- 
tablished in  the  different  colonies,  and  select 
persons  were  deputed  from  them  to  a  con- 
gress at  New- York,  where  they  met  in  Octo- 
ber, and  signed  one  general  declaration  of 
their  pretended  rights,  and  one  general  peti- 
tion expressive  of  their  alleged  grievances. 
The  merchants  also  entered  into  solemn  en- 
gagements not  to  order  any  more  goods  from 
Great  Britain  ;  to  recall  the  orders  already 
given,  if  not  executed  by  the  first  of  Janua- 
ry 1766 ;  and  even  not  to  dispose  of  any 
British  goods  sent  them  on  commission  after 
that  time,  unless  not  only  the  stamp-act,  but 
the  sugar  and  paper-money  acts,  were  re- 
pealed. The  people  of  Philadelphia  resolv- 
ed, though  not  unanimously,  that,  till  such 
repeal,  no  remittances  should  be  made  to 
England  for  debts  already  contracted,  nor 
any  lawyers  be  suffered  to  commence  a  suit 
against  a  resident  in  America,  in  behalf  of 
British  claimants.  Societies  in  like  manner 
were  formed  for  the  encouragement  of  do- 
mestic manufactures,  and  plans  adopted  for 
shaking  off"  all  dependence  on  the  mother 
country  for  any  of  the  necessaries  or  con- 
veniencies  of  life, 

But  by  whatever  motives  the  majority  of 
the  American  malcontents  were  actuated, 
the  effects  of  their  disaffection  and  resist- 
ance were  quickly  and  severely  felt  by  the 
mother  country.  Her  manufactures  were  at 
a  stand ;  the  principal  sources  of  her  com- 
merce were  cut  off:  a  numerous  populace 
was  thrown  out  of  employment ;  while  pro- 
visions became  extravagantly  dear ;  and  pub- 
lic credit  received  a  dreadful  shock  by  the 
total  stoppage  of  remittances  from  the  colo- 
nies. The  situation  of  the  ministry  was  at 
this  juncture  peculiarly  critical.  Surround- 
ed with  difficulties,  many  of  them  young  in 
office,  and  without  having  had  sufficient  time 
to  secure  the  confidence  of  either  the  sove- 
reign or  the  people,  they  had  to  decide  upon 
a  question  of  the  utmost  delicacy  and  mag- 
nitude; and  they  foresaw,  that  whatever 
line  they  might  resolve  to  pursue,  they 
should  meet  with  a  formidable  opposition. 
They  knew  that  the  framers  and  supporters 
of  the  stamp-act,  who  certainly  formed  a 
very  numerous  party,  would  embark  warmly 
in  the  vindication  of  their  own  measures, 
and  would  insist  on  the  policy  and  necessity 


GEORGE  ni.   1760^1820. 


99 


of  quelling  at  the  very  outset  the  daring  re- 
hietancc  of  tiio  colonists  to  the  legislative 
authority  of  Great  Britain.  They  were  also 
aware,  that  Pitt  and  his  adherents  would 
carry  the  contrary  doctrine  to  a  pitch  of 
enthusiastic  extravagance,  and  would  con- 
tend for  the  absolute  surrender  or  disavowal 
of  the  right  of  taxing  the  Americans.  Be- 
tween these  opposite  extremes,  they  thought 
it  safest  to  choose  a  middle  course,  and  nei- 
ther to  precipitate  affairs  with  the  colonists 
by  the  rashness  of  their  councils,  nor  to  sac- 
rifice the  dignity  of  the  crown  or  nation  by 
irresolution  or  weakness.  Their  dispatches 
to  the  American  governors  were  written 
with  spirit,  yet  with  temper,  so  as  not  to 
engage  the  executive  power  too  deeply,  but 
to  leave  it  still  at  the  option  of  the  supreme 
legislature  to  advise  pacific  measures.  The 
only  strong  objection  which  could  be  urged 
against  such  a  mode  of  proceeding  was,  that 
when  the  authority  of  any  government  is 
openly  despised,  ridiculed  and  trampled  upon, 
moderation  may  cease  to  be  the  dictate  of 
either  wisdom  or  virtue. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

In  this  situation  were  afiairs  when  the 
parliament  met  on  the  seventeenth  of  De- 
cember. Particular  notice  was  taken  from 
t'le  throne  of  the  importance  of  the  matters 
which  had  occurred  in  North  America,  and 
which  were  given  as  a  reason  for  assem- 
bling the  two  houses  sooner  than  was  intend- 
ed, that  they  might  have  an  opportunity  to 
iKsue  the  necessary  writs  on  the  many  va- 
cancies that  had  happened  since  the  last 
session ;  and  proceed  immediately  after  the 
recess  to  the  consideration  of  the  weighty 
matters  that  should  then  be  laid  before  them, 
for  which  purpose  the  fullest  accounts  of  the 
American  affairs  should  be  prepared  for  their 
inspection.  The  house  then  issued  the  neces- 
sary writs,  and  adjourned  for  the  holidays. 

1766. — When  both  houses  met  on  the 
fi)iirteenth  of  January,  according  to  their 
adjournment,  a  second  speech  from  the 
throne,  jx)inted  out  to  them  the  American 
affairs  as  the  principal  object  of  their  de- 
liberations. The  address  was  agreed  to 
without  a  division,  but  not  without  a  warm 
debate.  Pitt  seized  this  opportunity  of  de- 
claring his  own  sentiments  on  the  subject. 
He  condemned  in  the  gross  all  the  capital 
measures  of  the  late  mmistry.  He  said  he 
was  ill  in  bed,  when  the  resolution  was 
t  iken  in  the  house  to  tax  America,  or  he 
should  have  borne  his  testimony  against  it. 
As,  from  the  nature  of  his  infinnities,  he 
could  not  depend  upon  health  for  any  future 
day,  he  begged  leave  to  say  a  few  words  at 
pro-sent  on  one  point,  which  he  thought  was 
not  generally -understood — the  point  of  rijrht. 
It  was  his  opinion  that  Great  Britain  had  no 
right  to  tax  the  colonies.    At  the  same  time 


he  asserted  the  authority  of  the  mother 
country  over  the  colonies  to  be  sovereign 
and  supreme,  in  every  circumstance  of  gov- 
ernment and  legislation  whatsoever;  but 
he  pretended,  that  taxation  was  no  part  of 
the  governing  or  legislative  power.  In  sup- 
port of  this  paradox,  he  had  recourse  to 
some  ingenious  arguments.  "  This  king- 
dom," said  he,  "  as  the  supreme  governing 
and  legislative  power,  has  always  bound  the 
colonies  by  her  laws,  by  her  regulations, 
and  restrictions  in  trade,  in  navigation,  in 
manufactures — in  everything,  except  that 
of  taking  their  money  out  of  their  pockets 
without  their  consent."  But  as  the  duties 
imposed  for  the  regulation  of  trade  certain- 
ly took  money  out  of  their  pockets,  he  en- 
deavored to  get  clear  of  the  palpable  absurd- 
ity of  admitting  that  right  in  one  instance, 
and  positively  denying  it  in  another,  by  a 
subtle  distinction  between  internal  and  ex- 
ternal taxes,  the  former  being  levied  for  the 
purposes  of  raising  a  revenue,  while  the  lat- 
ter were  laid  on  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  subject,  though  some  revenue  might  in- 
cidentally arise  from  them. 

As  all  these  remarks  were  directly  pointed 
at  George  Grenville's  favorite  measure,  that 
gentleman  made  a  very  spirited  reply.  He 
censured  the  new  ministry  severely  for  de- 
laying to  give  earlier  notice  to  parliament 
of  the  disturbances  in  America.  "  They 
began,"  said  he,  "  in  July ;  and  now  we  are 
in  the  middle  of  January :  lately  they  were 
only  occurrences ;  they  are  now  grown  to 
disturbances,  to  tumults  and  riots.  I  doubt 
they  border  on  open  rebellion ;  and  if  the 
doctrine  I  have  heard  this  day  be  confirmed, 
I  fear  they  will  lose  that  name  to  take  that 
of  revolution.  The  government  over  them 
being  dissolved,  a  revolution  will  take  place 
in  America.  I  cannot  understand  the  dif- 
ference between  external  and  internal  taxes. 
They  are  the  same  in  effect,  and  only  differ 
in  name.  That  this  kingdom  has  the  sove- 
reign, the  supreme  legislative  power  over 
America,  is  granted.  It  cannot  be  denied  ; 
and  taxation  is  a  part  of  that  sovereign  pow- 
er. It  is  one  branch  of  the  legislation.  It 
is — it  has  been  exercised  over  those  who 
are  not,  who  were  never  represented." 
Here  Grenville  pointed  out  several  instances 
in  support  of  his  assertion,  and  added, 
"  When  I  proposed  to  tax  America,  I  asked 
the  house,  if  any  gentleman  would  object  to 
the  right?  I  repeatedly  asked  it;  and  no 
man  would  attempt  to  deny  it.  Protec- 
tion and  obedience  are  reciprocal.  Great 
Britain  protects  America :  America  is  bound 
to  yield  obedience."  He  then  observed  hov^ 
ready  the  Americans  had  always  boon  to  ask 
protection,  and  how  constantly  it  had  been 
afibrded  them  by  the  mother  country :  but 
when  she  called  upon  them  to  contribute  a 


100 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


small  share  towards  the  public  expense,  an 
expense  arising  from  themselves,  they  re- 
nounced her  authority,  insulted  her  officers, 
and  broke  out  into  open  rebellion.  The 
cause  was  very  obvious.  "The  seditious 
spirit  of  the  colonies,"  said  he,  "  owes  its 
birth  to  the  factions  in  this  house.  Gentle- 
men are  careless  of  the  consequences  of 
what  they  say,  provided  it  answers  the  pur- 
TX)ses  of  opposition.  We  were  told  we  trod 
cu  tender  ground :  we  were  bid  to  expect 
disobedience.  What  was  this  but  telling 
the  Americans  to  stand  out  against  the  law 
— to  encourage  their  obstinacy  with  the  ex- 
pectation of  support  from  hence  1  Let  us 
only  hold  out  a  little,  they  would  say,  our 
friends  will  soon  be  m  power."  He  con- 
cluded with  some  observations  on  the  in-; 
gratitude  of  the  Americans,  after  so  much 
had  been  done  in  their  favor ;  and  with  a 
short  vindication  of  his  own  character  from 
the  unjust  charge  of  having  been  an  enemy 
to  their  trade.  The  impression,  which  such 
a  speech  must  have  made  on  every  unpre- 
judiced mind,  could  not  be  eifaced  by  all 
the  powers  of  Pitt's  oratory.  He  made  a 
second  harangue  of  considerable  length  to 
justify  the  resistance  of  the  Americans,  and 
to  apologize  for  the  silence  of  his  own  party, 
when  the  question  of  right  had  been  re- 
peatedly submitted  to  the  consideratioij  of 
the  house. 

While  the  attention  of  the  commons  was 
very  earnestly  engaged  in  examining  the 
papers  relative  to  the  American  troubles, 
which  were  laid  before  the  house  by  his  ma- 
jesty's order,  petitions  v/ere  received  from 
most  of  the  commercial  and  manufacturing 
towns  in  the  kingdom,  setting  forth  the 
great  decay  of  their  trade  in  consequence 
of  the  new  laws  and  regulations  made  for 
America ;  and  earnestly  soliciting  the  im- 
mediate interposition  of  parliament  There 
were  also  petitions  received  from  the  agents 
for  Virgmia  and  Georgia,  representing  their 
inability  to  pay  the  stamj)  duty;  and  one 
from  the  agent  for  the  island  of  Jamaica, 
explaining  the  bad  effects  of  a  similar  tax 
which  had  been  laid  on  in  that  island  by  the 
assembly,  but  was  soon  suffered  to  expire, 
on  being  found  unequal  and  burdensome; 
and  suggesting  the  probability,  that  the  like 
experiment  in  the  colonies  would  be  attend- 
ed with  still  greater  inconveniencies. 

Though  the  urgency  of  the  matter  occa- 
sioned the  house  to  attend  to  it  with  un- 
wearied application,  and  till  a  very  late  hour 
every  night ;  yet  the  nature  of  the  inquiries, 
tlie  number  of  petitions  received,  and  the 
multitude  of  papers  and  witnesses  to  be  ex- 
amined, were  attended  with  long  and  un- 
avoidable delays.  In  the  mean  time  there 
were  continued  debates;  and  all  the  par- 
tisans of  the  late  administration  made  the 


most  strenuous  efforts  for  enforcing  the 
stamp-act,  and  for  preventing  the  repeal. 
Those  who  contended  for  the  repeal,  were 
divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  right  of  taxa- 
tion: the  more  numerous  body,  of  whom 
were  the  new  ministry,  insisted  that  the 
legislature  of  Great  Britain  had  an  undoubt- 
ed right  to  tax  the  colonies ;  but  relied  on 
the  expediency  of  the  tax  in  question,  as  ill 
adapted  to  the  condition  of  the  colonies,  and 
built  upon  principles  rumous  to  the  trade  of 
Great  Britain :  those,  who  denied  the  right 
of  taxation,  were  not  so  numerous ;  but 
they  consisted  of  some  very  popular  char- 
acters. 

The  advocates  for  the  right  of  taxation 
took  occasion  to  show  how  futile  Pitt's  dis- 
,tinction  was  between  internal  and  external 
taxes.  "  Such  a  distinction,"  said  they,  "  is 
as  false  and  groundless  as  any  other  that 
has  been  made.  It  is  granted  that  restrict 
tions  upon  trade,  and  duties  upon  the  ports 
are  legal,  at  the  same  time  that  the  right  of 
the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  to  lay  m- 
ternal  taxes  upon  the  colonies  is  denied.^ 
What  real  difference  can  there  be  in  this 
pretended  distinction]  A  tax  laid  in  any 
place  is  like  a  pebble  dropt  into  a  lake,  and 
makmg  circle  after  circle,  till  the  whole 
surface  from  the  centre  tc  the  circumference 
is  agitated :  for  nothing  can  be  more  evi- 
dent than  that  a  tax  laid  upon  tobacco  either 
in  the  ports  of  England  or  Virgijiia,  is  as 
much  a  duty  laid  on  the  inland  plantations 
of  the  latter,  as  if  it  were  collected  a  hun- 
dred miles  up  the  country,  on  the  spot  where 
the  tobacco  grows.  The  truth  is  illustrated 
by  this  case.  The  postage  was  an  internal 
tax  on  paper  folded  like  letters,  the  stamp- 
act  on  paper  unfolded.  Wherein  lay  the 
difference]  To  allow  the  authority  of  the 
supreme  legislature  in  the  one,  and  to  deny 
it  in  the  other,  must  be  the  effect  of  wilful 
perverseness  and  flagrant  inconsistency." 

In  summing  up  these  different  arguments, ' 
their  collective  force  was  irresistibly  felt. 
The  most  satisfactory  demonstrations  seem- 
ed to  have  been  given,  that  protection  was 
the  only  true  ground  on  which  the  right  of 
taxation  could  be  founded :  that  the  obliga- 
tion between  the  colonies  and  the  mother 
country,  was  natural  and  reciprocal,  consist- 
ing of  defence  on  the  one  side,  and  obedi- 
ence on  the  other :  that  they  must  be  de- 
pendent in  all  points  on  the  parent  state,  or 
else  not  belong  to  it  at  all :  that  the  distinc- 
tion between  internal  and  external  taxes  was 
not  more  repugnant  to  common  sense,  than 
to  facts,  and  to  the  frequent  and  unopposed 
exercise  of  the  parliamentary  authority  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  one  case,  as  well  as  in 
the  other :  and  that  the  far  greater  part  of 
the  people  of  England,  who  were  non-elec- 
tors, might  with  as  nmch  reason  object  to 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


101 


taxes,  on  the  ground  of  being  only  virtually 
represented,  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  colo- 
nies. Upon  the  question  being  put,  the 
power  of  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain 
over  her  colonies,  in  all  cases  whatsoever, 
and  without  any  distinction  in  regard  to  tax- 
ation, was  confirmed  and  ascertained,  with- 
out a  division  in  either  house. 

The  grand  committee,  who  had  passed 
the  resolutions  on  which  the  foregoing  ques- 
tion was  debated,  had  also  passed  another 
for  the  total  repeal  of  the  stamp-act ;  and 
iwo  bills  were  accordingly  brought  in  to  an- 
?iveY  these  purposes.  By  the  resolutions,  on 
which  the  former  was  founded,  it  was  de- 
clared that  tumults  and  insurrections  of  the 
most  dangerous  nature  had  been  raised  and 
carried  on  in  several  of  the  colonies,  in  open 
defiance  of  government,  and  in  manifest 
violation  of  the  laws  and  legislative  authority 
of  the  mother  country ;  and  that  these  tu- 
mults and  insurrections  had  been  encourag- 
ed and  inflamed  by  several  votes  and  resolu- 
tions, which  had  been  passed  in  the  assem- 
blies of  the  said  colonies,  derogatory  to  the 
honor  of  government,  and  destructive  to 
their  legal  and  constitutional  dependency  on 
the  crown  and  parliament  of  Great  Britain. 
By  the  bill  itself,  all  these  votes,  resolutions 
and  orders  of  the  American  assemblies  were 
annulled  and  reprobated ;  and  the  ministry 
having  thereby  secured,  as  they  imagined, 
the  dependence  of  the  colonies,  and  provided 
for  the  honor  and  dignity  of  Great  Britain, 
and  its  constitutional  superiority  over  them, 
contended  for  the  expediency  of  repealing 
an  act,  which  they  said  was  injudicious,  op- 
presssive,  and  incapable  of  being  enforced 
but  by  fire  and  sword.  The  late  ministry 
and  their  friends,  who  supported  the  new 
administration  in  the  debate  on  the  question 
of  right,  opposed  the  repeal  with  considerable 
strength  bath  of  argument  and  numbers. 
But  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  it  passed 
upon  a  division  by  a  majority  of  275  to  167, 
and  was  carried  up  to  the  lords  by  above 
two  hundred  members  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons. The  eclat,  however,  with  which  it 
was  introduced  into  the  upper  house,  did 
not  prevent  its  meeting  with  a  strong  oppo- 
sition there  also.  Thirty-three  lords  enter- 
ed a  protest  against  it  at  the  second  read- 
ing ;  as  twenty-eight  did  at  the  third.  The 
following  is  the  substance  of  the  chief  rea- 
sons they  assigned  for  their  dissent,  and 
which  are  the  more  memorable  as  they  con- 
tain some  political  predictions,  that  have 
since  been  too  fully  verified  by  events : 

"Because  we  are  of  opinion,  that  the 
total  repealing  of  the  stamp-act,  while  such 
an  outrageous  resistaiice  is  continued  by  the 
colonies,  will  make  the  authority  of  Great 
Britain  contemptible  hereafter;  and  that 
such  a  submission  of  the  supreme  legisla- 
9* 


ture,  under  such  circumstances,  would  be 
in  effect  a  surrender  of  their  ancient  un- 
alienable rights  to  subordinate  provincial  as- 
semblies established  only  by  prerogative, 
which  in  itself  had  no  such  powers  to  be- 
stow. 

"  Because  it  appears  to  us,  that  a  most  es- 
sential branch  of  that  authority,  the  power 
of  taxation,  cannot  be  equitably  or  impar- 
tially exercised,  if  it  does  not  extend  itself 
to  all  the  members  of  the  state^  in  propor- 
tion to  their  respective  abilities,  but  suffers 
a  part  to  be  exempt  fi-om  a  due  share  of 
those  burdens  which  the  public  exigencies 
require  to  be  imposed  upon  the  whole:  a 
partiality,  directly  repugnant  to  the  trust 
reposed  by  the  people  in  every  legislature, 
and  destructive  of  that  confidence  on  which 
all  government  is  founded. 

"  Because  the  ability  of  our  North  Ameri- 
can colonies  to  bear,  without  inconvenience, 
the  proportion  laid  on  them  by  the  stamp- 
act,  appears  unquestionable.  Its  estimated 
produce  of  sixty  thousand  pounds  per  an- 
tium,  if  divided  amongst  twelve  hundred 
thousand  people,  being  little  more  than  one- 
half  the  subjects  of  the  crown  in  North 
America,  would  be  only  one  shillmg  per 
head  a-year. 

"  Because  not  only  the  right,  but  the  ex- 
pediency and  necessity  of  the  supreme  legis- 
lature's exerting  its  authority  to  lay  a  gene- 
ral tax  on  the  colonies,  whenever  the  wants 
of  the  public  make  it  fitting  and  reasonable 
that  all  the  provinces  should  contribute  in  a 
proper  proportion  to  the  defence  of  the 
whole,  appear  undeniable.  Such  a  general 
tax  could  not  be  regularly  unposed  by  their 
own  separate  provincial  assemblies. 

"  Because  the  reasons  assigned  in  the  pub- 
lic resolutions  of  the  provincial  assemblies, 
in  the  North  American  colonies,  for  their 
disobeying  the  stamp-act,  viz.  'That  they 
are  not  represented  in  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain,'  extends  to  all  other  laws  of 
what  nature  soever,  which  that  parliament 
has  enacted,  or  shall  enact;  and  may,  by 
the  same  reasoning,  be  extended  to  all  per- 
sons in  this  island,  who  do  not  actually  vote 
for  members  of  parliament:  nor  can  we 
help  apprehending,  that  the  opmion  of  some 
countenance  being  given  to  such  notions  by 
the  legislature  itself,  in  consenting  to  this 
bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  stamp-act,  may 
greatly  promote  the  contagion  of  a  most 
dangerous  doctrine,  destructive  to  all  gov- 
ernment, which  has  spread  itself  over  all 
our  North  American  colonies,  that  the  obe- 
dience of  the  subject  is  not  due  to  the  laws 
and  legislature  of  the  realm,  farther  than 
he,  in  his  private  judgment,  shall  think  it 
conformable  to  the  ideas  he  has  fonned  of  a 
free  constitution. 

"  Because  we  think  it  no  effectual  guard 


102 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


against  this  danger,  that  the  parliament  has 
declared  in  a  bill,  that  such  notions  are  ill- 
founded  ;  as  men  will  look  always  more  to 
deeds  than  words,  and  may  therefore  incline 
to  believe  that  the  insurrections  in  the  colo- 
nies, excited  by  those  notions,  having  attained 
the  very  point  at  which  they  aimed,  without 
any  previous  submission  on  their  part,  the 
legislature  has,  in  fact,  submitted  to  them, 
and  has  only  more  grievously  injured  its  own 
dignity  and  authority,  by  verbally  asserting 
that  right  which  it  substantially  yields  up 
to  their  opposition ;  and  this  at  a  time  when 
the  strength  of  our  colonies,  as  well  as  their 
desire  of  a  total  independence  on  the  legis- 
lature and  government  of  their  mother  coun- 
try, may  be  greatly  augmented ;  and  when 
the  circumstances  and  dispositions  of  the 
other  powers  of  Europe  may  render  the  con- 
test far  more  dangerous  and  formidable  to 
this  kingdom." 

In  the  second  protest,  many  of  the  same 
objections  were  farther  enforced,  and  some 
new  ones  added.  The  dissenting  lords  looked 
upon  the  declaratory  bill  as  a  delusive  and 
nugatory  affirmance  of  the  legislative  right 
of  Great  Britain,  whilst  the  enacting  part 
merely  annulled  proceedings  that  were  ab- 
solutely criminal. 

STAMP-ACT  REPEALED. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  March,  two  days 
after  the  date  of  this  second  protest,  the  bill 
for  repealing  the  stamp-act,  as  well  as  that 
which  proposed  to  secure  the  dependency 
of  the  colonies  on  the  British  crown,  received 
the  royal  assent.  The  ministry  were  still 
more  successful  in  other  steps  which  they 
took  to  gain  popularity.  They  had  a  bill 
passed  for  the  repeal  of  the  cider-act,  and 
for  substituting  in  its  place  a  new  duty  en- 
tirely different  in  the  mode  of  collection. 
General  warrants,  and  the  seizure  of  papers, 
except  in  cases  provided  for  by  act  of  parlia- 
ment, were  declared  to  be  illegal,  and  to  be 
a  breach  of  privilege,  if  executed  against 
any  member;  but  a  bill  founded  on  these 
resolutions  of  the  commons  was  thrown  out 
by  the  lords,  as  unnecessary  and  frivolous. 
The  old  duties  upon  houses  and  windows 
were  abolished ;  and  the  rates  were  settled 
with  much  more  equity  and  ease  to  the  lower 
and  middling  ranks  of  the  people.  Two  bills 
were  also  passed  at  the  close  of  the  session 
on  the  sixth  of  June,  for  which  the  friends 
of  the  ministry  thought  they  deserved  some 
praise,  at  least  from  the  mercantile  part  of 
the  community :  the  one  was  for  opening 
free  ports,  under  certain  restrictions,  in  diif- 
ferent  parts  of  the  West  Indies;  and  the 
other  was  a  law  indemnifying  those  who  had 
incurred  any  penalties,  in  consequence  of 
the  stamp-act,  and  requiring  compensation 
to  be  made  by  the  American  assemblies  to 
such  persons  as  had  suffered  in  their  prop- 


erty by  the  late  riots.  In  this  detail  of  the 
merits  of  the  marquis  of  Rockingham's  ad- 
ministration, it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  he 
removed  some  restraints  which  were  con- 
sidered as  heavy  clogs  on  the  colonial  trade ; 
that  he  settled  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  own- 
ers the  long-contested  affair  of  the  Canada 
bills ;  and  that  he  concluded  with  Russia  a 
commercial  treaty,  which  procured  him  the 
unanimous  thanks  of  the  Russia  company. 
CHANGES  IN  THE  CABINET. 

But  all  these  smaller  claims  to  esteem 
could  not  supply  the  want  of  experience,  de- 
cision, and  firmness  in  the  more  important 
concerns  of  the  state.  The  duke  of  Graf- 
ton, one  of  the  secretaries,  feeling  the  insta- 
bility of  his  colleagues,  or  unwilling,  as  he 
pretended,  to  act  without  Pitt,  resigned  in 
the  beginning  of  May ;  and  though  his  place 
was  immediately  filled  by  the  duke  of  Rich- 
mond, yet  his  retreat  at  that  juncture  was 
generally  looked  upon  as  a  strong  symptom 
of  the  probable  dismission  of  his  late  asso- 
ciates. They  did  not  maintain  their  ground 
long  after  parliament  was  prorogued.  Their 
fall  is  said  to  have  been  accelerated  by  the 
following  circumstance.  After  the  repeal 
of  the  stamp-act,  which  the  marquis  and  his 
friends  looked  upon  as  the  only  method  of 
conciliating  the  affections  of  the  refractory 
colonies,  they  took  into  consideration  the 
state  of  Canada,  for  which  province  no  com- 
plete system  of  government  had  yet  been 
formed.  They  conceived  it  necessary  to 
supply  this  defect;  and  having  drawn  the 
outlines  of  a  plan,  preparatory  to  a  bill  for 
that  purpose,  they  submitted  their  sketch  to 
lord  Northington  the  chancellor.  He  had 
never  been  very  cordially  their  friend,  and 
was  now,  perhaps,  glad  of  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity of  expressing  his  dislike.  He  con- 
demned the  whole  measure  in  the  most  un- 
qualified terms  of  disapprobation :  he  even 
went  to  the  king,  and  complained  to  his  ma- 
jesty of  the  unfitness  of  his  ministers,  add- 
ing that  they  could  not  go  on,  and  that  Pitt 
must  be  sent  for.  In  consequence  of  these 
very  plain  assertions,  tlie  chancellor  was 
commissioned  to  confer  with  Pitt  on  the  sub- 
ject of  a  new  arrangement 

As  Pitt's  refusal  of  former  offers  had  solely 
arisen  from  their  not  allowing  him  to  fill  all 
the  departments  of  the  state  with  whom  he 
pleased,  that  objection  was  now  removed 
by  the  chancellor's  assuring  him,  that  the 
king  had  no  terms  to  propose ;  and  the  same 
assurance  was  afterwards  confirmed  to  him 
by  the  king  himself,  to  whom  he  was  intro- 
duced at  Richmond,  on  the  twelfth  of  July. 
Lord  Temple,  who  was  then  at  Stowe,  being 
sent  fbr  by  his  majesty's  order,  came  to 
town  with  all  possible  dispatch,  and  paid 
his  respects  to  the  kinsr. 

On  the  morning  after  lord  Temple  had 


GEORGE  III.    1760-1820. 


103 


seen  the  king,  he  "  received  a  very  affec- 
tionate letter  from  Pitt,  then  at  North  End, 
Hampstead,  desiring  to  see  his  lordship 
there,  as  his  health  would  not  permit  him 
to  come  to  town.  His  lordship  went ;  and 
Pitt  acquainted  him,  that  his  majesty  had 
been  graciously  pleased  to  send  for  him,  to 
form  an  administration ;  and  as  he  thought 
his  lordship  mdispensable,  he  desired  his 
majesty  to  send  for  him,  and  put  him  at  the 
head  of  the  treasury ;  and  that  he  himself 
would  takje  the  post  of  privy-seal.  Pitt  then 
produced  a  list  of  several  persons,  which  he 
said  he  had  fixed  upon  to  go  in  with  his 
lordship,  and  which,  he  added,  was  not  to 
be  altered.  Lord  Temple  said,  that  he  had 
had  the  honor  of  a  conference  with  his  ma- 
jesty at  Richmond  the  evening  before,  and 
that  he  did  not  understand,  from  what  pass- 
ed between  them,  that  Pitt  was  to  be  abso- 
lute master,  and  to  form  every  part  of  the 
administration:  if  he  had,  he  should  not 
have  given  himself  the  trouble  of  coming 
to  Pitt  upon  that  subject,  being  determined 
.0  come  in  upon  an  equality  with  Pitt,  in 
case  he  was  to  occupy  the  most  responsible 
place  under  government:  and  as  Pitt  had 
chosen  only  a  side-place,  without  any  re- 
sponsibility annexed  to  it,  he  should  insist 
upon  some  of  his  friends  being  in  the  cabi- 
net-offices with  him,  and  in  whom  he  could 
confide :  which  he  thought  Pitt  could  have 
no  objection  to,  as  he  must  be  sensible  he 
could  not  come  in  with  honor,  unless  he  had 
such  nomination ;  nor  did  he  desire,  but  that 
Pitt  should  have  his  share  of  the  nomination 
of  his  friends.  And  his  lordship  added,  that 
he  made  a  sacrifice  of  his  brother,  George 
Grenville,  who,  notwithstanding  his  being 
entirely  out  of  place,  and  excluded  from  all 
connexion  with  the  intended  system,  would 
nevertheless  give  hun  (lord  Temple)  all  the 
assistance  and  support  in  his  power :  that  it 
was  an  idea  to  conciliate  all  parties,  which 
was  the  ground  that  had  made  Pitt's  former 
administration  so  respectable  and  glorious, 
and  to  form  upon  the  solid  basis  of  union,  an 
able  and  responsible  administration,  to  brace 
the  relaxed  sinews  of  government,  retrieve 
the  honor  of  the  crown,  and  pursue  the  per- 
manent interest  of  the  public :  but  that  if 
Pitt  insisted  upon  a  superior  dictation,  and 
did  not  choose  to  join  in  a  plan  designed  for 
the  restoration  of  that  union,  which  at  no 
time  was  ever  so  necessary,  he  desired  the 
conference  might  be  broke  oflf,  and  that  Pitt 
would  give  himself  no  farther  trouble  about 
him,  for  that  he  would  not  submit  to  the  pro- 
posed conditions. 

"  Pitt,  however,  insisted  upon  continuing 
the  conference ;  and  asked,  who  those  per- 
sons were  whom  hie  lordship  intended  for 
some  of  the  cabinet  employments?  His 
lordship  answere^d,  that  one  in  particular  was 


a  noble  lord  of  approved  character,  and 
known  abilities,  who  had  last  year  refused 
the  very  office  now  offered  to  him  (lord  Tem- 
ple) though  pressed  to  it  in  the  strongest 
manner  by  the  duke  of  Cumberland  and  the 
duke  of  Newcastle ;  and  who  being  their 
common  friend,  he  did  not  doubt  Pitt  himself 
had  in  contemplation.  This  worthy  and  re- 
spectable person  was  lord  Lyttleton.  At  the 
conclusion  of  this  sentence,  Pitt  said,  how 
can  you  compare  hun  to  the  duke  of  Grat- 
ton,  lord  Shelburne,  and  Conway  ]  besides, 
continued  he,  I  have  taken  the  privy-seal, 
and  he  cannot  have  that  Lord  Temple  then 
mentioned  the  post  of  lord  president :  upon 
which  Pitt  said,  that  could  not  be,  for  he  had 
engaged  the  presidency  :  but,  says  he,  lord 
Lyttleton  may  have  a  pension.  To  which 
lord  Temple  immediately  answered,  that 
would  never  do  ;  nor  would  he  stain  the  bud 
of  his  administration  with  an  accumulation 
of  pensions.  It  is  true,  Pitt  vouchsafed  to 
permit  lord  Temple  to  nominate  his  own 
board ;  but  at  the  same  time  insisted,  that  if 
two  persons  of  that  board  (T.  Townshend 
and  G.  Onslow)  were  turned  out,  they  should 
have  a  compensation. 

"  Pitt  next  asked,  what  person  his  lordship 
had  in  his  thoughts  for  secretary  of  state  ? 
His  lordship  answered,  lord  Gower,  a  man 
of  great  abilities,  and  whom  he  knew  to  be 
equal  to  any  Pitt  had  named,  and  of  much 
greater  alliance ;  and  in  whom  he  meant  and 
hoped  to  unite  and  conciliate  a  great  and 
powerful  party,  in  order  to  widen  and 
strengthen  the  bottom  of  his  admmistration, 
and  to  vacate  even  the  idea  of  opposition ; 
thereby  to  restore  unanimity  in  parliament, 
and  confine  every  good  man's  attention  to 
the  real  objects  of  his  country's  welfare. 
And  his  lordship  added,  that  he  had  never 
imparted  his  design  to  lord  Gower,  nor  did 
he  know  whether  that  noble  lord  would  ac- 
cept of  it,  but  mentioned  it  now,  only  as  a 
comprehensive  measure,  to  attain  the  great 
end  he  wished,  of  restoring  unanimity  by  a 
reconciliation  of  parties ;  that  the  business 
of  the  nation  might  go  on  without  interrup- 
tion, and  become  the  only  business  of  par- 
liament. But  Pitt  rejected  this  proposal, 
evidently  healing  as  it  appeared,  by  saying, 
that  he  had  determined  Conway  should  stay 
m  his  present  office,  and  that  he  had  lord 
Shelburne  to  propose  for  the  other  office, 
then  held  by  the  duke  of  Richmond ;  so  that 
there  remained  no  room  for  lord  Go\\'ei-- 
This,  lord  Temple  said,  was  coming  to  his 
first  proposition  of  being  sole  and  absolute 
dictator,  to  which  no  consideration  should 
ever  induce  him  to  submit.  And  therefore 
he  insisted  on  endmg  the  conference  ;  which 
he  did  with  saying, '  that  if  he  had  been  first 
called  upon  by  the  king,  he  should  have  con- 
sulted Pitt's  honor,  witJi  regard  to  the  ar- 


104 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


rangement  of  ministers,  and  have  given  him 
an  equal  share  in  the  nomination ;  and  that 
he  thought  himself  ill-treated  by  Pitt  in  his 
not  observing  the  like  conduct' " 

It  is  unnecessary  to  make  any  remarks  on 
Pitt's  behavior  at  this  conference.  He  ap- 
pears there  divested  of  that  dazzling  lustre 
which  his  genius  spread  around  him  on  all 
public  occasions.  Availing  himself  of  the 
carte  blanche  which  had  been  given  him  by 
the  king,  he  spumed  at  every  idea  of  equali- 
ty, of  union,  and  of  healing  proposals. 
Honor,  friendship,  and  even  the  welfare  of 
liis  country,  had  very  little  weight,  when 
they  came  in  competition  with  his  vanity. 
But  the  shortrlived  triumph  of  his  pride  was 
followed  by  long  and  stinging  mortifications. 
He  fancied  that  his  name  alone  would  estab- 
lish a  ministry,  and  that  the  first  men  in  the 
kingdom  would  be  ready  at  a  call  to  enlist 
under  his  banner,  and  to  take  whatever  post 
he  might  think  proper  to  assign  them.  A 
few  experiments  convinced  him  of  his  mis- 
take. He  made  various  offers  to  different 
persons  of  great  weight  and  consideration, 
with  a  view  of  detaching  them  from  their 
friends.  He  tampered  with  the  duke  of 
Portland,  late  lord  chamberlain ;  witli  Dow- 
deswell,  the  late  chancellor  of  the  exche- 
quer ;  and  even  with  lord  Gower,  to  whom 
he  proposed  the  office  of  secretary  of  state. 


though  he  had  set  his  face  against  the  very 
same  appointment,  when  suggested  by  lord 
Temple.  All  his  offers  were  rejected.  He 
then  went  to  the  marquis  of  Rockingham's ; 
but  the  marquis  refused  to  see  him.  Ren- 
dered desperate  by  these  rebuffs,  he  formed 
that  chequered  and  speckled  administration, 
of  which  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  juster,  or 
more  striking  picture  than  in  the  following 
words  of  Burke : 

"  He  put  together  a  piece  of  joinery,  so 
crossly  indented  and  whimsically  dovetailed ; 
a  cabinet  so  variously  inlaid ;  such  a  piece 
of  diversified  Mosaic ;  such  a  tesselated 
pavement,  without  cement;  here  a  bit  of 
black  stone,  and  there  a  bit  of  white ;  patri- 
ots and  courtiers ;  king's  friends  and  repub- 
licans ;  whigs  and  tories ;  treacherous  friends 
and  open  enemies ;  that  it  was  indeed  a  very 
curious  show ;  but  utterly  unsafe  to  touch, 
and  unsure  to  stand  on. — When  he  had  ac- 
complished his  scheme  of  administration,  he 
was  no  longer  a  minister." — The  sceptre  of 
absolute  control,  which  he  was  so  fond  of 
wielding,  fell  from  his  infirm  grasp  ;  and  he 
was  confined  in  reality  to  that  side-place,  as 
lord  Temple  called  it,  whence  he  hoped  to 
have  directed  the  operations  of  those  who 
stood  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  power  and  re- 
sponsibility (2). 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


Mir  Jaffier,  whom  lord  Clive 
had  raised  to  that  tottering  dig- 
nity in  1757,  was  compelled  in 
about  three  years  after  to  resign 
the  government  to  his  son-in- 
law  Mir  Cossim,  who  had  en- 
tered into  a  secret  treaty  for 
that  purpose  with  the  council 
of  Calcutta. 

The  new  arrangement  took 
place  on  the  thirtieth  of  July. 
Pitt,  being  then  created  vis- 
count Pjnsent  and  earl  of  Chat- 


ham, received  the  privy-seal, 
lately  held  by  the  duke  of  New 
castle ;  the  duke  of  Grafton  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  trea- 
sury, in  the  room  of  the  mar- 
quis of  Rockingham;  and 
Charles  Townshend  succeeded 
Dowdesvvell  as  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer ;  general  Conway 
was  continued  in  the  office  of 
secretary  of  state ;  but  had  for 
his  colleague  the  earl  of  Shel- 
burne,  instead  of  the  duke  of 


Richmond :  lord  Canibden  was 
made  lord  chancellor  in  the 
room  of  lord  Northington,  who 
exchanged  the  wool-sack  for 
the  president's  chair.  Many 
other  changes  were  made  at  the 
same  time,  and  soon  after  in 
all  the  different  departments  of 
administration  ;  and  none,  per- 
haps, excited  more  surprise 
than  the  restoration  of  the 
privy-seal  of  Scotland  to  Stuart 
Mackenzie. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


105 


CHAPTER  IX. 


^; 


Alarming  Scarcity  of  Provisions — Dispute  between  the  Propj^efs^m^mmrgt&'fftrectors 
of  the  East  India  Company — Substance  of  the  King^s  Speech  at  the  Meeting  of 
Parliament — Bill  of  Indemnity — Reduction  of  the  Land-tax  carried  against  the 
Minister — The  India  Company'' s  Right  to  territorial  acquisitions  debated — Proposals 
of  the  Company  accepted — Bill  for  regulating  India  Dividends — Duties  laid  on  cer- 
tain Imports  from  Great  Britain  to  America ;  and  measures  taken  to  restrain  the 
turbulent  Spirit  of  the  Assembly  of  New-  York — Some  Changes  in  the  Great  Offices 
of  the  State — The  Ministry  strongly  opposed  on  the  Nullum  Tempus  Bill — Corpo- 
ration of  Oxford  reprimanded  for  Venality — Popularity  in  Ireland  of  the  Octennial 
Bill. 


GREAT  SCARCITY  OF  PROVISIONS. 
Though  the  general  tranquillity  of  Eu 
rope  still  remained  undisturbed  by  the  spirit 
of  intrigue,  or  by  the  rage  of  conquest,  some 
of  its  finest  countries  were  severely  afflicted 
by  calamities  of  another  kind.  The  irregu- 
larity and  inclemency  of  the  seasons  for  a 
few  years  past  had  occasioned  an  uncertain- 
ty and  great  deficiency  in  the  crops  of  differ- 
ent districts ;  and  were  it  not  for  that  happy 
effect  of  navigation  and  commerce,  by  which 
the  wants  of  one  nation  are  supplied  from 
the  superabundance  of  another,  famine  would 
have  thinned  the  race  of  mankind  in  many 
places.  Italy  in  particular  had  suflfered  ex- 
tremely ;  and  even  England,  which  usually 
supplied  its  neighbors  with  immense  quanti- 
ties of  grain,  and  allowed  a  considerable 
bounty  on  the  exportation  of  it,  was  now 
threatened  with  an  alarming  scarcity.  So 
wet  a  summer  as  that  of  the  present  year 
had  not  been  remembered  in  this  country. 
From  the  month  of  March  to  the  month  of 
August,  there  were  not  two  days  of  dry 
weather  in  succession.  The  corn  harvest, 
of  course,  was  very  much  injured ;  and  the 
distresses  of  the  poor  from  tifie  high  prices 
of  that  and  of  every  other  article  of  subsist- 
ence became  uncommonly  urgent.  The 
language  of  complaint  was  soon  followed  by 
riots  and  tumults,  which  the  populace  are 
too  apt  to  look  upon  as  the  only  means  of 
alleviating  every  evil,  or  redressing  every 
grievance.  At  first,  they  only  undertook  to 
lower  and  regulate  the  markets,  and  to  pun- 
ish certain  individuals,  who,  they  imagined, 
had  contributed  to  their  calamities  by  engross- 
ing, and  other  practices  for  enhancing  the 
price  of  provisions  beyond  their  just  rate. 
But  they  did  not  long  confine  themselves  to 
these  oijjects.  Heated  by  mutual  commo- 
tion, they  proceeded  to  the  most  enormous 
excesses:  much  mischief  was  done,  and 
many  lives  were  lost  in  various  parts  of  the 
kino-dom.  The  magistrates  being  at  length 
obliged  to  call  in  the  military  to  the  aid  of 
the  civil  power,  the  rioters  were  dispersed. 


and  the  jails  were  filled  with  prisoners. 
Judges  were  in  consequence  dispatched  with 
a  special  commission  to  try  the  delinquents, 
several  of  whom  were  condemned  to  die.  A 
few  of  the  ringleaders  suflfered  as  examples; 
but  the  sentence  of  the  majority  was  miti- 
gated to  transportation,  and  many  received 
a  free  pardon. 

The  conduct  of  the  new  ministry  on  this 
occasion  was  far  from  being  politic  or  judi- 
cious. On  the  eleventh  of  September,  the 
privy-council  issued  a  proclamation  for  en- 
forcing the  laws  against  forestallers,  regra- 
tors,  and  engrossers  of  corn ;  a  measure  that 
countenanced  the  absurd  ideas  of  the  mob, 
by  declaring  that  scarcity  to  be  artificial, 
which  was  but  too  natural.  Besides,  the 
laws  in  question  were  so  dark  in  their  con- 
struction, and  so  difficult  in  the  execution, 
that  little  effect  could  be  expected  fi-om  this 
step  but  that  of  banishing  dealers  from  the 
markets,  and  increasing  the  evil  which  it 
was  intended  to  remedy.  This  truth  was 
so  well  understood,  that  very  little  regard 
was  paid  to  the  proclamation ;  and  the  friv- 
olous expedient  fell  to  the  ground.  The 
price  of  corn  still  increasing,  another  proc- 
lamation was  issued  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
the  same  month,  laying  an  embargo  on  the 
exportation  of  wheat  and  flour,  and  prohib- 
iting the  use  of  that  grain  in  the  distilleries. 
This  proclamation  was  certainly  mucli  better 
adapted  to  its  end  than  the  former,  but  much 
more  doubtful  in  point  of  law.  Wheat  had 
not  yet  reached  the  price,  under  which  it 
might  be  legally  exported.  No  authority, 
therefore,  but  that  of  the  whole  legislature, 
could  in  this  case  lay  a  constitutional  em- 
bargo on  it.  By  way  of  excuse  for  dispens- 
ing with  a  positive  law,  it  was  stated  in  the 
proclamation,  that  his  majesty  had  not  an 
opportunity  of  taking  the  advice  of  his  par- 
liament speedily  enough  upon  such  an  enier- 
fifency  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  mischief. 
But  the  privy-council  had  destroyed  the 
validity  of  this  plea,  by  proroguing  the  par- 
liament, which  was  to  have  met  on  the  six- 


106 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


teenth  of  September,  till  the  eleventh  of 
November.  As  they  had  received  the  fullest 
information  on  the  subject  of  a  probable 
scarcity,  in  the  beginning  of  August,  there 
was  sufficient  time  to  give  the  members  of 
both  houses  the  usual  notice,  commanding 
their  attendance  in  September,  and  a  short 
session  would  have  prevented  every  appear- 
ance of  necessity  for  tiie  ministers  to  commit 
an  illegal  action. 

DEBATES  ON  EAST  INDIA  STOCK. 
Some  other  events  took  place  before  the 
meeting  of  parliament,  v^^hich,  as  well  as 
the  former,  engaged  in  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree the  attention  of  both  houses.  The  most 
important  of  these  were  the  debates  and 
resolutions  of  the  proprietors  of  East  India 
stock.  They  had  long  expected,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  flourishing  state  of  their  affairs 
abroad,  that  a  larger  dividend  would  be  de- 
clared by  the  directors;  and  that  all  the 
members  of  the  company  should  enjoy  a 
share  of  those  sweets  which  were  the  con- 
sequence of  their  foreign  success,  and  which 
they  saw  hitherto  entirely  engrossed  by  their 
servants.  This  seemed  to  them  the  more 
reasonable,  as  the  dividend  then  stood  at  six 
per  cent.,  the  lowest  point  to  which  it  had 
ever  been  reduced  at  the  most  critical  period 
of  the  war.  In  their  opinion,  such  a  small 
dividend  agreed  but  ill  w^ith  a  great  revenue 
and  its  promised  stability,  and  tended  to 
create  an  artificial  fall  in  the  price  of  stock, 
to  the  great  Joss  of  the  present  possessors, 
and  to  the  advantage  of  future  adventurers. 
These  inclinations  of  the  proprietors  did  not 
by  any  means  coincide  with  the  sentiments 
of  the  directors.  While  the  greatest  part' 
of  the  former  considered  only  the  successes 
of  the  company,  the  directors  saw  nothing 
but  its  debts.  Two  factions  arose  upon  this 
subject,  the  one  for  increasing  the  dividend, 
the  other  for  keeping  it  at  the  same  standard. 
It  was  intended  by  the  former,  that,  if  the 
directors  did  not  voluntarily  declare  an  in- 
crease of  dividend  at  the  midsummer  court, 
to  put  it  to  the  question,  and  have  it  decided 
by  the  majority  of  the  proprietors  present. 
As  this  intention  was  publicly  known,  its 
success  was  sufficiently  guarded  against  and 
prevented.  At  the  opening  of  the  court,  a 
friend  of  the  directors  made  a  motion  for  in- 
creasing the  dividend  to  eight  per  cent., 
which  l3eing  disapproved,  he  immediately 
withdrew  it,  and  thereby  put  it  out  of  the 
power  of  the  proprietors  to  bring  on  the  sub- 
ject again  at  that  meeting,  such  a  procedure 
being  contrary  to  the  established  forms  of 
the  court  The  address  that  was  shown  in 
this  transaction  did  not  protect  it  from  cen- 
sure :  the  conduct  of  the  directors  was  scru- 
tinized with  great  severity :  the  supposed 
motives  to  it  were  laid  open ;  and  the  public 
papers  being  made  the  instruments  of  attack 


and  defence,  the  contest  was  for  some  time 
carried  on  with  great  animosity,  each  party 
accusing  the  other  of  the  most  corrupt  de- 
signs, and  of  misrepresenting,  for  private 
purposes,  the  real  state  of  the  company's 
affairs.  This  course  of  altercation  was  pro- 
ductive of  consequences  which  were  then 
but  little  foreseen.  Everything  relative  to 
the  company  was  now  laid  before  the  public : 
the  exact  state  of  their  immense  property 
became  known  to  all  persons:  their  most 
private  secrets  were  unveiled :  their  char- 
ters, their  rights,  their  possessions,  their 
opulence  as  a  distinct  body,  and  their  utility 
to  the  state,  were  become  matters  of  general 
speculation  and  inquiry.  As  the  Michaelmas 
quarterly  meeting  approached,  at  which 
there  could  be  no  doubt'  but  the  great  object 
of  dispute  between  the  contending  parties 
would  come  again  upon  the  carpet,  it  was 
previously  reported  about  by  the  friends  of 
one  of  them,  that  government  intended  to 
interfere,  and  had  absolutely  forbidden  any 
increase  of  dividend,  denouncing  threats 
against  the  company  which  struck  at  its  ex- 
istence. A  report  of  this  sort  excited  a  va- 
riety of  conjectures ;  but  most  people  looked 
upon  it  as  a  trick  to  answer  the  purposes  of 
the  directors.  All  doubt  was  removed  at 
the  opening  of  the  general  court  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  September,  A  message  in 
writing  from  the  first  lord  of  the  treasury 
and  some  other  of  the  ministers  was  read> 
setting  forth,  "That  as  the  affairs  of  the 
East  India  company  had  been  mentioned  in 
parliament  last  session,  it  was  very  probable 
they  might  be  taken  into  consideration  again : 
therefore,  from  the  regard  they  had  for  the 
welfare  of  the  company,  and  that  they  might 
have  time  to  prepare  their  papers  for  tliat 
occasion,  they  informed  them,  that  the  par- 
liament would  meet  in  November,"  Letters 
were  at  the  same  time  read  from  lord  Clive, 
and  from  the  secret  committee  at  Bengal^ 
which  not  only  confirmed,  but  exceeded  the 
accounts  that  had  been  formerly  received 
of  the  great  wealth  of  the  company,  the 
extension  of  its  trade,  and  the  firm  basis  on 
which,  as  far  as  human  foresight  could  judge, 
its  security  was  now  established.  The  di- 
rectors still  opposed  an  increase  of  dividend ; 
and,  upon  a  motion  being  made  for  advanc- 
ing it  to  ten  per  cent.,  from  the  ensuing 
Christmas,  they  insisted  upon  a  ballot,  by 
which  the  decision  was  evaded  for  a  day  or 
two,  but  was  at  length  carried  against  them 
by  a  considerable  majority.  Some  of  the 
proprietors,  however,  thought  their  success 
in  this  contest  was  purchased  at  too  dear  a 
rate,  by  having  drawn  upon  themselves  the 
eyes  of  the  ministry.  A  few  months  more 
gave  them  an  earnest  of  what  they  so  justly 
apprehended. 

The  air  of  seriousness,  which  a  variety 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


107 


of  weighty  concerns  had  lately  diffused  over 
the  nation,  was  for  a  little  time  enlivened 
by  some  pleasing  occurrences  at  court,  the 
birth  of  a  princess  royal,  and  the  nuptials 
of  the  prmcess  Carolina  Matilda.  The  cere- 
mony of  the  prmcess  Carolina  Matilda's 
marriage  to  the  king  of  Denmark  was  per- 
formed on  the  first  of  October  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  duke  of  York  be- 
ing proxy  for  his  Danish  majesty.  Next 
morning,  the  young  queen,  accompanied  by 
the  duke  of  Gloucester  and  a  numerous 
train  of  attendants,  set  out  from  Carlton- 
house  for  Harwich,  there  to  embark  on  board 
the  yacht  designed  to  convey  her  to  Hol- 
land. She  did  not  reach  Denmark  till  the 
beginning  of  November,  on  the  eighth  of 
which  she  made  her  public  entry  into  Co- 
penhagen, when  the  nuptial  ceremony  was 
renewed  with  extraordinary  splendor  and 
magnificence.  The  satisfaction  expressed 
at  the  time  by  the  subjects  of  both  crowns, 
from  an  idea  that  the  alliance  between  them 
would  be  greatly  strengthened  by  an  addi- 
tional tie  of  so  agreeable  a  nature,  was 
soon  converted  into  the  most  painful  disap- 
pointment. In  little  more  than  five  years 
after,  the  amiable  Carolina  Matilda  fell  a 
victim  to  the  malice  of  a  party,  and  to  the 
wicked  intrigues  of  the  queen  dowager, 
who  imposed  upon  her  unsuspecting  inno- 
cence, and  artfully  led  her  into  measures 
which  were  made  the  grounds  of  the  most 
infamous  reproach  and  crimmation. 
MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

At  the  meeting  of  parliament  on  the 
eleventh  of  November,  the  king,  in  his 
speech  to  both  houses,  observed  that  the  high 
price  of  wheat,  and  the  extraordinary  de- 
mands for  it  from  abroad,  had  determined 
him  to  call  them  together  so  early ;  he  took 
notice  of  the  urgent  necessity  that  occasion- 
ed an  exertion  of  the  royal  authority,  for  the 
preservation  of  the  public  safety,  by  laying 
an  embargo  on  wheat  and  flour ;  and  he  re- 
commended the  due  consideration  of  farther 
expedients  to  their  wisdom:  he  expressed 
his  concern  at  the  late  daring  insurrections ; 
and  added,  that  no  vigilance  and  vigor  on 
his  part  should  be  wantmg  to  bring  the  of- 
fenders to  justice,  and  to  restore  obedience 
to  law  and  government.  His  majesty  con- 
cluded with  a  very  few  concise  remarks  on 
the  late  commercial  treaty  with  Russia,  on 
the  marriage  of  his  sister  to  the  king  of 
Denmark,  on  the  supplies  for  the  current 
service,  and  on  the  continuance  of  the  for- 
mer pacific  posture  of  afiairs  in  Europe. 
The  usual  motion  for  an  address  being  made 
in  both  houses,  various  amendments  were 
proposed,  reflecting  on  the  late  conduct  of 
the  privy-council ;  but  were  rejected. 
BILL  OF  INDEMNITY. 

This,  however,  did  not  supersede  the 


necessity  of  bringing  a  bill  into  parliament 
to  indemnify  all  persons  who  had  acted  in 
obedience  to  the  order  of  council  for  laying 
on  the  embargo.  Nobody  denied  the  expe- 
diency of  such  a  restraint  at  the  time :  it 
was  the  mode  of  the  transaction  which  de- 
served censure,  as  by  it  the  crown  seemed 
to  assume  and  exercise  a  power  of  dispens- 
ing with  the  laws, — one  of  the  grievances 
so  expressly  provided  against  at  the  revolu- 
tion. The  first  form  of  the  bill  was  found 
to  be  defective :  it  provided  for  tlie  Indem- 
nity of  the  inferior  officers  who  had  acted 
under  the  proclamation,  while  it  passed  by 
the  council  who  advised  it ;  and  it  had  not  a 
preamble  fiilly  expressive  of  the  illegality 
of  the  measure.  In  these  respects  the  bill 
was  amended  and  made  perfect.  But  this 
produced  much  altercation,  especially  in  the 
house  of  lords,  where,  to  the  astonishment 
of  most  people,  the  newly-created  earl  of 
Chatham,  and  lord  Cambden,  the  chancellor, 
opposed  the  bill,  and  vindicated  the  late  ex- 
ertion of  prerogative,  not  only  from  the  pe- 
culiar circumstances  that  seemed  to  influence 
it,  but  as  a  matter  of  right,  asserting  that  a 
dispensing  power,  in  cases  of  state  neces- 
sity, was  one  of  the  prerogatives  inherent  in 
the  crown.  This  desertion  from  the  side  of 
liberty,  to  principles  so  directly  opposite, 
gave  a  mortal  stab  to  the  popularity  of  those 
occasional  patriots.  The  fallacy  of  their 
pretexts,  as  well  as  of  their  reasonings,  was 
exposed,  and  the  cause  of  freedom  and  of 
the  constitution  was  ably  supported  by  lord 
Mansfield,  lord  Temple,  and  lord  Lyttleton. 
The  real  motives  for  the  late  exertion  of 
power  were  first  inquired  into;  and  then 
the  doctrine  of  a  dispensing  power  in  such 
cases  was  very  forcibly  attacked.  "  So  early 
as  the  month  of  August,  you  received  au- 
thentic intelligence  of  the  state  of  the  har- 
vest, the  quantity  of  corn  in  the  kingdom, 
and  of  the  increase  of  its  price.  You  then 
must  have  had  as  clear  an  idea  of  all  the 
probable  consequences  as  at  any  time  after 
that  period.  Why  then  did  you  not  issue  a 
proclamation  for  parliament  to  meet  on  the 
sixteenth  of  September,  the  day  to  which  it 
was  prorogued  1  You  had  it  in  your  power 
to  give  the  members  above  thirty  days  notice ; 
and  the  calamities  which  tlireatened  the 
poor  might  have  been  averted,  without  a 
breach  of  the  constitution.  Instead  of  this, 
when  their  distresses  were  risen  to  the  high- 
est pitch,  you  issued,  on  the  tenth  of  Sep- 
tember, a  proclamation  against  forestalling, 
which  could  not  give  them  the  smallest  re- 
lief; and,  on  the  same  day,  you  prorogued 
the  parliament  for  two  months  longer,  thus 
precluding  the  king  from  availmg  himself 
of  their  advice  or  assistance  in  any  emer- 
gency. Yet  you  assign  the  impossibility  of 
convening  the  parliament  as  the  motive  for 


108 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


issuing,  ill  sixteen  days  after  so  extraordinary 
a  prorogation,  an  illegal  and  unconstitutional 
order  for  an  embargo.  Is  it  not  plain  then, 
that  you  yourselves  are  the  authors  of  all 
those  evils,  which  you  say  could  not  be 
remedied  but  by  the  exercise  of  the  dis- 
pensing power  ? — You  go  farther,  and  you 
attempt  to  justify  such  censurable  conduct 
on  the  principle  of  necessity,  that  odious  and 
long  exploded  principle,  by  which  all  the 
evil  practices  in  the  reigns  of  the  Stuarts 
were  defended.  If  the  plea  of  necessity  is 
admitted,  and  the  crown  allowed  to  be  the 
sole  judge  of  that  necessity,  the  power  would 
be  unlimited ;  because  the  discretion  of  the 
prince  and  his  council  might  apply  it  in  any 
instance.  So  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature, 
said  the  advocates  for  the  bill,  has  deprived 
the  crown  of  all  discretionary  power  over 
positive  laws,  and  has  emancipated  acts  of 
parliament  from  the  royal  prerogative.  The 
power  of  suspension,  which  is  but  another 
word  for  a  temporary  repeal,  resides  only  in 
the  legislature,  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
realm. — The  recess  of  parliament,  or  the 
inconvenience  of  assembling  it,  are  distinc- 
tions unknown  to  the  constitution.  The 
parliament  is  always  in  being: — its  acts 
never  sleep :  they  are  not  to  be  evaded  by 
flying  into  a  sanctuary — no,  not  even  that 
of  necessity : — they  are  of  equal  force  at  all 
times,  in  all  places,  and  to  all  persons. — The 
law  is  above  the  king ;  and  he,  as  well  as 
the  subject,  is  as  much  bound  by  it  during 
the  recess,  as  during  the  session  of  parlia- 
ment.— If  the  crown  has  a  right  to  suspend 
or  break  through  any  one  law,  it  must  have 
an  equal  right  to  break  through  them  all. — 
No  true  distinction  can  be  made  between 
the  suspending  power  and  the  crown's  rais- 
ing money  without  the  consent  of  parlia- 
ment. They  are  precisely  alike,  and  stand 
upon  the  very  same  ground.  They  were 
born  twins,  lived  together,  and  together  it 
was  hoped  they  were  buried  at  the  revolu- 
tion, past  all  power  of  resurrection. — Were 
the  doctrine  of  suspension,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  necessity,  once  admitted  as  consti- 
tutional, the  revolution  could  be  called  no- 
thing but  a  successful  rebellion,  or  a  lawless 
and  wicked  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the 
crown ;  the  bill  of  rights  would  become  a 
false  and  scandalous  libel,  an  infamous  im- 
]X)sition  both  on  prince  and  people ;  and 
James  II.  could  not  be  said  to  have  abdicated 
or  forfeited,  but  to  have  been  robbed  of  his 
crown."  By  such  arguments,  and  others 
of  the  like  spirit  and  tendency,  did  lord 
Mansfield  in  particular  combat  the  ill-advis- 
ed stretch  of  the  prerogative,  and  reduce 
the  apologists  for  the  measure,  however 
great  their  ingenuity  and  eloquence,  to  the 
impossibility  of  a  reply.  The  bill  was  pass- 
ed, highly  to  the  satififaction  of  the  public ; 


and  a  new  proof  was  given  to  the  admirers 
of  the  British  constitution,  that  nothing  less 
than  a  law  could  protect  from  due  punish- 
ment the  framers,  advisers,  or  executors  of 
an  illegal  act. 

While  the  parliament  discovered  so  much 
vigilance  in  guarding  the  constitution  agauist 
any  encroachment,  even  under  the  most 
popular  pretence,  they  were  not  less  atten- 
tive to  the  national  distress,  on  account  of 
which  the  laws  had  been  dispensed  with. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  session,  an  address 
was  presented  to  the  king  to  continue  the 
embargo ;  and  a  bill  was  on  the  same  day 
brought  in  for  prohibiting  the  exportation  of 
corn,  malt,  meal,  flour,  bread,  biscuit,  and 
starch ;  and  also  the  extraction  of  low  wines 
and  spirits  from  wheat  and  wheat  flour. 
Four  other  bills,  having  for  their  object  the 
reduction  of  the  high  prices  of  provisions, 
by  encouraging  the  importation  of  salted 
meat  and  butter  from  Ireland,  of  wheat  and 
flour,  not  only  from  America,  but  from  any 
part  of  Europe,  and  of  oats  and  oat-meal, 
rye  and  rye-meal,  from  any  quarter,  all  duty 
free,  received  the  royal  assent  by  commis- 
sion on  the  sixteenth  of  December,  when 
both  houses  adjourned  till  January. 
LAND-TAX  REDUCED. 

1767. — Among  the  affairs  which  came  be- 
fore parliament  after  the  recess,  there  was 
one  article  of  the  supplies,  in  the  debate  on 
which  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  was 
left  in  a  minority.  It  had  been  hitherto 
usual  to  take  oflf,  on  the  return  of  peace,  any 
addition  that  happened  to  be  made  to  the 
land-tax  for  carrying  on  the  war.  But  as 
the  enormous  expenses  incurred  in  the  late 
contest  with  so  many  powers  were  already 
a  heavy  burden  on  the  manufacturing  part 
of  the  nation,  it  was  thought  mone  prudent 
to  continue  the  land-tax  at  four  shillings  in 
the  pound,  than  to  increase  the  distresses  of 
the  poor  by  taxing  the  necessaries  of  life. 
Hence  the  whole  land-tax  began  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  part  of  the  settled  revenue  that 
was  to  answer  the  current  services  of  the 
year.  It  was  then  to  the  great  surprise  of 
the  ministers,  that  a  resolution  passed  the 
house,  supported  by  a  considerable  majority, 
which  reduced  the  land-tax  to  three  shil- 
lings in  the  pound.  This  was  the  more  no- 
ticed as  being  the  first  money-bill,  in  which 
any  minister  had  been  disappointed  since  the 
revolution.  It  considerably  damped  the 
warm  hopes  that  had  been  formed,  in  the 
beginning,  of  the  strength  and  consistence 
of  the  new  administration,  which,  it  was 
supposed,  would  prove  irresistible,  as  acting 
under  the  auspices  of  the  earl  of  Chatham. 
But  this  noble  lord  had  lost  much  of  his 
popularity  without  doors,  and  of  his  influ- 
ence within,  by  many  parts  of  his  late  con- 
duct   He  had  disgusted  by  his  overbearing 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


109 


manner  the  most  respectable  and  powerful 
men  of  every  party  ;  and  he  had  sunk  great- 
ly in  the  public  estimation  by  his  acceptance 
of  a  peerage,  and  by  his  having  first  advised, 
and  afterwards  defended,  upon  constitutional 
grounds,  the  exercise  of  the  dispensing  pre- 
rogative. Feeling,  though  too  late,  the  want 
of  additional  support,  he  made  several  at- 
tempts in  the  course  of  the  winter,  by  offers 
and  concessions  not  much  to  his  honor,  to 
gain  over,  or  to  divide  the  Bedford  or  the 
Newcastle  interest  But  the  most  that  he 
could  obtain  from  the  former  was  a  temporary 
neutrality.  Soon  after  his  lordship  fell  into 
so  bad  a  state  of  health,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  relinquish  all  attention  to  business. 

SCRUTINY  OF  THE  EAST  INDIA  COM- 
PANY'S AFFAIRS. 
The  want  of  harmony  and  decision  in  the 
cabinet  was  still  more  evident,  when  the 
East  India  aSkirs  were  brought  forward  for 
the  consideration  of  parliament.  A  commit- 
tee of  the  house  of  commons  had  been  ap- 
pointed in  November  to  look  into  the  state 
and  condition  of  the  company.  Copies  of 
tlieir  charters,  their  treaties,  and  their  cor 
respondence,  as  well  as  exact  accounts  of 
tlieir  revenue  and  of  the  expenses  incurred 
by  government  in  their  behalf,  were  called 
for,  and  became  the  subjects  of  a  rigorous 
scrutiny.  In  the  course  of  this  business, 
violent  debates  frequently  arose,  in  which 
the  principal  servants  of  the  crown  did  not 
appear  to  act  upon  any  regular  or  settled 
plan.  An  order  was  at  length  made  for 
printing  the  East  India  papers ;  but  it  was 
afterwards  countermanded,  at  the  instance 
of  the  directors.  The  next  question,  which 
was  agitated  with  increasing  violence  and 
diversity  of  sentiment,  was  the  company's 
right  to  their  territorial  acquisitions.  Some 
contended,  that  they  had  no  right  by  their 
charters  to  any  conquest ;  that  such  posses- 
sions in  the  hands  of  a  trading  corporation 
were  improper  and  dangerous  ;  and  that,  if 
it  were  even  legally  and  politically  right 
that  they  should  hold  these  territories,  yet 
the  vast  expenditure  of  government  in  pro- 
tecting them  gave  it  a  fair  and  equitable  title 
to  the  revenues  arising  from  the  conquests. 
Those,  who  maintained  the  rights  of  the 
company,  denied  that  any  reserve  of  con- 
quests had  been  made  in  their  charters ;  and 
as  these  were  fairly  purchased  from  the  na- 
tion, and  confirmed  by  act  of  parliament, 
they  said,  that  a  violation  of  such  a  bargain 
would  be  a  dangerous  infringement  on  prop- 
erty and  the  public  faith.  They  added,  that 
if  government  had  any  claim  to  the  con- 
quests in  India,  the  courts  were  open  for  the 
trial  of  that  claim ;  but  the  house  of  com- 
mons was  not,  by  the  constitution,  the  inter- 
preter of  law,  or  the  decider  of  legal  rights. 
Though  the  subject  was  often  resumed,  and 
Vol.  TV.  10 


debated  with  great  warmth  on  both  sides, 
yet  the  house  seemed  unwilling  to  determine 
a  question  of  so  much  importance  ;  and  even 
a  few  of  the  ministerial  speakers  declared 
against  coming  to  any  final  resolutions  on 
this  head,  but  strenuously  recommended  an 
amicable  agreement  with  the  company. 
PROPOSALS  OF  THE  COMPANY  ACCEPTED. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  proprietors  of  East 
India  stock  had  several  meetings.  At  one 
of  their  general  courts  in  the  beginning  of 
May,  the  dividend  for  the  ensuing  half  year 
was  raised  from  five  to  six  and  a  quarter  per 
cent.,  and,  about  the  same  time,  a  scheme  of 
proposals  for  an  accommodation  with  govern- 
ment was  agreed  to.  These  were  laid  be- 
fore the  ministry,  who  now  were  publicly 
known  to  have  unfortunately  fallen  into  a 
state  of  such  distraction,  that  they  had  no 
opinions  in  common.  Accordingly,  they 
shifted  the  proposals  from  one  to  another, 
without  coming  to  any  determination  ;  so 
that  the  company  were  obliged  to  state  their 
offers  in  a  petition  to  parliament.  Two  sets 
of  proposals  for  an  agreement  to  last  for 
three  years  were  laid  before  the  house :  by 
the  first,  the  company  offered,  after  deduct- 
ing four  hundred  thousand  pounds  a-year  in 
lieu  of  their  former  commercial  profits,  to 
divide  equally  with  government  the  net 
produce  of  all  their  remaining  revenues  and 
trade :  by  the  second,  they  engaged  to  pay 
the  specific  sum  of  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds  a-year  during  the  above  agreement ; 
but,  in  either  case,  stipulating  for  some  par- 
ticular indulgence  in  their  trade  and  in  the 
recruiting  service.  These  latter  proposals 
were  accepted  by  the  house,  with  this  difler- 
ence  only,  that  the  agreement  was  limited 
to  two,  instead  of  three  years ;  and  a  bill 
was  drawn  up  and  passed  accordingly. 

THE  COMPANY  RESTRAINED  FROM  IN- 
CREASING THEIR  DIVIDEND. 
But  whatever  satisfaction  the  proprietors 
of  East  India  stock  derived  from  the  parlia- 
mentary acceptance  of  their  offer,  it  was,  in 
no  small  degree,  abated  by  some  other  pro- 
ceedings which  took  place  soon  after.  A 
message  from  the  ministry  had  been  read  at 
the  general  court  which  declared  the  last 
increase  of  dividend,  recommending  to  the 
company  to  make  no  augmentation  of  it,  till 
their  affeirs  were  farther  considered.  That 
message  not  having  produced  the  designed 
effect,  two  bills  were  brought  into  the  house, 
one  for  determining  the  qualifications  of 
voters  in  trading  companies,  and  the  other 
for  farther  regulating  the  making  of  divi- 
dends by  the  East  India  company.  Their 
late  act  was  rescinded  by  the  last  of  these 
bills  ;  and  they  were  tied  down  from  raising 
their  dividends  above  ten  per  cent  till  the 
next  meeting  of  parliament  The  company, 
in  order  to  ward  off  a  blow  which  stnick  so 


110 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


immediately  at  their  privileges,  not  only  pe- 
titioned against  this  bill,  but  offered,  in  case 
it  was  withdrawn,  to  bind  themselves  from 
any  farther  increase  of  dividend  during  the 
temporary  agreement.  Their  petition  and 
their  proposal  were  equally  ineffectual.  The 
bill  was  carried  through,  in  spite  of  a  pow- 
erful opposition,  one  of  the  secretaries  of 
state  and  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
being  in  the  minority  in  the  lower  house, 
and  a  strong  protest  signed  by  nineteen  lords 
being  entered  against  it  in  the  upper  house. 

ACT  TO  RESTRAIN  THE  ASSEMBLY  OF 
NEW-YORK. 
Among  the  different  expedients  for  rais- 
ing the  necessary  supplies  this  year,  which 
amounted  to  about  eight  millions  and  a  half, 
some  duties  were  laid  upon  glass,  tea,  paper, 
and  painters'  colors  imported  from  Great 
Britain  into  America.  These  duties  were 
equally  impolitic  and  unproductive  ;  but  the 
conduct  of  the  legislature  towards  one  of 
tiie  colonial  assemblies,  in  another  respect, 
w^as  much  more  defensible.  The  factious, 
turbulent  spirit,  which  the  stamp-act  had  ex- 
cited there,  was  far  from  being  mollified  by 
the  repeal.  Not  content  with  many  private 
acts  of  outrage,  and  repeated  marks  of  dis- 
respect to  government,  the  assembly  of 
New- York  came  to  a  resolution  of  paying 
no  regard  to  an  act  of  last  session  for  pro- 
viding the  troops  with  necessaries  in  their 
quarters;  but  regulated  the  provisions  ac- 
cording to  their  own  fancy.  This  was  a  clear 
proof,  that  they  meaned  to  persist  in  disa- 
vowing the  jurisdiction  of  the  mother  coun- 
try. When  the  matter  was  laid  before  par- 
liament, it  occasioned  warm  debates ;  and 
some  rigorous  measures  were  proposed.  The 
general  opinion,  however,  was  to  bring  them 
to  temper  and  to  a  sense  of  their  duty,  by  a 
firm,  yet  moderate  procedure.  On  this  prin- 
ciple a  bill  was  passed,  by  which  the  gov- 
ernor, council,  and  assembly  of  New-York 
were  prohibited  from  passing  any  act  till 
they  had  in  every  respect  complied  with  the 
requisition  of  parliament :  a  step,  which, 
though  confined  to  one  colony,  was  a  lesson 
to  them  all,  and  showed  their  comparative 
inferiority  when  brought  in  question  with 
the  supreme  legislative  power.  As  soon  as 
this  bill  and  some  others  of  less  importance 
received  the  royal  assent  on  the  second  of 
.Tuly,  the  parliament  was  prorogued. 

In  the  speech,  with  which  his  majesty 
closed  the  session,  besides  thanking  the  com- 
mons for  the  supplies  they  had  so  cheerfully 
granted  for  the  public  service,  he  said,  that 
his  particular  acknowledgments  were  due  to 
them  for  the  provision  they  had  enabled  him 
to  make  for  the  more  honorable  support  of 
his  family.  He  did  not  here  particularly  al- 
lude to  the  marriage  portion  of  the  queen  of 

Denmark,  because,  in  granting  this,  the  com- 


mons only  fulfilled  their  fonner  engage- 
ments ;  but  to  three  annuities  of  eight  thou- 
sand pounds  each,  which  were  settled  on  his 
brothers  the  dukes  of  York,  Gloucester,  and 
Cumberland,  in  addition  to  what  they  before 
received  out  of  the  civil  list.  It  is  remark- 
able that,  on  the  second  reading  of  the  bill 
for  this  purpose,  in  the  house  of  lords,  a  pro- 
test was  entered  against  it,  signed  by  lord 
Temple  only. 

The  duke  of  York  did  not  live  long  to  en- 
joy the  liberality  of  parliament :  he  expired 
on  the  seventeenth  of  September ;  and  on 
the  second  of  November,  her  majesty  was 
safely  delivered  of  her  fourth  son,  prmce 
Edward. 

DEATH  OF  THE  CHANCELLOR  OF  EX- 
CHEQUER. 

During  the  recess  of  parliament,  another 
death  prematurely  and  unexpectedly  hap- 
pened on  the  fourth  of  September,  which,  it 
was  supposed,  would  have  proved  fatal  to 
a  weak  and  disunited  ministry.  Charles 
Townshend,  then  chancellor  of  the  exche- 
quer, who  seemed  likely  by  his  eloquence 
and  abilities  to  supply  the  earl  of  Chatham's 
place  in  the  house  of  commons,  was  cut  off 
by  a  putrid  fever,  at  the  very  moment  that 
the  increase  of  his  influence  and  the  critical 
posture  of  affairs  began  to  allow  the  fullest 
scope  for  the  perfect  development  of  his 
talents  and  character.  Burke,  in  one  of  his 
speeches,  made  a  beautiful  allusion  to  the 
rising  effulgence  of  Townshend's  genius  and 
power,  while  those  of  the  earl  of  Chatham 
appeared  to  be  rapidly  declining.  "  Before 
this  splendid  orb,"  said  the  orator,  "  was  en- 
tirely set,  and  while  the  western  horizon 
was  in  a  blaze  with  his  descending  glory,  on 
the  opposite  quarter  of  the  heavens  arose 
another  luminary,  and,  for  his  hour,  became 
lord  of  the  ascendant." 

At  the  meeting  of  parliament  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  November,  when  the  prin- 
cipal point  recommended  to  their  attention 
from  the  throne,  was  the  relief  of  the  peo- 
ple from  the  distresses  occasioned  by  the 
high  price  of  provisions,  Conway,  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  state,  concluded  his  speech  in 
support  of  the  usual  motion  for  an  address 
of  thanks,  with  a  very  high  panegyric  on 
the  late  Mr.  Townshend's  abilities,  on  the 
fertility  of  his  resources,  and  the  soundness 
of  his  judgment.  He  said  that  his  much 
lamented  friend  had  engaged  to  prepare  a 
plan  for  the  effectual  relief  of  the  poor  in 
the  article  of  provisions ;  and  he  had  no 
doubt,  if  that  great  man  had  lived,  he  would 
have  been  able  to  perform  his  promise :  un- 
fortunately for  the  public,  his  plan  was  lost 
with  him  :  it  was  easy  to  find  a  successor  to 
his  place,  but  impossible  to  find  a  successor 
to  his  abilities,  or  one  equal  to  the  execu- 
tion of  his  designs. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


Ill 


Besides  expedients  for  lowering  the  high 
price  of  provisions,  very  little  business  of 
any  particular  importance  was  transacted  by 
parliament  before  the  holidays.  The  land- 
tax  bill,  the  bill  for  continuing  the  former 
duties  on  malt,  mum,  cider,  and  perry,  the 
mutiny-bill,  and  some  others  of  a  private  as 
well  as  public  nature,  received  the  royal 
assent  on  the  twenty-first  of  December.  The 
house  of  lords  adjourned  to  the  twentieth, 
and  the  commons  to  the  fourteenth  of  Jan- 
uary. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CABINET. 

This  recess  afforded  leisure  for  complet- 
ing several  changes  that  were  already  be- 
gun, or  resolved  upon,  in  the  great  offices 
of  state,  without  any  general  disarrange- 
ment of  the  ministry,  which  seemed  likely 
to  increase  their  stability  and  influence.  The 
Bedford  party,  to  whom  some  overtures  had 
been  made  by  lord  Chatham,  but  without 
any  decisive  effect,  were  at  length  gained 
over  ;  in  consequence  of  which  lord  Gower 
was  induced  to  accept  the  president's  chair, 
now  cheerfully  resigned  by  the  earl  of 
Northington,  whose  age,  infirmities,  and  long 
services  gave  him  just  claims  to  retirement, 
liord  North  had  been  promoted,  some  days 
before,  to  the  late  Charles  Townshend's 
place  as  chancellor  of  the  exchequer ;  and 
Thomas  Townshend,  junior,  succeeded  lord 
North  in  the  office  of  joint  paymaster  of  the 
forces.  Lord  Weymouth  was  soon  after 
nominated  secretary  of  state  for  the  north- 
ern department,  in  the  room  of  general  Con- 
way, who  was  raised  to  a  higher  rank  in  the 
military  line ;  and  the  earl  of  Hilsborough 
was  appointed  to  the  new  office  of  secretary 
of  state  for  the  colonies.  Of  the  other  pro- 
motions none  was  sufficiently  important  to 
deserve  particular  notice,  except  that  of 
Charles  Jenkinson,  who  was  made  a  lord  of 
the  treasury  in  the  room  of  Thomas  Towns- 
hend, and  who  has  since  been  so  eminently 
distinguished  not  only  by  his  wisdom  in  coun- 
cil, and  his  eloquence  in  debate,  but  by  his 
having  exerted  his  uncommon  talents  on  ob- 
jects of  the  most  lasting  benefit  to  his  coun- 
try,— the  improvement,  extension,  and  se- 
curity of  its  commerce. 

RESTRICTION  ON  EAST  INDIA  DIVIDENDS 
CONTINUED— NULLUM  TEMPUS  ACT. 
The  act  restraining  the  dividends  of  the 
East  India  company  being  now  expired,  a 
bill  was  brought  in  to  continue  the  same  re- 
striction for  the  ensuing  year ;  and  though 
it  was  violently  opposed  in  both  houses,  it 
was  carried  the  second  time  by  a  very  great 
majority.  But  the  niinijlry  w^ere  more  closely 
pushed  on  another  point,  which  was  intro- 
duced into  the  commone,  under  the  title  of 
nullum  tcmpns  bill  (1),  for  quieting  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  subject,  and  securing  them 
from  all  obsolete  claims,  particularly  those 


of  the  crown,  against  which  it  was  held  to 
be  a  maxim  of  law,  that  no  prescription 
could  be  pleaded.  The  bill  originated  in  a 
litigation  between  the  Bentinck  and  the 
Lowther  families,  in  which  the  revival  of 
the  dormant  prerogative  of  resumption  by 
the  crown  appeared  so  alarming,  because  a 
vast  number  of  estates  might,  from  the  loss 
of  authentic  deeds,  be  liable  to  similar  claims, 
that  it  was  with  great  difficulty,  and  by  a 
majority  of  twenty  voices  only,  that  the 
ministry  could  obtain  a  postponement  of  the 
bill  till  the  ensuing  session. 

MAGISTRATES  OF  OXFORD  SENT  TO 
NEWGATE. 

Another  circumstance  occurs  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  house  of  commons  at  this 
period,  which  may  be  thought  worthy  of  no- 
tice, as  it  affords  an  instance  of  plain  deal- 
ing on  the  part  of  a  venal  body  of  electors, 
which  has  been  seldom  paralleled.  The 
mayor,  bailiffs,  and  principal  members  of  the 
corporation  of  Oxford  had  written  to  their 
representatives,  proposing  to  return  them  at 
the  next  election,  upon  condition  that  they 
should  advance  a  certain  sum,  for  paying  off 
an  encumbrance  which  lay  heavy  on  the 
city.  The  letter,  containing  this  extraordi- 
nary and  barefaced  offer  of  prostitution,  hav- 
ing been  laid  before  the  house,  the  magis- 
trates, who  signed  it,  were  ordered  to  ap- 
pear at  the  bar,  and  then  committed  to  New- 
gate. But,  a  few  days  after,  a  petition  was 
presented  from  the  offending  parties,  ac- 
knowledging their  guilt,  expressing  the 
sincerest  sorrow  for  it,  and  begging  to  be 
released  from  confinement.  In  consequence 
of  this  petition,  they  were  again  brought  to 
the  bar  of  the  house,  and  discharged,  afler 
receiving  on  their  knees  a  proper  reprimand 
from  the  speaker. 

PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED. 

As  the  time  limited  by  law  for  the  expi- 
ration of  parliament  drew  near,  and  all  the 
public  business  was  satisfactorily  dispatched, 
the  king,  on  the  tenth  of  March,  having 
given  his  assent  to  some  private  bills  then 
»^eady,  informed  both  houses  of  his  intention 
forthwith  to  dissolve  the  parliament,  and  to 
call  a  new  one.  As  soon  as  his  majesty  hatl 
ended,  the  chancellor,  by  his  command,  pro- 
rogued the  parliament;  and,  in  two  days 
after,  it  was  dissolved  by  proclamation,  and 
writs  were  issued  for  electing  a  new  one, 
returnable  the  tenth  of  May. 
IRISH  PARLIAMENTS  MADE  OCTENNIAL. 

A  viviY  popular  bill  was  passed  in  Ireland 
this  winter,  and  received  the  sanction  of  tlie 
crown,  for  confining  to  eight  years  the  du- 
ration of  parliaments  in  that  kingdom,  which 
before  were  determined  only  by  the  king's 
death.  Nothing  could  have  given  higher 
pleasure  to  the  great  body  of  electors  tlian 
this  assurance  of  a  more  regular  and  fre- 


112 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


quent  exercise  of  one  of  their  most  inesti- 
mable privileges.  Lord  Townshend,  who 
was  then  lord-lieutenant,  and  who  had  very 
much  endeared  himself  to  the  people  by  the 
conciliating  manners  that  adorned  his  pri- 
vate character,  became,  in  consequence  of 
the  octennial  act,  almost  the  idol  of  the  na- 
tion. The  language  of  the  commons  of  Ire- 
land was  glowing  and  emphatical.  "  Happy," 
said  they,  "  in  having  devoted  our  own  ex- 
istence to  the  liberties  of  our  country,  we 
find  ourselves  under  an  indispensable  obli- 


gation, at  our  approaching  dissolution,  to  ex- 
press the  warmest  acknowledgments  to  a 
chief  governor,  in  whose  administration,  and 
with  whose  assistance,  we  have  been  grati- 
fied with  the  noble  opportunity  of  distin- 
guishing ourselves  from  our  predecessors,  by 
leaving  to  posterity  a  monument  of  our  dis- 
interested love  for  the  people  we  have  the 
honor  to  represent;  and  ah  example,  that 
the  happiness  of  our  constituents  has  in  our 
own  breasts  taken  place  of  every  other  con- 
sideration." 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  IX. 


1  The  object  of  the  bill  was  to  make  sixty  years'  possession  of  any  estate  an  effeetutl  bar  against  all  dor- 
mant cairns  and  pretences  whatsoever. 


GEORGE  UL   1760—1820. 


U3 


CHAPTER  X. 


General  Election — View  of  Wilkes's  Conduct  and  Adventures  since  his  flight  from  Jus- 
tice—  Violent  Opposition  to  the  Port-duties  in  America — Acts  of  the  Convention — 
Debate — Wilkes'' s  Petition  to  the  Commons;  and  his  Appeal  to  the  Lords  on  a  Writ 
of  Error — Institution  of  the  Royal  Academy — Debate  on  the  American  Affairs — 
Civil  List  Debt — Hearing  of  Wilkes's  alleged  grievances — Successive  Expulsions 
of  Mr.  Wilkes — War  with  Hyder  Ally  in  the  East  Indies — Non-importation  Agree- 
m,ent  and  other  Proceedings  in  America — Desertions  from  Ministry — Changes  that 
followed — Endeavors  of  the  Opposition  to  aggravate  Discontent — London  Remon- 
strance^ and  his  Majesty"* s  Answer — Grenville's  Bill  for  regulating  the  Proceedings 
on  controverted  Elections — Partial  Repeal  of  the  American  Port -duties — Affray  be- 
tween the  Townsmen  of  Boston  and  the  Troops. 


As  soon  as  the  British  parliament  was 
dissolved,  the  thoughts  and  business  of  the 
whole  nation  appeared  to  be  confined  to  one 
object,  the  choice  of  representatives;  and 
never,  perhaps,  was  any  general  election 
carried  on  with  greater  heat  and  violence  in 
most  parts  of  the  kingdom.  But  one  of  the 
elections  was  attended  with  such  extraordi- 
nary circumstances  as  to  deserve  particular 
notice. 

WILKES  ELECTED  MEMBER  FOR  MID- 
DLESEX. 
It  may  here  be  necessary  to  remind  the 
reader  of  what  has  been  related  in  a  former 
part  of  this  work  concerning  Wilkes,  who 
by  his  flight  from  public  justice  had  pro- 
voked the  severest  sentence  of  the  house  of 
commons,  and  had  suffered  the  indictments 
laid  against  him  in  the  court  of  king's-bench 
to  run  to  an  outlawry.  In  this  situation,  an 
exile  from  his  country,  distressed  in  his  cir- 
cumstances, and  abandoned  by  his  party,  he 
seemed  not  only  totally  ruined,  but  nearly 
forgotten.  He  determined  to  make  a  bold 
attempt,  sensible  that  if  it  failed  of  success, 
the  consequences  could  not  place  him  in  a 
worse  state  than  that  in  which  he  was  alrea- 
dy. In  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  he 
suddenly  appeared  in  London  on  the  eve  of 
the  general  election;  and  though  he  still 
lay  under  the  sentence  of  outlawry,  declared 
himself  a  candidate  to  represent  the  city  in 
parliament.  He  was  received  by  the  mob 
with  loud  acclamations,  and  a  great  majori- 
ty of  hands  appeared  in  his  favor ;  but  on 
the  poll  he  was  contemptuously  rejected. 
He  had  no  reason,  however,  to  abandon  him- 
self to  despair  in  consequence  of  this  first 
defeat.  He  was  fully  consoled  for  his  fail- 
ure m  the  city  by  a  subscription  which  had 
been  opened  for  the  payment  of  his  debts, 
and  by  the  earnest  he  had  received  of  the 
attachment  of  the  populace.  He  set  up  im- 
mediately for  Middlesex ;  and  the  electors  in 
that  county  consisting  chiefly  of  freeholders 
of  the  lowest  class,  he  obtained  a  signal 
10* 


triumph  over  one  of  the  old  members.  The 
rabble,  who  had  been  very  tumultuous  during 
the  contest,  broke  out  into  the  most  extrava- 
gant and  lawless  expressions  of  joy  at  the 
event. 

The  conduct  of  the  ministry  during  these 
transactions  was  unaccountably  remiss  and 
impolitic.  They  had  in  fact  no  alternative 
left  them  as  a  plea  for  indecision  or  sus- 
pense. After  Wilkes's  return  to  England, 
in  open  defiance  of  the  laws  and  of  govern- 
ment, a  pardon  from  the  crown  would  have 
been  considered  rather  as  an  act  of  weak- 
ness than  of  benignity.  It  was  therefore 
the  attorney-general's  duty  to  have  him  im- 
mediately taken  up  as  an  outlaw ;  a  step 
that  could  neither  have  excited  murmur  nor 
surprise,  as  being  strictly  conformable  to  the 
ordinary  course  of  justice.  When  confined, 
he  could  have  no  chance  for  succeeding  in 
his  election ;  nor  is  it  likely  that  he  would 
have  made  the  attempt.  The  popularity, 
which  he  acquired  or  revived  by  appearing 
in  public,  would  have  been  prevented  ;  and 
he  might  have  probably  continued  as  igno- 
rant of  his  influence  with  the  people,  as 
they  would  in  general  of  the  strength  of 
their  attachment  to  him.  By  neglecting  at 
first  so  easy  and  rational  a  mode  of  proceed- 
ing, the  ministry  were  afterwards  unavoida- 
bly driven  mto  the  dangerous  extremes  of 
harshness  and  violence.  An  alarm  unhap- 
pily went  forth,  that  the  constitution  was 
wounded  by  the  blows  struck  at  one  of  the 
most  worthless  members  of  society:  and 
many,  who  would  otherwise  have  shrunk 
from  the  disgrace  of  espousing  his  cause  as 
an  individual,  were  glad  of  a  specious  pre- 
tence for  making  it  the  cause  of  the  public. 

On  the  first  day  of  Easter  term,  Wilkes 
appeared  in  the  court  of  king's-bench,  to 
submit  himself,  as  he  pretended,  to  the  laws 
of  his  country ;  but,  in  reality,  to  make  an 
inflammatory  speech  against  the  "  cruelties 
of  ministerial  vengeance,"  and  to  charge 
the  chief-justice  with  having  caused  the  re- 


114 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


cords  to  be  materially  altered,  without  which, 
he  said,  neither  of  the  two  verdicts,  found 
against  him,  could  have  been  obtained.  As 
he  was  not  brought  legally  before  the  court, 
no  proceedings  could  then  be  had  upon  his 
case ;  but  lord  Mansfield  took  that  opportu- 
nity of  justifying  his  own  conduct  in  having 
granted  an  order  for  an  amendment  in  the 
information,  by  which  the  word  tenor  was  sub- 
stituted for  purport, — an  amendment,  which 
his  lordship  declared  he  thought  himself 
bound  in  duty  to  grant,  and  which  he  could 
not  have  refused  consistently  with  the  uni- 
form practice  of  all  the  judges.  Wilkes,  on 
leaving  the  court,  was  received  by  the  sur- 
rounding multitude  with  loud  huzzas ;  but 
such  effectual  steps  had  been  taken  by  the 
magistrates  in  Westminster  and  in  the  city 
to  intUTiidate  the  disorderly,  that  no  farther 
disturbance  happened. 

DISTURBANCES  ON  ACCOUNT  OF  WILKES 
A  FEW  days  afler,  Wilkes  having  been 
introduced  into  court  in  a  legal  manner,  his 
counsel  moved  that  he  might  be  admitted  to 
bail.  The  judges  were  of  opmion,  that  nei- 
ther he  nor  any  person  was  bailable  after 
conviction ;  and  therefore  ordered  him  to  be 
taken  into  custody  and  committed  to  prison. 
But  as  he  was  going  thither,  attended  by 
two  tipstaffs,  the  mob  stopped  the  coach  on 
Westminster-bridge,  and  taking  out  the 
horses,  drew  it  along  the  Strand  and  through 
the  city  to  Spital-square,  where  they  dis- 
missed the  tipstaffs,  and  carried  their  favor- 
ite in  triumph  to  a  tavern.  He  took  an  op- 
portunity, at  a  late  hour,  to  withdraw  in  a 
private  manner ;  and  surrendered  himself  to 
the  marshal  of  the  king's-bench. 

Wilkes  was  not  inactive,  though  in  a 
prison.  He  took  care  to  feed  the  flame  he 
hud  kindled  with  fresh  supplies  of  combusti- 
ble matter.  His  address  to  the  freeholders 
of  Middlesex,  a  week  afler  his  commitment, 
is  a  curious  specimen  of  the  incendiary 
style.  It  was  published  on  the  fiflh  of  May, 
just  two  days  before  a  hearing  was  to  come 
on  at  Westminster-hall,  respecting  the  er- 
rors of  Wilkes's  outlawry,  and  five  days  be- 
fore the  meeting  of  the  new  parliament. 
The  populace  behaved  with  tolerable  de- 
cency at  the  trial,  as  their  hopes  were  flat- 
tered by  the  appointment  of  a  farther  hear- 
ing the  beginning  of  the  next  term ;  but 
their  infatuation  and  violence  on  the  other 
occasion,  were  attended  with  melancholy 
consequences.  They  assembled  in  vast  mul- 
titudes round  the  king's-bench,  in  the  fore- 
noon of  the  tenth  of  May,  under  the  idea 
of  seeing  Wilkes  ^o  to  the  house  of  com- 
mons. Having  waited  a  long  time  in  vain, 
they  demanded  him  at  the  prison  with  loud 
clamors,  and  grew  very  insolent  and  tumult- 
uous. Some  justices  of  the  peace  thought 
it  neceaBary,  after  enduring  much  outrage 


and  personal  injury,  to  read  the  riot-act ;  <m. 
which,  the  mob,  highly  exasperated,  inter- 
rupted them  with  showers  of  stones  and 
brickbats.  The  tumult  increased :  the  se- 
rious warnings  of  the  law  made  no  impres- 
sion: the  magistrates,  and  the  soldiers  on 
guard  were  not  only  set  at  defiance,  but  as- 
saulted ;  till,  being  at  length  driven  to  the 
last  extremity,  self-defence,  as  well  as  public 
duty,  compelled  the  troops  to  fire.  Four  or 
five  persons  were  killed,  and  more  than 
twice  as  many  were  wounded. 

PARLIAMENT  MEETS. 

The  first  session  of  the  new  parliament 
was  opened  by  commissioners,  who  informed 
both  houses  that  his  majesty  had  not  called 
them  together  at  that  unusual  season  to  en- 
ter upon  any  matter  of  general  business,  but 
merely  to  dispatch  certain  parliamentary 
proceedings,  which  were  necessary  for  the 
welfare  and  security  of  his  subjects.  The 
matters  here  alluded  to,  were  the  renewal 
of  several  of  the  provision-bills,  which  were 
near  expiring ;  which,  having  received  the 
royal  assent  on  the  twenty-first  of  May,  an 
end  was  put  to  the  session,  first  by  adjourn- 
ments, from  a  proper  regard  to  the  temper 
of  the  times,  and  then  by  prorogation. 

The  only  notice  taken  of  the  imprisoned 
member,  during  this  short  session,  was  a 
motion  made  on  the  eighteenth,  that  the 
proper  officer  of  the  crown  should  inform 
the  house,  why  the  laws  were  not  immedi- 
ately put  in  force  against  John  Wilkes,  Esq. 
an  outlaw,  when  he  returned  to  the  king- 
dom in  February.  But  the  house  not  ap- 
pearing disposed  to  take  cognizance  of  the 
matter,  the  question  to  adjourn  was  put,  and 
carried  without  a  division.  The  attorney- 
general  thereby  escaped  just  censure  for  his 
remissness ;  but  he  was  not  equally  success- 
ful at  the  second  hearing,  on  the  errors  of 
Wilkes's  outlawry,  m  the  court  of  king's- 
bench,  about  three  weeks  after.  AH  the 
judges,  though  they  differed  as  to  their  rea- 
sons, concurred  m  the  reversal  of  the  out- 
lawry, and  the  irregularity  of  tlie  proceed- 
ings. The  verdicts,  however,  which  had 
been  given  against  Wilkes  on  the  former 
trials,  for  publishing  the  North  Briton,  and 
the  Essay  on  Woman,  were  affirmed,  the 
court  being  of  opinion  that  the  arguments 
urged  by  the  prisoner  and  his  counsel,  in  ar- 
rest of  judgment,  were  inconclusive  and 
frivolous.  Wilkes  was  therefore  sentenced 
to  pay  a  fine  of  five  hundred  pounds,  and  to 
be  imprisoned  ten  calendar  months,  for  the 
republication  of  the  North  Briton ;  and  for 
publishing  tlie  Essay  on  Woman,  to  pay  like- 
wise a  fine  of  five  hundred  pounds,  and  be 
imprisoned  twelve  calendar  months,  to  be 
computed  from  the  expiration  of  the  former 
term.  He  was  aflerwards  to  find  security 
for  his  good  behavior  during  the  space  of 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


115 


seven  years.  Though  this  sentence  was 
certainly  as  mild  as  the  malignant  nature 
and  dangerous  tendency  of  those  two  pub- 
lications could  well  admit  of,  it  furnished 
Wilkes  with  a  new  subject  of  declamation 
on  "  the  harshness,  the  cruelty,  and  illegali- 
ties of  the  whole  proceeding,"  The  minis- 
try were  even  charged  with  secretly  foment- 
ing disturbances  not  only  in  England,  but  in 
America,  in  order  to  have  a  pretence  for  ex- 
tending beyond  the  Atlantic  the  iron  hand 
of  despotism;  and  their  unwillingness  to  in- 
volve the  kingdom  in  a  war  with  France  for 
the  relief  of  Corsica,  was  ascribed  to  their 
detestation  of  all  freemen,  as  well  as  to  their 
pusillanimity  and  impotence. 

DISAFFECTION  IN  AMERICA. 
Some  notice  has  been  already  taken  of 
the  acts  passed  in  1767,  for  laying  certain 
duties  on  paper,  glass,  colors,  teas,  &.c.  im- 
ported from  Great  Britain  into  America. 
Those  acts,  however  impolitic  and  ill-timed, 
before  the  former  ill-humors  had  completely 
subsided,  were  strictly  conformable  to  the 
distinction  admitted  by  the  colonists  them- 
selves between  raising  money  as  the  mere 
incidental  produce  of  regulating  duties,  and 
for  the  direct  purpose  of  revenue.  But  as 
soon  as  the  doctrine  was  reduced  to  prac- 
tice, and  custom-houses  were  established  in 
their  ports  for  collecting  those  duties,  they 
disavowed  their  former  professions,  and  ar- 
gued in  a  very  different  strain.  "  If,"  said 
they,  "  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  has 
no  right  to  tax  us  internally,  it  has  none  to 
tax  us  externally;  and  if  it  has  no  right  to 
tax  us  without  our  consent,  it  can  have  none 
to  govern,  or  to  legislate  for  us  without  our 
consent."  This  was  foreseen  and  pointed 
out  by  the  strenuous  opposers  of  the  repeal 
of  the  stamp-act ;  and  the  conduct  of  the 
Americans  fully  verified  their  predictions. 
The  people  of  Boston  took  the  lead,  as  usual, 
in  plans  of  resistance.  They  began  by  en- 
tering into  a  variety  of  combinations  highly 
prejudicial  to  the  commerce  of  the  mother 
country ;  and  among  other  schemes  for  les- 
sening and  restraining  the  use  of  British 
manufactures,  they  resolved  to  reduce  dress 
to  its  primitive  simplicity,  to  retrench  the 
expenses  of  funerals,  to  bring  nothing  from 
abroad  which  could  by  any  means  be  ob- 
tained at  home,  and  to  give  particular  en- 
couragement to  the  making  of  paper,  glass, 
and  the  other  commodities  that  were  liable 
to  the  payment  of  the  new  duties,  upon  im- 
portation. These  resolutions  were  adopted, 
or  similar  one»  entered  into  by  all  the  old 
colonies  on  the  continent ;  and,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  1768,  the  assembly  of 
Massachusets  Bay  sent  a  circular  letter  to 
the  other  provinces,  proposing  a  common 
union  to  prevent  the  effect,  and  to  obtain  a 
repeal  of  the  late  acts,  which  they  repre- 


sented as  unconstitutional,  and  subversive 
of  their  natural  and  positive  rights.  The 
same  assembly  discovered  still  stronger 
marks  of  disaffection  and  revolt,  on  hearmg 
a  letter  read  from  lord  Shelburne,  one  of  the 
principal  secretaries  of  state,  to  Sir  Francis 
Bernard,  the  governor  of  the  colony,  which 
contained  some  very  severe  but  just  animad- 
versions on  their  conduct. 

Advices  of  all  those  proceedings  having 
been  transmitted  to  England,  lord  Hillsbo- 
rough, the  new  secretary  of  state  for  the 
American  department,  wrote  a  circular  let- 
ter to  the  governors  of  all  the  colonies ;  in 
which  his  majesty's  dislike  to  the  letter  of 
the  Massachusets  assembly  was  expressed 
in  the  strongest  terms.  It  was  declared, 
that  he  considered  it  as  of  the  most  danger- 
ous and  factious  tendency ;  calculated  to  in- 
flame the  minds  of  the  people ;  to  promote 
an  unwarrantable  combination ;  to  excite  an 
open  opposition  to,  and  denial  of,  the  au- 
thority of  parliament;  and  to  subvert  the 
true  principles  of  the  constitution :  and  that 
his  majesty  expected,  from  the  known  affec- 
tion of  the  respective  assemblies,  that  they 
would  "  defeat  this  flagitious  attempt  to  dis- 
turb the  public  peace,  and  treat  it  witli  the 
contempt  it  deserved,  by  taking  no  notice 
of  it."  The  assemblies  acted  in  direct  con 
tradiction  to  the  wishes  and  wholesome  ad- 
vice of  their  sovereign.  They  expressed 
their  approbation  of  the  conduct  of  Mas- 
sachusets, and  passed  several  votes  and  re- 
solves, according  with  the  spirit  of  the  let- 
ter received  from  Boston.  Some  of  them 
returned  addresses  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
boldly  justifying  such  conduct,  and  animad- 
verting on  several  passages,  as  well  as  on 
the  request  contained  in  his  letter.  The 
assembly  of  New- York  went  even  so  far  as 
to  appoint  a  committee  of  correspondence 
to  consult  with  the  other  colonies  on  the 
measures  to  be  pursued  in  the  present  crisis : 
upon  which  that  assembly  was  immediately 
dissolved. 

Another  letter  of  the  same  date  (April 
22)  was  written  by  lord  Hillsborough  to  gov- 
ernor Bernard,  in  which,  besides  the  former 
exceptions  to  the  circular  letter  of  the  as- 
sembly at  BostxDn,  it  was  very  delicately  in- 
timated, that  his  majesty  thought  some  un- 
fair means  must  have  been  employed  to  carry 
such  a  measure,  either  by  surprise  or  through 
a  thin  house  of  representatives,  as  it  de- 
parted so  widely  from  the  spirit  of  prudence 
and  respect  to  the  constitution,  that  seemed 
to  have  influenced  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers, in  a  full  house,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  the  session.  The  governor  was  also  di- 
rected to  require,  in  his  majesty's  name,  that 
the  new  assembly  would  rescind  the  resolu- 
tion which  gave  birth  to  the  offensive  letter, 
and  declare  their  disapprobation  of,  and  dis- 


.6 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sent  to,  so  rash  and  hasty  a  proceeding :  but 
in  case  of  their  refusal  to  comply  with  his 
majesty's  reasonable  expectation,  the  gov- 
ernor had  orders  to  dissolve  them  immedi- 
ately, and  to  transmit  a  copy  of  their  pro- 
ceedings, to  be  laid  before  parliament.  These 
instructions  having  been  communicated  to 
the  assembly  in  the  latter  end  of  Jime,  and 
the  question  put  for  rescinding  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  last  house,  it  was  negatived  by  a 
majority  of  ninety-two  to  seventeen.  A 
letter  was  then  resolved  on  to  lord  Hillsbo- 
rough, containing  several  strictures  on  the 
requisition  made  to  them,  which  they  alleged 
to  be  unconstitutional  and  without  prece- 
dent ;  and  intermixing  some  affected  profes- 
sions of  loyalty  with  the  strongest  remon 
strances  against  the  late  laws.  They  were 
also  preparing  a  petition  to  the  king  for  the 
removal  of  their  governor,  when  they  were 
suddenly  dissolved. 

Previous  to  the  dissolution  of  the  assem 
bly,  the  popular  ferment  was  greatly  increasr 
ed  by  another  occurrence  which  took  place 
on  the  tenth  of  June.  A  sloop  called  the 
Liberty,  laden  with  wine  from  Madeira,  was 
seized  under  the  authority  of  the  board  of 
customs  for  a  false  entry;  and  being  cut 
from  her  moorings,  was  conveyed,  by  the 
order  of  the  commissioners,  under  the  guns 
of  the  Romney,  a  ship  of  war  then  lying  in 
Boston  harbor.  A  violent  riot  ensued,  in 
which  the  mob  burned  the  collector's  boat 
before  the  doot  of  John  Hancock,  the  owner 
of  the  sloop;  and  compelled  the  commis- 
sioners, for  the  security  of  their  lives,  to  take 
refuge  at  first  on  board  the  Romney,  and  af- 
terwards at  Castle  William,  a  fortress  on  a 
small  island  contiguous  to  the  town.  The 
temper  and  conduct  of  the  people  became 
every  day  more  licentious.  Town-meetings 
Vvcre  held,  and  a  remonstrance  was  present- 
ed to  the  governor  insolently  requiring  him 
to  issue  an  order  for  the  immediate  departure 
of  the  Romney.  The  natural  effects  of  such 
conduct  being  justly  apprehended,  two  regi- 
ments were  ordered  from  Ireland  to  support 
the  civil  government,  and  several  detach- 
ments from  different  parts  of  the  continent 
met  at  Halifax  for  the  same  purpose.  Upon 
the  first  intimations  of  this  measure,  an 
alarm  was  insidiously  spread  amongst  the 
inhabitants  of  Boston  and  of  the  whole  prov- 
ince, that  their  property,  their  liberties,  and 
their  lives  would  soon  lie  at  the  mercy  of 
the  bayonet ;  and  that  no  alternative  would 
be  held  out  to  them  by  the  invaders,  but  ser- 
vile submission  or  death.  Under  these  im- 
pressions, a  great  multitude  of  people  of  all 
ranks  crowded  together  at  Faneuil-hall,  the 
leading  incendiaries  havin^  issued  a  sum- 
inons  for  such  a  maetino".  Finding  that  the 
j:overnor  would  not,  at  their  desire,  and 
without  his  mijesty's  mstructions,  convene] 


a  general  assembly,  they  drew  up  a  long 
catalogue  of  their  pretended  grievances; 
protested  against  keeping  an  army  in  the 
province  without  their  consent ;  ordered  the 
select-men  of  Boston  to  write  to  the  select- 
men of  the  several  towns  witliin  the  prov- 
ince, recommending  the  speedy  choice  of 
committees  (another  name  for  representa- 
tives) to  form  a  convention ;  appointed 
Messrs.  Otis,  Cushmg,  Hancock,  and  Adams, 
their  late  members,  to  act  for  them  in  that 
capacity;  and  concluded  their  proceedings 
with  a  vote  for  a  day  of  public  prayer  and 
fasting,  and  with  a  requisition  to  the  people, 
under  the  pretence  of  an  approaching  war 
with  France,  to  prepare  arms,  ammunition, 
and  every  other  accoutrement  necessary  in 
cases  of  sudden  danger.  A  better  comment 
cannot  be  made  on  these  transactions  than 
in  the  words  of  the  inhabitants  of  Hatfield, 
in  their  spirited  and  judicious  reply  to  the 
circular  letter  of  the  select-men  of  Boston. 
Afler  showing  the  precipitancy  of  the  steps 
already  taken,  and  the  inconsistency,  frivo- 
lousness,  and-  insincerity  of  the  pretences  for 
calling  a  convention,  "  suffer  us,"  say  the)'^, 
"  to  observe,  that,  in  our  opinion,  the  mea- 
sures the  town  of  Boston  is  pursuing,  and 
proposing  to  us  and  the  people  of  this  prov- 
ince to  unite  in,  are  unconstitutional,  ille- 
gal, and  wholly  unjustifiable,  and  what  will 
give  the  enemies  of  our  constitution  the 
greatest  joy,  subversive  of  government,  de- 
structive of  that  peace  and  good  order  which 
is  the  cement  of  society,  and  have  a  direct 
tendency  to  rivet  our  chains,  and  deprive  us 
of  our  rights  and  privileges,  which  we,  the 
inhabitants  of  this  town,  desire  may  be  se- 
cured to  us,  and  perpetuated  to  our  latest 
posterity." 

A  CONVENTION. 
The  temper  and  good  sense,  which  influ- 
enced the  conduct  of  the  people  of  Hatfield, 
seemed,  at  that  moment  of  infatuation  and 
turbulence,  to  be  confined  to  themselves. 
About  a  hundred  towns  and  districts  in  the 
same  province  agreed  to  the  proposal  of  a 
convention,  and  immediately  appointed  com- 
mittee-men, a  great  number  of  whom  met  at 
Boston  on  the  twenty-second  of  September. 
Their  first  act  was  a  message  to  the  govern- 
nor,  in  which  they  disclaimed  all  pretence  to 
any  authority  whatever ;  but  said  they  were 
chosen  by  the  several  towns,  and  came  free- 
ly, at  the  earnest  desire  of  the  people,  to 
consult  and  advise  the  most  effectual  mea- 
sures for  promoting  peace  and  good  order, 
as  far  as  they  lawfully  might,  under  the  very 
dark  and  threatening  aspect  of  public  af- 
fairs: they  then  reiterated  the  detail  of  their 
grievances,  and  urged  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  his  convening  without  delay  a  gen- 
eral assembly,  which  they  looked  upon  to  be 
the  only  means  of  preventing  the  most  un- 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


117 


happy  consequences  to  the  parent  country 
and  to  the  colonies.  The  governor  refused 
to  receive  any  message  from  an  assembly, 
the  legality  of  which  he  could  not  allow,  but 
admonished  them  by  letter,  as  a  friend  to  the 
province,  and  a  well-wisher  to  the  individu- 
als of  it,  to  break  up  their  meeting  instantly, 
and  to  separate  before  they  did  any  business. 
He  said,  he  was  willing  to  believe  that  the 
gentlemen  who  had  issued  the  summons  for 
this  meeting  were  not  aware  of  the  high 
nature  of  the  offence  they  were  commit- 
ting :  and  that  those  who  had  obeyed  them 
did  not  consider  the  penalties  they  should 
incur,  if  they  persisted  in  continuing  their 
session :  at  present,  ignorance  of  law  might 
excuse  what  was  past ;  a  step  farther  would 
take  away  that  plea.  He  asserted,  that  a 
meeting  of  the  deputies  of  the  towns  was 
an  assembly  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people  to  all  intents  and  purposes ;  and  that 
the  calling  it  a  committee  of  convention 
could  not  alter  the  nature  of  the  thing.  At 
the  conclusion  of  his  letter,  he  informed 
them,  that,  if  they  paid  no  regard  to  this 
friendly  admonition,  he  must,  as  governor, 
assert  the  prerogative  of  the  crown  in  a 
more  public  manner.  This  remonstrance 
produced  another  message,  in  which  they 
attempted  to  justify  their  meeting ;  begged 
the  governor  to  be  sparing  of  his  frowns  to 
their  proceedings ;  and  desired  explanations 
of  the  criminality  with  which  they  were 
charged.  The  governor  repeated  his  former 
refusal  to  receive  any  message  from  an  ille- 
gal assembly;  upon  which  they  appointed 
nine  of  their  number  to  draw  up  a  report  on 
the  causes  and  express  objects  of  their  meet- 
ing. This  report  being  made  on  the  twenty^ 
sixth  of  the  same  month,  a  letter  with  a 
representation  of  their  transactions  and 
grievances,  in  which  was  inclosed  a  petition 
to  his  majesty  to  be  delivered  in  person, 
was  forwarded  to  their  agent  in  London ; 
and  on  the  twenty-ninth  the  convention 
dispersed. 

The  very  day  the  convention  broke  up, 
the  fleet  from  Halifax,  consisting  of  several 
frigates  and  transports  with  two  regiments 
and  a  detachment  of  artillery  on  board,  ar- 
rived in  the  harbor.  Quarters  were  procured 
for  the  troops  by  contract  with  private  per- 
sons; and  the  council,  upon  that  footing, 
allowed  them  barrack  provisions.  General 
Gage  arrived  soon  afler,  as  did  the  two  re- 
giments from  Ireland.  The  factious  and 
disorderly  were  by  these  means  for  some 
time  intimidated ;  the  soldiers  behaved  with 
the  utmost  discretion ;  and  a  tolerable  har- 
mony seemed  to  subsist  between  them  and 
the  inhabitants. 

While  things  remained  in  this  state  rather 
of  sullen  repose  tlian  of  assured  tranq-iillity 
abroad,  administration  at  home  received  a 


new  shock  from  the  clash  of  those  discordant 
principles,  on  which  it  had  been  framed  by 
the  earl  of  Chatham.  The  duke  of  Graflon 
and  lord  Shelburne,  though  introduced  into 
their  respective  offices  as  his  friends  and  by 
his  desire,  were  never  cordially  united.  The 
latter  had  lately  taken  particular  offence  at 
the  disregard  of  his  recommendation  of  lord 
Tankerville  to  succeed  George  Pitt  as  am- 
bassador at  Turin.  A  marked  preference 
was  shown  to  the  duke  of  Bedford's  applica- 
tion in  favor  of  Sir  William  Lynch.  Lord 
Shelburne,  upon  this,  retiring  in  disgust,  his 
place  was  supplied  by  lord  Weymouth,  from 
the  northern  department;  and  the  earl  of 
Rochford,  late  ambassador  at  Paris,  was  ap- 
pointed successor  to  lord  Weymouth.  In  a 
few  days  after,  lord  Chatham,  who  had  long 
been  prevented  by  bodily  infirmities  from 
attending  to  public  business,  resigned  the 
privy-seal,  which  was  immediately  delivered 
to  his  friend,  the  earl  of  Bristol. 

Parliament  met  on  the  eighth  of  Novem- 
ber ;  and  one  of  the  first  objects  that  were 
pressed  upon  their  notice  in  the  speech  from 
the  throne,  was  to  resume  the  consideration 
of  those  great  commercial  interests  which 
had  been  entered  upon  before,  but  which  the 
shortness  of  the  last  session  of  the  late  par- 
liament had  prevented  from  being  brought 
to  a  final  conclusion.  The  unhappy  disor- 
ders in  the  colonies  were  in  the  next  place 
very  affectingly  described.  "  At  the  close  of 
the  last  parliament,"  said  his  majesty,  "  I  ex- 
pressed my  satisfaction  at  the  appearance 
which  then  induced  me  to  believe,  that  such 
of  my  subjects  as  had  been  misled  in  some 
parts  of  my  dominions  were  returning  to  a 
just  sense  of  their  duty ;  but  it  is  with  equal 
concern  that  I  have  since  seen  that  spirit  of 
faction,  which  I  had  hoped  was  well-nigh 
extinguished,  breaking  out  afresh  in  some 
of  my  colonies  in  North  America ;  and,  in 
one  of  them,  proceeding  even  to  acts  of  vio- 
lence, and  of  resistance  to  the  execution  of 
the  law ;  the  capital  town  of  which  colony 
appears  by  late  advices  to  be  in  a  state  of 
disobedience  to  all  law  and  government; 
and  has  proceeded  to  measures  subversive 
of  the  constitution,  and  attended  with  cir- 
cumstances that  manifest  a  disposition  to 
throw  off  their  dependence  on  Great  Brit- 
ain. On  my  part  I  have  pursued  every 
measure  that  appeared  to  be  necessary  for 
supporting  the  constitution,  and  inducing  a 
due  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  legis- 
lature." Addresses,  in  perfect  unison  with 
the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  speech, 
were  agreed  to  by  both  houses.  They  were 
particularly  explicit  on  the  subject  of  Amer- 
ica, and  declared,  that  though  they  should 
be  ever  ready  to  redress  the  just  complaints 
of  the  colonies,  they  were  nevertheless  de- 
termined to  maintain  the  supreme  authority 


118 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  the  British  legislature  over  every  part  of 
the  British  empire.  Thanks  were  then 
given  for  the  measures  already  taken  to 
support  the  laws  in  the  colonies,  and  strong 
assurances  of  their  ready  concurrence  in 
every  regulation  that  appeared  likely  to  es- 
tablish the  constitutional  dependence  of  the 
Americans. 

WILKES  PETITIONS  THE  HOUSE  OF 
COMMONS. 

On  the  fourteenth  of  November,  a  peti- 
tion was  delivered  from  Wilkes  containing 
a  recapitulation  of  all  the  proceedings 
against  him,  from  the  time  of  his  having 
been  apprehended  by  a  general  warrant  till 
his  late  commitment  to  prison.  This  produc- 
ed an  order  for  the  proper  officers  to  lay  be- 
fore the  house  a  copy  of  the  records  of  the 
proceedings  in  the  court  of  king's-bench. 
The  journals  and  resolutions  of  the  house  in 
1763,  relative  to  the  same  subject,  were  also 
examined;  and  a  day  was  appointed  for 
hearing  the  matter  of  the  petition,  of  which 
notice  was  ordered  to  be  given  to  Wilkes, 
and  to  a  great  number  of  persons  who  were 
concerned  as  actors,  or  witnesses,  in  those 
transactions.  In  the  mean  time,  Webb,  late 
secretary  to  the  treasury,  against  whom  a 
very  heavy  charge  was  laid  of  suborning 
and  bribing  with  the  public  money  one  of 
Wilkes's  servants,  having  petitioned  for  an 
opportunity  to  vindicate  himself  at  the  bar 
of  the  house,  and  application  being  also 
made  by  Wilkes  for  leave  to  attend  in  order 
to  support  the  allegations  of  his  petition,  the 
requests  of  both  were  complied  with,  and 
liberty  of  counsel  was  allowed  them  for  their 
respective  purposes.  After  these  prepara- 
tory steps,  the  hearing  of  the  petition,  which 
at  first  had  been  ordered  to  take  place  on 
the  second  of  December,  was  put  off  to  the 
twelfth  of  the  same  month,  and  then  finally 
adjourned  to  the  twenty-seventh  of  January 
following.  This  delay  could  not  be  avoided, 
as  the  merits  of  the  disputed  elections,  many 
of  which  were  violently  contested,  took  up 
so  much  time,  that  although  parliament  con- 
tinued sitting  almost  to  the  eve  of  the  holi- 
days, they  had  not  leisure  to  attend  even  to 
any  of  the  objects  recommended  to  them 
from  the  throne,  except  the  renewal  of  the 
provision-bills,  to  prevent  a  return  of  the 
scarcity  from  which  the  people  had  been 
providentially  relieved.  A  committee  of  the 
whole  house  of  commons  had,  indeed,  been 
formed  early  in  the  session,  for  the  purpose 
of  an  inquiry  into  American  affairs ;  but 
this  subject  though  of  far  greater  importance 
than  Wilkes's  petition,  was  nece&sarily  de- 
ferred from  the  same  cause,  want  of  time. 
That  gentleman's  appeal  on  a  writ  of  error 
to  the  house  of  lords,  admitting  of  a  very 
fehort  and  easy  decision,  was  heard  on  the 
twenty-first  of  December,  when  the  judg-| 


ment  of  the  court  of  king's-bench  was 
affirmed  in  both  sentences;  and  next  day 
the  parliament  adjourned  to  the  nineteenth 
of  January. 

As  lord  Chatham  still  remained  confined 
by  illness,  he  had  not  been  able  since  his 
resignation  to  give  any  public  proofs  of  his 
hostility  to  the  ministry  whom  he  had  de- 
serted ;  but  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  his 
intending  upon  the  recovery  of  his  health 
to  join  the  standard  of  opposition.  That 
standard  was  now  upheld  by  the  marquis  of 
Rockingham,  who  became  leader  of  what 
was  called  the  old  whig  party,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  duke  of  Newcastle's  death 
about  the  middle  of  November. 

THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY  INSTITUTED. 

But  the  most  memorable  event  that  dis- 
tinguished the  close  of  the  year  1768,  was 
the  institution  of  the  Royal  Academy,  under 
the  king's  immediate  patronage,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  direction  of  forty  artists  of  the 
first  rank  in  their  several  professions.  The 
great  object  of  this  institution,  which  will 
reflect  immortal  honor  on  the  taste  and  mu- 
nificence of  its  illustrious  founder,  was  the 
establishment  of  well-regulated  schools  of 
design,  where  students  in  the  arts  might 
find  proper  instruction  and  the  best  helps 
as  well  as  incentives  to  aspiring  genius,  with- 
out going  in  search  of  them  to  foreign  coun- 
tries. Here  the  pupils  had  the  finest  living 
models,  and  choice  casts  of  the  most  cele- 
brated antiques  to  copy  after.  Nine  acade- 
micians elected  annually  from  amongst  the 
forty  were  to  attend  the  schools  by  rotation, 
to  set  the  figures,  to  examine  the  perform- 
ances of  the  students,  to  promote  their  im- 
provement, and  to  turn  their  attention  to- 
wards that  branch  of  the  arts  in  wliich  they 
appeared  most  likely  to  excel.  Professors 
of  painting,  of  architecture,  of  perspective, 
and  of  anatomy,  were  also  appointed,  with 
liberal  salaries,  to  read  annually  a  certain 
number  of  public  lectures  in  the  schools; 
and  the  admission  to  these  and  all  the  other 
advantages  of  the  institution  was  made  free 
to  every  person  properly  qualified  to  benefit 
by  the  studies  there  cultivated.  Tliat  no- 
thing might  be  wanting  to  rouse  and  en- 
courage emulation,  prizes  were  held  out  to 
those  who  made  the  nearest  approaches  to 
excellence ;  and  the  discourses  delivered  at 
the  annual  distribution  of  them  by  the  presi- 
dent. Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  were  well  calcu- 
lated to  fan  the  flame  of  youthful  ardor,  to 
unfold  the  true  principles  and  laws  of  com- 
position, to  strengthen  the  judgment,  refine 
the  taste,  and  impress  upon  the  fancy  the 
strongest  images  of  that  ideal  perfection, 
which,  as  he  himself  said,  it  is  the  lot  of 
genius  always  to  contemplate,  and  never  to 
attain.  Under  such  a  master,  whose  pre-  ' 
cepts  were  so  happily  illustrated  by  his  own 


GEORGE  ni.   1760-1820. 


119 


practice,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  English 
school  soon  rose  to  celebrity  and  exhibited 
models  of  beauty  and  grandeur  which  may 
be  fairly  put  in  competition  with  the  most 
admired  productions  of  any  age  or  any  coun- 
try. It  is  with  unwillingness  that  history 
turns  away  from  such  delightful  objects,  to 
record  the  harsh  wrangles  of  party,  which 
were  renewed  at  the  meeting  of  parliament 
after  the  Christmas  recess. 
DISCUSSIONS  ON  AMERICAN  AFFAIRS 

1769. — The  grand  debate  on  American 
aifairs  began  the  twenty-sixth  of  January 
An  infinite  number  of  papers  relating  to  the 
troubles  in  the  colonies  had  been  read  the 
day  before;  and  some  resolutions  and  an 
address  were  now  produced  as  sent  down 
from  the  lords,  in  order  to  their  being  con- 
curred in  by  the  commons.  By  these  resolu- 
tions it  was  declared,  that  the  acts  of  the 
late  assembly  of  Massachusets  Bay,  which 
tended  to  call  in  question  the  authority  of 
the  supreme  legislature,  were  illegal,  un- 
constitutional, and  derogatory  of  the  rights 
of  the  crown  and  parliament  of  Great  Brit- 
ain :  that  the  circular  letters  written  by  the 
same  assembly  to  those  of  the  other  colonies 
on  the  subject  of  the  late  import  duties, 
stating  them  to  be  infringements  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  and  proposing  combi- 
nations and  other  modes  of  pretended  re- 
dress, were  of  a  most  unwarrantable,  dan- 
gerous, and  inflammatory  nature:  that  the 
town  of  Boston  had  been  for  some  time  in  a 
state  of  great  disorder  and  confusion,  during 
which  the  officers  of  the  revenue  had  been 
obstructed  by  violence  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duty,  and  their  lives  endangered ;  and 
that  neither  the  council  of  the  province, 
nor  the  ordinary  civil  magistrates  having 
exerted  their  authority  for  suppressing  such 
tumults,  the  preservation  of  the  peace,  and 
the  due  execution  of  the  laws  became  im- 
practicable without  the  aid  of  a  military 
force :  that  all  the  proceedings  in  the  town- 
meetings  at  Boston  on  the  fourteenth  of 
June  and  twelfth  of  September  were  calcu- 
lated to  promote  sedition ;  and  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  convention,  the  elections  of 
deputies  by  the  several  towns  and  districts 
for  that  purpose,  and  their  meetmg,  were 
daring  insults  offered  to  his  majesty's  au- 
thority, and  audacious  usurpations  of  the 
powers  of  government.  In  the  address,  the 
greatest  satisfaction  was  expressed  in  the 
measures  already  pursued  for  supporting  the 
constitution,  and  inducing  a  due  obedience 
to  the  legislature;  and  the  strongest  as- 
surances were  given  of  effectual  concurrence 
in  such  farther  measures  as  might  be  found 
necessary  to  maintain  the  civil  magistrates 
in  a  proper  execution  of  the  laws,  within 
the  province  of  Massachusets  Bay.  It  was 
given  as  matter  of  opinion,  that  nothing 


could  be  more  immediately  necessary,  either 
for  the  maintenance  of  royal  authority  in 
the  said  province,  or  for  guarding  his  ma- 
jesty's subjects  there  from  being  farther  de- 
luded by  wicked  and  designing  men,  than 
to  bring  the  authors  of  the  late  disorders  to 
condign  punishment;  and  for  this  purpose, 
it  was  earnestly  requested,  that  governor 
Bernard  might  be  directed  to  transmit  the 
fullest  information  he  could  obtain  of  all  trea- 
sons committed  within  his  government  since 
the  thirtieth  of  December,  1767,  together 
with  the  names  of  the  persons  most  active 
in  the  perpetration  of  such  offences,  in  order 
that  his  majesty  might  issue  a  special  com- 
mission for  trymg  the  offenders  within  this 
realm,  pursuant  to  the  statute  of  the  thirty- 
fifth  of  Henry  VIII.  in  case  his  majesty 
should,  upon  receiving  the  said  information, 
see  sufficient  ground  for  such  a  proceeding. 

As  soon  as  both  houses  concurred  in  the 
proposed  avowal  of  these  sentiments,  it  was 
resolved  in  the  cabinet  that  a  circular  letter 
should  be  sent  by  lord  Hillsborough  to  the 
governors  of  the  different  provinces,  contain- 
ing an  engagement,  as  far  as  the  ministers 
of  the  crown  could  engage,  to  procure  a  re- 
peal, on  the  principles  of  commercial  expe- 
diency, of  the  taxes  on  glass,  paper,  and  co- 
lors. They  were  in  hopes,  that  a  well-timed 
show  of  vigor  in  the  first  instance,  and  of 
lenity  and  condescension  afterwards,  would 
bring  the  colonists  to  a  sense  of  their  duty, 
and  make  them  desist  from  their  seditious 
practices.  Unfortunately  the  event  did  not 
correspond,  in  any  degree,  with  these  ex- 
pectations. 

DEBATES  ON  THE  CIVIL  LIST. 

Though  the  parliamentary  strength  of  the 
ministry  was  fully  demonstrated  in  carrying 
the  resolutions  and  address  by  a  majority  of 
almost  three  to  one,  they  were  opposed  with 
much  greater  vehemence  on  a  point,  where 
they  thought  themselves  more  secure,  an  ar- 
ticle of  the  supplies.  A  message  from  the 
king  was  delivered  to  the  house  of  commons 
on  the  last  day  of  February,  acquainting 
them  that  the  arrears  of  the  civil  list  amount- 
ed to  five  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand 
pounds,  and  expressmg  his  majesty's  reli- 
ance on  their  known  zeal  and  affection,  to 
enable  him  to  discharge  that  encumbrance. 
This  message  gave  rise  to  a  contest,  which 
was  kept  up  with  uncommon  warmth  for 
three  days  successively.  Several  motions, 
diversified  by  all  the  manoeu\Tes  of  political 
dexterity,  were  made  for  papers  which  might 
lead  to  a  discovery  of  any  mismanagement 
or  profiision  in  the  conduct  of  the  revenue, 
and  of  the  royal  expenses.  A  review  was 
taken  of  the  state  of  the  civil  list,  and  pri- 
vate revenues  of  the  crown :  comparisons 
were  drawn  between  the  income  of  the 
present  and  of  fbnner  reigns :  and  it  was 


120 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


asserted  in  very  plain  terms,  that  unless  the 
most  scrupulous  inquiry  was  always  made 
into  the  particulars  for  which  such  debts 
were  contracted,  an  arbitrary  and  unlimited 
revenue  would  be  gradually  established  at 
the  will  of  the  prince,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  the  most  pernicious  measures. 
The  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  expressed 
the  greatest  readiness  to  lay  all  the  accounts 
and  papers  that  were  desired  before  the 
house ;  but  said  that  the  length  of  time 
which  was  requisite  to  prepare  them,  and 
the  lateness  of  the  session  made  it  necessary 
to  be  deferred  to  the  next  meeting,  while 
decency  to  the  king  required  an  immediate 
relief  of  his  wants.  Lord  North  farther  ob- 
served, that  it  would  be  ungenerous,  by  any 
act,  to  show  the  smallest  suspicion  of  a 
prince,  whose  first  care  upon  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  was  to  strengthen  the  freedom 
of  the  subject,  by  estabhshing  the  indepen- 
dency of  the  judges :  that  his  majesty,  who 
had,  in  his  private  share  of  the  captures 
made  during  the  late  war,  given  up  seven 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  pounds  to  the 
nation,  was  certainly  entitled  to  some  regard 
in  his  present  exigencies :  and  that  the  grati- 
tude, not  to  say  the  justice  of  the  kingdom 
was  called  upon  in  the  loudest  manner,  to 
comply  readily  and  gracefully  with  his  re- 
quest. In  one  of  the  debates  on  this  subject, 
the  division  was,  for  the  ministry,  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four,  against  eighty-nine,  and 
in  another,  two  hundred  and  forty-eight 
against  one  hundred  and  thirty-five. 

No  objections  could  have  been  urged  with 
any  great  degree  of  plausibility  or  force  to 
the  other  parts  of  the  supplies,  or  to  the 
ways  and  means  for  the  service  of  the  cur- 
rent year.  The  supplies  amounted  to  little 
more  than  six  millions  and  a  half,  mcluding 
the  arrears  of  the  civil  list,  and  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  the  navy  debts  which 
were  to  be  paid  off.  The  ways  and  means 
consisted  of  the  land  and  malt  taxes ;  ex- 
chequer-bills to  the  amount  of  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  pounds ;  anticipa- 
tions of  the  sinking  fund  for  the  like  sum ; 
a  lottery ;  money  due  for  the  ceded  islands 
and  for  French  prizes;  small  sums  in  the 
exchequer,  which  were  a  sort  of  scrapings 
from  the  moneys  issued  in  the  war,  and  bal- 
ances of  different  treasurers'  accounts  ;  ex- 
pected produce  of  American  taxes,  estimated 
at  thirty  thousand  pounds  ;  and  the  annual 
contribution  of  four  hundred  thousand  pounds 
from  the  East  India  company,  whose  charter 
was  prolonged  for  the  farther  term  of  five 
years,  on  conditions  in  some  respects  similar 
to  the  last  agreement:  but  the  company 
were  now  allowed  to  increase  their  dividenrl 
to  twelve  and  a  half  ner  cent,  during  this, 
term,  provided  they  didi  not  in  any  one  7ear 
rauae  it  above  one  per  cent. :  on  the  other 


hand,  should  the  dividend  be  reduced  below 
the  present  standard  of  ten  per  cent,  the 
stipulated  payment  of  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds  should  be  proportionally  diminished ; 
and  if  the  dividend  should  sink  to  six  per 
cent,  the  payment  to  the  nation  was  to  be 
wholly  discontinued  (1).  Such  easy  and  ju- 
dicious provisions  for  the  public  service  af- 
forded very  little  room  for  cavilling  or  debate. 
But  the  spirit  of  altercation  found  sufficient 
exercise  in  the  proceedings  concerning 
Wilkes. 
VIOLENT  DEBATES  RESPECTING  WILKES. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  January,  the 
day  to  which  the  hearing  of  that  gentleman's 
pretended  grievances  had  been  deferred, 
motion  was  made  by  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  and  carried  by  a  very  considera- 
ble majority,  that  Wilkes's  counsel  should 
confine  themselves  to  the  alteration  of  the 
records,  and  to  the  charge  against  Webb,  as 
the  other  parts  of  the  petition  had  either 
been  decided  upon  already,  or  were  now  un- 
der consideration  of  the  courts  below.  Four 
days  afler,  Wilkes  proceeded  with  his  evi- 
dence ;  but  he  was  totally  unable  to  make 
good  his  accusation  against  Webb,  which 
plainly  appeared  to  have  been  a  most  auda- 
cious falsehood.  There  was  no  difficulty  in 
proving  the  alteration  of  the  record,  which^ 
had  been  acknowledged  and  fully  justified 
by  lord  Mansfield  in  the  court  of  king's- 
bench,  where  the  practice  was  confirmed  on 
the  opinion  of  all  the  judges.  But  Wilkes 
having  disingenuously  and  malignantly  left 
out  so  material  a  circumstance  in  his  com- 
plaint, the  house  agreed  to  a  vote  of  censure 
on  that  part  of  the  petition,  as  tending  to  as- 
perse lord  Mansfield's  character,  and  to  pre- 
judice the  people  against  the  administration 
of  public  justice.  This,  however,  was  not 
the  only  step  Wilkes  had  lately  taken  to 
provoke  the  rigor  of  parliament,  and  to  en- 
dear himself  more  strongly  to  the  infatuated 
populace. 

Some  little  time  previous  to  the  riot  in  St. 
George's  Fields,  a  letter  had  been  written 
by  lord  We)nnouth,  one  of  the  secretaries  of 
state,  to  the  chairman  of  the  quarter-sessions 
at  Lambeth,  recommending  an  early  and  ef- 
fectual use  of  the  military,  if  the  civil  power 
was  trifled  with  or  insulted ;  as  a  military 
force  could  never  be  employed  to  a  more 
constitutional  purpose,  than  in  supporting  the 
authority  and  dignity  of  the  magistracy. 
Such  instructions  seemed  particularly  neces- 
sary at  that  crisis,  when  some  of  the  most 
active  magistrates  had  been  found  unable  to 
put  the  laws  in  execution ;  when  constables, 
instead  of  attempting  to  preserve  the  peace, 
were  known  to  join  the  mob  in  every  act  of 
outrage ;  when  a  convict  was  openly  res- 
cued from  the  officers  of  justice,  and  carried 
in  triumph  almost  within  sight  of  the  very 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


121 


court  that  ordered  his  commitment ;  when, 
in  short,  the  audacity  of  the  rabble  increased 
with  their  crimes,  and  no  hope  remained  of 
bringing-  them  to  a  sense  of  their  duty  but 
by  the  exertion  of  superior  force.  Wilkes, 
havin^f  by  some  means  procured  a  copy  of 
lord  Weymouth's  letter  on  that  occasion,  had 
it  published  at  full  length  in  a  newspaper, 
with  a  preface  of  his  own,  in  which  the  affair 
of  St.  George's -Fields  was  termed  a  horrid 
rneissacre,  and  the  consequence  of  a  hellish 
project,  deliberately  planned  and  determined 
upon.  The  secretary  of  state  laid  so  flagrant 
a  breach  of  privilege  before  the  lords,  and 
the  publishers  of  the  newspapers  having  ac- 
knowledged that  they  received  the  copy  from 
Wilkes,  a  complaint  was  made  to  tlie  com- 
mons of  the  conduct  of  their  member ;  and 
the  matter  being  agitated  during  the  inquiry 
into  tlie  merits  of  Wilkes's  petition,  he  not 
only  declared  himself  to  be  the  author  of  the 
prefatory  remarks,  but  said  he  gloried  in  hav- 
ing brought  to  light  that  bloody  scroll,  and 
was  only  sorry  he  had  not  expressed  his  in- 
digtiation  at  it  in  stronger  terms.  He  even 
added,  that  he  ought  to  have  the  thanks  of 
the  house  for  his  meritorious  conduct  in  the 
business.  Instead  of  thanks,  however,  the 
house  voted  his  introduction  to  the  secretary 
of  state's  letter  to  be  an  insolent,  scandalous, 
and  seditious  libel,  tending  to  inflame  and 
stir  up  the  minds  of  his  majesty's  subjects  to 
a  total  subversion  of  all  good  order  and  legal 
j'^'overnment. 

Next  day  [Feb.  3.]  a  very  long  debate  took 
place  on  the  following  motion,  made  by  lord 
Barrington,  the  secretary  at  war  : 

"  That  John  Wilkes,  Esq.  a  member  of 
this  house,  who  hath  at  the  bar  of  this  house 
confessed  himself  to  be  the  author  and  pub- 
lisher of  what  this  house  has  resolved  to  be 
an  insolent,  scandalous,  and  seditious  libel, 
and  who  has  been  convicted  in  the  court  of 
king's-bench,  of  having  printed  and  publish- 
ed a  seditious  libel,  and  three  obscene  and 
impious  libels,  and  by  the  judgment  of  the 
said  court  has  been  sentenced  to  undergo 
twenty-two  months'  imprisonment,  and  is 
now  in  execution  under  the  said  judgment, 
be  expelled  this  house." 

This  motion  was  opposed  by  the  united 
strength  of  the  Rockingham  and  Grenville 
parties,  Edmund  Burke  the  adherent  of  the 
one,  and  George  Grenville  the  leader  of  the 
other,  being  the  principal  speakers.  Though 
these  gentlemen  diflfered  very  widely  on 
some  great  political  principles,  yet  from  a 
casual  coincidence  of  dislike  to  many  of  the 
late  measures  of  government,  they  often  act- 
ed as  if  they  belonged  to  the  same  phalanx. 
But  on  whatever  side  of  the  question  they 
spoke,  their  style  and  manner  always  afford- 
ed a  very  remarkable  and  amusing  contrast 
Burke's   eloquence  was  splendid,  copious, 

Vol.  IV.  11 


and  animated,  sometimes  addressing  itself 
to  the  pcissions,  much  oftener  to  the  fancy, 
but  seldom  or  never  to  the  understanding ; 
it  seemed  fitter  for  show  than  debate,  for  the 
school  than  the  senate,  and  was  calculated 
rather  to  excite  applause  than  to  produce 
conviction :  Grenville's  was  plain,  yet  cor- 
rect, manly,  argumentative,  trusting  more 
to  genuine  candor,  to  the  energy  of  reason, 
and  the  well-displayed  evidence  of  truth, 
than  to  the  rainbow  colors  of  fine  imagery, 
or  the  blaze  of  artificial  declamation.  The 
one  appeared  always  dressed  in  a  rich  ward- 
robe of  words,  to  dazzle  the  beholders :  the 
other  made  use  of  language,  as  a  modest 
man  does  of  clothes,  for  the  purposes  of  con- 
venience and  decency.  The  former  could 
enliven  the  dullest  debate  by  the  sallies  of 
his  wit ;  but  he  was  too  fond  of  exerting 
that  talent  on  every  occasion,  and  frequent- 
ly debased  it  by  an  intermixture  of  low  ridi- 
cule ;  the  latter,  full  of  the  importance  of 
his  subject,  and  attentive  to  the  becoming 
gravity  as  well  as  dignity  of  the  senatorial 
character,  never  let  himself  down,  nor  at- 
tempted anything  like  vulgar  jests,  or  unsea- 
sonable pleasantry.  Burke,  naturally  ardent, 
impetuous,  and  irascible,  took  fire  at  the 
smallest  collision  ;  and  the  sudden  bursts  of 
his  anger  or  his  vehemence,  when  all  around 
him  was  calm,  could  only  be  compared  to 
the  rant  of  intoxication  in  the  presence  of  a 
sober  and  dispassionate  company:  Grenville, 
even  when  attacked  with  the  utmost  asperi- 
ty, showed  a  perfect  command  of  temper, 
and  neither  betrayed  any  symptoms  of  alarm 
himself,  nor  hurled  the  thunders  of  wrathful 
oratory  at  his  adversaries.  This  dissimili- 
tude of  genius  and  character  between  both 
was  strongly  marked  in  the  debate  on  lord 
Barrington's  motion. 

Burke  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  invectives 
against  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  the  min- 
isters of  the  crown  ;  he  enlarged  on  the  dan- 
gerous consequences  of  the  assumption  and 
abuse  of  a  discretionary  power  in  the  com- 
mons ;  and  called  the  proposed  vote  of  ex- 
pulsion the  fifth  act  of  a  tragi-comedy ;  per- 
formed by  his  majesty's  servants,  at  the  de- 
sire of  several  persons  of  quality,  for  the 
benefit  of  Wilkes,  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
constitution.  Grenville  confined  himself  to 
two  decisive  points,  the  injustice  and  impru- 
dence of  the  measure.  He  said  it  was  un- 
fair to  blend  all  Wilkes's  offences,  as  it  were, 
in  one  indictment,  and  tlien  to  decide  on  a 
complicated  and  accumulated  charge ;  as,  in 
consequence  of  such  a  mode  of  trial,  it  wa« 
possible  for  that  gentleman  to  be  expelled 
even  by  a  mmority  (2).  After  viewing  the 
whole  together,  he  proceeded  to  unravel  the 
web,  and  to  examine  the  different  parts  erf" 
it  separately  and  distinctly.  He  observa^ 
tliat  tlie  proper  step  to  be  taken  by  the  ' 


122 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  lords,  with  respect  to  the  gross  and  im- 
pudent libel  on  lord  Weymouth,  was  to  ad- 
dress tlie  king  to  have  it  prosecuted  by  the 
attorney-general,  instead  of  transmitting  it 
to  the  commons  to  be  punished  by  an  extra- 
ordinary extension  of  their  judicature.  For 
the  North  Briton,  Wilkes  was  now  under- 
going the  sentence  of  the  law,  and  had  been 
expelled  from  parliament ;  and  there  was  no 
rule  more  sacred  in  English  jurisprudence, 
than  that  a  man  once  acquitted  or  condemn- 
ed should  not  be  tried  or  punished  again  by 
the  same  judicature  for  the  same  offence. 
The  law  had  also  passed  sentence  on  him 
for  the  Essay  on  Woman ;  and  as  the  last 
house  of  commons  had  not  thought  it  right 
for  tliem  to  interfere  in  that  matter,  it  would 
certainly  be  deemed  a  hardship  to  let  it  pass 
unnoticed  at  the  time,  and  five  years  afler 
to  transfer  it  to  another  parliament,  and  to 
reserve  it  for  a  fresh  censure.  As  to  Wilkes's 
imprisonment,  though  it  implied  an  inability 
in  him  to  attend,  and  in  the  house  to  reclaim 
him,  yet  Grenville  did  not  think  that  tempo- 
rary disabilities  ought  to  be  regarded  as 
proper  grounds  for  an  expulsion.  He  there- 
fore begged  that  the  prejudices  or  just  re- 
sentments of  the  house  against  the  conduct 
and  character  of  the  man  might  not  prevail 
upon  them  to  establish  a  precedent,  which, 
though  perhaps  begun  in  the  first  instance 
against  the  odious  or  the  guilty,  might  be 
easily  applied  and  made  use  of  against  the 
meritorious  and  the  innocent.  From  those 
remarks  Grenville  maxle  an  easy  and  natural 
transition  to  the  second  part  of  the  subject, 
in  which  he  took  a  view  of  the  propriety 
and  wisdom  of  the  measure.  He  considered 
Wilkes  as  having  become,  however  unde- 
servedly, a  favorite  with  the  public :  he  said 
it  could  not  be  denied,  that  the  temper  of 
the  people  had  shown  itself  on  several  occa- 
sions to  be  licentious  and  disorderly  ;  that 
their  respect  for  the  parliament  and  confi- 
dence in  their  representatives  were  visibly 
diminished ;  and  he  then  asked,  whether, 
under  these  circumstances,  it  was  not  more 
advisable  to  conciliate  the  heated  minds  of 
men  by  mildness  and  discretion,  than  to  in- 
tiarae  them  by  adding  fresh  fuel  to  discon- 
tent 3  He  hoped  the  ministry  would  consult 
the  best  guide  to  all  human  wisdom,  the  ex- 
perience of  past  times ;  and  he  quoted  one 
instance  of  impolitic  rigor,  which  was  equal- 
ly pertinent  and  forcible.  "The  reverend 
incendiary  Dr.  Sacheverell,"  said  he,  "  was 
unwisely  prosecuted  by  this  house.  He  be- 
came by  that  means  the  favorite  and  idol  of 
the  people  throughout  England,  as  much, 
nay  more  than  Wilkes  is  now.  The  queen 
herself  was  stopped  and  insulted  in  her 
chair,  during  the  trial,  with  '  God  save  Dr. 
Sacheverell.'  I  heartily  wiSh  that  no  similar 
insult  may  have  been  offered  tfk  pur  present 


sovereign.  The  prosecution  went  on  and 
the  ferment  increased.  The  event  verified 
a  famous  expression  in  those  days,  '  That 
the  whigs  had  wished  to  roast  a  parson,  and 
that  they  had  done  it  at  so  fierce  a  fire,  that 
they  had  burnt  themselves ;'  for  the  minis- 
ters were  dismissed,  and  the  parliament  dis- 
solved. The  mob  idol,  when  he  ceased  to 
be  a  martyr,  soon  sunk  into  his  original  in- 
significancy, from  which  that  martyrdom 
alone  had  raised  him.  Wilkes,  apprehensive 
of  the  same  fate,  and  thoroughly  sensible 
that  the  continuance  of  his  popularity  will 
depend  upon  your  conduct,  uses  every  means 
in  his  power  to  provoke  you  to  some  instance 
of  unusual  severity.  Suppose  that  you  could 
otherwise  have  doubted  of  it,  yet  his  beha- 
vior here  at  your  bar,  when  called  upon  to 
justify  himself,  is  fully  sufficient  to  prove 
the  truth  of  what  I  have  asserted.  If  he 
had  intended  to  deprecate  your  resentment, 
and  to  stop  your  proceedings  against  him, 
he  is  not  so  void  of  parts  and  understanding, 
as  to  have  told  you  in  the  words  he  used  at 
the  bar,  (when  charged  with  writing  the  li- 
bel against  lord  Weymouth),  '  that  he  was 
only  sorry  he  had  not  expressed  himself  upon 
that  subject  in  stronger  terms  ;  and  that  ho 
certainly  would  do  so  whenever  a  similar 
occasion  should  present  itself;'  nor  would  he 
have  asked,  '  whether  the  precedents  quoted 
by  lord  Mansfield  were  not  all  taken  from 
the  star  chamber  V  If  he  had  wished  to 
prevent  this  expulsion,  he  would  have  em- 
ployed other  methods  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose ;  but  his  object  is  not  to  retain  his  seat 
in  this  house,  but  to  stand  forth  to  the  delud- 
ed people  as  the  victim  of  your  resentment, 
of  your  violence  and  injustice.  This  is  the 
advantage  which  he  manifestly  seeks  to  de- 
rive from  you ;  and  will  you  be  weak  enough 
to  give  it  to  him,  and  to  fall  into  so  obvious 
a  snare?  What  benefit  will  you  gain,  or 
what  will  he  lose,  if  this  motion  for  his  ex- 
pulsion shall  take  effect  ?  Whatever  talents 
he  has  to  captivate  or  to  inflame  the  people 
without  doors,  he  has  none  to  render  him 
formidable  within  these  walls.  He  has  hold- 
en  forth  high,  sounding,  and  magnificent 
promises  of  the  signal  services  which  he 
will  perform  to  his  country  in  parliament ; 
and  there  are  many  who  are  ignorant  and 
credulous  enough  to  believe  them.  When- 
ever he  comes  here,  I  will  venture  to  prophe- 
sy that  they  will  be  grievously  disappointed. 
That  disappointment  will  be  followed  by  dis- 
gust and  anger  at  their  having  been  ?o 
grossly  deceived,  and  will  probably  turn  the 
tide  of  popular  prejudice.  But  as  soon  as  he 
shall  be  excluded  from  this  house,  they  will 
give  credit  to  him  for  more  than  he  has 
even  promised.  They  will  be  persuaded 
that  every  real  and  imaginary  grievance 
would  have  been  redressed  by  his  patriotic 


GEORGE  m.  1760-1820. 


123 


care  and  influence."  Grenville  here  took 
occasion  to  point  out  some  other  bad  conse- 
quences of  the  proposed  measure.  He  said 
there  could  be  no  doubt,  in  the  present  tem- 
per of  the  freeholders  of  Middlesex,  but  that 
Wilkes  would  be  re-elected  after  his  expul- 
sion. The  house  would  probably  think  it 
necessary  to  expel  him  again,  and  he  would 
as  certainly  be  again  elected.  What  steps 
could  the  house  then  take  to  put  an  end  to 
a  disgraceful  contest,  in  which  their  justice 
would  be  arraigned,  and  their  authority  and 
dignity  essentially  compromised  1  By  the 
rules  of  the  house,  the  vote  for  excluding 
Wilkes  could  not  be  rescinded  in  the  same 
session  in  which  it  had  passed.  No  alter- 
native would  therefore  remain,  but  either  to 
refuse  issuing  a  new  writ,  and  by  that 
means  to  deprive  the  county  of  the  right  of 
choosing  any  other  representative ;  or  bring- 
ing into  the  house,  as  the  knight  of  the  shire 
for  Middlesex,  a  man  chosen  by  a  few  voters 
only,  in  contradiction  to  the  declared  sense 
of  a  great  majority  on  the  face  of  the  poll, 
"  Are  these  then,"  continued  Grenville,  "  the 
proper  expedients  to  check  and  to  restrain 
the  spirit  of  faction  and  of  disorder  1  Can 
we  seriously  think  they  will  have  that  salu- 
tary effect  1  Surely  it  is  time  to  look  for- 
wards, and  to  try  other  measures."  He  con- 
cluded with  recommending  a  cool  and  tem- 
perate conduct,  unmixed  with  passion,  or 
with  prejudice;  and  deprecated  the  exer- 
cise of  a  discretionary  power,  the  extent  of 
which  no  man  knew,  and  the  extent  of  the 
mischiefe  arising  from  which  no  man  could  tell. 
WILKES  EXPELLED,  BUT  RE-ELECTED. 
But  neither  the  candor  of  Grenville's  ad- 
vice, nor  the  force  of  his  prophetic  warnings 
could  subdue  the  indignation  which  the 
house  felt  at  the  unparalleled  insolence  as 
well  as  criminality  of  Wilkes's  behavior 
The  vote  of  expulsion  was  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of  219  to  136 ;  and  a  new  writ  was 
issued  for  the  election  of  a  member  in  the 
room  of  Wilkes.  The  train  of  events  pre- 
dicted by  Grenville  now  followed  in  rapid 
succession.  Wilkes's  popularity  increased 
with  what  was  termed  his  persecution.  His 
bold  defence  of  the  prefatory  remarks  on 
lord  Weymouth's  letter,  at  the  very  bar  of 
the  house  of  commons  that  expelled  him, 
was  captivating  to  many  persons,  and  raised 
him  friends  and  admirers  in  every  quarter. 
The  freeholders  of  Middlesex  confirmed 
their  former  choice  of  him  as  their  repre- 
sentative, and  had,  at  a  previous  meeting, 
agreed  to  support  his  election  at  their  own 
expense.  The  return  being  made  to  the 
house  of  commons,  it  was  resolved  by  a  ma- 
jority of  225  to  89,  "  that  Wilkes,  having 
been  once  expelled,  was  incapable  of  sitting 
in  the  same  parliament,  and  that  the  elec- 
tion was  therefore  void."     But  before  the 


sense  of  the  county  was  taken  agam,  a  month 
was  sufiiered  to  elapse,  in  hopes  that  the 
popular  ferment  might  be  somewhat  abated 
in  that  time.  The  delay  had  a  contrary  ef- 
fect. It  aflTorded  Wilkes's  partisans  an  op- 
portunity of  spreading  the  flame  wider,  and 
seizing  the  moment  of  general  frenzy  to 
levy  contributions  for  the  relief,  as  they  said, 
of  the  persecuted  assertor  of  the  Bill  of 
Rights.  At  the  first  meeting  called  together 
for  this  purpose  at  the  London  tavern,  above 
three  thousand  pounds  were  immediately 
subscribed,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  circulate  proposals  of  the  like  kind  through 
the  kingdom,  the  following  claim  being  urg- 
ed in  Wilkes's  favor,  "  that  as  he  had  suf- 
fered very  greatly  in  his  private  fortune,  from 
the  severe  and  repeated  prosecutions  he  had 
undergone ;  it  seemed  reasonable  that  those 
who  suflTered  for  the  public  good  should  be 
supported  by  the  public."  This  scheme  was 
in  the  true  spirit  of  Wilkes's  old  maxim, 
and  his  expectations  of  its  success  were  not 
disappointed.  When  the  election  came  on 
again  at  Brentford,  Wilkes  was  chosen  for 
the  third  time  with  the  former  unanimity. 
This  election  being  also  declared  void,  and 
a  new  writ  ordered,  colonel  Luttrell,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  of  commons,  had  the  cour- 
age to  vacate  his  seat  by  the  acceptance  of 
a  nominal  place,  in  order  to  try  his  strength 
in  a  contest  for  Middlesex.  Whitaker,  a 
serjeant-at-law,  ventured  also  to  enter  the 
lists ;  and  another  gentleman  had  been  nom- 
inated, but  did  not  choose  to  take  the  oath 
necossary  on  that  occasion.  At  the  close  of 
the  poll,  the  numbers  were  for  Wilkes  1143, 
for  Luttrell  296,  and  for  Whitaker  only  5 ; 
upon  which  the  return  was  made  in  ftivor 
of  Wilkes,  but  was,  of  course,  annulled  by 
the  house  of  commons ;  and  in  two  days  af- 
ter, a  resolution  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  221  to  139,  to  amend  the  return  by  razing 
out  the  name  of  Wilkes,  and  inserting  that 
of  colonel  Luttrell  in  its  place.  Fourteen 
days  havmg  been  allowed  for  a  petition 
against  this  decision,  one  was  accordingly 
presented,  signed  by  several  freeholders; 
which  again  brought  the  matter  into  warm 
and  serious  debate  on  the  eighth  of  May, 
when  the  former  resolution  was  confirmed 
by  a  still  greater  majority. 

If  the  minds  of  the  people  had  not  been 
totally  blinded  by  the  mists  of  prejudice  and 
passion,  or  by  the  illusion  of  factious  artifice, 
they  must  have  perceived  the  necessity,  as 
well  as  regularity  of  the  steps  taken  by  the 
house  of  commons  after  the  expulsion  of 
Wilkes,  however  impolitic  that  measure 
might  be  deemed  in  the  first  instance.  It 
was  evident,  that  the  right  of  expelling  de- 
linquents and  of  deciding  on  the  validity  of 
elections,  which  the  commons  derived  fit)m 
the  first  principles  of  the  constitution,  and 


124 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


had  always  exercised,  would  be  a  nominal 
or  frivolous  authority,  if  it  was  not  supported 
Dy  the  farther  power  of  excluding  such 
persons  as  had  been  declared  to  be  ineli- 
gible or  improper.  "  That  the  right  claimed 
by  the  greater  part  of  the  freeholders  of 
Middlesex  was  no  other  than  the  right  of 
doing  wrong, — the  right  of  sending  inadmis- 
sible representatives  to  parliament ;  that,  if 
the  house  was  obliged  by  the  constitution  to 
receive  all  persons  duly  qualified,  who  were 
returned  by  a  majority  of  the  electors,  the 
latter  were  equally  bound  not  to  return  dis- 
qualified persons."  It  had  been  asked  by  the 
gentlemen  of  the  opposition,  with  a  sort  of 
insulting  confidence,  under  what  head  of 
legal  disability  Wilkes's  exclusion  was  to 
be  found ;  or  how  the  electors  were  to  know 
if?  The  reply,  however,  was  easy:  the 
records  of  parliament  would  inform  them, 
"  How,"  said  the  ministerial  party,  "  have 
the  electors  learned,  that  judges  of  the  su- 
perior courts  cannot  be  chosen  representa- 
tives of  the  people  1  How  are  aliens, — how 
are  clergymen  disqualified  1  The  house  has 
pronounced  them  incapable,  as  the  several 
questions  arose.  It  is  exactly  the  same  with 
regard  to  Wilkes.  He  incurred  the  like  sen- 
tence. Were  the  decisions  of  the  house,  in 
this  or  in  any  other  instance,  found  to  be 
arbitrary  or  unjust,  the  united  branches  of 
the  legislature,  in  their  supreme  and  collec- 
tive capacity,  might  interpose,  and,  by  pass- 
ing a  law,  regulate  such  decisions  for  the 
fiiture ;  but  nothing  less  can  restrict  the  ju- 
dicial power  of  the  commons  in  all  cases  of 
election." 

PARLIAMENT  PROROGUED. 

The  prorogation  of  parliament  took  place 
the  day  after  the  final  decision  on  the  Mid- 
dlesex election.  In  the  speech  from  the 
throne,  the  proceedings  of  both  houses, 
through  the  whole  course  of  the  session, 
were  highly  approved,  but  more  especially 
their  attention  to  the  great  objects,  which, 
at  its  opening,  had  been  recommended  to 
their  immediate  consideration :  just  acknow- 
ledgments were  also  made  of  their  readi- 
ness as  well  in  granting  the  supplies  for  the 
service  of  the  current  year,  as  in  enabling 
his  majesty  to  discharge  the  debt  incurred 
on  account  of  the  civil  government :  he  ex- 
horted them  with  peculiar  earnestness  to  use 
their  utmost  efforts  in  their  several  counties 
for  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  good  or- 
der at  home ;  and,  with  regard  to  the  state 
of  affairs  abroad,  he  trusted  that  the  calami- 
ties of  war  would  not  extend  to  any  other 
part  of  Europe,  however  unsuccessful  his 
attempts  had  proved  for  preventing  the  un- 
fortunate rupture  between  Russia  and  the 
Porte. 

Some  very  unpleasant  advices  having  been 
xftceived  from  the  East  Indies ;  in  the  first 


moments  of  alarm,  the  company's  stock  fell 
sixty  per  cent.  The  immediate  cause  of  so 
great  a  shock  to  their  credit,  was  the  con- 
tinuance of  an  expensive  and  disastrous 
war,  which  the  rapacity  and  ambition  of 
their  servants  in  India  had  prompted  them 
to  engage  in  about  the  middle  of  the  year 
1767,  and  which  was  now  said  to  threaten 
the  ruin  of  their  trade,  and  the  loss  of  their 
principal  settlements.  The  danger  was,  in- 
deed, greatly  exaggerated  in  these  repre- 
sentations ;  but  it  plainly  appeared  from  facts, 
that  the  company  had  been  wantonly  plunged 
into  a  contest  with  the  most  formidable  ene- 
my they  had  ever  encountered  in  that  part 
of  the  world.  This  was  the  famous  Hyder 
Ally,  who,  by  daring  treachery,  and  one  of 
those  amazing  revolutions  so  frequent  in  In- 
dia, had  risen  from  a  common  Seapoy  to  the 
sovereignty  of  an  extensive  country  on  the 
coast  of  Malabar.  Though  his  ambition  in- 
creased with  his  power  and  success,  yet  it 
was  always  under  the  restraints  of  the  sound- 
est policy  ;  and  while  he  neglected  no  means 
of  securing  his  empire,  and  improving  the 
discipline  of  his  armies,  he  cautiously  avoid- 
ed giving  any  ofience  to  the  company,  vv^hicii 
could  provoke  or  justify  a  war.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  asserted,  that  their  ships  were 
permitted  to  trade  in  his  ports  without  mo- 
lestation, and  their  servants  had  a  free  in- 
tercourse with  his  dominions,  till  tlie  very 
moment  of  the  rupture.  He  was  not,  how- 
ever, unprepared  for  such  an  event.  In  ad- 
dition to  his  own  resources,  he  had  the  ad- 
dress to  gain  <^ver  t  >  his  side  the  nisam  of 
the  Decan,  n  y  tcnLate  of  high  rank  in  In- 
dia, and  whoL^e  territories  bordered  upon 
those  of  the  company.  But  notwithstanding 
the  number  of  their  united  forces,  and  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  the  discipline  intro- 
duced by  Hyder,  they  were  defeated  with 
great  loss,  by  colonel  Smith,  near  Trincomal- 
lee,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  September,  1767 ; 
after  which  the  nizam  made  a  separate 
peace  with  the  English,  yielding  up  to  them 
a  considerable  territory,  called  the  Bala  gat 
Carnatic.  Hyder,  though  deserted  by  his 
late  ally,  and  though  in  the  month  of  Feb- 
ruary following,  he  received  another  very 
severe  blow  in  the  loss  of  his  whole  navy  at 
Mangalore,  was  far  from  betraying  any 
symptoms  of  dejection  or  dismay ;  but  trans- 
ferred the  war  to  a  mountainous  part  of  the 
country,  where  his  enemies  were  prevented 
from  doing  anything  decisive,  and  where  he 
could  avail  himself  of  all  the  advantages, 
which  the  celerity  of  his  own  army,  com- 
posed chiefly  of  horse,  gave  him  in  such 
circumstances.  At  length,  by  a  series  of 
rapid  movements,  in  which  the  company's 
troops  were  greatly  harassed,  and  their  sup- 
plies often  intercepted,  he  wheeled  round 
them,  and  rushed  with  desolating  fury  into 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


125 


the  Camatic.  This  manoeuvre  had  all  tlie 
effect  he  could  wish.  They  were  immedi- 
ately obliged  to  evacuate  his  territories,  and 
to  retire  in  haste  to  the  defence  of  their  own 
and  of  their  allies.  Thus  he  recovered, 
without  fighting,  some  forts  and  strong  posts 
which  they  had  taken ;  and,  instead  of  a  fu- 
gitive retreating  before  his  enemies,  and  un- 
able to  defend  his  own  dominions,  he  came 
as  a  vindictive  and  haughty  victor  to  pour 
destruction  into  theirs.  His  cavalry,  being 
now  let  loose  into  its  proper  sphere,  spread 
far  and  wide  its  destructive  ravages ;  while 
Hyder,  with  his  usual  sagacity,  avoided  a 
general  engagement,  and  contented  himself 
with  attacking  detached  parties  of  the  Eng- 
lish army,  cutting  off  their  convoys,  and 
wearying  them  out  by  their  own  fruitless 
endeavors  to  bring  him  to  action.  Other 
aldventurers,  allured  by  the  prospect  of  plun- 
der, joined  him  in  great  numbers :  some  of 
the  Maratta  princes  were  on  the  point  of 
entering  into  alliances  with  him ;  and  no- 
thing less  than  the  expulsion  of  the  English 
seemed  to  be  the  object  of  such  powerful 
confederacies.  It  was  at  this  stage  of  the 
war,  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1768,  that 
the  accounts  were  brought  away  from  India, 
which  occasioned  so  much  consternation 
among  the  company  at  home.  Even  those, 
w^ho  knew  that  Hyder  Ally's  whole  force 
was  unable  to  make  any  impression  on  the 
English  settlements,  were  justly  apprehen- 
sive of  his  incursions  into  the  open  prov- 
inces, which  he  laid  waste,  and  thereby  de- 
stroyed the  company's  principal  resources 
for  carrying  on  the  war.  Their  trade,  their 
revenue  might  be  materially  injured,  though 
the  enemy's  success  was  not  such  as  to  en- 
danger their  security.  The  progress  and 
final  issue  of  the  war  exactly  corresponded 
with  these  ideas.  Hyder's  devastations  in 
the  Carnatic  were  attended  with  very  dis- 
tressing effects.  The  Nabob  of  Arcot,  a 
staunch  friend  and  faithful  ally  of  the  com- 
pany, was  nearly  ruined.  The  income  of 
the  establishment  at  Madras  being  inade- 
quate to  its  present  exigencies,  large  remit- 
tances from  Bengal  became  necessary ;  and 
as  these  were  unavoidably  made  in  a  base 
kind  of  gold  coin,  the  loss  in  the  difference 
of  exchange  only  was  said  to  amount  to  forty 
thousand  pounds.  A  stop  was  also  put  to 
the  usual  investments  from  Madras  to 
China,  no  silver  being  now  stirring  in  the 
country,  and  the  manufactures  at  a  stand 
from  the  fear  of  the  enemy.  But  the  most 
provoking  circumstance  of  all  was  the  ever- 
watchful  sagacity  with  which  Hyder  baffled 
every  effort  of  the  company's  forces  either 
to  check  his  career,  or  to  bring  him  to  close 
action.  The  first  defeat,  which  he  had  sus- 
tained from  colonel  Smith  in  the  year  1767, 
made  him  extremelv  cautious :  and  though 

ii*  ^ 


he  was  tempted  in  October  1768,  at  the 
head  of  fourteen  thousand  horse  and  six  bat- 
talions of  Seapoys,  to  attack  a  detachment 
of  four  hundred  and  sixty  Europeans,  and 
two  thousand  three  hundred  Seapoys,  com- 
manded by  colonel  Wood,  the  necessity  of 
retreating,  after  an  obstinate  contest  of  six 
hours,  afforded  him  another  mortifying  proof 
of  the  superiority  of  his  adversaries,  whicl. 
no  numbers,  discipline,  or  exertions  on  hiK 
part  were  able  to  counterbalance.  He  there- 
fore adhered  to  his  predatory  plan,  and  as  he 
had  totally  laid  aside  the  heavy,  unwieldy 
cannon  before  used  by  the  Indian  princes, 
and  taken  care  to  prevent  his  troops  from 
being  encumbered  with  baggage,  nothing 
could  equal  the  celerity  of  his  motions.  In 
the  month  of  March  1769,  having  evaded 
the  English  army  in  the  Carnatic,  he  sud- 
denly appeared  in  force  at  the  gates  of  Mad- 
ras. The  presidency  now  thought  proper 
to  enter  into  a  negotiation  for  peace,  pro- 
posing a  truce  of  fifty  days  for  that  purpose ; 
but  Hyder  would  grant  a  cessation  of  arms 
for  seven  days  only,  in  which  time  articles 
of  accommodation  were  signed,  [April  8d] 
and  the  conquests  on  both  sides  reciprocally 
restored.  Previous  to  the  knowledge  of  this 
event  in  England,  the  proprietors  of  East 
India  stock,  alarmed  at  its  continual  depres- 
sion, and  struck  with  the  necessity  of  taking 
strong  measures  for  the  correction  of  abuses 
and  mismanagement  abroad,  had  determined 
to  send  out  a  committee  of  supervision  to 
Bengal,  with  full  authority  to  examine  into 
and  rectify  the  concerns  of  every  depart- 
ment, and  vested  with  an  absolute  power  of 
control  over  all  the  servants  of  the  company 
in  India.  Mr.  Vansittart,  Mr.  Scraflon,  and 
colonel  Ford,  were  nominated  supervisors, 
and  sailed  from  England,  in  the  Aurora 
frigate,  the  latter  end  of  September ;  but  by 
some  unknown  and  fatal  mischance,  this 
ship  never  arrived  at  the  place  of  her  desti- 
nation. The  very  great  embarrassments  in 
which  the  company  were  afterwards  in- 
volved, and  the  steps  taken  by  government 
for  their  relief  and  future  regulation,  will  be 
described  in  the  next  chapter. 

AMERICAN  AFFAIRS. 
The  accounts  brought  over  from  America 
in  the  course  of  the  year,  though  not  so  im- 
mediately alarming  as  those  from  the  East 
Indies,  afforded  but  little  prospect  of  future 
tranquillity  in  that  quarter.  As  soon  as  the 
joint  address  of  both  houses  of  parliament 
on  the  subject  of  the  disorders  at  Boston 
was  published  in  the  colonies,  the  assembly 
of  Virginia  came  to  several  resolutions,  as- 
serting, in  very  plain  terms,  the  sole  right  of 
taxing  themselves,  the  privilege  of  petition- 
ing the  sovereign  for  redress  of  grievances, 
the  law^lness  of  engaging  other  provinces 
to  concur  in  such  applications  to  the  throne, 


126 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  the  injustice  of  having  accused  persons 
sent  to  be  tried  beyond  the  seas,  which,  they 
said,  was  hig-hiy  derogatory  to  the  rights  of 
British  subjects.  They  ordered  their  speaker 
to  transmit  copies  of  these  resolutions  to  the 
different  assemblies  throughout  the  conti- 
nent, and  to  request  their  concurrence.  Next 
day,  May  the  seventeenth,  on  being  dissolved 
by  the  governor,  lord  Bottetourt,  who  could 
not  connive  at  such  proceedings,  they  voted 
themselves  into  a  convention,  and  then  sign- 
ed an  act  of  association  against  importing 
not  only  the  taxed  commodities,  but  wines 
and  several  other  articles.  The  province 
of  Maryland  followed  the  example,  in  re- 
spect to  the  non-importation  agreement ;  and 
the  North  Carolina  assembly,  adopting,  by 
an  express  vote,  all  the  other  resolutions, 
were  dissolved  by  governor  Tryon.  The 
very  first  step  taken  by  the  general  court  of 
Massachusets  Bay,  when  called  together  in 
the  summer  according  to  their  charter,  was 
to  present  an  address  to  governor  Bernard 
for  the  removal  of  the  naval  and  military 
force  stationed  in  the  town  and  harbor  of 
Boston.  He  told  them,  he  had  no  such  au- 
thority ;  and  as  they  refused  to  proceed  to 
business,  while  surrounded  with  an  armed 
force,  he  adjourned  the  court  to  the  town  of 
Cambridge;  soon  after  which  they  passed 
resolutions  similar  to  those  of  Virginia,  and 
a  vote  "  that  the  sending  an  armed  force  into 
the  colony,  under  the  pretence  of  assisting 
the  civil  power,  was  highly  dangerous  to 
the  people,  unprecedented,  and  unconstitu- 
tional," Being  called  upon  by  the  governor 
to  declare,  whether  they  would  or  would  not 
make  provision  for  the  troops  agreeably  to 
the  injunctions  of  the  act  of  parliament, 
they  answered,  that  it  was  inconsistent  with 
their  honor,  their  interest,  and  their  duty,  to 
provide  funds  for  any  such  purpose.  Upon 
this  the  governor  prorogued  them  to  the 
tenth  of  January  following,  in  order  to  give 
time  for  the  abatement  of  their  violence,  and 
for  the  operation  of  lord  Hillsborough's  letter 
on  the  intended  repeal  of  some  obnoxious 
taxes.  The  motives,  by  which  the  ministry 
were  influenced  in  resolving  upon  such  a 
measure,  have  been  already  explained ;  and 
as  they  wished  to  be  enabled  to  speak  with 
some  confidence  of  its  probable  effects,  be- 
fore they  submitted  it  to  the  consideration 
of  the  legislature,  the  parliament,  which  was 
to  have  met  in  November,  was  farther  pro- 
rogued to  January. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CABINET. 
1770. — At  the  opening  of  the  session  on 
the  ninth  of  January,  the  opposition  availed 
themselves  of  the  opportunity  afforded  by 
the  usual  motion  for  an  address,  to  introduce 
their  favorite  subject:  and  proposed  an 
amendment,  "to  assure  his  majesty  that 
they  would  ixamediately  inquire  into  the 


causes  of  the  discontents  that  prevailed  in 
every  part  of  his  dominions."  This  produced 
long  debates,  which  were  carried  on  witli 
great  acrimony,  but  v/ith  no  other  effect  than 
that  of  discovering  a  few  remarkable  deser- 
tions from  the  ministry  in  both  houses.  The 
marquis  of  Granby,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  forces,  voted  for  the  amendment  in  the 
commons,  and  recanted  his  former  opinions 
in  favor  of  colonel  Luttrell,  which,  he  said, 
arose  from  his  not  having  duly  considered 
the  nice  distinction  between  expulsion  and 
incapacitation.  The  ministry  felt  the  loss 
of  lord  Cambden  much  more  severely.  He 
joined  his  friend  the  earl  of  Chatham,  who 
moved  the  amendment  in  the  house  of  lords, 
where,  however,  it  was  negatived  by  a  great 
majority.  Charles  Yorke,  attorney-general, 
son  of  the  late  lord  chancellor  Hardwicke, 
a  man  of  the  highest  professional  ability, 
accepted  the  great  seal  at  his  majesty's  re- 
quest ;  and  a  patent  was  immediately  ordered 
for  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  by  the  title 
of  lord  Morden.  But  in  consequence  of  his 
death,  which  suddenly  happened  three  days 
after,  the  seal  was  put  into  commission  till 
the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  when  it  was 
given  to  judge  Bathurst,  lord  Mansfield,  in 
the  mean  time,  officiating  as  speaker  of  the 
lords.  A  vacancy  of  the  latter  kind  having 
been  occasioned  in  the  commons,  at  the  very 
same  juncture,  by  Sir  John  Cust's  illness, 
which  soon  terminated  in  his  death,  two 
candidates  were  put  in  nomination.  Sir 
Fletcher  Norton  by  lord  North,  and  the 
right  honorable  Thomas  Townshend  by  lord 
John  Cavendish.  In  this  trial  of  parliament- 
ary strength,  the  minister's  friend  was  cho- 
sen by  a  majority  of  237  to  121.  Before  the 
end  of  the  month  the  duke  of  Grafton  re- 
signed, but  not  in  disgust.  On  the  contrary, 
he  declared  that  he  would  still  continue  to 
support  the  measures  of  administration;  and 
he  kept  his  word.  Lord  North  took  his  place 
at  the  head  of  the  treasury,  without  relin- 
quishing his  former  office  of  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer.  These  changes  were  fol- 
lowed by  some  others.  The  earl  of  Bristol 
choosing  the  tranquil  post  of  first  lord  of  the 
bed-chamber,  vacated  by  the  earl  of  Hun- 
tingdon, the  privy-seal  was  delivered  to  the 
earl  of  Halifax :  Mr.  Dunning,  the  solicitor- 
general,  resigned  that  employment  to  Mr. 
Thurlow,  a  barrister  then  rising  into  conse- 
quence ;  and  one  of  the  vacant  seats  at  the 
admiralty  board  was  filled  by  Charles  Fox, 
who  had  just  begun  to  attract  public  notice 
by  an  early  display  of  his  astonishing  talents. 
EFFORTS  OF  THE  OPPOSITION. 
The  failure  of  the  proposed  amendment 
did  not  discourage  the  leaders  of  opposition 
from  renewing  again  and  again  their  loud 
complaints  of  national  grievances,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  mvaded  freedom  of  election. 


GEORGE  III.    176O->1820. 


127 


The  various  motions  on  this  head,  which 
they  made  in  both  houses,  however  diversi- 
fied in  form,  were  substantially  the  same ; 
and  as  parliament  had  frequently  considered 
and  rejected  such  motions,  it  was  plain  that 
the  giving  them  a  new  shape  must  have 
been  with  a  view  of  harassing  ministry, 
and  of  not  only  keeping  alive  the  spirit,  but 
aggravating  the  fury  of  discontent  among 
the  people.  In  one  of  the  debates,  lord 
Chatham,  after  affirming  that  the  constitu- 
tion was  violated,  expressed  a  wish,  if  the 
breach  was  not  repaired,  "  that  discord  might 
prevail  for  ever."  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to  justify  resistance  hi  express  terms,  and 
said,  "  that  old  as  he  was,  he  hoped  he  should 
see  the  question  brought  to  issue,  and  fairly 
tried  between  the  people  and  the  govern- 
ment." It  was  not  long  before  he  was 
gratified  by  some  advances  of  that  kind  on 
the  part  of  the  corporation  of  London. 
CITY  OF  LONDON'S  REMONSTRANCE  TO 
THE  KING. 
On  the  fourteenth  of  March,  Mr.  Beck- 
ford,  then  a  second  time  lord-mayor,  attend- 
ed by  the  sheriffs,  a  few  of  the  aldermen, 
and  a  great  body  of  the  common  council, 
with  a  prodigious  mob,  went  to  St.  James's, 
and  there  presented  to  the  king  what  was 
called  "  the  humble  address,  remonstrance, 
and  petition  of  the  city  of  London,"  though 
v/ritten  in  a  strain  of  the  most  daring  and 
unparalleled  insolence.  It  stated  that  the 
complaints  made  in  a  former  petition  re- 
mained unanswered,  and  that  the  injuries 
were  confirmed :  that  the  only  judge  remova- 
ble at  the  pleasure  of  the  crown  had  been 
dismissed  from  his  high  office  for  defending 
in  parliament  the  laws  and  the  constitution : 
that  under  the  same  secret  and  malign  influ- 
ence, which  through  each  successive  admin- 
istration had  defeated  every  good,  and  sug- 
gested every  bad  intention,  the  majority  of 
the  house  of  commons  had  deprived  the 
people  of  their  dearest  rights :  that  the  deci- 
sion on  the  Middlesex  election  was  a  deed 
more  ruinous  in  its  consequences  than  the 
levying  of  ship-money  by  Charles  the  first, 
or  the  dispensing  power  by  James  the  sec- 
ond,— a  deed  that  must  vitiate  all  the  future 
proceedings  of  the  parliament,  as  the  acts 
of  the  legislature  could  no  more  be  valid 
without  a  legal  house  of  commons,  than 
without  the  legal  prince  on  the  throne :  that 
representatives  of  the  people  were  essential 
to  the  making  of  laws:  that  the  present 
house  of  commons  did  not  represent  the 
people ;  and  that  its  sitting  was  continued 
for  no  other  reason  but  because  it  was  cor- 
ruptly subservient  to  the  designs  of  his  ma- 
jesty's ministers.  The  "  humble"  petition- 
ers concluded  with  reminding  his  majesty 
of  his  coronation-oath,  and  with  assuring 
themselves  that  he  would  dissolve  the  par- 


liament, and  remove  those  evil  ministers  for 
ever  from  his  council.  His  majesty  replied 
with  great  temper  and  dignity:  "I  shall 
always  be  ready  to  receive  the  requests,  and 
to  listen  to  the  complaints  of  my  subjects : 
but  it  gives  me  great  concern  to  find  that 
any  of  them  should  have  been  so  far  misled, 
as  to  offer  me  an  address  and  remonstrance, 
the  contents  of  which  I  cannot  but  consider 
as  disrespectful  to  me,  injurious  to  my  par- 
liament, and  irreconcilable  to  the  principles 
of  the  constitution.  I  have  ever  made  tlie 
law  of  the  land  the  rule  of  my  conduct, 
esteeming  it  my  chief  glory  to  reign  over  a 
free  people.  With  this  view  I  have  always 
been  careful,  as  well  to  execute  faithfully 
the  trust  reposed  in  me,  as  to  avoid  even  the 
appearance  of  invading  any  of  those  powers 
which  the  constitution  has  placed  in  other 
hands.  It  is  only  by  persevermg  in  such  a 
conduct,  that  I  can  either  discharge  my  own 
duty,  or  secure  to  my  subjects  the  free  en- 
joyment of  those  rights  which  my  family 
were  called  to  defend  :  and  while  I  act  upon 
these  principles,  I  shall  have  a  right  to  ex- 
pect, and  I  am  confident  I  shall  continue  to 
receive,  the  steady  and  affectionate  support 
of  my  people." 

A  motion  was  made  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, on  the  following  day,  for  a  copy  of  the 
remonstrance,  as  well  as  of  his  majesty's 
answer.  This  motion  was  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of  almost  three  to  one,  after  a  wamn 
debate,  in  which  the  lord-mayor,  alderman 
Trecothick,  one  of  the  city  members,  and 
both  the  sheriffs  Townshend  and  Saw'bridge, 
insultingly  gloried  in  the  part  they  had  taken 
in  that  transaction.  The  papers  having  been 
afterwards  laid  before  the  house,  and  the 
journals  and  other  records  examined,  fresh 
debates  arose  on  a  motion  for  an  address  to 
his  majesty,  and  another  for  the  concurrence 
of  the  lords,  to  testify  the  extreme  concern  " 
and  indignation  which  both  houses  felt  at  the 
language  of  the  remonstrance,  so  little  cor- 
responding with  the  grateful  and  affectionate 
respect  justly  due  to  his  majesty  from  all  his 
subjects,  and  at  the  same  time  aspersmg  and 
calumniating  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
legislature,  and  expressly  denying  the  le- 
gality of  the  present  parliament,  and  the  va- 
lidity of  its  proceedings.  The  value  and 
importance  of  the  right  of  British  subjects 
to  petition  were  enlarged  upon  with  rapture ; 
but  it  was  afflicting  to  see  the  exercise  of 
that  riglit  so  grossly  perverted,  by  being  ap- 
plied to  the  purpose,  not  of  preser\'ing,  but 
of  overturning  the  constitution,  and  of  propa- 
gating doctrines,  which,  if  generally  adopted, 
must  be  fatal  to  the  peace  of  the  kingdom, 
and  tended  to  the  subversion  of  all  lawfiil 
authority.  The  opposition  to  this  address 
was  equally  outrageous  and  impotent :  the 
loyalty  and  good  sense  of  a  considerable  ma- 


128 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


jority  of  both  houses  prevailed :  the  king  re- 
ceived their  grateful  acknowledgment  of  his 
tender  regard  for  the  rights  of  his  subjects 
with  great  satisfaction. 

GRENVILLE'S  BILL  FOR  DETERMINING 
DISPUTED  ELECTIONS. 
In  the  midst  of  this  season  of  heat  and 
discussion,  which  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
was  extended  to  every  corner  of  the  king- 
dom, George  Grenville  brought  in  his  famous 
bill  for  regulating  the  proceedings  of  the 
house  of  commons  on  controverted  elections. 
He  stated  with  his  usual  candor  the  abuses 
which  had  crept  in,  and  the  nature  of  the 
plan  he  proposed  for  their  correction.  Former- 
ly, he  observed,  the  trials  of  contested  elec- 
tions had  been  always  by  a  select  committee, 
chiefly  composed  of  the  most  learned  and 
experienced  of  the  house ;  and  whilst  that 
custom  contmued,  the  litigant  parties  and 
the  nation  at  large  were  generally  well  satis- 
fied with  the  decisions.  But,  by  degrees, 
the  committees  of  elections  having  been  en- 
larged, and  all  who  came  having  voices,  a 
shamefiil  partiality  prevailed :  so  that  by  way 
of  remedy,  while  Mr.  Onslow  was  speaker, 
the  admirable  order,  with  which  he  conduct- 
ed himself,  made  such  as  wished  for  a  fair 
trial  of  their  cause,  desire  it  might  be  heard 
at  the  bar  of  the  house.  This  method,  how- 
ever, was  found  to  be  very  defective  and  in- 
convenient. The  number  of  the  judges, 
which  exceeded  that  of  any  other  judicature 
in  the  world,  and  their  being  under  no  tie 
of  oaths  or  honor  to  prevent  any  secret  bias 
from  operating  on  their  minds,  left  full  scope 
for  the  influence  of  friendship,  importunity, 
and  party  connexion.  Custom  and  example 
gave  a  sort  of  sanction  to  injustice ;  and 
where  so  many  were  concerned,  they  not 
only  kept  one  another  in  countenance,  but 
every  individual  thought  his  share  in  the 
general  guilt  or  reproach  of  partiality  too  in- 
considerable to  give  him  the  least  uneasiness. 
The  trying  of  such  questions  at  the  bar  was 
also  an  insuperable  obstruction  to  all  other 
public  business ;  and  especially  in  the  first 
session  of  a  new  parliament,  they  took  up 
so  much  time,  that  it  was  almost  a  matter  of 
surprise  how  the  house  could  attend  to  any- 
thing else.  Grenville's  bill  for  remedying 
these  evils  was  exactly  foimded  on  the  con- 
stitutional idea  of  trials  by  jury.  He  pro- 
posed that  when  a  petition  complaining  of 
undue  election  was  presented,  and  a  day  ap- 
pointed for  hearing  its  merits,  against  which 
the  parties  were  to  have  their  witnesses 
ready,  the  house  on  that  day  should  be  count- 
ed ;  and  if  one  hundred  members  were  not 
present,  no  other  business  should  be  gone 
into  until  that  number  assembled,  at  which 
time  the  names  of  the  members  in  the  house 
were  to  be  put  into  six  urns,  from  each  of 
which  the  clerk  should  alternately  draw  a 


name,  to  the  number  of  forty-nine  :  the  sit- 
ting members  and  petitioners  might  also 
nominate  one  each.  Lists  of  the  forty-nine 
were  then  to  be  given  to  the  sitting  member, 
the  petitioners,  their  counsel,  or  agents,  who, 
with  the  clerk,  were  to  withdraw,  and  to 
strike  off  one  alternately,  beginning  on  the 
part  of  the  petitioners,  till  the  number  was 
reduced  to  thirteen.  These,  wuth  the  two 
nominees,  were  to  be  sworn  a  select  com- 
mittee, empowered  to  send  for  persons,  pa- 
pers, and  records ;  to  examine  witnesses ; 
and  finally  to  determine  the  matter  in  dis- 
pute. 

Such  were  the  principal  outlines  of  this 
excellent  bill,  which,  though  opposed  by 
some  of  the  ministry,  was  carried  through 
both  houses  with  irresistible  vigor,  and  re- 
ceived the  royal  assent  on  the  twelfth  of 
April.  At  first  the  bill  was  made  temporary, 
that  in  case  the  experiment  did  not  succeed, 
it  might  expire  of  itself  But  its  good  ef- 
fects, when  reduced  to  practice,  became  so 
evident,  that  in  four  years  after,  an  act  was 
passed  for  rendering  it  perpetual.  Some 
improvements  have  since  been  made  in  seve- 
ral of  its  clauses,  but  the  principle  is  un- 
alterably good ;  and  it  remains  a  lastmg 
monument  of  the  sound  sense,  integrity,  and 
patriotism  of  its  author.  As  his  parliament- 
ary exertions  ended  with  his  life  soon  after 
the  passing  of  this  bill,  it  may  be  properly 
called  his  last  legacy  to  the  British  nation. 

DEBATES  RELATIVE  TO  AMERICA. 

Very  few  of  the  persons  who  were  joined 
with  Grenville  in  opposition  to  the  ministry 
at  that  time,  seemed  desirous,  like  him,  of 
sacrificing  party  considerations  to  public 
duty.  Their  efforts,  during  the  whole  ses- 
sion, had  no  other  tendency  than  to  create 
confusion,  to  embarrass  government,  and  eo 
fully  to  occupy  the  time  and  attention  of 
both  houses  in  useless  and  violent  discus- 
sions, as  to  leave  very  little  opportunity  for 
introducing  matters  of  the  greatest  moment. 
Even  the  affairs  of  the  colonies,  however 
pressing  and  important,  were  unavoidably 
postponed  from  the  same  cause,  the  constant 
succession  of  debates  on  the  most  inflamma- 
tory and  incongruous  propositions.  It  was 
not  till  the  beginning  of  March,  when  any 
longer  delay  would  have  been  extremely  in- 
jurious to  the  usual  spring  exportations  for 
the  American  market,  that  lord  North  moved 
the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  port  duties  of 
1767,  excepting  the  duty  of  three-pence  per 
pound  on  tea,  with  the  continuance  of  which 
he  thought  the  Americans  could  not  be  justly 
dissatisfied,  as  when  that  was  laid  on,  an- 
other was  taken  off  by  a  drawback  of  twen- 
ty-five per  cent,  from  the  English  duties  al- 
lowed to  the  exporter.  But  his  lordship's 
most  plausible  argument  for  retaining  any 
part  of  an  act,  which  he  admitted  to  be  in- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


129 


consistent  with  the  true  spirit  of  commercial 
policy,  was,  that  a  total  repeal  would  be  as- 
cribed by  the  colonists,  not  to  the  goodness, 
but  to  the  fears  of  government ;  and  would 
encourage  them  to  make  fresh  demands, — 
to  rise  in  their  turbulence,  instead  of  return- 
ing to  their  duty,  "  and  that  a  total  repeal 
could  not  be  thought  of  till  America  was 
prostrate  at  our  feet."  Governor  Pownall's 
speech  in  reply,  in  which  he  endeavored  to 
demonstrate  the  inefficacy  of  a  partial  repeal, 
and  to  enforce  the  necessity  of  extending  it 
to  the  whole  act,  made  such  impression  on 
the  house,  that  an  amendment  conformable 
to  this  idea  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of 
only  sixty-two  in  a  division  of  three  hundred 
and  forty-six  members.  About  a  month  after, 
alderman  Trecothick  gave  the  object  of  the 
amendment  a  new  form,  by  moving  for  leave 
to  bring  in  a  bill  to  repeal  the  American  duty 
on  tea.  But  the  question  to  go  into  the  other 
orders  of  the  day  was  carried  by  the  minis- 
try, on  tliis  ground,  that  the  motion  exactly 
aimed  at  doing  in  a  bill  what  had  before  been 
attempted  in  an  amendment ;  and  that  it  was 
contradictory  to  a  well-known  rule  of  the 
house,  to  bring  on  again,  in  the  same  sessions, 
ajiything  which  had  already  received  a  formal 
negative. 

RIOT  AT  BOSTON. 
But  the  anti-ministerialists  soon  found 
means  to  renew  with  much  greater  asperity 
the  debates  on  the  subject  of  America,  in 
consequence  of  some  advices  of  a  riot  which 
had  taken  place  at  Boston  in  the  beginning' 
of  March.  It  has  been  already  intimated, 
that  the  arrival  in  that  town  of  some  troops, 
towards  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1768,  put 
a  stop  to  the  disorders  which  then  prevailed . 
there,  and  established  what  might  be  called 
a  sullen  and  treacherous  repose,  rather  than  | 
a  perfect  tranquillity.  The  malcontents  were, 
for  some  time  awed  by  superior  force ;  but 
this  force  being  afterwards  diminished  by! 


the  departure  of  two  of  the  regiments  for 
Halifax,  the  spirit  of  turbulence  and  faction 
broke  out  upon  several  occasions.  It  was 
not,  however,  till  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1770,  that  any  serious  quarrel  took  place  be- 
tween the  military  and  the  inhabitants  of 
Boston. 

In  a  few  days  after  the  report  of  these 
transactions  reached  England,  alderman  Tre- 
cothick moved  for  copies  of  all  narratives  of 
any  disputes  or  disturbances  between  the 
troops  stationed  in  North  America  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  colonies,  to  be  laid  before 
the  house,  with  copies  also  of  the  instruc- 
tions sent  out  by  administration  relative  to 
such  disturbances.  These  papers,  with  a 
reserve  of  names  and  other  particulars  of 
material  secrecy,  beuig  obtained,  and  read 
on  the  ninth  of  May,  Burke  took  occasion 
thence  to  draw,  or  rather  to  smear  over  with 
the  blackest  colors  of  personal  and  political 
enmity,  a  frightful  picture  of  the  conduct  of 
his  majesty's  ministers  since  the  repeal  of 
the  stamp-act.  He  concluded  a  very  long 
and  violent  declamation  with  proposing  sev- 
eral resolutions  of  censure  on  the  late  mea- 
sures of  government  with  regard  to  the 
colonies.  But  the  first  of  his  resolutions  was 
negatived  by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  to  seventy-nine;  and  the  rest 
were  consigned  to  the  like  fate,  without 
any  division.  A  debate  on  the  same  subject 
in  the  house  of  lords  had  nearly  a  similar 
issue,  the  question  for  adjournment  being 
carried  by  sixty  against  twenty-six.  Next 
day.  May  nineteenth,  the  business  of  the  sup- 
plies and  some  other  matters  of  immediate 
exigency  being  satisfactorily  settled,  the  par- 
liament was  prorogued  with  the  usual  com- 
pliments from  the  throne,  and  with  particu- 
lar thanks  to  the  commons  for  having  judi- 
ciously provided  for  discharging  a  considera- 
ble part  of  the  national  debt,  without  laying 
any  farther  burden  on  his  majesty's  subjects. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  X. 


1  The  object  of  the  bill  was  to 
make  sixty  years  possession  of 
any  estate  an  effectual  bar 
against  all  dormant  claims  and 
pretences  whatsoever. 

2  The  company  were  also  bound 
to  lend  the  overplus  of  their 
revenues  to  government  at  two 
per  cent.  ' 


3  For  instance,  fifty  members 
might  think  he  ought  to  be  ex- 
pelled for  the  North  Briton; 
fifty  more  might  think  so  for 
the  Essay  on  Woman  ;  and  fifty 
more  for  the  libellous  strictures 
on    lord   Weymouth's    letter; 


though  each  of  these  might  ac- 
quit him  of  the  other  accusa- 
tions ;  whilst  a  hundred  might 
entirely  acquit  him;  and  yet 
the  three  fifties  joining  together 
would  expel  him. 


130 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Another  Remonstrance  from  the  City  of  London ;  with  the  King^s  Answer^  and  Beck- 
ford's  Reply — View  of  Wilkes'' s  political  Career — Dispute  with  Spain  relative  to 
Falkland  Islands — Proceedings  of  the  Commons  against  Printers ;  and  Commit- 
ment of  the  Lord-Mayor,  and  of  Alderman  Oliver  to  the  Tower — Bill  for  disfran- 
chising the  Members  of  the  Christian  Club  at  New  Shoreham — More  Remonstrances 
to  the  Throne  from  the  City  of  London — Unsuccessful  Attempt  to  enlarge  Religious 
Liberty — Act  for  restraining  the  future  Marriages  of  the  Royal  Family — Carolina 
Matilda  falls  a  Victim  to  the  Intrigues  of  the  Queen  Dowager  of  Denmark — Changes 
in  the  British  Ministry — Committee  of  Secrecy — The  Embarrassments  of  the  East 
India  Company — Charges  brought  against  Lord  Clive  ;  his  Acquittal ;  and  Sui- 
cide— Bill  for  Management  of  the  East  India  Company^s  Affairs — Summary  of 
other  Proceedings  of  the  Sessions — Expedition  against  the  Caribbs  in  St.  Vincent — 
Alarming  Events  in  America — Measures  adopted  by  Parliament  for  maintaining 
the  Authority  of  Great  Britain  over  the  Colonies — Proceedings  of  the  General  Con- 
gress at  Philadelphia — The  Sense  of  the  Nation  taken,  by  dissolving  the  Parliament 
at  this  Juncture — Dr.  Franklin's  conciliatory  plan — Petition  of  the  City  of  London 
— State  of  Affairs  in  America — Battle  of  Lexington — Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill — 
Meeting  and  Proceedings  of  Congress — General  Washington  appointed  commander- 
in-chief — His  character — Expedition  to  Canada — Forts  taken — Quebec  besieged — 
General  Montgomery  defeated  and  killed. 


CITY  OF  LONDON'S  SECOND  REMON- 
STRANCE, AND  LORD-MAYOR  BECK- 
FORD'S  REPLY  TO  THE  KING. 

After  having-  weathered  so  severe  and 
stormy  a  season  w^ith  unremitted  exertions, 
it  was  natural  for  the  ministry  to  expect 
some  little  interval  of  calmness  and  repose. 
But  if  they  amused  themselves  with  these 
fond  hopes,  they  were  very  much  disappoint- 
ed. In  four  days  after  the  rising  of  parlia- 
ment, the  throne  was  assailed  with  another 
remonstrance  from  the  city  of  London,  still 
more  reprehensible  than  the  former,  con- 
verting an  humble  request  into  an  imperi- 
ous dictate,  and  urging  the  dissolution  of 
parliament  and  the  removal  of  his  majesty's 
ministers  as  the  only  means  of  reparation 
that  were  left  for  the  injured  electors  of 
Great  Britain.  As  it  also  contained  some 
very  disrespectful  strictures  on  the  king's 
answer  to  the  late  address,  his  majesty  was 
again  reduced  to  the  painful  necessity  of 
declaring,  that  he  should  have  been  wanting 
to  the  public,  as  well  as  to  himself,  if  he  had 
not  expressed  his  dissatisfaction  at  such  an 
address ;  and  that  he  should  ill  deserve  to 
be  considered  as  the  father  of  his  people, 
if  he  could  suffer  himself  to  be  prevailed 
upon  to  make  any  use  of  his  prerogative, 
which  he  thought  inconsistent  with  the  in- 
terest, and  dangerous  to  the  constitution  of 
the  kingdom.  Beckford,  who  presented  the 
remonstrance,  and  who  might  easily  foresee 
the  manner  in  which  it  would  be  received, 
begged  leave  to  answer  the  kmg.  The  re- 
quest, though  unprecedented,  was  complied 
with,  as  it  could  not  be  imagined  that  the 


lord-mayor  would  abuse  such  an  instance 
of  the  gracious  condescension  of  his  sove- 
reign. But  the  opportunity  was  too  flatter- 
ing to  Beckford's  democratic  pride :  he  re- 
peated the  heads  of  the  remonstrance,  be- 
ginning, as  that  did,  in  a  strain  of  affected 
humility,  and  concluding  with  this  bold  as- 
sertion, "  that  whoever  had  already  dared, 
or  should  hereafter  endeavor,  by  false  insin- 
uations and  suggestions,  to  alienate  his  ma- 
jesty's affections  from  his  loyal  subjects  in 
general,  and  from  the  city  of  London  in 
particular,  was  an  enemy  to  his  majesty's 
person  and  family,  a  violator  of  the  public 
peace,  and  a  betrayer  of  our  happy  con- 
stitution, as  it  was  established  at  the  glo- 
rious and  necessary  revolution."  The  dig- 
nity of  the  throne  was  well  sustained  by 
a  total  disregard  of  such  presumptuous  lan- 
guage. 
WILKES  DISCHARGED  FROM  PRISON. 
A  LITTLE  before  this  event, 'Wilkes  was 
discharged  from  the  king's-bench  prison,  the 
term  of  his  confinement  having  expired,  and 
securities  being  given  for  his  future  good 
behavior.  The  committee  of  "  the  support- 
ers of  the  bill  of  rights,"  as  they  called 
themselves,  who  had  received  subscriptions 
for  his  relief  from  different  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  and  even  from  America  (1),  com- 
promised all  his  debts,  which  amounted  to 
very  near  twenty  thousand  pounds,  besides 
supplying  him  with  a  thousand  pounds  for 
his  maintenance,  paying  off  his  two  fines 
of  five  hundred  pounds  each,  and  defraying 
the  expenses  of  his  three  last  election?  f )r 
Middlesex,  which  did  not  fall  much  short  of 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


131 


two  thousand  pounds.  But  these  were  not 
the  only  fruits  which  Wilkes  reaped  from 
his  audacity  and  impostures,  as  well  as  from 
the  prevalence  of  faction,  the  inconceivable 
folly  of  the  multitude,  and  the  ill-timed, 
though  highly  provoked  severity  of  govern- 
ment A  single  glance  at  his  farther  pro- 
gress will  be  sufficient  to  illustrate  this  re- 
mark. The  week  after  his  release  from 
prison,  he  was  admitted  alderman  of  Far- 
rington-Without :  he  then  rose,  at  very  short 
intervals,  to  the  honors  of  sheriff  in  1771, 
and  of  lord-mayor  in  1775 :  his  next  care 
was  to  secure  for  himself  the  more  lucra- 
tive and  permanent  office  of  chamberlain : 
in  the  year  1774,  he  and  his  friend  serjeant 
Glynn  were  returned  for  Middlesex  without 
any  opposition :  in  1780,  he  was  rechosen 
for  tlie  same  county;  and  hi  1783,  upon  a 
total  change  of  ministry,  he  succeeded  in  a 
motion  for  having  all  the  declarations,  or- 
ders, and  resolutions  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons respecting  his  former  incapacity  and 
the  decision  in  favor  of  colonel  Luttrell,  ex- 
punged from  the  journals.  The  close  of  his 
political  career  did  not  prove  quite  so  flat- 
tering to  his  vanity.  When  he  ceased  to  be 
a  supposed  object  of  persecution,  he  quickly 
sank,  as  Grenville  had  justly  predicted,  into 
Ills  original  insignificance.  At  the  general 
election  in  1790,  he  met  with  the  most  scorn- 
ful and  humiliating  rebuff  from  that  very 
county,  and  those  very  people  of  whom  he 
had  been  so  long  the  idol. 

DISPUTES  WITH  SPAIN  RESPECTING  THE 
FALKLAND  ISLANDS. 
At  this  time  the  attention  both  of  the 
public  and  of  government  was  called  off  to 
the  probability  of  a  rupture  with  Spain.  A 
frigate  from  the  southern  ocean,  which  ar- 
rived at  Plymouth  on  the  third  of  June, 
brought  advices  of  a  formal  warning  given 
by  the  Spaniards  to  the  English  to  quit  a 
settlement  lately  made  at  Falkland  islands, 
though  sanctioned  by  the  double  right  of 
discovery  and  possession.  These  islands 
which  are  situated  at  a  small  distance  from 
the  southern  extremity  of  America,  were 
first  observed  by  captain  Davies  in  the  year 
1692,  but  did  not  receive  their  present  name 
till  the  reign  of  William  III.  They  were 
afterwards  visited  by  some  ships  belonging 
to  St  Maloes,  whence  they  were  called  the 
Malouines  by  the  French,  rather  from  an 
L-npulse  of  national  vanity,  than  from  any 
conviction  of  the  validity  of  tlieir  title.  The 
rigor  of  the  climate,  the  sterility  of  the  soil, 
and  the  exposure  of  all  the  islands  on  that 
coast  to  almost  perpetual  storms  even  in  the 
summer  months,  were  such  discouraging 
circumstances,  that  above  a  century  and  a 
half  elapsed  before  any  European  nation 
attempted  to  make  a  settlement  there.  It 
was  first  remarked  by  lord  Anson,  on  his 


return  from  his  famous  voyage  round  the 
globe  in  1744,  that  the  possession  of  a  port 
to  the  southward  of  the  Brazils  would  be  of 
signal  service  to  future  navigators  for  refit- 
ting their  ships,  and  providing  them  witli 
necessaries,  previous  to  their  passage  through 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,  or  the  doubling 
Cape  Horn ;  and  among  other  places  eligi- 
ble for  this  purpose,  he  specified  Falkland 
islands.  About  ten  years  after,  on  his  lord- 
ship's advancement  to  the  head  of  the  admi- 
ralty, a  plan  in  conformity  to  his  ideas  was 
on  the  point  of  bemg  carried  into  execution ; 
but  strong  remonstrances  against  it  being 
made  by  the  king  of  Spain  under  the  old 
pretence  of  his  exclusive  right  to  all  the 
Magellanic  regions,  the  project,  though  not 
expressly  given  up,  was  suffered  to  lie  dor- 
mant. It  was  revived  in  the  year  1764, 
under  the  auspices  of  lord  Egmont,  who 
then  presided  at  the  admiralty  board,  and 
by  whose  advice  commodore  Anson  being 
sent  out  to  take  possession  of  those  islands, 
executed  the  order  with  the  usual  formali- 
ties; made  a  settlement;  and  erected  a 
small  fort  in  the  vicinity  of  a  commodious 
harbor,  to  which  the  name  of  Port  Egmont 
was  given.  It  happened  that  about  the  same 
time  a  settlement  had  also  been  made,  and 
a  fortress  erected  by  the  celebrated  French 
navigator  M.  de  Bougamville  on  another  of 
those  islands  to  the  eastward  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlements,  imder  the  name  of  St.  Lew- 
is. But  in  consequence  of  the  representa- 
tions of  the  court  of  Madrid  to  the  court  of 
Versailles,  this  was  yielded  up  in  1766  to 
the  Spaniards,  who  changed  its  name  to  that 
of  Port  Solidad.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
year  1769,  captain  Hunt  of  the  Tamer  frig- 
ate, cruising  off  the  islands,  fell  in  with  a 
Spanish  schooner  belonging  to  Port  Solidad, 
and,  agreeably  to  what  he  conceived  to  be 
his  duty,  charged  the  commander  of  the 
schooner  to  depart  from  that  coast,  as  it  was 
the  property  of  his  Britannic  majesty.  The 
schooner  obeyed  ;  but  soon  returned  with  an 
officer  on  board,  bringing  with  him  a  letter 
from  the  governor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  ad- 
dressed to  captain  Hunt,  in  which  the  gov- 
ernor in  his  turn  warned  the  captain  to  de- 
part from  a  coast  belonging  to  the  king  of 
Spain ;  but  on  the  supposition  that  captain 
Hunt's  touching  at  these  islands  Avas  merely 
accidental,  the  governor  expressed  his  earn- 
est desire  to  show  him  all  possible  civilities. 
Captain  Hunt  jn  reply  again  asserted  hi« 
sovereign's  right  with  some  warmth,  and 
threatened  to  fire  into  the  Spanish  schooner, 
upon  her  attempting  to  enter  the  harbor. 
This  produced  a  long  altercation  by  letters 
between  the  captain  and  governor,  during 
which  two  Spanish  frigates,  with  troops  on 
board  for  their  settlement,  arrived  at  Port 
Egmont,  under  pretence  of  wanting  water. 


132 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


The  commander-in-chief  wrote  tx)  captain 
Hunt,  expressing  great  surprise  at  seeing 
the  usual  appearances  of  an  English  settle- 
ment there,  charging  him  with  a  violation 
of  the  last  peace,  and  protesting  against  tlie 
act  in  all  its  parts,  at  the  same  tune  declar- 
ing that  he  would  abstain  from  any  other 
proceeding,  till  he  had  acquainted  his  Cath- 
olic majesty  with  this  disagreeable  transac- 
tion. Captain  Hunt  repeated  his  former 
arguments  on  tlie  question  of  right :  but 
as  soon  as  the  Spanish  frigates,  after  re- 
ceiving a  supply  of  water,  proceeded  on 
their  course,  he  set  sail  for  England,  in  or- 
der to  inform  government  of  what  had 
taken  place,  not  thinking  it  advisable  to  run 
any  farther  risk  on  his  own  authority.  Two 
small  sloops,  tlie  Favorite,  captain  Maltby, 
and  the  Swift,  captain  Farmer,  formed  the 
whole  force  that  remained  upon  the  station. 
When  Captain  Hunt's  advices  were  laid 
before  the  public,  they  excited  no  small 
alarm;  for  though  the  Spaniards  had  not 
made  use  of  any  hostile  menaces  in  direct 
terms,  yet  their  warning  him  to  quit  that 
coast  was  generally  considered  as  prepa- 
ratory to  a  formal  declaration  of  war.  This 
opinion  was  farther  strengthened  by  a  va- 
riety of  other  circumstances.  Spain  had 
been  for  some  time  very  attentive  to  put 
r  er  West  India  possessions  in  the  best  pos- 
ture of  defence,  and  a  formidable  armament 
was  known  to  be  fitting  out  at  the  Havan- 
nah.  Vigorous  preparations  were  making 
in  the  French  and  Spanish  ports  at  home ; 
and  though  these  might  have  been  more  im- 
mediately occasioned  by  the  jealousy  arising 
from  the  progress  of  the  Russians  in  the 
Levant,  they  did  not  appear  to  indicate  a 
very  friendly  disposition  towards  Great  Brit- 
ain. A  fire  also  which  broke  out  at  this 
juncture  in  Portsmouth  dock-yard,  and 
which  in  its  consequences  might  have 
greatly  obstructed  any  sudden  maritime  ef- 
forts, was  looked  upon  as  part  of  a  settled 
plan  for  the  ruin  of  the  British  navy.  Many 
persons  fancied  they  could  trace  in  it  the 
deep-laid  design  of  an  insidious  and  invete- 
rate enemy,  whose  ambition  had  ever  been 
boundless,  and  had  in  general  been  but 
little  restrained  either  by  the  laws  of  honor 
or  of  nations,  when  they  interfered  with  the 
gratification  of  it.  In  the  midst  of  these 
fears  and  suspicions,  the  British  government 
acted  with  great  discretion,  neither  neglect- 
ing the  proper  means  of  asserting  its  right, 
nor  precipitately  plunging  the  nation  into 
any  vast  or  unnecessary  expenses.  It  was 
resolved  in  the  cabinet  that  firm,  yet  tempe- 
rate representations  on  the  subject  should 
be  made  to  the  court  of  Madrid ;  and  orders 
were  in  the  mean  time  issued  for  the  man- 
ning and  equipment  of  sixteen  sail  of  the 
line. 


While  things  were  going  on  in  this  train, 
the  Favorite,  one  of  the  sloops  which  had 
been  left  at  Port  Egmont,  arrived  oflT  the 
Mother-bank  near  Portsmouth,  on  the  twen- 
ty-second of  September,  and  brouglit  intel- 
ligence, that  soon  after  captain  Hunt's  de- 
parture, five  Spanish  frigates  and  some 
smaller  vessels,  with  all  the  apparatus  neces- 
sary for  a  regular  siege,  appeared  before 
Port  Egmont  Captam  Farmer,  the  com- 
mandant, made  some  preparations  at  first  to 
defend  the  place,  but  finding  it  utterly  un- 
tenable, submitted,  after  a  few  shots  were 
fired,  to  a  capitulation,  by  which  he  and  the 
garrison  were  allowed  to  evacuate  the  set- 
tlement, and  to  carry  with  them  what  stores 
they  could,  the  governor  of  Solidad  being 
made  answerable  for  the  remamder.  The 
Spanish  commodore,  not  choosing  however 
that  very  early  intelligence  of  this  outrage 
should  be  conveyed  to  England,  enjoined 
the  two  captains  Farmer  and  Maltby  not  to 
sail  without  his  permission ;  and  in  order  to 
insure  compliance,  caused  the  rudder  of  the 
Favorite  to  be  taken  off  and  kept  on  shore 
for  twenty  days,  when  it  was  restored,  and 
the  sloop  permitted  to  depart. 

It  is  astonishing  with  what  mdignation 
the  whole  kingdom  seemed  to  be  inflamed 
at  this  insult  on  the  British  flag.  The  speech 
from  the  throne  at  tlie  meeting  of  parlia- 
ment on  the  thirteenth  of  November,  in- 
formed the  nation  that  satisfaction  for  the 
injury  had  been  demanded  from  the  court 
of  Spain;  that,  in  case  of  refusal,  neces- 
sary preparations  were  making  to  enforce 
the  demand;  and  that  they  v/ould  not  be 
discontinued  till  proper  reparation  was  ob- 
tained, as  well  as  unequivocal  proof  that 
other  powers  v/ere  equally  sincere  with  his 
majesty  in  the  resolution  to  preserve  the 
general  tranquillity  of  Europe.  The  ad- 
dresses of  both  houses  on  this  occasion,  in 
spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  faction  and  malev-. 
olence,  contained  the  most  hearty  approba- 
tion of  the  steps  which  had  been  taken  by 
his  majesty,  with  assurances  of  effectual 
support  in  the  progress  of  such  an  import- 
ant affair.  Supplies  for  the  augmentation 
of  the  army  and  navy  were  cheerfully  voted; 
and  the  increase  of  the  land-tax  from  three 
to  four  shillings  in  the  pound  met  with  no 
great  opposition. 

1771. — Though  the  language  of  the  Span- 
ish ministry,  on  the  very  first  remonstrance, 
was  condescending  and  pacific,  yet  unex- 
pected obstacles  arose  in  the  course  of  the 
negotiation,  which  rendered  their  sincerity 
somewhat  questionable.  As  the  doubts  of 
the  English  cabinet  on  this  head  had  greatly 
increased  before  Christmas,  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  adjourn  parliament  till  the 
latter  end  of  January,  to  allow  time  for  de- 
termining the  grand  question  of  peace  or 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


133 


war,  and  that  the  minister  might  then  be 
enabled  to  announce  decisively  on  the  al- 
ternative. Lord  Weymouth  having  resign- 
ed the  office  of  secretary  of  state  for  the 
southern  department,  the  correspondence 
with  Spain  was  now  carried  on  by  his  suc- 
cessor, the  earl  of  Rochford,  whose  place 
in  the  northern  department  was  filled  by 
lord  Sandwich.  But  the  latter  being  soon 
after  removed  to  the  head  of  the  admiralty, 
in  the  room  of  Sir  Edward  Hawke,  the  sec- 
retaryship for  the  north  was  conferred  on 
lord  Halifax,  who  gave  up  the  privy-seal  to 
the  earl  of  Suffolk.  The  great  seal  was 
taken  out  of  commission,  and  given  to  judge 
Bathurst ;  and  de  Grey  was  appointed  chief 
justice  of  the  common  pleas.  Some  other 
changes  took  place  about  the  same  time; 
and  several  of  the  late  Mr.  Grenville's  friend 
were  introduced  into  office;  by  which  the 
ministry  gained  no  inconsiderable  accession 
of  talents,  as  well  as  of  numbers. 

But  lord  North  was  enabled  to  face  par 
liament  with  still  more  confidence,  having 
accomplished  the  grand  object  for  which 
the  recess  had  been  protracted  to  a  greater 
length  than  usual.  The  very  day  the  com 
mons  met  after  their  adjournment,  (January 
22,)  he  informed  them,  that  the  Spanish 
ambassador  had  that  morning  signed  a  de 
claration,  with  which  his  majesty  was  satis 
fied,  and  which  should  be  laid  before  the 
house.  The  like  information  was  commu- 
nicated to  the  lords  by  the  earl  of  Rochford 
After  the  papers  relative  to  this  affair  had 
been  submitted  to  the  mspection  of  both 
houses,  warm  debates  arose  on  the  terms  of 
the  Spanish  declaration,  which  the  members 
of  the  opposition  asserted  to  be  inadequate 
and  insecure,  because  though  it  contained 
an  explicit  disavowal  of  the  violence  used 
at  Port  Egmont,  and  an  engagement  to  re 
store  everything  there  precisely  to  the  state 
in  which  it  was  before  the  tenth  of  June 
1770,  it  still  left  room  for  future  disputes, 
by  adding  "that  his  Catholic  majesty  did 
not  consider  this  restitution  as  anywise  af- 
fecting the  question  concerning  the  prior 
right  of  sovereignty  of  the  islands."  But 
addresses  of  thanks  and  approbation  were 
concurred  in  by  a  majority  of  almost  three 
to  one  in  the  lords,  and  of  nearly  two  to  one 
in  the  commons.  They  affirmed  that  the 
atonement  made  for  the  aggression  was  as 
ample  as  could  justly  be  required ;  and  that 
ministers  would  have  been  in  the  highest 
degree  reprehensible,  had  they  involved  the 
nation  in  a  war  for  the  sake  of  so  insignifi. 
cant  an  object  as  the  reserved  pretensions 
of  Spain  to  one  or  two  barren  spots  under 
a  stormy  sky,  in  a  distant  quarter  of  the 
globe.  The  possibility  of  a  similar  dispute 
was  precluded  by  the  total  evacuation  of 
that  settlement  about  three  years  after. 

Vol,  IV.  12 


The  other  proceedings  of  parliament  du- 
ring this  session,  which  ended  the  eighth 
of  May,  aflbrd  very  few  subjects  of  inter- 
esting detail.  The  debates  did  not  lead  to 
any  one  important  measure.  Endeavors 
were  used  to  bring  the  courts  of  law  into 
contempt,  and  to  spread  abroad  a  dangerous 
opinion  that  the  constitutional  essence  of 
trials  was  destroyed  by  the  corruption  or 
servility  of  the  judges,  and  that  the  riglit 
of  juries  in  particular  to  examine  into  the 
innocence  or  criminality  of  pretended  libels 
had  been  restrained  by  illegal  dictates  from 
the  bench.  Public  curiosity  was  greatly 
excited  by  an  altercation  on  this  subject,  be- 
tween lord  Cambden  and  lord  Mansfield,  in 
the  house  of  peers;  but  after  the  boldest 
challenge  given  on  one  side,  and  as  reso- 
lutely defied  on  the  other,  both  parties  seem- 
ed disposed  to  bury  the  matter  in  eternal 
silence. 

CONTEST  BETWEEN  SOME  PRINTERS 
AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 
Formal  complaints  having  been  made  in 
the  house  of  commons  against  two  printei-s 
of  public  papers,  Wheble  and  Thompson, 
for  breach  of  privilege  by  misrepresenting 
the  debates;  they  were  summoned  to  ap- 
pear at  the  bar  of  the  house  to  answer  the 
charge.  As  the  printers  took  no  notice  of 
this  summons,  a  second  order  was  issued 
and  declared  to  be  fiinal.  No  more  regard 
being  paid  to  the  second  order  than  to  ihe 
first,  a  motion  was  made  and  agreed  to,  that 
they  should  be  taken  into  the  custody  of  the 
serjeant-at-arms.  But  the  parties  havini^' 
absconded,  a  proclamation  appeared,  oi!er- 
ing  a  reward  of  fifty  pounds  for  apprehend- 
ing them.  In  the  mean  time,  six  other  print- 
ers were,  for  similar  offences,  summoned  to 
the  bar  of  the  house,  five  of  whom,  obeying 
the  summons,  were  reprimanded  and  di5- 
charged ;  and  the  remaining  delinquent, 
Millar,  was  ordered  to  be  taken  into  custody 
for  contempt  of  the  notice  given  him. 
Wheble  being  apprehended  in  consequence 
of  the  proclamation,  and  carried  before 
Wilkes,  the  sitting  alderman  at  Guildhall, 
was  discharged,  and  bound  over  to  prose- 
cute the  person  who  apprehended  him. 
Thompson  also  was  apprehended,  and  dis- 
charged in  the  same  manner  by  alderman 
Oliver.  Millar,  being  taken  into  custody 
by  the  messenger  of  the  house  of  commons 
at  his  own  dwelling,  was  carried  before  the 
lord-mayor  (Brass  Crosby)  and  the  aldermen 
Wilkes  and  Oliver  at  the  Mansion-house. 
The  deputy  serjeant-at-arms  attending  to 
demand  the  prisoner,  the  legality  of  the 
warrant  was  denied,  and  the  printer  not 
only  discharged,  but  the  messenger  of  the 
house,  on  pretence  of  a  false  arrest,  ordered 
to  be  committed  to  prison,  in  default  of  bail, 
which  was  at  first  refused,  but  at  length  r©- 


134 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


luctantly  given.  The  thanks  of  the  corpo- 
ration of  London  were  voted  to  the  three 
magistrates;  hut  two  of  them,  the  lord- 
mayor  and  alderman  Oliver,  being  members 
of  the  house  of  commons,  incurred  its  se- 
verest censure  for  such  a  daring  opposition 
to  its  authority.  Every  part  of  their  pro- 
ceedings was  voted  to  be  a  breach  of  privi- 
lege :  the  lord-mayor's  clerk,  having  attend- 
ed with  the  minute-book,  was  obliged  to 
erase  the  recognisance  of  Whittam,  the 
inessenger ;  and,  after  several  hearings  on 
tJie  subject,  the  two  magistrates,  instead  of 
concession  or  apology,  resolutely  persisting 
in  the  justice  of  their  conduct,  they  were 
committed  prisoners  to  the  Tower.  Wilkes 
had  also  been  ordered  to  appear  at  the  bar 
of  the  house ;  but  in  a  letter  which  he  ad- 
dressed to  the  speaker,  he  said  he  could  at- 
tend only  in  his  place  as  member  for  Mid- 
dlesex. The  house,  unwillmg  to  give  him 
fresh  consequence  by  a  renewal  of  former 
severities,  ordered  another  summons  for  the 
eighth  of  April,  and  at  the  same  time  ap- 
pointed the  ninth  as  the  first  day  of  meet- 
ing after  the  Easter  recess.  The  lord- 
fiiayor  and  Oliver  remained  in  the  Tower 
till  the  rising  of  parliament,  when  their  lib 
eration  was  celebrated  by  the  tumultuous 
rejoicings  of  the  populace. 

Among  the  bills  that  received  the  royal 
assent  on  the  last  day  of  the  session,  there 
were  two  which  particularly  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  public.  One  was  a  bill  for 
dislTanchising  several  electors  of  New  Shore^ 
ham  in  Sussex,  and  for  extending  the  right 
of  voting  to  the  contiguous  hundreds.  It 
appeared  in  evidence  before  the  select  com^ 
mittee,  appointed  under  the  Grenville  act  to 
try  the  merits  of  the  late  election  for  this 
borough,  that  a  great  number  of  the  free- 
men had  formed  themselves  into  a  society 
under  the  name  of  '  the  Christian  Club.' 
This  Christian  club,  notwithstanding  its 
pjoiis  appellation,  was  no  better  than  a  mart 
of  venality.  A  junto  was  appointed  to  dis- 
pose of  the  borough  to  the  highest  bidder. 
These  agents  of  corruption  did  not  vote 
themselves,  but  gave  the  necessary  orders 
to  the  rest  of  the  society ;  and  after  the 
election  was  decided,  the  profits  were  shared 
equally  amongst  the  whole.  The  spiritual 
and  constitutional  tendency  of  the  bill  for 
incapacitating  all  the  members  of  such  an 
infamous  club  were  highly  and  deservedly 
applauded. 

CITY  OF  LONDON'S  THIRD  AND  FOURTH 
REMONSTRANCES  TO  THE  KING. 
At  that  period,  the  freemen  of  London 
seemed  to  have  suspended  all  exercise  of 
their  own  will,  as  well  as  of  their  own  rea- 
son; and  while  they  flattered  themselves 
with  the  idea  of  setting  an  example  of  pub- 
lic spirit  to  the  whole  kingdom,  they  were 


in  fact  the  abject,  senseless  tools  of  a  few 
factious  demagogues.  After  Mr.  Beckford's 
death,Crosby,Sawbridge,Townsend,  Wilkes, 
and  Oliver  succeeded  to  the  ostensible  di- 
rection of  all  the  city  proceedings.  In  the 
first  month  of  Crosby's  mayoralty,  another 
remonstrance  in  the  usual  strain,  and  the 
third  of  the  kind  delivered  the  same  year, 
was  agreed  to,  chiefly  through  alderman 
Sawbridge's  persuasions.  It  was  little  more 
than  the  renewal  of  the  former  complaints 
and  the  former  requests,  accompanied  with 
a  very  humble  hint,  "  that  the  good  effects 
of  his  majesty's  innate  goodness  had  been 
intercepted  by  a  fatal  conspiracy  of  malevo- 
lent influence  round  the  throne."  His  ma- 
jesty, however,  told  the  remonstrants,  "  that 
he  could  not  comply  with  the  prayer  of  their 
petition,  as  he  had  no  reason  to  alter  the 
opinion  expressed  in  his  answer  to  their  last 
addresses  on  the  subject."  The  beginning 
of  Crosby's  mayoralty  was  distinguished  by 
another  strong  proof  of  disaffection  to  gov- 
ernment. Though  the  manning  of  the  navy, 
on  the  eve  of  an  expected  rupture  with 
Spain,  was  the  first  and  most  important  con- 
cern of  the  state,  he  refused  to  back  the 
press- warrants  issued  for  that  purpose ;  and 
sought  to  screen  himself  from  the  indigna- 
tion of  all  real  friends  to  their  country,  by 
alleging  that  the  ready  concurrence  of  his 
official  predecessors  in  the  like  measures 
did  not  remove  his  doubts  of  the  legality  of 
the  practice,  and  that  the  city-bounty  for 
the  encouragement  of  seamen  was  intended 
to  prevent  such  violences.  Alderman  Wilkes 
had  just  before  discharged  an  impressed 
man ;  and  this  at  a  time  when  "  the  rotten 
condition  of  the  navy,  the  defenceless  state 
of  the  British  dominions,  and  the  inevitable 
necessity  of  going  to  war,"  under  all  these 
disadvantages,  were  the  constant  themes  of 
seditious  declaimers.  The  aflfair  of  the 
printers  afforded  the  lord-mayor  a  fresh  op- 
portunity of  holding  himself  out  as  the 
champion  of  the  city  charters.  During  the 
debates  in  parliament  on  his  and  Oliver's 
conduct,  all  the  avenues  to  the  house  were 
frequently  crowded  with  turbulent  mobs, 
and  the  lives  of  several  of  the  ministry  were 
endangered.  After  the  commitment  of  the 
two  delinquents  to  the  Tower,  writs  of  ha- 
beas corpus  were  obtained  for  them,  merely 
to  flatter  their  vanity  by  triumphal  or  rather 
riotous  processions  to  and  from  Westminster 
hall, — not  with  any  hope  of  their  being  dis- 
charged by  the  judges,  as  it  was  well  known 
that  no  court  of  law  could  interfere  with  the 
constitutional  authority  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons over  its  own  members.  Their  release 
from  the  Tower,  at  the  close  of  the  session, 
was  celebrated,  as  before  observed,  by  acts 
of  outrage;  and  at  the  Midsummer  elec- 
tion of  sherifi^s,  the  ductile  citizens  were 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


135 


easily  induced  to  give  their  assent  to  a  fourth 
remonstrance,  recapitulating-  the  old  griev- 
ances ;  charging  the  house  of  commons 
with  some  new  acts  of  "  enormous  wicked- 
ness and  injustice,"  particularly  the  impris- 
onment of  the  two  city  magistrates,  the 
erasure  of  Whittam's  recognisance,  and  the 
embankment  at  Durham  Yard  ;  and  praying 
for  the  speedy  dissolution  of  parliament,  and 
for  the  removal  of  his  majesty's  "  wicked 
and  despotic  ministers."  The  framers  of 
this  remonstrance  wished  to  provoke,  if  pos- 
sible, some  singular  asperity  of  reply  from 
the  throne  ;  and  it  was  intended  that  all  the 
livery  should  go  along  with  the  lord-mayor 
to  deliver  it.  But  neither  of  these  schemes 
succeeded.  On  the  ninth  of  July,  the  day 
before  his  lordship  was  to  proceed  at  the 
head  of  the  livery  to  St.  James's,  he  receiv- 
ed notice  from  the  lord-chamberlain,  that  it 
being  unprecedented  as  well  as  impractica- 
ble to  introduce  so  numerous  a  body,  no  per- 
son beyond  the  number  allowed  by  law 
could  be  admitted ;  and  when  his  lordship, 
with  the  usual  attendants,  presented  the  re- 
monstrance next  day,  they  were  totally  dis- 
concerted by  the  cool  and  dignified  firmness 
of  his  majesty's  answer.  '■  1  shall  ever  be 
ready,"  said  he,  "  to  exert  my  prerogative, 
as  far  as  I  can  constitutionally,  in  redressing 
any  real  grievances  of  my  subjects  ;  and  the 
city  of  London  will  always  find  me  disposed 
to  listen  to  any  of  their  well-founded  com- 
plaints ;  it  is  therefore  with  concern  that  I 
see  a  part  of  my  subjects  still  so  far  misled 
and  deluded,  as  to  renew,  in  such  reprehen- 
sible terms,  a  request,  with  which,  I  have 
repeatedly  declared,  I  cannot  comply." 

All  those  desperate  efforts  of  designing 
men  served  only  to  increase  the  harmony 
and  to  cement  the  union  of  the  members  of 
administration.  No  change  took  place  in 
any  of  the  public  departments  except  those 
that  proceeded  from  the  death  of  the  earl  of 
Halifax,  and  of  lord  Strange,  both  of  which 
happened  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  not 
long  after  the  rising  of  parliament.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  former  of  these  events,  the 
earl  of  Suffolk  was  appointed  secretary  of 
state  for  the  northern  department,  in  the 
room  of  the  earl  of  Halifax ;  and  the  duke 
of  Graflon,  returning  into  office,  accepted 
of  the  privy-seal.  I^ord  Hyde  succeeded  lord 
Strajige  as  chancellor  of  the  dutchy  of  Lan- 
caster. Everything  seemed  now  to  promise 
ministry  both  tranquillity  and  permanence. 
The  storm  of  fiction  had  in  a  great  measure 
spent  its  rage ;  and  thoufrh  some  petty  at- 
tempts were  made  by  Wilkes  and  his  asso- 
ciates to  blov/  up  once  more  the  spirit  of 
discontent,  it  soon  subsided  in  a  profound 
calm.  A  favorable  harvest ;  the  fiourishing 
state  of  arts  and  commerce  ;  an  exemption 
from  the  calamities  of  war,  pestilence  and 


famine,  which  then  laid  WEiste  many  other 
parts  of  Europe  ;  in  sliort,  the  union  of  plen- 
ty, peace,  security,  and  true  liberty,  could 
not  but  reconcile  tlie  people  of  England  to  a 
government  under  which  they  enjoyed  so 
many  blessings.  The  only  allay  of  this  na- 
tional happiness  was  towards  the  end  of  the 
year,  in  consequence  of  very  heavy  rains 
which  fell  in  November,  and  which  occa- 
sioned, particularly  in  the  northern  counties, 
a  more  terrible  inundation  than  had  been 
experienced  there  withm  the  memory  of 
man.  A  detail  of  its  ravages  would  serve 
only  to  excite  the  most  painful  emotions.  It 
is  enough  to  say  that  Northumberland,  Cum- 
berland, and  Westmoreland  exhibited  for  a 
few  days  nothing  but  scenes  of  distress  and 
horror. — The  usual  characteristic  humanity 
of  the  British  nation  w^as  exerted  in  afibrd- 
ing  relief  to  the  sufferers. 

1772. — As  there  was  no  urgent  business 
which  required  an  early  attendance,  the 
prorogation  of  parliament  was  extended  to 
the  twenty-first  of  January,  when  they  were 
informed,  in  a  speech  from  the  throne,  that 
the  king  of  Spain's  performance  of  his  en- 
gagement in  restoring  Port  Egmont  and 
Falkland  island,  and  the  assurances  receiv- 
ed of  the  pacific  disposition  of  that  court, 
as  well  as  of  other  powers,  afforded  such  a 
prospect  of  the  continuance  of  a  peace,  that 
both  houses  would  be  "at  liberty  to  give 
their  whole  attention  to  the  establishment 
of  wise  and  useful  regulations  of  law,  and 
to  the  extension  of  our  commercial  advan- 
tages." The  propriety  of  maintaining  a  re- 
spectable establishment  of  naval  forces  was 
at  the  same  time  suggested  ;  but  great  plea- 
sure was  expressed  at  finding,  that  there 
would  be  no  necessity  to  ask  any  extraordi- 
nary aid  for  that  purpose.  Though  the  ad- 
dresses in  both  houses  were  carried  unani- 
mously; yet,  when  a  motion  was  made  in 
the  commons,  that  twenty-five  thousand  sea- 
men should  be  voted  for  the  service  of  the 
current  year,  it  was  opposed  under  tlie  pre- 
tence of  inconsistency  on  the  part  of  the 
ministers,  who  accompanied  a  speech,  which 
breathed  nothing  but  effusions  of  peace,  with 
all  the  actual  preparations  for  a  war.  But 
after  a  short  debate,  the  house  agreed  to  the 
motion  without  a  division. 

Parliament  was  not  inattentive  to  the 
other  objects  which  the  king  had  pointed 
out  in  general  terms.  They  also  entered 
upon  the  consideration  of  the  East  India  af- 
fairs ;  and  as  these  were  of  the  utmost  in- 
tricacy and  magnitude,  it  was  deemed  ad- 
visable to  appoint  a  select  committee  of  tliir- 
t}^-one  members,  chosen  by  ballot,  to  inquire 
into,  and  make  a  faithful  report  of  the  late 
alarming  mismanagement  and  actual  state 
of  the  company's  concerns, — to  present  to 
parliament  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  ex- 


136 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


istence  and  extent  of  the  evils,  and  thereby 
to  enable  them  in  their  deliberate  wisdom 
to  apply  an  effectual  remedy.  The  sittings 
of  the  committee  were  continued  during 
the  summer. 

PETITION  AGAINST  THE  39  ARTICLES. 
Some  attempts  were  made  in  the  course 
of  the  session  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  reli- 
gious liberty ;  but  upon  such  vague  and  con- 
tradictory principles  as  defeated  the  possi- 
bility of  their  success.  The  first  was  a  pe- 
tition from  certain  clergymen  of  the  estab- 
lished church,  and  certain  members  of  the 
])rofessions  of  civil  law  and  physic,  who 
prayed  to  be  relieved  from  subscription  to 
the  thirty-nine  articles.  The  former  laid 
bold  claims  to  the  inherent  right,  which, 
they  said,  they  held  from  God  alone,  to  make 
a  full  and  free  use  of  their  private  judg- 
ment in  the  interpretation  of  the  scriptures ; 
and  they  farther  asserted,  that  the  necessity 
imposed  on  them  of  acknowledging  particu- 
lar confessions  of  faith  and  doctrine,  drawn 
up  by  fallible  men,  was  an  infringement  of 
that  right,  and  a  deviation  from  the  liberal 
and  original  principles  of  the  church  of 
England  :  the  latter  stated,  with  more  mod- 
esty, the  hardship  of  being  obliged,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  degrees  in  their  re- 
spective faculties,  to  declare  their  solemn 
o.ssent  to  theological  tenets,  which  the  course 
of  their  studies  had  not  led  them  to  exam- 
ine, and  upon  which  their  private  opinions 
could  be  of  no  consequence  to  society.  TIio 
{K'tition  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  217 
against  71 ;  and  for  the  plainest  reasons. 
The  clergy  could  not  complain,  as  not  being 
obliged  to  accept  of  benefices  contrary  to 
their  conscience ;  and  if  scruples  arose  af- 
terwards, they  had  it  always  in  their  power 
to  relinquish  "their  preferments.  Every  man 
v/as  at  liberty  to  interpret  the  scripture  for 
liis  own  private  use  ;  but  his  being  author- 
ized to  do  so  for  others  was  a  matter  of  a 
very  different  nature.  All  governments  had 
a  right  to  establish  such  a  system  of  public 
instruction  as  should  approve  itself  most 
conducive  to  the  general  good  ;  and  it  was 
necessary  that  those,  who  were  to  become 
teachers  of  the  people,  should  be  subjected 
to  some  test  of  their  conformity  and  union. 
The  danger  of  innovations  was  also  suggest- 
ed, and  that,  as  civil  disputes  had  lately  run 
high,  it  would  be  very  impolitic  to  give  any 
opportunity  of  increasing  them  by  lighting 
up  the  flames  of  religious  controversy.  It 
seemed,  however,  to  be  the  general  wish, 
that  the  universities  would  grant  relief  to 
the  professors  of  law  and  physic,  in  the  mat- 
ters they  complained  of;  though  parliament 
did  not  think  proper  to  interfere.  Several 
favorable  sentiments  were  also  throvv^n  out 
in  the  debate  with  regard  to  the  dissentinfr 
ministers,  and  some  concern  was  expressed 


for  the  hardships  they  suffered,  in  being 
obliged,  under  severe  penalties,  to  subscribe 
the  articles  of  a  church  to  which  they  did 
not  belong,  and  from  which  they  sought 
neither  promotion  nor  emolument.  So  in- 
viting an  opportunity  was  not  neglected  by 
the  friends  of  the  dissenters.  Leave  having 
been  obtained  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  their  re- 
lief, it  was  carried  through  the  house  of 
commons  without  a  division,  the  number  of 
those  who  spoke  against  it  by  no  means 
correspondmg  with  their  zeal.  But  it  was 
thrown  out,  on  the  second  reading  in  the 
house  of  lords,  by  a  majority  of  almost  four 
to  one,  who  considered  the  thirty-nine  ar- 
ticles as  the  grand  palladium  on  which  the 
civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  government 
of  the  kingdom  depended. 

ROYAL  MARRIAGE  ACT. 
Among  the  acts  passed  this  session  there 
was  one  which  made  a  great  deal  of  noise, 
from  the  circumstances  that  gave  rise  to  it, 
and  from  its  being  streimously  opposed  in 
every  stage  of  its  progress  through  both 
houses.  This  was  the  act  for  regulatmg  the 
future  marriages  of  the  royal  family.  It  had 
its  origin  in  the  marriage  contracted  but  a 
few  months  before  by  the  duke  of  Cumber- 
land with  Mrs.  Horton,  relict  of  colonel 
Horton  and  daughter  of  lord  Irnham.  A 
private,  though  long-suspected  marriage  of 
the  duke  of  Gloucester  to  the  countess 
dowager  of  Waldegrave,  mi?:bt  a ■;::<;>  have 
operated  on  the  king's  mind,  to  rocoramend, 
by  a  particular  message,  the  consideration 
of  this  subject  to  parliament.  The  dishonor 
reflected  on  the  crown  by  unsuitable  al- 
liances, and  former  experience  of  the  great 
evils  arising  from  them,  rendered  the  pro- 
priety of  some  restraints  very  evident ;  but 
it  was  alleged  that  they  were  carried  too  far 
in  the  new  act,  by  being  extended  to  all  the 
descendants  of  George  11.  who  might  in  time 
comprehend  a  very  numerous  description  of 
people.  According  to  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  the  marriages  contracted  by  the  royal 
family,  from  the  time  of  its  having  passed, 
are  declared  null  and  void,  unless  the  pre- 
vious approbation  of  his  majesty  be  obtained  ; 
but  in  case  the  parties  shall  have  attained 
the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  give  no- 
tice to  the  privy-council  of  their  intention 
of  marriage,  such  marriage  shall  be  held 
good  in  law,  unless  the  parliament  shall 
within  the  space  of  twelve  months  declare 
its  disapprobation  of  the  same. 

DEATH  OF  THE  KING'S  MOTHER  AND 
SISTER. 
Whatever  uneasiness  the  king  felt  at 
the  disrespectful  behavior  of  both  his  brothers 
in  marrying  without  his  consent,  some  other 
events  of  a  family  nature  soon  after  took 
place,  which  were  to  him  a  source  of  much 
keener  concern  and  reflection.    His  amiable 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


137 


mother,  the  princess  dowager  of  Wales, 
died  on  the  eighth  of  Fehruary  ;  and  his  sis- 
ter, the  queen  of  Denmark,  had  a  few  days 
before  fallen  a  victim  to  the  intrigues  and 
boundless  ambition  of  her  husband's  mother- 
in-law.  This  artful  woman,  eagerly  bent  on 
securing,  if  possible,  the  succession  for  her 
own  son,  the  king's  half-brother,  left  no 
means  untried  to  alienate  the  affections  of 
the  royal  pair  from  each  other.  But  these 
attempts  not  answering  her  purpose,  she  en- 
tered into  more  desperate  schemes,  in  con- 
cert with  some  discarded  placemen  ;  and  at 
length,  by  the  combined  efforts  of  fraud  and 
force,  she  brought  about  a  revolution  at  the 
court  of  Copenhagen  on  the  sixteenth  of 
January.  Under  the  sanction  of  a  warrant, 
coinpulsorily  obtained  from  the  king,  counts 
Struensee  and  Brandt,  his  chief  ministers, 
were  thrown  into  a  dungeon ;  and  the  young 
queen  was  committed  close  prisoner  to  the 
castle  of  Cronenburgh.  They  were  charged 
with  a  conspiracy  to  force  the  king  to  sign 
an  act  of  renunciation,  and  to  establish  a  re- 
gency, by  which  the  government  was  to  be 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  young  queen  and 
the  two  favorites.  The  latter  suffered  on  a 
scaffold  about  three  months  after ;  but  the 
queen  was  allowed,  through  the  powerful 
interposition  of  England,  to  retire  from  the 
Danish  dominions.  She  and  her  attendants 
were  conveyed  to  Germany  by  a  small  squad- 
ron of  frigates  under  the  command  of  cap- 
tain M'Bride ;  and  she  took  up  her  residence 
at  Zell  in  the  electorate  of  Hanover,  where 
she  died  of  a  malignant  fever  on  the  tenth 
of  May  1775,  not  having  then  completed 
the  tv/enty-fburth  year  of  her  age.  Her 
enemies,  though  so  far  successful,  did  not 
accomplish  their  ultimate  object.  They  had 
])ropagated  scandalous  reports  of  her  amours 
with  Struensee  ;  yet  were  afraid  to  question 
the  legitimacy  of  her  issue.  In  the  year 
1784,  they  were  all  dismissed  from  office  ; 
and  a  new  council  was  formed  under  the 
auspices  of  the  prince  royal,  who  was  now 
grown  up  to  assert  his  own  rights,  and  to 
vmdicate  his  injured  mother's  honor. 

While  the  political  system  of  Europe 
seemed  to  be  convulsed  by  the  dismember- 
ment of  Poland,  no  changes  took  place  in 
the  British  admmistration  which  could  either 
affect  its  internal  strength,  or  outward  con- 
duct Lord  Hillsborough,  indeed,  resigned 
his  office  of  secretary  of  state  for  the  Ameri- 
can department  in  August,  together  with  his 
seat  at  the  head  of  the  board  of  trade,  both 
of  which  were  bestowed  on  the  earl  of  Dart- 
mouth. The  resignation  was  not,  however, 
the  effect  of  any  difference  with  the  court, 
the  former  nobleman  having  quitted  his 
places  in  great  good-humor,  and  being  im- 
mediately afler  promoted  to  an  English  earl- 
dom. Lord  Stormont,  the  earl  of  Mansfield's 
12* 


nephew,  was  appointed  ambassador  extraor- 
dinary at  the  court  of  Versailles,  in  the  room 
of  the  earl  of  Harcourt,  who  succeeded  lord 
Townshend  in  the  government  of  Ireland ; 
and  the  services  of  the  latter  were  rewarded 
with  the  master  generalship  of  the  ordnance. 
The  death  of  the  earl  of  Albemarle  afforded 
an  opportunity  for  promoting  general  Con- 
way to  the  government  of  the  island  of  Jer- 
sey ;  and  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst,  who  succeed- 
ed him  as  lieutenant-general  of  the  ordnance, 
was  soon  afterwards  called  to  the  privy- 
council.  A  few  promotions  were  also  oc- 
casioned by  the  death  of  the  earl  of  Litch- 
field. Lord  North  was  soon  elected  chan- 
cellor of  the  university  of  Oxford ;  Mr. 
Jenkinson  succeeded  to  the  joint  vice-trea- 
surership  of  Ireland,  and  thereby  made  a 
vacancy  at  the  treasury  board  in  England  for 
Fox.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  add,  that 
no  part  of  this  arrangement  indicated  the 
least  prevalence  of-  disunion  or  intrigue  in 
the  cabinet. 

EAST  INDIA  COMPANY'S  AFFAIRS. 

1773. — Both  houses  of  parliament,  which 
had  been  prorogued  the  tenth  of  June,  met 
again  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  November,  to 
resume,  at  the  king's  very  earnest  desire, 
the  consideration  of  the  East  India  company's 
affairs,  by  the  revival,  or  rather  continuance 
of  the  select  committee ;  the  appointment 
of  another  committee  of  thirteen  members, 
under  the  name  of  the  committee  of  secre- 
cy, for  the  purpose  of  more  accurately  m- 
vestigating  the  various  sources  of  the  com- 
pany's misfortunes,  witliout  any  uimecessary 
exposure  of  them  to  the  world ;  and  an  act 
to  restrain  the  company  for  a  lunited  time 
from  sending  out  supervisors,  a  measure 
which  then  appeared  to  be  equally  expen- 
sive and  useless.  The  objects  of  inquiry 
were  so  various  and  of  so  great  an  extent, 
that  a  complete  body  of  information  could 
not  be  laid  before  the  house  till  the  month 
of  April.  But  the  exigencies  of  the  com- 
pany requiring  immediate  relief,  and  a  peti- 
tion for  that  purpose  being  presented  to  par- 
liament in  the  beginning  of  March,  lord 
North  brought  forward  several  resolutions 
in  the  course  of  the  month,  which  were 
successively  agreed  to.  A  loan  of  one  mil- 
lion four  hundred  thousand  pounds  was  voted 
to  the  company,  to  save  them  from  a  situa- 
tion little  short  of  absolute  bankruptcy ;  and, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  like  disasters  from 
befalling  them  in  future,  certain  terms  were 
armexed  to  the  loan,  on  this  plain  principle, 
that  every  creditor,  who  parts  with  his 
money  to  any  applicant,  has  an  undoubted 
right  to  insist  upon  particular  conditions, 
previous  to  his  acquiescence  in  the  request. 
According  to  these  ideas,  it  was  resolved, 
that  the  company's  dividend  should  be  re- 
stricted to  six  per  cent,  until  the  repayment 


138 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  the  sum  advanced,  and  that  the  company 
be  allowed  to  divide  no  more  than  seven  per 
cent  until  the  reduction  of  their  bond  debt 
to  a  million  and  a  half  A  fev^r  days  after, 
it  was  moved  and  carried  by  the  minister, 
that  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  house,  it  would 
be  more  beneficial  to  the  public  and  to  the 
East  India  company  to  let  the  territorial  ac- 
quisitions remain  in  the  possession  of  the 
company  for  a  limited  time,  not  to  exceed 
the  term  of  six  years,  their  charter  expiring 
about  that  period ; — that  no  participation  of 
the  profits  should  take  place  between  the 
public  and  the  company  before  the  above 
stipulated  repayment  of  the  loan,  and  reduc- 
tion of  the  bond  debt; — that  after  these 
points  were  settled,  three-fourths  of  the  net 
surplus  profits  of  the  company  above  the 
sum  of  eight  per  cent,  upon  their  capital 
stock,  should  be  paid  into  the  exchequer  for 
the  use  of  the  public,  the  other  fourth  being 
set  apart  either  for  farther  reducing  the  com 
pany's  bond  debt,  or  by  way  of  provision  for 
future  contingencies ; — and  that,  as  the  com- 
pany had  in  their  warehouse  a  stock  of  teas, 
amounting  to  about  seventeen  millions  of 
pounds,  which  it  would  be  greatly  to  their  ad- 
vantage to  convert  into  money,  they  should 
be  allowed  to  export  any  quantities  of  it 
duty  free.  The  company  remonstrated 
against  the  hardship  of  some  of  these  stipu- 
lations, particularly  the  limitation  of  their 
dividend  after  the  discharge  of  the  loan,  the 
future  disposal  of  their  net  profits,  and, 
above  all,  the  implied  decision  against  their 
right  to  terrritorial  acquisitions.  But  their 
remonstrances  had  no  weight  with  parlia- 
ment: the  loan  bill  passed  without  the 
smallest  change  in  any  one  article;  and 
such  was  the  indignation  of  the  public  at 
the  enormous  oppressions  committed  under 
the  name,  if  not  by  the  express  authority 
of  the  company,  that  little  compassion  or 
sympathy  was  excited  by  the  loudness  of 
their  exclamations  and  complaints  in  this 
day  of  their  humiliation  and  distress. 

As  it  may  appear  inconceivable  how  the 
company  could  be  precipitated,  in  the  short 
period  which  elapsed  since  the  year  1765,  from 
the  height  of  prosperity  to  a  state  of  em- 
barrassment bordering  upon  ruhi,  a  transient 
review  of  the  principal  causes  will  be  neces- 
sary to  explain  the  paradox.  Soon  after  the 
treaty  concluded  by  lord  Clive  at  Eliabad, 
pernicious  monopolies  were  established  by 
the  company's  servants  in  all  the  newly- 
acquired  provinces ;  and  as  if  the  exclusive 
purchase  and  sale  of  every  article  of  gene- 
ral consumption  in  India  was  not  sufficient 
to  satisfy  their  avarice,  the  presidency  of 
Calcutta  devised  another  scheme  of  legal 
plunder,  which  was  to  declare  void  at  once 
all  the  leases  held  under  the  government 
on  very  low  terms  by  the  zemidars  and 


polygars,  who  constitute  the  great  landed 
interest  of  the  country.  The  pretext  for 
this  was,  that  many  of  these  leases  had 
been  collusively  obtained ;  and  it  was  said, 
that  impartiality  required  they  should  be 
now  relet  without  distinction  to  the  high- 
est bidder.  By  these  means  the  natives 
were  impoverished ;  immense  fortunes  were 
made  by  their  oppressors ;  but  the  aggregate 
receipts  of  the  company's  treasury  alarm- 
ingly decreased.  As  the  opulence  of  Ben- 
gal, however  great,  depended  solely  upon 
tlie  labor  and  industry  of  the  people,  upon 
commerce,  manufactures,  and  agriculture, 
it  is  evident  that  these  could  not  long 
flourish  under  the  baneful  influence  of  ra- 
pacity. The  governing  rule  of  trade  pursued 
by  the  company's  servants  was  to  reduce  to 
the  lowest  extreme  of  depression  the  price 
in  the  purchase,  and  to  enhance  it  in  the 
same  extravagant  degree  in  the  sale.  This 
discouraged  the  artisan  and  manufacturer 
from  going  to  work,  and  others  from  buying 
anything  but  what  was  of  absolute  necessity. 
The  situation  of  the  farmers  and  husband- 
men was  still  more  hopeless :  they  planted 
in  doubt,  and  reaped  in  uncertainty.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  land  was  of  course  left  un- 
tilled ;  and  this  co-operating  with  a  drought 
in  the  year  1769,  occasioned  a  general 
scarcity  of  provisions,  particularly  of  rice, 
the  great  staple  of  Indian  sustenance.  It 
was  also  said,  that  some  of  the  monopolists 
had  exerted  their  power  and  their  foresight 
in  collecting  the  scanty  supplies  into  stores ; 
so  that  the  poor  Gentoos  had  no  alternative 
left  them  but  to  part  with  the  small  remains 
of  their  property  or  to  perish  with  hmiger. 
It  is  certain  that  a  dreadful  famine,  and  the 
plague,  its  usual  concomitant,  carried  off"  in 
the  year  1770  very  nearly  a  fourth  part  of 
the  entire  population  of  Bengal,  or  about 
three  millions  of  unfortunate  victims.  To 
these  calamities  were  added  the  distressing 
eflfects  of  the  war  with  Hyder  Ally,  wan- 
tonly entered  into  and  shamefully  conduct- 
ed, to  gratify  the  interested  views  of  indi- 
viduals. In  such  circumstances,  it  cannot 
be  deemed  wonderful,  especially  when  the 
great  increase  of  the  civil  and  military  es- 
tablishments in  India,  and  the  annual  con- 
tribution to  the  public  expenditure  at  home, 
are  taken  into  the  account,  that  the  dis- 
bursements of  the  company  should  far  ex- 
ceed the  amount  of  their  revenues,  and 
bring  them,  in  a  few  years,  to  the  verge  of 
bankruptcy. 

REPORT  OF  A  COMMITTEE. 
In  the  reports  of  the  select  committee, 
many  other  scenes  of  shocking  cruelty  were 
unfolded  to  public  view.  The  detail  would 
be  endless ;  but  a  general  idea  of  their  na- 
ture may  be  formed  from  the  words  of  the 
chairman,  who  declared,  "  that,  through  the 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


139 


whole  investigation,  he  could  not  find  a 
single  sound  spot  whereon  to  lay  his  finger, 
it  being  all  equally  one  mass  of  the  most 
unheard-of  villanies,  and  the  most  notorious 
corruption."  Heavy  charges  were  brought 
against  several  of  the  company's  servants, 
and  particularly  against  lord  Clive,  who,  it 
was  affirmed,  had  acquired  a  princely  for- 
tune by  rapine,  extortion,  treachery,  and 
murder.  But  when  a  vote  of  censure  on 
his  conduct  was  moved  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, it  was  negatived  by  a  large  majority, 
in  opposition  to  the  minister;  and  an  end 
was  put  to  the  inquiry.  A  deep  impression 
was  nevertheless  made  upon  the  mind  of 
the  accused  nobleman  by  the  notoriety  of 
some  of  the  facts,  and  by  the  odium  which 
from  that  time  attached  itself  to  his  char- 
acter. After  a  few  years  passed  in  a  state 
of  wretchedness  and  despondency,  he  put  a 
voluntary  period  to  his  life, — ^by  this  melan 
choly  catastrophe  demonstrating  to  mankind 
the  vanity  of  human  pursuits  and  wishes, 
and  the  infinite  superiority  of  conscious  vir- 
tue to  all  the  gifts  of  fame  and  fortune. 

BILL  FOR  BETTER  MANAGEMENT  OF 
INDIA  AFFAIRS. 
The  minister,  though  left  in  a  minority 
when  he  supported  a  motion  which  led  to 
the  impeachment  of  individuals,  found  both 
houses  ready  to  concur  in  any  general  plan 
of  reform  which  might  happily  prevent  the 
repetition  of  the  like  crimes,  and  the  return 
of  similar  calamities.  With  this  view  a 
bill  was  brought  in  for  the  better  manage- 
ment of  the  company's  affairs  as  well  in  In- 
dia as  in  Europe ;  of  which  the  chief  pro- 
visions were,  "that  the  court  of  directors 
should  in  future  be  chosen  for  the  term  of 
four  years,  instead  of  being  elected  annually, 
six  members  vacating  their  seats  each  year ; 
— that  the  qualification  for  voting  should  be 
raised  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand 
pounds  capital  stock,  and  the  time  of  previ- 
ous possession  be  extended  from  six  months 
to  twelve; — that  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
mayor's  court  at  Calcutta  be  confined  to 
mercantile  causes,  and  a  new  supreme  court 
of  judicature  be  established  in  India,  con- 
sisting of  a  chief-justice  and  three  puisne 
judges  appointed  by  the  king ; — and  lastly, 
that  a  superiority  over  the  other  presiden- 
cies be  given  to  the  presidency  of  Bengal, 
the  blanks  for  the  names  of  the  members, 
including  the  governor  and  council,  being 
filled  up  at  the  time  by  parliament,  and  the 
removal  of  those  officers,  as  well  as  a  nega- 
tive on  the  future  nomination  of  the  com- 
})any,  being  vested  in  the  crown."  It  was 
strongly  urged  by  the  minister,  in  support 
of  those  material  changes  of  the  old  system, 
that  the  annual  election  of  directors  made 
them  too  dependent  on  their  constituents  to 
Ibrm  any  connected  plans,  or  to  adopt  any 


resolute  measures: — that  the  term  of  six 
months  was  too  short  for  a  qualification  to 
vote,  as  it  did  not  preclude  temporary  pur- 
chases of  stock,  merely  for  that  purpose, 
and  that  so  small  a  share  as  five  hundred 
pounds  was  not  a  sufficient  interest  in  the 
company,  to  entitle  the  holder  to  a  privilege, 
the  abuse  of  which  might  be  fatal  to  the 
whole  body : — that  the  contraction  of  powers 
in  the  mayor's  court  at  Calcutta  was  only 
reducing  its  jurisdiction  within  the  circle 
to  which  it  had  been  originally  confined; 
and  that  it  was  a  court  of  merchants  ."nd 
traders,  and  therefore  incompetent  to  the 
trial  of  the  many  great,  momentous,  and 
complicated  matters  arising  from  the  vast 
extent  of  territorial  acquisitions;  that  for 
these  reasons,  the  erection  of  a  new  judi- 
cature was  aljsolutely  necessary,  and  that 
the  appointment  of  the  judges  by  the  crown, 
emphatically  called  the  fountain  of  justice, 
was  not  only  proper,  but  indispensable,  to 
give  a  due  weight  and  consequence  to  their 
decisions  : — that  the  proposed  superiority 
of  one  presidency  over  the  rest  was  not  to 
interfere  with  their  peculiar  or  internal 
regulations,  but  related  only  to  those  great 
objects  of  general  concern,  war,  peace,  and 
alliances,  in  deciding  on  which  the  exercise 
of  equal  and  separate  powers  had  frequently 
been  productive  of  much  disorder  and  con- 
fusion ; — and  that  the  most  effectual  check 
on  the  abuse  of  the  civil  and  military  au- 
thority which  was  thus  centered  in  the 
presidency  of  Bengal,  would  be  to  make  the 
nomination  as  well  as  removal  of  the  mem- 
bers dependent  on  the  will  of  the  legislature. 
Petitions  against  this  bill  were  presented 
from  the  city  of  London,  from  the  East  In- 
dia company,  and  from  the  proprietors  of 
five  hundred  pounds  stock';  but  without 
effect.  After  long  and  frequently  renewed 
debates,  it  was  carried  through  the  house 
of  commons  by  a  majority  of  six  to  one ;  and 
in  the  house  of  lords,  on  the  final  division, 
the  numbers  were  74  to  17. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COM- 
MONS. 
The  other  proceedings  of  this  session 
make  but  little  figure,  when  compared  with 
the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  East 
India  business.  A  few  of  them,  however, 
deserve  some  notice.  The  harvest  of  the 
year  1772  not  having  been  so  productive  as 
to  lower  the  high  price  of  corn  in  England, 
and  a  dreadful  scarcity  still  continuing  in 
other  parts  of  Europe,  the  attention  of  par- 
liament was  directed  to  the  distresses  of  the 
poor  by  the  speech  from  the  throne ;  and  the 
renewal  of  the  provision  bills  was  among 
the  first  measures  that  received  the  sanction 
of  the  legislature.  The  fraudulent  diminu- 
tion of  the  gold  coin,  an  enormity  which 
had  been  carried  to  the  most  dangerous  ex- 


140 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


cess,  for  which  parliament  at  this  time  en- 
deavored to  provide  a  remedy ;  and  though 
the  act  for  calling  in  light  gold,  and  regu- 
lating its  value  by  its  weight,  was  loudly 
exclaimed  against,  especially  by  bankers, 
who  were  obliged  to  hold  money  for  others, 
and  had  received  it  at  its  nominal  value,  yet 
the  loss  fell  where  it  could  best  be  borne, 
upon  those  who  had  been  gainers  by  the 
situation  which  occasioned  it,  and  who  had 
always  profited  by  the  public  money.  A  tax 
on  the  nation  to  make  good  the  deficiency 
would  have  opened  a  door  for  very  gross 
impositions.  Attempts  for  obtaining  an  en- 
largement of  the  toleration  act,  and  the 
abolition  of  all  tests  at  the  time  of  being 
matriculated  or  admitted  a  member  of  either 
of  the  universities,  were  renewed,  but  with 
no  better  success  than  in  the  last  session : 
parliament  declined  interfering  in  the  regu- 
lations, which  the  universities  were  fully 
empowered  to  make  for  the  government  of 
their  own  body ;  and  the  plan  of  more  liberal 
indulgence  to  the  dissenters,  though  it  again 
passed  the  house  of  commons  by  a  great 
majority,  was  again  rejected  by  the  lords.  It 
was  almost  impossible  that  any  new  argu 
ments  could  be  urged  on  so  trite  a  subject 
but  the  suggestions  of  former  speakers  and 
writers  were  enforced  wath  all  the  variety 
of  illustration  which  judgment  and  genhis 
could  superadd  to  them.  Some  very  ani- 
mated and  eloquent  debates  were  also  occa 
sioned  by  a  late  expedition  against  the 
Caribbs  in  the  island  of  St.  Vincent.  A  few 
of  these  were  descended  from  the  original 
possessors;  but  the  greater  part  were  the 
offspring  of  some  African  negroes  who  had 
been  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  about  a  cen- 
tury before.  These  tw^o  tribes  of  savages 
were  scattered  in  huts  over  the  most  fertile 
and  valuable  part  of"  the  country,  of  which 
they  had  only  cleared  a  few  little  spots,  suf 
fering  the  rest  to  lie  covered  with  wood, 
uncultivated  and  unoccupied,  without  any 
benefit  to  others,  or  to  themselves.  Soon 
after  the  cession  of  the  island  to  Great  Brit- 
ain, in  consequence  of  the  pea.c8  in  1783, 
repeated  applications  were  made  to  govern- 
ment by  the  English  settlers,  to  obtain  from 
those  people  the  lands,  of  which  they  were 
in  fact  but  the  nominal  owners,  in  exchange 
for  another  quarter  of  the  island,  less  sus- 
ceptible of  culture,  but  as  comfortable  for 
their  habitation,  and  as  convenient  for  the 
support  of  savage  life,  as  that  which  they 
now  possessed.  Proper  instructions  for  this 
pnr])ose  were  accordingly  issued  by  the  board 
of  treasury  in  the  year  1763 ;  but  the  Caribbs 
obstinately  refused  to  part  with  their  lands, 
to  admit  of  any  exchansre,  or  even  to  ac- 
knowledge submission  to  the  government 
that  held  out  to  them  ofTers  of  full  compen- 
sation and  security.     Ailcr  every  effort  of 


entreaty  and  persuasion  had  been  tried  in 
vain,  it  was  at  length  deemed  necessary,  in 
the  summer  of  1772,  to  order  two  regi- 
ments from  North  America  to  join  an  equal 
number  of  troops  at  St.  Vincent's,  and  to  co- 
operate with  the  fleet  on  that  station  m 
reducing  the  refractory  savages  to  obedience. 
At  this  period  an  inquiry  was  instituted  in 
the  house  of  commons  respecting  the  whole 
business ;  and  motions  were  made  conveying 
the  severest  censure  on  the  ministry  for 
adopting  measures,  which  were  said  to  be 
"  equally  repugnant  to  the  humanity  of  his 
majesty's  temper,  disgraceful  to  his  arms, 
and  derogatory  to  the  character  of  the  British 
nation."  These  charges  were  answered 
with  ability :  the  motions  were  negatived ; 
and,  about  the  same  time,  [Feb.  17th]  the 
expedition,  which  gave  birth  to  the  inquiry, 
was  also  terminated.  The  Caribbs,  after 
some  fierce  encounters,  agreed  to  acknow- 
ledge his  majesty's  sovereignty  without  re- 
serve ;  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  and  alle- 
giance ;  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  island 
in  all  transactions  with  the  w^hite  inhabit- 
ants, while  they  were  allowed  to  adhere  t(j 
their  own  customs  and  usages  in  their  inter- 
course with  each  other ;  and  to  cede  a  large 
tract  of  very  valuable  land  to  the  crown,  the 
districts  which  they  still  retained  being 
secured  in  perpetuity  to  them  and  to  their 
posterity. 

Both  houses  of  parliament  continued  their 
deliberations  till  the  first  of  July,  wiien  an 
end  was  put  to  the  session  by  a  speech  from 
the  throne,  expressing  the  utmost  satisfac- 
tion at  their  zeal,  assiduity,  and  perseverance. 
His  majesty  had,  the  preceding  week,  aflbrd- 
ed  the  highest  gratification  to  a  considerable 
number  of  his  subjects  by  a  review  of  tha 
navy  at  Portsmouth.  The  resort  of  company 
there  during  the  royal  visit  was  unparal- 
leled; and  his  majesty  left  behind  him  lasting 
impressions  of  his  benignity  and  munifi- 
cence. The  remainder  of  the  year  rolled 
away  without  any  remarkable  domestic  oc- 
currences ;  but  the  events  of  the  same  period 
in  America  were  very  alarming. 
INCREASING  DISCONTENT  IN  AMERICA. 

The  repeal  of  the  other  port  duties,  while 
that  on  tea  was  continued,  had  not  produced 
all  the  good  effects  which  were  expected 
from  such  a  concession.  The  provincial 
assemblies  persisted  in  disavowing  his  ma- 
jesty's right  to  keep  commissioners  of  the 
customs,  or  to  establish  any  revenue  in  North 
America.  A  lately-adopted  measure  of  ap- 
pointing the  governors  and  judges  of  the 
colonies  to  be  paid  by  the  crown  was  another 
source  of  much  discontent.  Still,  however, 
tlie  ill-humor  of  the  people  seemed  to  vent 
itself  in  angry  complaints ;  and  no  act  of 
outrage  had  taken  place  for  the  last  three 
years,   except  the    burning  of  an  armed 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


141 


schooner  at  Rhode  Island  in  June  1772. 
Even  this  was  not  occasioned  by  any  popular 
tumult:  it  was  the  momentary  impulse  of 
revenge  inflicted  by  a  party  of  smugglers 
on  the  commander  of  that  vessel,  who  had 
made  himself  obnoxious  by  his  zeal  and 
vigilance  in  the  execution  of  the  revenue 
laws.  But,  in  the  summer  of  the  current 
year,  an  extraordinary  accident  served  to 
blow  into  a  flame  the  unsmothered  embers  of 
sedition  in  Massachusets  Bay.  Dr.  Franklin, 
the  agent  for  that  province,  had  by  some 
unknown  means  got  possession  of  certain 
confidential  letters  written  by  the  governor 
and  the  lieutenant-governor  to  their  friends 
in  England,  containing  an  unfavorable  repre- 
sentation of  the  temper  of  the  people,  and 
the  views  of  the  leaders,  and  tending  to 
show  the  necessity  of  more  vigorous  mea- 
sures in  order  to  secure  the  obedience  of  the 
colony.  These  letters  were  immediately 
transmitted  by  the  doctor  to  the  assembly 
then  sitting  at  Boston,  who  came  to  several 
violent  resolutions,  which  they  followed  up 
by  a  petition  and  remonstrance  to  the  king, 
charging  Hutchinson  the  governor,  and  Oli- 
ver his  deputy,  with  being  betrayers  of  their 
trusts  and  of  the  people  they  governed,  and 
praying  for  justice  against  them  and  for 
their  speedy  removal  (2).  Fresh  fuel  was 
soon  after  thrown  into  the  blaze  of  animosity 
excited  by  the  publication  of  the  letters. 
The  East  India  company  having,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  act  for  permitting  the  exporta- 
tion of  teas  duty  free,  consigned  large 
quantities  to  their  agents  in  the  principal 
ports  of  America,  the  factious  leaders  there 
easily  persuaded  the  people,  that  this  was 
a  scheme  calculated  merely  to  circumvent 
them  into  a  compliance  with  the  revenue 
law,  and  thereby  open  the  door  to  an  unlim- 
ited taxation.  Meetings  were  held,  first  at 
Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  in  several  other 
towns,  where  resolutions  were  passed  de- 
claring "  this  new  ministerial  plan  of  import- 
ation to  be  a  violent  attack  upon  the  liberties 
of  America,"  and  pronouncing  it  to  be  "  the 
duty  of  every  American  to  oppose  this  at- 
tempt ;  and  that  whoever  should  directly  or 
indirectly  countenance  it  was  an  enemy  to 
his  country."  The  consignees  were  obliged 
in  most  places  to  relinquish  their  appoint- 
ments ;  and  among  other  inflammatory  pa- 
pers tlien  circulated  throughout  the  colonies, 
a  warning  was  given  to  the  pilots  on  the 
river  Delaware  "  not  to  conduct  any  of  the 
tea  ships  into  their  harbor,  as  they  were  sent 
only  for  the  purpose  of  enslaving  and  poison- 
ing all  the  Americans."  In  a  similar  publi- 
cation at  New- York,  those  ships  were  said 
to  be  "  freighted  with  fetters  forged  in  Great 
Britain ;"  and  every  vengeance  was  denounc- 
ed against  all  persons,  "  who  should  dare  in 
any  manner  to  contribute  to  the  introduction 


of  such  chains."  The  landing  of  the  tea 
was  everywhere  violently  resisted ;  and  sev- 
eral of  the  ships  returned  to  England  with- 
out breaking  bulk.  At  Charlestown,  after 
much  opposition  and  tumult,  a  cargo  was 
permitted  to  be  unloaded,  but  was  immedi- 
ately lodged  in  damp  unventilated  cellars, 
where  it  long  remained,  and  finally  perished. 
Some  was  also  landed  at  New- York  under 
the  cannon  of  a  man-of-war ;  but  the  govern- 
ment there  were  forced  to  consent  to  its 
being  locked  up  from  use.  But  at  Boston 
the  riots,  even  before  the  arrival  of  the  ships, 
rose  to  a  height  which  made  the  excesses 
committed  elsewhere  appear  trivial.  The 
populace  surrounded  the  houses  of  the  con- 
signees and  demanded  their  resignation, 
which  not  being  complied  with,  their  doors 
and  windows  were  broken,  and  they  them- 
selves narrowly  escaped  the  fury  of  the  mob 
by  flying  from  the  town  and  taking  shelter 
in  Fort  William.  In  vain  did  the  governor 
issue  a  proclamation  commanding  the  civil 
magistrates  to  suppress  the  riots :  the  sheriff 
was  insulted  for  attempting  to  read  it  at  one 
of  the  illegal  meetings  in  the  town-hall.  As 
soon  as  the  ships  arrived,  the  inhabitants  met 
again,  and  with  loud  acclamations  testified 
their  concurrence  in  a  vote,  "  that  the  tea 
should  not  be  landed,  and  that  it  should  be 
sent  back  in  the  same  bottoms."  But  clear- 
ances from  the  custom-house,  and  a  pass  from 
the  governor,  beiflg  refused,  an  immense 
crowd  repaired  to  the  quay  in  the  evening 
of  the  eighteenth  of  December,  and  a  num- 
ber of  the  most  resolute,  in  the  disguise  of 
Mohawk  Indians,  boarded  the  vessels,  and 
discharged  their  cargoes  into  the  sea. 

1774. — The  ministry  not  being  in  posses- 
sion of  these  facts  at  the  meeting  of  the  par- 
liament on  the  thirteenth  of  January,  no 
mention  was  made  of  American  aflfairs  in 
the  speech  from  the  throne  ;  but  on  the  sev- 
enth of  March,  a  message  was  delivered 
from  his  majesty  to  both  houses,  informing 
them,  "  that,  in  consequence  of  the  unwar- 
rantable practices  carried  on  in  North  Ame- 
rica, and  particularly  of  the  violent  and 
outrageous  proceedings  at  Boston,  with  a 
view  of  obstructing  the  commerce  of  this 
kingdom,  and  upon  grounds  and  pretences 
immediately  subversive  of  its  constitution, 
it  was  thought  fit  to  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  parliament" — recommending  to  their 
serious  consideration  "  what  farther  regula- 
tions or  permanent  provisions  might  be  ne- 
cessary to  be  established."  This  message 
was  accompanied  by  a  great  number  of  pa- 
pers, which  sufficiently  showed  the  daring 
and  seditious  spirit  that  now  prevailed  all 
over  the  continent  In  the  address  of  thanks 
for  these  communications,  the  house  assured 
his  majesty,  "that  they  would  not  fail  to 
exert  every  means  in  their  power  of  efiectu- 


142 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ally  providing  for  the  due  execution  of  the 
laws,  and  securing  the  just  dependence  of 
the  colonies  on  the  crown  and  parliament 
of  Great  Britain."  The  first  step  taken  to 
accomplish  so  desirable  an  end  was  the  in- 
troduction of  a  bill,  which  was  rapidly  and 
almost  unanimously  carried  through  both 
houses,  for  shutting  up  the  port  of  Boston, 
and  prohibiting  the  lading  or  unlading  of  all 
goods  or  merchandise  at  any  place  withui 
its  precincts,  from  and  after  the  first  of 
June,  until  it  should  appear  to  his  majesty 
that  peace  and  obedience  to  the  laws  were 
so  far  restored  in  the  town  of  Boston  that 
trade  might  again  be  safely  carried  on,  and 
his  majesty's  customs  be  duly  collected ;  in 
which  case  his  majesty  might  by  proclama- 
tion open  the  harbor ;  but  not  till  it  should 
also  sufficiently  appear,  that  full  compensa- 
tion had  been  made  to  the  East  India  com- 
pany for  the  destruction  of  their  tea,  and  to 
all  others  who  had  suffered  by  the  late  riots. 
The  board  of  customs  was,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  be  removed  to  the  town  of  Salem. 
But  as  the  prevention  of  future  enormities 
was  an  object  of  still  greater  importance 
than  the  punishment  of  those  which  were 
past,  and  as  the  latter  seemed  greatly  owing 
to  the  weakness  of  the  civil  power  in  the 
colony  of  Massachusets  Bay  and  to  other 
radical  defects  in  the  frame  of  their  govern- 
ment, it  was  now  proposed  to  assimilate 
their  constitution  more  nearly  to  that  of  the 
royal  governments  in  America,  and  to  their 
prototype  the  government  of  Great  Britain. 
For  this  purpose  an  act  was  passed  to  de- 
prive the  lower  house  of  assembly  of  the 
privilege  of  electing  the  members  of  the 
council,  and  to  vest  that  privilege  in  the 
crown  ;  to  authorize  the  king,  or  his  substi- 
tute the  governor,  to  appoint  judges,  magis- 
trates, and  sheriffs ;  to  empower  the  sheriffs 
to  summon  and  return  juries ;  and  to  pro- 
hibit town  meetings  from  being  called  by  the 
select-men,  unless  with  the  consent  of  the 
governor.  Such  a  restraint  was  deemed 
necessary,  not  only  to  suppress  the  spirit  of 
faction  in  the  province  itself,  but  to  prevent 
the  rest  of  the  colonies  from  being  tainted 
by  its  seditious  example.  The  next  expe- 
dient was  a  bill  for  the  impartial  adminis- 
tration of  justice  in  Massachusets  Bay,  em- 
powering the  governor,  with  the  advice  of 
the  council,  in  case  any  person  was  indict- 
ed in  that  province  for  murder  or  any  other 
capital  offence,  and  it  should  appear  by  in- 
formation on  oath  that  the  fact  had  been 
committed  in  the  exercise  or  aid  of  magis- 
tracy in  suppressing  riots,  and  that  a  fair 
trial  could  not  be  had  in  the  province,  to 
send  the  person  so  indicted  into  any  other 
colony,  or  to  Great  Britain,  to  be  tried ;  the 
act  to  continue  in  force  four  years.  The 
opposition  made  to  these  bills,  in  their  pro- 


gress through  both  houses,  was  equally  im- 
potent and  unpopular ;  but  another  act  that 
followed  them,  for  making  more  effectual 
provision  for  the  government  of  the  province 
of  Quebec,  was  violently  opposed  within 
doors,  and  excited  much  clamor  without. 
The  objects  of  this  act  were,  to  secure  to 
the  inhabitants  of  that  province  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion,  and  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  their  rights,  agreeably  to  the 
articles  of  capitulation  at  the  time  of  the 
surrender  of  the  province ;  to  confirm  the 
English  laws,  and  a  trial  by  jury  in  criminal 
cases,  but,  in  civil  cases,  to  restore  the  an- 
cient French  laws  and  a  trial  without  jury, 
as  being  more  acceptable  to  the  Canadians ; 
to  establish  a  council,  holding  their  com- 
missions from  and  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
king,  who  were  to  exercise  all  the  powers 
of  legislation,  except  that  of  imposing 
taxes ;  and  lastly  to  extend  the  limits  of  the 
province,  which,  reaching  far  to  the  south- 
ward behind  the  other  settlements,  might  be 
made  to  serve  as  a  check  upon  them  if  ne- 


A  GENERAL  CONGRESS  CALLED  AT 
PHILADELPHIA. 

Such  were  the  principal  measures  adopted 
this  session  by  the  British  parliament  for 
maintaining  the  authority  of  the  mother 
country  over  the  colonies.  Four  ships  of 
the  line  had  also  been  fitted  out  for  Boston ; 
and  as  a  military  force  might  in  like  man- 
ner be  necessary  to  reduce  its  disorderly 
inhabitants  to  obedience,  an  act  was  passed 
to  provide  commodious  quarters  for  officers 
and  soldiers  on  that  service ;  and  general 
Gage,  commander-in-chief  in  America,  was 
appointed  governor  of  Massachusets  Bay,  in 
the  room  of  Mr.  Hutchinson,  who  had  de- 
sired leave  to  come  to  England.  The  gen- 
eral was  farther  invested  with  full  powers 
to  grant  pardons  for  treasons  and  all  other 
crimes,  and  to  remit  all  fines  and  forfeitures 
to  such  oflTenders  as  should  appear  to  be  fit 
objects  of  mercy.  But  the  people  of  Bos- 
ton did  not  seem  disposed  to  court  his  lenity 
or  indulgence.  Having  just  received  intel- 
ligence of  the  bill  for  shutting  up  their  port, 
they  were  all  convened  to  take  it  into  con- 
sideration, the  very  day  after  the  new  gov- 
ernor's arrival.  At  this  meeting,  resolutions 
were  passed,  and  ordered  to  be  transmitted 
to  the  other  colonies,  inviting  them  to  enter 
into  an  agreement  to  stop  all  imports  and 
exports  to  and  from  Great  Britain,  Ireland, 
and  every  part  of  the  West  Indies,  as  the 
only  means,  they  said,  that  were  left  for  the 
salvation  of  North  America  and  her  liber- 
ties. Copies  of  the  act  were  also  multiplied 
with  the  utmost  dispatch,  and  sent  to  every 
part  of  the  continent,  where  they  produced 
the  same  effects  as  poets  ascribe  to  the  Fu- 
ry's torch,  setting  all  the  countries  through 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


143 


which  they  passed  in  a  flame.  Addresses 
from  most  of  the  provinces  arrived  in  a  sliort 
time  at  Boston,  exhorting-  the  inhabitants  to 
persevere  in  their  opposition  to  such  an  at- 
tack on  their  civil  rights,  and  declaring  that 
all  British  America  considered  themselves 
as  sufferers  in  the  common  cause.  A  gene- 
ral congress  was  also  determined  upon ;  and 
Philadelphia  being  judged  commodiously 
situated  for  the  purpose,  the  first  meeting 
of  delegates  from  the  several  colonies  was 
appointed  to  take  place  there  in  the  begin- 
ning of  September ;  and,  in  the  mean  time, 
engagements,  under  the  title  of  '  a  solemn 
league  and  covenant,'  were  universally  en- 
tered into  for  the  purpose  of  suspending  all 
commercial  intercourse  with  Great  Britain, 
and  renouncing  all  communication  with 
those  who  should  refuse  to  sign  this  cove- 
nant, notwithstanding  a  proclamation  from 
general  Gage,  styling  such  agreement  an 
unlawful,  hostile,  and  traitorous  combination. 
He  was  even  obliged  to  dissolve  the  pro- 
vincial assembly,  having  found  every  other 
method  ineffectual  to  put  a  stop  to  their  vio- 
lent proceedings.  But  those  of  the  general 
congress  were  of  a  still  more  alarming  ten- 
dency. The  delegates  met  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed at  Philadelphia :  they  were  fifty-one 
in  number,  chosen  in  such  proportions  from 
the  different  colonies  as  corresponded  with 
their  varied  extent  and  population,  though 
each  colony  had  but  one  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate vote :  they  sat  wdth  the  doors  locked, 
no  person  but  a  member  bemg  permitted  to 
be  present  at  their  deliberations,  and  all 
their  proceedings,  except  what  they  thought 
fit  to  make  known,  being  kept  profoundly 
secret.  Among  their  first  resolves  was  a 
vote  which  passed  unanimously,  expressing 
their  deep  sense  of  the  suffermgs  of  their 
countrymen  in  the  province  of  Massachusets 
Bay,  under  the  late  unjust,  cruel,  and  op- 
pressive acts  of  the  British  parliament ;  tho- 
roughly approving  the  wisdom  and  fortitude 
of  the  opposition  made  to  those  measures ; 
and  asserting  it  to  be  the  duty  of  all  Ameri- 
ca not  only  to  contribute  to  the  relief  of  the 
sufferers,  but  to  assist  in  repelling  any  force 
which  might  be  employed  to  carry  such  acts 
into  execution.  The  congress  also  drew  up 
up  and  published  a  declaration  of  rights, 
little  short  of  absolute  independency,  with 
tlie  copy  of  a  formal  instrument  in  writing, 
signed  by  the  members,  and  recommended 
to  their  constituents,  renouncing  all  inter- 
course with  the  mother  country,  till  redress 
should  be  obtained  for  the  alleged  violation 
of  those  rights ;  a  petition  to  the  king,  enu- 
merating the  several  grievances,  and  blend- 
ing professions  of  loyalty  with  a  firm  de- 
mand of  the  abolition  of  the  obnoxious  stat- 
utes, as  the  only  means  of  restoring  harmo- 
ny between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies ; 


— an  apology  to  the  people  of  England  for 
the  suspension  of  commerce,  which,  they 
said,  necessity  alone  and  a  regard  to  self- 
preservation  obliged  them  to  adopt ; — a  me- 
morial to  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies, 
designed  to  explain  to  them  in  what  man- 
ner they  were  all  interested  in  the  state  of 
the  people  of  Boston;  urging  them  to  a 
compliance  with  the  non-importation,  non- 
consumption,  and  non-exportation  agree- 
ment ;  and  advising  them  to  extend  their 
view^s  to  the  most  unhappy  events,  and  to 
be  in  all  respects  prepared  for  every  contin- 
gency ; — and,  lastly,  an  address  to  tlie  Cana- 
dians, the  object  of  which  was  to  render 
them  discontented  and  uneasy  under  their 
new  form  of  government,  to  sow  the  seeds 
of  discord  between  them  and  the  mother 
country,  and  to  induce  them  to  join  in  the 
general  confederacy.  After  these  public 
acts,  which  the  congress  completed  in  a 
session  of  fifty-two  days,  it  dissolved  itself, 
having  previously  recommended  that  an- 
other congress  should  be  held  the  tenth  of 
May  following.  The  effects  of  its  decrees 
were  quickly  seen  throughout  the  provinces : 
a  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  British  govern- 
ment discovered  itself  almost  everywhere, 
but  particularly  in  Massachusets  Bay,  w^hich 
was  considered  as  the  grand  focus  of  Amer- 
ican rebellion.  The  courts  of  judicature 
were  totally  suspended  :  all  persons  accept- 
ing offices  under  the  late  laws  were  de- 
clared enemies  to  their  country :  every  step 
taken  by  general  Gage  for  the  accommoda- 
tion and  security  of  the  troops  under  his 
command  was  obstructed  as  much  as  possi- 
ble :  his  recall  of  writs  which  he  had  issued 
for  convening  the  general  court  of  repre- 
sentatives in  October,  was  disregarded: 
they  met  in  direct  contempt  of  the  authori- 
ty which  forbade  them;  voted  themselves 
into  a  provincial  congress,  with  Hancock  at 
their  head ;  appointed  a  committee  to  pre- 
sent a  remonstrance  to  the  governor  in  a 
very  daring  strain ;  and  on  his  refusing  to 
recognize  them  as  a  lawful  assembly,  they 
proceeded  to  exercise  all  the  functions  not 
only  of  the  legislative,  but  of  the  executive 
power.  At  one  of  their  subsequent  meet- 
ings, a  plan  was  drawn  up  for  the  immediate 
defence  of  the  province  ;  magazines  of  am- 
munition and  stores  were  provided  for  twelve 
thousand  militia;  and  an  enrolment  was 
made  of 'minute-men,  so  called  from  tlieir 
engaging  to  turn  out  witli  their  arms  at  a 
minute's  warning.  General  Gage  clearly 
foresaw  the  inevitable  issue  of  such  pro- 
ceedings ;  but  he  still  confined  himself  to 
the  mildest  measures  that  were  consistent 
with  prudence  and  necessary  caution,  being 
resolved,  that,  if  the  sword  must  be  at  last 
unsheathed,  it  should  not  appear  owing  to 
any  precipitancy  on  his  part.     He  admon- 


144 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


0  ished  the  people,  though  in  vain,  not  to  be 
ensnared  by  the  provincial  congress,  nor  led 
by  their  influence  to  incur  the  penalties  of 
sedition,  treason,  and  rebellion :  besides  for- 
tifying a  narrow  isthmus,  called  Boston 
Neck,  that  connects  the  town  with  the  con- 
tment,  by  means  of  which  the  inhabitants 
of  that  place  became  in  some  sort  hostages 
for  the  behavior  of  the  rest  of  their  coun- 
trymen, he  took  care  to  secure  such  maga- 
zines as  were  within  his  reach,  and  to  spike 
the  cannon  of  some  batteries,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent their  being  serviceable  to  an  enemy. 
The  activity  of  the  Americans  sometimes 
defeated  his  utmost  circumspection.  An 
armed  body  of  them  made  themselves  mas- 
ters of  the  fort  at  Portsmouth,  in  New- 
Hampshire,  and  sent  off  the  powder  it  con- 
tained to  a  place  of  saiety.  They  also  sur- 
prised another  small  fort  in  the  same  prov- 
ince, called  William  and  Mary,  which  was 
garrisoned  by  only  one  officer  and  five  men, 
to  whom  they  did  no  personal  injury,  but 
took  possession  of  the  ammunition  and  ord 
nance.  A  proclamation,  which  had  been 
issued  in  England,  prohibiting  the  exporta- 
tion of  military  stores,  operated  as  a  strong 
incitement  to  the  eagerness  of  the  colonists 
to  procure  such  supplies.  Mills  for  making 
gunpowder,  and  manufactories  for  arms, 
were  set  up  in  several  places ;  and  the  ad- 
vice of  congress,  "  to  prepare  for  every  con- 
tmgency,"  was  implicitly  followed  by  all 
the  provinces. 

A  NEW  PARLIAMENT. 
While  everything  bore  the  most  rebel- 
lious aspect  in  America,  the  British  cabinet 
at  home  thought  it  highly  necessary,  before 
a  blow  was  struck,  to  take  the  sense  of  the 
nation  on  a  subject  which  involved  the  dear- 
est interests  of  the  whole  empire.  A  dis- 
solution of  parliament  was  therefore  resolv- 
ed upon,  to  give  the  people  an  opportunity 
of  manifesting  their  sentiments  in  the 
choice  of  representatives,  and  to  free  the 
latter  from  any  restraint  with  regard  to  a 
change  of  system,  if  it  should  be  deemed 
advisable.  The  same  house  of  commons, 
which  had  so  recently  as  well  as  repeatedly 
given  its  sanction  to  vigorous  measures, 
could  not,  with  a  good  grace,  rescind  its 
own  most  deliberate  acts ;  but  another  body 
of  representatives  would  not  be  tied  down 
to  an  involuntary  perseverance  in  support 
of  the  resolutions  of  their  predecessors.  The 
proclamation  for  dissolving  the  parliament^ 
was  issued  on  the  thirtieth  of  September ; 
and  the  writs  for  calling  a  new  one  were 
made  returnable  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  No- 
vember following.  On  the  first  day  of  the 
meeting  of  parliament,  no  competitor  for 
the  chair  was  started  against  Sir  Fletcher 
Norton ; — as  the  address  of  thanks  to  his 
majesty  for  his  speech  from  the  throne,  of 


which  the  disobedience  of  the  colonies  con 
stituted  the  chief  topic,  implied  a  general 
approbation  of  the  steps  taken  by  his  ma- 
jesty to  carry  into  execution  the  late  law*?, 
and  to  restore  peace  and  good  order  in  Mas- 
sachusets  Bay,  an  amendment  was  proposed 
on  the  side  of  opposition,  and  supported  by 
all  the  powers  of  their  oratory,  and  all  the 
strength  of  their  numbers. — The  latter, 
however,  amounted  only  to  73  against  264, 
who  voted  for  the  origmal  address.  No- 
thmg  else  of  a  remarkable  nature  occurred 
in  parliament  before  the  holidays,  except 
that  the  estimates,  as  stated  to  the  commons, 
were  entirely  formed  upon  a  peace  estab 
lishment;  and  that  nine  out  of  thirteen 
peers  in  the  minority  signed  a  protest 
against  the  address,  bemg  the  first  of  the 
kind  which  had  ever  appeared  on  the  jour- 
nals of  the  upper  house. 

1775. — After  the  recess,  a  variety  of  de- 
bates took  place  on  different  systems  of  co- 
ercion and  lenity  with  regard  to  the  Ameri- 
cans, in  which  much  eloquence  and  party 
spirit  were  displayed.  The  result  of  all  was 
the  passing  of  two  acts ;  by  the  first  of  which 
the  New-England  provinces,  as  havmg  se^ 
the  example  of  renouncing  all  intercourse 
with  the  parent  state,  were  prohibited  from 
trading  to  any  other  country,  and  from  fish- 
ing on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland;  ana 
by  the  second,  the  same  restraints  were 
extended  to  the  colonies  of  East  and  West 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  South  Carolina,  and  to  the  countries  on 
the  Delaware,  which  were  found  to  have 
concurred  in  the  commercial  combinations 
of  the  people  of  New-England.  But  in  or- 
der to  leave  it  still  in  the  power  of  the  colo- 
nies to  avert  the  calamities  unpending  over 
them  in  consequence  of  these  prohibitory 
acts,  a  resolution  was  moved  by  the  minis- 
ter, and  carried  in  the  house  of  commons, 
as  the  basis  of  a  fiiture  agreement,  "  that 
when  any  of  the  colonies  should  propose, 
according  to  their  abilities,  to  raise  their 
due  proportion  towards  the  common  defence, 
such  proportion  to  be  raised  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  assembly  of  such  province, 
and  to  be  disposable  by  parliament ;  and 
when  such  colony  should  also  engage  to  pro- 
vide for  the  support  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment, and  the  administration  of  justice 
withm  such  province ;  it  would  be  proper, 
if  such  proposal  should  be  approved  by  his 
majesty  in  parliament,  to  forbear,  in  respect 
of  such  colony,  to  levy  any  duties  or  taxes, 
or  to  impose  any  further  duties  or  taxes,  ex- 
cept such  as  should  be  necessary  for  the 
regulation  of  trade." 
FRANKLIN'S  EFFORT  AT  CONCILIATION. 

Among  the  conciliatory  attempts  which 
were  made  at  that  period,  the  most  specific 
and  remarkable  was  a  plan  digested  in  pri- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


145 


vate  by  Dr.  Franklin  on  the  part  of  the 
Americans,  and  Dr.  Fothergill  and  David 
Barclay  on  behalf  of  the  British  ministry. 

At  one  of  their  conferences,  held  at  the 
[louse  of  Dr.  Fothergill,  on  the  4th  of  De- 
cember, 1774,  before  the  proceedings  of  con- 
gress had  reached  England,  a  paper,  drawn 
up  by  Dr.  Franklin,  at  the  request  of  the 
two  other  gentlemen,  was  submitted  to  their 
joint  consideration ;  which,  with  a  few  ad- 
ditions proposed  and  agreed  to  by  common 
consent,  was  as  follows : 

Hints  for  Conversation  upon  the  Subject  of 
Terms  that  might  probably  produce  a 
durable  Union  between  Britain  and  the 
Colonies. 

1st.  The  tea  destroyed  to  be  paid  for. 

2d.  The  tea-duty  act  to  be  repealed,  and 
all  the  duties  that  have  been  received  upon 
it  to  be  repaid  into  the  treasuries  of  the 
several  provinces  from  which  they  have 
been  collected. 

3d.  The  acts  of  navigation  to  be  all  re- 
enacted  m  the  colonies. 

4th.  A  naval  officer  to  be  appointed  by 
the  crown  to  see  that  these  acts  are  ob- 
Gerved. 

5th.  All  the  acts  restraining  manufacto- 
ries in  the  colonies  to  be  reconsidered. 

6th.  All  duties  arising  on  the  acts  for 
i-egulating  trade  with  the  colonies,  to  be  for 
t;;e  public  use  of  the  respective  colonies, 
and  paid  into  their  treasuries. 

The  collectors  and  custom-house  officers 
to  be  appointed  by  each  governor,  and  not 
bent  from  England. 

7th.  In  consideration  of  the  Americans 
maintaining  their  own  peace-establishment, 
and  the  monopoly  Britain  is  to  have  of  their 
commerce,  no  requisition  is  to  be  made  from 


tliem  m  time  of 


peace. 


8th.  No  troops  to  enter  and  quarter  in 
any  colony,  but  with  the  consent  of  its  legis- 
lature. 

9th.  In  time  of  war,  on  requisition  by  the 
kinjT,  with  consent  of  parliament,  every 
colony  shall  raise  money  by  the  following 
rules  in  proportion,  viz.  If  Britain,  on  ac- 
count of  the  war,  raises  three  shillings  in 
the  pound,  to  its  land-tax,  then  the  colonies 
to  add  to  their  last  general  provincial  peace- 
tax,  a  sum  equal  to  one-fourth  part  thereof; 
and  if  Britain,  on  the  same  account,  pay 
four  shillings  in  the  pound,  then  the  colo- 
nies to  add  to  their  last  peace-tax,  a  sum 
equal  to  the  half  thereof;  which  additional 
tax  is  to  be  granted  to  his  majesty,  and  to 
i-e  employed  in  raising  and  JJaying  men  for 
land  or  sea  service,  and  furnishing  provis- 
ions, transports,  or  for  such  other  purposes 
as  the  king  shall  require  and  direct;  and 
tbiOugh  no  colonv  may  contribute  le*.  each 

Vol.  IV.        '13 


may  add  as  much  by  voluntary  grant  as  it 
shall  think  proper. 

10th.  Castle  William  to  be  restored  to 
the  province  of  Massachusets  Bay,  and  no 
fortress  to  be  built  by  the  crown  in  any 
province,  but  with  the  consent  of  its  legis- 
lature. 

11th.  The  late  Massachusets  and  Quebec 
acts  to  be  repealed,  and  a  free  government 
granted  to  Canada. 

12th.  All  judges  to  be  appointed  during 
good  behavior,  with  equally  permanent  sala- 
ries to  be  paid  out  of  the  provincial  revenues 
by  appointment  of  the  assemblies ;  or  if  the 
judges  are  to  be  appointed  during  the  plea- 
sure of  the  crown,  let  the  salaries  be  durmg 
the  pleasure  of  the  assemblies,  as  hereto- 
fore. 

13th.  Governors  to  be  supported  by  the 
assemblies  of  each  province. 

14th.  If  Britain  will  give  up  her  monopoly 
of  the  American  commerce,  then  the  aid 
above  mentioned  to  be  given  in  time  of 
peace,  as  well  as  in  time  of  war. 

15th.  The  extension  of  the  act  of  Henry 
VIII.  concerning  treasons  to  the  colonies,  to 
be  formally  disowned  by  parliament. 

16th.  The  American  admiralty-courts  to 
be  reduced  to  the  same  powers  they  have 
in  England,  and  the  acts  establishuag  them 
to  be  re-enacted  in  America. 

17th.  All  power  of  internal  legislation  in 
the  colonies  to  be  disclaimed  by  parliament 

On  reading  this  paper  a  second  time,  Dr. 
Franklin  gave  his  reasons  at  length  for  each 
article. 

The  fourteenth  article  was  expunged  on 
the  representation  of  Dr.  Fothergfll  and 
David  Barclay,  that  the  monopoly  of  the 
American  commerce  would  never  be  given 
up,  and  that  the  proposing  of  it  would  only 
give  offence,  without  answering  any  good 
purpose. 

This  paper  of  hints  was  communicated 
to  lord  Dartmouth  by  Dr.  Fothergill,  who 
also  stated  the  arguments  which  in  conver- 
sation had  been  offered  in  support  of  them. 
When  objections  were  made  to  them,  as  be- 
ing humiliating  to  Great  Britain,  Dr.  Fother- 
gill replied,  "  that  she  had  been  unjust,  and 
ought  to  bear  the  consequences,  and  alter 
her  conduct — that  sooner  or  later,  these  or 
similar  measures  must  be  followed,  or  the 
empire  would  be  divided  and  ruined." 

These  hints  were  handed  about  among" 
ministers,  and  conferences  were  held  on 
them.  The  result  was,  on  the  4tli  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1775,  communicated  to  Dr.  Franklijv 
in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Fothergill  and  David 
Barclay,  which,  as  far  as  concerned  the  lead- 
ing articles,  was  as  follows : 

1.  The  first  article  was  approved. 


146 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


2.  The  second  agreed  to  so  far  as  related 
to  the  tea-act ;  but  repayment  of  the  duties 
that  had  been  collected  was  refused. 

3.  The  third  not  approved,  as  it  implied 
a  deficiency  of  power  in  the  parliament  that 
made  the  acts. 

4.  The  fourth  approved. 

5.  The  fifth  agreed  to,  but  with  a  reserve 
that  no  change  prejudicial  to  Britahi  was  to 
be  expected, 

6.  The  sixth  agreed  to,  so  far  as  related 
to  the  appropriation  of  the  duties ;  but  the 
appointment  of  the  officers  and  their  salaries 
to  remain  as  at  present. 

7.  The  seventh,  relating  to  aids  in  time 
of  war,  agreed  to. 

8.  The  eighth,  relating  to  troops,  was  in- 
admissible. 

9.  The  ninth  could  be  agreed  to  with  this 
difference,  that  no  proportion  should  be  ob- 
served with  regard  to  preceding  taxes,  but 
each  colony  should  give  at  pleasure. 

10.  The  tenth  agreed  to  as  to  the  resti- 
tution of  Castle  William ;  but  the  restric- 
tion on  the  crown  in  building  fortresses  re- 
fused. 

11.  The  eleventh  refused  absolutely,  ex- 
cept as  to  the  Boston  port-bill,  which  would 
be  repealed,  and  the  Quebec  act  might  be 
so  fir  amended,  as  to  reduce  that  province 
to  its  ancient  limits.  The  other  "  JMassa- 
ehusets  acts  beuig  real  amendments  of  their 
constitution,  must  for  tliat  reason  be  con- 
thiued,  as  well  as  to  be  a  standing  example 
of  the  power  of  parliament." 

12.  The  twelfth  agreed  to,  that  the  judges 
should  be  appointed  during  good  behavior, 
on  tlie  assemblies  providing  permanent  sala- 
ries, such  as  the  crown  should  approve  of 

13.  The  thirteenth  agreed  to,  provided  the 
assemblies  make  provision,  as  in  the  preced- 
ing article. 

15.  The  fifteenth  agreed  to. 

16.  Tiie  sixteenth  agreed  to,  supposing 
the  duties  paid  to  the  colonies'  treasuries. 

17.  The  seventeenth  inadmissible. 

At  this  interview  the  conversation  was 
shortened  by  Dr.  Franklin's  observmg,  that 
while  the  parliament  claimed  and  exercised 
a  power  of  internal  legislation  for  the  colo- 
nies, and  of  altering  American  constitutions 
i\t  pleasure,  there  could  be  no  agreement, 
as  that  would  render  the  Americans  unsafe 
in  every  privilege  they  enjoyed,  and  would 
leave  them  nothing  in  which  they  could  be 
secure. 

On  the  16th  of  February  1775,  the  three 
gentlemen  again  met,  when  a  paper  .was 
produced  by  David  Barclay,  entitled,  "A 
plan  which  it  is  believed  would  produce  a 
permanent  union  between  Great  Britain  and 
iier  colonies."  This,  in  the  first  article,  pro- 
posed a  repeal  of  the  tea-act,  on  payment 
being    made    for  the  tea  destroyed.     Dr 


Franklin  agreed  to  the  first  part,  but  con- 
tended that  all  the  other  Massachussets  acts 
should  also  be  repealed ;  but  this  was  deem- 
ed inadmissible.  Dr.  Franklin  declared, 
that  the  people  of  Massachusets  would 
suffer  all  the  hazards  and  mischiefs  of  war, 
rather  than  admit  the  alteration  of  their 
charters  and  laws  by  parliament.  He  was 
for  securing  the  unity  of  the  empire,  by 
recognizing  the  sanctity  of  charters,  and 
by  leaving  the  provinces  to  govern  them- 
selves in  their  internal  concerns;  but  the 
British  ministry  could  not  brook  the  idea  of 
relinquishing  their  claim  to  internal  legisla- 
tion for  the  colonies,  and  especially  to  alter 
and  amend  their  charters.  The  first  was  for 
communicating  the  vital  principles  of  liberty 
to  the  provinces,  but  the  latter,  though  dis- 
posed to  redress  a  few  of  their  existing 
grievances,  would  by  no  means  consent  to  a 
repeal  of  the  late  act  of  parliament  for  al- 
tering the  chartered  government  of  Massa- 
chusets, and  least  of  all  to  renounce  all 
claim  to  future  amendments  of  charters,  or 
of  mternal  legislation  for  the  colonies. 

Dr.  Franklin  labored  hard  to  prevent  the 
breach  from  becoming  irreparable,  and 
stated  the  outlines  of  a  compact  which  he 
supposed  would  procure  a  durable  union  of 
the  two  countries;  but  his  well-meant  en- 
deavors proved  abortive.  Finding  the  minis- 
try bent  on  war,  unless  the  colonists  would 
consent  to  hold  their  rights,  liberties,  and 
charters,  at  the  discretion  of  a  British 
parliament,  and  well  knowing  that  his  coun- 
trymen would  hazard  everything,  rather 
than  consent  to  terms  so  degrading  as  well 
as  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  British 
constitution,  he  quitted  Great  Britain  in 
March  1775,  and  returned  to  Philadelphia. 
Dr.  Fothergill  wrote  to  him  on  the  evening 
before  he  left  London,  "  That  whatever  spe- 
cious pretences  were  offered,  they  were  all 
hollow,  and  that  to  get  a  larger  field  on 
which  to  fatten  a  herd  of  worthless  parasites, 
was  all  that  was  intended." 

CITY  OF  I>ONDON  PETITIONS  IN  FAVOR 
OF  THE  AMERICANS. 
The  city  of  London  ventured  again  to 
breathe  a  fruitless  request.  This  petition 
(presented  in  April)  justified  the  resistance 
to  which  the  Americans  had  been  driven, 
upon  those  same  principles  of  the  constitu- 
tion, whicli  actuated  our  ancestors  when 
they  transferred  the  Imperial  crovrn  of  these 
realms  to  the  hous«  of  Brunswick.  They 
moreover  beseeched  his  majesty,  to  dismiss 
immediately,  and  for  ever,  from  his  councils, 
those  ministers  v/ho  had  advised  the  ob- 
noxious acts,  as  the  first  step  towards  a  re- 
drefjs  of  tiiose  grievances  which  alarmed 
and  ailiicted  the  whole  people.  His  majesty 
answered  the  petition  in  the  foljowing  words : 
"  It  is  vritii  the  iitmo:-t  astonishment  that  I 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


147 


find  any  of  my  subjects  capable  of  encour- 
aging the  rebellious  disposition  which  un- 
happily exists  in  some  of  my  colonies  in 
North  America.  Having  entu'e  confidence 
in  the  wisdom  of  my  parliament,  the  great 
council  of  the  nation,  I  will  steadily  pursue 
those  measures  which  they  have  recom- 
mended for  the  support  of  the  constitutional 
rights  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  protection 
of  the  commercial  interests  of  my  king- 
doms." 

It  was  now  time  for  the  minister  to  pro- 
pose some  advantages,  in  lieu  of  those  of 
which  he  had  deprived  the  nation  by  the 
abolition  of  the  American  fisheries.  With 
this  view  he  moved  for  a  committee  of  the 
whole  house,  to  consider  of  the  encourage- 
ment proper  to  be  given  to  the  fisheries  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  grievances 
of  Ireland  demanded  a  particular  attention, 
as  that  country  had  suffered  them  with  a 
patience  unexampled  and  unexpected.  By 
including  trade  and  commerce  in  this  mo- 
tion, some  members  wished  to  institute  an 
inquiry  into  the  state  of  Ireland  at  large, 
but  in  this  they  were  opposed  by  lord  North, 
who  was  of  opinion,  that  the  field  of  in- 
quiry, which  would,  by  this  alteration,  be 
opened,  would  prove  too  large  for  the  pres- 
ent opportunity.  That  his  lordship,  however, 
might  not  appear  averse  to  the  interests  of 
Ireland,  he  procured  two  motions  to  be  pass- 
ed, by  the  one  of  which  it  w^as  declared 
lawful  to  export  from  Ireland  clothes  and 
accoutrements  for  such  regiments  en  the 
Irish  establishment  as  v/ere  employed  abroad: 
by  the  other,  a  bounty  of  five  shillings  per 
barrel  was  allow^ed  on  all  flax-seed  imported 
into  Ireland.  The  principal  objections  to 
these  motions  were,  that  they  effected  too 
little.  In  the  progress  of  this  committee, 
bounties  were  granted  to  the  ships  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  for  their  encouragement 
in  prosecuting  the  Nev/foundland  fishery, 
and  for  encouraging  the  whale  fishery  in 
those  seas  that  were  to  the  southward  of 
Greenland  and  Davis's  Straits  fisheries ;  the 
several  duties  upon  the  importation  of  oil, 
blubber,  and  bone,  from  Newfoundland,  and 
on  the  importation  of  seal-skins,  were  at  the 
same  time  taken  off! 

The  remainder  of  this  session  was  em- 
ployed in  the  rejection  of  a  variety  of  pe- 
titions from  the  colonists,  or  those  who  had 
tJieir  interest  most  at  heart ;  a  remonstrance 
and  representation  of  the  general  assembly 
of  the  colony  of  New- York  to  the  parliament, 
was  introduced  by  Burke,  who  moved  that 
it  should  be  brought  up.  He  said,  the  decent 
and  respectful  language  in  which  they  con- 
veyed their  sentiments,  carried  with  it  some 
claim  on  parliamentary  attention.  Every 
opinion  contained  in  the  paper  he  granted 
might  not  be  incontrovertible ;  but  such  was 


the  manner  in  which  their  complaints  were 
urged,  that  he  could  not  help  looking  on  this 
as  a  very  favorable  opportunity  for  amicably 
ending  our  diflferences  witli  America.  The 
rejection  of  this  motion  was  followed  by 
that  of  another,  owing  to  similar  circum- 
stances, in  the  house  of  lords,  and  that,  by 
a  petition  from  the  British  inhabitants  of 
the  province  of  Quebec,  presented  by  lord 
Camden.  The  extension  of  the  limits  of 
Quebec,  the  establishment  of  popery,  and 
the  common  complaints  of  despotism,  form- 
ed the  material  part  of  this  latter  petition. 
The  debates  on  it  were  long  and  violent ; 
but,  on  the  side  of  opposition,  very  ineffec- 
tual, the  numbers  being  88  who  opposed  it, 
to  28  lords  only  who  supported  it.  Among 
the  minority  were  their  royal  highnesses  of 
Cumberland  and  Gloucester. 

Thus  ended  the  session,  in  which  every 
step  towards  the  favorite  system  of  coercion 
seemed  to  receive  an  almost  universal  ap- 
probation; and  in  the  speech,  his  majesty 
expressed  the  most  perfect  satisfaction  in 
their  conduct.  They  had  maintained,  with 
a  firm  and  steady  resolution,  the  inseparable 
rights  of  the  crown  and  the  authority  of  par- 
liament; they  had  projected  and  promoted 
the  commercial  interest  of  tliese  kingdoms, 
and  had  given  convincing  proofs  of  their 
readiness  (as  far  as  the  constitution  would 
allow  them)  to  gratify  the  wishes,  and  re- 
move the  apprehensions  of  the  subjects  in 
America ;  and  a  persuasion  was  entertained, 
that  the  most  salutary  effects  must,  in  tlic 
end,  result  from  measures  formed  and  con- 
ducted on  such  principles.  His  majesty  ex- 
pressed much  concern,  that  the  unhappy  dis- 
turbances in  some  of  the  colonies  had  oc- 
casioned an  augmentation  of  the  land  forces, 
and  prevented  the  intended  reduction  of  the 
naval  establishment  from  being  completed ; 
thanks  were  returned  for  the  cheerfulness 
and  public  spirit  with  which  they  had  grant- 
ed the  supplies.  A  favorable  representation 
was  made  of  the  pacific  disposition  of  other 
powers,  and  the  usual  assurance  given  of 
endeavoring  to  secure  the  public  tranquillity. 
The  speech  concluded  with  a  recommenda- 
tion, to  preserve  and  cultivate  in  their 
several  counties  the  same  regard  for  public 
order,  and  the  same  discernment  of  their 
true  interests,  which  had  in  these  times  dis- 
tinguished the  character  of  his  majesty's 
faithful  and  beloved  people;  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  which  could  not  fail  to  render 
them  happy  at  home,  and  respected  abroad. 
STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA. 

While  such  were  the  impolitic  proceed- 
ings of  the  British  ministry,  tlie  hostile  as- 
pect of  affairs  in  America  became  equally 
alarming,  and  seemed  to  accelerate  that 
crisis  which  all  good  men  deprecated  and 
deplored.  The  colonists  had  indulged  them- 


148 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


selves  in  an  expectation  that  the  people  of 
Great  Britain,  from  a  consideration  of  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  a  war  with  the 
colonies,  would  have  preferred  peace  and  a 
reconciliation ;  but  when  they  were  con- 
vinced of  the  fallacy  of  these  hopes,  they 
turned  their  attention  to  the  means  of  self- 
defence.  It  had  been  the  resolution  of  many 
never  to  submit  to  the  operation  of  the  late 
acts  of  parliament.  Their  number  daily  in- 
creased, and  in  the  same  proportion  that 
Great  Britain  determined  to  enforce,  did 
they  determine  to  oppose. 

Whatever  might  be  the  designs  of  parlia- 
ment, their  acts  had  a  natural  tendency  to 
enlarge  the  demands  of  the  Americans,  and 
to  cement  their  confederacy,  by  firm  princi- 
ples of  union.  At  first  they  only  claimed 
exemption  from  internal  taxation,  but  by  the 
combination  of  the  East  India  company  and 
the  British  ministry,  an  external  tax  was 
made  to  answer  all  the  purposes  of  a  direct 
internal  tax.  They  therefore,  in  consistence 
with  their  own  principles,  were  constrained 
to  deny  the  right  of  taxing  in  any  form  for 
a  supply.  But  they  still  admitted  the  pow- 
er of  parliament  to  bind  their  trade.  This 
was  conceded  by  congress  but  a  few  months 
before  an  act  passed  that  they  should  have 
no  foreign  trade,  nor  be  allowed  to  fish  on 
their  own  coasts.  The  British  ministry,  by 
their  successive  acts,  impelled  the  colonists 
to  believe,  that  while  the  mother-country  re- 
tained any  authority  over  them,  that  author- 
ity would  in  some  shape  or  other  be  exerted 
so  as  to  answer  all  the  purposes  of  a  power 
to  tax. 

Prudence,  policy,  and  reciprocal  interest, 
urged  the  expediency  of  concession ;  but 
pride,  false  honor,  and  misconceived  dignity, 
drew  in  an  opposite  direction.  Undecided 
claims  and  doubtful  rights,  which  under  the 
influence  of  wisdom  and  humility  might 
have  been  easily  compromised,  impercepti- 
bly widened  into  an  irreconcilable  breach. 
Hatred  at  length  took  the  place  of  kind  af- 
fections, and  the  calamities  of  war  were 
substituted  in  lieu  of  the  benefits  of  com- 
merce. 

In  civil  wars  or  revolutions,  it  is  a  matter 
of  much  consequence  who  strikes  the  first 
blow.  The  compassion  of  the  world  is  in 
fevor  of  the  attacked,  and  the  displeasure 
of  good  men  falls  on  those  who  are  the  first 
to  imbrue  their  hands  in  human  blood.  For 
the  space  of  nine  months  afler  the  arrival 
of  general  Gage,  the  people  of  Boston  con- 
ducted their  opposition  with  exquisite  ad- 
dress. They  avoided  every  kind  of  outrage 
and  violence,  preserved  peace  and  good  or 
der  among  themselves,  successfully  engaged 
the  other  colonies  to  make  a  common  cause 
with  them,  and  counteracted  general  Gage 
90  effectually  as  to  prevent  his  doing  any 


thing  for  his  royal  master,  while  by  patience 
and  moderation  they  screened  themselves 
from  censure.  Though  resolved  to  bear  as 
long  as  prudence  and  policy  dictated,  they 
were  all  the  time  preparing  for  the  last  ex- 
tremity. They  were  furnishing  themselves 
with  arms  and  ammunition,  and  training 
their  militia. 

BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 
Provisions  were  also  collected  and  stored 
in  different  places,  particularly  at  Concord, 
about  twenty  miles  from  Boston.  General 
Gage,  though  zealous  for  his  master's  uiter- 
est,  discovered  a  prevailing  desire  for  a 
peaceable  accommodation.  He  wished  to 
prevent  hostilities,  by  depriving  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  means  necessary  for  carrymg 
them  on.  With  this  view  he  determined  to 
destroy  the  stores  which  he  knew  were  col- 
lected for  the  support  of  a  provincial  army. 
Wishing  to  accomplish  this  without  blood- 
shed, he  took  every  precaution  to  efiect  it 
by  surprise,  and  without  alarming  the  coun- 
try. At  eleven  o'clock  at  night  on  the 
eighteenth  of  April,  eight  hundred  grena- 
diers and  light  infantry,  the  flower  of  the 
royal  army,  embarked  at  the  Common,  land- 
ed at  Phipps's  Farm,  and  marched  for  Con- 
cord, under  the  command  of  lieutenant-colo- 
nel Smith.  About  two  in  the  morning,  one 
hundred  and  thirty  of  the  Lexington  milit.a 
had  assembled  to  oppose  them ;  between 
four  and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 
British  regulars  made  their  appearance. 
Major  Pitcaim,  wlio  led  the  advanced  corps, 
rode  up  to  tl^f^m,  and  called  out,  "Disperse, 
you  rebels ;  th'cv,-  down  your  arms  and  dis- 
perse." They  still  continued  in  a  body,  on 
which  he  advanced  nearer,  discharged  his 
pistol,  and  ordered  his  soldiers  to  fire.  This 
was  done  with  a  huzza.  A  dispersion  of  the 
militia  was  the  consequence,  but  the  firing 
of  the  regulars  was  nevertheless  continued. 
Individuals,  finding  they  were  fired  upon, 
though  dispersing,  returned  the  fire.  Three 
or  four  of  the  militia  were  killed  on  the 
green ;  a  few  more  were  shot  afler  they  had 
begun  to  disperse.  The  royal  detachment 
proceeded  on  to  Concord,  and  executed  tlieir 
commission.  They  disabled  two  twenty- 
four-pounders,  threw  5001b.  of  ball  into  riv- 
ers and  wells,  and  broke  in  pieces  about  six- 
ty barrels  of  flour.  The  king's  troops  hav- 
ing done  their  business,  began  their  retreat 
towards  Boston.  This  was  conducted  with 
expedition,  for  the  adjacent  inhabitants  had 
assembled  in  arms,  and  began  to  attack 
them  in  every  direction.  In  their  return  to 
Lexington  they  were  exceedingly  annoyed, 
both  by  those  who  pressed  on  their  rear,  and 
others,  who,  pouring  in  on  all  sides,  fired 
from  behind  stone  walls,  and  similar  coverts, 
which  supplied  the  place  of  lines  and  re- 
doubts.    At  Lexington  the  resfulars  v/ere 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


H9 


joined  by  a  detachment  of  nine  hundred 
men,  under  lord  Piercy,  which  had  been 
sent  out  by  general  Gage  to  support  lieuten- 
ant-colonel Smith.  This  reinforcement  hav- 
ing two  pieces  of  cannon,  awed  the  provin- 
cials, and  kept  them  at  a  greater  distance, 
but  they  continued  a  constant,  though  irreg- 
ular and  scattering  fire,  which  did  great  ex- 
ecution. The  close  firing  from  behind  the 
walls,  by  good  marksmen,  put  the  regular 
troops  in  no  small  confusion,  but  they  never- 
theless kept  up  a  brisk  retreating  fire  on  the 
militia  and  minute-men.  A  little  after  sun- 
set the  regulars  reached  Bunker's  Hill,  worn 
down  with  excessive  fatigue,  having  march- 
ed that  day  between  thirty  and  forty  miles. 
On  the  next  day  they  crossed  Charlestown 
ferry,  and  returned  to  Boston. 

The  provincial  congress  of  Ma^sachusets, 
which  was  in  session  at  the  time  of  the  Lex- 
ington battle,  dispatched  an  account  of  it  to 
Great  Britain,  accompanied  with  many  de- 
positions, to  prove  that  the  British  troops 
were  the  aggressors.  They  also  made  an 
address  to  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain, 
in  which,  after  complaining  of  their  suffer- 
ings, they  say,  "These  have  not  yet  detach- 
ed us  from  our  royal  sovereign  ;  we  profess 
to  be  his  loyal  and  dutiful  subjects  ;  and 
though  hardly  dealt  with,  as  we  have  been, 
are  still  ready,  with  our  lives  and  fortunes, 
to  defend  his  person,  crown,  and  dignity; 
nevertheless,  to  the  persecution  and  tyranny 
of  his  evil  ministry,  we  will  not  tamely  sub- 
mit. Appealing  to  heaven  for  the  justice  of 
our  cause,  we  determine  to  die  or  be  free." 
From  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  the 
dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colo- 
nies took  a  new  direction. 

Intelligence  that  the  British  troops  had 
marched  out  of  Boston  into  the  country,  on 
some  hostile  purpose,  being  forwarded  by 
expresses  from  one  committee  to  another, 
great  bodies  of  the  militia,  not  only  from 
Massachusets,  but  the  adjacent  colonies, 
grasped  their  arms,  and  marched  to  oppose 
them.  Hitherto  the  Americans  had  no  regu- 
lar army.  From  principles  of  policy  they 
cautiously  avoided  that  measure,  lest  they 
might  subject  themselves  to  the  charge  of 
being  aggressors.  All  their  military  regu- 
lations were  carried  on  by  their  militia,  and 
under  the  old  established  laws  of  the  land. 
For  the  defence  of  the  colonies,  the  inhab- 
itants had  been,  from  their  early  years,  en- 
rolled in  companies,  and  taught  the  use  of 
arms.  The  laws  for  this  purpose  had  never 
been  better  observed  than  for  some  months 
previous  to  the  Lexington  battle.  These 
military  arrangements,  which  had  been  pre- 
viously adopted  for  defending  the  colonies 
from  hostile  French  and  Indians,  were  on 
this  occasion  turned  against  the  troops  of 
the  parent  state.  Forts,  magazines,  and 
13* 


arsenals,  by  the  constitution  of  the  countrj% 
were  in  the  keeping  of  his  majesty.  Imme- 
diately after  the  j^exington  battle,  these 
were  for  the  most  part  taken  possession  of 
throughout  the  colonies,  by  parties  of  the 
provincial  militia.  Ticonderoga,  in  which 
was  a  small  royal  garrison,  was  surprised 
and  taken  by  adventurers  from  different 
states.  Public  money  which  had  been  col- 
lected in  consequence  of  previous  grants, 
was  also  seized  tor  common  services.  The 
provincial  congress  of  Massachusets  voted 
that  "an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  be 
immediately  raised,  that  thirteen  thousand 
six  hundred  be  of  their  own  province,  and 
that  a  letter  and  delegate  be  sent  to  the  sev- 
eral colonies  of  New-Hampshire,  Connecti- 
cut, and  Rhode-Island."  In  consequence  of 
this  vote,  the  business  of  recruiting  was  be- 
gun, and  in  a  short  time  a  provincial  army 
was  paraded  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,  which, 
though  far  below  what  had  been  voted  by 
the  provincial  congress,  was  much  superior 
in  numbers  to  the  royal  army.  The  com- 
mand of  this  force  was  given  to  general 
Ward. 

Resistance  therefore  being  resolved  upon 
by  the  Americans,  the  pulpit,  the  press,  the 
bench,  and  the  bar,  severally  labored  to  unite 
and  encourage  them.  The  clergy  of  New- 
England  were  a  numerous,  learned,  and  re- 
spectable body,  who  had  a  great  ascendency 
over  the  minds  of  their  hearers.  They  con- 
nected religion  and  patriotism,  and  in  their 
sermons  and  prayers  represented  the  cause 
of  America  as  the  cause  of  heaven.  The 
synod  of  New- York  and  Philadelphia  also 
sent  forth  a  pastoral  letter,  which  was  pub- 
licly read  in  their  churches.  This  earnestly 
recommended  such  sentiments  and  conduct 
as  were  suitable  to  their  situation.  Writers 
and  printers  followed  in  the  rear  of  the 
preachers,  and  next  to  them  had  the  great- 
est hand  in  animating  their  countrymen. 
Gentlemen  of  the  bench  and  of  the  bar  de- 
nied the  charge  of  rebellion,  and  justified 
the  resistance  of  the  colonists.  A  distinction 
founded  on  law  between  the  king  and  his 
ministry  was  introduced.  The  former,  it 
was  contended,  could  do  no  wrong.  The 
crime  of  treason  was  charged  on  the  latter, 
for  using  the  royal  name  to  varnish  their 
own  unconstitutional  measures.  The  plirase 
of  a  ministerial  war  became  common,  and 
was  used  as  a  medium  for  reconciling  re- 
sistance with  allegiance. 

BATTLE  OF  BUNKER'S  HILL. 

Abol't  the  latter  end  of  May  a  great  part 
of  the  reinforcements  ordered'  from  Great 
Britain,  arrived  at  Boston.  Three  British 
generals,  Howe,  Burgoyne,  and  Clinton, 
whose  behavior  in  the  preceding  war  had 
gained  them  great  reputation,  also  arrived 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  May.     General  Gage, 


150 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


thus  reinforced,  prepared  for  acting  with 
more  decision ;  but  before  he  proceeded  to 
extremities  he  conceived  it  due  to  ancient 
forms  to  issue  a  proclamation,  holding  forth 
to  the  inhabitants  the  alternative  of  peace  or 
war.  He,  therefore,  (June  12th,)  offered 
pardon  in  the  king's  name  to  all  who  should 
forthwith  lay  down  their  arms  and  return  to 
their  respective  occupations  and  peaceable 
duties,  excepting  only  from  the  benefit  of 
that  pardon  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Han- 
cock, whose  offences  were  said  to  be  of  too 
flagitious  a  nature  to  admit  of  any  other  con- 
sideration than  that  of  condign  punishment. 
He  also  proclaimed  that  not  only  the  persons 
above  named  and  excepted,  but  also  all  their 
adherents,  associates,  and  correspondents, 
should  be  deemed  guilty  of  treason  and  re- 
bellion, and  treated  accordingly.  By  this 
proclamation  it  was  also  declared,  "  that  as 
the  courts  of  judicature  were  shut,  martial 
law  should  take  place,  till  a  due  course  of 
justice  should  be  re-established."  It  was 
supposed  that  this  proclamation  was  a  pre- 
lude to  hostilities,  and  preparations  were  ac- 
cordingly made  by  the  Americans.  A  con- 
siderable height,  by  the  name  of  Bunker's 
Hill,  just  at  the  entrance  of  the  peninsula 
of  Charlestown,  was  so  situated  as  to  make 
the  possession  of  it  a  matter  of  great  conse- 
quence to  either  of  the  contending  parties. 
Orders  were  therefore  issued  on  the  16th 
of  June,  by  the  provincial  commanders,  that 
a  detachment  of  a  thousand  men  should  in- 
trench upon  this  height.  By  some  mistake. 
Breed's  Hill,  high  and  large,  like  the  other, 
but  situated  near  Boston,  was  marked  out 
for  the  intrenchments,  instead  of  Bunker's 
Hill.  The  provincials  proceeded  to  Breed's 
Hill,  and  worked  with  so  much  diligence, 
that  between  midnight  and  the  dawn  of  the 
morning  they  had  thrown  up  a  small  redoubt 
about  eight  rods  square.  They  kept  such  a 
profound  silence,  that  they  were  not  heard 
by  the  British,  on  board  their  vessels,  though 
very  near.  These  having  derived  their  first 
information  of  what  was  going  on  from  the 
sight  of  the  work  near  completion,  beo-an  an 
incessant  firing  upon  them.  The  provincials 
bore  this  with  firmness,  and  though  they 
were  only  young  soldiers,  continued  to  labor 
till  they  had  thrown  up  a  small  breastwork, 
extending  from  the  east  side  of  the  redoubt 
to  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  As  this  eminence 
overlooked  Boston,  general  Gage  thought  it 
necessary  to  drive  the  provincials  from  it. 
About  noon  therefore  of  the  7th,  he  detached 
major-general  Howe,  and  brigadier-general 
Pigot,  with  the  flower  of  the  army,  consist- 
ing of  four  battalions,  ten  companies  of  the 
grenadiers,  and  ten  of  light  infantry,  with  a 
proportion  of  field  artillery,  to  effect  this 
business.  These  troops  landed  at  Moreton's 
Point,  and  formed  after  landing,  but  remained 


in  that  position  till  they  were  reinforced  by 
a  second  detachment  of  light  infantry  and 
grenadier  companies,  a  battalion  of  land 
forces,  and  a  battalion  of  marines,  making 
in  the  whole  near  3000  men.  While  the 
troops  who  first  landed  were  waiting  for  this 
reinforcement,  the  provincials,  for  their  far- 
ther security,  pulled  up  some  adjoining  post 
and  rail  fences,  and  set  them  down  in  two 
parallel  lines  at  a  small  distance  from  each 
other,  and  filled  the  space  between  witl  hay, 
which  having  been  lately  mowed,  remained 
on  the  adjacent  ground. 

The  king's  troops  formed  in  two  lines, 
and  advanced  slowly,  to  give  their  artillery 
time  to  demolish  the  American  works. 
While  the  British  were  advancing  to  the  at- 
tack, they  received  orders  to  burn  Charles- 
town. 

Thousands,  both  within  and  without  Bos- 
ton, were  anxious  spectators  of  the  bloody 
scene.  The  honor  of  British  troops  beat 
high  in  the  breasts  of  many,  while  others, 
with  a  keener  sensibility,  felt  for  the  liber- 
ties of  a  great  and  growing  country.  The 
British  moved  on  but  slowly,  which  gave  the 
provincials  a  better  opportunity  for  taking 
aim.  The  latter,  in  general  reserved  them- 
selves till  their  adversaries  were  within  ten 
or  twelve  rods,  but  then  began  a  furious  dis- 
charge of  small-arms.  The  stream  of  the 
American  fire  was  so  incessant,  and  did  so 
great  execution,  that  the  king's  troops  re- 
treated in  disorder  and  precipitation.  Their 
officers  rallied  them.  The  Americans  again 
reserved  their  fire  till  their  adversaries  were 
near,  and  then  put  them  a  second  time  to 
flight.  General  Howe  and  the  officers  re- 
doubled their  exertions,  and  were  at  last 
successful.  By  this  time  the  powder  of  the 
Americans  began  so  far  to  fail,  that  they 
were  not  able  to  keep  up  the  same  brisk  fire 
as  before.  The  British  also  brought  some 
cannon  to  bear,  which  raked  the  inside  of 
the  breastwork  from  end  to  end.  The  fire 
from  the  ships,  batteries,  and  field  artillery, 
was  redoubled.  The  redoubt  was  attacked 
on  three  sides  at  once.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances a  retreat  from  it  was  ordered. 

While  these  operations  were  going  on  «^t 
the  breastwork  and  redoubt,  the  British  light 
infantry  were  attempting  to  force  the  left 
point  of  the  former,  that  they  might  toke 
the  American  line  in  flank.  Though  they 
exliibited  the  most  undaunted  courage,  they 
met  with  an  opposition  which  called  for  its 
greatest  exertions.  The  provincials  here, 
in  like  manner,  reserved  their  fire  till  their 
adversaries  were  near,  and  then  poured  it 
upon  the  light  infantry,  with  such  an  inces- 
sant stream,  and  in  so  true  a  direction,  as 
mowed  down  their  ranks.  The  engagement 
was  kept  up  on  both  sides  with  great  resolu- 
tion.  The  persevering  exertions  of  the  king's 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


151 


troops  could  not  compel  the  Americans  to  re- 
treat, till  they  ohserved  that  their  main  body 
had  left  the  hill.  This,  when  begun,  ex- 
posed them  to  new  danger,  for  it  could  not 
be  effected  but  by  marching-  over  Charles- 
town  Neck,  every  part  of  which  was  raked 
by  the  shot  of  the  Glasgow  man-of-war,  and 
of  two  floating  batteries. 

The  number  of  Americans  engaged 
amounted  only  to  1500.  It  was  apprehended 
that  the  conquerors  would  push  the  advanta- 
ges they  had  gained,  and  march  immediately 
to  the  American  head-quarters  at  Cambridge, 
but  they  advanced  no  farther  than  Bunker's 
Hill ;  there  they  threw  up  works  for  their 
own  security.  The  provincials  did  the  same 
on  Prospect  Hill  in  front  of  them.  Both 
were  guarded  against  an  attack,  and  both 
were  in  a  bad  condition  to  receive  one.  The 
loss  of  the  peninsula  depressed  the  spirits  of 
the  Americans,  and  their  great  loss  of  men 
produced  the  same  effect  on  the  British. 
The  unexpected  resistance  of  the  Americans 
was  such  as  wiped  away  the  reproaches  of 
cowardice,  which  had  been  cast  on  them  by 
their  enemies  in  Britain.  The  spirited  con- 
duct of  the  British  officers  merited  and  ob- 
tained great  applause.  The  provincials  were 
justly  entitled  to  a  large  portion  of  fame,  for 
having  made  the  utmost  exertions  of  their 
adversaries  necessary  to  dislodge  them  from 
lines,  which  were  the  work  only  of  a  single 
night. 

SECOND  CONGRESS  MEETS. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned,  that  con- 
gress, previous  to  its  dissolution,  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  October  1774,  recommended 
to  the  colonies  to  choose  members  for  an- 
other to  meet  on  the  tenth  of  May  1775, 
unless  the  redress  of  their  grievances  was 
previously  obtained. 

On  their  meeting  they  chose  Peyton  Ran- 
dolph for  their  president,  and  Charles  Thomp- 
son for  their  secretary.  On  the  next  day  Mr. 
Hancock  laid  before  them  a  variety  of  depo- 
sitions, proving  that  the  king's  troops  were 
the  aggressors  in  the  late  battle  at  Lexing- 
ton, together  with  other  papers  relative  to 
the  great  events  which  had  lately  taken 
place  in  Massachusets :  whereupon  congress 
resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole, 
to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  Amer- 
ica. They  proceeded  in  the  same  line  of 
moderation  and  firmness,  which  marked  the 
acts  of  their  predecessors  in  the  past  year. 

The  city  and  county  of  New- York  having 
applied  to  congress  for  advice,  how  they 
should  conduct  themselves  with  regard  to 
tlie  troops  expected  to  land  there,  they  were 
advised  "  to  act  on  the  defensive  so  long  as 
might  be  consistent  with  their  safety;  to 
permit  the  troops  to  remain  in  the  barracks 
so  iong  as  they  behaved  peaceably,  but  not 
to  suffer  fortifications  to  be  erected,  or  any 


steps  to  be  taken  for  cutting  off  the  commu 
nication  between  the  town  and  coimtry." 
Congress  also,  on  the  seventeenth  of  May, 
resolved,  "  That  exportation  to  all  parts  of 
British  America,  which  had  not  adopted  their 
association,  should  immediately  cea.se ;"  and 
that  "  no  provision  of  any  kind,  or  other  ne- 
cessaries, be  furnished  to  the  British  fisheries 
on  the  American  coast"  And  "  that  no  bill 
of  exchange,  drafl,  or  order  of  any  officer 
in  the  British  army  or  navy,  their  agents  or 
contractors,  be  received  or  negotiated,  or  any 
money  supplied  them  by  any  person  in 
America — that  no  provisions  or  necessaries 
of  any  kind  be  furnished  or  supplied  to  or 
for  the  use  of  the  British  army  or  navy,  in 
the  colony  of  Massachusets  Bay — that  no 
vessel  employed  in  transporting  British 
troops  to  America,  or  from  one  part  of  North 
America  to  another,  or  warlike  stores  or 
provisions  for  the  said  troops,  be  freiglited  or 
furnished  with  provisions  or  any  necessariea" 
These  resolutions  may  be  considered  as  the 
counterpart  of  the  British  acts  for  restrain- 
ing the  commerce,  and  prohibiting  the  fisli- 
eries  of  the  colonies.  They  were  calculated 
to  bring  distress  on  the  British  islands  m  the 
West  Indies,  whose  chief  dependence  for 
subsistence  was  on  the  importation  of  pro- 
vision from  the  American  continent  They 
also  occasioned  new  difficulties  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  British  army  and  fisheries.  The 
colonists  were  so  much  indebted  to  Great 
Britain,  that  government  bills  for  the  most 
part  found  among  them  a  ready  market  A 
war  in  the  colonies  was  therefore  made  sub- 
servient to  commerce,  by  increasing  the 
sources  of  remittance.  This  enabled  the 
mother  country,  in  a  great  degree,  to  supply 
her  troops  without  shipping  money  out  of 
the  kingdom.  From  the  operation  of  these 
resolutions,  advantages  of  this  nature  were 
not  only  cut  off,  but  the  supply  of  the  Brit- 
ish army  rendered  botli  precarious  and  ex- 
pensive. 

The  new  congress  had  been  convened  but 
a  few  days,  when  their  venerable  president, 
Peyton  Randolph,  was  under  a  necessity  of 
returning  home.  On  his  departure  John 
Hancock  was  unanimously  chosen  his  suc- 
cessor. The  objects  of  deliberation  pre- 
sented to  this  new  congress  were,  if  possible, 
more  important  than  those  which  in  the  pre- 
ceding year  had  engaged  the  attention  of 
their  predecessors. 

In  this  awful  crisis  congress  had  but  a 
choice  of  difficulties.  The  New-England 
states  had  already  organized  an  army  and 
blockaded  general  Gage.  To  desert  them 
would  have  been  contrary  to  plighted  faith 
and  to  so\md  policy ;  to  support  them  would 
make  the  war  general,  and  involve  all  the 
provinces  in  one  general  promiscuous  state 
of  hostility.     The  resolution  of  the  people 


152 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


in  favor  of  the  latter  was  fixed,  and  only- 
wanted  public  sanction  for  its  operation. 
Congress  therefore,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
May,  resolved,  "  That  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  defending  and  securing  the  colonies, 
and  preserving  them  in  safety,  against  all 
attempts  to  carry  the  late  acts  of  parliament 
into  execution,  by  force  of  arms,  they  be  im- 
mediately put  in  a  state  of  defence ;  but  as 
they  wished  for  a  restoration  of  the  harmony 
formerly  subsisting  between  the  mother- 
country  and  the  colonies,  to  the  promotion 
of  this  most  desirable  reconciliation,  an 
humble  and  dutiful  petition  be  presented  to 
his  majesty.  To  resist  and  to  petition  were 
coeval  resolutions.  As  freemen  they  could 
not  tamely  submit,  but  as  loyal  subjects, 
wishing  for  peace  as  far  as  was  compatible 
with  their  rights,  they  once  more,  in  the 
character  of  petitioners,  humbly  stated  their 
grievances  to  the  common  father  of  the  em- 
pire. To  dissuade  the  Canadians  from  co- 
operating with  the  British,  they  again  ad- 
dressed them,  representing  the  pernicious 
tendency  of  the  Quebec  act,  and  apologizing 
for  their  taking  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point,  as  measures  which  were  dictated  by 
the  great  law  of  self-preservation.  About 
the  same  time  congress  took  measures  for 
warding  off  the  danger  that  threatened  their 
frontier  inhabitants  from  Indians.  Commis- 
sioners to  treat  with  them  were  appointed, 
and  a  supply  of  goods  for  their  use  was  or- 
dered. A  talk  was  also  prepared  by  con- 
gress, and  transmitted  to  them,  in  which  the 
controversy  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies  was  explained,  in  a  familiar  Indian 
style.  They  were  told  that  they  had  no 
concern  in  the  family  quarrel,  and  were 
urged  by  the  ties  of  ancient  friendship  and 
a  common  birth-place,  to  remain  at  home, 
keep  their  hatchet  buried  deep,  and  to  join 
neither  side. 

The  novel  situation  of  Massachusets  made 
it  necessary  for  the  ruling  powers  of  that 
province  to  ask  the  advice  of  congress  on  a 
very  interesting  subject,  "  The  taking  up 
and  exercising  the  powers  of  civil  govern- 
ment." For  many  months  they  had  been 
kept  together  in  tolerable  peace  and  order 
by  the  force  of  ancient  habits,  under  the 
simple  style  of  recommendation  and  advice 
from  popular  bodies,  invested  with  no  legis- 
lative authority.  But  as  war  now  raged  in 
their  borders,  and  a  numerous  army  was  ac- 
tually raised,  some  more  efficient  form  of 
government  became  necessary.  At  this 
early  day  it  neither  comported  with  the 
wishes  nor  the  designs  of  the  colonists  to 
erect  forms  of  government  independent  of 
Great  Britain;  congress  therefore  recom- 
mended only  such  regulations  as  were  im- 
mediately necessary,  and  these  were  con- 
formed as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  spirit  and 


substance  of  the  charter,  and  were  only  to 
last  till  a  governor  of  his  majesty's  appoint- 
ment would  consent  to  govern  the  colony 
according  to  its  charter. 

On  the  same  principles  of  necessity,  an- 
other assumption  of  new  powers  became 
unavoidable.  The  great  intercourse  that 
daily  took  place  throughout  the  colonies, 
pointed  out  the  propriety  of  establishing  a 
general  post-office.  This  was  accordingly 
done,  and  Dr.  Franklin,  who  had  by  royal 
authority  been  dismissed  from  a  similar  em- 
ployment about  three  years  before,  was  ap- 
pointed by  his  country,  the  head  of  the  new 
department. 

While  congress  was  making  arrangements 
for  their  proposed  continental  army,  it  was 
thought  expedient  once, more  to  address  the 
inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  publish 
to  the  world  a  declaration  setting  forth  their 
reasons  for  taking  up  arms ;  to  address  the 
speaker  and  gentlemen  of  the  assembly  of 
Jamaica,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland ;  and 
also  to  prefer  a  second  humble  petition  to 
the  king.  In  their  address  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Great  Britain,  they  again  vindicated 
themselves  from  the  charge  of  aiming  at 
independency,  professed  their  willingness  to 
submit  to  the  several  acts  of  trade  and  navi- 
gation which  were  passed  before  the  year 
1763,  recapitulated  their  reasons  for  reject- 
ing lord  North's  conciliatory  motion,  stated 
the  hardships  they  suffered  from  the  opera- 
tions of  the  royal  army  in  Boston,  and  in- 
sinuated the  danger  the  inhabitants  of  Britain 
would  be  in  of  losing  their  freedom,  in  case 
their  American  brethren  were  subdued. 

In  their  declaration,  settin^r  forth  the 
causes  and  necessity  of  their  taking  up  arms, 
they  enumerated  the  injuries  they  had  re- 
ceived, and  the  methods  taken  by  the  British 
ministry  to  compel  their  submission;  and 
then  said,  "  We  are  reduced  to  the  alterna- 
tive of  choosing  an  unconditional  submission 
to  the  tyranny  of  irritated  ministers,  or  re- 
sistance by  force.  The  latter  is  our  choice. 
We  have  counted  the  cost  of  this  contest, 
and  find  nothing  so  dreadful  as  voluntary 
slavery."  They  asserted  "  that  foreign  as- 
sistance was  undoubtedly  attainable."  This 
was  not  founded  on  any  private  information, 
but  was  an  opinion  derived  from  their  Icnow- 
ledge  of  the  principles  of  policy,  by  v/hich 
states  usually  regulate  their  conduct  towards 
each  other. 

But  their  petition  to  the  king,  which  was 
drawn  up  at  the  same  time,  produced  more 
solid  advantages  in  favor  of  the  American 
cause,  than  any  other  of  their  productions. 
In  this,  among  other  things,  it  was  stated, 
"  that,  notwithstanding  their  sufferings,  they 
had  retained  too  high  a  regard  for  the  king- 
dom from  which  they  derived  their  origin, 
to  request  such  a  reconciliation  as  might, 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


153 


in  any  manner,  be  inconsistent  with  her  dig- 
nity and  welfare.  Attached  to  his  majesty's 
person,  family,  and  government,  with  all  the 
devotion  that  principle  and  affection  can  in- 
spire, connected  with  Great  Britain  by  the 
strongest  ties  that  can  unite  society,  and  de- 
ploring every  event  that  tended  in  any  de- 
gree to  weaken  them,  they  not  only  most 
fervently  desired  the  former  harmony  be- 
tween her  and  the  colonies  to  be  restored, 
but  that  a  concord  might  be  established  be- 
tween them,  upon  so  firm  a  basis  as  to  per- 
petuate its  blessings,  uninterrupted  by  any 
future  dissensions,  to  succeeding  generations, 
in  both  countries.  They,  therefore,  beseech- 
ed  that  his  majesty  would  be  pleased  to  di- 
rect some  mode  by  which  the  united  appli- 
cations of  his  faithful  colonists  to  the  throne, 
in  pursuance  of  their  common  councils, 
might  be  improved  into  a  happy  and  perma- 
nent reconciliation."  By  this  last  clause,  it 
is  said  that  congress  meant  that  the  mother- 
country  should  propose  a  plan  for  establish 
ing,  by  compact,  something  like  a  Magna 
Charta  for  the  colonies. 

This  well-meant  petition  was  presented 
on  September  1st,  1775,  by  Mr.  Penn  and 
Mr.  Lee;  and  on  the  4th,  lord  Dartmouth 
informed  them,  "  that  to  it  no  answer  would 
be  given."  This  slight  contributed  not  a 
little  to  the  union  and  perseverance  of  the 
colonies.  When  pressed  by  the  calamities 
)f  war,  a  doubt  would  sometimes  arise  in 
the  minds  of  scrupulous  persons,  that  they 
had  been  too  hasty  in  their  opposition  to 
their  protecting  parent-state. 

GENERAL  WASHINGTON  APPOINTED 
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

A  MILITARY  opposition  to  the  armies  of 
Great  Britain  being  resolved  upon  by  the 
colonies,  it  became  an  object  of  consequence 
to  fix  on  a  proper  person  to  conduct  that  op- 
position. On  the  15th  of  June,  George 
Washintrton  was,  by  an  unanimous  vote,  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces 
raised,  or  to  be  raised,  for  the  defence  of  the 
colonies.  It  was  a  fortunate  circumstance 
attending  his  election,  that  it  was  accom 
panied  with  no  competition,  and  followed  by 
no  envy. 

General  Washington,  Dr.  Ramsay  informs 
us,  was  born  on  the  11th  of  February,  1732 
His  education  was  such  as  favored  the  pro- 
duction of  a  solid  mind  and  a  vigorous  body 
Mountain  air,  abundant  exercise  in  the  open 
country,  the  wholesome  toils  of  the  chase, 
and  the  delightful  scenes  of  rural  life,  ex 
panded  his  limbs  to  an  unusual,  but  graceful 
and  well-proportioned  size.  His  youth  was 
spent  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge, 
and  in  pursuits  tending  to  the  improvement 
of  his  fortune,  or  the  benefit  of  his  country, 
Fitted  more  for  active  than  for  speculative 
life,  he  devoted  the  greater  proportion  of  his 


time  to  the  former ;  but  this  was  amply  com- 
pensated by  his  being  frequently  in  such  sit^ 
nations  as  called  forth  the  powers  of  hiw 
mind,  and  strengthened  them  by  repeated 
exercise.  Early  in  life,  in  obedience  to  his 
country's  call,  he  entered  the  military  line, 
and  began  his  career  of  fame  in  opposing 
that  power  in  concert  with  whose  troops  he 
acquired  his  last  and  most  distinguished 
honors.  He  was  with  general  Braddock  in 
1755,  when  that  unfortunate  officer,  from  an 
excess  of  bravery,  chose  rather  to  sacrifice 
his  army  than  to  retreat  from  an  unseen  foe. 
The  remains  of  that  unfortunate  corps  were 
brought  oflT  the  field  of  battle  chiefly  by  the 
address  and  good  conduct  of  colonel  Wash- 
ington. After  the  peace  of  Paris,  1763,  he 
retired  to  his  estate,  and  with  great  industry 
and  success  pursued  the  arts  of  peaceful  life. 
When  the  proceedmgs  of  the  British  parlia- 
ment alarmed  the  colonists  with  apprehen- 
sions that  a  blow  was  levelled  at  their  liber- 
ties, he  again  came  forward  into  public  view, 
and  was  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
gress which  met  in  September,  1774.  Pos- 
sessed of  a  large  proportion  of  common 
sense,  directed  by  a  sound  judgment,  he  was 
better  fitted  for  the  exalted  station  to  which 
he  was  called,  than  many  others  who  to  a 
greater  brilliancy  of  parts  frequently  add  the 
eccentricity  of  original  genius.  Engaged  in 
the  busy  scenes  of  life,  he  knew  human  na- 
ture, and  the  most  proper  method  of  accom- 
plishing the  proposed  objects.  His  passions 
were  subdued,  and  kept  in  subjection  to  rea- 
son. His  soul,  superior  to  party  spirit,  to 
prejudice,  and  illiberal  views,  moved  accord- 
ing to  the  impulses  it  received  from  an 
honest  heart  and  a  sound  judgment.  He 
was  habituated  to  view  things  on  every  side, 
to  consider  them  in  all  relations,  and  to  trace 
the  possible  and  probable  consequences  of 
proposed  measures.  Much  addicted  to  close 
thinking,  his  mind  was  constantly  employed. 
By  frequent  exercise,  his  understanding  and 
judgment  expanded  so  as  to  be  able  to  dis- 
cern truth,  and  to  know  what  was  proper  to 
be  done  in  the  most  difficult  conjunctures. 

Coeval  with  the  resolutions  for  raising  an 
army,  was  another  for  emitting  a  sum  not 
exceeding  two  millions  of  Spanish  milled 
dollars,  in  bills  of  credit,  for  the  defence  of 
America,  and  the  colonies  were  pledged  for 
the  redemption  of  them.  This  sum  was  in- 
creased from  time  to  time  by  further  emis- 
sions. The  colonies  having  neither  money 
nor  revenue  at  their  command,  were  forced 
to  adopt  this  expedient,  the  only  one  which 
was  in  their  power  for  supporting  an  army. 
No  one  delegate  opposed  the  measure.  So 
great  had  been  the  credit  of  the  former 
emissions  of  paper  in  the  greater  part  of  the 
colonies,  that  very  few  at  that  time  foresaw 
or  apprehended  the  consequences  of  unfund^ 


154 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ed  paper  emissions ;  but  had  all  the  conse- 
quences which  resulted  from  this  measure 
in  the  course  of  the  war  been  foreseen,  it 
must,  notwithstanding",  have  been  adopted. 
A  happy  ignorance  of  future  events,  com- 
bined with  the  ardor  of  the  times,  prevented 
many  reflections  on  this  subject,  and  gave 
credit  and  circulation  to  these  bills. 

When  general  Washington  arrived  at 
Cambridge,  July  third,  he  was  received  with 
the  joyful  acclamations  of  the  American 
army.  At  the  head  of  his  troops  he  publish- 
ed a  declaration,  previously  drawn  up  by 
congress,  in  the  nature  of  a  manifesto,  set- 
ting forth  the  reasons  for  taking  up  arms. 
In  this,  after  enumerating  various  griev- 
ances of  the  colonies,  and  vindicating  them 
from  a  premeditated  design  of  establishing 
independent  states,  it  was  added,  "In  our 
own  native  land,  in  defence  of  the  freedom 
which  is  our  birthright,  and  which  we  ever 
enjoyed  till  the  late  violation  of  it — for  the 
protection  of  our  property,  acquired  solely 
by  the  industry  of  our  forefathers  and  our- 
selves, against  violence  actually  offered — 
we  have  taken  up  arms  ;  we  shall  lay  them 
down  when  hostilities  shall  cease  on  the 
part  of  the  aggressors,  and  all  danger  of 
their  being  renewed  shall  be  removed, — 
and  not  before." 

When  general  Washington  joined  the 
American  army,  he  found  the  British  in- 
trenched on  Bunker's  Hill,  having  also  three 
floating  batteries  in  Mystic  river,  and  a 
twenty-gun  ship  below  the  ferry,  between 
Boston  and  Charlestown.  They  had  also  a 
battery  on  Copse's  Hill,  and  were  strongly 
fortified  on  the  Neck.  The  Americans  were 
intrenched  at  Winter  Hill,  Prospect  Hill, 
and  Roxbury,  communicating  with  one  an- 
other by  small  posts,  over  a  distance  of  ten 
miles.  There  were  also  parties  stationed  in 
several  towns  along  the  sea-coast.  They 
liad  neither  engineers  to  plan  suitable  works, 
nor  sufficient  tools  for  their  erection. 

Embarrassments  from  various  quarters  oc- 
curred in  the  formation  of  a  continental 
army.  The  appointment  of  general  officers 
made  by  congress  was  not  satisfactory.  En- 
terprising leaders  had  come  forward  with 
their  followers,  on  the  commencement  of 
hostilities,  without  scrupulous  attention  to 
rank.  When  these  were  all  blended  togeth- 
er, it  was  impossible  to  assign  to  every  offi- 
cer the  station  which  his  services  merited, 
or  his  vanity  demanded.  Materials  for  a 
good  army  were  collected.  The  husband- 
men who  flew  to  arms  were  active,  zealous, 
and  of  unquestionable  courage ;  but  to  in- 
troduce discipline  and  subordination  among 
freemen,  who  were  habituated  to  think  for 
themselves,  was  an  arduous  labor. 

The  want  of  system  and  of  union,  under 
proper  heads,  pervaded  every  department. 


From  the  circumstance  that  the  persons  em- 
ployed in  providing  necessaries  for  the 
army,  were  unconnected  with  each  other, 
much  waste  and  unnecessary  delays  were 
occasioned.  The  troops  of  the  different  col- 
onies came  into  service  under  varied  estab- 
lishments— some  were  enlisted  with  the  ex- 
press condition  of  choosing  their  officers. 
The  rations  promised  by  the  local  legisla- 
tures varied  both  as  to  quantity,  quality,  and 
price.  To  form  one  uniform  mass  of  these 
discordant  materials,  and  to  subject  the  li- 
centiousness of  independent  freemen  to  the 
control  of  military  discipline,  was  a  delicate 
and  difficult  business. 

The  continental  army  put  under  the  com- 
mand of  general  Washington,  amounted  to 
about  14,500  men.  These  had  been  so  judi- 
ciously stationed  round  Boston,  as  to  confine 
the  British  to  the  town,  and  to  exclude  them 
from  the  forage  and  provisions  which  the 
adjacent  country  and  islands  in  Boston  Bay 
afforded.  The  force  was  thrown  hito  three 
grand  divisions.  General  Ward  commanded 
the  right  wing  at  Roxbury;  general  Lee 
the  left  at  Prospect  Hill;  and  the  centre 
was  commanded  by  general  Washington. 

When  some  effectual  pains  had  been 
taken  to  discipline  the  army,  it  was  found 
that  the  term  for  which  enlistments  had  ta- 
ken place,  was  on  the  point  of  expiring. 
The  troops  from  Connecticut  and  Rhode-Isl- 
and were  only  engaged  till  the  first  day  of 
December  1775,  and  no  part  of  the  army 
longer  than  the  first  day  of  January  1776. 
Such  mistaken  apprehensions  respecting  the 
future  conduct  of  Great  Britain  prevailed, 
that  many  thought  the  appearance  of  a  de- 
termined spirit  of  resistance  would  lead  to 
a  redress  of  all  their  grievances. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  (on  the 
10th  of  October)  general  Gage  sailed  for 
England,  and  the  command  of  the  British 
troops  devolved  on  general  Howe. 

The  Massachusets  assembly  and  continent- 
al congress  both  resolved  to  ^t  out  armed  ves- 
sels to  cruise  on  the  American  "oast,  for  the 
purpose  of  intercepting  warlike  stores  and 
supplies  designed  for  the  use  of  the  British 
army.  The  object  was  at  first  limited,  but 
as  the  prospect  of  accommodation  vanished, 
it  was  extended  to  all  British  property  afloat 
on  the  high  seas.  The  Americans  were  dif- 
fident of  their  ability  to  do  anything  on  the 
water,  in  opposition  to  the  greatest  naval 
power  in  the  world ;  but  from  a  combination 
of  circumstances,  their  first  attempts  were 
successful. 

On  the  29th  of  November,  the  Lee  priva- 
teer, captain  Manley,  took  the  brig  Nancy, 
an  ordnance  vessel  from  Woolwich,  con- 
taining a  large  brass  mortar,  several  pieces 
of  brass  cannon,  a  large  quantity  of  arms 
and  ammunition,  with  all  manner  of  tools, 


GEORGE  UI.    1760—1820. 


156 


utensils,  and  machines,  necessary  for  camps 
and  artillery.  Had  congress  sent  an  order 
for  supplies,  they  could  not  have  made  out  a 
list  of  articles  more  suitable  to  their  situa- 
tion, than  what  was  thus  providentially 
thrown  into  their  hands. 

In  about  nine  days  after,  three  ships,  with 
various  stores  for  the  British  army,  and  a 
brig  from  Antigua,  with  rum,  were  taken 
by  captain  Manley.  Before  five  days  more 
liad  elapsed,  several  other  store-ships  were 
captured.  By  these  means  the  distresses  of 
the  British  troops  in  Boston  were  increased, 
and  supplies  for  the  continental  army  w^ere 
procured.  Naval  captures  bemg  unexpect- 
ed, were  matter  of  triumph  to  tho  Ameri- 
cans, and  of  surprise  to  the  British. 
FORT  TICOiNDEROGA  TAKEN. 

While  these  affairs  were  transactmg,  a 
bold  enterprise  was  undertaken  by  the 
Americans  against  the  British  possessions 
on  the  frontiers  of  Canada,  and  this  it  will 
be  proper  to  relate  before  we  return  to  the 
transactions  of  the  mother  country. 

Situated  on  a  promontory,  formed  at  the 
junction  of  the  v/aters  of  Lake  George  and 
Lake  Champlain,  Ticonderoga  is  the  key  of 
all  communication  between  New- York  and 
Canada.  Messrs.  Deane,  Wooster,  Parsons, 
Stevens,  and  others  of  Connecticut,  planned 
a  scheme  for  obtaining  possession  of  this 
valuable  post.  Having  procured  a  loan  of 
iSOO  dollars  of  public  money,  and  provided 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  powder  and  ball, 
tiiey  set  oif  for  Bennington,  to  obtain  the  co- 
cperafion  of  colonel  Allen  of  that  place. 
Two  hundred  and  seventy  men,  mostly  of 
tiiat  brave  and  hardy  people  who  are  called 
gv-^en  mountain  boys,  were  speedily  collect- 
ea  at  Castleton,  which  was  fixed  on  as  the 
place  of  rendezvous.  At  this  place  colonel 
Arnold,  who,  though  attended  only  wath  a 
servant,  was  prosecuting  the  same  object, 
unexpectedly  joined  them.  He  had  been 
early  chosen  a  captain  of  a  volunteer  com- 
pany, by  the  inhabitants  of  New-Haven, 
among  whom  he  resided.  As  soon  as  he  re- 
C:;ived  news  of  the  Lexington  battle,  he 
marched  off  with  his  company  for  the  vicini- 
ty of  Boston,  and  arrived  there,  though  150 
miles  distant,  in  a  few  days.  Immediately 
afler  his  arrival,  he  waited  on  the  JMassa- 
chusets  committee  of  safety,  and  informed 
them,  that  there  were  at  Ticonderoga  many 
pieces  of  cannon,  and  a  great  quantity  of 
valuable  stores,  and  that  the  fort  was  in  a 
ruinous  condition,  and  garrisoned  only  by 
about  40  men.  They  appointed  him  a  colo- 
nel, and  commissioned  him  to  raise  400 
men,  and  to  take  Ticonderoga.  The  leaders 
of  the  party  which  had  previously  rendez- 
voused at  Castleton,  adnntted  colcnel  Ar- 
nold to  join  them,  and  it  was  agreed  tl;at 
colonel  Allen  should  be  Uie  conmicjider-in- 


chief  of  the  expedition,  and  that  colonel  Ar- 
nold should  be  his  assistant.  They  proceed- 
ed without  delay,  and  arrived  in  the  night 
of  the  9th  of  May  at  Lake  Champlain,  op- 
posite to  Ticonderoga.  Allen  and  Arnold 
crossed  over  with  83  men,  and  landed  near 
the  garrison.  The  commander,  surprised  in 
his  bed,  was  called  upon  to  surrender  the 
fort ;  he  asked  by  what  authority  1  Colonel 
Allen  replied,  "  I  demand  it  in  the  name  of 
the  great  Jehovah,  and  of  the  continental 
congress."  No  resistance  was  made,  and 
the  fort,  with  its  valuable  stores,  and  forty- 
eight  prisoners,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Americans.  The  boats  had  been  sent  back 
for  the  remainder  of  the  men,  but  the  busi- 
ness was  done  before  they  got  over.  Colo- 
nel Seth  Warner  was  sent  off  with  a  party 
to  take  possession  of  Crown  Point,  where  a 
Serjeant  and  twelve  men  performed  garri- 
son duty.  This  was  speedily  effected.  The 
next  object  callhig  for  the  attention  of  the 
Americans,  was  to  obtain  the  command  of 
Lake  Champlain  ;  but  to  accomplish  this,  it 
was  necessary  for  them  to  get  possession  of 
a  sloop  of  war,  lying  at  St.  John's,  at  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  lake.  With  the 
view  of  capturing  this  sloop,  it  was  agreed 
to  man  and  arm  a  schooner  lying  at  South 
Bay,  that  Arnold  should  command  her, 
and  that  Allen  should  command  some  ba- 
teaux on  the  same  expedition.  A  favorable 
wind  carried  the  schooner  ahead  of  the  ba- 
teaux, and  colonel  Arnold  got  immediate 
possession  of  the  sloop  by  surprise.,  The 
wind  again  favoring  him,  he  returned  with 
his  prize  to  Ticonderoga,  and  rejoined  colo- 
nel Allen.  The  latter  soon  went  home,  and 
the  former,  wuth  a  number  of  men,  agreed 
to  remain  there  in  garrison.  In  this  rapid 
manner  the  possession  of  Ticonderoga,  and 
the  command  of  Lake  Champlain,  were  ob- 
tained, without  any  loss,  by  a  few  determin- 
ed men.  Intelligence  of  these  events  wrs 
in  a  few  days  communicated  to  congress, 
which  met  for  the  first  time,  at  ten  o'clock 
of  the  same  day  in  the  morning  of  which 
Ticonderoga  was  taken.  They  rejoiced  in 
the  spirit  of  enterprise  displayed  by  tlieir 
countrymen,  but  feared  the  charge  of  being 
aggressors,  or  of  doing  anything  to  widen 
the  breach  between  Great  Britain  and  tlie 
colonies ;  for  an  accommodation  was  at  tliat 
time  nearly  their  unanimous  wish.  They 
therefore  recommended  to  the  committees 
of  the  cities  and  counties  of  New- York  and 
Albany,  to  cause  the  cannon  and  stores  to 
be  removed  from  Ticonderoga  to  the  south 
end  of  Lake  George,  and  to  take  an  exact 
inventory  of  them,  "  in  order  that  they  might 
be  safely  returned  when  the  restoration  of 
the  former  harmony  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  colonies,  so  ardently  wished  for  by 
the  latter,  should  render  it  prudent  and  con- 


156 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sistent  with  the  overruling-  law  of  self-pre- 
servation." 

EXPEDITION  AGAINST  QUEfeEC. 

Colonel  Arnold  having  begun  his  mili- 
tary career  with  a  series  of  successes,  was 
urged  by  his  native  impetuosity  to  project 
more  extensive  operations.  On  the  13th  of 
June  he  wrote  a  letter  to  congress,  strongly 
urging  an  expedition  into  Canada,  and  offer- 
ing with  2000  men  to  reduce  the  whole 
province.  In  his  ardent  zeal  to  oppose  Great 
Britain,  he  had  advised  the  adoption  of  an 
offensive  war,  even  before  congress  had  or- 
ganized an  army  or  appointed  a  single  mili- 
tary officer.  His  importunity  was  at  last 
successful.  Such  was  the  increasing  fervor 
of  the  public  mind  in  1775,  that  what  in  the 
early  part  of  tlie  year  was  deemed  violent 
and  dangerous,  was  in  its  progress  pro- 
nounced both  moderate  and  expedient. 

Sir  Guy  Carleton,  the  king's  governor  in 
Canada,  no  sooner  heard  that  the  Americans 
had  surprised  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point, 
and  obtained  the  command  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  than  he  planned  a  scheme  for  their  re- 
covery. Having  only  a  few  regular  troops 
under  his  command,  he  endeavored  to  induce 
the  Canadians  and  Indians  to  co-operate  with 
him  ;  but  they  both  declined.  He  established 
martial  law,  that  he  might  compel  the  in- 
habitants to  take  up  arms.  They  declared 
themselves  ready  to  defend  the  province,  but 
refused  to  march  out  of  it,  or  to  commence 
hostilities  on  their  neighbors. 

Congress  had  committed  the  management 
of  their  military  arrangements,  in  this  north- 
ern department,  to  general  Schuyler  and 
general  Montgomery.  While  the  former 
remained  at  Albany,  to  attend  an  Indian 
treaty,  the  latter  was  sent  forward  to  Ticon- 
deroga, witli  a  body  of  troops  from  New- 
York  and  New-England.  Soon  after  reach- 
ing Ticonderoga,  he  made  a  movement  down 
Ijake  Champlain.  General  Schuyler  over- 
took him  at  Cape  la  Motte ;  whence  they 
moved  on  to  Isle  aux  Noix.  About  this 
time  general  Schuyler  addressed  the  inhab- 
itmts,  informing  them,  "  that  the  only  views 
of  congress  were  to  restore  to  them  those 
rights  which  every  subject  of  the  British 
empire,  of  whatever  religious  sentiments  he 
may  be,  is  entitled  to ;  and  that  in  the  exe- 
cution of  these  trusts  he  had  received  the 
most  positive  orders  to  cherish  every  Cana- 
dian, and  every  friend  to  the  cause  of  liber- 
ty, and  sacredly  to  guard  their  property." 
The  Americans,  about  1000  in  number,  on 
the  10th  of  September  effected  a  landing  at 
St  John's,  which  being  the  first  British  post 
in  Canada,  lies  only  115  miles  to  the  north- 
ward of  Ticonderoga.  The  British  picquets 
were  driven  into  the  fort.  The  environs 
were  then  reconnoitred,  and  the  fortifica- 
tions were  foimd  to  be  much  stronger  thaji 


had  been  suspected.  This  induced  the  call- 
ing of  a  council  of  war,  which  recommended 
a  retreat  to  Isle  aux  Noix,  twelve  miles  south 
of  St.  John's,  to  throw  a  boom  across  the 
channel,  and  to  erect  works  for  its  defence. 
Soon  after  this  event,  an  extreme  bad  state 
of  health  mduced  general  Schuyler  to  retire 
to  Ticonderoga,  and  the  command  devolved 
on  general  Montgomery. 

This  enterprising  officer  in  a  few  days  re- 
turned to  the  vicinity  of  St.  John's,  and 
opened  a  battery  against  it.  Ammunition 
was  so  scarce  that  the  siege  could  not  be 
carried  on  with  any  prospect  of  speedy  suc- 
cess. The  general  detached  a  small  body 
of  troops  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  For 
Chamblee,  only  six  miles  distant.  Success 
attended  this  enterprise.  By  its  surrender 
six  tons  of  gunpowder  were  obtained,  which 
enabled  the  general  to  prosecute  the  siege 
of  St.  John's  with  vigor.  The  garrison, 
though  straitened  for  provisions,  persevered 
in  defending  themselves  with  unabating  for- 
titude. While  general  Montgomery  was 
prosecuting  this  siege,  the  governor  of  the 
province  collected  at  Montreal  about  800 
men,  chiefly  militia  and  Indians.  He  en- 
deavored to  cross  the  river  St.  Laurence 
with  this  force,  and  to  land  at  Longueil,  in- 
tending to  proceed  thence  to  attack  the  be- 
siegers ;  but  colonel  Warner  with  300  green 
mountain  boys  and  a  four-pounder,  prevented 
the  execution  of  the  design.  The  governor's 
party  was  suffered  to  come  near  the  shore, 
but  was  then  fired  upon  with  such  effect  as 
to  make  them  retire,  after  sustaining  great 
loss. 

An  account  of  this  affair  being  communi- 
cated to  the  garrison  in  St.  .Tohn's,  major 
Preston,  the  commanding  officer,  surren- 
dered, on  receiving  honorable  terms  of  ca- 
pitulation. 

After  the  reduction  of  St.  John's,  general 
Montgomery  proceeded  towards  Montreal. 
The  few  British  forces  there,  unable  to  stand 
their  ground,  repaired  for  safety  on  board  tlie 
shipping,  in  hopes  of  escaping  down  tlie 
river ;  but  they  were  prevented  by  colonel 
Easton,  who  was  stationed  at  the  point  of 
Sorel  river  with  a  number  of  continental 
troops,  some  cannon,  and  an  armed  gondola. 
General  Prescot,  who  was  on  board  with 
several  officers,  and  about  120  privates,  hav- 
ing no  chance  to  escape,  submitted  to  be 
prisoners  on  terms  of  capitulation.  Eleven 
sail  of  vessels  with  all  their  contents,  con- 
sisting of  ammunition,  provision,  and  in- 
trenching tools,  became  the  property  of  the 
provincials.  Governor  Carleton  was  about 
this  time  conveyed  in  a  boat  with  muffled 
paddles  by  a  secret  way  to  the  Three  Rivers, 
and  thence  to  Quebec  in  a  few  days. 

When  Montreal  was  evacuated  by  the 
troops,  the   inhabitants  applied   to  general 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


157 


Montgomery  for  a  capitulation.  lie  informed 
them,  tliat  as  they  were  defenceless,  they 
could  not  expect  such  a  concession,  but  he 
engaged  upon  his  honor  to  maintain  the  in- 
dividuals and  religious  communities  of  the 
city,  in  the  peaceable  enjoyment  of  their 
property,  and  the  free  exercise  of  their  reli- 
^-ion.  In  all  his  transactions,  he  spoke,  wrote, 
jmd  acted  witli  dignity  and  propriety,  and 
in  particular  treated  the  inhabitants  with 
liberality  and  politeness. 

Montreal,  which  at  this  time  surrendered 
to  the  provincials,  carried  on  an  extensive 
trade,  and  contained  many  of  those  articles, 
which  from  the  operation  of  the  resolutions 
of  congress  could  not  be  imported  into  any 
of  the  united  colonies.  From  these  stores 
the  American  soldiers,  who  had  hitherto  suf- 
fered from  the  want  of  suitable  clothing, 
obtained  a  plentiful  supply. 

General  Montgomery,  after  leaving  some 
troops  in  Montreal,  and  sending  detachments 
into  different  parts  of  the  province  to  en- 
courage the  Canadians,  and  to  forward  pro- 
visions, advanced  towards  the  capital.  His 
little  army  arrived  with  expedition  before 
Quebec,  Success  had  hitherto  crowned 
every  attempt  of  general  Montgomery,  but 
notwithstanding  his  situation  was  very  em- 
?  srrassing.  In  the  choice  of  difficulties, 
the  genius  of  Montgomery  surmounted  many 
obstacles.  During  his  short  career,  he  con- 
ducted himself  with  so  much  prudence,  as 
to  make  it  doubtful  whether  we  ought  to 
admire  most  the  goodness  of  the  man  or  the 
address  of  the  general. 

About  the  same  time  that  Canada  was  in- 
vaded, in  the  usual  route  from  New- York,  a 
considerable  detachment  from  the  American 
army  at  Cambridge  was  conducted  into  that 
royal  province  by  a  new  and  unexpected 
j^assage.  Colonel  Arnold,  who  successfully 
conducted  this  bold  undertaking,  thereby 
acquired  the  name  of  the  American  Hanni- 
bal. The  most  pointed  instructions  had 
been  given  to  this  corps,  to  conciliate  the 
affections  of  the  Canadians.  It  was  par- 
ticularly enjoined  upon  them,  if  the  son  of 
lord  Chatham,  then  an  officer  in  one  of  the 
British  regiments  in  that  province,  should 
fail  into  their  hands,  to  treat  him  with  all 
possible  attention,  in  return  for  the  great  ex- 
ertions of  his  father  in  behalf  of  American 
liberty. 

While  general  Montgomery  lay  at  Mont- 
real, colonel  Arnold  arrived  [November  8th] 
at  Point  Levy  opposite  to  Quebec.  Such 
was  the  consternation  of  the  garrison  and 
inhabitants  at  his  unexpected  appearance, 
that  had  not  tlie  river  intervened,  an  imme- 
diate attack  in  the  first  surprise  and  confu- 
sion, might  have  been  successful.  The  em- 
barrassments of  the  garrison  were  increased 
by  tlie  alysence  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton ;  that 

Vou  TV.  14 


gallant  officer,  on  hearing  of  Montgomery's 
invasion,  prepared  to  oppose  him  in  the  ex- 
tremes of  the  province.  While  he  was 
collecting  a  force  to  attack  invaders  in  one 
direction,  a  different  corps,  emerging  out  of 
the  depths  of  an  unexplored  wilderness, 
suddenly  appeared  from  another.  In  a  few 
days  after  colonel  Arnold  had  arrived  at 
Point  Levy,  he  crossed  the  river  St.  Lau- 
rence, but  his  chance  of  succeeding  by  a 
coup  de  main  was  in  that  short  space  great- 
ly diminished.  The  critical  moment  was 
passed.  The  panic  occasioned  by  his  first 
appearance  had  abated,  and  solid  prepara- 
tions for  the  defence  of  the  town  were  adopt- 
ed. The  inhabitants,  both  English  and  Ca- 
nadians, as  soon  as  danger  pressed,  united 
for  their  common  defence.  Alarmed  for 
their  property,  they  were,  at  their  own  re- 
quest, embodied  for  its  security.  The  sailois 
were  taken  from  the  shipping  in  the  harbor, 
and  put  to  the  batteries  on  shore.  As  colo- 
nel Arnold  had  no  artillery,  after  parading 
some  days  on  the  heights  near  Quebec,  he 
drew  oft*  his  troops,  intending  nothing  more 
until  the  arrival  of  Montgomery,  than  to  cut 
off  supplies  from  entering  the  garrison. 
*  At  the  time  the  Americans  were  before 
Montreal,  general  Carleton,  as  has  been  re- 
lated, escaped  through  their  hand,  and  got 
safe  to  Quebec.  His  presence  was  itself  a 
garrison.  The  confidence  reposed  in  his 
talents,  inspired  the  men  under  his  command 
to  make  the  most  determined  resistance. 

General  Montgomery  having  on  the  first 
of  December  effected  at  Point  aux  Trem- 
bles a  junction  with  colonel  Arnold,  com- 
menced the  siege  of  Quebec. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  the  tide  of 
fortune  began  to  turn.  Dissensions  broke 
out  between  colonel  Arnold  and  some  of  his 
officers,  threatening  the  annihilation  of  dis- 
cipline. The  continental  currency  had  no 
circulation  in  Canada,  and  all  the  hard 
money  furnished  for  the  expedition  was 
nearly  expended.  Difficulties  of  every  kind 
were  daily  increasing.  The  extremities  of 
fatigue  were  constantly  to  be  encountered. 
The  extremity  of  winter  was  fast  approach- 
ing. From  these  combined  circumstances, 
general  Montgomery  was  impressed  with  a 
conviction,  that  the  siege  should  either  be 
raised,  or  brought  to  a  summary  termination. 
To  storm  the  place  was  the  only  feasible 
method  of  effecting  the  latter  purpose ;  but 
this  was  an  undertaking,  in  which  success 
was  but  barely  possible. 

The  garrison  of  Quebec  at  this  time  con- 
sisted of  about  1.520  men,  of  which  800 
were  militia,  and  450  were  seamen  belong- 
ing to  tlie  king's  frigates,  or  merchant 
ships  in  tlie  harbor.  The  rest  were  marines, 
regular^  or  colonel  Maclean's  new  raised 
emigrants.     The  American  army  consisted 


158 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  about  800  men.  Some  had  been  left  at 
Montreal,  and  near  a  third  of  Arnold's  de- 
tachment, as  has  been  related,  had  returned 
to  Cambridge. 

ATTACK  ON  QUEBEC  AND  DEATH  OF 
MONTGOiMERY. 

General  Montgomery  having  divided 
this  little  force  into  four  detachments,  or- 
dered two  feints  to  be  made  against  the  up- 
per town,  one  by  colonel  Livingston,  at  the 
head  of  the  Canadians,  against  St.  John's 
gate ;  and  the  other  by  major  Brown,  against 
Cape  Diamond,  reserving  to  himself  and 
colonel  Arnold  the  two  principal  attacks 
against  the  lower  town.  At  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  the  31st  of  December  gene- 
ral Montgomery  advanced  against  the  lower 
town.  He  passed  the  first  barrier,  and  was 
just  opening  to  attack  the  second,  when  he 
was  killed,  together  with  his  aid-de-camp, 
captain  John  M'Pherson,  captain  Cheesman, 
and  some  others.  This  so  dispirited  the 
men,  that  colonel  Campbell,  on  whom  the 
command  devolved,  thought  proper  to  draw 
them  off.  In  the  mean  time  colonel  Arnold, 
at  the  head  of  about  350  men,  passed  through 
St.  Roch,  and  approached  near  a  two-gun 
battery,  wdthout  being  discovered.  This  he 
attacked,  and  though  it  was  well  defended, 
carried  it,  but  with  considerable  loss.  In 
this  attack  colonel  Arnold  received  a  wound, 
which  made  it  necessary  to  carry  him  off" 
the  field  of  battle.  His  party  nevertheless 
continued  the  assault,  and  pushing  on,  made 
themselves  masters  of  a  second  barrier ;  but 
finding  themselves  hemmed  in,  and  without 
hopes  either  of  success,  relief,  or  retreat, 
they  yielded  to  numbers,  and  the  advanta- 
geous situation  of  their  adversaries.  The 
loss  of  the  Americans,  in  killed  and  wound- 
ed, was  about  100,  and  300  were  taken 
prisoners. 

This  deliverance  of  Quebec  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  proof  how  much  may  be  done 
by  one  man  for  the  preservation  of  a  coun- 
try. It  also  proves  that  soldiers  may  in  a 
short  time  be  formed  out  of  the  mass  of 
citizens. 

The  conflict  being  over,  the  ill  will  which 
had  subsisted,  during  the  siege,  between  the 


royal  and  provincial  troops  gave  way  to  sen 
timents  of  humanity.  The  Americans  who 
surrendered,  were  treated  with  kindness. 
Ample  provisions  were  made  for  their  wound- 
ed, and  no  unnecessary  severity  shown  to 
any.  Few  men  have  ever  fallen  in  battle 
so  much  regretted  on  both  sides  as  general 
Montgomery.  His  well-known  character 
was  almost  equally  esteemed  by  the  friends 
and  foes  of  the  side  which  he  had  espoused. 
In  America  he  was  celebrated  as  a  martyr 
to  the  liberties  of  mankind ;  in  Great  Britain 
as  a  misguided  good  man,  sacrificing  to 
what  he  supposed  to  be  the  rights  of  his 
country. 

ASPECT  OF  AFFAIRS. 

A  SERIES  of  disasters  followed  the  royal 
cause  in  the  year  1775.  General  Gage's 
army  was  cooped  up  in  Boston,  and  render- 
ed useless.  In  the  southern  states,  where  a 
small  force  would  have  made  an  impression, 
the  royal  governors  were  unsupported.  Much 
was  done  to  irritate  the  colonists  and  to  ce- 
ment their  union,  but  very  little,  either  in 
the  way  of  conquest  or  concession,  to  subdue 
their  spirits  or  conciliate  their  affections. 

In  this  year  the  people  of  America  gene- 
rally took  their  side.  Every  art  was  made 
use  of  by  the  popular  leaders  to  attach  the 
inhabitants  to  their  cause;  nor  were  the 
votaries  of  the  royal  interest  inactive.  But 
little  impression  was  made  by  the  latter,  ex- 
cept among  the  uninformed.  The  great 
mass  of  the  wealth,  learning,  and  influence, 
in  all  the  southern  colonies,  and  in  most  of 
the  northern,  was  in  favor  of  the  American 
cause.  Some  aged  persons  were  exceptions 
to  the  contrary.  Attached  to  ancient  habits, 
and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  their  industry, 
they  were  slow  in  approving  new  measures 
subversive  of  the  former,  and  endangering 
the  latter.  A  few  who  had  basked  in  the 
sunshine  of  court  favor,  were  restrained  by 
honor,  principle,  and  interest,  from  forsaking 
the  fountam  of  their  enjoyments.  Some 
feared  the  power  of  Britain,  and  others 
doubted  the  perseverance  of  America ;  but 
a  great  majority  resolved  to  hazard  every- 
thing in  preference  to  a  tame  submission. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XI. 


1  The  assembly  of  South  Caro- 
lina voted  1500/.  to  this  fund ; 
and  the  committee,  in  their  let- 
ter of  thanks  for  the  favor,  took 
care,  among  other  inflammatory 
sagqestions,  to  hint  that  the 
parliament,  as  then  constituted, 
had  no  right  to  levy  taxes  either 
in  England  or   America,    and 


that  "demands  which  were 
made  without  authority,  should 
be  heard  without  obedience." 
2  This  petitic.n  having  been  re 
ferred  by  the  king  to  the  privy- 
council,  and  Dr.  Franklin  being 
summoned  in  his  official  ca 
pacity  to  support  the  charges 
the  lordiB  of  the  council  ut^ds 


their  report  to  his  majesty, 
"  that  the  petition  was  founded 
Upon  false  and  erroneous  alle- 
gations, and  that  the  same  is 
groundless,  vexatious,  and  scan- 
dalous, and  calculated  only  for 
the  seditious  purposes  of  keep- 
ing up  a  spirit  of  clamor  and 
diecontent  ia  the  province." 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


159 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Fatal  effects  of  the  War — Meeting  of  Parliament — Defection  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton 
and  General  Conway  from  the  Ministry — Introduction  of  foreign  troops — Prohibito- 
ry Bill — Changes  in  the  ministry — Affairs  of  Ireland — Debates  on  foreign  troops — 
Conclusion  of  the  Session — Boston  evacuated  by  the  British — Siege  of  Quebec  rais- 
ed— Americans  defeated  on  the  Lakes —  Unsuccessful  attempt  upon  Charlestown — 
Preparations  against  New-  York — Declaration  of  Independence — Americans  defeat- 
ed at  Long-Island — New-  York  taken — Americans  retreat  into  the  Jerseys  and  over 
the  Delaware — Rhode-Island  reduced — General  Lee  made  prisoner — Hessians  cut 
off  at  Trenton — British  defeated  at  Princeton. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR. 

The  war  in  America  had  no  sooner  se- 
riously commenced,  than  its  fatal  effects 
were  experienced  in  the  trading  world.  The 
manufactures  and  trade  of  Great  Britain 
appeared  completely  at  a  stand  in  all  the 
great  provincial  towns  and  cities.  Bristol 
and  Liverpool,  in  particular,  suffered  con- 
siderably ;  and  in  the  latter  place,  the  Afri- 
can trade  being  almost  annihilated  by  the 
war,  and  numbers  of  seamen  having  been 
thrown  out  of  employ,  some  dangerous  riots 
took  place  in  the  month  of  August,  and  were 
only  quelled  by  the  arrival  of  a  military  force 
from  Manchester. 

Notwithstanding  the  confident  boasts  of 
ministry,  that  the  forces  which  had  been 
voted  in  the  last  session  were  fully  adequate 
to  the  subjugation  of  America,  it  was  foimd 
that  they  were  not  sufficient  to  maintain 
their  ground  in  the  city  of  Boston. 

Negotiations  for  foreign  troops,  therefore, 
became  absolutely  necessary.  Russia  was 
applied  to  in  vain,  nor  could  the  Dutch  be 
prevailed  on  to  part  with  their  Scotch  brig- 
ade for  this  nefarious  service. 

With  the  slave-merchants  of  Germany 
the  ministers  were  more  successful,  and  a 
number  of  troops  were  purchased,  like  cattle, 
of  the  princes  of  Hesse  and  Brunswick. 

It  is  always  one  of  the  principal  artifices 
of  a  weak  and  bad  ministry,  to  amuse  the 
populace  with  fabricated  plots  and  conspira- 
cies to  overturn  the  government.  Previous 
to  the  meeting  of  parliament,  something  of 
this  kind  was  deemed  necessary,  and  a  Mr. 
Sayre,  a  banker,  an  American  by  birth,  was 
committed  to  the  Tower,  on  a  ridiculous 
charge  of  a  plot  to  seize  the  king  on  his 
passage  to  the  house  of  peers,  and  to  con- 
vey him  out  of  the  kingdom.  On  an  appli- 
cation, however,  by  habeas  corpus,  to  the 
court  of  king's-bench,  the  charge  appeared 
so  frivolous  and  ill-founded,  that  Mr.  Sayre 
was  discharged ;  and  he  afterwards  recovered 
in  a  court  of  law,  lOOOZ.  damages  against 
lord  Rochford,  secretary  of  state,  on  an  ac- 
tion for  false  imprisonment. 


PARLIAMENT  MEETS. 

The  parliamentary  session  commenced 
rather  earlier  than  usual,  viz.  on  October 
26th.  His  majesty,  in  a  speech  of  unusual 
length,  gave  the  present  situation  of  Ameri- 
ca as  a  reason  for  having  called  the  houses 
together  early.  It  was  observed,  that  those 
who  had  too  long  successfully  labored  to  in- 
fluence the  people  in  America  by  gross  mis- 
representations, and  to  infuse  into  then* 
minds  a  system  of  opinions  repugnant  to 
the  true  constitution  of  the  colonies,  and  to 
their  subordinate  relation  to  Great  Britain, 
now  openly  avowed  their  revolt,  hostility, 
and  rebellion.  They  had  raised  troops,  were 
collecting  a  naval  force,  had  seized  the  pub- 
lic revenue,  and  assumed  to  themselves  le- 
gislative, executive,  and  judicial  powers, 
which  they  already  exercised  in  the  most 
arbitrary  manner,  o  v'er  the  persons  and  prop- 
erties of  their  fellow-subjects ;  and  although 
many  of  these  unhappy  people  might  still 
retain  their  loyalty,  too  wise  not  to  see  the 
fatal  consequences  of  this  usurpation,  and 
might  wish  to  resist  it,  yet  the  torrent  of  vio- 
lence had  been  strong  enough  to  compel 
their  acquiescence,  till  a  sufficient  force 
should  appear  to  support  them. 

The  rebellious  war  was  now  become  more 
general,  and  was  manifestly  carried  on  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  an  independent 
empire.  The  object  was  too  important,  the 
spirit  of  the  British  nation  too  high,  the  re- 
sources with  which  God  had  blessed  her  too 
numerous,  to  give  up  so  many  colonies  which 
she  had  planted  with  great  industry,  nursed 
with  great  tenderness,  encouraged  with 
many  commercial  advantages,  and  protected 
and  defended  at  much  expense  of  blood  and 
treasure.  It  was  now  become  the  part  of 
wisdom,  and,  in  its  effects,  of  clemency,  to 
put  a  speedy  end  to  these  disorders  by  the 
most  decisive  exertions.  For  this  purpose 
his  majesty  had  increased  his  naval  estab- 
lishment, and  greatly  augmented  his  land 
forces ;  but  in  such  a  manner  as  mififht  be 
least  burdensome  to  the  kingdom.  His  ma- 
jesty informed  them  that  the  most  friendly 


160 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


offers  of  foreign  service  had  been  made, 
and,  if  necessary,  should  be  laid  before 
tliem.  He  assured  them,  that  when  the  un- 
happy and  deluded  multitude,  against  whom 
force  was  to  be  directed,  should  become 
sensible  of  their  error,  he  would  receive 
the  misled  with  tenderness  and  mercy.  An 
apology  was  made  to  the  commons  for  the 
increased  demand  of  supplies,  and  it  was 
affirmed  that  the  constant  employment  of 
his  majesty's  thoughts,  and  the  most  earnest 
wishes  of  his  heart,  tended  wholly  to  the 
safety  and  happiness  of  his  people  ;  and  that 
his  majesty  saw  no  probability  that  the  mea- 
sures which  parliament  might  adopt  would 
be  interrupted  by  disputes  with  any  foreign 
power. 

The  addresses,  in  answer  to  this  speech, 
contained  the  same  sentiments,  and  the 
efforts  of  opposition  were  powerfully  di- 
rected to  avoid  the  imputation  of  those  ad- 
dresses being  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
house. 

GENERAL  CONWAY  AND  THE  DUKE  OF 
GRAFTON  JOIN  THE  OPPOSITION. 
Their  arguments  were  powerfully  aided 
by  the  defection  of  general  Conway  and  the 
duke  of  Graflon;  who,  in  their  respective 
houses,  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  injured  col- 
onists with  great  ability,  feeling,  and  cor- 
rectness. They  gave  it  as  their  opinion, 
that  if  ever  a  reconciliation  could  be  effected, 
this  was  the  time  to  make  the  attempt,  by  a 
repeal  of  every  obnoxious  act  passed  against 
the  Americans  since  the  year  1763.  The 
addresses,  however,  passed  in  the  original 
forms  in  both  houses,  by  prodigious  majori- 
ties. The  debates  were  unusually  lonj2',  and 
the  questions  attended  to  with  unremitting 
zeal.  The  duke  of  Richmond  distinguished 
himself  in  the  house  of  lords,  and  was  one 
of  nineteen  peers  who  signed  a  protest 
against  the  proceedings  of  that  house. 
What  relates  to  the  employment  of  Hano- 
verian troops,  conveys  the  following  senti- 
ments :  "  that  Hanoverian  troops  should,  at 
the  mere  pleasure  of  the  ministers,  be  con- 
sidered as  a  part  of  the  British  military  es- 
tablishment, and  take  a  rotation  of  garrison 
duties,  through  these  dominions,  is,  in  prac- 
tice and  precedent,  of  the  liighest  danger  to 
the  safety  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom, 
and  tends  wholly  to  invalidate  the  wise  and 
salutary  declaration  of  the  grand  funda- 
mental law  of  our  glorious  deliverer,  king 
William,  which  has  bound  together  the 
rights  of  the  subject,  and  the  succession  of 
the  throne."  Upon  this  opinion,  a  few  days 
afler  the  address  had  been  delivered,  the 
duke  of  Manchester  founded  a  resolution, 
I'  That  bringing  into  any  part  of  the  domin- 
ions of  Great  Britain,  the  electoral  troops 
of  his  majesty,  or  any  other  foreign  troops, 
without  the  previous  consent  of  parliament, 


is  dangerous  and  unconstitutional."  The 
Hanoverians,  his  grace  observed,  would  not 
be  under  the  command  of  any  military  law 
in  those  garrisons,  and  the  mutiny  act  could 
not  extend  to  them,  being  confined  to  those 
troops  only  which  are  specified  in  it,  or 
voted  by  parliament.  There  was  no  secu- 
rity in  putting  fortified  places  of  such  im- 
portance into  the  hands  of  foreign  troops, 
and  the  king  had  no  right  to  maintain,  in 
any  part  of  his  British  dominions,  any  troops 
to  which  parliament  had  not  given  their 
consent.  On  the  other  hand,  the  lords  in 
administration  said,  that  the  clause  in  the 
bill  of  rights,  which  is  in  question,  is  to  be 
understood  with  the  conditions  annexed  to 
it,  one  of  which  relates  to  the  bringing  of 
troops  within  the  kingdom,  and  anotJier 
mentions  the  time  of  peace,  and  in  the  pres- 
ent case  neither  of  those  conditions  was 
violated.  Nay,  the  bill  of  rights,  it  was 
said,  confirms  to  the  king  a  power  to  raise 
an  army,  in  time  of  war,  in  any  part  of  his 
dominions,  both  of  natives  and  foreigners — 
a  power  which  had  been  exerted  on  several 
occasions,  without  the  consent  of  parliament, 
and  was  justified  now  by  necessity.  The 
opposition  answered,  that  the  words  "  willi- 
in  the  kingdom,"  if  confined  to  England 
alone,  would  exclude  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
other  places  into  which  armies  of  foreigners 
might  be  introduced.  "  However  tlie  cir- 
cumstantial quibbling  of  law  might  pretend 
to  determine,  the  measure  was  certainly 
contrary  to  the  f-jviiit  and  intention  of  the 
bill  of  right;--,  wL  c'i  particularly  provides 
against  keep  in  u  a  standing  army  without 
the  consent  of  parliament"  They  main- 
tained that  no  foreign  troops  had  been 
brought  into  the  kingdom  at  any  time  since 
the  revolution,  without  the  previous  consent 
of  parliament,  either  by  an  address,  or  by 
some  former  treaty  which  it  had  ratified  ; 
and  the  hiring  of  foreign  troops,  and  after- 
wards prevailing  on  parliament  to  ratify  the 
engagements,  had  always  been  censured  as 
an  unwarrantable  step.  In  the  late  war, 
ministers  were  exceedingly  cautious  in  this 
respect,  and  even  after  the  parliament  had 
agreed  to  the  raising  of  4000  Germans  for 
American  service,  such  effectual  provision 
was  made  for  the  security  of  this  kingdom, 
that  it  was  impossible  any  mischief  could 
ensue.  With  all  the  deference  king  Wil 
Ham's  parliament  entertained  for  that  prince, 
they  never  would  consent  to  the  admission 
of  his  Dutch  guards  into  England.  Notwith- 
standing these  and  other  forcible  arguments, 
the  previous  question  was  put,  and  the  num- 
bers were,  75  who  voted  against,  and  32  who 
supported  the  motion. 

A  further  infraction  on  the  constitution 
presented  itself  at  this  time  to  the  opposi- 
tion.    A  new  militia-bill  which  v.-as  intro- 


GEORGE  ra.  1760—1820. 


161 


duced,  was  said  to  be  subversive  of  every  1 
idea  of  a  constitutional  militia,  as  they  were 
not  to  be  called  out  except  in  cases  of  in- 
vasion or  rebellion,  pretences  of  which  might 
at  any  time  be  made ;  a  minister  had  it  in 
his  power  to  embody  them,  and  in  that  case 
they  composed  a  standing  army.  The  min- 
istry endeavored  to  assure  the  house  that 
their  fears  on  this  topic  were  groundless,  and 
that  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  any  min- 
ister would  dare  to  abuse  the  power  granted 
to  him,  and  that  if  he  did,  he  was  accounta- 
ble for  it  at  the  risk  of  his  life.  This  apology, 
however,  did  not  satisfy  the  opposition ;  part 
of  the  Devonshire  militia  had  offered  their 
personal  service  against  all  internal  enemies ; 
this  was  a  specimen  of  what  we  had  to  ex- 
pect from  the  establishment  of  this  new  mi- 
litia, who  were  to  obey  any  orders  that  might 
be  given,  no  matter  by  whom ;  and  where 
would  they,  who  might  differ  from  adminis- 
tion  in  matters  of  political  opinion,  find  se- 
curity against  the  undue  exertion  of  this 
power,  or  the  misconstruction  of  the  senti- 
ments of  opposition  1  On  the  contrary  it  was 
replied,  that  the  Devonshire  militia,  by  this 
address,  only  wished  to  give  a  proof  of  their 
attachment  to  the  crown,  and  that  it  was 
proper  for  other  societies  to  do  the  same,  as 
a  counterpart  to  the  addresses  of  London 
and  Middlesex,  and  to  undeceive  the  people 
in  the  country,  who  dreaded  that  nothing 
less  than  a  revolution  was  meditated  by  the 
present  adverse  proceedings  of  some  bodies 
of  men.  The  question  being  put,  the  bill 
was  carried  by  259  to  50. 

These  debates  were  followed  by  the  aug- 
mentation of  the  land-tax  to  four  shillings 
in  the  pound.  •  This  passed  with  little  oppo- 
sition, excepting  some  complaints  about  the 
want  of  information. 

PROHIBITORY  BILL. 

No  ministry  had,  in  any  preceding  war, 
exerted  themselves  more  to  prosecute  mili- 
tary operations  against  alien  enemies,  than 
the  present  to  make  the  ensuing  campaign 
decisive  of  the  dispute  between  the  mother 
country  and  the  colonies.  One  legislative 
act  was  still  wanting  to  give  full  efficacy  to 
the  intended  prosecution  of  hostilities.  This 
was  brought  into  parliament  in  a  bill  inter- 
dicting all  trade  and  intercourse  with  the 
thirteen  united  colonies.  By  it  all  property 
of  Americans,  whether  of  ships  or  goods  on 
the  high  seas,  or  in  harbor,  was  declared  "  to 
be  forfeited  to  the  captors,  being  the  officers 
and  crews  of  his  majesty's  ships  of  war." 
It  farther  enacted,  "  that  the  masters,  crews, 
and  other  persons  found  on  board  captured 
American  vessels,  should  be  entered  on 
board  his  majesty's  vessels  of  war,  and  there 
considered  to  be  in  his  majesty's  service  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  as  if  they  had  en- 
tered of  their  own  accord."  This  bill  also 
14* 


authorized  the  crown  to  appoint  commission- 
ers, who,  over  and  above  granting  pardons 
to  individuals,  were  empowered  to  "  inquire 
into  general  and  particular  grievances,  and 
to  determine  whether  any  colony,  or  part  of 
a  colony,  was  returned  to  that  state  of  obe- 
dience which  might  entitle  it  to  be  received 
within  the  king's  peace  and  protection."  In 
that  case,  upon  a  declaration  from  tlie  com- 
missioners, "  the  restrictions  of  the  proposed 
law  were  to  cease." 

It  was  said,  in  favor  of  this  bill,  that  as 
the  Americans  were  already  in  a  state  of 
war,  it  became  necessary  that  hostilities 
should  be  carried  on  against  them,  as  was 
usual  against  alien  enemies :  That  the  more 
vigorously  and  extensively  military  opera- 
tions were  prosecuted,  the  sooner  would 
peace  and  order  be  restored :  That  as  the 
commissioners  went  out  with  the  sword  in 
one  hand,  and  terms  of  conciliation  in  the 
other,  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  colonists 
to  prevent  the  infliction  of  any  real  or  ap- 
parent severities  in  the  proposed  statute. 

In  opposition  to  it,  it  was  said,  that  treat- 
ing the  Americans  as  a  foreign  nation,  was 
marking  out  the  way  for  their  independence. 
One  member  observed,  that  as  the  indis- 
criminate rapine  of  property,  authorized  by 
the  bill,  would  oblige  the  colonists  to  coa- 
lesce as  one  man,  its  title  ought  to  be,  "  A 
bill  for  carrying  more  effectually  into  exe- 
cution the  resolves  of  the  congress."  But 
of  all  parts  of  this  bill,  none  was  so  severely 
condemned  as  that  clause  by  which  persons 
taken  on  board  the  American  vessels,  were 
indiscriminately  compelled  to  serve  as  com- 
mon sailors  in  British  ships  of  war.  This 
was  said  to  be  "  a  refinement  of  tyranny 
worse  than  death."  It  was  also  said,  "  that 
no  man  could  be  despoiled  of  his  goods  as  a 
foreign  enemy,  and  at  the  same  time  obliged 
to  serve  as  a  citizen,  and  that  compelling 
captives  to  bear  arms  against  their  families, 
kindred,  friends,  and  country ;  and  afler  be- 
ing plundered  themselves,  to  become  ac- 
complices in  plundering  their  brethren ;  was 
imexampled,  except  among  pirates,  the  out- 
laws and  enemies  of  human  society."  To 
all  these  high  charges  the  ministry  replied, 
"  that  the  measure  was  an  act  of  grace  and 
favor;  for,"  said  they,  "the  crews  of  Ameri- 
can vessels,  instead  of  being  put  to  death, 
the  legal  punishment  of  their  demerits,  as 
traitors  and  rebels,  are  by  this  law  to  be 
rated  on  the  king's  books,  and  treated  as  if 
they  were  on  the  same  footing  with  a  great 
body  of  his  most  useful  and  faithful  sub- 
jects." 

In  the  progress  of  the  debates  on  this  bill 
lord  Mansfield  declared,  "that  the  ques- 
tions of  original  right  and  wrong  were  no 
longer  to  be  considered — ^that  they  were  en- 
gaged in  a  war,  and  must  use  their  utmost 


162 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


efibrts  to  obtain  the  ends  proposed  by  it ;  that 


they  must  either  fight  or  be  pursued;  and 
I  hat  the  justice  of  the  cause  must  give  way 
to  their  present  situation."  Perhaps  no 
speech,  in  or  out  of  parliament,  operated 
more  extensively  on  the  irritated  minds  of 
the  colonists  than  this. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CABINET. 
The  recess  for  the  holidays  now  took 
place,  but  previous  to  it  some  changes  in  the 
ministry  had  happened  which  it  is  proper  to 
notice ;  the  privy-seal,  vacant  by  the  resig- 
nation of  the  duke  of  Grafton,  was  given  to 
the  earl  of  Dartmouth,  who  resigned  the 
secretaryship  of  the  American  department ; 
lord  George  Sackville  Germain  succeeded 
him,  who  once  had  been  attached  to  opposi- 
tion and  a  zealous  friend  of  Mr.  Grenville, 
after  whose  death  he  gradua,lly  came  over 
to  the  side  of  administration,  and  had  voted 
with  them  in  favor  of  all  the  late  measures 
respecting  America.  Lord  Weymouth  suc- 
ceeded the  earl  of  Rochford  as  secretary  for 
the  southern  department. 

IRISH  AFFAIRS. 
1776. — The  first  business  of  any  conse- 
quence, after  the  recess,  related  to  Ireland. 
The  lord-lieutenant  of  that  kingdom  had 
sent  a  written  message  to  the  house  of  com- 
mons, containing  a  requisition  ui  the  king's 
name,  of  4000  additional  troops  from  that 
kingdom  for  the  American  service,  not  to  be 
paid  by  that  establishment  during  their  ab- 
sence, and,  if  desired  by  them,  to  be  replaced 
by  an  equal  number  of  foreign  Protestant 
troops,  the  charges  of  which  should  be  de 
frayed  w^ithout  any  expense  to  Ireland.  The 
commons  granted  4000  troops,  but  rejected 
the  offer  of  foreign  troops,  and  the  patriotic 
members  wished  rather  to  embody  a  part  of 
the  nation  under  the  description  of  volunteers 
for  their  internal  defence. 

DEBATE  ON  FOREIGN  TROOPS. 
The  treaties  which  had  been  concluded 
with  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel,  the  duke 
of  Brunswick,  and  the  hereditary  prince  of 
Hesse  Cassel,  for  hiring  their  troops  to  the 
king  of  Great  Britain,  to  be  employed  in  the 
American  service,  being  on  the  29th  of  Feb- 
ruary laid  before  the  house  of  commons,  a 
motion  was  made  thereon  for  referring  them 
to  the  committee  of  supply.  This  occasion 
ed  a  very  interesting  debate  on  the  propriety 


and  suffer  an  unprovoked  rebellion  to  termi- 


of  employing  foreign  troops  against  the 
Americans.  The  measure  was  supported 
on  the  necessity  of  prosecuting  the  war,  and 
the  impracticability  of  raising  a  sufficient 
number  of  domestic  levies.  It  was 
urged,  "that  foreign  troops,  inspired  with 
the  military  maxims  and  ideas  of  implicit 
submission,  would  be  less  apt  to  be  biassed 
by  that  false  lenity  which  native  soldiers 
might  indulge,  at  the  expense  of  national  in- 
terest"   It  was  said,  "  Are  we  to  sit  still 


nate  in  the  formation  of  an  independent  hos- 
tile empire  1 "    "  Are  we  to  sufier  our  colo- 
nies, the  object  of  great  national  expense, 
and  of  two  bloody  wars,  to  be  lost  for  ever 
to  us,  and  given  away  to  strangers,  from  a 
scruple  of  employing  foreign  troops  to  pre- 
serve our  just  rights  over  colonies  for  which 
we  have  paid  so  dear  a  purchase  1    As  the 
Americans,  by  refusing  the  obedience  and 
taxes  of  subjects,  deny  themselves  to  be  a 
part  of  the  British  empire,  and  make  them- 
selves foreigners,  they  cannot  complain  that 
foreigners  are  employed  against  them."    On 
the  other  side,  the  measure  was  severely 
condemned ;  the  necessity  of  the  war  was 
denied,  and  the  nation  was  represented  as 
disgraced  by  applying  to  the  petty  princes 
of  Germany  for    succors  against  her  own 
rebellious  subjects.     The  tendency  of  the 
example  to  induce  the  Americans  to  form 
alliances  with  foreign  powers,  was  strongly 
urged.     It  was  said,  "  Hitherto  the  colonists 
have  ventured  to  commit  themselves  singly 
in  this  arduous  contest,  without  having  re- 
course to  foreign  aid;  but  it  is  not  to  le 
doubted,  that  in  future  they  will  think  them- 
selves fully  justified,  both  by  our  example 
and  the  laws  of  self-preservation,  to  engage 
foreigners  to  assist  them  in  opposing  iho-e 
mercenaries,  whom  we  are  about  to  trans- 
port for  their  destruction.    Nor  is  it  doubtful 
that,  in  case  of  their  application,  European 
powers  of  a  rank  far  superior  to  that  of  those 
petty  princes,  to  whom  we  have  so  abjectly 
sued  for  aid,  will  consider  themselves  to  be 
equally  entitled  to  interfere  in  the  quarrel 
between  us  and  our  colonies." 

The  supposition  of  the  Americans  receiv- 
ing aid  from  France  or  Spain,  was  on  this 
and  several  other  occasions  ridiculed,  on  the 
idea  that  these  powers  would  not  dare  to  set 
to  their  own  colonies  the  dangerous  example 
of  encouraging  those  of  Great  Britain  in  op- 
posing their  sovereign.  It  was  also  suppos- 
ed, that  they  would  be  influenced  by  consid- 
erations of  future  danger  to  their  American 
possessions,  from  the  establishment  of  an 
independent  empire  in  their  vicinity. 

A  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  militia  in 
Scotland  had  been  brought  in  by  lord  Mount- 
stewart,  on  the  8th  of  December  1775 ;  but 
from  want  of  attendance,  and  multiplicity  of 
other  business,  had  been  neglected  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  season.  It  was  now 
brought  under  consideration ;  but,  notwith- 
standing the  apparent  sanction  of  adminis- 
tration, as  well  as  the  patronage  of  the  Scots 
gentlemen,  it  was  at  last  thrown  out  by  112 
to  95.  On  this  occasion  the  minister  divided 
with  the  minority. 

On  the  23d  of  May  his  majesty  put  an 
end  to  the  session.  In  the  speech,  his  ma- 
jesty expressed  the  usual  satisfaction  with 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


1G3 


their  proceedings;  that  no  alteration  had 
taken  place  in  the  state  of  foreign  affairs ; 
the  commons  were  thanked  for  their  readi- 
ness and  dispatch  in  granting  the  supplies, 
which  unavoidably  were  this  year  extraor- 
dinary; a  proper  frugality  was  promised, 
and  it  was  observed  that  they  were  engaged 
in  a  great  national  cause,  the  prosecution  of 
which  must  be  attended  with  great  difficul- 
ties, and  much  expense ;  but  when  they  con- 
sidered, that  the  essential  rights  and  inter- 
ests of  the  whole  empire  were  deeply  con- 
cerned in  the  issue  of  it,  and  could  have  no 
safety  or  security  but  in  that  constitutional 
subordmation  for  which  they  w^ere  contend- 
ing, it  afforded  a  conviction  that  they  could 
not  think  any  price  too  high  for  such  objects. 
His  majesty  hoped,  that  his  rebellious  sub- 
jects would  be  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their 
errors,  and  by  a  voluntary  return  to  their 
duty,  justify  the  restoration  of  harmony ;  but 
if  a  due  submission  should  not  be  obtained 
from  such  motives  and  dispositions  on  their 
part,  it  was  trusted,  that  it  would  be  effectu- 
ated by  a  full  exertion  of  the  great  force 
with  which  they  had  intrusted  him. 
BOSTON  EVACUATED  BY  THE  BRITISH. 
While  these  affairs  were  transacting  in 
England,  the  troops  at  Boston  were  suffer- 
ing the  inconvenience  of  a  blockade.  From 
the  19th  of  April  they  were  cut  off  from 
those  refreshments  which  their  situation  re- 
(^uired ;  their  supplies  from  Britain  did  not 
reach  the  coast  for  a  long  time  after  they 
\vere  expected.  Several  were  taken  by  the 
Anierican  cruisers,  and  others  were  lost  at 
sea.  This  was  in  particular  the  fate  of 
many  of  their  coal-ships.  The  want  of  fuel 
was  peculiarly  felt  in  a  climate  w^here  the 
winter  is  both  severe  and  tedious.  They 
relieved  themselves  in  part  from  their  suf- 
ferings on  this  account,  by  the  timber  of 
houses  which  they  pulled  down  and  burned. 
Vessels  were  dispatched  to  the  West  Indies, 
to  procure  provisions ;  but  the  islands  were 
so  straitened  that  tliey  could  afford  but  little 
assistance.  Armed  ships  and  transports 
were  ordered  to  Georgia,  with  an  intent  to 
procure  rice ;  but  the  people  of  that  prov- 
ince, with  the  aid  of  a  party  from  South 
Carolina,  so  effectually  opposed  them,  that 
of  eleven  vessels,  only  two  got  off  safe  with 
their  cargoes.  It  was  not  till  the  stock  of 
the  garrison  was  nearly  exhausted,  that  the 
transports  from  England  entered  the  port 
of  Boston,  and  relieved  the  distresses  of  the 
garrison. 

While  the  troops  within  the  lines  were 
apprehensive  of  suffering  from  want  of  pro- 
visions, the  troops  without  were  equally  un- 
easy for  want  of  employment.  Used  to  labor 
and  motion  on  their  farms,  they  relished  ill 
the  inactivity  and  confinement  of  a  camp- 
life.     Fiery  spirits  declaimed  in  favor  of  an 


assault  They  preferred  a  bold  spirit  of 
enterprise  to  that  passive  fortitude  which 
bears  up  under  present  evils,  while  it  waits 
for  favorable  junctures.  To  be  in  readiness 
for  an  attempt  of  this  kind,  a  council  of  war 
recommended  to  call  in  7280  militia-men, 
from  New-Hampshire  or  Connecticut.  This 
number,  added  to  the  regular  army  before 
Boston,  would  have  made  an  operating  force 
of  about  17,000  men. 

The  eyes  of  all  were  fixed  on  general 
Washington,  and  from  him  it  was  unreason- 
ably expected  that  he  would,  by  a  bold  ex- 
ertion, free  the  town  of  Boston  from  the 
British  troops.  The  dangerous  situation  of 
public  affairs  led  him  to  conceal  the  real 
scarcity  of  arms  and  ammunition,  and  with 
that  magnanimity  which  is  characteristical 
of  great  minds,  to  suffer  his  character  to  be 
assailed,  rather  than  vindicate  himself  by 
exposing  his  many  wants.  There  were  not 
wanting  persons  who,  judging  from  the  su- 
perior numbers  of  men  in  the  American 
army,  boldly  asserted,  that  if  the  commander- 
in-chief  was  not  desirous  of  prolonging  his 
importance  at  the  head  of  an  army,  he 
might,  by  a  vigorous  exertion,  gain  posses- 
sion of  Boston.  Such  suggestions  were  re- 
ported and  believed  by  several,  while  they 
were  uncontradicted  by  the  general,  who 
chose  to  risk  his  fame  rather  than  expose  his 
army  and  his  country. 

Agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  council 
of  war,  about  7000  of  the  militia  had  ren- 
dezvoused in  February.  General  Washmg- 
ton  stated  to  his  officers,  that  the  troops  in 
camp,  together  with  the  reinforcements 
which  had  been  called  for,  and  were  daily 
coming  in,  would  amount  nearly  to  17,000 
men — that  he  had  not  powder  sufficient  for 
a  bombardment,  and  asked  their  advice 
whether,  as  reinforcements  might  be  daily 
expected  to  the  enemy,  it  would  not  be  pru- 
dent, before  that  event  took  place,  to  mak'^ 
an  assault  on  the  British  lines.  The  propo- 
sition was  negatived;  but  it  was  recom- 
mended to  take  possession  of  Dorchester 
Heights.  To  conceal  this  design,  and  to 
divert  the  attention  of  the  garrison,  a  bom- 
bardment of  the  town,  from  other  directions 
commenced,  and  was  carried  on  for  three 
days  with  as  much  briskness  as  a  deficient 
stock  of  powder  would  admit.  In  this  first 
essay,  three  of  the  mortars  were  broken, 
either  from  a  defect  in  their  construction,  or 
more  probably  from  ignorance  of  the  proper 
mode  of  using  them. 

The  night  of  the  4th  of  March  was  fixed 
upon  for  taking  possession  of  Dorchester 
Heights.  A  covering-party  of  about  800 
men  led  the  way ;  these  were  followed  by 
the  carts  with  the  intrenching  tools,  and 
1200  of  a  working-party,  commanded  by 
general  Thomas.     In  the  rear,  there  were 


164 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


more  than  200  carts,  loaded  with  fascines 
and  hay  in  bundles.  While  the  cannon  were 
playing"  in  other  parts,  the  greatest  silence 
was  kept  by  this  working-party.  The  ac- 
tive zeal  of  the  provincials  completed  lines 
of  defence  by  the  morning,  which  astonished 
the  garrison.  The  difference  between  Dor- 
chester Heights  on  the  evening  of  the  4th, 
and  the  morning  of  the  5th,  seemed  to  re- 
alize the  tales  of  romance.  The  admiral 
informed  general  Howe,  that  if  the  Ameri- 
cans kept  possession  of  these  heights,  he 
would  not  be  able  to  keep  one  of  his  majesty's 
ships  in  the  harbor.  It  was  therefore  determin- 
ed in  a  council  of  war,  to  attempt  to  dislodge 
them.  An  engagement  was  hourly  expected. 
It  was  intended  by  general  Washington,  in 
that  case,  to  force  his  way  into  Boston  with 
4000  men,  who  were  to  have  embarked  at 
the  mouth  of  Cambridge  river.  The  militia 
had  come  forward  with  great  alertness,  each 
bringing  three  days'  provision,  in  expecta- 
tion of  an  immediate  assault  The  men  were 
in  high  spirits,  and  impatiently  waiting  for 
the  appeal. 

In  a  few  days  after,  a  flag  came  out  of 
Boston  with  a  paper  signed  by  four  select- 
men, informing,  "  that  they  had  applied  to 
general  Robertson,  who,  on  application  to 
general  Howe,  was  authorized  to  assure 
them  that  he  had  no  intention  of  burning 
the  town,  unless  the  troops  under  his  com- 
mand were  molested  during  their  embarka 
tion,  or  at  their  departure,  by  the  armed 
"orce  without."  When  this  paper  was  pre- 
sented to  general  Washington,  he  replied, 
"  that  as  it  was  an  unauthenticated  paper, 
and  without  an  address,  and  not  obligatory 
on  general  Howe,  he  could  take  no  notice 
of  it;"  but  at  the  same  time  intimated  his 
good  wishes  for  the  security  of  the  town. 

A  proclamation  was  issued  by  general 
Howe,  ordering  all  woollen  and  linen  goods 
to  be  delivered  to  Crean  Brush,  Esq.  Shops 
were  opened  and  stripped  of  their  goods.  A 
licentious  plundering  took  place ;  much  was 
carried  off,  and  more  was  wantonly  destroy- 
ed. These  irregularities  were  forbidden  in 
orders,  and  the  guilty  threatened  with  death, 
but  nevertheless,  every  mischief  which  dis- 
appointed malice  could  suggest,  was  com- 
mitted. 

The  British,  amounting  to  more  than  7000 
men,  evacuated  Boston  on  the  17th  of  March, 
leaving  their  barracks  standmg,  and  also  a 
number  of  pieces  of  cannon  spiked,  four 
large  iron  sea-mortars,  and  stores  to  the 
value  of  30,000?.  They  demolished  the  cas- 
tle, and  knocked  off  the  trunnions  of  the 
cannon.  Various  incidents  caused  a  delay 
of  nine  days  after  the  evacuation,  before 
they  left  Nantasket-road. 

The  evacuation  of  Boston  had  been  pre- 
Tiously  detennined  upon  by  the  British  min- 


istry, from  principles  of  political  expedience. 
Being  resolved  to  carry  on  the  war  for  pur- 
poses affecting  all  the  colonies,  they  con- 
ceived a  central  position  to  be  preferable  to 
Boston.  Reasoning  of  this  kind  had  induced 
the  adoption  of  the  measure,  but  the  Ameri- 
can works  on  Roxbury  expedited  its  execu- 
tion. The  abandonment  of  their  friends,  and 
the  withdrawing  their  forces  from  Boston, 
was  the  first  act  of  a  tragedy  in  which 
evacuations  and  retreats  were  the  scenes 
which  most  frequently  occurred,  and  the 
epilogue  of  which  was  a  total  evacuation  of 
the  United  States. 

SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC  RAISED. 

Though  congress  and  the  states  made 
great  exertions  to  support  the  war  in  Canada, 
yet  from  the  fall  of  Montgomery  their  in- 
terest in  that  colony  daily  declined.  The 
reduction  of  Quebec  was  an  object  to  which 
their  resources  were  inadequate.  Their  un- 
successful assault  on  Quebec  made  an  im- 
pression both  on  the  Canadians  and  Indians 
unfavorable  to  their  views.  By  the  first  of 
May,  so  many  new  troops  had  arrived,  that 
the  American  army,  in  name,  amounted  to 
3000,  but  from  the  prevalence  of  the  small- 
pox, there  were  only  900  fit  for  duty.  The 
increasing  number  of  invalids  retarded  their 
military  operations,  and  discouraged  their 
friends,  while  the  opposite  party  was  buoyed 
up  with  the  expectation  that  the  advancing 
season  would  soon  bring  them  relief 

On  the  5th  of  May,  the  van  of  the  British 
force,  destined  for  the  relief  of  Quebec, 
made  good  its  passage  through  the  ice  up 
the  river  St.  Laurence.  The  expectation 
of  their  coming  had  for  some  time  damped 
the  hopes  of  the  besiegers,  and  had  induced 
them  to  think  of  a  retreat.  The  day  before 
the  first  of  the  British  reinforcements  ar- 
rived, that  measure  was  resolved  upon  by  a 
council  of  war,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  carrying  it  into  execution. 

Governor  Carleton  was  too  great  a  profi- 
cient in  the  art  of  war,  to  delay  seizing  the 
advantages  which  the  consternation  of  the 
besiegers,  and  the  arrival  of  a  reinforcement 
afforded.  A  small  detachment  of  soldiers 
and  marines,  from  the  ships  which  had  just 
ascended  the  river  St.  Laurence,  being 
landed  and  joined  to  the  garrison  in  Quebec, 
he  marched  out  at  their  head  to  attack  the 
Americans.  On  his  approach,  he  found 
everything  in  confusion ;  the  late  besiegers, 
abandoning  their  artillery  and  military  stores, 
had  in  great  precipitation  retreated.  In  this 
manner,  at  the  expiration  of  five  months, 
the  mixed  siege  and  blockade  of  Quebec  was 
raised. 

The  reputation  acquired  by  general  Carle- 
ton  in  his  military  character,  for  bravely 
and  judiciously  defending  the  province  com- 
mitted to  his  care,  was  exceeded  by  the  su- 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


165 


perior  applause,  merited  from  the  exercise 
of  the  virtues  of  humanity  and  generosity. 
Among  the  numerous  sick  in  the  American 
hospitals,  several,  incapable  of  being  moved, 
were  left  behind.  The  victorious  general 
proved  himself  worthy  of  success,  by  his 
treatment  of  these  unfortunate  men ;  he  not 
only  fed  and  clothed  them,  but  permitted 
them,  when  recovered,  to  return  home.  Ap- 
prehending that  fear  might  make  some  con- 
ceal themselves  in  the  woods,  rather  than, 
by  applying  for  relief,  make  themselves 
known,  he  renjoved  their  doubts  by  a  procla- 
mation, [May  10th]  in  which  he  engaged, 
"  that  as  soon  as  their  health  was  restored, 
they  should  have  free  liberty  of  returning 
to  their  respective  provinces."  This  humane 
line  of  conduct  was  more  injurious  to  the 
views  of  the  leaders  in  the  American  coun- 
cils, than  the  severity  practised  by  other 
British  commanders.  The  truly  politic,  as 
well  as  humane,  general  Carleton,  dismissed 
these  prisoners,  after  liberally  supplying 
their  wants,  with  a  recommendation,  "to 
go  home,  mind  their  farms,  and  keep  them- 
selves and  their  neighbors  from  all  participa- 
tion in  the  unhappy  war." 

The  small  force  which  arrived  at  Quebec 
in  May,  was  followed  by  several  British 
regiments,  together  with  the  Brunswick 
troops,  in  such  a  rapid  succession,  that  in  a 
few  weeks  the  whole  was  estimated  at  thir- 
teen thousand  men. 

The  American?  retreated  forty-five  miles 
before  they  stopped.  After  a  short  halt,  they 
proceeded  to  the  Sorel,  at  which  place  they 
threw  up  some  slight  works  for  their  safety. 
They  were  there  joined  by  some  battalions 
coming  to  reinforce  them.  About  this  time, 
general  Thomas,  the  commander-in-chief  in 
Canada,  was  seized  with  the  small-pox,  and 
died ;  having  forbidden  his  men  to  inoculate, 
he  conformed  to  his  own  rule,  and  refused 
to  avail  himself  of  that  precaution.  On  his 
death,  the  command  devolved  at  first  on 
general  Arnold,  and  afterwards  on  general 
Sullivan.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the 
Americans  must  abandon  the  whole  province 
of  Canada. 

The  possession  of  Canada  so  eminently 
favored  the  plans  of  defence  adopted  by  con- 
gress, that  the  province  was  evacuated  with 
great  reluctance.  The  Americans  were  not 
only  mortified  at  the  disappointment  of  their 
favorite  scheme,  of  annexing  it  as  a  four- 
teenth link  in  the  chain  of  their  confederacy, 
but  apprehended  the  most  serious  conse- 
quences from  the  ascendency  of  the  British 
power  in  that  quarter.  Anxious  to  preserve 
a  footing  there,  they  had  persevered  for  a 
long  time  in  stemming  the  tide  of  unfavor- 
able events. 

General  Gates  was  about  this  time  ap- 
Dohated  to  command  in  Canada,  but  on  com- 


ing to  the  knowledge  of  the  late  events  in 
that  province,  he  determined  to  stop  short 
within  the  limits  of  New- York.  The  scene 
was  henceforth  reversed.  Instead  of  medi- 
tating the  recommencement  of  offensive  op- 
erations, that  army  which  had  lately  excited 
so  much  terror  in  Canada,  was  called  upon 
to  be  prepared  for  repelling  an  invasion 
threatened  from  that  province. 

The  attention  of  the  Americans  being  ex- 
clusively fixed  on  plans  of  defence,  their 
general  officers  commanding  in  the  northern 
department  were  convened  to  deliberate  on 
the  place  and  means  most  suitable  for  that 
purpose.  To  form  a  judgment  on  this  sub- 
ject, a  recollection  of  the  events  of  the  late 
war  between  France  and  England  was  of 
advantage.  The  same  ground  was  to  be 
fought  over,  and  the  same  posts  to  be  again 
contended  for.  On  the  confines  of  I^ke 
George  and  Lake  Champlain,  two  inland 
seas,  which  stretch  almost  from  the  sources 
of  Hudson's  river  to  the  St.  Laurence,  are 
situated  the  famous  posts  of  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point.  These  are  of  primary  neces- 
sity to  any  power  which  contends  for  the 
possession  of  the  adjacent  country,  for  they 
afford  the  most  convenient  stand  either  for 
its  annoyance  or  defence.  In  the  opinion 
of  some  American  officers.  Crown  Point,  to 
which  the  army  on  the  evacuation  of  Canada 
had  retreated,  was  the  most  proper  place  for 
erecting  works  of  defence ;  but  it  was  other- 
wise determined  by  the  council  convened 
on  this  occasion.  It  was  also  by  their  advice 
resolved  to  move  lower  down,  and  to  make 
the  principal  work  on  the  strong  ground  east 
of  Ticonderoga,  and  especially  by  every 
means  to  endeavor  to  maintain  a  naval  supe- 
riority on  Lake  Champlain.  In  conformity 
to  these  resolutions,  general  Gates,  witli 
about  twelve  thousand  men,  which  collected 
in  the  course  of  the  summer,  was  fixed  in 
command  of  Ticonderoga,  and  a  fleet  was 
constructed  at  Skenesborough.  This  was 
carried  on  with  so  much  rapidity,  that  in  a 
short  time  tliere  were  afloat  in  Lake  Cham- 
plain, one  sloop,  three  schooners,  and  six 
gondolas,  carrying  in  the  whole  fifty-eight 
guns,  eighty-six  swivels,  and  four  hundred 
and  forty  men.  Six  other  vessels  were  also 
nearly  ready  for  launching  at  the  same  time. 
The  fleet  was  put  under  the  command  of 
general  Arnold,  and  he  was  instructed  by 
general  Gates  to  proceed  beyond  Crown 
Point,  down  Lake  Champlain  to  the  Split 
Rock ;  but  most  peremptorily  restrained  from 
advancing  any  farther,  as  security  against 
an  apprehended  invasion  was  the  ultimate 
end  of  the  armament. 

AMERICANS  DEFEATRD  ON  LAKE  CHAM- 
PLAIN. 
The  expulsion  of  the  American  invaders 
from  Canada  was  but  a  part  of  the  British 


166 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


designs  in  that  quarter.  They  urged  the 
pursuit  no  farther  than  St.  John's,  but  indulg 
ed  the  hope  of  being  soon  in  a  condition  for 
passing  the  lakes,  and  penetrating  through 
the  country  to  Albany,  so  as  to  form  a  com 
munication  with  New- York.  The  objects 
they  had  in  view  were  great,  and  the  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  their  accomplishment 
equally  so.  Before  they  could  advance  with 
any  prospect  of  success,  a  fleet  superior  to 
that  of  tlie  Americans  on  the  lakes  was  to  be 
constructed.  The  materials  of  some  large 
vessels  were,  for  this  purpose,  brought  from 
England,  but  their  transportation,  and  the 
labor  necessary  to  put  them  together,  re- 
quired both  time  and  patience.  The  spirit 
of  the  British  commanders  rose  in  proportion 
to  the  difficulties  which  were  to  be  encoun- 
tered. Nevertheless  it  was  so  late  as  the 
month  of  October  before  their  fleet  was  pre- 
pared to  face  the  American  naval  force  on 
Lake  Champlain.  The  former  consisted  of 
the  ship  Inflexible,  mounting  eighteen  twelve 
pounders,  which  was  so  expeditiously  con- 
structed, that  she  sailed  from  St.  John's 
twenty-eight  days  afl;er  laying  her  keel ;  one 
schooner  mounting  fourteen,  and  another 
twelve  six  pounders,  a  flat-bottomed  radeau 
carrying  six  twenty-four  and  six  twelve 
pounders,  besides  howitzers,  and  a  gondola 
with  seven  nine  pounders.  There  were 
also  twenty  smaller  vessels  with  brass  field- 
pieces,  from  nine  to  twenty-four  pounders, 
or  with  howitzers.  Some  long-boats  were 
furnished  in  the  same  manner.  An  equal 
number  of  large  boats  acted  as  tenders.  Be- 
sides these  vessels  of  war,  there  was  a  vast 
number  destined  for  the  transportation  of  the 
army,  its  stores,  artillery,  baggage,  and  pro- 
visions. The  whole  was  put  under  the 
command  of  captain  Pringle.  The  naval 
force  of  the  Americans,  from  the  deficiency 
of  means,  was  far  short  of  what  was  brought 
against  them. 

No  one  step  could  be  taken  towards  ac- 
complishing the  designs  of  the  British,  on 
the  northern  frontiers  of  New- York,  till  they 
had  the  command  of  Lake  Champlain.  With 
this  view  their  fleet  proceeded  up  the  lake, 
and  on  the  eleventh  of  October  engaged  the 
Americans.  The  wind  was  so  unfavorable 
to  the  British,  that  their  ship  Inflexible,  and 
some  other  vessels  of  force,  could  not  be 
brought  to  action.  This  lessened  the  in- 
equality between  the  contending  fleets  so 
much,  that  the  principal  damage  sustained 
by  the  Americans  was  the  loss  of  a  schooner 
and  gondola.  At  the  approach  of  night  the 
action  was  discontinued.  The  vanquished 
took  the  advantage  which  the  darkness  af- 
forded to  make  their  escape.  This  was 
effected  by  general  Arnold  with  great  judg- 
ment and  ability.  By  the  next  morning  the 
whole  fleet  under  his  command  was  out  of 


sight.  The  British  pursued  with  all  the 
sail  they  could  crowd.  The  wind  having 
become  more  favorable,  they  overtook  the 
Americans,  and  on  the  seventeenth  of  Oc- 
tober brought  them  to  action  near  Crown 
Point.  A  smart  engagement  ensued,  and 
was  well  supported  on  both  sides  for  about 
two  hours.  Some  of  the  American  vessels 
which  were  most  ahead  escaped  to  Ticon- 
deroga.  Two  galleys  and  five  gondolas  re- 
mained, and  resisted  an  unequal  force  with 
a  spirit  approaching  to  desperation.  One  of 
the  galleys  struck  and  was  taken.  General 
Arnold,  though  he  knew  that  to  escape  was 
impossible,  and  to  resist  unavailing,  yet,  in- 
stead of  surrendering,  determined  that  his 
people  should  not  become  prisoners,  nor  his 
vessels  a  reinforcement  to  the  British.  This 
spirited  resolution  was  executed  with  a 
judgment  equal  to  the  boldness  with  which 
it  had  been  adopted.  He  ran  the  Congress 
ga,lley,  on  board  of  which  he  was,  together 
with  the  five  gondolas,  on  shore,  in  such  a 
position  as  enabled  him  to  land  his  men  and 
blow  up  the  vessels.  In  the  execution  of 
this  perilous  enterprise,  he  paid  a  romantic 
attention  to  a  point  of  honor.  He  did  not 
quit  his  own  galley  till  she  was  in  flames, 
lest  the  British  should  board  her  and  strike 
his  flag. 

The  American  naval  force  being  nearly 
destroyed,  the  British  had  undisputed  pos- 
session of  Lake  Champlain.  On  this  event 
a  few  continental  troops,  which  had  been  at 
Crown  Point,  retired  to  their  main  body  at 
Ticonderoga.  General  Carleton  took  pos- 
session of  the  ground  from  which  they  had 
retreated,  and  was  there  soon  joined  by  his 
army.  He  sent  out  several  reconnoitring 
parties,  and  at  one  time  pushed  forward  a 
strong  detachment  on  both  sides  of  the  lake, 
which  approached  near  to  Ticonderoga. 
Some  British  vessels  appeared  at  the  same 
time,  within  cannon-shot  of  the  American 
works  at  that  place.  It  is  probable  he  had 
it  in  contemplation,  if  circumstances  favor- 
ed, to  reduce  the  post,  and  that  the  apparent 
strength  of  the  works  restrained  him  from 
making  the  attempt,  and  induced  his  return 
to  Canada. 

UNSUCCESSFUL  ATTACK  ON  CHARLES- 
TOWN. 

The  command  of  the  forces  which  was 
destined  to  make  an  impression  on  the  south- 
ern colonies,  was  by  the  British  ministry 
committed  to  general  Clinton  and  Sir  Peter 
Parker ;  the  former  with  a  small  force  hav- 
ing called  at  New- York,  and  also  visited  in 
Virginia  lord  Dunmore,  the  late  royal  gover- 
nor of  that  colony,  and  finding  that  nothing 
could  be  done  at  either  place,  proceeded  to 
Cape  Fear  river. 

At  Cape  Fear  a  junction  was  formed  be- 
tween Sir  Henry  Clinton  and  Sir  Peter 


GEORGE  ni  1760—1820. 


167 


Parker.  They  concluded  to  attempt  the  re- 
duction of  Charlestown,  as  being,  of  all 
places  within  the  line  of  their  instructions, 
the  object  at  which "  they  could  strike  with 
the  greatest  prospect  of  advantage.  They 
had  2800  land  forces,  which  they  hoped,  with 
the  co-operation  of  their  shipping,  would  be 
fully  sufficient. 

For  some  months  every  exertion  had  been 
made  by  the  Americans  to  put  the  colony  of 
South  Carolina,  and  especially  its  capital, 
Charlestown,  in  a  respectable  posture  of  de- 
fence. In  subserviency  to  this  view,  works 
had  been  erected  on  Sullivan's  Island,  which 
is  situated  so  near  the  channel  leading  up  to 
the  town,  as  to  be  a  convenient  post  for  an- 
noying vessels  approaching  it 

On  the  18th  of  July  Sir  Peter  Parker  at- 
tacked the  fort  on  that  island,  with  two  fifty- 
gun  ships,  the  Bristol  and  Experiment,  four 
frigates,  the  Active,  Acteon,  Solebay,  and 
Syren,  each  of  28  guns ;  the  Sphynx  of  20 
guns,  the  Friendship  armed  vessel  of  22 
guns,  the  Ranger  sloop,  and  Thunder  bomb, 
each  of  8  guns.  On  the  fort  were  mounted 
26  cannon,  26,  18,  and  9  pounders.  The  at- 
tack commenced  between  ten  and  eleven  in 
the  forenoon,  and  was  continued  for  upwards 
of  ten  hours.  The  garrison,  consisting  of 
375  regulars  and  a  few  militia,  under  the 
command  of  colonel  Moultrie,  made  a  most 
gallant  defence.  They  fired  deliberately, 
for  the  most  part  took  aim,  and  seldom  missed 
their  object.  The  ships  were  torn  almost  to 
pieces,  and  the  killed  and  wounded  on  board 
exceeded  200  men.  The  loss  of  the  garri- 
son was  only  ten  men  killed,  and  22  wound- 
ed. The  fort  being  built  of  palmetto,  was 
little  damaged ;  the  shqt  which  struck  it 
were  ineffectually  buried  in  its  sofl  wood. 
General  Clinton  had,  some  time  before  the 
engagement,  landed  with  a  number  of  troops 
on  Long-Island,  and  it  was  expected  that  he 
would  have  co-operated  with  Sir  Peter  Par- 
ker, by  crossing  over  the  narrow  passage 
which  divides  the  two  islands,  and  attacking 
the  fort  in  it^  unfinished  rear ;  but  the  ex- 
treme danger  to  which  he  must  unavoidably 
have  exposed  his  men,  induced  him  to  de- 
cline the  perilous  attempt.  Colonel  Thom- 
son, with  7  or  800  men,  was  stationed  at  the 
east  end  of  Sullivan's  Island,  to  oppose  their 
crossing.  No  serious  attempt  was  made  to 
land,  either  from  the  fleet,  or  the  detachment 
commanded  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  The 
firing  ceased  in  the  evening,  and  soon  after 
the  ships  slipped  their  cables ;  before  morn- 
ing they  had  retired  about  two  miles  from 
the  island.  Within  a  few  days  more  the 
troops  reimbarked,  and  the  whole  sailed  for 
New-York.  The  thanks  of  congress  were 
given  to  general  Lee,  who  had  been  sent  on 
by  congress  to  take  the  command  in  Caroli- 
na, and  a^so  to  colonels  Moultrie  and  Thom- 


son, for  their  good  conduct  on  this  memora- 
ble day.  In  compliment  to  the  commanding 
officer,  the  fort  from  that  time  was  called 
Fort  Moultrie. 

By  the  repulse  of  this  armament,  the 
southern  states  obtained  a  respite  from  the 
calamities  of  war  for  two  years  and  a  half 
The  defeat  the  British  experienced  at 
Charlestown,  seemed  in  some  measure  to 
counterbalance  the  unfavorable  impression, 
made  by  their  subsequent  successes  to  the 
northward. 

The  effects  of  this  victory,  in  animating 
the  Americans,  were  much  greater  than 
could  be  warranted  by  the  circumstances  of 
the  action.  As  it  was  the  first  attack  made 
by  the  British  navy,  its  unsuccessful  issue 
inspired  a  confidence  which  a  more  exact 
knowledge  of  military  calculations  would 
have  corrected.  The  circumstance  of  its 
happening  in  the  early  part  of  the  war,  and 
in  one  of  the  weaker  provinces,  were  instru- 
mental in  dispelling  the  gloom  which  over- 
shadowed the  minds  of  many  of  the  colo- 
nists on  hearing  of  the  powerful  fleets  and 
numerous  armies  which  were  coming  against 
them. 
PREPARATIONS  AGAINST  NEW- YORK. 

The  command  of  the  forces  which  was 
destined  to  operate  against  New- York,  in 
this  campaign,  was  given  to  admiral  lord 
Howe,  and  his  brother  Sir  William,  officers 
who,  as  well  from  their  personal  characters, 
as  the  known  bravery  of  their  family,  stood 
high  in  the  confidence  of  the  British  nation. 
To  this  service  was  allotted  a  very  powerful 
army,  consisting  of  about  30,000  men.  This 
force  was  far  superior  to  anything  that 
America  had  hitherto  seen.  The  troops 
were  amply  provided  with  artillery,  military 
stores,  and  warlike  materials  of  every  kind, 
and  were  supported  by  a  numerous  fleet 
The  admiral  and  general,  in  addition  to  their 
military  powers,  were  appointed  commis- 
sioners for  restoring  peace  to  the  colonies. 

General  Howe  having  in  vain  waited  two 
months  at  Halifax  for  his  brother,  and  the 
expected  reinforcements  from  England,  im- 
patient of  farther  delays,  on  the  10th  of 
June  sailed  from  that  harbor,  with  the  force 
with  which  he  had  previously  commanded 
in  Boston,  and  directing  his  course  towards 
New- York,  arrived  in  the  latter  end  of  June 
oflT  Sandy  Hook.  Admiral  lord  Howe,  with 
part  of  the  reinforcement  from  England,  ar- 
rived at  Halifax  soon  after  his  brother's  de- 
parture. Without  dropping  anchor  he  fol- 
lowed, and  soon  after  joined  him  near  Staten 
Island.  The  British  general,  on  his  approach, 
found  every  part  of  New- York  island,  and 
the  most  exposed  parts  of  Long-Island,  forti- 
fied and  well  defended  by  artillery.  About 
fifly  British  transports  anchored  near  Staten 
Island,  which  had  not  been  so  much  the  ob- 


168 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ject  of  attention.  Tke  inhabitants,  either 
from  fear,  policy,  or  affection,  expressed  great 
joy  on  the  arrival  of  the  royal  forces.  Gen- 
eral Howe  was  there  met  by  Tryon,  late 
governor  of  the  province,  and  by  several  of 
the  loyalists,  who  had  taken  refuge  with 
him  in  an  armed  vessel.  He  was  also  joined 
by  about  sixty  persons  from  New-Jersey,  and 
200  of  the  inhabitants  of  Staten  Island  were 
embodied  as  a  royal  militia.  From  these 
appearances,  great  hopes  were  indulged  that 
as  soon  as  the  army  was  in  a  condition  to 
penetrate  into  the  country,  and  protect  the 
loyalists,  such  numbers  would  flock  to  their 
standard  as  wotild  facilitate  the  attainment 
of  the  objects  of  the  campaign. 

DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

While  such  wero  the  arrangements  of 
tJie  British  generals,  a  bold  and  decisive 
measure  was  taken  by  their  opponents, 
which  gave  a  new  complexion  to  the  con- 
test, and  was  soon  productive  of  the  most 
important  consequences.  We  speak  of  the 
declaration  of  independence. 

The  public  mind  had  been  long  prepared 
by  pamphlets  and  harangues  for  this  import- 
ant step.  But  in  the  people  the  eagerness 
for  independence  resulted  more  from  feeling 
than  reasoning.  The  advantages  of  an  un 
fettered  trade,  the  prospect  of  honors  and 
emoluments  in  administering  a  new  govern 
ment,  were  of  themselves  insufficient  mo- 
tives for  adopting  this  bold  measure.  But 
what  was  wanting  from  considerations  of 
this  kind,  was  made  up  by  the  perseverance 
of  Great  Britain  in  her  schemes  of  coercion 
and  conquest.  The  determined  resolution 
of  the  mother-country  to  subdue  the  colo- 
nists, together  with  the  plans  she  adopted 
for  accomplishing  that  purpose,  and  their 
equally  determined  resolution  to  appeal  to 
Heaven  rather  than  submit,  made  a  declara- 
tion of  independence  as  necessary  in  1776, 
as  was  the  non-importation  agreement  of 
1774,  or  the  assumption  of  arms  in  1775, 
The  last  naturally  resulted  from  the  first 
The  revolution  was  not  forced  on  the  people 
by  ambitious  leaders  grasping  at  supreme 
power,  but  every  measure  of  it  was  forced 
on  congress,  by  the  necessity  of  the  case 
raid  the  voice  of  the  people. 

The  motion  for  declaring  the  colonies  free 
and  independent  was  first  made  m  congress 
by  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia ;  he  was 
warranted  in  making  this  motion  by  the  par- 
ticular instructions  of  his  immediate  con- 
stituents, and  also  by  the  general  voice  of 
the  people  of  all  the  states.  The  debates 
were  continued  for  some  time,  and  with 
{»Teat  animation.  In  these  John  Adams,  and 
.Fohn  Dickinson  took  leading  and  opposite 
parts.  The  former  strongly  urged  the  im- 
mediate dissolution  of  all  political  connexion 
of  the  colonies  with  Great  Britain,  from  the 


voice  of  the  people,  from  the  necessity  of 
the  measure  in  order  to  obtain  foreign  as- 
sistance, from  a  regard  to  consistency,  and 
from  the  prospects  of  glory  and  happiness, 
which  opened  beyond  the  war,  to  a  free  and 
independent  people.  Dickinson  urged  that 
the  present  time  was  improper  for  the  de- 
claration of  independence,  that  the  war 
might  be  conducted  with  equal  vigor  with- 
out it,  and  that  it  would  divide  the  Ameri- 
cans, and  unite  the  people  of  Great  Britain 
against  them.  He  then  proposed  that  some 
assurance  should  be  obtained  of  assistance 
from  a  foreign  power,  before  they  renounced 
their  connexion  with  Great  Britain,  and  tha 
the  declaration  of  independence  should  b 
the  condition  to  be  offered  for  this  assistance. 
He  likewise  stated  the  disputes  that  existed 
between  several  of  the  colonies,  and  pro- 
posed that  some  measures  for  the  settlement 
of  them  should  be  determined  upon,  before 
they  lost  sight  of  that  tribunal  which  had 
hitherto  been  the  umpire  of  all  their  difl^er- 
ences. 

After  a  fiill  discussion,  the  measure  of  de- 
claring the  colonies  free  and  independent 
was  approved,  by  nearly  an  unanimous  vote. 
The  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  this 
great  event  took  place,  has  ever  since  been 
consecrated  by  the  Americans  to  religious 
gratitude  and  social  pleasures ;  it  is  consid- 
ered by  them  as  the  birth-day  of  their  free- 
dom. 

The  act  of  the  united  colonies  for  sepa- 
rating themselves  from  the  government  of 
Great  Britain,  and  declaring  their  independ- 
ence, was  expressed  in  the  following  words : 

"When,  in  tlie  course  of  human  evente, 
it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people  to  dis- 
solve the  political  bands  which  have  con- 
nected them  with  another,  and  to  assume 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth  the  separate 
and  equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  na- 
ture and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  de- 
cent respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  re- 
quires that  they  should  declare  the  causes 
which  impel  them  to  the  separation. 

"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident, 
that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certaui 
unalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness; 
that  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are 
instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  frqm  the  consent  of  the  governed ; 
that  whenever  any  form  of  government  be- 
comes destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the 
right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it, 
and  to  institute  a  new  government,  laying 
its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organ- 
izing its  power  in  such  form,  as  to  thera 
shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  tlieir  safety 
and  happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dic- 
tate  that    governments    long    established 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


KiU 


siiould  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient 
causes ;  and  accordingly  all  experience  hath 
shown,  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to 
suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to 
right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to 
which  they  are  accustomed.  But  when  a 
long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pursu- 
ing invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  de- 
sign to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despot- 
ism, it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to 
throw  off  such  government,  and  to  provide 
new  guards  for  their  future  security.  Such 
has  been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these  col- 
onies, and  such  is  now  the  necessity  which 
constrains  them  to  alter  their  former  sys- 
tems of  government.  The  history  of  the 
present  king  of  Great  Britain  is  a  history  of 
repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  having 
in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  ab- 
solute tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove 
this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world. 

"He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the 
most  wholesome  and  necessary  for  the  pub- 
lic good. 

"  He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass 
laws  of  unmediate  and  pressing  importance, 
unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his 
assent  should  be  obtained  ;  and  when  so  sus- 
pended he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend 
to  them. 

"He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for 
the  accommodation  of  large  districts  of  peo- 
ple, unless  those  people  would  relinquish 
the  right  of  representation  in  the  legisla- 
ture, a  right  inestimable  to  them,  and  for- 
midable to  tyrants  only. 

"  He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies 
at  places  unusual,  uncomfortable,  and  dis- 
tant from  the  depository  of  their  public  rec- 
ords, for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them 
into  compliance  with  his  measures. 

"  He  has  dissolved  representative  houses 
repeatedly,  for  opposing,  with  manly  firm- 
ness, his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple. 

"He  has  refused,  for  a  long  time  after 
such  dissolutions,  to  cause  others  to  be  elect- 
ed; whereby  the  legislative  powers,  inca- 
pable of  annihilation,  have  returned  to  the 
people  at  large  for  their  exercise ;  the  state 
remaining  in  the  mean  tune  exposed  to  all 
the  danger  of  invasion  from  without,  and 
convulsions  within. 

"  He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  popu- 
lation of  these  states,  for  that  purpose  ob- 
structing the  laws  for  naturalization  of  for- 
eigners ;  refusing  to  pass  others  to  encour- 
age their  migration  hither,  and  raising  tlie 
conditions  of  new  appropriations  of  lands. 

"  He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of 
justice,  by  refusing  his  assent  to  laws  for 
establishing  judiciary  powers. 

"  He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his 

Vol.  IV.  15 


will  alone,  for  the  tenure  of  their  offices,  and 
the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

"  He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  of- 
fices, and  sent  hither  swarms  of  officers  to 
harass  our  people  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

"  He  has  kept  among  us,  in  time  of  peace, 
standing  armies,  without  the  consent  of  our 
legislatures. 

"  He  has  affected  to  render  the  military 
independent  of,  and  superior  to,  the  civil 
power. 

"  He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject 
us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  constitu- 
tion, and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws  ;  giv- 
ing his  assent  to  their  acts  of  pretended 
legislation : 

"  For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed 
troops  among  us : 

"For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial, 
from  punishment  for  any  murders  which 
they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of 
these  states : 

"  For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts 
of  the  world : 

"For  imposmg  taxes  on  us  without  our 
consent : 

"  For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the 
benefits  of  trial  by  jury : 

"  For  transporting  us  beyond  tlie  seas  to 
be  tried  for  pretended  offences  : 

"  For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  Eng- 
lish laws  in  a  neighboring  province,  estab- 
lishing therein  an  arbitrary  government, 
and  enlarging  its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render 
it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for 
introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into 
these  colonies : 

"  For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolish- 
ing our  most  valuable  laws,  and  altering  fim- 
damentally  the  form  of  our  governments : 

"For  suspending  our  own  legislatures, 
and  declaring  themselves  invested  with  pow- 
er to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

"  He  has  abdicated  government  here,  by 
declaring  us  out  of  his  protection,  and 
waging  war  against  us. 

"  He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our 
coasts,  burned  our  towns,  and  destroyed  the 
lives  of  our  people. 

"He  is,  at  this  time,  transporting  large 
armies  of  foreign  mercenaries  to  complete 
the  works  of  death,  desolation,  and  tyranny 
already  begun,  with  circumstances  of  cru- 
elty and  perfidy,  scarcely  paralleled  in  the 
most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally  unworthy 
the  head  of  a  civUized  nation. 

"  He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens, 
taken  captive  on  the  high  seas,  to  bear  arms 
against  their  country,  to  become  the  execu- 
tioners of  their  friends  and  bretlu-en,  or  to 
fall  themselves  by  their  hands. 

"He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections 
among  us,  and  has  endeavored  to  bring  on 


170 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the  merci- 
.ess  Indian  savages,  whose  known  rule  of 
warfare  is  an  undistinguished  destruction 
of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions. 

"  In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions  we 
have  petitioned  for  redress  in  the  most  hum- 
ble terms.  Our  repeated  petitions  have 
been  answered  only  by  repeated  injury.  A 
prince,  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by 
every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit 
to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

"  Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention 
to  our  British  brethren.  We  have  warned 
them  from  time  to  time  of  attempts  made 
by  their  legislature,  to  extend  an  unwarrant- 
able jurisdiction  over  us.  We  have  remind- 
ed them  of  the  circumstances  of  our  emi- 
gration and  settlement  here.  We  have  ap- 
pealed to  their  native  justice  and  magnan- 
imity, and  we  have  conjured  them,  by  the 
ties  of  our  common  kindred,  to  disavow 
these  usurpations,  which  would  inevitably 
interrupt  our  connexions  and  correspond- 
ence. They  too  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice 
of  justice  and  of  consanguinity.  We  must, 
therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity,  which 
denounces  our  separation,  and  hold  them  as 
we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in 
war,  in  peace,  friends. 

"  We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  general  con- 
gress assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme 
Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  our 
intentions,  do,  in  the  name  and  by  authority 
of  the  good  people  of  these  colonies,  solemnly 
publish  and  declare,  that  these  united  colo- 
nies are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and 
INDEPENDENT  STATES ;  that  they  are  absolv- 
ed from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown ; 
and  that  all  political  connexion  between 
them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain  is  and 
ought  to  be  totally  dissolved ;  and  that,  as 
free  and  independent  states,  they  have  full 
power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract 
alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all 
other  acts  and  things  which  independent 
states  may  of  right  do.  And  for  the  support 
of  this  declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on 
the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we 
mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our 
fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 

"  John  Hancock,  President." 
NKVV  GOVERNMENT  ARRANGEMENTS. 

From  the  promulgation  of  this  declara- 
tion, everything  assumed  a  new  form.  The 
Americans  no  longer  appeared  in  the  char- 
acter of  subjects  in  arms  against  their  sove- 
reign, but  as  an  independent  people,  repel- 
ling the  attacks  of  an  invading  foe.  The 
propositions  and  supplications  for  reconcilia- 
tion were  done  away.  The  dispute  was 
brought  to  a  single  point,  whether  the  late 
British  colonies  should  be  conquered  prov- 
inces, or  free  and  independent  states. 


All  political  connexion  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies  being  dissolved,  the 
institution  of  new  forms  of  government  oe- 
came  unavoidable.  The  necessity  of  this 
was  so  urgent,  that  congress,  before  the 
declaration  of  independence,  had  recom- 
mended to  the  respective  assemblies  and 
conventions  of  the  United  States  to  adopt 
such  governments  as  should,  in  their  opinion, 
best  conduce  to  the  happiness  and  safety 
of  their  constituents.  During  more  than 
twelve  months  the  colonists  had  been  held 
together  by  the  force  of  ancient  habits,  and 
by  laws  under  the  simple  style  of  recom- 
mendations. The  impropriety  of  proceeding 
ui  courts  of  justice  by  the  authority  of  a 
sovereign  against  whom  the  colonies  were 
in  arms,  was  self-evident.  The  impossibility 
of  governing  for  any  length  of  time,  three 
millions  of  people,  by  the  ties  of  honor, 
without  the  authority  of  law,  was  equally 
apparent  The  rejection  of  British  sove- 
reignty therefore  drew  after  it  the  necessity 
of  fixing  on  some  other  principle  of  govern- 
ment. The  genius  of  the  Americans,  theu- 
republican  habits  and  sentiments,  naturally 
led  them  to  substitute  the  majesty  of  the 
people  in  lieu  of  discarded  royalty.  The 
kingly  office  was  dropped,  but  in  most  of 
the  subordinate  departments  of  government, 
ancient  forms  and  names  were  retained. 
Such  a  portion  of  power  had  at  all  times 
been  exercised  by  the  people  and  their  re- 
presentatives, that  the  change  of  sovereignty 
was  hardly  perceptible,  and  the  revolution 
took  place  without  violence  or  convulsion. 
Popular  elections  elevated  private  citizens 
to  the  same  offices  which  had  formerly  been 
conferred  by  royal  appointment.  The  people 
felt  an  uninterrrupted  continuation  of  the 
blessings  of  law  and  government  under  old 
names,  though  derived  from  a  new  sove- 
reignty, and  were  scarcely  sensible  of  any 
change  in  their  political  constitution.  The 
checks  and  balances  which  restrained  the 
popular  assemblies  under  the  royal  govern- 
ment, were  partly  dropped  and  partly  re- 
tained, by  substituting  something  of  the 
same  kind.  The  temper  of  the  people  would 
not  permit  that  any  one  man,  however  ex- 
alted by  office,  or  distinguished  by  abilities, 
should  have  a  negative  on  the  declared 
sense  of  a  majority  of  their  representatives : 
but  the  experience  of  all  ages  had  taught 
them  the  danger  of  lodging  all  power  in  one 
body  of  men.  A  second  branch  of  legisla- 
ture, consisting  of  a  few  select  persons, 
under  the  name  of  senate  or  council,  was 
therefore  constituted  in  eleven  of  the  thir- 
teen states,  and  their  concurrence  made 
necessary  to  give  the  validity  of  law  to  the 
acts  of  a  more  numerous  branch  of  popular 
representatives.  New- York  and  Massachu- 
sets  went  one  step  further.     The  former 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


171 


constituted  a  council  of  revision,  consisting 
of  the  governor  and  the  heads  of  judicial 
departments,  on  whose  objecting  to  any  pro- 
posed law,  a  reconsideration  became  neces- 
sary, and  unless  it  was  confirmed  by  two- 
thirds  of  both  houses,  it  could  have  no  ope- 
ration. A  similar  power  was  given  to  the 
governor  of  Massachusets :  Georgia  and 
Pennsylvania  were  the  only  states  whose 
legislature  consisted  of  only  one  branch. 
Though  many  in  these  states,  and  a  majority 
in  all  the  others,  saw  and  acknowledged  the 
propriety  of  a  compounded  legislature,  yet 
the  mode  of  creating  two  branches  out  of  a 
homogeneous  mass  of  people,  was  a  matter 
of  difficulty.  No  distinction  of  ranks  existed 
in  the  colonies,  and  none  were  entitled  to 
any  rights,  but  such  as  were  common  to  all. 
Some  possessed  more  wealth  than  others, 
but  riches  and  ability  were  not  always  asso- 
ciated. Ten  of  the  eleven  states,  whose 
legislatures  consisted  of  two  branches,  or- 
dained that  the  members  of  both  should  be 
elected  by  the  people.  This  rather  made 
two  co-ordinate  houses  of  representatives, 
than  a  check  on  a  single  one,  by  the  mode- 
ration of  a  select  few.  Maryland  adopted 
a  singular  plan  for  constituting  an  indC' 
pendent  senate.  By  her  constitution,  the 
members  of  that  body  were  elected  for  five 
years,  while  the  members  of  the  house  of 
delegates  held  their  seats  only  for  one.  The 
number  of  senators  w;is  only  fifteen,  and 
they  were  all  elected  indiscriminately  from 
the  inhabitants  of  any  part  of  the  state,  ex 
cepting  that  nine  of  them  were  to  be  resi 
dents  on  the  west,  and  six  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Chesapeak  Bay.  They  were  elected 
not  immediately  by  the  people,  but  by  elec 
tors,  two  from  each  county,  appointed  by  the 
inhabitants  for  that  sole  purpose.  By  these 
regulations,  the  senate  of  Maryland  consist 
ed  of  men  of  influence,  integrity,  and  abili- 
ties ;  and  such  as  were  a  real  and  beneficial 
check  on  the  hasty  proceedings  of  a  more 
numerous  branch  of  popular  representatives 
The  laws  of  that  state  were  well  digested, 
and  its  interests  steadily  pursued,  with  a 
peculiar  unity  of  system ;  while  elsewhere 
it  too  often  happened,  in  the  fluctuation  of 
public  assemblies,  and  where  the  legislative 
department  was  not  sufficiently  checked, 
that  passion  and  party  predominated  over 
principle  and  public  good. 

Pennsylvania,  instead  of  a  legislative 
council  or  senate,  adopted  the  expedient  of 
publishing  bills  after  the  second  reading,  for 
the  information  of  the  inhabitants.  This  had 
its  advantages  and  disadvantages.  It  pre- 
vented the  precipitate  adoption  of  new  regu- 
lations, and  gave  an  op|-)ortunity  of  ascer- 
taining the  sense  of  the  people  on  those 
laws  by  which  they  were  to  be  bound :  but 
it  carried  tlie  spirit  of  discussion  into  every 


corner,  and  disturbed  the  peace  and  harmony 
of  neighborhoods.  By  making  the  business 
of  government  the  duty  of  every  man,  it 
drew  off  the  attention  of  many  from  tlie 
steady  pursuit  of  their  respective  businesses. 
The  state  of  Pennsylvania  also  adopted 
another  constitution  peculiar  to  itself,  under 
the  denomination  of  a  council  of  censors. 
These  were  to  be  chosen  once  every  seven 
years,  and  were  authorized  to  inquire  whether 
the  constitution  had  been  preserved ;  whether 
the  legislative  and  executive  branch  of  gov- 
ernment had  performed  their  duty,  or  as- 
sumed to  themselves,  or  exercised  other  or 
greater  powers  than  those  to  which  they 
were  constitutionally  entitled:  to  inquire 
whether  the  public  taxes  had  been  justly 
laid  and  collected,  and  in  what  manner  the 
public  moneys  had  been  disposed  of,  and 
whether  the  laws  had  been  duly  executed. 
However  excellent  this  institution  may  ap- 
pear in  theory,  it  is  doubtful  whether  in 
practice  it  will  answer  any  valuable  end.  It 
most  certainly  opens  a  door  for  discord,  and 
furnishes  abundant  matter  for  periodical  al- 
tercation. Either  from  the  disposition  of 
its  inhabitants,  its  form  of  government,  or 
some  other  cause,  the  people  of  Pennsyl- 
vania have  constantly  been  in  a  state  of  fer- 
mentation. The  end  of  one  public  contro- 
versy has  been  the  beginning  of  another. 
From  the  collision  of  parties,  the  minds  of 
the  citizens  were  sharpened,  and  their  ac- 
tive powers  improved ;  but  internal  harmony 
has  been  unknown.  Those  who  were  out 
of  place  so  narrowly  watched  those  wlio 
vi^ere  in,  that  nothing  injurious  to  the  public 
could  be  easily  effected ;  but  from  the  fluc- 
tuation of  power,  and  the  total  want  of  per- 
manent system,  nothing  great  or  lasting  could 
with  safety  be  undertaken,  or  prosecuted  to 
effect.  Under  all  these  disadvantages  the 
state  flourished,  and  from  the  industry  and 
ingenuity  of  its  inhabitants,  acquired  an  un- 
rivalled ascendency  in  arts  and  manufac- 
tures. This  must,  in  a  great  measure,  be 
ascribed  to  the  influence  of  habits  of  order 
and  industry,  that  had  long  prevailed. 

The  Americans  agreed  in  appointing  a 
supreme  executive  head  to  each  state,  with 
the  title  either  of  governor  or  president. 
They  also  agreed  in  deriving  the  whole 
powers  of  government,  either  mediately  or 
immediately,  from  the  people.  In  the  east- 
ern states,  and  in  New-York,  their  govern- 
ors were  elected  by  the  inhabitants,  in  tlieir 
respective  towns  or  counties,  and  in  tlie 
other  states  by  the  legislatures ;  but  in  no 
case  was  the  smallest  title  of  power  exer- 
cised from  hereditary  right.  New- York  was 
the  only  state  wliich  invested  its  governcr 
with  executi\e  authority  witliout  a  council. 
Such  was  the  extreme  jealousy  of  power 
which  pervaded  the  American  states,  tliat 


172 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


they  did  not  think  proper  to  trust  the  man 
of  their  choice  with  the  power  of  executing 
their  own  determinations,  without  obliging 
him  in  many  cases  to  take  the  advice  of 
such  counsellors  as  they  thought  proper  to 
nominate.  The  disadvantages  of  the  insti- 
tution far  outweighed  its  advantages.  Had 
the  governors  succeeded  by  hereditary  right, 
a  council  would  have  been  often  necessary 
to  supply  the  real  want  of  abilities ;  but 
when  an  individual  had  been  selected  by 
the  people  as  the  fittest  person  for  discharg- 
ing the  duties  of  this  high  department,  to 
fetter  him  with  a  council  was  either  to  lessen 
his  capacity  of  doing  good,  or  to  furnish  him 
with  a  screen  for  doing  evil.  It  destroyed 
the  secrecy,  vigor,  and  dispatch,  which 
the  executive  power  ought  to  possess ;  and 
by  making  government  acts  the  acts  of  a 
body,  diminished  individual  responsibility. 
In  some  states  it  greatly  enhanced  the  ex- 
penses of  government,  and  in  all,  retarded 
its  operations  without  any  equivalent  advan- 
tages. 

New- York,  in  another  particular,  display- 
ed political  sagacity  superior  to  her  neigh- 
bors. This  was  in  her  council  of  appoint- 
ment, consisting  of  one  senator  from  each 
of  her  four  great  election  districts  author- 
ized to  designate  proper  persons  for  filling 
vacancies  in  the  executive  departments  of 
government.  Large  bodies  are  far  from 
being  the  most  proper  depositories  of  the 
power  of  appointing  to  offices.  The  assidu- 
ous attention  of  candidates  is  too  apt  to  bias 
the  voice  of  individuals  in  popular  assemblies. 
Besides,  in  such  appointments,  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  conduct  of  the  officer  is  in  a 
great  measure  annihilated.  The  concur- 
rence of  a  select  few  on  the  nomination  of 
one,  seems  a  more  eligible  mode  for  securing 
a  proper  choice,  than  appointments  made  ei- 
ther by  one,  or  by  a  numerous  body.  In  the 
former  case  there  would  be  danger  of  favor- 
itism ;  in  the  latter,  a  modest  unassuming 
merit  would  be  overlooked,  in  favor  of  the 
forward  and  obsequious. 

A  rotation  of  public  officers  made  a  part 
of  most  of  the  American  constitutions.  Fre- 
quent elections  were  required  by  all,  but 
several  proceeded  still  farther,  and  deprived 
tlie  electors  of  the  power  of  continuing  the 
same  office  in  the  same  hands,  after  a  spe- 
cified length  of  time.  Young  politicians 
suddenly  called  from  the  ordinary  walks  of 
life,  to  make  laws  and  institute  forms  of 
government,  turned  their  attention  to  the 
histories  of  ancient  republics,  and  the  wri- 
tings of  speculative  men  on  the  subject  of 
government.  This  led  them  into  many  er- 
rors, and  occasioned  them  to  adopt  opinions, 
unsuitable  to  the  state  of  society  in  America, 
and  contrary  to  the  genius  of  real  republic- 
anism. 


The  principle  of  rotation  was  carried  so 
far,  that  in  some  of  the  states,  public  officers 
in  several  departments  scarcely  knew  their 
official  duty,  till  they  were  obliged  to  retire 
and  give  place  to  others,  as  ignorant  as  they 
had  been  on  their  first  appointment.  If  offi- 
cers had  been  instituted  for  the  benefit  of 
the  holders,  the  policy  of  diffusing  these 
benefits  would  have  been  proper ;  but  insti- 
tuted as  they  were  for  the  convenience  of 
the  public,  the  end  was  mar^-ed  by  such  fre- 
quent changes.  By  confining  the  objects  of 
choice,  it  diminished  the  privileges  of  elec- 
tors, and  frequently  deprived  them  of  the 
liberty  of  choosing  the  man  who,  from  pre- 
vious experience,  was  of  all  men  the  most 
suitable.  The  favorers  of  this  system  of 
rotation  contended  for  it,  as  likely  to  pre- 
vent a  perpetuity  of  office  and  power  in 
the  same  individual  or  family,  and  as  a  secu- 
rity against  hereditary  honors.  To  this  it 
was  replied,  that  free,  fair,  and  frequent 
elections  were  the  most  natural  and  proper 
securities  for  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
It  produced  a  more  general  diff'usion  of 
political  knowledge,  but  made  more  smat- 
terers  than  adepts  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. 

As  a  farther  security  for  the  continuance 
of  republican  principles  in  the  American 
constitution,  they  agreed  in  prohibiting  all 
hereditary  honors  and  distinction  of  ranks. 

It  is  not  easy  to  define  the  pov/or  or"  the. 
state  legislatures,  so  as  to  prevent  a  clushing 
between  their  jurisdiction  and  that  of  the 
general  government.  On  mature  delibera- 
tion it  was  thought  proper,  that  the  former 
should  be  abridged  of  the  power  of  forming 
any  other  confederation  or  alliance — of  lay- 
ing on  any  imposts  or  duties  that  might  in- 
terfere with  treaties  made  by  congress — or 
keeping  up  any  vessels  of  war,  or  granting 
letters  of  marque  or  reprisals.  The  powers 
of  congress  were  also  defined.  Of  these 
the  principal  were  as  follows  :  To  have  the 
sole  and  exclusive  right  of  determining  on 
peace  and  war — of  sending  and  receiving 
ambassadors — of  entering  into  treaties  and 
alliances — of  granting  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisals  in  time  of  war — to  be  the  last 
resort  on  appeal  in  all  disputes  between  two 
or  more  states — to  have  the  sole  and  exclu- 
sive right  of  regulating  the  alloy  and  value 
of  coin — of  fixing  the  standard  of  weights 
and  measures — regulating  the  trade  and 
managing  all  affairs  with  the  Indians — es- 
tablishing and  regulating  post-offices — to 
borrow  money  or  emit  bills  on  the  credit  of 
the  United  States — to  build  and  equip  a 
navy — to  agree  upon  the  number  of  land 
forces,  and  to  make  requisitions  from  each 
state  for  its  quota  of  men,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  its  white  inhabitants. 

On  the  fourth  day  after  the  arrival  of  the 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


173 


British  off  Sandy  Hook,  confess  ratified 
the  declaration  of  independence;  it  was 
published  at  the  head  of  the  American  ar- 
my, and  though  they  were  eye-witnesses 
of  the  immense  force  which  was  preparing 
to  act  against  them,  both  officers  and  pri- 
vates gave  every  evidence  of  their  hearty 
approbation  of  the  decree  which  severed  the 
colonies  from  Great  Britam,  and  submit- 
ted to  the  decision  of  the  sword,  whether 
they  should  be  free  states  or  conquered  prov- 
inces. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  DEFENCE  OF 
NEW-YORK. 

It  had  early  occurred  to  general  Wash- 
ington, that  the  possession  of  New- York 
would  be  with  the  British  a  favorite  object 
Its  central  situation  and  contiguity  to  the 
ocean  enabled  them  to  carry  with  facility 
the  war  to  any  part  of  the  sea-coast.  The 
possession  of  it  was  rendered  still  more 
valuable  by  the  ease  with  which  it  could  be 
maintained.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
water,  it  was  defensible  by  a  small  number 
of  British  ships,  against  adversaries  whose 
v,^hole  navy  consisted  only  of  a  few  frigates. 
Hudson's  river  being  navigable  for  ships  of 
the  largest  size  to  a  great  distance,  afford- 
ed an  opportunity  of  severing  the  eastern 
from  the  more  southern  states,  and  of  pre- 
venting almost  any  communication  between 
them. 

From  these  well-known  advantages,  it 
was  presumed  by  the  Americans,  that  the 
British  would  make  great  exertions  to  ef- 
fect the  reduction  of  New- York.  General 
Lee,  while  the  British  were  yet  in  posses- 
sion of  the  capital  of  Massachusets,  had  been 
detached  from  Cambridge,  to  put  Long-Isl- 
and and  New- York  into  a  posture  of  de 
fence.  As  the  departure  of  the  British 
from  Boston  became  more  certain,  the  prob- 
ability of  their  instantly  going  to  New- York 
increased  the  necessity  of  collecting  a  force 
for  its  safety.  It  had  been  therefore  agreed 
in  a  council  of  war,  that  five  regiments,  to- 
gether with  a  rifle  battalion,  should  march 
without  delay  to  New- York,  and  that  the 
states  of  New- York  and  New-Jersey  should 
be  requested  to  furnish,  the  former  two 
thousand,  and  the  latter  one  thousand  men 
for  its  immediate  defence.  General  Wash- 
ington soon  followed,  and  early  in  April  fix- 
ed his  head-quarters  in  that  city.  A  new 
distribution  of  the  American  army  took  place : 
part  was  left  in  Massachusets,  between  two 
and  three  thousand  were  ordered  to  Canada, 
but  the  greater  part  rendezvoused  at  New 
York. 

Experience  had  taught  the  Americans  the 
difficulty  of  attacking  an  army  after  it  had 
effected  a  lodgment  They  therefore  made 
strenuous  exertions  to  prevent  the  British 
from  enjoying  the  advantages  in  New-York, 
15* 


which  had  resulted  from  their  having  been 
permitted  to  land  and  fortify  themselves  in 
Boston.  The  sudden  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities in  Massachusets,  together  with  the 
previous  undisturbed  landing  of  the  royal 
army,  allowed  no  time  for  deliberating  on  a 
system  of  war.  A  change  of  circumstances 
indicated  the  propriety  of  fixing  on  a  plan 
for  conducting  the  defence  of  the  new-form- 
ed states.  On  this  occasion  general  Wash- 
ington, after  much  thought,  determined  on  a 
war  of  posts.  This  mode  of  conducting 
military  operatiwis  gave  confidence  to  the 
Americans,  and  besides,  it  both  retarded  and 
alarmed  their  adversaries.  The  soldiers  in 
the  American  army  were  new  levies,  and 
had  not  yet  learned  to  stand  uncovered  be- 
fore the  instruments  of  death ;  habituating 
them  to  the  soimd  of  fire-arms,  while  they 
were  sheltered  fi-om  danger,  was  one  step 
towards  inspiring  them  with  a  portion  of 
mechanical  courage.  The  British  remem- 
bered Bunker's  Hill,  and  had  no  small  rever- 
ence for  even  slight  fortifications,  when  de- 
fended by  freemen.  From  views  of  this 
kind,  works  were  erected  in  and  about  New- 
York,  on  Long-Island,  and  the  heights  of 
Haerlem.  These,  besides  batteries,  were 
field  redoubts,  formed  of  earth,  with  a  para- 
pet and  ditch.  The  former  were  sometimes 
fraised,  and  the  latter  palisadoed,  but  they 
were  in  no  uistance  formed  to  sustain  a  siege. 
Slight  as  they  were,  the  campaign  was  near- 
ly wasted  away  before  they  were  so  far  re- 
duced, as  to  permit  the  royal  army  to  pene- 
trate into  the  country. 

The  war  having  taken  a  more  important 
turn  than  in  the  precedmg  year  had  been 
foreseen,  congress,  at  the  opening  of  the 
campaign,  found  themselves  destitute  of  a 
force  sufficient  for  their  defence.  They 
therefore  in  June  determined  on  a  plan  to 
reinforce  their  contmental  army,  by  bring- 
ing into  the  field  a  new  species  of  troops, 
that  would  be  more  permanent  than  the 
common  militia,  and  yet  more  easily  raised 
than  regulars.  With  this  view  they  insti- 
tuted a  flying  camp,  to  consist  of  an  inter- 
mediate corps,  between  regular  soldiers  and 
militia.  Ten  thousand  men  were  called  for 
from  the  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
and  Delaware,  to  be  in  constant  service  to 
the  first  day  of  the  ensuing  December.  Con- 
gress, at  the  same  time,  called  for  13,800  of 
the  common  militia  from  Massachusets,  Con- 
necticut, New- York,  and  New-Jersey.  The 
men  for  formmg  the  flying  camp,  were  gen 
erally  procured,  but  there  were  great  defi- 
ciencies of  the  militia,  and  many  of  those 
who  obeyed  their  country's  call,  manifested 
a  reluctance  to  submit  to  the  necessary  dis- 
cipline of  camps. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  place  where  the 
British  woidd  commence  their  operations, 


174 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


added  much  to  the  embarrassments  of  gene- 
ral Washington. 

ATTEMPTS  AT  NEGOTIATION. 
The  two  royal  commissioners,  admiral 
and  general  Howe,  thought  proper,  before 
they  commenced  their  military  operations, 
to  try  what  might  be  done  in  their  civil  ca- 
pacity, towards  effecting  a  reunion  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  colonies.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  acts  of  lord  Howe,  to  send  on 
sliore  a  circular  letter  to  several  of  the  royal 
governors  in  America,  informing  them  of 
the  late  act  of  parliament,  "for  restoring 
peace  to  the  colonies,  and  granting  pardon 
to  such  as  should  deserve  mercy,"  and  de- 
siring them  to  publish  a  declaration  which 
accompanied  the  same.  In  this  he  informed 
the  colonists  of  the  powers  with  which  his 
brother  and  he  were  intrusted,  "  of  grant- 
ing general  or  particular  pardons  to  all  those 
who,  though  they  had  deviated  from  their 
allegiance,  were  willing  to  return  to  their 
duty,"  and  of  declaring  "  any  colony,  prov- 
ince, county,  or  town,  port,  district,  or  place, 
to  be  at  the  peace  of  his  majesty."  Con- 
gress, impressed  with  a  belief,  that  the  pro- 
posals of  the  commissioners,  instead  of  dis- 
uniting the  people,  would  have  a  contrary 
effect,  ordered  them  to  be  speedily  published 
in  the  several  American  newspapers.  Had 
a  redress  of  grievances  been  at  this  late  hour 
oPi'ered,  though  the  honor  of  the  states  was 
involved  in  supporting  their  late  declaration 
of  independence,  yet  the  love  of  peace,  and 
the  bias  of  great  numbers  to  their  parent 
state,  would,  in  all  probability,  have  made  a 
powerful  party  for  rescinding  the  act  of 
separation,  and  for  reuniting  with  Great 
Britain.  But  when  it  appeared  that  the 
power  of  the  royal  commissioners  was  little 
more  than  to  grant  pardons,  congress  ap- 
pealed to  the  good  sense  of  the  people  for 
the  necessity  of  adhering  to  the  act  of  inde- 
pendence. The  resolution  for  publishing  the 
circular  letter,  and  the  declaration  of  the 
royal  commissioners,  assigned  a  reason  there- 
of to  be,  "  that  the  good  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  may  be  informed  of  what  nature 
are  the  commissioners,  and  what  the  terms, 
with  expectation  of  which  the  insidious  court 
of  Great  Britain  had  endeavored  to  amuse 
and  disarm  them,  and  that  the  few  who  still 
remain  suspended  by  a  hope,  founded  either 
in  the  justice  or  moderation  of  their  late 
king,  may  now  at  length  be  convinced  that 
the  valor  alone  of  their  country  is  to  save 
its  liberties." 

About  the  same  time,  flags  v/ere  sent 
ashore  by  lord  Howe,  with  a  letter  directed 
to  George  Washington,  Esq.  which  he  re- 
fused to  receive,  as  not  being  addressed  to 
him  with  the  title  due  to  his  rank.  In  his 
letter  to  congress  on  this  subject  he  wrote 
as  follows :  "  I  would  not  on  any  occasion 


sacrifice  essentials  to  punctilio ;  but  in  this 
instance  I  deemed  it  a  duty  to  my  country 
and  appointment,  to  insist  on  that  respect, 
which  in  any  other  than  a  public  view,  I 
would  willingly  have  waived."  Congress 
applauded  his  conduct  in  a  public  resolution, 
and  at  the  same  tune  directed,  that  no  letter 
or  message  should  be  received  on  any  occa- 
sion whatever,  from  the  enemy,  by  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, or  others  the  commanders 
of  the  American  army,  but  such  as  were  di- 
rected to  them  in  the  characters  they  seve- 
rally sustained. 

Some  time  afler,  adjutant-general  Patter- 
son was  sent  to  New-York  by  general  Howe, 
with  a  letter  addressed  to  general  Washing- 
ton, &c.  &c.  &.C.  On  an  interview,  the  ad- 
jutant-general, afler  expressing  his  high  es- 
teem for  the  person  and  character  of  the 
American  general,  and  declaring,  that  it  was 
not  intended  to  derogate  from  the  respect 
due  to  his  rank,  expressed  his  hopes  that  the 
et  ceteras  would  remove  the  impediments 
to  their  correspondence.  General  Wash- 
ington replied,  "That  a  letter  directed  to 
any  person  in  a  public  character  should  have 
some  description  of  it,  otherwise  it  would 
appear  a  mere  private  letter;  that  it  was 
true  the  et  ceteras  implied  everything ;  but 
they  also  implied  anything;  and  that  he 
should  therefore  decline  the  receiving  of  any 
letter  directed  to  him  as  a  private  person, 
when  it  related  to  his  public  station."  A 
long  conference  ensued,  m  which  the  adju- 
tant-general observed,  "that  the  commis- 
sioners were  armed  with  great  powers,  and 
would  be  very  happy  in  effecting  an  accom- 
modation." He  received  for  answer,  "  that 
from  what  appeared,  their  powers  were  only 
to  grant  pardon ;  that  they  who  had  com- 
mitted no  fault  wanted  no  pardon."  Soon 
after  this  interview,  a  letter  from  Howe,  re- 
specting prisoners,  which  was  properly  ad- 
dressed to  Washington,  was  received. 

While  the  British,  by  their  manifestoes  and 
declarations,  were  endeavoring  to  separate 
those  who  preferred  a  reconciliation  with 
Great  Britain  from  those  who  were  the 
friends  of  independence,  congress,  by  a  simi- 
lar policy,  was  attempting  to  detach  the  for- 
eigners, who  had  come  with  the  royal  troops, 
from  the  service  of  his  Britannic  majesty. 
Before  hostilities  had  commenced,  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  adopted,  and  circu- 
lated among  those  on  whom  it  was  intended 
to  operate :  "  Resolved,  that  these  states  will 
receive  all  such  foreigners  who  shall  leave 
the  armies  of  his  Britannic  majesty  in  Ame- 
rica, and  shall  choose  to  become  members 
of  any  of  these  states,  and  they  shall  be  pro- 
tected in  the  free  exercise  of  their  respec- 
tive religions,  and  be  invested  with  the  rights, 
privileges,  and  immunities  of  natives,  as  es- 
tablished by  the  laws  of  these  states ;  and. 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


175 


moreover,  that  this  congress  will  provide  for 
every  such  person  fifty  acres  of  unappropri- 
ated lands  in  some  of  these  states,  to  be  held 
by  him  and  his  heirs  as  absolute  property." 

The  numbers  which  were  prepared  to 
oppose  the  British,  when  they  should  disem- 
bark, made  them  for  some  time  cautious  of 
proceeding  to  their  projected  land  opera- 
tions ;  but  the  superiority  of  their  navy  en- 
abled them  to  go  by  water  whithersoever 
they  pleased. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  a  British  forty-gun 
ship,  with  some  smaller  vessels,  sailed  up  the 
North  River,  without  receiving  any  damage 
of  consequence,  though  fired  upon  firom  the 
batteries  of  New- York,  Paule's-Hook,  Red- 
Bank,  and  Govemor's-Island.  An  attempt 
was  made,  not  long  after,  with  two  fire- 
ships,  to  destroy  the  British  vessels  in  the 
North  River,  but  without  eflfecting  anything 
more  than  the  burning  of  a  tender.  They 
were  also  attacked  with  row-galleys,  but  to 
little  purpose.  After  some  time,  the  Phoenix 
and  Rose  men-of-war  came  down  the  river, 
and  joined  the  fleet.  Every  eflfort  of  the 
Americans  from  their  batteries  on  land,  as 
well  as  their  exertions  on  the  water,  proved 
ineffectual.  The  British  ships  passed  with 
less  loss  than  was  generally  expected ;  but 
nevertheless  the  damage  they  received  was 
such  as  deterred  them  from  frequently  re- 
peating the  experiment.  In  two  or  three 
instances  they  ascended  the  North  River, 
and  in  one  or  two  the  East  River,  but  those 
which  sailed  up  the  former  speedily  return- 
ed, and  by  their  return  a  free  communica- 
tion was  opened  through  the  upper  part  of 
the  state. 

The  American  army  in  and  near  New- 
York  amounted  to  seventeen  thousand  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  men.  These  were 
mostly  new  troops,  and  were  divided  in 
many  small  and  unconnected  posts,  some  of 
which  were  fifteen  miles  removed  from 
others.  The  British  force  about  New- York 
was  increasing  by  frequent  successive  ar- 
rivals from  Halifax,  South  Carolina,  Florida, 
the  West  Indies,  and  Europe.  But  so  many 
unforeseen  delays  had  taken  place,  that  the 
month  of  August  was  far  advanced  before 
they  were  in  a  condition  to  open  the  cam- 
paign. 

AMERICANS  DEFEATED  AT  LONG- 
ISLAND. 

When  all  things  were  ready,  the  British 
commanders  resolved  to  make  their  first  at- 
tempt upon  Long-Island.  Tliis  was  pre- 
ferred to  New- York,  as  it  abounded  with 
those  supplies  which  their  forces  required. 

The  British  landed,  without  opposition, 
between  two  small  towns,  Utrecht  and 
Gravesend.  The  American  works  protect- 
ed a  small  peninsula,  having  Wallabout 
Bay  to  the  left,  and  stretching  over  to  Red 


Hook  on  the  right,  the  East  River  being  in 
their  rear.  General  Sullivan,  with  a  strong 
force,  was  encamped  within  these  works  at 
Brooklyn.  From  the  east  side  of  the  nar- 
rows runs  a  ridge  of  hills  covered  with  thick 
wood,  about  five  or  six  miles  in  length, 
which  terminates  near  Jamaica.  There  were 
three  passes  through  these  hills,  one  near 
the  narrows,  a  second  on  the  Flatbush  road, 
and  a  third  on  the  Bedford  road,  and  they 
are  all  defensible.  These  were  the  only 
roads  which  could  be  passed  from  the  south 
side  of  the  hills  to  the  American  lines,  ex- 
cept a  road  which  led  round  the  easterly 
end  of  the  hills  to  Jamaica.  The  Americans 
had  eight  hundred  men  on  each  of  these 
roads,  and  colonel  Miles  was  placed  with  his 
battalion  of  riflemen,  to  guard  the  road  fi*om 
the  south  of  the  hills  to  Jamaica,  and  to 
watch  the  motions  of  the  British. 

General  de  Heister,  with  his  Hessians, 
took  post  at  Flatbush  in  the  evening  of  the 
twenty-sixth  of  August.  In  the  following 
night  the  greater  part  of  the  British  army, 
commanded  by  general  Clinton,  marched  to 
gain  the  road  leading  round  the  easterly  end 
of  the  hills  to  Jamaica,  and  to  turn  the  left 
of  the  Americans.  He  arrived  about  two 
hours  before  day  within  half  a  mile  of  this 
road.  One  of  his  parties  fell  in  with  a 
patrol  of  American  officers,  and  took  them 
all  prisoners,  which  prevented  the  early 
transmission  of  intelligence.  Upon  the  first 
appearance  of  day,  general  Clinton  advanc- 
ed, and  took  possession  of  the  heights  over 
which  the  road  passed.  General  Grant, 
with  the  left  wing,  advanced  along  the  coast 
by  the  west  road,  near  the  narrows ;  but  this 
was  intended  chiefly  as  a  feint. 

The  guard  which  was  stationed  at  this 
road  fled  without  making  any  resistance.  A 
few  of  them  were  afterwards  rallied  by  lord 
Stirling,  who  advanced  with  fifteen  hundred 
men,  and  took  possession  of  a  hill  about  two 
miles  from  the  American  camp,  and  in  front 
of  general  Grant. 

An  attack  was  made  very  early  in  tlie 
morning  of  the  twenty-seventh  of  August, 
by  the  Hessians  from  Flatbush,  under  gene- 
ral de  Heister,  and  by  general  Grant  on  the 
coast,  and  was  well-supported  for  a  conside- 
rable time  by  both  sides.  The  Americans 
who  opposed  general  de  Heister  were  first 
informed  of  the  approach  of  general  Clinton, 
who  had  come  round  on  their  left.  They 
immediately  began  to  retreat  to  their  camp, 
but  were  intercepted  by  the  right  wing 
under  general  Clinton,  who  got  into  the 
rear  of  their  left,  and  attacked  them  with 
his  light  infantry  and  dragoons  while  return- 
mg  to  their  lines.  They  were  driven  back 
till  they  were  met  by  the  Hessians.  They 
were  thus  alternately  chased  and  intercept- 
ed, between  general  de  Heister  and  general 


176 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Clinton.  Some  of  their  regiments  never- 
theless found  their  way  to  the  camp.  The 
Americans  under  lord  Stirling-,  consisting 
of  colonel  Miles's  two  battalions,  colonel 
Atlee's,  colonel  Smallwood's,  and  colonel 
Hatche's  regiments,  who  were  engaged  with 
general  Grant,  fought  with  great  resolution 
for  about  six  hours.  They  were  uninformed 
of  the  movements  made  by  general  Clinton, 
till  some  of  the  troops  under  his  command 
had  traversed  the  whole  extent  of  country 
in  their  rear.  Their  retreat  was  thus  inter 
cepted ;  but  several,  notwithstanding,  broke 
through,  and  got  into  the  woods;  many 
threw  themselves  into  the  marsh,  some 
were  drowned,  and  others  perished  in  the 
mud,  but  a  considerable  number  escaped  by 
this  way  to  their  lines. 

The  king's  troops  displayed  great  valor 
throughout  the  whole  day.  The  variety  of 
the  ground  occasioned  a  succession  of  small 
engagements,  pursuits  and  slaughter,  which 
lasted  for  many  hours.  British  discipline  in 
every  instance  triumphed  over  the  native 
valor  of  raw  troops,  who  had  never  been  in 
action,  and  whose  officers  were  unacquaint- 
ed with  the  stratagems  of  war. 

In  the  time  of  the  engagement,  and  sub- 
sequent to  it,  general  Washington  drew  over 
to  Long-Island  the  greatest  part  of  his  army. 
After  he  had  collected  his  principal  force 
there,  it  was  his  wish  and  hope  that  Sir 
William  Howe  would  attempt  to  storm  the 
works  on  the  island.  These,  though  in- 
sufficient to  stand  a  regular  siege,  were 
strong  enough  to  resist  a  coup-de-main.  The 
remembrance  of  Bunker's  Hill,  and  a  desire 
to  spare  his  men,  restrained  the  British 
general  from  making  an  assault  On  the 
contrary,  he  made  demonstrations  of  pro- 
ceeding by  siege,  and  broke  ground  within 
three  hundred  yards  to  the  left  at  Putnam's 
redoubt.  Though  general  Washington  wish- 
ed for  an  assault,  yet  being  certain  that  his 
works  would  be  untenable  when  the  British 
batteries  should  be  fully  opened,  on  the  thir- 
tieth of  August  he  called  a  council  of  war, 
to  consult  on  the  measures  proper  to  be 
taken.  It  was  then  determined  that  the  ob- 
jects in  view  were  in  no  degree  proportion- 
ed to  the  dangers  to  which,  by  a  continuance 
on  the  island,  they  would  be  exposed.  Con- 
formably to  this  opinion,  dispositions  were 
made  for  an  immediate  retreat.  This  com- 
menced soon  after  it  was  dark  from  two 
points,  the  upper  and  lower  ferries  on  East 
River.  General  M'Dougal  regulated  the  em- 
barkation at  one,  and  colonel  Knox  at  the 
other.  The  intention  of  evacuating  the 
island  had  been  so  prudently  concealed  from 
the  Americans,  that  they  knew  not  whither 
they  were  going,  but  supposed  to  attack  the 
enemy.  The  field  artillery,  tents,  baggage, 
and  about  nine  thousand  men,  were  convey- 


ed to  the  city  of  New- York  over  East  River, 
more  than  a  mile  wide,  in  less  than  thirteen 
hours,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
British,  though  not  six  hundred  yards  distant 
Providence  in  a  remarkable  manner  favored 
the  retreating  army.  For  some  time  after 
the  Americans  began  to  cross,  the  state  of 
the  tide  and  a  strong  north-east  wind  made 
it  impossible  for  them  to  make  use  of  their 
sail-boats,  and  their  whole  number  of  row- 
boats  was  insufficient  for  completing  the 
business  in  the  course  of  the  night.  But 
about  eleven  o'clock  the  wind  died  away, 
and  soon  after  sprung  up  at  south-east,  and 
blew  fresh,  which  rendered  the  sail-boats  of 
use,  and  at  the  same  time  made  the  passage 
from  the  island  to  the  city,  direct,  easy,  and 
expeditious.  Towards  morning  an  extreme 
thick  fog  came  up,  which  hovered  over  Long- 
Island,  and  by  concealing  the  Americans, 
enabled  them  to  complete  their  retreat  with- 
out interruption,  though  the  day  had  begun 
to  dawn  some  time  before  it  was  finished. 
By  a  mistake  in  the  transmission  of  orders, 
the  American  Imes  were  evacuated  for  about 
three  quarters  of  an  hour  before  the  last 
embarkation  took  place;  but  the  British, 
though  so  near,  that  their  working  parties 
could  be  distinctly  heard,  being  enveloped 
in  the  fog,  knew  nothing  of  the  matter.  The 
lines  were  repossessed  and  held  till  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  everything 
except  some  heavy  cannon  was  removed. 
General  Mifflin,  who  commanded  the  rear- 
guard, left  the  lines,  and  under  the  cover  of 
the  fog  got  off  safe.  In  about  half  an  hour 
the  fog  cleared  away,  and  the  British  enter- 
ed the  works  which  had  been  just  relinquish- 
ed. Had  the  wind  not  shifted,  the  half  of 
the  American  army  could  not  have  crossed, 
and  even  as  it  was,  if  the  fog  had  not  con- 
cealed their  rear,  it  must  have  been  dis- 
covered, and  could  hardly  have  escaped. 
General  Sullivan,  who  was  taken  prisoner 
on  Long-Island,  was  immediately  sent  on 
parole,  with  the  following  verbal  message 
from  lord  Howe  to  congress,  "  That  though 
he  could  not  at  present  treat  with  them  "in 
that  character,  yet  he  was  very  desirous  of 
having  a  conference  with  some  of  the  mem- 
bers, whom  he  would  consider  as  private 
gentlemen — that  he,  with  his  brother  the 
general,  had  full  power  to  compromise  the 
dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  America, 
upon  terms  advantageous  to  both — that  he 
wished  a  compact  might  be  settled  at  a  time 
when  no  decisive  blow  was  struck,  and 
neither  party  could  say  it  was  compelled  to 
enter  into  such  agreement — that  were  they 
disposed  to  treat,  many  things  which  they 
had  not  yet  asked,  might  and  ought  to  be 
granted ;  and  that  if  upon  conference  they 
found  any  probable  ground  of  accommoda- 
tion, the  authority  of  congress  would  be  af- 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


177 


terwards  acknowledged,  to  render  the  treaty 
complete."  Three  days  after  this  message 
was  received,  general  Sullivan  was  request- 
ed to  inform  lord  Howe,  "  That  congress  be- 
ing the  representatives  of  the  free  and  inde- 
pendent states  of  America,  they  cannot  with 
propriety  send  any  of  their  members  to  con- 
fer with  his  lordship  in  their  private  char- 
acters ;  but  that,  ever  desirous  of  establish- 
ing peace  on  reasonable  terms,  they  will 
send  a  committee  of  their  body,  to  know 
whether  he  has  any  authority  to  treat  with 
persons  authorized  by  congress  for  that  pur- 
pose, on  behalf  of  America,  and  what  that 
authority  is ;  and  to  hear  such  propositions 
as  he  shall  think  fit  to  make  respecting  the 
same."  They  elected  Dr.  Franklin,  John 
Adams,  and  Edward  Rutledge,  their  com- 
mittee for  this  purpose.  In  a  few  days  they 
met  lord  Howe  on  Staten  Island,  and  were 
received  with  great  politeness.  On  their  re- 
turn they  made  a  report  of  their  confer- 
ence, which  they  summed  up  by  saying,  "  It 
did  not  appear  to  your  committee  that  his 
lordship's  commission  contained  any  other 
authority  than  that  expressed  in  the  act  of 
parliament;  namely,  that  of  granting  par- 
dons, with  such  exceptions  as  the  commis- 
sioners shall  think  proper  to  make,  and  of 
declaring  America,  or  any  part  of  it,  to  be 
in  the  king's  peace  on  submission :  for  as  to 
the  power  of  inquiring  into  the  state  of 
America,  which  his  lordship  mentioned  to 
us,  and  of  conferring  and  consulting  with 
any  persons  the  commissioners  might  think 
proper,  and  representing  the  result  of  such 
conversation  to  the  ministry,  who,  provided 
the  colonies  v^^ould  subject  themselves,  might 
after  all,  or  might  not,  at  their  pleasure, 
make  any  alterations  in  the  former  instruc 
tions  to  governors,  or  propose  in  parliament 
any  amendment  of  the  acts  complained  of; 
we  apprehend  any  expectation  from  the 
effect  of  such  a  power  would  have  been  too 
uncertain  and  precarious  to  be  relied  on  by 
America,  had  she  still  continued  in  her  state 
of  dependence."  Lord  Howe  had  ended  the 
conference  on  his  part,  by  expressing  his  re- 
gard for  America,  and  the  extreme  pain  he 
would  suffer  in  being  obliged  to  distress 
those  whom  he  so  much  regarded.  Dr 
Franklin  thanked  him  for  his  regards,  and 
assured  him,  "that  the  Americans  would 
show  their  gratitude,  by  endeavoring  to  less 
en  as  much  as  possible  all  pain  he  might 
feel  on  their  account,  by  exerting  their  ut 
most  abilities  in  taking  good  care  of  them- 
selves." 

The  committee  in  every  respect  maintain 
ed  the  dignity  of  congress.  Their  conduct 
and  sentiments  were  such  as  became  their 
character.  The  friends  to  independence  re- 
joiced that  nothing  resulted  from  this  inter- 
view that  might  disunite  the  people.     Con- 


gress, trusting  to  the  good  sense  of  their 
countrymen,  ordered  the  whole  to  be  print- 
ed for  their  information.  All  the  states 
would  have  then  rejoiced  at  less  beneficial 
terms  than  they  obtained  about  seven  years 
after.  But  Great  Britain  counted  on  the 
certainty  of  their  absolute  conquest,  or  un- 
conditional submission.  Her  offers  there- 
fore comported  so  little  with  the  feelings  of 
America,  that  they  neither  caused  demur  nor 
disunion  among  the  new-formed  states. 

The  unsuccessful  termination  of  the  action 
on  the  27th  led  to  consequences  more  seri- 
ously alarmmg  to  the  Americans  than  the 
loss  of  their  men.  The  army  was  univer- 
sally dispirited.  The  militia  ran  off  by  com- 
panies. Their  example  infected  the  regular 
regiments.  The  loose  footing  on  which  the 
militia  came  to  camp,  made  it  hazardous  to 
exercise  over  them  that  discipline,  without 
which  an  army  is  a  mob.  To  restrain  one 
part  of  an  army  while  another  claimed  and 
exercised  the  right  of  doing  as  they  pleased, 
was  no  less  impracticable  than  absurd. 
NEW-YORK  TAKEN. 

A  COUNCIL  of  war  recommended  to  act  on 
the  defensive,  and  not  to  risk  the  army  for 
the  sake  of  New- York.  To  retreat,  subject- 
ed the  commander-in-chief  to  reflections 
painful  to  bear,  and  yet  impolitic  to  refute : 
to  stand  his  ground,  and,  by  suffering  him- 
self to  be  surrounded,  to  hazard  the  fate  of 
America  on  one  decisive  engagement,  was 
contrary  to  every  rational  plan  of  defending 
the  wide-extended  states  committed  to  his 
care.  A  middle  line  between  abandoning 
and  defending  was  therefore  for  a  short  time 
adopted.  The  public  stores  were  moved  to 
Dobb's  Ferry,  about  26  miles  from  New- 
York;  12,000  men  were  ordered  to  the 
northern  extremity  of  New- York  Island,  and 
4500  to  remain  for  the  defence  of  the  city, 
while  the  remainder  occupied  the  interme- 
diate space,  with  orders  either  to  support 
the  city  or  Kingsbridge,  as  exigencies  might 
require.  Before  the  British  landed,  it  was 
impossible  to  tell  what  place  would  be  first 
attacked :  this  made  it  necessary  to  erect 
works  for  the  defence  of  a  variety  of  places 
as  well  as  of  New-York.  Though  every- 
thing was  abandoned  when  the  crisis  came 
that  either  the  city  must  be  relinquished,  or 
the  army  risked  for  its  defence,  yet  from  the 
delays  occasioned  by  the  redoubts  and  other 
works  which  had  been  erected  on  the  idea 
of  making  the  defence  of  the  states  a  war 
of  posts,  a  whole  campaign  was  lost  to  the 
British,  and  saved  to  the  Americans.  The 
year  began  with  hopes  that  Great  Britain 
would  recede  from  her  demands,  and  there- 
fore every  plan  of  defence  was  on  a  tempo- 
rary system.  The  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence, which  the  violence  of  Great  Britain 
forced  the  colonies  to  adopt  in  July,  though 


178 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


neither  foreseen  nor  intended  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year,  pointed  out  the  ne- 
cessity of  organizing  an  army  on  new  terms 
correspondent  to  the  enlarged  objects  for 
which  they  had  resolved  to  contend.  Con- 
gress accordingly,  on  the  16th  of  September, 
determined  to  raise  88  battalions,  to  serve 
during  the  war.  Under  these  circumstances, 
to  wear  away  the  campaign  with  as  little 
misfortune  as  possible,  and  thereby  to  gain 
time  for  raising  a  permanent  army  aga  nst 
the  next  year,  was  to  the  Americans  a  mat 
ter  of  the  last  importance.  Though  the 
commander-in-chief  abandoned  those  works, 
which  had  engrossed  much  time  and  atten- 
tion, yet  the  advantage  resulting  from  the 
delays  they  occasioned,  far  overbalanced  the 
expense  incurred  by  their  erection. 

General  Howe  having  prepared  every- 
thing for  a  descent  on  New- York  Island, 
began,  on  September  15,  to  land  his  men 
under  cover  of  ships  of  war,  between  Kepp's 
Bay  and  Turtle  Bay.  A  breastwork  had 
been  erected  in  the  vicinity,  and  a  party  sta- 
tioned in  it  to  oppose  the  British,  in  case  of 
their  attempting  to  land;  but  on  the  first 
appearance  of  danger,  they  ran  off  in  con- 
fusion. The  commander-in-chief  came  up, 
and  in  vain  attempted  to  rally  them.  Though 
the  British  in  sight  did  not  exceed  sixty,  he 
could  not,  either  by  example,  entreaty,  or 
authority,  prevail  on  a  superior  force  to 
stand  their  ground,  and  face  that  inconsider- 
able number.  Such  dastardly  conduct  raised 
a  tempest  in  the  usually  tranquil  mind  of 
genera]  Washington.  Having  embarked  in 
the  American  cause  from  the  purest  princi- 
ples, he  viewed  with  infinite  concern  this 
shameful  behavior,  as  threatening  ruin  to 
his  country.  He  recollected  the  many  de- 
clarations of  congress,  of  the  army,  and  of 
the  inhabitants,  preferring  liberty  to  life,  and 
death  to  dishonor,  and  contrasted  them  with 
their  present  scandalous  flight.  Extensive 
confiscations  and  numerous  attainders  pre- 
sented themselves  in  full  view  to  his  agita- 
ted mind.  He  saw,  in  imagination,  new- 
formed  states,  with  the  means  of  defence  in 
their  hands,  and  the  glorious  prospects  of 
liberty  before  them,  levelled  to  the  dust,  and 
such  constitutions  imposed  on  them  as  were 
likely  to  crush  the  vigor  of  the  human  mind, 
while  the  unsuccessful  issue  of  the  present 
struggle  would,  for  ages  to  come,  deter  pos- 
terity from  the  bold  design  of  asserting  their 
rights.  Impressed  with  these  ideas,  he 
hazarded  his  person  for  some  considerable 
time  in  the  rear  of  his  own  men  and  in  front 
of  the  enemy,  with  his  horse's  head  towards 
the  latter,  as  if  in  expectation  that  by  an 
honorable  death  he  might  escape  the  infamy 
he  dreaded  from  the  dastardly  conduct  of 
troops  on  whom  he  could  place  no  depend- 
ence.    His  aids  and  the  confidential  friends 


around  his  person,  by  indirect  violence  com- 
pelled him  to  retire. 

The  royal  army,  afler  a  halt  of  six  days 
at  Frog's  Neck,  advanced  on  the  18th  of 
October  near  to  New-Rochelle.  Afler  three 
days,  general  Howe  moved  the  right  and 
centre  of  his  army  two  miles  to  the  north- 
ward of  New-Rochelle,  on  the  road  to  the 
White  Plains,  and  there  he  received  a  large 
reinforcement. 

General  Washington,  while  retreating 
from  New-York  Island,  was  careful  to  make 
a  front  towards  the  British,  from  East-Ches- 
ter almost  to  White  Plains,  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  march  of  those  who  were  behind, 
and  to  defend  the  removal  of  the  sick,  the 
cannon,  and  stores  of  his  army.  In  this 
manner  his  troops  made  a  line  of  small  de- 
tached and  intrenched  camps  on  the  several 
heights  and  strong  grounds,  from  Valentine's 
Hill  on  the  right,  to  the  vicinity  of  the  White 
Plains  on  the  left. 

On  the  25th  of  October  the  royal  army 
moved  in  two  columns,  and  took  a  position 
with  the  Brunx  in  front,  upon  which  the 
Americans  assembled  their  main  force  at 
White  Plains,  behind  intrenchments.  A 
general  action  was  hourly  expected,  and  a 
considerable  one  took  place,  in  which  seve- 
ral hundreds  fell.  The  Americans  were 
commanded  by  general  M'Dougal,  and  the 
British  by  general  Leslie.  While  they  were 
engaged  the  American  baggage  was  moved 
off,  in  full  view  of  the  British  army.  Soon 
after  this,  general  Washington  changed  his 
front,  his  left  wing  stood  fast,  and  his  right 
fell  back  to  some  hills.  In  this  position, 
which  was  an  admirable  one  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  he  both  desired  and  expected 
an  action;  but  general  Howe  declined  it, 
and  drew  off  his  forces  towards  Dobb's  Fer- 
ry. The  Americans  afterwards  retired  to 
North-Castle. 

General  Washington,  with  part  of  his 
army,  crossed  the  North  River,  and  took  post 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Lee.  A  force 
of  about  7500  men  was  left  at  North  Castle, 
under  general  Lee. 

The  Americans  having  retired,  on  the 
12th  of  November  Sir  William  Howe  deter- 
mined to  improve  the  opportunity  of  their 
absence,  for  the  reduction  of  Fort  Washing- 
ton. This,  the  only  post  the  Americans 
then  held  on  New- York  Island,  was  under 
the  command  of  colonel  Magaw.  The  royal 
army  made  four  attacks  upon  it.  The  first, 
on  the  north  side,  was  led  on  by  general 
Kniphausen;  the  second,  on  the  east,  by 
general  Matthews,  supported  by  lord  Corn- 
wallis.  The  third  was  under  the  direction 
of  lieutenant-colonel  Sterling,  and  the  fourth 
was  commanded  by  lord  Percy.  The  troops 
under  Kniphausen,  when  advancing  to  the 
fort,  had  to  pass  through  a  thick  wood,  which 


GEORGE  m.    1760—1820. 


179 


was  occupied  by  colonel  Rawling's  regiment 
of  riflemen,  and  suflfered  very  much  from 
their  well-du-ected  fire.  During  this  attack, 
a  body  of  the  British  light  infantry  advanced 
against  a  party  of  the  Americans,  who  were 
annoying  them  from  behind  rocks  and  trees, 
and  obliged  them  to  disperse.  Lord  Percy 
carried  an  advance  work  on  his  side,  and 
lieutenant-colonel  Sterling  forced  his  way 
up  a  steep  height,  and  took  170  prisoners. 
Their  out-works  being  carried,  the  Ameri- 
cans left  their  lines,  and  crowded  into  the 
fort.  Colonel  Rahl,  who  led  the  left  wing 
of  Kniphausen's  attack,  pushed  forward,  and 
lodged  his  column  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  fort,  and  was  there  soon  joined  by  the 
left  column.  The  garrison  surrendered  on 
terms  of  capitulation,  by  which  the  men 
were  to  be  considered  as  prisoners  of  war, 
and  the  officers  to  keep  their  baggage  and 
side-arms.  The  number  of  prisoners  amount- 
ed to  2700.  The  loss  of  the  British,  inclu. 
sive  of  killed  and  wounded,  was  about  1200. 
Shortly  after  Fort  Washington  had  surren 
dered,  lord  Comwallis  with  a  considerable 
force  passed  over  to  attack  Fort  Lee,  on  the 
opposite  Jersey  shore. 

WASHINGTON  RETREATS. 

The  garrison  was  saved  by  an  immediate 
evacuation,  but  at  the  expense  of  their  artil 
lery  and  stores.  General  Washington  about 
this  time  retreated  to  Newark.  Having 
abundant  reason,  from  the  posture  of  affairs, 
to  count  on  the  necessity  of  a  farther  retreat, 
he  asked  colonel  Reed — "  Should  we  retreat 
to  the  back  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  will  the 
Pennsylvanians  support  us  ]"  The  colonel 
replied,  "  If  the  lower  countries  are  sub- 
dued and  give  up,  the  back  countries  will 
do  the  same."  The  general  replied,  "  We 
must  retire  to  Augusta  county  in  Virginia ; 
numbers  will  be  obliged  to  repair  to  us  for 
safety,  and  we  must  try  what  we  can  do  in 
carrying  on  a  predatory  war,  and  if  over- 
powered, we  must  cross  the  Alleghany  moun- 
Uins." 

While  a  tide  of  success  was  flowing  in 
upon  general  Howe,  he  and  his  brother,  as 
royal  commissioners,  issued  a  proclamation, 
in  which  they  commanded  "  all  persons  as- 
sembled in  arms  against  his  majesty's  gov- 
ernment to  disband,  and  all  general  or  pro- 
vincial congresses  to  desist  from  their  trea- 
sonable actings,  and  to  relinquish  their 
usurped  power."  They  also  declared,  "  that 
every  person  who,  within  sixty  days,  should 
appear  before  the  governor,  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, or  commander-in-chief  of  any  of  his 
majesty's  colonies,  or  before  the  general  or 
commanding  officer  of  his  majesty's  forces, 
and  claim  the  benefit  of  the  proclamation, 
and  testify  his  obedience  to  the  laws,  by  sub- 
scribing a  certain  declaration,  should  obtain 
a  fiill  and  free  pardon  of  all  treasons  by  him 


committed,  and  of  all  forfeitures  and  penal- 
ties for  the  same."  Many  who  had  been  in 
office,  and  taken  an  active  part  in  support  of 
the  new  government,  accepted  of  tJiese  of- 
fers, and  made  their  peace  by  submission. 
Some  who  had  been  the  most  vehement  in 
favor  of  independence,  veered  round  to  the 
strongest  side.  Men  of  fortune  generally 
gave  way ;  the  few  who  stood  firm,  were 
mostly  to  be  found  in  the  middle  ranks  of 
the  people. 

When  it  was  expected  that  the  conquerors 
would  retire  to  winter-quarters,  they  com- 
menced a  new  plan  of  operations,  more 
alarming  than  all  their  previous  conquests. 
The  reduction  of  Fort  Washington,  the 
evacuation  of  Fort  Lee,  and  the  diminution 
of  the  American  army,  by  the  departure  of 
those  whose  time  of  service  had  expired,  en- 
cour^ed  the  British,  notwithstanding  the 
severity  of  the  winter,  and  the  badness  of 
the  roads,  to  pursue  the  remaining  incon- 
siderable continental  force,  with  the  prospect 
of  annihilating  it.  By  this  turn  ojf  affairs, 
the  interior  country  was  surprised  into  con- 
fusion, and  found  an  enemy  within  its  bowels, 
without  a  sufficient  army  to  oppose  it.  To 
retreat  was  the  only  expedient  left.  This 
having  commenced,  lord  Comwallis  followed, 
and  was  close  in  the  rear  of  general  Wash- 
ington as  he  retreated  successively  to  New- 
ark, to  Brunswick,  to  Princeton,  to  Trenton, 
and  to  the  Pennsylvania  side  of  the  Dela- 
ware. The  pursuit  was  urged  with  so  much 
rapidity,  that  the  rear  of  the  one  army  pull- 
ing down  bridges  was  often  within  sight  and 
shot  of  the  van  of  the  other  building  them  up. 

On  the  day  general  Washington  retreated 
over  the  Delaware,  the  British  took  posses- 
sion of  Rhode-Island  without  any  loss,  and 
at  the  same  time  blocked  up  commodore 
Hopkins's  squadron,  and  a  number  of  priva- 
teers, at  Providence. 

In  this  period,  when  the  American  army 
was  relinquishing  its  general,  the  people 
giving  up  the  cause,  some  of  their  leaders 
going  over  to  the  enemy,  and  the  British 
commanders  succeeding  in  every  enterprise, 
general  Lee  was  taken  prisoner  at  Basken- 
ridge,  by  lieutenant-colonel  Harcourt.  This 
caused  a  depression  of  spirits  among  the 
Americans,  for  exceeding  any  real  injury 
done  to  their  essential  interest  He  had 
been  repeatedly  ordered  to  come  forward 
with  his  division,  and  join  general  Washing- 
ton ;  but  these  orders  were  not  obeyed.  This 
circumstance,  and  the  dangerous  crisis  of 
public  affairs,  together  with  his  being  alone 
at  some  distance  from  the  troops  which  he 
commanded,  begat  suspicions  that  he  chose 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  British.  Though 
these  apprehensions  were  without  founda- 
tion, they  produced  the  same  extensive  mis- 
chief as  if  they  had  been  realities.     The 


180 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Americans  had  reposed  extravagant  confi- 
dence in  his  military  talents,  and  experience 
of  regular  European  war.  Merely  to  have 
lost  such  an  idol  of  the  state  at  any  time, 
v^^ould  have  been  distressfiil ;  but  losing  hun 
under  circumstances,  which  favored  an  opin- 
ion that,  despairing  of  the  American  cause, 
he  chose  to  be  taken  prisoner,  was  to  many 
an  extinguishment  of  every  hope. 

By  the  advance  of  the  British  into  New- 
Jersey,  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia  be- 
came the  seat  of  war.  This  prevented  that 
undisturbed  attention  to  public  business 
which  the  deliberations  of  congress  required. 
They,  therefore,  on  the  12th  of  December, 
adjourned  themselves  to  meet  in  eight  days 
at  Baltimore,  resolving  at  the  same  time, 
"  that  general  Washington  should  be  pos- 
sessed of  full  power  to  order  and  direct  all 
things  relative  to  the  department  and  opera- 
tions of  war." 

The  activity  of  the  British  in  the  close 
of  the  campaign,  seemed  in  some  measure 
to  compensate  for  their  tardiness  in  the  be- 
ginning of  it. 

Hitherto  they  had  succeeded  in  every 
scheme ;  they  marched  up  and  down  the 
Jersey  side  of  the  river  Delaware,  and 
tlirough  the  country,  without  any  molesta- 
tion. All  opposition  to  the  re-establishment 
of  royal  government  seemed  to  be  on  the 
point  of  expiring.  The  Americans  had  thus 
far  acted  without  system,  or  rather  feebly 
executed  what  had  been  tardily  adopted. 
Though  the  war  was  changed  from  its  first 
ground,  a  redress  of  grievances  to  a  strug- 
gle for  sovereignty,  yet  some  considerable 
time  elapsed  before  arrangements  conforma- 
ble to  this  new  system  were  adopted,  and  a 
much  longer  before  they  were  carried  into 
execution. 

EXERTIONS  OF  CONGRESS. 

In  proportion  as  difficulties  increased,  con- 
gress redoubled  their  exertions  to  oppose 
them :  on  the  tenth  of  December  they  ad- 
dressed the  states  in  animated  language, 
calculated  to  remove  their  despondency,  re- 
new their  hopes,  and  confirm  their  resolu- 
tions. 

They  at  the  same  time  dispatched  gentle- 
men of  character  and  influence  to  excite  the 
militia  to  take  the  field.  General  Mifflin 
was,  on  this  occasion,  particularly  useful ; 
he  exerted  his  great  abilities  in  rousing  his 
fellow-citizens,  by  animated  and  aflfectionate 
addresses,  to  turn  out  in  defence  of  their 
endangered  liberties. 

Congress  also  recommended  to  each  of 
the  United  States  "  to  appoint  a  day  of  sol- 
emn fasting  and  humiliation,  to  implore  of 
Almighty  God  the  forgiveness  of  their  many 
sins,  and  to  beg  the  countenance  and  assist- 
ance of  his  providence  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  present  just  and  necessary  war." 


In  the  dangerous  situation  to  which  every- 
thing dear  to  the  friends  of  independence 
was  reduced,  congress  transferred  extraor- 
dinary powers  to  general  Washington,  "  to 
raise  and  collect  together,  in  the  most 
speedy  and  effectual  manner,  from  any  or 
all  of  these  United  States,  sixteen  battalions 
of  infantry,  in  addition  to  those  already  vot- 
ed by  congress ;  to  appoint  officers  for  the 
said  battalions  of  infantry ;  to  raise,  officer, 
and  equip  three  thousand  light-horse,  three 
regiments  of  artillery,  and  a  corps  of  engi- 
neers, and  to  establish  their  pay ;  to  apply  to 
any  of  the  states  for  such  aid  of  the  militia 
as  he  shall  judge  necessary;  to  form  such 
magazines  of  provisions,  and  in  such  places 
as  he  shall  think  proper ;  to  displace  and 
appoint  all  officers  under  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general, and  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  in 
every  other  department  in  the  American 
armies ;  to  take,  wherever  he  may  be,  what- 
ever he  may  want  for  the  use  of  the  army, 
if  tlie  inhabitants  will  not  sell  it,  allowing  a 
reasonable  price  for  the  same ;  to  arrest  and 
confine  persons  who  refuse  to  take  the  con- 
tinental currency,  or  are  otherwise  disaf- 
fected to  the  American  cause ;  and  return 
to  the  slates  of  which  they  are  citizens, 
their  names  and  the  nature  of  their  offences, 
together  with  the  witnesses  to  prove  them: 
That  the  foregoing  powers  be  vested  in  gen- 
eral Washington,  for  and  during  the  term 
of  six  months  from  the  date  hereof,  unless 
sooner  determined  by  congress." 

In  this  hour  of  extremity,  the  attention 
of  congress  was  employed  in  devising  plans 
to  save  the  states  from  sinking  under  the 
heavy  calamities  which  were  bearing  them 
down.  It  is  remarkable,  that  neither  in  the 
present  condition,  though  trying  and  severe, 
nor  in  any  other  since  the  declaration  of  in- 
dependence, was  congress  influenced  either 
by  force,  distress,  artifice,  or  persuasion,  to 
entertain  the  most  distant  idea  of  purchas- 
ing peace,  by  returning  to  the  condition  of 
British  subjects.  So  low  were  they  reduced 
in  the  latter  end  of  1776,  that  some  mem- 
bers, distrustful  of-  their  ability  to  resist  the 
power  of  Great  Britain,  proposed  to  author- 
ize their  commissioners  at  the  court  of 
France  to  transfer  to  that  country  the  same 
monopoly  of  their  trade  which  Great  Brit- 
ain had  hitherto  enjoyed.  On  examination 
it  was  found,  that  concessions  of  this  kind 
would  destroy  the  force  of  many  arguments 
heretofore  used  in  favor  of  independence, 
and  probably  disunite  their  citizens.  It  was 
next  proposed  to  offer  a  monopoly  of  certain 
enumerated  articles  of  produce.  To  this 
the  variant  interests  of  the  different  states 
were  so  directly  opposed,  as  to  occasion  a 
speedy  and  decided  negative.  Some  pro- 
posed offering  to  France  a  league  offensive 
and  defensive,  in  case  she  would  heartily 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


181 


support  American  independence;  but  this 
was  also  rejected.  The  more  enlightened 
members  ot  congress  argued,  "  Though  the 
friendsliip  of  small  states  might  be  purchas- 
ed, that  of  France  could  not."  They  al- 
leged, that  if  she  would  risk  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  by  openly  espousing  tlieir 
cause,  it  would  not  be  so  much  from  the 
prospect  of  direct  advantages,  as  from  a  na- 
tural desire  to  lessen  the  overgrown  power 
of  a  dangerous  rival.  It  was  therefore  sup- 
posed, that  the  only  inducement  likely  to 
influence  France  to  an  interference,  was  an 
assurance  that  the  United  States  were  de- 
termined to  persevere  in  refusing  a  return 
to  their  former  allegiance.  Instead  of  lis- 
tening to  the  terms  of  the  royal  commis- 
sioners, or  to  any  founded  on  the  idea  of 
their  resuming  the  character  of  British  sub- 
jects, it  was  therefore  again  resolved,  to 
abide  by  their  declared  independence,  and 
proifered  freedom  of  trade  to  every  foreign 
nation,  trusting  the  event  to  Providence, 
and  risking  all  consequences.  Copies  of 
these  resolutions  were  sent  to  the  principal 
courts  of  Europe,  and  proper  persons  were 
appointed  to  solicit  their  friendship  to  the 
new-formed  states.  These  dispatches  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  British,  and  were  by 
them  published.  This  was  the  very  thing 
wished  for  by  congress ;  they  well  knew, 
t^iat  an  apprehension  of  their  making  up  all 
differences  with  Great  Britain  was  the  prm- 
cipal  objection  to  the  interference  of  foreign 
courts,  in  what  was  represented  to  be  no 
more  than  a  domestic  quarrel.  A  resolution 
adopted  in  the  deepest  distress  and  the 
worst  of  times,  that  congress  would  listen 
to  no  terms  of  reunion  with  their  parent 
state,  convinced  those  who  wished  for  the 
dismemberment  of  the  British  empire,  that 
it  was  sound  policy  to  interfere,  so  far  as 
would  prevent  the  conquest  of  the  United 
States. 

These  judicious  determmations  in  the 
cabinet  were  accompanied  with  vigorous 
exertions  in  the  field.  The  delay  so  judi- 
ciously contrived  on  the  retreat  through  Jer- 
sey, afforded  time  for  these  volunteer  rein- 
forcements to  join  general  Washington.  The 
number  of  troops  under  his  command  at  that 
time  fluctuated  between  two  and  three  thou 
sand  men.  To  turn  round  and  face  a  victo- 
rious and  numerous  foe,  with  this  inconsid- 
erable force,  was  riskmg  nmch ;  but  the  ur- 
gency of  the  case  required  that  something 
should  be  attempted.  The  recruiting  busi- 
ness for  the  proposed  new  continental  army 
was  at  a  stand,  while  the  British  were  driv- 
ing the  Americans  before  themu  The  pres- 
ent regular  soldiers  could,  as  a  matter  of 
right,  in  less  than  a  week  claim  their  dis- 
charge, and  scarce  a  single  recruit  offered 
to  supply  their  place.     Under  tliese  circum- 

VoL.IV.  16 


stances,  the  bold  resolution  was  formed  of 
recrossing  into  the  state  of  Jersey,  and  at- 
tacking that  part  of  the  enemy  which  was 
posted  at  Trenton. 

HESSIANS  CAI»TURED  AT  TRENTON. 

When  the  Americans  retreated  over  the 
Delaware,  the  boats  in  the  vicinity  were  re- 
moved out  of  the  way  of  their  pursuers. 
This  arrested  their  progress :  but  the  Brit- 
ish commanders,  in  the  security  of  conquest, 
cantoned  their  army  at  Burlington,  Borden- 
ton,  Trenton,  and  other  towns  of  New-Jer- 
sey, in  daily  expectation  of  being  enabled 
to  cross  over  into  Pennsylvania,  by  means 
of  the  ice  which  is  generally  formed  about 
that  time. 

In  the  evening  of  Christmas-day,  general 
Washington  made  arrangements  for  recross- 
ing the  Delaware  in  three  divisions ;  at 
M'Konkey's  Ferry,  at  Trenton  Ferry,  and 
at  or  near  Bordenton.  The  troops  which 
were  to  have  crossed  at  the  two  last  places, 
were  commanded  by  generals  Ewing  and 
Cadwallader ;  they  made  every  exertion  to 
get  over,  but  the  quantity  of  ice  was  so 
great,  that  they  could  not  effect  their  pur- 
pose. The  main  body,  which  was  com- 
manded by  general  Washington,  crossed  at 
M'Konkey's  Ferry,  but  the  ice  in  the  river 
retarded  their  passage  so  long,  that  it  was 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning  before  the  ar- 
tillery could  be  got  over.  On  their  landing 
in  Jersey,  they  were  formed  into  two  divi- 
sions commanded  by  generals  Sullivan  and 
Greene,  who  had  under  their  command  brig- 
adiers lord  Stirling,  Mercer,  and  St  Clair. 
One  of  these  divisions  was  ordered  to  pro- 
ceed on  the  lower,  or  river  road,  the  other 
on  the  upper,  or  Pennington  road.  Colonel 
Stark,  with  some  light  troops,  was  also  di- 
rected to  advance  near  to  the  river,  and  to 
possess  himself  of  that  part  of  the  town 
which  is  beyond  the  bridge.  The  divisions 
having  nearly  the  same  distance  to  march, 
were  ordered  immediately,  on  forcing  the 
out-guards,  to  push  directly  into  Trenton, 
that  they  might  charge  the  enemy  before 
they  had  time  to  form.  Though  they  march- 
ed different  roads,  yet  they  arrived  at  the 
enemy's  advanced  post  within  three  minutes 
of  each  other.  The  out-guards  of  the  Hes- 
sian troops  at  Trenton  soon  fell  back,  but 
kept  up  a  constant  retreating  fire.  Their 
main  body  being  hard  pressed  by  the  Amer- 
icans, who  had  already  got  possession  of 
half  their  artillery,  attempted  to  file  off  by  a 
road  leading  towards  Princeton,  but  were 
checked  by  a  body  of  troops  tliroun  in  their 
way.  Fmding  they  were  surrounded,  they 
laid  down  their  arms.  The  number  which 
submitted  was  twenty-three  officers,  and 
eight  hundred  and  eighty-six  men.  Be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  of  the  Hessians  were 
killed    and   wounded.     Colonel    Rahl  waa 


182 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


among  the  former,  and  seven  of  his  officers 
among  the  latter.  Captain  Washington,  of 
the  Virginia  troops,  and  five  or  six  of  the 
Americans,  were  wounded  ;  two  were  kill- 
ed, and  two  or  three  were  frozen  to  death. 
Th3  detachment  in  Trenton  consisted  of 
the  regiments  of  Rahl,  Losberg,  and  Knip- 
hausen,  amounting  in  the  whole  to  about 
fifteen  hundred  men,  and  a  troop  of  British 
light-horse.  About  six  hundred  escaped  by 
the  road  leading  to  Bordenton. 

The  British  had  a  strong  battalion  of  light 
infantry  at  Princeton,  and  a  force  yet  re- 
maining near  the  Delaware,  superior  to  the 
American  army.  General  Washington,  there- 
fore, in  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  thought 
it  most  prudent  to  recross  into  Pennsylvania 
with  his  prisoners. 

The  effects  of  this  successful  enterprise 
were  speedily  felt  in  recruiting  the  Ameri- 
can army.  About  fourteen  hundred  regular 
soldiers,  whose  time  of  service  was  on  the 
point  of  expiring,  agreed  to  serve  six  weeks 
longer,  on  a  promised  gratuity  of  ten  paper 
dollars  to  each.  Men  of  influence  were  sent 
to  different  parts  of  the  country  to  rouse  the 
militia. 

The  Hessian  prisoners,  taken  on  the 
twenty-sixth,  being  secured,  general  Wash- 
ington recrossed  the  Delaware,  and  took 
possession  of  Trenton.  The  detachments 
v/hich  had  been  distributed  over  New-Jer- 
sey, previous  to  the  capture  of  the  Hessians, 
immediately  after  tliat  event,  assembled  at 
Princeton,  and  were  joined  by  the  army  from 
Brunswick,  under  lord  Cornwallis.  From 
this  position,  on  the  second  of  January,  1777, 
they  came  forward  towards  Trenton  in  great 
force,  hoping,  by  a  vigorous  onset,  to  repair 
the  injury  their  cause  had  sustained  by  the 
late  defeat.  Truly  delicate  was  the  situa- 
tion of  the  feeble  American  army.  To  re- 
treat, was  to  hazard  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  to  destroy  every  ray  of  hope  which 
had  begun  to  dawn  from  their  late  success. 
To  risk  an  action  with  a  superior  force  in 
front,  and  a  river  in  the  rear,  was  danger- 
ous in  the  extreme.  To  get  round  the  ad- 
vanced party  of  the  British,  and  by  pushing 
forwards  to  attack  in  their  rear,  was  deemed 
preferable  to  either.  The  British  on  their 
advance  from  Princeton,  about  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  attacked  a  body  of  Ameri- 
cans which  were  posted,  with  four  field- 
pieces,  a  little  to  the  northward  of  Trenton, 
and  compelled  them  to  retreat.  The  pur- 
suing British  being  checked  at  the  bridge 
over  Sanpink  Creek,  which  runs  through 
that  town,  by  some  field-pieces  which  were 
posted  on  the  opposite  banks  of  that  rivulet, 
fell  back  so  far  as  to  be  out  of  reach  of  the 
cannon,  and  kindled  their  fires.  The  Ameri- 
cans were  dra^vn  up  on  the  other  side  of 
the  creek,  and  in  that  position  remaioe-:!!  till 


night,  cannonading  the  enemy  and  receiv- 
ing their  fire.  In  this  critical  hour,  two  ar- 
mies, on  which  the  success  or  failure  of  the 
American  revolution  materially  depended, 
were  crowded  into  the  small  village  of  Tren- 
ton, and  only  separated  by  a  creek,  in  many 
places  fordable.  The  British,  believing  they 
had  all  the  advantages  they  could  wish  for 
and  that  they  could  use  them  when  they 
pleased,  discontmued  all  further  operations, 
and  kept  themselves  in  readiness  to  make 
the  attack  next  morning.  The  next  morn- 
ing presented  a  scene  as  brilliant  on  the  one 
side,  as  it  was  unexpected  on  the  other. 
Soon  after  it  became  dark,  general  Wash- 
ington ordered  all  his  baggage  to  be  silently 
removed,  and  having  left  guards  for  the  pur- 
pose of  deception,  marched  with  his  whole 
force,  by  a  circuitous  route,  to  Princeton. 
This  manoeuvre  was  determined  upon  in  a 
council  of  war,  from  a  conviction  that  it 
would  avoid  the  appearance  of  a  retreat,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  hazard  of  an  action  in 
a  bad  position,  and  that  it  was  the  most 
likely  way  to  preserve  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Brit- 
ish. General  Washington  also  presumed, 
that  firom  an  eagerness  to  efface  the  impres- 
sions made  by  the  late  capture  of  the  Hes- 
sians at  Trenton,  the  British  commanders 
had  pushed  forward  their  principal  force, 
and  that  of  course  the  remainder  in  the  rear 
at  Princeton  was  not  more  than  equal  to  his 
own.  The  event  verified  this  conjecture. 
The  more  effectually  to  disguise  the  depar- 
ture of  the  Americans  from  Trenton,  fires 
were  lighted  up  in  front  of  their  camp. 
These  not  only  gave  an  appearance  of  going 
to  rest,  but  as  flame  cannot  be  seen  through, 
concealed  from  the  British  what  was  trans- 
acting behind  them.  In  this  relative  posi- 
tion, they  were  a  pillar  of  fire  to  the  one 
army,  and  a  pillar  of  cloud  to  the  other. 
Providence  favored  this  movement  of  the 
Americans.  The  weather  had  been  for  some 
time  so  warm  and  moist,  that  the  ground 
was  soft,  and  the  roads  so  deep  as  to  be 
scarcely  passable:  but  the  wind  suddenly 
changed  to  the  north-west,  and  the  ground 
in  a  short  time  was  frozen  so  hard,  that  when 
the  Americans  took  up  their  line  of  march, 
they  were  no  more  retarded  than  if  tliey  had 
been  upon  a  solid  pavement. 

General  Washington  reached  Princeton 
early  the  next  morning,  and  would  have 
completely  surprised  the  British,  had  not  a 
party,  which  was  on  their  way  to  Trenton, 
descried  his  troops,  when  they  were  about 
two  miles  distant,  and  sent  back  couriers  to 
alarm  their  unsuspecting  fellow-soldiers  in 
their  rear.  These  consisted  of  the  seven- 
teenth, the  fortieth,  and  sixty-fifth  regiments 
of  British  infantry,  and  some  of  the  royal 


lih  two  :;.e.u-pieccB, 


and   three 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


183 


troops  of  light  dragoons.  The  centre  of  the 
Americans,  consisting  of  the  Philadelphia 
militia,  while  on  their  line  of  march,  was 
briskly  charged  by  a  party  of  the  British, 
and  gave  way  in  disorder.  The  moment 
was  critical:  general  Washington  pushed 
forward,  and  placed  himself  between  his 
own  men  and  the  British,  with  his  horse's 
head  fronting  the  latter.  The  Americans, 
encouraged  by  his  example  and  exhorta- 
tions, made  a  stand,  and  returned  the  Brit- 
ish fire.  The  general,  though  between  both 
parties,  was  providentially  uninjured  by  ei- 
ther. A  party  of  the  British  fled  into  the 
college,  and  were  there  attacked  with  field- 
pieces  which  were  fired  into  it.  The  seat 
of  the  muses  became  for  some  time  the  scene 
of  action.  The  party  which  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  college,  after  receiving  a  few 
discharges  from  the  American  field-pieces, 
came  out  and  surrendered  themselves  pris- 
oners of  war.  In  the  course  of  the  engage- 
ment, sixty  of  the  British  were  killed,  and 
a  greater  number  wounded,  and  about  three 
hundred  of  them  were  taken  prisoners. 
The  rest  made  their  escape,  some  by  push- 
ing on  towards  Trenton,  others  by  return- 
ing towards  Brunswick.  The  Americans 
lost  only  a  few ;  but  colonel  Haslet  and  Pot- 
ter, and  captain  Neal,  of  the  artillery,  were 
among  the  slain.  General  Mercer  received 
three  bayonet- wounds,  of  which  he  died  in  a 
short  time.  He  was  a  Scotchman  by  birth, 
but  from  principle  and  affection  had  engaged 
to  support  the  liberties  of  his  adopted  coun- 
try, with  a  zeal  equal  to  that  of  any  of  its 
native  sons.  In  private  life  he  was  amiable, 
and  his  character  as  an  officer  stood  high  in 
the  public  esteem. 

While  they  were  fighting  in  Princeton, 
the  British  in  Trenton  were  under  arms, 
and  on  the  point  of  making  an  assault  on 
the  evacuated  camp  of  the  Americans.  With 
so  much  address  had  the  movement  to 
Princeton  been  conducted,  that  though,  from 
the  critical  situation  of  the  two  armies, 
every  ear  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
open,  and  every  degree  of  watchfulness  to 
have  been  employed,  yet  general  Washing- 
ton moved  completely  off  the  ground  with 
his  whole  force,  stores,  baggage,  and  artil- 
lery, unknown  to,  and  unsuspected  by,  his 
adversaries.  The  British  in  Trenton  were 
80  entirely  deceived,  that  when  they  heard 
the  report  of  the  artillery  at  Princeton, 
though  it  was  in  the  depth  of  winter,  they 
supposed  it  to  be  thunder. 

That  part  of  the  royal  army,  which  hav- 
ing escaped  from  Princeton,  retreated  to- 
wards New-Brunswick,  was  pursued  for 
three  or  four  miles.  Another  party,  which 
had  advanced  as  far  as  Maidenhead,  on  their 
way  to  Trenton,  hearing  the  frequent  dis- 
charge of  fire-arms  in  their  rear,  wheeled 


round,  and  marched  to  the  aid  of  their  com- 
panions. The  Americans,  by  destroying 
bridges,  retarded  these,  though  close  in  their 
rear,  so  long  as  to  gain  time  for  themselves 
to  move  off,  in  good  order,  to  Pluckemin. 

So  great  was  the  consternation  of  the 
British  at  these  unexpected  movements,  that 
they  instantly  evacuated  both  Trenton  and 
Princeton,  and  retreated  with  their  whole 
force  to  New-Brunswick.  The  American 
militia  collected,  and  forming  themselves 
into  parties,  waylaid  their  enemies,  and  cut 
them  off  whenever  an  opportunity  present- 
ed. In  a  few  days,  they  overran  the  Jerseys. 
General  Maxwell  surprised  Elizabeth  Town, 
and  took  near  100  prisoners.  Newark  was 
abandoned,  and  the  late  conquerors  were 
forced  to  leave  Woodbridge.  The  royal 
troops  were  confined  to  Amboy  and  Bruns- 
wick, which  held  a  water  communication 
with  New- York.  Thus,  in  the  short  space 
of  a  month,  that  part  of  Jersey,  which  lies 
between  New-Brunswick  and  Delaware,  was 
hotb  overrun  by  the  British,  and  recovered 
by  the  Americans. 

The  victories  of  Trenton  and  Princeton 
seemed  to  be  like  a  resurrection  from  ithe 
dead  to  the  desponding  friends  of  indepen- 
dence. A  melancholy  gloom  had  in  the 
first  twenty-five  days  of  December  over- 
spread the  United  States ;  but  from  the  mem- 
orable era  of  the  26th  of  the  same  month, 
their  prospects  began  to  brighten.  The  re- 
cruiting service,  which  for  some  time  hatl 
been  at  a  stand,  was  successfully  renewed ; 
and  hopes  were  soon  indulged,  that  the 
commander-in-chief  would  be  enabled  to 
take  the  field  in  the  spring,  with  a  perma- 
nent regular  force.  General  Washington 
retired  to  Morristown,  that  he  might  afford 
shelter  to  his  suffering  army.  The  American 
militia  had  some  successful  skirmishes  with 
detachments  of  their  adversaries.  Within 
four  days  after  the  affair  at  Princeton,  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  Waldeckers  were  kill- 
ed, wounded,  or  taken,  at  Springfield,  by  an 
equal  number  of  the  same  New-Jersey  mili- 
tia, which  but  a  month  before  suffered  the 
British  to  overrun  their  country  without 
opposition.  This  enterprise  was  conducted 
by  colonel  Spencer,  whose  gallantry  on  the 
occasion  was  rewarded  with  the  command 
of  a  regiment. 

During  the  winter  movements,  which 
have  been  just  related,  the  soldiers  of  both 
armies  underwent  great  hardships ;  but  the 
Americans  suffered  by  far  the  greater. 
Many  of  them  were  without  shoes,  though 
marching  over  frozen  ground,  which  so 
gashed  their  naked  feet,  that  each  step  was 
marked  with  blood:  there  was  scarcely  a 
tent  in  their  whole  army :  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia had  been  twice  laid  under  contribu- 
tion to  provide  them  with  blankets :  officers 


184 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


had  been  appointed  to  examine  every  house, 
and,  after  leaving  a  scanty  covering  for  the 
family,  to  bring  off  the  rest  for  the  use  of 
the  troops  in  the  field ;  but  notwithstanding 
these  exertions,  the  quantity  procured  was 
far  short  of  decency,  much  less  of  comfort. 

The  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  American 
army  were  about  this  time  inoculated  in 
their  cantonment  at  Morristown;  as  very 
few  of  them  had  ever  had  the  small-pox, 
the  inoculation  was  nearly  universal.  The 
disorder  had  previously  spread  among  them 
in  the  natural  way,  and  proved  mortal  to 
many:  but  after  inoculation  was  introduced, 
though  whole  regiments  were  inoculated 
in  a  day,  there  was  little  or  no  mortality  from 
the  small-pox,  and  the  disorder  was  so  slight, 
that  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  it, 
there  was  not  a  single  day  in  which  they 
could  not,  and  if  called  upon,  would  not, 
have  turned  out  and  fought  the  British.  To 
induce  the  inhabitants  to  accommodate  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  in  their  houses,  while 
under  the  small-pox,  they  and  their  familips 
were  inoculated  gratis  by  the  military  sur- 
geons. Thus  in  a  short  time,  the  whole 
army  and  the  inhabitants  in  and  near  Mor- 
ristown were  subjected  to  the  small-pox,  and 
with  very  little  inconvenience  to  either. 

Three  months,  which  followed  the  actions 
of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  passed  away  with- 
out any  important  military  enterprise  on 
either  side.  Major-general  Putnam  was  di- 
rected to  take  post  at  Princeton,  and  cover 
the  country  in  the  vicinity.  He  had  only  a 
few  hundred  troops,  though  he  was  no  more 
than  eighteen  miles  distant  from  the  strong 
garrison  of  the  British  at  Brunswick.  At 
one  period  he  had  fewer  men  for  duty  than 
he  had  miles  of  frontier  to  guard.  The  sit- 
uation of  general  Washington  at  Morris- 
town  was  not  more  eligible.  His  force  was 
trifling  when  compared  with  that  of  the 
British ;  but  the  enemy  and  his  own  coun- 
trymen believed  the  contrary.  Their  decep- 
tion was  cherished,  and  artfully  continued  by 
the  specious  parade  of  a  considerable  army. 

Throughout  the  campaign  of  1776,  an  un- 
common degree  of  sickness  raged  in  the 
American  army.  Husbandmen,  transferred 
at  once  from  the  conveniencies  of  domestic 
life,  to  the  hardships  of  a  field  encampment, 
could  not  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
sudden  change.     On  the  eighth  of  August, 


the  whole  American  army  before  New- York 
consisted  of  seventeen  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  tv/enty-five  men,  but  of  that  num- 
ber only  ten  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fourteen  were  fit  for  duty.  These  numer- 
ous sick  suflfered  much  from  the  want  of 
necessaries;  hurry  and  confusion  added 
much  to  their  distresses :  there  was  besides 
a  real  want  of  the  requisites  for  their  relief 
RESULT  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

The  campaign  of  1776  did  not  end  till  it 
had  been  protracted  into  the  first  month  of 
the  year  1777.  The  British  had  counted  on 
the  complete  and  speedy  reduction  of  their 
late  colonies,  but  they  found  the  work  more 
difficult  of  execution  than  v/as  supposed. 
They  wholly  failed  in  their  designs  on  the 
southern  states.  In  Canada  they  recovered 
what  in  the  preceding  year  they  had  lost ; 
drove  the  Americans  out  of  their  borders, 
and  destroyed  their  fleet  on  the  lakes;  but 
they  failed  in  making  their  intended  impres- 
sion on  the  north-western  frontier  of  the 
states.  They  obtained  possession  of  Rhode- 
Island  ;  but  the  acquisition  was  of  little  ser- 
vice ;  perhaps  was  of  detriment.  For  near 
three  years  several  thousand  men  stationed 
thereon  for  its  security,  were  lost  to  every 
purpose  of  active  co-operation  with  the  royal 
forces  m  the  field,  and  the  possession  of  it 
secured  no  equivalent  advantages.  The 
British  completely  succeeded  against  the 
city  of  New- York  and  the  adjacent  country; 
but  when  they  pursued  their  victories  into 
New-Jersey,  and  sul  divided  their  army,  the 
recoiling  Any  r'cnns  soon  recovered  the 
greater  part  of  what  they  had  lost. 

Sir  William  Howe,  after  having  nearly 
reached  Philadelphia,  was  confined  to  limits 
so  narrow,  that  the  fee-simple  of  all  he  com- 
manded would  not  reimburse  the  expense 
incurred  by  its  conquest. 

The  war  on  the  part  of  the  Americans, 
was  but  barely  begun.  Hitherto  they  had 
engaged  with  temporary  forces  for  a  redress 
of  grievances,  but  towards  the  close  of  this 
year  they  made  arrangements  for  raising  a 
permanent  army  to  contend  with  Great 
Britain  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  country. 
To  have  thus  far  stood  their  ground  with 
their  new  levies,  was  a  matter  of  great 
importance,  because  to  them  delay  was 
victory,  and  not  to  be  conquered  was  to 
conquer. 


GEORGE  in.   1760-1820. 


185 


CHAPTER  Xin. 


State  of  Great  Britain  in  the  Summer  of  1776 — Meeting  of  Parliament — Debate  on 
the  Proclamation  of  the  American  Commissioners — Secession  of  the  Minority — Ha- 
beas Corpus  Act  suspended — Fire  in  Portsmouth  Dock-  Yard — Shameful  Profusion 
of  Ministers — Debates  on  the  Augmentation  of  the  Civil  List — Address  of  the 
Speaker,  Sir  F.  Norton,  to  the  King — Censured  by  Ministry — Dispute  with  Hol- 
land— Campaign  in  America — Action  on  the  Brandywine — Philadelphia  taken — 
Battle  of  German-Town — American  Forts  taken — Progress  of  General  Burgoyne 
— Ticonderoga  evacuated — British  repulsed  at  Fort  Schuyler — Defeat  of  Colonel 
Baum — Actiorhs  at  Stillwater,  <^c. — Surrender  of  Burgoyne — Conclusion  of  the 
Campaign. 


STATE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

1777. — The  summer  of  1776  passed  in 
England  with  but  little  agitation  of  the  pub- 
lic mind.  The  pompous  accounts  which 
had  been  detailed  by  ministry  of  the  suc- 
cesses of  our  arms,  amused  and  misled  the 
unthinking  many ;  and  the  extensive  influ- 
ence which  they  had  established  by  means 
of  jobs,  loans,  contracts,  and  commissions, 
silenced  all  opposition.  Even  the  minority 
in  both  houses  of  parliament,  though  consist- 
ing of  the  most  respectable  of  the  ancient 
nobility  of  the  realm,  and  of  the  best  fami- 
lies of  the  landed  interest,  were  so  dispirited 
by  continued  disappointments  and  fruitless 
efforts,  that  they  even  meditated  a  secession 
from  their  public  duty. 

The  inattention  of  the  British  nation  to 
the  deplorable  situation,  in  which  the  errors 
and  wickedness  of  the  ministry  had  involved 
them,  is  the  more  extraordinary,  when  we 
recollect  the  ever-wakeful  attention  of  the 
commercial  world  to  their  own  interests, 
and  observe,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  cap- 
tures made  on  the  seas  by  the  American 
cruisers  were  calculated  at  no  less  than  one 
million  sterling.  The  West  India  islands 
were  also  reduced  to  a  state  of  almost  intol- 
erable distress,  from  the  failure  of  the  usual 
supplies  from  America  ;  and  in  most  of  them 
the  necessaries  of  life  had  risen  to  three  or 
four  times  their  usual  price. 

A  contemporary  historian  has  remarked, 
that  the  speech  from  the  throne  at  the 
opening  of  parliament,  on  the  31st  October 
1776,  was  distinguished  by  "  an  unguarded 
and  undignified  intemperance  of  language." 

Nothing,  his  majesty  observed,  could  have 
a'Tfjrdei  him  so  much  satisfaction,  as  to  have 
boen  able  to  inform  the  houses,  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  session,  that  the  troubles  in  North 
America  were  at  an  end ;  but  so  daring  and 
desperate  was  the  spirit  of  those  leaders 
whose  object  had  always  been  dominion  and 
power,  that  they  had  now  openly  renounced 
all  allegiance  to  the  crown,  and  all  political 
connexion  with  this  country;  they  had  re- 
16* 


jected,  with  circumstances  of  indignity  and 
insult,  the  means  of  conciliation  held  out  to 
them  under  the  authority  of  his  majesty's 
commission,  and  had  presumed  to  set  up 
their  rebellious  confederacies  for  indepen- 
dent states.  If  their  treason  were  sufi'ered 
to  take  root,  much  mischief  must  grow  from 
it,  to  the  safety  of  his  majesty's  colonies, 
the  commerce  of  the  kingdom,  and  indeed 
the  present  system  of  all  Europe.  One 
great  advantage,  however,  would  be  derived 
from  the  object  of  the  rebels  having  been 
openly  avowed,  and  clearly  understood  ;  we 
should  have  unanimity  at  home,  founded  in 
the  general  conviction  of  the  justice  and 
necessity  of  our  measures.  The  two  houses 
were  informed  of  the  recovery  of  Canada, 
and  the  success  on  the  side  of  New-York, 
which,  although  they  had  been  so  important 
as  to  give  the  strongest  hopes  of  the  most 
decisive  good  consequences,  would  never- 
theless not  prevent  the  preparations  for  an- 
other campaign.  His  majesty  observed  that 
he  continued  to  receive  assurances  of  amity 
from  the  several  courts  of  Europe,  but  that 
nevertheless  it  was  necessary  we  should  be 
in  a  respectable  state  of  defence  at  home. 
An  apology  was  made  to  the  commons  for  the 
unavoidable  expense.  The  speech  concluded 
with  an  assurance  that  his  majesty  had  no 
object  in  this  arduous  contest  but  to  promote 
the  true  interest  of  all  his  subjects.  No 
people  ever  enjoyed  more  happiness,  or  live«i 
under  a  milder  government,  than  those  now 
revolted  provinces;  the  improvements  in 
every  art,  of  which  they  boast,  declare  it ; 
their  numbers,  their  wealth,  their  strength 
by  sea  and  land,  which  they  think  sufficient 
to  enable  them  to  make  head  against  the 
whole  power  of  the  mother-country,  are  ir- 
refragable proofs  of  it. — The  debates  on  the 
addresses,  in  consequence  of  this  speech, 
were  long  and  tedious. 

Addresses,  the  echo  of  the  speech,  were 
brought  forward  in  both  houses;  but  an 
amendment,  which  was  in  reality  another 
address   in   a  totally  ditlerent  strain,   waa 


186 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


moved  by  lord  John  Cavendish  in  the  house 
of  commons,  and  the  marquis  of  Rocking- 
ham in  the  house  of  lords,  containing  a 
masterly  recapitulation  of  the  manifold  er- 
rors of  that  system  which  had  caused  the 
entire  alienation,  and  at  length  the  open 
revolt  of  so  large  a  part  of  his  majesty's  once 
loyal  and  affectionate  subjects.  It  concluded 
with  the  observation,  "  that  a  wise  and  prov- 
ident use  of  the  late  advantages  might  be 
productive  of  happy  effects,  as  the  means 
of  establishing  a  permanent  connexion  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  on 
principles  of  liberty,  and  terms  of  mutual 
benefit." 

"  We  should  look,"  said  this  truly  excel- 
lent and  admirable  address,  "  with  shame 
and  horror  on  any  events  that  should  bow 
them  to  any  abject  and  unconditional  sub- 
mission to  any  power  whatsoever — annihi- 
late their  liberties,  and  subdue  them  to  ser- 
vile "principles  and  passive  habits  by  the  mere 
force  of  foreign  mercenary  arms." 

The  speech  from  the  throne,  under  the 
established  and  decorous  pretext  of  its  being 
the  speech  of  the  minister,  was  treated  with 
the  most  contemptuous  and  sarcastic  severi 
ty.  "  Where,"  it  was  asked,  "  are  those 
mighty  leaders  to  be  found  whom  the  Ame- 
ricans obey  so  implicitly,  and  who  govern 
them  with  so  despotic  a  rule  1  They  have 
no  grandees  among  them ;  their  soil  is  not 
productive  of  nobility;  in  no  country  are 
there  in  fact  so  few  individuals  possessed  of 
a  commanding  or  extensive  influence ;  the 
president  of  their  supreme  assembly  was  a 
merchant;  the  general  of  their  armies  a 
private  gentleman.  Nothing  could  be  more 
evident  than  that  a  sense  of  common  danger 
and  of  common  suffering  had  driven  them 
to  the  necessity  of  creating  leaders,  who 
were  possessed  only  of  such  powers  as  the 
people  had  thought  it  expedient  to  intrust 
them  with.  In  the  same  spirit  of  falsehood 
it  was  asserted,  '  that  the  Americans  had 
rejected  with  circumstances  of  indignity 
and  insult  the  terms  of  conciliation  offered 
them.'  The  truth  was,  that  no  terms  had 
been  offered  them  but  the  offer  of  a  pardon 
on  unconditional  submission,  which  the  min- 
isters well  knew  they  would  never  accept 
nor  was  even  this  mock  offer  made  till  the 
whole  system  of  irritation  and  oppression 
was  completed  by  the  injustice  and  cruelty 
of  the  capture  act,  by  which  they  were  put 
out  of  the  protection  of  the  law,  and  their 
property  held  out  as  common  spoil.  The 
position  in  the  speech,  so  undeniably  true 
'  that  no  people  ever  enjoyed  greater  happi- 
ness, or  lived  under  a  milder  government, 
than  these  now  revolted  colonies,'  implied 
the  severest  censure  on  those  who  had  so 
wantonly  and  wickedly  departed  from  a  sys- 
tem which  had  produced  such  noble  and 


wonderful  effects."  The  expectation  of  una- 
nimity from  the  present  situation  of  affairs 
was,  however,  said  to  be  of  all  the  parts  of 
this  extravagant  speech  the  most  ridiculous. 
"  What !  shall  we  at  last  concur  in  mea- 
sures, because  all  the  mischiefs  which  were 
originally  predicted  have  ultimately  resulted 
from  them"?  Have  ministers  tlie  unparal- 
leled effrontery  to  call  upon  us  to  give  our 
sanction  to  that  fatal  system  which  we  in 
vain  warned  and  implored  them  to  shun, 
and  which  persisted  in  must  terminate  in 
utter  ruin  ]"  On  a  division,  the  amendment 
was  rejected  in  the  house  of  commons  by  a 
majority  of  242  to  87,  and  in  the  house  of 
peers  by  91  to  26,  fourteen  of  whom  joined 
in  a  protest,  in  which  the  proposed  amend- 
ment was  verbatim  inserted,  in  order  that  it 
might  remain  as  a  perpetual  memorial  on 
the  journals  of  that  house. 

DEBATE  ON  THE  PROCLAMATION  OF  THE 
BRITISH  COMMISSIONERS  IN  AMERICA. 
In  a  few  days  after  the  addresses  were 
presented,  lord  John  Cavendish  exhibited  in 
the  house  a  printed  paper,  purporting  to  be 
a  proclamation  of  his  majesty's  commission- 
ers in  America,  and  called  upon  ministers  to 
inform  him  as  to  the  authenticity  of  it.  This 
being  acknowledged,  his  lordship  expressed 
in  the  strongest  terms  his  astonishment  at 
the  contempt  and  indignity  offered  to  the 
house,  who,  through  the  medium  of  a  com- 
mon newspaper  only,  were  at  length  inform- 
ed that  they  stand  engaged  to  America  to 
undertake  a  revision  of  all  those  laws  by 
which  the  Americans  had  conceived  them- 
selves to  be  aggrieved.  Notwithstanding  the 
resentment  he  felt  as  a  member  of  the  house 
at  this  ministerial  insolence  of  conduct,  his 
lordship  said  that  he  felt  a  dawn  of  joy  break 
in  upon  his  mind  at  the  bare  mention  of  re- 
conciliation, whatever  color  the  measures 
might  wear  that  led  to  so  desirable  an  event. 
The  great  object  of  restoring  peace  and  unity 
to  this  distracted  empire  outweighed  so  far 
with  him  all  other  present  considerations, 
that  he  not  only  would  overlook  punctilios 
on  this  account,  but  even  such  matters  of 
real  import  as  would  upon  any  other  occa- 
sion call  all  his  powers  into  action.  On 
these  grounds  his  lordship  moved,  "  that  the 
house  should  resolve  itself  into  a  committee, 
to  consider  of  the  revisal  of  all  acts  of  par- 
liament by  which  his  majesty's  subjects  in 
America  think  themselves  aggrieved." 

SECESSION  OF  THE  MINORITY  IN  PAR- 
LIAMENT. 
The  opposition  were  strenuous  in  assert- 
ing, that  the  crown  promised  in  this  procla- 
mation more  than  it  could  grant  without 
permission  of  parliament ;  the  crown  having 
only  a  voice  in  the  passing  or  repeal  of  laws, 
but  no  power  to  revise  such  as  the  parlia- 
ment have  again  and  again  confirmed  con- 


GEORGE  ni.   1760-1820. 


187 


trary  to  all  endeavors  from  opposition.  No- 
thing cari  be  more  unjust  than  to  pretend  to 
disarm  the  Americans  previous  to  a  negotia- 
tion. Such  a  practice  cannot  derive  a  founda- 
tion even  from  the  most  tyrannical  edicts  or 
practices ;  and  after  having*  by  sure  and  de- 
liberate degrees  impelled  the  Americans  to 
tlie  natural  protection,  self-defence,  to  ask 
them  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  intrust 
themselves  to  their  mercy,  who  had  undone 
them,  who  had  tortured  them  to  desperation, 
is  not  more  absurd  than  cruel,  and  not  more 
unlike  Britons,  than  unlike  savages. — The 
question,  after  great  animosity  of  debate,  be- 
ing put,  the  motion  was  rejected  by  a  major- 
ity of  109  to  47. — This  event  was  followed 
by  that  secession,  which  had  been  long  med- 
itated, of  a  great  number  of  the  members 
of  opposition,  particularly  of  the  Rocking- 
ham party ;  they  no  longer  saw  duty  or  ad- 
vantage to  the  public  in  wasting  their  time 
and  strength  in  unavailing  attempts  to  op- 
pose the  resistless  determinations  of  minis- 
try. They  had  long  ago  foretold  everything 
that  had  happened ;  they  had  made  uniform 
efforts  to  prevent  the  impending  danger,  but 
they  saw  that  all  their  efforts  now  served 
only  to  expose  them  to  the  resentment  of  a 
people  infatuated  and  deluded.  We  may 
add,  that  few  circumstances  contributed 
more  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  besotted  people 
of  England,  than  this  secession.  They  now 
felt  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  the  ministry, 
and  deserted  by  all  the  wisdom  and  patriot- 
ism of  the  nation ;  and  the  dissatisfaction 
which  soon  after  broke  forth  in  various  pa- 
triotic meetings  and  resolves,  may  in  part 
be  attributed  to  this  proceeding. 

HABEAS  CORPUS  ACT  SUSPENDED. 

Soon  after  the  recess,  which  continued 
from  December  the  thirteenth  to  the  twen- 
ty-first of  January,  1777,  lord  North  moved 
for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill,  to  enable  his  ma- 
jesty to  secure  and  detain  persons  charged 
with,  or  suspected  of  the  crime  of  high  trea- 
son committed  in  America,  or  on  the  high 
seas,  or  the  crime  of  piracy.  The  bill  was 
brought  in  and  read  the  following  day  (Feb- 
ruary the  7th),  and  a  motion  made,  that  it 
should  be  read  a  second  time  on  the  10th : 
But  the  principal  enacting  clause  appearing 
in  a  very  alarming  point  of  view,  it  was 
strongly  combated  by  such  of  the  opposition 
as  were  present.  This  clause  declared  all 
persons  taken  in  the  act  of  high  treason, 
committed  in  any  of  the  colonies,  or  on  the 
high  seas,  or  in  the  act  of  piracy,  or  who  are 
or  shall  be  charged  with  or  suspected  of  any 
of  these  crimes,  liable  to  be  committed  to 
any  common  jail,  or  to  any  other  place  of 
confinement,  appointed  for  that  purpose  un- 
der his  majesty's  sign  manual,  within  any 
part  of  his  dominions,  there  to  be  detained 
in  safe  custody,  without  bail,  mainprize,  or 


trial,  during  the  continuance  of  the  law, 
with  a  provision,  however,  enabling  a  cer- 
tain number  of  the  privy-council  to  grant 
an  order  for  admitting  such  persons  to  bail 
or  trial. 

Of  the  few  members  in  opposition  who 
happened  to  be  present,  Mr.  Dunning  ani- 
madverted most  severely  on  the  bill  now 
proposed  by  the  minister.  He  expressed  the 
utmost  astonishment,  that  a  bill  of  such  mag- 
nitude and  importance,  which  was  to  suspend 
all  the  functions  of  the  constitution,  should 
be  attempted  to  be  smuggled  through  a  thin 
house  under  false  colors,  before  the  nation 
could  be  apprized  of  its  danger,  or  their  con- 
stituents have  the  smallest  notice,  that  they 
were  going  to  surrender  the  foundation  of 
all  their  other  rights,  and  the  peculiar  char- 
acteristic of  the  British  government. 

The  alarm  excited  by  this  measure  re- 
called a  few  of  the  minority  gentlemen,  who 
had  before  refused  their  attendance,  and  the 
debates  were  renewed  with  as  great  vio- 
lence as  ever.  Among  the  manifold  objec- 
tions to  this  bill,  it  was  remarked,  that  it 
was  framed  with  "  such  treacherous  artifice 
of  construction,"  that  by  the  enacting  claus- 
es, the  crown  was  enabled,  at  its  pleasure, 
to  commit,  not  only  Americans,  but  any  other 
person  resident  in  the  British  dominions, 
without  bail  or  mainprize,  to  any  place  of 
confinement  in  Great  Britam  or  elsewhere. 
Thus  was  the  habeas  corpus  act,  that  great 
bulwark  of  British  liberty,  completely  anni- 
hilated by  a  construction  of  law,  which  left 
it  in  the  power  of  the  crown  to  apprehend, 
on  the  slightest  suspicion,  or  pretence  of  sus- 
picion, any  individual  against  whom  the  ven- 
geance of  the  court  was  meant  to  be  direct- 
ed ;  and  to  convey  them  beyond  the  seas  to 
any  of  the  garrisons  in  Africa  or  the  Indies, 
far  from  all  hope  or  possibility  of  relief  At 
length  the  minister,  with  that  inconsistency 
which  marked  his  conduct,  explicitly  disa- 
vowed as  to  himself  all  design  of  extending 
the  operation  of  the  bill  beyond  its  open  and 
avowed  objects.  He  said,  "  that  the  bill  was 
intended  for  America,  and  not  for  England ; 
that,  as  he  would  ask  for  no  power  that  was 
not  wanted,  so  he  would  scorn  to  receive  it 
by  any  covert  means;  and  that,  far  from 
wishing  to  establish  any  unconstitutional 
precedent,  he  neither  sought  nor  wished  any 
powers  to  be  vested  in  the  crown  or  its  min- 
isters which  were  capable  of  being  employ- 
ed to  bad  or  oppressive  purposes."  He  there- 
fore agreed  to  receive  the  amendments  pro- 
posed ;  the  principal  of  which  were  in  sub- 
stance :  1.  That  the  clause  empowering  his 
majesty  to  confine  such  persons  as  might  be 
apprehended  under  this  act  "  in  any  part  of 
his  dominions,  should  be  modified  by  the  in- 
sertion of  the  words,  "  within  the  realm ;" 
and  secondly,  That  an  additional  clause  or 


188 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


proviso  be  inserted,  "  that  nothing  in  this  act 
shall  be  construed  to  extend  to  persons  resi- 
dent in  Great  Britain."  These  concessions 
gave  extreme  offence  to  the  leaders  of  the 
high  prerogative  party,  who  had  zealously 
defended  the  bill  in  its  original  state,  and 
who  now  exclaimed,  that  they  were  desert- 
ed by  the  minister  in  a  manner  which  seem- 
ed calculated  to  disgrace  the  whole  measure, 
to  confirm  all  the  charges  and  surmises  of 
their  adversaries,  and  to  fix  all  the  odium 
upon  them.  "  And  it  was  indeed  sufficiently 
evident  (a  modem  writer  observes)  from  the 
whole  conduct  of  the  busmess,  that  the  min- 
ister, on  this  as  on  other  occasions,  was  not 
admitted  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  roy- 
al cabinet." 

JOHN  THE  PAINTER'S  PLOT. 
While  these  affairs  were  transacting,  the 
ministry  were  enabled,  by  a  fortunate  occur- 
rence, to  raise  an  alarm  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  still  farther  to  excite  their  ab- 
horrence of  the  Americans.  The  absurd 
story  of  a  plot  against  the  government  which 
bad  been  fabricated  in  1775,  and  on  which 
Mr.  Sayre  had  been  committed  to  the  Tower, 
was  not  found  to  answer  the  purposes  of  the 
ministry,  and  had  rather  contributed  to  over- 
whelm them  with  disgrace,  than  to  raise 
their  popularity.  The  instance  we  have  to 
relate,  was  more  fevorable  to  their  views; 
either  the  man  in  question  was  really  guilty, 
or  the  circumstances  were  involved  in  such 
perplexity,  that  it  was  impossible  to  unravel 
the  mystery.  In  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1776,  a  fire  was  discovered  in  the  rope- 
house  at  the  royal  dock-yard  of  Portsmouth, 
which  was  however  extinguished  without 
commimicating  to  the  other  magazines.  On 
the  seventh  of  January,  a  fire  also  broke  out 
in  some  warehouses  at  Bristol ;  six  or  seven 
of  which  were  consumed.  The  alarm  was 
instantly  raised  of  plots  and  incendiaries, 
and  the  suspicions  of  the  public  were  at 
length  directed  to  an  itinerant  painter  of  the 
name  of  John  Aitken,  by  birth  a  Scotchman, 
but  who  was  said  lately  to  have  returned 
from  America,  where  he  had  resided  some 
time.  As  the  fire  at  Bristol  had  taken  place 
while  he  was  supposed  to  be  in  that  city, 
and  some  suspicious  circumstances  in  his 
conduct,  and  his  solitary  mode  of  life,  had 
attracted  attention,  he  was  arrested  soon 
after  his  departure  from  that  place.  On  his 
examination,  however,  before  the  lords  of 
the  admiralty,  nothing  appeared  to  criminate 
him,  but  he  was  nevertheless  committed  to 
prison.  In  the  mean  time,  every  stratagem 
was  employed  to  draw  from  him  a  confes- 
sion of  guilt.  Another  American  painter 
was  enlisted  for  this  purpose,  who,  by  pre- 
tending to  sympathize  with  the  misfortunes 
of  John  the  Painter,  asserted  that  he  had 
extorted  from  him  a  fiill  confession  of  his 


crimes.  This  man  was  almost  the  sole  evi- 
dence brought  forward  on  the  trial,  and 
though  a  person  of  infamous  character,  on 
his  testimony  respecting  the  communications 
which  took  place  in  the  prison,  John  the 
Painter  was  condemned  and  executed.  On 
his  way  to  the  place  of  execution,  he  is  said 
to  have  made  a  confession  of  his  guilt  to  a 
certain  commissioner  of  the  admiralty,  add- 
ing, that  he  had  been  encouraged  to  the  un- 
dertaking by  Silas  Deane,  one  of  the  Ameri- 
can agents  at  Paris. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  this  mysterious 
transaction.  The  fact  was  generally  be- 
lieved at  the  time,  though  there  were  some 
who  entertained  doubts,  even  then,  concern- 
ing the  truth  of  every  particular.  It  was 
thought  extraordinary  that  John  the  Painter, 
who  was  certamly  a  man  of  considerable 
talents,  and  who  knew  how  much  depended 
upon  keeping  his  own  counsel,  should  un- 
burden himself  at  a  few  interviews  to  a  man 
who  was  before  a  perfect  stranger  to  him, 
and  who,  he  might  justly  suspect,  was  sent 
purposely  to  draw  from  him  the  fatal  secret. 
The  infamous  character  of  the  witness  was 
also  severely  animadverted  upon ;  and  even 
the  confession  which  he  was  said  to  have 
made  to  the  commissioner  of  the  admiralty, 
did  not  serve  entirely  to  remove  these  doubts. 
The  confession,  as  to  its  genuineness,  must 
ultimately  rest  upon  the  veracity  of  that 
commissioner ;  but  we  are  not  informed,  it 
was  said,  what  methods  were  made  use  of 
to  extort  that  confession,  or  what  hopes  of 
pardon  might  have  been  held  out  to  a  mar, 
who,  within  sight  of  the  gibbet,  considered 
his  case  as  desperate.  The  other  circum- 
stances adduced  on  his  trial  were  too  slight 
to  have  determined  a  case  where  the  life  of 
a  fellow-creature  is  depending ;  and  it  must 
not  be  forgotten,  that  the  poor  victim  was  a 
friendless  and  destitute  wretch,  without 
either  money  or  support  of  any  kind,  and 
whose  character,  from  his  itinerant  mode  of 
life,  &c.  was  involved  in  suspicion.  In  a 
word,  however  guilty  John  the  Painter  might 
be,  we  trust  the  precedent  will  not  operate 
in  other  cases :  we  trust  that  no  person,  more 
innocent  or  more  meritorious,  will  ever  be 
convicted  on  circumstantial  proof,  or  on  the 
testimony  of  such  a  witness  as  the  person 
on  whose  evidence  he  was  condemned. 
MINISTERIAL  PROFUSION. 

Severe  inquiries  were  about  this  period 
instituted  in  parliament,  concerning  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  public  money.  The  ac- 
counts were  said  to  be  in  many  places  ob- 
scure, and,  if  anywhere  intelligible,  they 
were  extravagant,  and  only  calculated  to 
enrich  the  avaricious  contractor  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  public.  Lord  North  assured 
the  house,  that  great  economy  had  been  ob- 
served, and  that  in  some  cases  the  contract- 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


189 


ore  were  losers ;  but  in  every  exigency  he 
had  been  careful  to  make  such  bargains  as 
were  most  advantageous  for  the  public.  The 
landgrave  of  Hesse,  however,  had  made  a 
demand  for  forty-four  thousand  pounds  of 
levy-money ;  this  demand  was  unexpected, 
and  seemingly  unfair ;  the  minister  to  this 
replied,  that  the  landgrave  quoted  the  treaty 
of  1755  as  a  precedent,  and  was  entitled  to 
tJie  advantages  both  of  the  former  and  pres- 
ent treaties,  although  his  troops  had  never 
served  in  America ;  the  demand  was  unex- 
pected, indeed,  but  perfectly  fair.  A  very 
severe  and  continued  debate  was  daily  re- 
newed in  the  committee  of  supply  on  these 
subjects,  and  the  minister  had  scarcely  fin- 
ished his  defence,  however  lame,  when  he 
was  under  a  necessity  of  laying  before  them 
a  message  from  his  majesty,  at  a  tune  very 
unfavorable  for  the  request  contained  in  it. 

On  the  ninth  of  April  1777,  a  message 
was  delivered  by  the  minister  from  the  king, 
in  which  his  majesty  expressed  "  his  con- 
cern in  acquamting  the  house  with  the  diffi- 
culties he  labored  under  from  the  debts  in- 
curred by  expenses  of  the  civil  government, 
amounting,  on  the  fifth  of  January  preceding, 
to  upwards  of  six  hundred  thousand  pounds." 
And  the  house,  on  this  message,  resolving 
itself  into  a  committee  of  supply,  the  min- 
ister moved,  "  That  the  sum  of  six  hundred 
and  eighteen  thousand  pounds  be  granted, 
to  enable  his  majesty  to  discharge  the  debts 
of  the  civil  government ;  and  that  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum, 
over  and  above  the  sum  of  eight  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  be  granted  as  a  farther 
provision  for  the  same." 

These  propositions  called  forth  the  whole 
strength  of  opposition.  The  gentlemen  on 
that  side  of  the  house,  while  they  lamented 
the  degrading  situation  of  the  sovereign, 
and  tlie  many  distresses  brought  upon  indi- 
viduals, ascribed  the  debt  entirely  to  the 
boundless  and  scandalous  profiasion  of  min- 
isters, and  insisted  that  the  present  revenue 
was,  without  any  possibility  of  doubt,  not 
only  sufficient  to  answer  all  the  purposes  of 
government,  when  under  the  restriction  of 
a  prudent  economy,  but  also  fully  to  support 
the  grandeur,  splendor,  and  magnificence  of 
the  crown,  in  a  manner  suitable  to  its  own 
dignity,  and  the  greatness  of  the  nation,  even 
in  its  happiest  era.  It  was  too  manifest, 
however,  that  the  debt  had  been  incurred  in 
supporting  and  carrying  on  a  system  of  cor 
ruption. 

The  opposition  animadverted  on  the  ac- 
counts in  the  most  severe  manner.  They 
were  fabricated,  they  said,  to  perplex,  and 
not  to  give  information ;  the  facts  of  which 
their  titles  announced  the  discovery,  could 
not  bear  the  light.  It  was  observed,  that 
the  large  sums  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-one 


thousand  pounds,  and  one  hundred  and  four- 
teen thousand  pounds,  were  charged  in  two 
lines  for  secret  service,  under  the  disposal 
of  the  two  secretaries  of  the  treasury,  which 
could  not  but  seem  dangerous  as  well  as 
mysterious.  It  was  allowed  to  be  right  and 
necessary  that  the  secretaries  of  state  should 
be  allowed  money  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
curing foreign  intelligence;  but  that  the 
officers  of  the  treasury,  who  can  have  no 
public  connexion  beyond  their  own  office, 
much  less  any  intercourse  with  foreign  states, 
should  be  the  agents  for  disposing  of  the 
public  money  in  secret  service,  was  most 
alarming,  and  had  in  itself  sufficient  evi- 
dence to  put  an  end  at  once  to  all  doubts  as 
to  its  design  or  application.  The  expense 
charged  under  the  heads  of  Cofferer's  Office, 
Board  of  Works,  and  Foreign  Ministers, 
was  said  to  be  enormous  beyond  measure. 
It  now  appeared,  that  an  attempt  was  made 
to  realize  the  wretched  policy  of  James  IL 
viz.  the  maintaining  an  army  of  ambassadors, 
at  the  same  time  that  every  transaction, 
either  with  regard  to  foreign  or  domestic 
affairs,  proclaimed  aloud  the  imbecility  of 
ministers,  and  the  folly  of  their  negotiations. 
Above  half  a  million  was  stated  under  the 
article  of  the  Board  of  Works,  without  the 
least  item  to  show  to  whom,  or  for  what 
purpose  it  was  disposed ;  or  on  what  palace, 
house,  park,  or  royal  garden  it  had  been  ex- 
pended. 

But  leaving  inquiries  into  past  transac- 
tions, and  deductions  drawn  from  them,  it 
was  maintained  by  several  members  in  both 
houses,  that  if  the  revenues  proceeding  from 
Wales,  Cornwall,  the  dutcliy  of  Lancaster, 
Ireland,  the  West  India  islands,  American 
quit-rents,  and  other  sources  of  smaller  con- 
sequence, were  taken  into  consideration, 
and  added  to  the  civil  list  establishment,  the 
crown  would  be  found  to  have  possessed,  for 
several  years,  a  revenue  of  more  than  a  mil- 
lion sterling  :  that  if  the  American  quit-rents 
had  not  been  lost,  or  could  be  recovered,  this 
revenue,  solely  in  the  crown,  independent 
of  account,  and  free  from  inquiry,  would,  in 
a  few  years,  increase  in  such  a  degree,  as  to 
afford  a  greater  fund  of  treasure  for  private 
disposal  than  the  most  powerfiil  and  arbitrary 
sovereign  in  Christendom  could  boast  of 
Though  the  revenues  of  Hanover  and  Osna- 
burgh  did  not  come  within  the  cognizance 
of  parliament,  they  were,  however,  to  be 
considered  as  objects  of  attention  m  all  ques- 
tions relative  to  the  excessive  growing  pow- 
er, and  dangerous  influence  of  the  crown. 

Notwithstandmg  these  arguments,  and  the 
detestable  light  in  which  the  ministry  were 
placed  by  opposition  on  the  present  occasion, 
the  grant  of  six  hundred  eighteen  thousand 
three  hundred  and  forty  pounds,  was,  how- 
ever, carried  without  a  division ;  and  soon 


190 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


after  that  of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
additional  revenue,  by  a  great  majority. 

SPEAKER'S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  KING. 

The  most  remarkable  circumstance  at- 
tending this  extraordinary  grant,  was  the 
speech  made  by  the  speaker  of  the  house  of 
commons  to  his  majesty,  on  presenting  it  a 
few  days  afterwards  for  the  royal  assent. 
"  In  a  time,  sir,"  said  he,  "  of  public  distress, 
full  of  diificulty  and  danger,  their  constitu- 
ents laboring  under  burdens  almost  too  heavy 
to  be  borne,  your  faithful  commons,  post- 
poning all  other  business,  have  not  only 
granted  to  your  majesty  a  larg-e  present  sup- 
ply, but  also  a  very  great  additional  revenue, 
great  beyond  example,  great  beyond  your 
majesty's  highest  expense ;  but  all  this,  sir, 
they  have  done  in  the  well-grounded  confi- 
dence, that  you  will  apply  wisely  what  they 
have  granted  liberally."  The  countenance 
of  the  king  plainly  indicated  how  little  ac- 
ceptable was  this  unexpected  liberty.  On 
the  return  of  the  speaker  and  the  attendant 
members,  the  thanks  of  the  house  were 
nevertheless  immediately  voted  him ;  yet 
not  without  exciting  the  secret  and  acrimo- 
nious resentment  of  the  king's  friends,  or 
prerogative  party  ;  one  of  whom,  Rigby, 
took  occasion  in  a  subsequent  debate  to  ar- 
raign the  conduct  of  the  speaker  with  un- 
usual vehemence,  as  conveying  little  less 
than  an  insult  on  the  king,  and  as  equally 
misrepresenting  the  sense  of  parliament  and 
the  state  of  the  nation.  The  sentiments 
delivered  at  the  bar  of  the  other  house,  he 
.said,  were  not  those  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons ;  he  for  one  totally  disclaimed  them ; 
and  he  had  no  doubt  but  the  majority  of  the 
house  thought  with  him.  The  speaker  ap- 
pealed to  the  vote  of  thanks  which  had  been 
passed,  as  a  proof  that  he  had  not  been  guil 
ty  of  the  misrepresentation  imputed  to  him : 
.  and  the  minister,  uneasy  at  the  altercation, 
intimated  his  wish  that  the  subject  might 
not  be  farther  discussed.  But  Fox,  imme^ 
diately  rising,  declared,  "  that  a  serious  and 
direct  charge  having  been  brought,  the  ques- 
tion was  now  at  issue.  Either  the  speaker 
had  misrepresented  the  sense  of  the  house 
or  he  had  not.  He  should  therefore,  in  order 
to  bring  this  question  to  a  proper  and  final 
decision,  move,  that  the  speaker  of  the 
house,  in  his  speech  to  his  majesty  at  the 
bar  of  the  house  of  peers,  did  express  with 
just  and  proper  energy  the  sentiments  of 
this  house."  The  speaker  himself  declared, 
"  that  he  would  sit  no  longer  in  that  chair 
than  he  was  supported  in  the  free  exercise 
of  his  duty.  He  had  discharged  what  he 
conceived  to  be  his  duty,  intending  only  to 
express  the  sense  of  the  house ;  and  from 
the  vote  of  approbation  with  which  he  had 
been  honored,  he  had  reason  to  believe  he 


was  not  chargeable  with  any  misrepresenta- 
tion." The  ministers  now  found  themselves 
involved  in  a  most  unpleasant  dilemma,  and 
in  pressing  terms  recommended  the  with- 
drawing of  the  motion.  This  being  posi- 
tively refiised,  Rigby  moved  for  the  house 
to  adjourn.  But  the  house  appearing  evi- 
dently sensible  of  the  degradation  which  its 
dignity  must  sustain  from  any  aflfront  ofifered 
to  the  chair,  he  at  length  thought  fit  in  some 
degree  to  concede ;  and  professed,  "  that  he 
meant  no  reflection  upon  the  character  of 
the  speaker,  but  that  what  he  had  said  was 
the  mere  expression  of  his  private  opinion, 
and  the  result  of  that  freedom  of  speech 
which  was  the  right  and  privilege  of  every 
member  of  that  house,  without  respect  of 
persons ;  and  that,  if  what  he  had  advanced 
was  not  agreeable  to  the  sense  of  that  house, 
he  would  readily  withdraw  his  motion  of 
adjournment ;"  which  being  done.  Fox's  mo- 
tion was  unanimously  carried  ;  and,  to  com- 
plete the  triumph,  the  thanks  of  the  house 
to  the  speaker  for  his  conduct  in  this  affair 
was  also  moved,  and  agreed  to  without  op- 
position. 

On  the  seventh  of  June  the  session  was 
closed,  and  his  majesty  expressed  in  his 
speech  his  entire  approbation  of  the  conduct 
of  parliament,  lavishing  upon  them  high  and 
flattering  compliments  for  the  unquestiona- 
ble proofs  they  had  given  of  their  clear  dis- 
cernment of  the  true  interests  of  their  coun- 
try. 

DISPUTE  WITH  HOLLAND. 

While  these  aflTairs  were  transacting  in 
parliament,  a  memorial,  in  a  very  unusual 
style,  was  delivered  by  Sir  Joseph  Yorke, 
ambassador  at  the  Hague,  to  the  States-gen- 
eral, in  which  his  excellency  declared, 
"  That  the  king,  his  master,  had  hitherto 
borne  with  unexampled  patience  the  irregu- 
lar conduct  of  the  subjects  of  their  high 
mightinesses,  in  their  interested  commerce 
at  St.  Eustatia,  as  also  in  America.  If," 
said  the  ambassador,  "  the  measures  which 
your  high  mightinesses  have  thought  proper 
to  take,  had  been  as  efficacious  as  your  as- 
surances have  been  amicable,  the  under- 
signed would  not  now  have  been  under  the 
necessity  of  bringing  to  the  cognizance  of 
your  high  mightinesses,  facts  of  the  most 
serious  nature."  His  excellency  then  pro- 
ceeds to  state,  that  M.  Van  Graaf,  governor 
of  St.  Eustatia,  had  permitted  the  seizure  of 
an  English  vessel,  by  an  American  pirate, 
within  cannon-shot  of  the  island ;  and  that 
he  had  returned  from  the  fortress  of  his  gov- 
ernment the  salute  of  a  rebel  flag :  and  the 
ambassador  concludes,  with  demanding,  in 
his  majesty's  name,  and  by  his  express  order, 
from  their  high  mightinesses,  a  formal  dis- 
avowal of  the  salute  by  Fort  Orange  at  St. 
Eustatia  to  the  rebel  ship,  and  the  dismission 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


191 


\nd  immediate  recall  of  the  governor  Van 
Graaf;  declaring  farther,  that  until  such 
*jatisfaction  is  given,  they  are  not  to  expect, 
that  his  majesty  will  suffer  himself  to  be 
amused  by  mere  assurances,  or  that  he  will 
delay  one  instant  to  take  such  measures  as 
he  shall  think  due  to  the  interest  and  digni- 
ty of  his  crown. 

The  states,  offended  at  the  imperious  lan- 
guage of  this  memorial,  yet  acting  with  their 
usual  caution,  did  not  condescend  to  give  an 
answer  to  the  British  ambassador,  but  or- 
dered count  Welderen,  their  resident  in  Lon- 
don, to  deliver  into  the  king  of  England's 
own  hand  a  counter-memorial,  in  which  they 
complained  of  the  menacing  tone  of  the 
English  court,  such  as  ought  not  to  take 
j)lace  between  sovereign  and  independent 
}K)wers;  adding,  however,  "that,  from  the 
sole  motive  of  demonstrating  their  regard  to 
Iiis  majesty,  they  have  actually  dispatched 
orders  to  M.  Van  Graaf,  to  render  himself 
within  the  republic  without  delay,  in  order 
to  give  the  necessary  information  respecting 
liis  conduct ;  nor  do  they  scruple  to  disavow, 
in  the  most  express  manner,  any  act  or  mark 
of  honor  which  may  have  been  given  by 
their  officers  to  any  vessels  belonging  to  the 
colonies  of  America,  so  far  as  it  may  imply 
a  recognition  of  American  independence." 
The  ministry  pretended  to  be  satisfied  with 
this  conduct,  but  secretly  meditated  a  blow 
against  the  United  Provinces  on  the  very 
first  favorable  opportunity.  We  return  now 
to  the  most  important  scene  of  action,  and 
resume  our  narrative  of  the  proceedings  in 
America  during  the  campaign  of  1777. 
CAMPAIGN  IN  AMERICA. 

Soon  afler  the  declaration  of  independ- 
ence, the  authority  of  congress  was  obtained 
for  raising  an  army  that  would  be  more  per- 
manent than  the  temporary  levies  which 
they  had  previously  brought  into  the  field. 
h  was  at  first  proposed  to  recruit  for  the  in- 
definite term  of  the  war;  but  it  being  found 
on  experiment  that  the  habits  of  the  people 
were  averse  to  engagements  for  such  an  un- 
certain period  of  service,  the  recruiting  of- 
ficers were  instructed  to  offer  the  alternative 
of  either  enlisting  for  the  war,  or  for  tliree 
years.  Those  who  engaged  on  the  first  con- 
ditions, were  promised  a  hundred  acres  of 
land  in  addition  to  their  pay  and  bounty. 
The  troops  raised  by  congress  for  the  service 
of  th?  United  States  were  called  continent- 
als. Thouirh,  in  September  1776,  it  had 
been  resolved  to  raise  eighty-eight  battalions, 
find  in  December  following,  authority  was 
given  to  general  Washington  to  raise  six- 
teen more,  yet  very  little  progress  had  been 
m^de  in  the  recruiting  business,  till  afler 
t.iie  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton.  Even 
atler  that  pGriod,  so  much  time  was  necess-a- 
rily  consumed   before  these  new  recruits 


joined  the  commander-in-chief,  that  his 
whole  force  at  Morristown,  and  the  several 
out-posts,  for  some  time  did  not  exceed  fif- 
teen hundred  men ;  yet,  what  is  almost  in- 
credible, these  fifteen  hundred  kept  as  many 
thousands  of  the  British  closely  pent  up  in 
Brunswick.  Almost  every  party  that  was 
sent  out  by  the  latter  was  successfully  op- 
posed by  the  former,  and  the  adjacent  coun- 
try preserved  in  a  great  degree  of  tranquil- 
lity. 

It  was  matter  of  astonishment,  that  the 
British  suffered  the  dangerous  interval  be- 
tween the  disbanding  of  one  army  and  the 
raising  of  another,  to  pass  away  without  at- 
tempting something  of  consequence  against 
the  remaining  shadow  of  an  armed  force. 
Hitherto  there  had  been  a  deficiency  of  arms 
and  ammunition,  as  well  as  of  men ;  but  in 
the  spring  of  1777,  a  vessel  of  24  guns  ar- 
rived from  France  at  Portsmouth  in  New- 
Hampshire,  with  upwards  of  eleven  thou- 
sand stand  of  arms,  and  one  thousand  bar- 
rels of  powder.  Ten  thousand  stand  of  arms 
arrived  about  the  same  time  in  another  part 
of  the  United  States. 

As  the  season  advanced,  the  American 
army  in  New-Jersey  was  remforced  by  the 
successive  arrival  of  recruits ;  but  neverthe- 
less at  the  opening  of  the  campaign  it 
amounted  only  to  seven  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-two  men. 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  May,  general 
Washington  quitted  his  winter  encampment 
at  Morristown,  and  took  a  strong  position  at 
Middlebrook.  Soon  after  this  movement  was 
effected,  the  British  marched  from  Bruns- 
wick, and  extended  their  van  as  far  as  Som- 
erset Court-house,  but  in  a  few  days  return- 
ed to  their  former  station. 

Sir  William  Howe,  after  his  retreat  to 
Brunswick,  endeavored  to  provoke  general 
Washington  to  an  engagement,  and  left  no 
manoeuvre  untried,  that  was  calculated  to 
induce  him  to  quit  his  position.  At  one  time 
he  appeared  as  if  he  intended  to  push  on 
without  regarding  the  army  opposed  to  him. 
At  another  he  accurately  exammed  the  sit- 
uation of  the  American  encampment,  hoping 
that  some  unguarded  part  might  be  found  on 
which  an  attack  might  be  made  that  would 
open  the  way  to  a  general  engagement :  all 
these  hopes  were  frustrated ;  general  Wash- 
ington knew  the  full  value  of  his  situation. 
He  had  too  much  penetration  to  lose  it  from 
the  circumvention  of  military  manoeuvres, 
and  too  much  temper  to  be  provoked  to  a 
dereliction  of  it.  He  was  well  apprized  that 
it  was  not  the  interest  of  his  country  to  com- 
mit its  fortune  to  a  single  action. 

Sir  William  Howe  suddenly  relinquished 
his  position  in  front  of  the  Americans,  and 
retired  with  his  whole  force  to  Amboy.  The 
apparently  retreating  British  were  pursued 


192 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


by  a  considerable  detachment  of  the  Amer- 
ican army,  and  general  Washington  advanc- 
ed from  Middlebrook  to  Quibbletown,  to  be 
near  at  hand  for  the  support  of  his  advanced 
parties.  The  British  general  immediately 
marched  his  army  back  from  Amboy,  with 
great  expedition,  hoping  to  bring  on  a  gene- 
ral action  on  equal  ground ;  but  he  was  dis- 
appointed. General  Washington  fell  back, 
and  posted  his  army  in  such  an  advantage- 
ous position,  as  compensated  for  the  inferior- 
ity of  his  numbers.  Sir  William  Howe  was 
now  fully  convinced  of  the  impossibility  of 
compelling  a  general  engagement  on  equal 
terms,  and  also  satisfied  that  it  would  be  too 
liazardous  to  attempt  passing  the  Delaware, 
while  the  country  was  in  arms,  and  the  main 
American  army  in  full  force  in  his  rear.  He 
therefore  returned  to  Amboy,  and  thence 
passed  over  to  iSiaten  Island,  resolving  to 
prosecute  the  objects  of  the  campaign  by 
another  route.  During  the  period  of  these 
movements,  the  real  designs  of  general  Howe 
were  involved  in  great  obscurity.  Though 
the  season  for  military  operations  was  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  the  month  of  July,  yet  his 
determinate  object  could  not  be  ascertained. 
Nothing  on  his  part  had  hitherto  taken  place, 
but  alternately  advancing  and  retreating. 
General  Washington's  embarrassment  on 
this  account  was  increased  by  intelligence 
which  arrived,  that  Burgo3nie  was  coming 
in  great  force  towards  New- York  from  Can 
ada.  Apprehending  that  Sir  William  Howe 
would  ultimately  move  up  the  North  River, 
and  that  his  movements,  which  looked  south' 
ward,  were  calculated  to  deceive,  the  Amer- 
ican general  detached  a  brigade  to  reinforce 
the  northern  division  of  his  army.  Succes- 
sive advices  of  the  advance  of  Burgoyne  fa- 
vored the  idea  that  a  junction  of  the  two 
royal  armies  near  Albany  was  intended. 
Some  movements  were  therefore  made  by 
general  Washington  towards  Peekskill,  and 
on  the  other  side  towards  Trenton,  while  the 
main  army  xysls  encamped  near  the  Clove, 
in  readiness  to  march  either  to  the  north  or 
south,  as  the  movements  of  Sir  William 
Howe  might  require.  At  length  the  main 
body  of  the  royal  army,  consisting  of  thirty- 
six  British  and  Hessian  battalions,  with  a 
regiment  of  light-horse,  and  a  loyal  provin- 
cial corps,  called  the  Queen's  Rangers,  and 
a  powerful  artillery,  amounting  in  the  whole 
to  about  16,000  men,  departed  from  Sandy- 
hook,  and  were  reported  to  steer  southward. 
About  the  time  of  this  embarkation,  a  letter 
from  Sir  William  Howe  to  general  Burgoyne 
was  intercepted.  ThLs  contained  intelligence 
that  the  British  troops  were  destined  to  New- 
Hampshire.  The  intended  deception  was  so 
superficially  veiled,  that  in  conjunction  with 
the  intelligence  of  the  British  embarkation, 
it  produced  a  contrary  effect.     Within  one  I 


hour  after  the  reception  of  this  intercepted 
letter,  general  Washington  gave  orders  to 
his  army  to  move  to  the  southward,  but  he 
was  nevertheless  so  much  impressed  with  a 
conviction  that  it  was  the  true  interest  of 
Howe  to  move  towards  Burgoyne,  that  he 
ordered  the  American  army  to  halt  for  some 
time  at  the  river  Delaware,  suspecting  that 
the  apparent  movement  of  the  royal  army  to 
the  southward  was  a  feint  calculated  to  draw 
him  farther  from  the  North  River.  The 
British  fleet  having  sailed  from  Sandy-hook, 
were  a  week  at  sea  before  they  reached 
Cape  Henlopen.  At  this  time  and  place,  for 
reasons  that  do  not  obviously  occur,  general 
Howe  gave  up  the  idea  of  approaching  Phil 
adelphia,  by  ascending  the  Delaware,  and 
resolved  on  a  circuitous  route  by  the  way  of 
the  Chesapeak.  Perhaps  he  counted  on  being 
joined  by  large  reinforcements  from  the  nu- 
merous tories  in  Maryland  or  Delaware,  or 
perhaps  he  feared  the  obstructions  which  the 
Pennsylvanians  had  planted  in  the  Dela- 
ware. If  these  were  his  reasons,  he  was 
mistaken  in  both :  from  the  tories  he  receiv- 
ed no  advantage,  and  from  the  obstructions 
in  the  river,  his  ships  could  have  received 
no  detriment,  if  he  had  landed  his  troops  at 
Newcastle,  which  was  14  miles  nearer  Phil- 
adelphia than  the  head  of  Chesapeak  Bay. 

The  British  fleet,  after  they  had  left  the 
capes  of  the  Delaware,  had  a  tedious  and 
uncomfortable  passage,  being  twenty  dayfe 
before  they  entered  the  capes  of  Virginia 
They  ascended  the  bay  with  a  favorable 
wind,  and  on  the  25th  of  August  landed  at 
Turkey  Point.  The  circumstance  of  the 
British  fleet  putting  out  to  sea,  after  they 
had  looked  into  the  Delaware,  added  to  the 
apprehensions  before  entertamed,  that  the 
whole  was  a  feint  calculated  to  draw  the 
American  army  farther  from  the  North  Riv- 
er, so  as  to  prevent  their  being  at  hand  to 
oppose  a  junction  between  Howe  and  Bur- 
goyne. Washington  therefore  fell  back  to 
such  a  middle  station,  as  would  enable  him 
either  speedily  to  return  to  the  North  River, 
or  advance  to  the  relief  of  Philadelphia. 
The  British  fleet,  after  leaving  the  capes  of 
Delaware,  were  not  heard  of  for  near  three 
weeks,  except  that  they  had  once  or  twice 
been  seen  near  the  coast  steering  southward. 
A  council  of  officers  convened  atNeshaminy, 
near  Philadelphia,  unanimously  gave  it  as 
their  opinion,  that  Charlestown,  in  South 
Carolina,  was  most  probably  their  object,  and 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  army  to 
march  in  season  for  its  relief  It  was  there- 
fore concluded  to  try  to  repair  the  loss  of 
Cliarlestown,  which  was  considered  as  una- 
voidable, either  by  attempting  something  on 
New- York  Island,  or,  by  uniting  with  the 
northern  army,  to  give  more  effectual  oppo- 
sition to  ^QTgoyne.     A  small  change  of  po- 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


193 


sition,  conformable  to  this  new  system,  took 
place.  The  day  before  the  above  resolution 
was  adopted,  the  British  fleet  entered  the 
Chesapeak :  the  intelligence  in  a  few  days 
reached  the  American  army,  and  dispelled 
that  mist  of  uncertainty,  in  which  general 
Howe's  movements  had  been  before  envel- 
oped. The  American  troops  were  put  in 
motion  to  meet  the  British  army.  Their 
numbers  on  paper  amounted  to  14,000,  but 
their  real  effective  force,  on  which  depend- 
ence might  be  placed  in  the  day  of  battle, 
did  not  much  exceed  8000  men.  Every  ap- 
pearance of  confidence  was  assumed  by 
them  as  they  passed  through  Philadelphia, 
that  the  citizens  might  be  intimidated  from 
joining  the  British.  About  the  same  time 
a  number  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  that 
city,  being  suspected  of  disaffection  to  the 
American  cause,  were  taken  into  custody 
and  sent  to  Virginia. 

Soon  after  Sir  William  Howe  had  landed 
his  troops  in  Maryland,  he  put  forth  a  de- 
claration, in  which  he  informed  the  inhabit- 
ants, that  he  had  issued  the  strictest  orders 
to  the  troops  "  for  the  preservation  of  regu- 
larity and  good  discipline,  and  that  the  most 
exemplary  punishment  should  be  inflicted 
upon  those  who  should  dare  to  plunder  the 
property,  or  molest  the  persons,  of  any  of 
his  majesty's  well-disposed  subjects."  It 
seemed  as  if,  fully  apprized  of  the  conse- 
quences which  had  resulted  from  the  indis- 
criminate plunderings  of  his  army  in  New- 
Jersey,  he  was  determined  to  adopt  a  more 
politic  line  of  conduct.  Whatever  his  in- 
tentions might  be,  they  were  by  no  meajis 
seconded  by  his  troops. 

ACTION  ON  THE  BRANDYWINE. 

On  the  third  of  September,  the  royal  army 
set  out  from  the  eastern  heads  of  the  Chesa- 
peak, with  a  spirit  which  promised  to  com- 
pensate for  the  various  delays  which  had 
hitherto  wasted  the  campaign.  Their  tents 
and  baggage  were  left  behind,  and  they 
trusted  their  future  accommodation  to  such 
quarters  as  their  arms  might  procure.  They 
advanced  with  boldness,  till  they  were  within 
two  miles  of  the  American  army,  which  was 
then  posted  near  Newport.  General  Wash- 
ington soon  changed  his  position,  and  took 
post  on  the  high  ground  near  Chadd's  Ford, 
)n  the  Brandy  wine  Creek,  with  an  intention 
•^f  disputing  the  passage.  It  was  the  wish, 
but  by  no  means  the  interest,  of  the  Ameri- 
cans to  try  their  strength  in  an  engage- 
ment. Their  regular  troops  were  not  only 
greatly  inferior  in  discipline,  but  in  numbers, 
to  the  royal  army.  The  opinion  of  the  in- 
habitants, though  founded  on  no  circumstan- 
ces more  substantial  than  tlieir  wishes,  im- 
posed a  species  of  necessity  on  the  American 
general  to  keep  his  armjr  in  front  of  the  en- 
emy, and  to  risk  an  action  for  the  security 
1     Vol.  IV.  17 


of  Philadelphia.  Instead  of  this,  had  he 
taken  the  ridge  of  high  mountains  on  his 
right,  the  British  must  have  respected  his 
numbers,  and  probably  would  have  followed 
him  up  the  country.  In  this  manner  the 
campaign  might  have  been  wasted  away  in 
a  manner  fatal  to  the  invaders ;  but  the  bulk 
of  the  American  people  were  so  impatient 
of  delays,  and  had  such  an  overweening 
conceit  of  the  numbers  and  prowess  of  their 
army,  that  they  could  not  comprehend  the 
wisdom  and  policy  of  manoeuvres  to  shun  a 
general  engagement. 

On  this  occasion,  necessity  dictated  that  a 
sacrifice  should  be  made  on  the  altar  of  pul>- 
lie  opinion.  A  general  action  was  therefore 
hazarded;  this  took  place  on  the  11th  of 
September  at  Chadd's  Ford,  on  the  Brandy- 
wine,  a  small  stream  which  empties  itself 
into  Christmas  Creek,  near  its  conflux  with 
the  river  Delaware. 

The  royal  army  advanced  at  daybreak  in 
two  columns,  commanded  by  lieutenant- 
general  Kniphausen,  and  by  lord  Comwallis. 
They  first  took  the  direct  road  to  Chadd's 
Ford,  and  made  a  show  of  passing  it,  in  front 
of  the  main  body  of  the  Americans ;  at  the 
same  time  the  other  column  moved  up  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Brandy  wme  to  its  fork, 
and  crossed  both  its  branches  about  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  then  marched 
down  on  the  east  side  of  it,  with  the  view  of 
turning  the  right  wing  of  their  adversaries. 

This  they  effected,  and  compelled  them  to 
retreat  with  great  loss.  General  Kniphausen 
amused  the  Americans  with  the  appearance 
of  crossing  the  ford,  but  did  not  attempt  it 
until  lord  Cornwallis,  having  crossed  above, 
and  moved  down  on  the  opposite  side,  had 
commenced  his  attack,  lOiiphausen  then 
crossed  the  ford,  and  attacked  the  troops 
posted  for  its  defence.  These,  after  a  severe 
conflict,  were  compelled  to  give  way.  The 
retreat  of  the  Americans  soon  became  gen- 
eral, and  was  continued  to  Chester,  under 
cover  of  general  Weeden's  brigade,  which 
came  off  in  good  order.  The  final  issue  of 
battles  often  depends  on  small  circumstan- 
ces, which  human  prudence  carmot  control — 
one  of  these  occurred  here,  and  prevented 
general  Washington  from  executing  a  bold 
design,  to  effect  which  his  troops  were  ac- 
tually in  motion.  This  was  to  have  crossed 
the  Brandywine,  and  attacked  Kniphausen, 
while  general  Sullivan  and  lord  Stirling 
should  keep  earl  Cornwallis  in  check.  In 
the  most  critical  moment,  general  Washing- 
ton received  intelligence  which  he  was 
obliged  to  credit,  that  the  column  of  lord 
Cornwallis  had  been  only  making  a  feint, 
and  was  retummg  to  join  Kniphausen.  This 
prevented  the  execution  of  a  plan,  which,  if 
carried  into  eflTect,  would  probably  have  giv- 
en a  different  turn  to  the  events  of  the  day. 


194 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


The  killed  and  wounded  in  the  royal  army 
were  near  six  hundred ;  the  loss  of  the  Amer- 
icans was  twice  that  number.  In  the  list  of 
their  wounded  were  two  of  their  general 
officers,  the  marquis  de  la  Fayette,  and  gen- 
eral Woodford.  The  former  was  a  French 
nobleman  of  high  rank,  who,  animated  with 
the  love  of  liberty,  had  left  his  native  coun- 
try, and  offered  his  service  to  congress. 
While  in  France,  and  only  nineteen  years 
of  age,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Ameri- 
cans with  the  most  disinterested  and  gener- 
ous ardor.  Having  determined  to  join  them, 
he  communicated  his  intention  to  the  Ameri- 
can commissioners  at  Paris.  They  justly 
conceived,  that  a  patron  of  so  much  import- 
ance would  be  of  service  to  their  cause,  and 
encouraged  his  design.  Before  he  had  em- 
barked from  France,  intelligence  arrived  in 
Europe,  that  the  American  insurgents,  re- 
duced to  two  thousand  men,  were  fleeing 
through  Jersey  before  a  British  force  of  thirty 
thousand.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
American  commissioners  at  Paris  thought  it 
but  honest  to  dissuade  him  from  the  present 
prosecution  of  his  perilous  enterprise.  It 
was  in  vain  that  they  acted  so  candid  a  part; 
his  zeal  to  serve  a  distressed  country  was 
not  abated  by  her  misfortunes.  Having 
embarked  in  a  vessel  which  he  purchased 
for  the  purpose,  he  arrived  in  Charlestown 
early  in  1777,  and  soon  after  joined  the 
American  army.  Congress  resolved,  that 
"  in  consideration  of  his  zeal,  illustrious  fam- 
ily, and  connexions,  he  should  have  the  rank 
of  major-general  in  their  army."  Indepen- 
dent of  the  risk  he  ran  as  an  American  of- 
ficer, he  hazarded  his  large  fortune  in  con- 
sequence of  the  laws  of  France,  and  also 
the  confinement  of  his  person,  in  case  of 
capture,  when  on  his  way  to  the  United 
States,  without  the  chance  of  being  acknow- 
ledged by  any  nation ;  for  his  court  had  for- 
bidden his  proceeding  to  America,  and  had 
dispatched  orders  to  have  him  confined  in 
the  West  Indies,  if  found  in  that  quarter. 
This  gallant  nobleman,  who  under  all  these 
disadvantages  had  demonstrated  his  good- 
will to  the  United  States,  received  a  wound 
in  his  leg  at  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine ;  but 
he  nevertheless  continued  in  the  field,  and 
exerted  himself  both  by  word  and  example 
in  rallying  the  Americans.  Other  foreign- 
ers of  distinction  also  shared  in  the  engage- 
ment. Count  Pulaski,  a  Polish  nobleman, 
the  same  who  a  few  years  before  had  carried 
off  king  Stanislaus  from  his  capital,  though 
surrounded  with  a  numerous  body  of  guards, 
and  a  Russian  army,  fought  with  the  Ameri- 
cans at  Brandywine ;  he  was  a  thunderbolt 
of  war,  and  always  sought  for  the  post  of 
danger  as  the  post  of  honor.  Soon  after  this 
engagement,  congress  appointed  him  com- 
mander of  horse,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier. 


!  General  Howe  persevered  in  the  scheme 
of  gaining  the  right  flank  of  the  Americans. 
This  was  no  less  steadily  pursued  on  the  one 
side,  than  avoided  on  the  other.  Washing- 
ton came  forward  in  a  few  days  with  a  reso- 
lution of  risking  another  action.  He  ac- 
cordingly advanced  as  far  as  the  Warren 
Tavern  on  the  Lancaster  Road.  Near  that 
place  both  armies  were  on  the  point  of  en- 
gaging with  their  whole  force,  but  were 
prevented  by  a  most  violent  storm  of  rain, 
which  continued  for  a  whole  day  and  night, 
When  the  rain  ceased,  the  Americans  found 
that  their  ammunition  was  entirely  ruined ; 
they  therefore  withdrew  to  a  place  of  safety. 
Before  a  proper  supply  was  procured,  the 
British  marched  from  their  position  near  the 
White  Horse  Tavern,  down  towards  the 
Swedes  Ford.  The  Americans  again  took 
post  in  their  front ;  but  the  British,  instead 
of  urging  an  action,  began  to  march  up  to- 
wards Reading.  To  save  the  stores  which 
had  been  deposited  in  that  place,  Washing- 
ton took  a  new  position,  and  left  the  British 
in  undisturbed  possession  of  the  roads  which 
lead  to  Philadelphia.  His  troops  were  worn 
down  with  a  succession  of  severe  duties; 
there  were  in  his  army  above  a  thousand 
men  who  were  barefooted,  and  who  had  per- 
formed all  their  late  movements  in  that  con- 
dition. About  this  time  the  Americans 
sustained  a  considerable  loss  by  a  night  at- 
tack, conducted  by  general  Grey,  on  a  de- 
tachment of  their  troops,  which  was  encamp- 
ed near  the  Paoli  Tavern.  The  out-posts 
and  pickets  were  forced  without  noise  about 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  twentieth 
of  September.  The  men  had  scarcely  time 
to  turn  out,  and  when  they  did,  they  unfor- 
tunately paraded  in  the  light  of  their  fires ; 
this  directed  the  British  how  and  where  to 
proceed ;  they  rushed  in  upon  them,  and  put 
about  three  hundred  to  death  in  a  silent 
manner  by  a  free  and  exclusive  use  of  the 
bayonet.  The  enterprise  was  conducted 
with  so  much  address,  that  the  loss  of  the 
assailants  did  not  exceed  eight. 

Congress,  which  after  a  short  residence 
at  Baltimore  had  returned  to  Philadelphia, 
were  obliged  a  second  time  to  consult  their 
safety  by  flight.  They  retired  at  first  to 
Lancaster,  and  afterwards  to  York-Town. 
PHILADELPHIA  TAKEN. 

The  bulk  of  the  British  army  being  left 
m  German-Town,  Sir  William  Howe,  with 
a  small  part,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Septem- 
ber, made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Philadel- 
phia, and  was  received  with  the  hearty  wel- 
come of  numerous  citizens,  who  either  from 
conscience,  cowardice,  interest  or  principle, 
had  hitherto  separated  themselves  from  the 
class  of  active  whigs. 

The  possession  of  the  largest  city  in  th( 
United  States,  together  with  the  dispersioj 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


195 


of  that  grand  council  wliich  had  hitherto 
conducted  their  public  affairs,  were  account- 
ed by  the  short-sighted  as  decisive  of  their 
fate.  The  submission  of  countries,  after  the 
conquest  of  their  capital,  had  often  been  a 
thing  of  course;  but  in  the  great  contest 
for  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States,  the 
question  did  not  rest  with  a  ruler,  or  a  body 
of  rulers,  nor  was  it  to  be  determined  by  the 
possession  or  loss  of  any  particular  place. 
It  was  the  public  mind,  the  sentiments  and 
opinions  of  the  yeomanry  of  the  country 
which  were  to  decide.  Though  Philadel 
phia  had  become  the  residence  of  the  Brit- 
ish army,  yet,  as  long  as  the  bulk  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  were  opposed 
to  their  government,  the  country  was  unsub- 
dued. 

One  of  the  first  objects  of  the  British  af- 
ter they  had  got  possession,  was  to  erect 
batteries  to  command  the  river,  and  to  pro- 
tect the  city  from  any  insult  by  water. 
The  British  shipping  were  prevented  from 
ascending  the  Delaware,  by  obstructions, 
which  were  fixed  near  Mud  Island.  Phila- 
delphia, though  possessed  by  the  British 
army,  was  exposed  to  danger  from  the  Ame- 
rican vessels  in  the  river.  The  American 
frigate  Delaware,  of  thirty-two  guns,  an- 
chored within  five  hundred  yards  of  the  un- 
finished batteries,  and  being  seconded  by 
some  smaller  vessels,  commenced  a  heavy 
cannonade  upon  the  batteries  and  town ;  but 
upon  the  falling  of  the  tide  she  ran  aground. 
Being  briskly  fired  upon  from  the  town, 
while  in  this  condition,  she  was  soon  com- 
pelled to  siirrender.  The  other  American 
vessels,  not  able  to  resist  the  fire  from  the 
batteries,  after  losing  one  of  their  number, 
retired. 

General  Washington  having  been  rein- 
forced by  two  thousand  five  hundred  men 
from  Peekskill  and  Virginia;    and  havhig 
been  informed  that  general  Howe  had  de- 
tached a  considerable  part  of  his  force  for 
Ireducing  the  forts  on  the  Delaware,  conceiv- 
ed a  design  of  attacking  the  British  post  at 
prerman-Town.     Their  line  of  encampment 
trossed  the  town  at  right  angles  near  its 
[entre ;  the  left  wing  extended  to  the  Schuyl- 
till,  and  was  covered  in  front  by  the  mount- 
td  and  dismounted  chasseurs.     The  queen's 
American  rangers  and  a  battalion  of  liffht 
nfantry  were  in  front  of  the  right.     The 
yrtieth  regiment,  with  another  battalion  of 
ig-ht  infantry,  were  posted  on  the  Chesnut 
Jill  road,  three  quarters  of  a  mile  in  ad- 
^ce.    Lord  Cornwallis  lay  at  Philadelphia, 

iith  four  battalions  of  grenadiers.  A  few 
'  the  general  officers  of  the  American  ar- 
y,  whos-3  advice  was  rnquestecl  on  the  occa- 
jon,  unanimously  recommended  an  attack  ; 
|id  it  was  agreed  that  it  should  be  made  in 
ifierent  places,  to  produce  the  greater  con- 


fusion, and  to  prevent  the  several  parts  of 
the  British  forces  from  affording  support  to 
each  other.  From  an  apprehension  that  the 
Americans,  from  the  want  of  discipline, 
would  not  persevere  in  a  long  attack,  it  was 
resolved  that  it  should  be  sudden  and  vigor- 
ous, and  if  unsuccessful  to  make  an  expedi- 
tious retreat. 

The  morning  was  extremely  foggy. — 
This,  by  concealing  the  true  situation  of  the 
parties,  occasioned  mistakes,  and  made  so 
much  caution  necessary,  as  to  give  the  Brit- 
ish time  to  recover  from  the  effects  of  their 
first  surprise.  From  these  causes  the  early 
promising  appearances  on  the  part  of  the  as- 
sailants were  speedily  reversed.  The  Ameri- 
cans left  the  field  hastily,  and  all  efforts  to 
rally  them  were  ineffectual.  Lord  Cornwal- 
lis arrived  with  a  party  of  light-horse,  and 
joined  in  the  pursuit ;  this  was  continued  for 
some  miles. 

Soon  after  this  battle  the  British  left 
German-Town,  and  turned  their  principal 
attention  towards  opening  a  free  communi- 
cation between  their  army  and  their  ship- 
ping. 

Much  industry  and  ingenuity  had  been 
exerted  for  the  security  of  Philadelphia  on- 
the  water-side.  Thirteen  galleys,  two  float- 
ing batteries,  two  zebeques,  one  brig,  one 
ship,  besides  a  number  of  armed  boats,  fire- 
ships,  and  rafts,  were  constructed  or  employ- 
ed for  this  purpose.  The  Americans  had 
also  built  a  fort  on  Mud  Island,  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  Fort  Mifllin,  and 
erected  there  a  considerable  battery.  This 
island  is  admirably  situated  for  the  erection 
of  works  to  annoy  shipping  on  their  way  up 
the  Delaware.  It  lies  near  the  middle  of  the 
river,  about  seven  miles  below  Philadelphia : 
no  vessels  of  burden  can  come  up  but  by  the 
main  ship  channel,  which  passes  close  to 
Mud  Island,  and  is  very  narrow  for  more 
than  a  mile  below.  Opposite  to  Fort  Mif. 
flin  there  is  a  height,  called  Red  Bank ;  this 
overlooks  not  only  the  river,  but  the  neigh- 
boring country ;  on  this  eminence  a  battery 
was  erected.  Between  these  two  fortresses, 
which  are  half  a  mile  distant  from  each 
other,  the  American  naval  armament  for  the 
defence  of  the  river  Delaware  made  their 
harbor  of  retreat  Two  ranges  of  chevaux- 
de-frise  were  also  sunk  into  the  channel. 
These  consisted  of  large  pieces  of  timber 
strongly  framed  together,  in  the  manner 
usual  for  making  the  foundation  of  wharfs  in 
deep  water.  Several  large  points  of  beard- 
ed iron  projecting  down  the  river  wore  an- 
nexed to  the  upper  parts  of  these  chevaux- 
de-frise,  and  the  whole  was  sunk  wit!i  stones, 
so  as  to  be  about  four  feet  under  the  water 
at  low  tide.  Their  prodigious  weight  and 
strength  could  not  fail  to  effect  the  destruc- 
tion of  any  vessels  which  came  upon  them. 


196 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 


Thirty  of  these  machines  were  sunk  about 
three  hundred  yards  below  Fort  Mifflin,  so  as 
to  stretch  in  a  diagonal  line  across  the  chan- 
nel.    The  only  open  passage  left  was  be- 
tween two  piers  lying  close  to  the  fort,  and 
that  was  secured  by  a  strong  boom,   and 
could  not  be  approached  but  in  a  direct  line 
to  the  battery.     Another  fortification  was 
erected  on  a  high  bank  on  the  Jersey-shore, 
called  Billingsport ;  and  opposite  to  this,  an- 
other range  of  chevaux-de-frise  was  deposit- 
ed, leaving  only  a  narrow  and  shoal  chan- 
nel on  the  one  side.    There  was  also  a  tem- 
porary battery  of  two  heavy  cannon  at  the 
mouth  of   Mantua  Creek,   about  half-way 
from  Red  Bank  to  Billingsport.    The  British 
were  well  apprized,  that,  without  the  com- 
mand of  the  Delaware,  their  possession  of 
Philadelphia   would    be  of  no  advantage. 
They  therefore  strained  every  nerve  to  open 
the  navigation  of  that  river.     To  this  end 
lord  Howe  had  early  taken  the  most  effec- 
tual measures  for  conducting  the  fleet  and 
transports  round  from  the  Chesapeak  to  the 
Delaware,  and  drew  them  up  on  the  Penn- 
sylvania shore,  from  Reedy  Island  to  New- 
castle. Early  in  October,  a  detachment  from 
the  British  army  crossed  the  Delaware,  with 
a  view  of  dislodging  the  Americans  from 
Billingsport.     On  their  approach  the  place 
was  evacuated.     As  the  season  advanced, 
more  vigorous  measures  for  removing  the 
obstructions  were   concerted  between   the 
general  and  the  admiral.     Batteries  were 
erected  on  the  Pennsylvania  shore  to  assist 
in  dislodging  the  Americans  from  Mud  Isl- 
and.    At  the  same  time  count  Donop  with 
two  thousand  men,  having  crossed  mto  New- 
Jersey,  opposite  to  Philadelphia,   marched 
down  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Delaware, 
to  attack  the  redoubt  at  Red  Bank.     This 
v/as  defended  by  about  four  hundred  men 
under  the  command  of  colonel  Greene.    The 
attack  immediately  commenced  by  a  smart 
cannonade,  under  cover  of  which  the  count 
advanced  to  the  redoubt.     This  place  was 
intended  for  a  much  larger  garrison  than 
was  then  in  it ;  it  had  therefore  become  ne- 
cessary to  run  a  line  in  the  middle  thereof, 
and  one  part  of  it  was  evacuated.     That 
part  was  easily  carried  by  the  assailants,  on 
which  they  indulged  in  loud  huzzas  for  their 
supposed  victory.     The  garrison  kept  up  a 
severe,  well-directed  fire  on  the  assailants, 
by  which  they  were  compelled  to  retire. 
They  suffered  not  only  in  the  assault,  but  in 
the  approach  to,  and  retreat  from  the  fort. 
Their  whole  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was 
about  four  hundred ;  count  Donop  was  mor- 
tally wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  Congress 
resolved  to  present  colonel  Greene  with  a 
sword  for  his  good  conduct  on  this  occasion. 
An  attack  about  the  same  time  on  Fort  Mif- 


flin by  men-of-war  and  frigates  was  not  more 
successful  than  the  assault  on  Red  Bank. 
The  Augusta  man-of-war  of  sixty-four  guns, 
and  the  Merlin,  two  of  the  vessels  which 
were  engaged  in  it,  got  aground:  the  for- 
mer was  fired  and  blew  up ;  the  latter  wa« 
evacuated. 

AMERICAN  FORTS  TAKEN. 
Though  the  first  attempts  of  the  British 
for  opening  the  navigation  of  the  Delaware 
were  unsuccessful,  they  carried  their  point 
m  another  way  that  was  unexpected.  The 
chevaux-de-frise  having  been  sunk  some 
considerable  time,  the  current  of  the  water 
was  diverted  by  this  great  bulk  into  new 
channels ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  pas- 
sage between  the  islands  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania shore  was  so  deepened,  as  to  admit 
vessels  of  some  considerable  draught  of  wa- 
ter. Through  this  passage,  the  Vigilant,  a 
large  ship,  cut  down  so  as  to  draw  but  little 
water,  mounted  with  24-pounders,  made  her 
way  to  a  position  from  which  she  might  en- 
filade the  works  on  Mud  Island.  This  gave 
the  British  such  an  advantage,  that  the  post 
was  no  longer  tenable.  Colonel  Smith,  who 
had  with  great  gallantry  defended  the  fort 
from  the  latter  end  of  September  to  the  11th 
of  November,  being  wounded,  was  removed 
to  the  main.  Within  five  days  after  his  re- 
moval, major  Thayer,  who  as  a  volunteer 
had  nobly  offered  to  take  charge  of  this  dan- 
gerous post,  was  obliged  to  evacuate  it. 

This  event  did  not  take  place  till  the 
works  were   entirely  beaten  down,  every 
piece  of  cannon  dismounted,  and  one  of  the 
British  ships  so  near  that  she  threw  grenades 
into  the  fort,  and  killed  the  men  uncovered 
in  the  platform.     The  troops  who  had  so 
bravely  defended  Fort  Mifflin,  made  a  safe 
retreat  to  Red  Bank.  Within  three  days  af- 
ter Mud  Island  was  evacuated,  the  garrison 
was  also  withdrawn  from  Red  Bank,  on  the 
approach  of  lord  Cornwallis  at  the  head  of 
a  large  force  prepared  to  assault  it.     Sora< 
of  the  American  galleys  and  armed  vessel 
escaped,  by  keeping  close  in  with  the  Jei 
sey  shore,  to  places  of  security  above  Phil? 
delphia :  but  seventeen  of  them  were  abai 
doned  by  their  crews  and  fired.     Thus  tl 
British  gamed   a  free   communication  b- 
tween  their  army  and  shipping.   This  eve; 
was  to  them  very  desirable.  They  had  bet 
previously  obliged  to  draw  their  provisio) 
from  Chester,  a  distance  of  sixteen  miles, . 
some  risk,  and  a  certain  great  expense.  Tl 
long-protracted  defence  of  the  Delaware  d 
ranged  the  plans  of  the  British  for  the  y 
mainder  of  the  campaign,  and  consequent 
saved  the  adjacent  country. 

About  this  time  the  chair  of  congress  1- 
came  vacant  by  the  departure  of  Hancos 
afler  he  had  discharged  the  duties  of  tl 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


197 


office,  to  great  satisfaction,  two  years  and 
five  months.  Henry  Laurens,  of  South  Car- 
olina, was  unanimously  elected  his  successor. 
BURGOYNE'S  CAMPAIGN. 

While  Sir  William  Howe  was  succeed- 
in;^  in  every  enterprise  in  Pennsylvania,  a 
iatal  reverse  of  fortune  took  place  in  the 
north,  to  which  it  will  not  be  improper,  at 
this  period  of  our  narrative,  to  direct  the 
reader's  attention. 

To  effect  a  free  communication  between 
New- York  and  Canada,  and  to  maintain  the 
navigation  of  the  hitermediate  lakes,  was  a 
principal  object  with  the  British  for  the  cam- 
paign of  1777.  The  Americans,  presuming 
on  this,  had  been  early  attentive  to  their  se- 
curity in  that  quarter.  They  had  resolved 
to  construct  a  fort  on  Mount  Independence, 
which  is  an  eminence  adjoining  the  strait 
on  which  Ticonderoga  stands,  and  nearly  op- 
posite to  that  fortress.  They  had  also  resolv- 
ed to  obstruct  the  navigation  of  the  strait  by 
cassoons,  to  be  sunk  in  the  water,  and  joined 
so  as  to  serve  at  the  same  time  for  a  bridge 
between  the  fortifications  on  the  east  and 
west  side  of  it ;  and  that,  to  prevent  the 
British  from  drawing  their  small  craft  over 
land  into  lake  George,  the  passage  of  that 
lake  should  be  obstructed  ;  that  Fort  Schuy- 
ler, the  same  which  had  formerly  been  call- 
ed Fort  Stanwix,  should  be  strengthened, 
and  other  fortifications  erected  near  the  Mo- 
hawk river.  Requisitions  were  made  by  the 
commanding  officer  in  the  department,  for 
thirteen  thousand  six  hundred  men,  as  ne- 
cessary for  the  security  of  this  district.  The 
adjacent  states  were  urged  to  fill  up  their 
recruits,  and  in  all  respects  to  be  in  readi- 
ness for  an  active  campaign. 

The  British  ministry  were  very  sanguine 
in  their  hopes,  from  the  consequences  of 
forming  a  line  of  communication  between 
New-York  and  Canada.  They  considered 
the  New-England  people  to  be  the  soul  of 
the  confederacy,  and  promised  themselves 
much  by  severhig  them  fi-om  all  free  com- 
munication with  the  neighboring  states. 
They  hoped,  when  this  was  accomplished, 
to  be  able  to  surround  them  so  effectually 
with  fleets  and  armies,  and  Indian  allies,  as 
to  compel  them  to  submission.  Animated 
with  these  expectations,  they  left  nothing 
undone  which  might  insure  the  success  of 
tlie  plans  they  had  formed  for  tliis  purpose. 

The  regular  troops,  British  and  German, 
allotted  to  this  service,  were  upwards  of 
seven  thousand.  As  artillery  is  considered 
to  be  particularly  usefiil  in  the  American 
wars,  where  numerous  inhabitants  are  to  be 
driven  out  of  woods  and  fastnesses,  this  part 
of  the  service  was  particularly  attended  to. 
The  brass  train  that  was  sent  out,  was  per- 
liaps  the  finest,  and  the  most  excellently 
supplied,  both  as  to  officers  and  men,  that 
17* 


had  ever  been  allotted  to  second  the  opera- 
tions of  an  equal  force.  In  addition  to  the 
regulars,  it  was  supposed  that  the  Canadians 
and  the  loyalists,  in  the  neighboring  states, 
would  add  large  reinforcements,  well  calcu- 
lated for  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  service. 
Arms  and  accoutrements  were  accordingly 
provided  to  supply  them.  Several  nations 
of  savages  had  also  been  induced  to  take  up 
the  hatchet,  as  allies  to  his  Britannic  ma- 
jesty. 

The  vast  force  destined  for  this  service 
was  put  under  the  command  of  lieutenant- 
general  Burgoyne,  an  officer  whose  abilities 
were  well  known,  and  whose  spirit  of  en- 
terprise and  ardor  for  military  fame  could 
not  be  exceeded.  He  was  supported  by  ma- 
jor-general Philips  of  the  artillery,  who  had 
established  a  solid  reputation  by  his  good 
conduct  during  the  late  war  in  Germany, 
and  by  major-general  Reidesel  and  briga- 
dier-general Speecht  of  the  German  troops, 
together  with  the  British  generals  Frazer, 
Powell,  and  Hamilton,  all  officers  of  distin- 
guished merit. 

The  British  had  also  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  the  navigation  of  Lake  Champlam. 
The  marine  force  there,  with  which  in  the 
preceding  campaign  they  had  destroyed  the 
American  shipping  on  the  lakes,  was  not 
only  entire,  but  unopposed. 

A  considerable  force  was  left  in  Canada 
for  its  internal  security,  and  Sir  Guy  Carle- 
ton's  military  command  was  restricted  to 
the  limits  of  that  province.  Though  the 
British  ministry  attributed  the  preservation 
of  Canada  to  his  abilities  in  1775  and  1776, 
yet,  by  their  arrangements  for  the  year 
1777,  he  was  only  called  upon  to  act  a  sec- 
ondary part,  in  subserviency  to  the  grand 
expedition  committed  to  general  Burgoyne. 

The  plan  of  the  British  for  their  project- 
ed irruption  into  the  north-western  fi-ontier 
of  New- York,  consisted  of  two  parts.  Gen- 
eral Burgoyne,  with  the  main  body,  was  to 
advance  by  the  way  of  Lake  Champlain, 
with  positive  orders,  as  has  been  said,  to 
force  his  way  to  Albany,  or  at  least  so  far  as 
to  effect  a  junction  with  the  royal  army  fi*om 
New- York.  A  detachment  was  to  ascend 
the  river  St.  Lawrence,  as  far  as  Lake  On- 
tario, and  from  that  quarter  to  penetrate  to- 
wards Albany,  by  the  way  of  the  Mohawk 
river.  This  was  put  under  the  command  of 
lieutenant-colonel  St  Leger,  and  consisted 
of  about  two  hundred  British  troops,  a  regi- 
ment of  New- York  loyalists  raised  and  com- 
manded by  Sir  John  Johnson,  and  a  large 
body  of  savages.  Lieutenant-general  Bur- 
goyne arrived  in  Quebec  on  the  6th  of  May, 
and  exerted  all  diligence  to  prosecute  in  due 
time  the  objects  of  the  expedition.  On  the 
20th  of  June  he  proceeded  up  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  on  the  21st  landed  near  Crown 


198 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Point.  At  this  place  he  met  the  Indians, 
gave  them  a  war  feast,  and  made  a  speech 
to  them.  This  was  well  calculated  to  excite 
them  to  take  part  with  the  royal  army,  but 
at  the  same  time  to  repress  their  barbarity. 
He  pointedly  forbad  them  to  shed  blood  when 
not  opposed  in  arms,  and  commanded  that 
aged  men,  women,  children,  and  prisoners, 
should  be  held  sacred  from  the  knife  and  the 
liatchet,  even  in  the  heat  of  actual  conflict. 
A  reward  was  promised  for  prisoners,  and  a 
severe  inquiry  threatened  for  scalps,  though 
permission  was  granted  to  take  them  from 
those  who  were  previously  killed  in  fair  op- 
position. These  restrictions  were  not  suffi- 
cient, as  will  appear  in  the  sequel,  to  re- 
strain their  barbarities.  The  Indians  having 
decidedly  taken  part  with  the  British  army, 
general  Burgoyne  issued  a  proclamation, 
calculated  to  spread  terror  among  the  inhab- 
itants. The  numbers  of  his  Indian  associates 
were  magnified,  and  their  eagerness  to  be 
let  loose  to  their  prey  described  in  high- 
sounding  words.  The  force  of  the  British 
armies  and  fleets  prepared  to  crush  every 
part  of  the  revolted  colonies,  was  also  dis- 
I)layed  in  pompous  language.  Encourage- 
ment and  employment  were  promised  to 
those  who  should  assist  in  the  re-establish- 
ment of  legal  government,  and  security  held 
out  to  the  peaceable  and  industrious,  who 
contmued  in  their  habitations.  All  the  ca- 
lamities of  war,  arrayed  in  their  most  ter- 
rific forms,  were  denounced  against  those 
who  should  persevere  in  a  military  opposi- 
tion to  the  royal  forces. 

FORT  TICONDEROGA  EVACUATED. 

General  Burgoyne  advanced  with  his 
army  in  a  few  days  to  Crown  Point  At  this 
place  he  issued  orders,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing words  are  a  part :  "  The  army  embarks 
to-morrow  to  approach  the  enemy.  The 
services  required  on  this  expedition  are 
critical  and  conspicuous.  During  our  pro- 
gress occasions  may  occur,  in  which,  nor 
difficulty,  nor  labor,  nor  life,  are  to  be  re- 
garded. This  army  must  not  retreat." 
From  Crown  Point  the  royal  army  proceed- 
ed to  invest  Ticonderoga,  On  their  approach 
to  it,  they  advanced  with  equal  caution  and 
order  on  both  sides  of  the  lake,  while  their 
naval  force  kept  in  its  centre.  Within  a  few 
days  they  had  surrounded  three-fourths  of 
the  American  works  at  Ticonderoga  and 
Mount  Independence,  and  had  also  advanc- 
ed a  work  on  Sugar  Hill  which  commands 
both,  so  far  towards  completion,  that  in 
twenty-four  hours  it  would  have  been  ready 
to  open.  In  these  circumstances  general 
St  Clair,  the  commanding  officer,  resolved 
to  evacuate  the  posts  at  all  events ;  but  con- 
ceiving it  prudent  to  take  the  sentiments  of 
the  general  officers,  he  called  a  council  of 
war  on  the  occasion.    It  was  represented  to 


this  council,  that  their  whole  numbers  were 
not  sufficient  to  man  one  half  of  the  works, 
and  that  as  the  whole  must  be  on  constant 
duty,  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  sus- 
tain the  necessary  fatigue  for  any  length  of 
time,  and  that  as  the  place  would  be  com- 
pletely invested  on  all  sides  within  a  day, 
nothing  but  an  immediate  evacuation  of  the 
posts  could  save  their  troops. 

The  assumption  of  confident  appearances 
in  the  garrisons  had  induced  their  adver- 
saries to  proceed  with  great  caution.  While 
from  this  cause  they  were  awed  into  re- 
spect, the  evacuation  was  completed  with 
so  much  secrecy  and  expedition,  that  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  public  stores  was  saved, 
and  the  whole  would  have  been  embarked, 
had  not  a  violent  gale  of  wind  which  sprung 
up  in  the  night  prevented  the  boats  from 
reaching  their  station. 

The  retreating  army  embarked  as  much 
of  their  baggage  and  stores  as  they  had  any 
prospect  of  saving  on  board  batteaux,  and 
dispatched  them  under  convoy  of  five  armed 
galleys  to  Skenesborough.  The  main  body 
took  its  route  towards  the  same  place  by 
way  of  Castleton.  The  British  were  no 
sooner  apprized  of  the  retreat  of  the  Ameri- 
cans than  they  pursued  them.  General 
Frazer,  at  the  head  of  the  light  troops,  ad- 
vanced on  their  main  body.  Major-general 
Reidesel  was  also  ordered,  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  Brunswick  troops,  to  march  in 
the  same  direction.  General  Burgoyne  in 
person  conducted  the  pursuit  by  water.  The 
obstructions  to  the  navigation  not  having 
been  completed,  were  soon  cut  through. 
The  two  frigates,  the  Royal  George  and  the 
Inflexible,  together  with  the  gun-boats,  hav- 
ing effected  their  passage,  pursued  with  so 
much  rapidity,  that  in  the  course  of  a  day 
the  gun-boats  came  up  with  and  attacked 
the  American  galleys  near  Skenesborough 
Falls.  On  the  approach  of  the  frigates  all 
opposition  ceased ;  two  of  the  galleys  were 
taken  and  three  blown  up.  The  Americans 
set  fire  to  their  works,  mills,  and  bateaux. 
They  were  now  left  in  the  woods  destitute 
of  provisions :  in  this  forlorn  situation  they 
made  their  escape  up  Wood  Creek  to  Fort 
Anne.  Brigadier  Frazer  pursued  the  retreat- 
ing Americans ;  came  up  with,  and  on  the 
seventh  of  July  attacked  their  rear-guard  at 
Hubbordton.  In  the  course  of  tJie  engage- 
ment he  was  joined  by  the  German  troops 
commanded  by  general  Reidesel.  The  Amer- 
icans commanded  by  colonel  Warner  made 
a  gallant  resistance,  but  afler  sustaining 
considerable  loss,  were  obliged  to  give  way. 
Lieutenant-colonel  Hall,  with  the  ninth 
British  regiment,  was  detached  from  Skenes- 
borough by  general  Burgoyne,  to  take  post 
near  Fort  Anne.  An  engagement  ensued 
between  this  regiment  and  a  few  Americans; 


GEORGE  III.  176Q— 1820. 


199 


but  the  latter,  after  a  conflict  of  two  hours, 
fired  the  fort,  and  retreated  to  Fort  Edward. 
The  destruction  of  the  galleys  and  bateaux 
of  the  Americans  at  Skenesborough,  and  the 
defeat  of  their  rear,  obliged  general  St. 
Clair,  in  order  to  avoid  being  between  two 
fires,  to  change  the  route  of  his  main  body, 
and  to  turn  off  from  Castleton  to  the  left. 
After  a  fatiguing  and  distressing  march  of 
seven  days,  he  joined  general  Schuyler  at 
Fort  Edward.  Their  combined  forces,  in- 
clusive of  the  militia,  not  exceeding  in  the 
whole  four  thousand  four  hundred  men, 
were  not  long  after,  on  the  approach  of 
general  Burgoyne,  compelled  to  retire  far- 
ther into  the  country  bordering  on  Albany. 
Such  was  the  rapid  torrent  of  success,  which 
in  thi»  period  of  the  campaign  swept  away 
all  opposition  from  before  the  royal  army, 
which,  after  these  successes,  continued  for 
some  days  in  Skenesborough,  waiting  for 
their  tents,  baggage,  and  provision. 

In  the  mean  time  general  Burgoyne  put 
forth  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  called  on 
the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent  towns  to  send 
a  deputation  of  ten  or  more  persons  from 
their  respective  townships,  to  meet  colonel 
Skene  at  Castleton,  on  the  fifteenth  of  July. 
The  troops  were  at  the  same  time  busily 
employed  in  opening  a  road,  and  clearing  a 
creek,  to  favor  their  advance,  and  to  open  a 
passage  for  the  conveyance  of  their  stores. 
A  party  of  the  royal  army  which  had  been 
left  behind  at  Ticonderoga,  was  equally  in- 
dustrious in  carrying  gun-boats,  provision, 
vessels,  and  bateaux  over  land,  into  Lake 
George.  An  immensity  of *labor  in  every 
quarter  was  necessary;  but,  animated  as 
they  were  with  past  successes  and  fiiture 
hopes,  they  disregarded  toil  and  danger. 

From  Skenesborough  general  Burgoyne 
directed  his  course  across  the  country  to 
Fort  Edward,  on  Hudson's  River.  Though 
the  distance  in  a  right  line  from  one  to  the 
other  is  but  a  few  miles,  yet  such  is  the  im- 
practicable nature  of  the  country,  and  such 
were  the  artificial  difficulties  thrown  in  his 
way,  that  nearly  as  many  days  were  con- 
sumed as  the  distance  passed  over  in  a  di- 
rect line  would  have  measured  in  miles. 
The  Americans  under  the  directions  of 
general  Schuyler  had  cut  large  trees  on 
both  sides  of  the  road,  so  as  to  fall  across 
with  their  branches  interwoven.  The  face 
of  the  country  was  likewise  so  broken  with 
creeks  and  marshes,  that  they  had  no  less 
than  forty  bridges  to  construct,  one  of  which 
was  a  log-work  over  a  morass,  two  miles  in 
extent  This  difficult  march  might  have 
been  avoided,  had  general  Burgoyne  fallen 
back  from  Skeneslwrough  to  Ticonderoga, 
and  thence  proceeded  by  Lake  George ;  but 
he  declined  this  route,  from  an  apprehen- 
sion that  a  retrograde  motion  on  his  part 


would  abate  the  panic  of  the  enemy.  He 
had  also  a  suspicion  that  some  delay  might 
be  occasioned  by  the  American  garrison  at 
Fort  George,  as,  in  case  of  his  taking  that 
route,  they  might  safely  continue  to  resist  to 
the  last  extremity,  having  open  in  their  rear 
a  place  of  retreat.  On  the  other  hand  it 
was  presumed,  that  as  soon  as  they  knew 
that  the  royal  army  was  marching  in  a  direc- 
tion which  was  likely  to  cut  off"  their  re- 
treat, they  would  consult  their  safety  by  a 
seasonable  evacuation.  In  addition  to  these 
reasons,  he  had  the  advice  and  persuasion  of 
colonel  Skene.  That  gentleman  had  been 
recommended  to  him  as  a  person  proper  to 
be  consulted ;  his  land  was  so  situated,  that 
the  opening  of  a  road  between  Fort  Edward 
and  Skenesborough  would  greatly  enhance 
its  value.  This  circumstance  might  have 
made  him  more  urgent  in  his  recommenda- 
tions of  that  route,  especially  as,  being  the 
shortest,  it  bid  fair  for  uniting  the  royal  in- 
terest with  private  convenience.  The  opmion 
formed  by  general  Burgoyne  of  the  effect 
of  his  direct  movement  from  Skenesborough 
to  Fort  Edward  on  the  American  garrison, 
was  verified  by  the  event ;  for  being  appre- 
hensive of  having  their  retreat  cut  ofi^,  they 
abandoned  their  fort  and  burnt  their  vessels. 
The  navigation  of  Lake  George  being  there- 
fore left  free,  provisions  and  ammunition 
were  brought  forward  from  Fort  George  to 
the  first  navigable  parts  of  Hudson's  River : 
this  is  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles,  and  the 
roads  of  difficult  passage.  The  intricate 
combination  of  land  and  water  carriage,  to- 
gether with  the  insufficient  means  of  trans- 
portation, and  excessive  rains,  caused  such 
delays,  that  at  the  end  of  fifteen  days  there 
were  not  more  than  four  days'  provisions 
brought  forward,  nor  above  ten  bateaux  in 
the  river.  The  difficulties  of  this  convey- 
ance, as  well  as  of  the  march  through  the 
wilderness  from  Skenesborough  to  Fort  Ed- 
ward, were  encountered  and  overcome  by 
the  royal  army  with  a  spirit  and  alacrity 
which  could  not  be  exceeded.  At  length, 
on  the  thirtieth  of  July,  after  incredible  fa- 
tigue and  labor,  general  Burgoyne  and  the 
army  under  his  command  reached  Fort  Ed- 
ward, on  Hudson's  River.  Their  exultation 
on  accomplishing  what  for  a  long  time  had 
been  the  object  of  their  hopes,  was  unusually 
great 

While  the  British  were  retarded  in  their 
advance  by  the  combined  difficulties  of  na- 
ture and  art,  events  took  place,  which  proved 
the  wisdom  and  propriety  of  the  retreat  from 
Ticonderoga.  The  army  saved  by  that 
means,  was  between  the  inhabitants  and 
general  Burgoyne ;  this  abated  the  panic  of 
the  people,  and  became  a  centre  of  rendez- 
vous for  them  to  repair  to:  on  the  otlier 
hand,  had  they  stood  tlieir  ground  at  Ticon- 


200 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


deroga,  they  must  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
events,  in  a  short  time,  either  have  been  cut 
to  pieces,  or  surrendered  themselves  prison- 
ers of  war. 

From  the  adoption  of  that  measure  very 
different  events  took  place.  In  a  few^  days 
after  the  evacuation,  general  Schuyler  is- 
sued a  proclamation,  calling  to  the  mind 
of  the  inhabitants  the  late  barbarities  and 
desolations  of  the  royal  army  m  Jersey ; 
warning  them  that  they  would  be  dealt  with 
as  traitors  if  they  joined  the  British,  and  re- 
<  quiring  them  with  their  arms  to  repair  to 
the  American  standard.  Numerous  parties 
were  also  employed  in  bringing  off  public 
stores,  and  in  felling  trees,  and  throwing  ob- 
structions in  the  way  of  the  advancing  royal 
army.  The  terror  excited  by  the  Indians, 
instead  of  disposing  the  inhabitants  to  court 
British  protection,  had  a  contrary  effect 
The  friends  of  the  royal  cause,  as  well  as 
its  enemies,  suffered  from  their  indiscrimi 
nate  barbarities.  Occasion  was  thereby 
given  to  inflame  the  populace,  and  to  blacken 
the  royal  cause.  The  cruelties  of  the  In- 
dians, and  the  cause  in  which  they  were  en- 
gaged, were  associated  together,  and  pre- 
.'^ented  in  one  view  to  the  alarmed  inhabit- 
ants. All  the  feeble  aid  which  the  royal 
army  received  from  their  Indian  auxiliaries, 
was  entirely  overbalanced  by  the  odium  it 
brought  on  their  cause,  and  by  that  deter- 
mined spirit  of  opposition  which  the  dread 
of  their  savage  cruelties  excited.  An  army 
was  speedily  poured  forth  from  the  woods 
and  mountains.  When  they  who  had  be- 
gun the  retreat  were  nearly  wasted  away, 
the  spirit  of  the  country  immediately  sup-* 
plied  their  place  with  a  much  greater  and 
more  formidable  force.  In  addition  to  these 
incitements,  it  was  early  conjectured,  that 
the  royal  army,  by  pushing  forward,  would 
be  so  entangled  as  not  to  be  able  to  advance 
or  retreat  on  equal  terms.  Men  of  abilities 
and  of  eloquence,  influenced  with  this  ex 
pectation,  harangued  the  inhabitants  in  their 
several  towns,  and  set  forth  in  high  coloring 
the  cruelties  of  the  savage  auxiliaries  of 
Great  Britain,  and  the  fair  prospects  of  cap- 
turing the  wliole  force  of  their  enemie 
From  the  combined  influence  of  these  causes, 
the  American  army  soon  amounted  to  up- 
wards of  thirteen  thousand  men. 

While  general  Buro-oyne  was  forcing  his 
way  down  towards  Albany,  lieutenant-colo- 
nel St.  Leger  was  co-operating  with  )iim  in 
the  Mohawk  country.  He  had  ascended  the 
river  St  Lawrence,  crossed  I^ke  Ontario, 
nnd  commenced  the  siege  of  Fort  Schuyler. 
On  the  approach  of  this  detachment  of  the 
royal  army,  general  Harkimer  collected  a])ov]t 
eight  thousand  of  the  whig  militia  of  the 
parts  adjacent  fi3r  the  relief  of  the  garrison 

St  Leger,  aware  of  tlie  consequences  of 


being  attacked  in  his  trenches,  detached  Sir 
John  Johnson,  with  some  tories  and  Indians, 
to  lie  in  ambush,  and  intercept  the  advancing 
militia.  The  stratagem  took  effect :  the 
general  and  his  militia  were  surprised,  but 
several  of  the  Indians  were  nevertheless 
killed  by  their  fire.  A  scene  of  confusion 
followed.  Some  of  Harkimer's  men  ran  off, 
but  others  posted  themselves  behind  logs,  and 
continued  to  fight  with  bravery  and  success. 
The  loss  on  the  side  of  the  Americans  was 
one  hundred  and  sixty  killed,  besides  the 
wounded.  Among  the  former  w  as  their  gal- 
lant leader  general  Harkimer.  Several  of 
their  killed  and  wounded  were  principal  in- 
habitants of  that  part  of  the  country.  Colo- 
nel St.  Leger  availed  himself  of  the  terror 
excited  on  this  occasion,  and  endeavored  by 
strong  representations  of  Indian  barbarity  to 
intimidate  the  garrison  into  an  immediate 
surrender.  He  sent  verbal  and  written  mes- 
sages, "  demanding  the  surrender  of  the  fort, 
and  stating  the  impossibility  of  their  obtain- 
ing relief,  as  their  friends  under  general 
Harkimer  were  entirely  cut  off,  and  as  gen- 
eral Burgoyne  had  forced  his  way  tlirough 
the  country,  and  was  daily  receiving  the  sub- 
mission of  the  inhabitants."  He  represented 
"  the  pains  he  had  taken  to  soften  the  Indian?, 
and  to  obtain  engagements  from  them,  tliat 
in  case  of  an  immediate  surrender  every  man 
in  the  garrison  should  be  spared  ;"  and  par- 
ticularly enlarged  on  the  circumstance, "  that 
the  Indians  were  determined,  in  case  of  their 
meeting  with  farther  opposition,  to  massacre 
not  only  the  garrison,  but  every  man,  woman, 
or  child,  in  the  Mohawk  country."  Colonel 
Gansevort,  who  commanded  in  the  fort,  re- 
plied, "  that  being  by  the  United  States  in- 
trusted with  the  charge  of  the  garrison,  he 
was  determined  to  defend  it  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity against  all  enemies  whatever,  with- 
out any  concern  for  the  consequences  of  do- 
ing his  duty." 

BRITISH  RJEPULSED  AT  FORT  SCHUYLER. 
The  brave  garrison,  in  its  hour  of  danger, 
was  not  forgotten.  General  Arnold,  with  a 
brigade  of  continental  troops,  had  been  pre- 
viously detached  by  general  Schuyler  for 
their  relief,  and  was  then  near  at  hand.  Mr. 
Tost  Schuyler,  who  had  been  talcen  up  by 
the  Americans,  on  suspicion  of  his  being  a 
spy,  was  promised  his  life  and  his  estate,  on 
condition  that  he  should  go  and  alarm  the 
Indians  with  such  representations  of  the 
numbers  marching  against  them,  as  would 
occasion  their  retreat  He  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  the  camp  of  the  Indians,  and  be- 
ing able  to  converse  in  their  own  language, 
infonned  them  that  vast  numbers  of  hostile 
Americans  were  near  at  hand.  They  were 
thoroughly  frightened,  and  determined  to  go 
off.  St  Leger  used  every  art  to  retain  them ; 
but  nothing  could  change  their  determiua- 


GEORGE  in.  1760- 


tion.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  these  people, 
on  a  reverse  of  fortune,  to  betray  irresolu- 
tion, and  a  total  want  of  that  constancy 
which  is  necessary  to  struggle  for  a  length 
of  time  with  difficulties.  They  had  found 
the  fort  stronger  and  better  defended  than 
was  expected ;  they  had  lost  several  head- 
men in  their  engagement  with  general  Har- 
kimer,  and  had  gotten  no  plunder.  These 
circumstances,  added  to  the  certainty  of  the 
approach  of  a  reinforcement  to  their  adver- 
saries, which  they  believed  to  be  much 
greater  than  it  really  was,  made  them  quite 
untractable.  Part  of  them  instantly  de- 
camped, and  the  remainder  threatened  to 
follow,  if  the  British  did  not  immediately 
retreat.  This  measure  was  adopted,  and 
the  siege  raised.  From  the  disorder  occa 
sioned  by  the  precipitancy  of  the  Indians, 
the  tents,  and  much  of  the  artillery  and 
stores  of  the  besiegers,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  garrison.  The  discontented  savages, 
exasperated  by  their  ill-fortune,  are  said,  on 
their  retreat,  to  have  robbed  their  British 
associates  of  their  baggage  and  provisions. 

While  the  fate  of  Fort  Schuyler  was  in 
suspense,  it  occurred  to  general  Burgoyne, 
on  hearing  of  its  being  besieged,  that  a  sud- 
den and  rapid  movement  forward  would  be 
of  the  utmost  consequence.  As  the  princi- 
pal force  of  his  adversaries  was  in  front  be- 
tween him  and  Albany,  he  hoped,  by  ad- 
vancing on  them,  to  reduce  them  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  fighting,  or  of  retreating  out  of 
his  way  to  New-England. 

COLONEL  BAUM  DEFEATED. 

With  such  views,  general  Burgoyne 
promised  himself  great  advantages  from  ad- 
vancing rapidly  towards  Albany.  The  prin- 
cipal objection  against  this  plausible  project, 
was  the  difficulty  of  furnishing  provisions 
lor  his  troops.  To  keep  up  a  communica- 
tion with  Fort  George,  so  as  to  obtain  from 
that  garrison  regular  supplies  at  a  distance 
daily  increasing,  was  wholly  impracticable. 
The  advantages  which  were  expected  from 
the  proposed  measure,  were  too  dazzling  to 
be  easily  relinquished.  Though  the  impos- 
sibility of  drawing  provisions  from  the  stores 
in  their  rear,  was  known  and  acknowledged, 
yet  a  hope  was  indulged  that  they  might  be 
elsewhere  obtained.  A  plan  was  therefore 
formed  to  open  resources  from  the  plentiful 
farms  of  Vermont.  Every  day's  account, 
and  particularly  the  information  of  colonel 
Skene,  induced  Burgoyne  to  believe,  that 
one  description  of  the  inhabitants  of  that 
country  were  panic-struck,  and  that  another, 
and  by  far  the  most  numerous,  were  friends 
to  the  British  interest,  and  only  wanted  the 
appearance  of  a  protecting  power  to  show 
themselves.  Relying  on  this  intelligence, 
he  detached  only  five  hundred  men,  one 
hundred  Indians,  and  two  field-pieces,  which 


he  supposed  would  be  fiilly  sufficient  -fr^r  the 
expedition.  The  commarul  of  this  force  was 
given  to  lieutenantrCf)l<  III*  1  liimrn,  und  it  was 
supposed  that  with  it  hf*  wf)nl(l  he.  oriiibied 
to  seize  upon  a  magazine  of  supplies  which 
the  Americans  had  collected  at  Bennington, 
and  which  was  only  guarded  by  militia.  It 
was  also  intended  to  try  the  temper  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  to  mount  the  dragoons.  On 
his  approaching  the  place  of  his  destination, 
he  found  the  American  militia  stronger  than 
had  been  supposed ;  he  therefore  took  post 
in  the  vicmity,  intrenched  his  party,  and  dis- 
patched an  express  to  general  Burgoyne, 
with  an  account  of  his  situation.  Colonel 
Breyman  was  detached  to  reinforce  him. 
Though  every  exertion  was  made  to  push 
forward  this  reinforcement,  yet,  from  the 
impracticable  face  of  the  country,  and  de- 
fective means  of  transportation,  thirty-two 
hours  elapsed  before  they  had  marched 
twenty-four  miles.  General  Stark,  who  com- 
manded the  American  militia  at  Benning- 
ton, engaged  with  them  before  the  junction 
of  the  two  royal  detachments  could  be  ef- 
fected. On  this  occasion,  about  eight  hun- 
dred undisciplined  militia,  without  bayonets, 
or  a  single  piece  of  artillery,  attacked  and 
routed  five  hundred  regular  troops,  advan- 
tageously posted  behind  intrenchments,  fiir- 
nished  with  the  best  arms,  and  defended  with 
two  pieces  of  artillery.  The  field-pieces 
were  taken  from  the  party  commanded  by 
colonel  Baum,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the 
detachment  was  either  killed  or  captured. 
Colonel  Breyman  arrived  on  the  same 
ground,  and  on  the  same  day,  but  not  till 
the  action  was  over.  Instead  of  meetmg 
his  friends,  as  he  expected,  he  found  him- 
self briskly  attacked.  Breyman's  troops, 
though  fatigued  with  their  preceding  march, 
behaved  with  great  resolution,  but  were  at 
length  compelled  to  abandon  then-  artillery, 
and  retreat.  The  overthrow  of  these  de- 
tachments was  the  first  link  in  a  grand  chain 
of  causes,  which  finally  drew  down  ruin  on 
the  whole  royal  army.  The  confidence  with 
which  the  Americans  were  inspired,  on  find- 
ing themselves  able  to  defeat  regular  troops, 
produced  surprising  eflTects;  it  animated 
their  exertions,  and  filled  them  with  expec- 
tation of  farther  success. 

That  military  pride,  which  is  the  soul  of 
an  army,  was  nurtured  by  the  captured  ar- 
tillery, and  other  trophies  of  victory.  In  pro- 
portion to  the  elevation  of  the  Americans, 
was  the  depression  of  their  adversaries.  Ac- 
customed to  success,  as  they  had  been  in  the 
preceding  part  of  the  campaign,  they  felt 
unusual  mortification  from  this  unexpected 
check:  though  it  did  not  diminish  their 
courage,  it  abated  their  confidence.  It  is 
not  easy  to  enumerate  all  the  disastrous  con- 
sequences which  resulted  to  the  royal  army, 


202 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


from  Ihe  failure  of  their  expedition  to  Ben- 
nington. These  were  so  extensive,  that 
their  loss  of  men  was  the  least  considera- 
ble ;  it  deranged  every  plan  for  pushing  the 
advantages  which  had  been  previously  ob- 
tained. Among  other  embarrassments,  it 
reduced  general  Burgoyne  to  the  alterna- 
tive of  halting  till  he  brought  forward  sup- 
plies from  Fort  George,  or  of  advancing 
without  them  at  the  risk  of  being  starved. 
The  former  being  adopted,  the  royal  army 
was  detained  from  August  sixteenth,  to  Sep- 
tember thirteenth.  This  unavoidable  delay 
gave  time  and  opportunity  for  the  Ameri- 
cans to  collect  in  great  numbers. 

The  defeat  of  lieutenant-colonel  Baum 
was  the  first  event  which  for  a  long  time 
had  taken  place  in  favor  of  the  American 
northern  army.  From  December  1775,  it 
had  experienced  one  misfortune  treading  on 
the  heels  of  another,  and  defeat  succeeding 
defeat.  Every  moment  had  been  either  re- 
treating or  evacuating.  The  subsequent 
transactions  present  a  remarkable  contrast. 
Fortune,  which,  previous  to  the  battle  of 
Bennington,  had  not  for  a  moment  quitted 
the  British  standard,  seemed,  after  that 
event,  as  if  she  had  totally  deserted  it,  and 
gone  over  to  the  opposite  party. 
SUCCESSIVE  DISASTERS  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

After  the  evacuation  of  Ticonderoga, 
the  Americans  had  fallen  back  from  one 
place  to  another,  till  they  at  last  fixed  at 
Vanshaick's  Island.  Soon  after  the  retreat- 
ing system  was  adopted,  congress  recalled 
their  general  officers,  and  put  general  Gates 
at  the  head  of  their  northern  army.  His 
arrival  (on  the  nineteenth  of  August)  gave 
fresh  vigor  to  the  exertions  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. The  militia,  flushed  with  their  recent 
victory  at  Bennington,  collected  in  great 
numbers  to  his  standard ;  they  soon  began 
to  be  animated  with  a  hope  of  capturing  the 
whole  British  army.  When  the  necessary 
stores  for  thirty  days'  subsistence  were 
brousrht  forward  from  Lake  George,  gene- 
ral Burgoyne  gave  up  all  communication 
with  the  magazines  in  the  rear,  and  on  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  of  September 
crossed  Hudson's  River.  The  movement  was 
the  subject  of  much  discussion ;  some  charg- 
ed it  to  the  impetuosity  of  the  general,  and 
alleged  that  it  was  premature  before  he  was 
riure  of  aid  from  the  royal  forces  posted  in 
New- York :  but  he  pleaded  the  peremptory 
orders  of  his  superiors.  The  rapid  advance 
of  Burffoyne,  and  especially  his  passage  of 
the  North  River,  added  much  to  the  imprac- 
ticability of  his  future  retreat,  and  in  con- 
junction with  subsequent  events  made  the 
total  niin  of  his  army  in  a  great  degree  un- 
avoidable. 

BATTLE  OF  STILLWATER. 

General  Burgoyne,  after  crossing  the 


Hudson,  advanced  along  its  side,  and  in  four 
days  encamped  on  the  heights,  about  two 
miles  from  general  Gates's  camp,  which  was 
three  miles  above  Stillwater.  The  Ameri- 
cans, elated  with  their  successes  at  Ben- 
nington and  Fort  Schuyler,  thought  no  more 
of  retreating,  but  came  out  to  meet  the  ad- 
vancing British,  and  engaged  them  with 
firmness  and  resolution.  The  attack  began 
a  little  before  mid-day  of  September  nine- 
teenth, between  the  scouting  parties  of  the 
two  armies.  The  commanders  on  both  sides 
supported  and  reinforced  their  respective 
parties.  The  conflict,  though  severe,  was 
only  partial  for  an  hour  and  a  half;  but  after 
a  short  pause  it  became  general,  and  con- 
tinued for  three  hours  without  any  intermis- 
sion. A  constant  blaze  of  fire  was  kept  up, 
and  both  armies  seemed  to  be  determined 
on  death  or  victory.  The  Americans  and 
British  alternately  drove  and  were  driven  by 
each  other ;  men,  and  particularly  officers, 
dropped  every  moment,  and  on  every  sida 
Several  of  the  Americans  placed  themselves 
in  high  trees,  and  as  often  as  they  could  dis- 
tinguish an  officer's  uniform,  took  him  off 
by  deliberately  aiming  at  his  person.  Few 
actions  have  been  characterized  by  more  ob- 
stinacy in  attack  or  defence ;  the  British  re- 
peatedly tried  their  bayonets,  but  without 
their  usual  success  in  the  use  of  that  weapon. 
At  length  night  put  an  end  to  the  effusion 
of  blood.  This  hard-fought  battle  decided 
nothing,  and  little  else  than  honor  was  gain- 
ed by  either  army ;  but  nevertheless  it  was 
followed  by  important  consequences:  of  thesfc 
one  was  the  diminution  of  the  zeal  and  alac- 
rity of  the  Indians  in  the  British  army.  The 
dangerous  service  in  which  they  were  en- 
gaged, was  by  no  means  suited  to  their  hab- 
its of  war :  they  were  disappointed  of  the 
plunder  they  expected,  and  saw  nothing  bo- 
fore  them  but  hardships  and  danger.  Fi- 
delity and  honor  were  too  feeble  motives  in 
the  minds  of  savages,  to  retain  them  in  such 
an  unproductive  service.  By  deserting  in 
the  season  when  their  aid  would  have  been 
most  useful,  they  furnished  a  second  instance 
of  the  impolicy  of  depending  upon  them. 
Very  little  more  perseverance  was  exhibited 
by  the  Canadians  and  other  British  provin- 
cials :  they  also  abandoned  the  British  stand- 
ard, when  they  found  that,  instead  of  a  fly- 
ing and  dispirited  enemy,  they  had  a  nu- 
merous and  resolute  force  opposed  to  them. 
These  desertions  were  not  the  only  disap- 
pointment which  general  Burgoyne  expe- 
rienced. From  the  commencement  of  the 
expedition,  he  had  promised  himself  a  strong 
reinforcement  from  that  part  of  the  British 
army  which  was  stationed  at  New- York ;  he 
depended  on  its  being  able  to  force  its  way 
to  Albany,  and  to  join  him  there,  or  in  the 
vicinity.  This  co-operation,  though  attempt^ 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


205 


ed,  failed  in  the  execution,  while  the  expec- 
tation of  it  contributed  to  involve  him  in 
some  difficulties  to  which  he  would  not  have 
otherwise  been  exposed. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  September,  gene- 
ral Burgoyne  received  intelligence  in  a  ci- 
pher, that  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who  then  com- 
manded in  New- York,  intended  to  make  a 
diversion  in  his  favor,  by  attacking  the  for- 
tresses which  the  Americans  had  erected  on 
Hudson's  River,  to  obstruct  the  intercourse 
between  New- York  and  Albany.  In  an- 
swer to  this  communication  he  dispatched 
to  Sir  Henry  Clinton  some  trusty  persons, 
with  a  full  account  of  his  situation,  and  with 
instructions  to  press  the  immediate  execu- 
tion of  the  proposed  co-operation,  and  to  as- 
sure him,  that  he  was  enabled  in  point  of 
provisions,  and  fixed  in  his  resolution,  to 
hold  his  present  position  till  the  twelfth  of 
October,  in  the  hope  of  favorable  events. 
The  reasonable  expectation  of  a  diversion 
from  New- York,  founded  on  this  intelligence, 
made  it  disgraceful  to  retreat,  and  at  the 
same  time  improper  to  urge  offensive  opera- 
tions. In  this  posture  of  affairs,  a  delay  of 
two  or  three  weeks,  in  expectation  of  the 
promised  co-operation  from  New- York,  be- 
came necessary.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
provisions  of  the  royal  army  were  lessening, 
and  the  animation  and  numbers  of  the  Ame- 
rican army  increasing.  The  New-England 
people  were  fully  sensible,  that  their  all 
was  at  stake,  and  at  the  same  time  sanguine, 
that  by  vigorous  exertions  Burgoyne  would 
be  so  entangled,  that  his  surrender  would 
be  unavoidable.  Every  moment  made  the 
situation  of  the  British  army  more  critical. 
From  the  uncertainty  of  receiving  farther 
supplies,  general  Burgoyne  lessened  the  sol- 
diers' provisions.  The  twelfth  of  October, 
the  term  till  which  the  royal  army  had 
agreed  to  wait  for  aid  from  New- York,  was 
fast  approaching,  and  no  intelligence  of  the 
expected  co-operation  had  arrived.  In  this 
alarming  situation,  it  was  thought  proper  to 
make  a  movement  to  the  left  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. The  body  of  troops  employed  for 
this  purpose  consisted  of  fifteen  hundred 
chosen  men,  and  was  commanded  by  gene- 
rals Burgoyne,  Philips,  Reidesel,  and  Fra- 
zer.  As  they  advanced,  they  were  checked 
by  a  sudden  and  impetuous  attack ;  but  ma- 
jor Ackland,  at  the  head  of  the  British  gren- 
adiers, sustained  it  with  great  firmness.  The 
Americans  extended  their  attack  along  the 
whole  front  of  the  German  troops,  who 
were  posted  on  the  right  of  the  grenadiers, 
and  they  also  marched  a  large  body  round 
their  flank,  in  order  to  cut  off  their  retreat. 
To  oppose  this  bold  enterprise,  the  British 
light  infantry,  with  a  part  of  the  24th  regi- 
ment, were  directed  to  form  a  second  line, 
and  to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  troops  into 


the  camp.  In  the  mean  time,  the  Ameri- 
cans pushed  forward  a  fresh  and  a  strong 
reinforcement,  to  renew  the  action  on  Bur- 
goyne's  lefl.  That  part  of  his  army  was 
obliged  to  give  way,  but  the  light  infantry 
and  twenty-fourth  regiment,  by  a  quick 
movement,  came  to  its  succor,  and  saved  it 
from  total  ruin.  The  British  lines  being 
exposed  to  great  danger,  the  troops  which 
were  nearest  to  them  returned  for  their  de- 
fence.' General  Arnold,  with  a  brigade  of 
continental  troops,  pushed  for  the  works 
possessed  by  lord  Balcarras,  at  the  head  of 
the  British  light  infantry;  but  the  brigade 
having  an  abatis  to  cross,  and  many  other 
obstructions  to  surmount,  was  compelled  to 
retire.  Arnold  left  this  brigade,  and  came 
to  Jackson's  regiment,  which  he  ordered  in- 
stantly to  advance  and  attack  the  lines  and 
redoubt  in  their  front,  which  were  defended 
by  lieutenant-colonel  Breyman  at  the  head 
of  the  German  grenadiers.  The  assailants 
pushed  on  with  rapidity,  and  carried  the 
works ;  Arnold  was  one  of  the  first  who  en- 
tered them.  Lieutenant-colonel  Breyman 
was  killed :  the  troops  commanded  by  him 
retired  firing ;  they  gained  their  tents  about 
thirty  or  forty  yards  from  their  works ;  but 
on  finding  that  the  assault  was  general, 
they  gave  one  fire,  after  which  some  retreat- 
ed to  the  British  camp,  but  others  threw 
down  their  arms.  The  night  put  an  end  to 
the  action. 

This  day  was  fatal  to  many  brave  men ; 
the  British  officers  suffered  more  than  their 
common  proportion.  Among  their  slain, 
general  Frazer,  on  account  of  his  distin- 
guished merit,  was  the  subject  of  particular 
regret:  Sir  James  Clark,  Burgoyne's  aid- 
de-camp,  was  mortally  wounded :  the  gene- 
ral himself  had  a  narrow  escape ;  a  shot  pass- 
ed through  his  hat,  and  another  through  his 
waistcoat:  majors  Williams  and  Ackland 
were  taken,  and  the  latter  wounded.  The 
loss  of  the  Americans  was  inconsiderable ; 
but  general  Arnold,  to  whose  impetuosity 
they  were  much  indebted  for  the  success  of 
the  day,  was  among  their  wounded.  They 
took  more  than  two  hundred  prisoners,  be- 
sides nine  pieces  of  breiss  artillery,  and  the 
encampment  of  a  German  brigade  with  all 
their  equipage. 

The  royal  troops  were  under  arms  the 
whole  of  the  next  day,  in  expectation  of 
another  action ;  but  nothing  more  than 
skirmishes  took  place.  At  this  time,  gene- 
ral Lincoln,  when  reconnoitring,  received 
a  dangerous  wound ;  an  event  which  was 
greatly  regretted,  as  he  possessed  much  of 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  American 
army. 

The  position  of  the  British  army,  afler  the 
action  of  the  seventh,  was  so  dangerous,  that 
an  immediate  and  total  change  became  ne- 


204 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


cessary.  This  hazardous  measure  was  exe- 
cuted without  loss  or  disorder :  the  British 
camp,  with  all  its  appurtenances,  was  re- 
moved in  the  course  of  a  single  night.  The 
American  general  now  saw  a  fair  prospect 
of  overcoming  the  army  opposed  to  hun, 
without  exposing  his  own  to  the  danger  of 
another  battle.  His  measures  were  therefore 
principally  directed  to  cut  off  their  retreat, 
and  prevent  them  from  receiving  any  farther 
supplies. 

FORT  MONTGOMERY  TAKEN  BY  THE 
BRITISH. 

While  general  Burgoyne  was  pushing 
on  towards  Albany,  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  relieve  him  was  made  by  the  British  com- 
mander in  New- York.  For  this  purpose, 
Sir  Henry  Clmton,  on  the  fifth  of  October, 
conducted  an  expedition  up  Hudson's  River. 
This  consisted  of  about  three  thousand 
men,  and  was  accompanied  by  a  suitable 
naval  force:  after  making  many  feints,  he 
landed  at  Stoney  Point,  and  marched  over 
the  mountains  to  Fort  Montgomery,  and 
attacked  the  different  redoubts.  The  gar- 
rison, commanded  by  governor  Clinton,  a 
brave  and  intelligent  officer,  made  a  gallant 
resistance;  but  as  the  post  had  been  de- 
signed principally  to  prevent  the  passing  of 
ships,  the  works  on  the  land-side  were  in- 
complete and  untenable.  When  it  began 
to  grow  dark,  the  British  entered  the  fort 
with  fixed  bayonets.  The  loss  on  neither 
side  was  great ;  governor  Clmton,  general 
James  Clinton,  and  most  of  the  officers  and 
men,  effected  their  escape  under  cover  of  the 
thick  smoke  and  darkness  that  suddenly  pre 
vailed. 

The  reduction  of  this  post  furnished  the 
British  with  an  opportunity  for  opening  a 
passage  up  the  North  River;  but  instead 
of  proceeding  forward  to  Burgoyne's  encamp- 
ment, or  even  to  Albany,  they  spent  seve- 
ral days  in  laying  waste  the  adjacent  coun 
try.  The  Americans  destroyed  Fort  Con- 
stitution, and  also  set  fire  to  two  new  frig- 
ates and  some  other  vessels.  General  Tryon 
at  the  same  time  destroyed  a  settlement, 
called  Contmental  Village,  which  contained 
barracks  for  fifteen  hundred  men,  besides 
many  stores.  Sir  James  Wallace  with  a 
flying  squadron  of  light  frigates,  and  gene- 
ral Vaughan  with  a  detachment  of  land 
forces,  continued  on  and  near  the  river  for 
several  days,  desolating  the  country  near  its 
margin.  On  the  thirteenth  of  October  gen- 
eral Vaughan  so  completely  burned  Esopus, 
a  fine  flourishing  village,  that  a  single  house 
was  not  left  standing,  though  on  his  ap- 
proach the  Americans  had  left  the  town 
without  making  any  resistance.  Charity 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  these  devasta- 
tions were  designed  to  answer  military  pur- 
Their  authors  might  have  hoped  to 


divert  the  attention  of  general  Gates,  and 
thus  indirectly  relieve  general  Burgoyne; 
but  if  this  was  intended,  the  artifice  did  not 
take  effect  The  preservation  of  property 
was  with  the  Americans  only  a  secondary 
object.  The  capturing  of  Burgoyne  prom- 
ised such  important  consequences,  that  they 
would  not  suffer  any  other  consideration  to 
interfere  with  it.  General  Gates  did  not 
make  a  single  movement  that  lessened  the 
probability  of  effecting  his  grand  purpose. 
He  wrote  an  expostulatory  letter  to  Vaugh- 
an, part  of  which  was  in  the  following 
terms :  "  Is  it  thus  your  king's  generals  think 
to  make  converts  to  the  royal  cause  1  It  ia 
no  less  surprising  than  true,  that  the  mea 
sures  they  adopt  to  serve  their  master,  have 
a  quite  contrary  effect.  Their  cruelty  estab- 
lishes the  glorious  act  of  independence  upon 
the  broad  basis  of  the  resentment  of  the  peo- 
ple." Whether  policy  or  revenge  led  to  this 
devastation  of  property  is  uncertain ;  but  it 
cannot  admit  of  a  doubt  that  it  was  far  from 
being  the  most  effectual  method  of  relieving 
Burgoyne. 

The  passage  of  the  North  River  was  made 
so  practicable  by  these  advantages,  that  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  with  his  whole  force,  amount- 
ing to  three  thousand  men,  might  not  only 
have  reached  Albany,  but  general  Gates's 
encampment,  before  the  twelfth,  the  day  till 
which  Burgoyne  had  agreed  to  wait  for  aid 
from  New- York.  While  the  British  were 
doing  mischief  to  individuals  without  serv- 
ing the  cause  of  their  royal  master,  they 
might  in  all  probability,  by  pushing  forward 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  miles  in 
six  days,  have  brought  Gates's  army  be- 
tween two  fires,  at  least  twenty-four  hours 
before  Burgoyne's  necessity  compelled  his 
submission  to  articles  of  capitulation.  Why 
they  neglected  this  opportunity  of  relieving 
their  suffering  brethren,  about  thirty-six 
miles  to  the  northward  of  Albany,  when 
they  were  only  about  one  himdred  miles  be- 
low it,  has  never  yet  been  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained. 
SURRENDER  OF  GENERAL  BURGOYNE. 

Gates  posted  fourteen  hundred  men  on 
the  heights  opposite  the  fords  of  Saratoga, 
and  two  thousand  more  in  the  rear,  to  pre- 
vent a  retreat  to  Fort  Edward,  and  fifteen 
hundred  at  a  ford  higher  up.  Burgoyne,  re- 
ceiving intelligence  of  these  movements, 
concluded  fi-om  them,  especially  from  the 
last,  that  Gates  meant  to  turn  his  right. 
This,  if  effected,  would  have  entirely  in- 
closed him  :  to  avoid  being  hemmed  in,  he 
resolved  on  an  immediate  retreat  to  Sarato- 
ga. His  hospital,  with  the  sick  and  wound- 
ed, were  necessarily  left  behind ;  but  they 
were  recommended  to  the  humanity  of  gen- 
eral Gates,  and  received  from  him  every  in- 
dulgence their  situation  required.    When 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


205 


general  Burgoyne  arrived  at  Saratoga,  he 
found  that  the  Americans  had  posted  a  con- 
siderable force  on  the  opposite  heights,  to 
impede  his  passage  at  that  ford.  In  order 
to  prepare  the  way  for  a  retreat  to  Lake 
George,  general  Burgoyne  ordered  a  detach- 
ment of  artificers,  with  a  strong  escort  of 
British  and  provincials,  to  repair  the  bridges 
and  open  the  road  leading  thither.  Part  of 
the  escort  was  withdrawn  on  other  duty, 
and  the  remainder,  on  a  slight  attack  of  an 
inconsiderable  party  of  Americans,  ran  away. 
TJie  workmen,  thus  left  without  support, 
were  unable  to  effect  the  business  on  which 
they  had  been  sent.  The  only  practicable 
route  of  retreat  which  now  remained,  was 
by  a  night  march  to  Fort  Edward.  Before 
this  attempt  could  be  made,  scouts  returned 
with  intelligence,  that  the  Americans  were 
intrenched  opposite  to  those  fords  on  the 
Hudson's  River,  over  which  it  was  proposed 
to  pass,  and  that  they  were  also  in  force  on 
the  high  ground  between  Fort  Edward  and 
Fort  George ;  they  had  at  the  same  time 
parties  down  the  whole  shore,  and  posts,  so 
near  as  to  observe  every  motion  of  the  royal 
army.  Their  position  extended  nearly  round 
the  British,  and  was  by  the  nature  of  the 
g-round  in  a  great  measure  secured  from  at' 
tacks.  The  royal  army  could  not  stand  its 
gTound  where  it  was,  from  the  want  of  the 
means  necessary  for  their  subsistence ;  nor 
could  it  advance  towards  Albany  without  at- 
tacking a  force  greatly  superior  in  number  ; 
nor  could  it  retreat  without  making  good  its 
way  over  a  river,  in  the  face  of  a  strong 
party,  advantageously  posted  on  the  opposite 
side.  In  case  of  either  attempt,  the  Ameri- 
cans were  so  near  as  to  discover  every  move- 
ment, and  by  means  of  their  bridge  could 
bring  their  whole  force  to  operate. 

Truly  distressing  was  the  condition  of  the 
royal  army.  Abandoned  in  the  most  critical 
m-oment  by  their  Indian  allies,  unsupported 
by  their  bretliren  in  New- York,  weakened 
by  the  timidity  and  desertion  of  the  Cana- 
dians, worn  down  by  a  series  of  incessant 
eiTorts,  and  greatly  reduced  in  their  num- 
bers by  repeated  battles,  they  were  invested 
by  an  army  nearly  three  times  their  num- 
ber, without  a  possibility  of  retreat,  or  of  re- 
plenishing their  exhausted  stock  of  provi 
sions.  A  continual  cannonade  pervaded  their 
camp,  and  rifle  and  grape-shot  fell  in  many 
parts  of  their  lines ;  they  nevertheless  re- 
tained a  great  share  of  fortitude. 

In  the  mean  time  the  American  army  was 
liourly  increasing.  Volunteers  came  in  from 
all  quarters,  eager  to  share  in  the  glory  of 
destroying  or  capturing  those  whom  tliey 
considered  as  their  most  dangerous  enemies. 
The  thirteenth  of  October  at  length  arriv- 
ed :  the  day  was  spent  in  anxious  expecta- 
tion of  its  producing  something  of  conse- 

VoL.  IV.  18 


quence.  But  as  no  proepect  of  assistance 
appeared,  and  their  provisions  were  nearlj 
expended,  the  hope  of  receiving  any  in  due 
time  for  tiieir  relief  could  not  reasonably  be 
farther  indulged.  General  Burgoyne  thought 
proper  in  the  evening  to  take  an  account  of 
the  provisions  left.  It  was  found  on  inquiry, 
that  they  would  amount  to  no  more  than  a 
scanty  subsistence  for  three  days.  In  this 
state  of  distress,  a  council  of  war  was  call- 
ed, and  it  was  made  so  general,  as  to  com- 
prehend both  the  field  officers  and  the  cap- 
tains. Their  unanimous  opinion  was,  that 
their  present  situation  justified  a  capitula- 
tion on  honorable  terms.  A  messenger  was 
therefore  dispatched  to  begin  this  business'. 
General  Gates  in  the  first  instance  demand- 
ed, that  the  royal  army  should  surrender 
prisoners  of  war.  He  also  proposed  that  the 
British  should  ground  their  arms.  But  gen- 
eral Burgoyne  replied,  "  This  article  is  in- 
admissible in  every  extremity ;  sooner  than 
this  army  will  consent  to  ground  their  arms 
in  their  encampment,  they  will  rush  on  the 
enemy,  determined  to  take  no  quarter."  Af- 
ter various  messages  a  convention  was  set- 
tled, by  which  it  was  substantially  stipulated 
as  follows :  "  The  troops  under  general  Bur- 
goyne to  march  out  of  their  camp  with  the 
honors  of  war,  and  the  artillery  of  the  in- 
trenchments,  to  the  verge  of  the  river,  where 
the  arms  and  artillery  are  to  be  left.  The 
arms  to  be  piled  by  word  of  command  from 
their  own  officers.  A  free  passage  to  be 
granted  to  the  army  under  lieutenant-gene- 
ral Burgoyne  to  Great  Britain,  upon  condi- 
tion of  not  serving  again  in  North  America 
during  the  present  contest,  and  the  port  of 
Boston  to  be  assigned  for  the  entry  of  the 
transports  to  receive  the  troops  whenever 
general  Howe  shall  so  order.  The  army  un- 
der lieutenant-general  Burgo3^ne  to  march 
to  Massachusets  Bay,  by  the  easiest  route, 
and  to  be  quartered  in,  near,  or  as  conve- 
nient as  possible,  to  Boston.  The  troops  to 
be  provided  with  provision  by  generaf 
Gates's  orders,  at  the  same  rate  of  rations 
as  the  troops  of  his  own  army.  All  officers 
to  retain  their  carriages,  bat-horses,  and  no 
baggage  to  be  molested  or  searched-  The 
officers  are  not,  as  far  as  circumstances  will 
admit,  to  be  separated  from  their  men.  The 
officers  to  be  quartered  accordmg  to  then- 
rank.  All  corps  whatever  of  lieutenant- 
general  Burgoyne's  army  to  be  included  in 
the  above  articles.  All  Canadians,  and  per- 
sons belonging  to  the  Canadian  establish- 
ment, and  other  followers  of  the  army,  to  be 
permitted  to  return  to  Canada,  to  be  con- 
ducted to  the  first  British  post  on  Lake 
George,  and  to  be  supplied  with  provisions 
as  the  other  troops,  and  to  be  bound  by  the 
same  condition  of  not  serving  during  the 
present  contest.     Passports  to  be  granted  to 


206 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


three  officers,  to  carry  dispatches  to  Siri 
William  Howe,  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  and  to 
Great  Britain.  The  officers  to  be  admitted 
on  their  parole,  and  to  be  permitted  to  wear 
their  side-arms."  Such  were  the  embar- 
rassments of  the  royal  army,  incapable  of 
subsisting  where  it  was,  or  of  making  its 
way  to  a  better  situation,  that  these  terms 
were  rather  more  favorable  than  they  had  a 
right  to  expect  On  the  other  hand,  it  would 
not  have  been  prudent  for  the  American  gen- 
eral, at  the  head  of  his  army,  which,  though 
numerous,  consisted  mostly  of  militia  or  new 
levies,  to  have  provoked  the  despair  of  even 
an  inferior  number  of  brave,  disciplined, 
regular  troops.  General  Gates  rightly  judg- 
ed that  the  best  way  to  secure  his  advan- 
tages was  to  use  them  with  moderation. 
Soon  after  the  convention  was  signed,  the 
Americans  marched  into  their  lines,  and 
were  kept  there  till  the  royal  army  had  de- 
posited their  arms  at  the  place  appointed. 
The  delicacy  with  which  this  business  was 
conducted,  reflected  the  highest  honor  on 
the  American  general ;  nor  did  the  polite- 
ness of  Gates  end  here  :  every  circumstance 
was  withheld  that  could  constitute  a  triumph 
in  the  American  army.  The  captive  gene- 
ral was  received  by  his  conqueror  with  re- 
spect and  kindness.  A  number  of  the  prin- 
cipal officers  of  both  armies  met  at  general 
Gates's  quarters,  and  for  a  while  seemed  to 
forget  in  social  and  convivial  pleasures  that 
1  they  had  been  enemies.  The  conduct  of 
j^  general  Burgoyne  in  this  interview  with 
|.j^  general  Gates  was  truly  dignified,  and  the 
t^  historian  is  at  a  loss  whether  to  admire  most, 
the  magnanimity  of  the  victorious,  or  the 
■n  fortitude  of  the  vanquished  general. 

The  Britisli  troops  partook  liberally  of  the 

^  plenty  that  reigned  in  the  American  army. 

It  was  the  more  acceptable  to  them,  as  they 


ral 


were  destitute  of  bread  and  flour,  and  had 


♦-,  only  as  much  meat  left  as  was  sufficient  for 

^j  a  day's  subsistence. 

^^  By  the  convention  which  has  been  men 
tioned,  five  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
ninety  men  v/ere  surrendered  prisoners 
The  sick  and  wounded  left  in  camp,  when 
(he  British  retreated  to  Saratoga,  together 
with  the  numbers  of  the  British,  German, 
and  Canadian  troops,  who  were  killed, 
wounded,  or  taken,  and  who  had  deserted 
in  the  preceding  part  of  the  expedition,  were 
reckoned  to  be  four  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty-nine.  The  whole  royal  force,  ex 
elusive  of  Indians,  was  probably  about  ten 
thousand.  The  stores  which  the  American 
acquired  were  considerable.  The  captured 
£jtillery  consisted  of  thirty-five  brass  field 
pieces ;  there  were  also  four  thousand  six 
hundred  and  forty-seven  muskets,  and  a  va- 
riety o£  other  useful  and  much  wanted  ar- 
ticles, which  fell  iniO  Ijheir  hands.  The  con- 


tinentals in  general  Gates's  army  were  nine 
thousand  and  ninety-three,  the  militia  four 
thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  but 
of  the  former  two  thousand  one  hundred  and 
three  were  sick  or  on  ftirlough,  and  five  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  of  the  latter  were  in  the 
same  situation.  The  number  of  the  militia 
was  constantly  fluctuating. 

In  a  short  time  after  the  convention  was 
signed,  general  Gates  moved  forward  to  stop 
the  devastations  of  the  British  on  the  North 
River ;  but  on  hearing  of  the  fate  of  Bur- 
goyne, Vaughan  and  Wallace  retired  to 
New-York. 

About  the  same  tune  the  British,  which 
had  been  left  in  the  rear  of  the  royal  army, 
destroyed  their  cannon,  and  abandoning  Ti- 
conderoga,  retreated  to  Canada.  The  whole 
country,  after  experiencing  for  several 
months  the  confusions  of  war,  was  in  a  mo- 
ment restored  to  perfect  tranquillity. 
CONCLUSION  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

General  Washington  soon  after  the  de- 
feat of  Burgoyne  received  a  considerable 
reinforcement  from  the  northern  army, 
which  had  accomplished  that  great  event. 
With  this  increased  force  he  took  a  position 
at  and  near  Whitemarsh.  The  royal  army 
having  succeeded  in  removing  the  obstruc- 
tions in  the  river  Delaware,  were  ready  for 
new  enterprises.  On  the  fourth  of  Decem- 
ber, Sir  William  Howe  marched  out  of 
Philadelphia  with  almost  his  whole  force, 
expecting  to  bring  on  a  general  engagement. 
The  next  morning  he  appeared  on  Chesnut 
Hill,  in  front  of,  and  about  three  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  right  wing  of  the  Americans. 
On  the  day  following  the  British  changed 
their  ground,  and  moved  to  the  right.  Two 
days  after  they  moved  still  farther  to  the 
right,  and  made  every  appearance  of  an  in- 
tention to  attack  the  American  encampment 
Some  skirmishes  took  place,  and  a  general 
action  was  hourly  expected  ;  but  on  the 
morning  of  the  next  day,  after  various 
marches  and  countermarches,  the  British 
filed  off"  fi-om  their  right,  by  two  or  three 
different  routes,  in  full  march  for  Philadel- 
phia. 

The  position  of  general  Washington,  in 
a  military  point  of  view,  was  admirable :  he 
was  so  sensible  of  the  advantage  of  it,  that 
the  manoeuvres  of  Sir  William  Howe  for 
some  days,  could  not  allure  him  from  it.  In 
consequence  of  the  reinforcement  lately  re- 
ceived, he  had  not  in  any  preceding  period 
of  the  campaign  been  in  an  equal  condition 
for  a  general  engagement  Though  he  ar- 
dently wished  to  be  attacked,  yet  he  would 
not  relinquish  a  position  from  \vhich  he 
hoped  for  reparation  for  the  adversities  of 
the  campaign.  Thus  ended  the  campaign 
of  1777.  Though  Sir  William  Hov/e's  army 
had  lesn  crowned  with  the  most  brilliant 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


207 


success,  having  gained  two  considerable  vic- 
tories, and  been  equally  triumphant  in  many 
smaller  actions,  yet  the  whole  amount  of 
this  tide  of  good  fortune  was  no  more  than 
a  good  winter  lodging  for  his  troops  in  Phil- 
adelphia, whilst  the  men  under  his  command 
possessed  no  more  of  the  adjacent  country 
than  what  they  immediately  commanded 
with  their  arms.  The  congress,  it  is  true, 
was  compelled  to  leave  the  first  seat  of  their 
deliberations,  and  the  greatest  city  in  the 
United  States  changed  a  number  of  its  whig 
inhabitants  for  a  numerous  royal  army ;  but 
it  is  as  true  that  the  minds  of  the  Americans 
were,  if  possible,  more  hostile  to  the  claims 
of  Great  Britain  than  ever,  and  their  army 
had  gained  as  much  by  discipline  and  expe- 
rience, as  compensated  for  its  diminution  by 
defeats. 

The  events  of  this  campaign  were  ad- 
verse to  the  sanguine  hopes  which  had  been 
entertained  of  a  speedy  conquest  of  the  re 
volted  colonies.  Repeated  proofs  had  been 
given,  that,  though  general  Washington 
was  very  forward  to  engage  when  he 
thought  it  to  his  advantage,  yet  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  royal  commander  to  bring 
him  to  action  against  his  consent.  By  this 
mode  of  conducting  the  defence  of  the  new 
formed  states,  two  campaigns  had  been  wast 
ed  away,  and  the  work  which  was  original- 
ly allotted  for  one,  was  still  unfinished. 
AMERICAN  SUCCESSES  AT  SEA. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned,  that  con- 
gress, in  the  latter  end  of  November  1775, 
authorized  the  capture  of  vessels  laden  with 
stores  or  reinforcements  for  their  enemies. 
On  the  twenty-third  of  March  1776,  they 
extended  this  permission  so  far  as  to  author- 
ize their  inhabitants  to  fit  out  armed  vessels 
to  cruise  on  the  enemies  of  the  United  Col- 
onies. The  Americans  henceforth  devoted 
themselves  to  privateering,  and  were  very 
successful.  In  the  course  of  the  year  they 
made  many  valuable  captures,  particularly 
of  homeward-bound  West-India-men.  They 
found  no  difficulty  in  selling  their  prizes; 
the  ports  of  France  were  open  to  them,  both 
in  Europe  and  in  the  West  Indies.  In  the 
latter  they  were  sold  without  any  disguise, 
but  in  the  former  a  greater  regard  was  paid 
to  appearances.  Open  sales  were  not  per- 
mitted in  the  harbors  of  France  at  particu- 
lar times,  but  even  then  they  were  made  at 
the  entrance  or  offing. 

In  the  French  West  ^ndia  islands  the  in- 
habitants not  only  purchased  prizes,  brought 
in  by  American  cruisers,  but  fitted  out  pri- 
vateers under  American  colors  and  commis- 
sions, and  made  captures  of  British  vessels. 
The  American  privateers  also  found  coun- 
tenance in  some  of  the  ports  of  Spain,  but 
not  so  readily  nor  so  universally  as  in  those 
of  France.     The  British  took  many  of  the 


American  vessels,  but  they  were  often  of 
inferior  value.  Such  of  them  as  were  laden 
with  provisions,  proved  a  seasonable  relief 
to  the  West  India  islands,  which  otherwise 
would  have  suffered  from  the  want  of  those 
supplies,  which  before  the  war  had  been 
usually  procured  from  the  neighboring  con- 
tinent 

The  American  privateers,  in  the  year  1777, 
increased  in  numbers  and  boldness.  They 
insulted  the  coasts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land in  a  manner  that  had  never  before  been 
attempted.  The  General  Mifflin  privateer, 
after  making  repeated  captures,  arrived  at 
Brest,  and  saluted  the  French  admiral.  This 
was  returned  in  form,  as  to  the  vessel  of  an 
independent  power.  Lord  Stormont,  the 
British  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Versailles, 
irritated  at  the  countenance  given  to  the 
Americans,  threatened  to  return  immediate- 
ly to  London,  unless  satisfaction  was  given, 
and  different  measures  were  adopted  by 
France.  An  order  was  issued  in  consequence 
of  his  application,  requiring  all  American 
vessels  to  leave  the  ports  of  his  most  chris- 
tian majesty :  but  though  the  order  was  pos- 
itive, so  many  evasions  were  practised,  and 
the  execution  of  it  was  so  relaxed,  that  it 
produced  no  permanent  discouragement  of 
the  beneficial  intercourse. 

Immediately  after  the  surrender  of  the 
troops  commanded  by  lieutenant-general 
Burgoyne,  they  were  marched  to  the  vicini- 
ty of  Boston.  On  their  arrival  they  were 
quartered  in  the  barracks  on  Winter  and 
Prospect  Hills.  The  general  court  of  Mas- 
sachusets  passed  proper  resolutions  for  pro- 
curing suitable  accommodations  for  the  pris- 
oners ;  but  from  the  general  unwillingness 
of  the  people  to  oblige  them,  and  from  the 
feebleness  of  that  authority  which  the  repub- 
lican rulers  had  at  that  time  over  the  prop- 
erty of  their  fellow-citizens,  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  provide  immediately  for  so  large  a 
number  of  officers  and  soldiers,  in  such  a 
manner  as  their  convenience  required,  or  as 
from  the  articles  of  the  convention  they 
might  reasonably  expect  The  officers  re- 
monstrated to  general  Burgoyne,  that  six  or 
seven  of  them  were  crowded  together  in 
one  room,  without  any  regard  to  their  re- 
spective ranks,  in  violation  of  the  seventh 
article  of  the  convention.  General  Burgoyne, 
on  the  fourteenth  of  November,  forwarded 
this  account  to  general  Gates,  and  added, 
"  The  public  faith  is  broken."  This  letter 
bemg  laid  before  congress  gave  an  alarm. 
It  corroborated  an  apprehension  previously 
entertained,  that  the  captured  troops  on  their 
embarkation  would  make  a  junction  with 
the  British  garrisons  in  America,  The  de- 
claration of  the  general,  that  "  the  public 
faith  was  broken,"  while  in  the  power  of 
congress,  was  considered  by  them  as  destroy- 


208 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ing  the  security  which  they  before  had  in 
his  personal  honor;  for  in  every  event  he 
might  adduce  his  previous  notice  to  justify 
his  future  conduct  They  therefore  resolved, 
"  That  the  embarkation  of  lieutenant-gene- 
ral Burgoyne,  and  the  troops  under  his  com- 
mand, be  postponed,  till  a  distinct  and  expli- 
cit ratification  of  the  convention  of  Sarato- 
ga be  properly  notified  by  the  court  of  Great 
Britain  to  congress."  General  Burgoyne 
explained  the  intention  and  construction  of 
the  passage  alluded  to  in  his  letter,  and 
pledged  himself,  that  his  officers  would  join 
with  him  in  signing  any  instrument  that 
might  be  thought  necessary  for  confirming 
the  convention ;  but  congress  would  not  re- 
cede from  their  resolution.  They  alleged, 
that  it  had  been  often  asserted  by  their  ad- 
versaries, that "  faith  was  not  to  be  kept  with 
rebels,"  and  that  therefore  they  would  be  de- 
ficient in  attention  to  the  interests  of  their 
constituents  if  they  did  not  require  an  au- 
thentic ratification  of  the  convention  by  na- 
tional authority  before  they  parted  with  the 
captured  troops.  They  urged  farther,  that 
by  the  law  of  nations,  a  compact  broken  in 
one  article  was  no  longer  binding  in  any 
other.     They  made  a  distinction  between 


the  suspension  and  abrogation  of  the  con- 
vention, and  alleged  that  ground  to  suspect 
an  intention  to  violate  it,  was  a  justifying 
reason  for  suspending  its  execution  on  their 
part  till  it  was  properly  ratified.  The  de- 
sired ratification,  if  Great  Britain  was  seri- 
ously disposed  to  that  measure,  might  have 
been  obtained  in  a  few  months,  and  congress 
uniformly  declared  themselves  willing  to 
carry  it  into  full  effect,  as  soon  as  they  were 
secured  of  its  observance  by  proper  authori- 
ty on  the  other  side. 

About  eight  months  after,  certain  royal 
commissioners  made  a  requisition  respecting 
these  troops;  offered  to  ratify  the  conven- 
tion, and  required  permission  for  their  em- 
barkation. On  inquiry  it  was  found  that 
they  had  no  authority  to  do  anything  in  the 
matter  which  would  be  obligatory  on  Great 
Britain.  Congress  therefore  resolved,  "  That 
no  ratification  of  the  convention,  which  may 
be  tendered  in  consequence  of  powers  which 
only  reach  that  case  by  construction  and  im- 
plication, or  which  may  subject  whatever  is 
transacted  relative  to  it,  to  the  future  appro- 
bation or  disapprobation  of  the  parliament 
of  Great  Britain,  can  be  accepted  by  con- 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


209 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Meeting  of  the  British  Parliament — Debates  on  the  Address — News  arrives  of  Bur- 
goyne^s  defeat — Debates  on  that  subject — Lord  North''s  conciliatory  bills — Alliance 
between  France  and  America — Debates  on  the  French  War — Ways  and  Means — 
Address  for  a  War  with  France — Death  and  character  of  Lord  Chatham — Relief  to 
the  trade  of  Ireland — To  the  Roman  Catholics — Toulon  squadron  sails  for  America 
— Termination  of  the  Session — Transactions  of  the  royal  Commissioners  in  Amer- 
ica— Arrival  of  D'Estaing — Philadelphia  evacuated — Ambassador  from  France  to 
America — Attempt  on  Rhode-Island — Expedition  against  East  Florida — Savannah 
taken  by  the  British — Naval  preparations — Engagement  between  Keppel  and  D'Or- 
villiers — Trial  of  Keppel — Trial  of  Sir  H.  Palliser. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 
The  first  successes  of  general  Burgoyne 
elevated  the  hopes  of  the  tory  party  in  Eng- 
land to  the  highest  pitch  of  extravagance ; 
and  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  meeting 
of  parliament  was  delayed  to  an  unusual 
period  in  order  to  afford  his  majesty  an  op- 
portunity of  congratulating  the  British  senate 
on  the  glorious  event  of  the  northern  expe- 
dition. The  defeat  of  the  German  auxilia- 
ries, which  arrived  in  England  previous  to 
the  commencement  of  the  session,  did  not 
serve  entirely  to  remove  the  confident  hopes 
of  success  which  this  infatuated  administra- 
tion still  entertained.  In  the  speech  from 
the  throne  to  both  houses  on  the  twentieth 
of  November,  his  majesty  mentioned,  "  that 
repeated  assurances  from  foreign  powers  of 
their  pacific  disposition  had  been  received ; 
but  that  while  the  armaments  in  the  ports 
of  France  and  Spain  continued,  his  majesty 
had  thought  it  advisable  to  make  a  consid- 
erable augmentation  to  his  naval  force,  as 
well  to  keep  the  kingdom  in  a  respectable 
state  of  security,  as  to  provide  an  adequate 
protection  to  the  extensive  commerce  of  his 
subjects :  the  commons  were  informed,  that 
the  various  services  which  had  been  men 
tioned,  would  unavoidably  require  large  sup- 
plies ;  and  a  profession  was  made  that  no- 
thing could  relieve  his  majesty's  mind  from 
the  concern  which  it  felt  for  the  heavy 
charge  they  must  bring  upon  the  people, 
but  a  conviction  of  their  being  necessary  for 
the  welfare  and  essential  interests  of  these 
kingdoms.  The  speech  concluded,  with 
resolution  of  steadily  pursuing  the  measures 
in  which  they  were  engaged  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  that  constitutional  subordination, 
which  his  majesty  was  determined  to  main 
tain  through  the  several  parts  of  his  domin 
ions,  accompanied  with  a  profession  of  being 
watchful  for  an  opportunity  of  putting  a  stop 
to  the  eff'usion  of  the  blood  of  his  subjects ; 
and  a  renewal  or  continuance  of  the  former 
hope,  that  the  deluded  and  unhappy  multi- 
tude would  return  to  their  allegiance,  upon 
18* 


a  recollection  of  the  blessings  of  their  gov- 
ernment, and  a  comparison  with  the  miseries 
of  their  present  situation." 

In  answer  to  this  speech,  addresses  were 
moved,  as  usual,  full  of  panegyrics  on  the 
speech,  and  the  profound  wisdom  of  the 
ministry. 

The  conduct  of  France,  during  the  whole 
of  this  year,  had  been  so  unequivocal,  that 
an  impartial  reader  can  scarcely  help  admir- 
ing the  effrontery  with  which  ministry  had 
hitherto  insisted,  .and  still  continued  to  in- 
sist, that  her  intentions  were  really  pacific. 
She  was  not  indeed  yet  arrived  at  that  state 
of  preparation,  which  would  have  enabled 
her  to  commence  hostilities  immediately. 
She  occasionally  relaxed  in  certain  articles, 
where  the  British  ministry  found  themselves 
obliged  to  press  with  more  than  usual  vigor. 
Thus,  when  Cunningham,  a  bold  American 
adventurer,  had  taken,  and  carried  into  Dun- 
kirk, with  a  privateer  fitted  out  from  that 
port,  the  English  packet  irom  Plolland,  and 
sent  the  mail  to  the  American  ministers  at 
Paris,  it  then  became  necessary,  to  save  ap- 
pearances, to  imprison  Cunningham  and  his 
crew.  To  prevent  this  from  giving  any  of- 
fence to  the  Americans,  however,  his  impris- 
onment was  represented  as  occasioned  by 
some  informality  in  his  commission,  which 
brought  him  very  near,  if  not  within  the 
verge  of  piracy.  Even  this  was  very  soon 
passed  over.  The  American  adventurer  and 
ins  crew  were  released  from  their  mock 
confinement,  and  he  was  permitted  to  pur- 
chase a  much  stronger  vessel  and  a  better 
sailer  than  before,  avowedly  to  infest  the 
British  commerce  as  usual.  At  another 
time,  when  the  French  Newfoundland  fish- 
ery would  have  been  totally  intercepted  and 
destroyed  in  case  of  an  immediate  rupture, 
and  the  capture  of  their  seamen  would  have 
been  more  ruinous  and  irreparable  than  the 
loss  even  of  the  ships  and  cargoes,  lord  Stor- 
mont  obtained  an  order  from  tlie  French 
ministers,  tliat  all  the  American  privateers, 
with  their  prizes,  should  immediately  depart 


SIO 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  kingdom.  Expedients,  however,  were 
practised  on  this  occasion  with  such  success, 
that  the  order  was  not  obeyed  in  any  one 
instance,  though  it  effectually  answered  the 
end  held  in  view  by  the  French  court,  viz. 
that  of  protracting  time,  by  opening  a  sub- 
ject of  tedious  and  indecisive  controversy, 
until  their  ships  were  safe  in  port.  With 
regard  to  the  Americans,  they  had  the  full- 
est assurance  from  M.  de  Sartine,  the  French 
minister,  that  the  king  would  protect  his 
subjects  in  trading  with  them ;  and  for  this 
purpose,  a  public  instrument  was  sent  to  the 
several  chambers  of  commerce,  assuring 
them  of  what  we  have  just  now  related. 

DEBATES  ON  THE  ADDRESS. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  marquis 
of  Granby,  after  stating  and  lamenting,  in  a 
pathetic  manner,  the  ruinous  effects  of  the 
war,  declared  himself  filled  with  the  most 
ardent  desire  for  grasping  at  the  present 
moment  of  time,  and  of  having  the  happi- 
ness even  to  lay  the  ground-work  of  an  ac- 
commodation. He  therefore  moved  an 
amendment  to  the  address,  the  substance  of 
which  was,  "to  request  of  his  majesty  to 
adopt  some  measures  for  accommodating  the 
differences  with  America ;  and  recommend- 
ing a  cessation  of  all  hostilities,  as  necessary 
for  the  effectuating  so  desirable  a  purpose ; 
with  an  assurance,  that  the  commons  were 
determined  to  co-operate  with  him  in  every 
measure  that  could  contribute  to  the  re- 
establishment  of  peace,  and  the  drawing 
such  lines  as  should  afford  sufficient  security 
to  the  terms  of  pacification." 

This  motion  was  seconded  with  additional 
arguments  by  lord  John  Cavendish,  and  sup- 
ported by  the  opposition  in  general,  on  near- 
ly the  following  grounds.  After  three  years' 
war,  the  expenditure  of  fifteen  millions  of 
money,  and  the  loss  of  many  brave  troops, 
we  had  no  more  prospect  of  bettering  our 
affairs  than  when  we  began.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  hopes  of  success  yearly  held  out  in 
the  speech,  our  progress  exhibited  an  unin- 
ten-upted  series  of  mortifying  disappoint- 
ments and  humiliating  losses.  The  state 
of  interest,  of  the  stocks,  and  of  real  estates, 
vjs  well  as  the  gazettes,  too  plainly  showed 
the  degree  in  which  our  trade  had  been  af- 
fected ;  while  the  defenceless  state  of  our 
coasts,  and  trade  fleets,  demonstrated  that  if 
we  were  at  present  incompetent  for  the  pro- 
tection of  national  commerce,  we  should  be 
greatly  more  so  when  involved  in  a  war  with 
the  house  of  Bourbon,  an  event  which  gen- 
tlemen in  opposition  regarded  as  fast  ap- 
proaching :  and  this  was  the  time  to  extri- 
cate ourselves  from  our  difficulties  by  a 
reversal  of  that  ruinous  and  absurd  system 
of  coercion  which  irritated  tlie  Americans, 


strengthened  the  hands  of  our  enemies,  and 
brought  no  advantage  to  ourselves. 

The  debate  on  the  address  in  the  upper 
house  was  rendered  peculiarly  interesting 
by  the  presence  of  lord  Chatham,  who  him- 
self moved  an  amendment,  "  To  recommend 
an  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities,  and 
the  commencement  of  a  treaty  to  restore 
peace  and  liberty  to  America,  strength  and 
happiness  to  England,  security  and  perma- 
nent prosperity  to  both  countries.  This,  my 
lords,  is  yet  in  our  power,  and  let  not  the 
wisdom  and  justice  of  your  lordships  ne- 
glect the  happy  and  perhaps  the  only  oppor- 
tunity." 

His  lordship  was  ably  supported  by  the 
other  lords  in  opposition.  The  ministry 
strongly  defended  not  only  the  policy  but 
the  justice  of  employing  the  Indians.  If 
the  women  and  children  of  the  Americans 
were  destroyed  by  these  savages,  they  only 
were  to  blame,  who,  by  their  rebellion,  had 
brought  upon  themselves  these  calamities. 
In  the  course  of  the  debate,  lord  Suffolk  had 
the  effrontery  to  assert,  that  the  measure 
was  also  allowable  on  principle,  for  that  it 
was  perfectly  justifiable  to  use  all  the  means 
that  God  and  nature  had  put  into  our  hands. 

The  whole  of  these  arguments,  and  par- 
ticularly the  last,  excited  at  once  the  stern 
indignation  of  lord  Chatham :  he  suddenly 
rose,  and  gave  full  vent  to  his  feelings :  "  To 
send  forth  the  merciless  cannibal  thirsting 
for  blood ! — against  whom  1 — Your  Protest- 
ant brethren  I — to  lay  waste  their  country, 
to  desolate  their  dwellings,  and  extirpate 
their  race  and  name,  by  the  aid  and  instru- 
mentality of  these  hell-hounds  of  war !  Spain 
can  no  longer  boast  pre-eminence  in  bar- 
barity. She  armed  herself  with  blood- 
hounds to  extirpate  the  wretched  natives  of 
Mexico ;  but  we,  more  ruthless,  loose  these 
dogs  of  war  against  our  countrymen  in 
America,  endeared  to  us  by  every  tie  that 
should  sanctify  humanity.  My  lords,  I  sol- 
emnly call  upon  your  lordships,  and  upon 
every  order  of  men  in  the  state,  to  stamp 
upon  this  infamous  procedure  the  indelible 
stigma  of  the  public  abhorrence.  More  par- 
ticularly I  call  upon  the  holy  prelates  of  our 
religion  to  do  away  this  iniquity  :  let  them 
perform  a  lustration  to  purify  their  country 
from  this  deep  and  deadly  sin.  My  lords,  1 
am  old  and  weak,  and  at  present  unable  to 
say  more ;  but  my  feelings  and  indignation 
were  too  strong  to  have  said  less.  I  could 
not  have  slept  this  night  in  my  bed,  nor  re- 
posed my  head  upon  my  pillow,  without  giv- 
ing this  vent  to  my  eternal  abhorrence  of 
such  enormous  and  preposterous  princi- 
ples." After  this  grand  effusion,  the  reader 
will  be  surprised  to  hear,  that  on  the  divi- 
sion, twenty-eight  lords  only  voted  in  sup- 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


211 


port  of  the  motion,  against  ninety-seven  who 
opposed  it 

INTELLIGENCE  OF  BURGOYNE'S  DE- 
FEAT. 
On  the  succeeding  day,  ministers  were 
completely  humbled  by  the  disastrous  intel 
ligence  from  America.  Lord  North  shed 
tears ;  and  the  American  secretary  shrunk, 
oppressed  with  shame  and  disappointment, 
under  the  just  invectives  of  the  minority. 
On  the  fifth,  the  earl  of  Chatham  moved  in 
the  house  of  lords,  "  that  an  address  be  pre- 
sented to  his  majesty,  to  cause  the  proper 
officers  to  lay  before  the  house  copies  of 
all  orders  and  instructions  to  general  Bur- 
goyne  relative  to  the  late  expedition  from 
Canada."  Holding  up  a  paper  in  view  of 
the  house,  his  lordship  said,  that  he  had  the 
king's  speech  in  his  hand,  and  a  deep  sense 
of  the  public  calamity  in  his  heart.  That 
speech,  he  said,  contained  a  most  unfaithful 
picture  of  the  state  of  public  affairs ;  it  had 
a  specious  outside,  was  full  of  hopes,  while 
everything  within  was  full  of  danger.  A 
system  destructive  of  all  faith  and  confidence 
had  been  introduced,  his  lordship  affirmed, 
within  the  last  fifteen  years,  at  St.  James's, 
by  which  pliable  men,  not  capable  men,  had 
been  raised  to  the  highest  posts  of  govern- 
ment. A  few  obscure  persons  had  obtained 
an  ascendency  where  no  man  should  have  a 
personal  ascendency,  and  by  the  most  insidi- 
ous means  the  nation  had  been  betrayed 
into  a  war  of  which  they  now  reaped  the 
bitter  fruits.  The  spirit  of  delusion,  his 
lordship  said,  had  gone  forth ;  ministers  had 
imposed  on  the  people ;  parliament  had  been 
induced  to  sanctify  the  imposition ;  a  vision- 
ary phantom  of  revenue  had  been  conjured 
up  for  the  basest  of  purposes,  but  it  was  now 
for  ever  vanished.  His  lordship  said,  that 
the  abilities  of  general  Burgoyne  were  con- 
fessed, his  personal  bravery  not  surpassed, 
his  zeal  in  the  service  unquestionable.  He 
had  experienced  no  pestilence,  nor  suffered 
any  of  the  accidents  which  sometimes  su- 
persede the  wisest  and  most  spirited  exer- 
tions of  human  industry.  What  then  is  the 
cause  of  this  misfortune  1 — Want  of  wisdom 
in  our  councils,  want  of  ability  in  our  min- 
isters. His  lordship  said,  the  plan  of  pene- 
trating into  the  colonies  from  Canada  was  a 
most  wild,  uncombined,  and  mad  project; 
and  the  mode  of  carrying  on  the  war  was 
the  most  bloody,  barbarous,  and  ferocious  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  history.  The  arms 
of  Britain  had  been  sullied  and  tarnished  by 
blending  the  scalping-knife  and  tomahawk 
with  the  sword  and  firelock.  Such  a  mode 
of  warfare  was  a  contamination  which  all  the 
waters  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware 
would  never  wash  away.  It  was  impossi- 
ble for  America  to  forget  or  forgive  so  horrid 
an  injury." 


In  the  course  of  his  speech  he  animad- 
verted in  the  severest  terms  on  the  language 
recently  held  by  the  archbishop  of  York. 
"  The  pernicious  doctrines  advanced  by  that 
prelate  were,  he  said,  the  doctrines  of  At- 
terbury  and  Sacheverel.  As  a  whig  he  ab- 
jured and  detested  them ;  and  he  hoped  he 
should  yet  see  the  day  when  they  would  be 
deemed  libellous,  and  treated  as  such."  The 
motion  being  negatived,  his  lordship  next 
moved  an  address  to  the  king,  "that  all 
orders  and  treaties  relative  to  the  employ- 
ment of  the  Indian  savages  be  laid  before 
the  house." 

Lord  Gower  rose  to  oppose  the  motion, 
and  ^.sserted,  "  that  the  noble  lord  had  him- 
self employed  savages  without  scruple  in 
the  operations  of  the  last  war."  This  charge 
lord  Chatham  positively  and  peremptorily 
denied,  and  challenged  the  ministers,  if  any 
such  instructions  of  his  were  to  be  found,  to 
produce  them.  If  at  all  employed,  they  had 
crept  into  the  service,  from  the  occasional 
utility  of  their  assistance  in  unexplored  parts 
of  the  country.  He  said,  "the  late  kmg 
George  II.  had  too  much  regard  for  the  mili- 
tary dignity  of  his  people,  and  also  too  much 
humanity,  to  agree  to  such  a  proposal,  had 
it  been  made  to  him,  and  he  called  upon 
lord  Amherst  to  declare  the  truth."  Lord 
Amherst,  not  able  to  evade  this  appeal, 
reluctantly  owned  that  Indians  had  been 
employed  on  both  sides — the  French  em- 
ployed them  first,  he  said,  and  we  followed 
their  example ;  but  that  he  had  been  author- 
ized to  take  them  into  his  majesty's  service 
by  instructions  from  the  minister,  his  lord- 
ship would  not  affirm.  The  motion  was  dis- 
missed by  the  previous  question. 
LORD  NORTH'S  CONCILIATORY  BILLS. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  February,  having 
given  previous  notice  of  his  intention,  the 
minister  introduced  to  the  house  of  com- 
mons some  new  propositions  tending  to  a 
reconciliation  with  America.  He  said,  that 
his  wishes  for  peace  had  been  frustrated  by 
a  variety  of  misfortunes ;  that  American  tax- 
ation, he  had  always  believed,  could  never 
produce  a  beneficial  revenue,  but  he  had 
found  them  taxed  when  he  came  into  office. 
He  never  could  have  conceived,  that  the 
agreement  with  the  East  India  company 
would  have  proved  so  unfortunate :  that  the 
coercive  acts  had  produced  effects  which  he 
could  not  foresee ;  that  his  former  concilia- 
tory proposition  was  so  disfigured  by  obscure 
discussions  as  to  lose  its  effect  in  America ; 
that  the  issue  of  the  war  had  been  contrary 
to  all  expectation,  considering  the  conduct 
of  the  commanders. and  the  goodness  of  the 
troops.  His  present  motions  were  two,  for 
"  a  bill  for  declaring  the  intentions  of  the 
parliament  of  Great  Britain,  concerning  the 
exercise  of  tfie  right  of  imposing  taxes 


212 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


within  his  majesty's  colonies,  provinces,  and  1 
plantations  in  North  America :"  and,  "  a  bill 
to  enable  his  majesty  to  appoint  commission- 
ers, with  sufficient  powers  to  treat,  consult, 
and  agree  upon  the  means  of  quietmg-  the 
disorders  now  subsisting  in  certain  of  the 
colonies,  plantations,  and  provinces  of  North 
America."  His  lordship  added,  that  it  was 
intended  to  appoint  five  commissioners,  and 
enable  them  to  treat  with  the  congress,  as 
if  it  were  a  legal  body,  to  treat  with  any  of 
the  provincial  assemblies  upon  their  present 
constitution,  or  with  any  individuals  in  mili- 
tary or  civil  command,  general  Washington, 
or  any  other  officer.  They  were  to  have  a 
power  of  suspending  hostilities,  granting 
pardons,  and  restoring  all  or  any  of  the  colo- 
nies to  the  form  of  their  ancient  constitu- 
tion ;  that  should  the  Americans  now  claim 
independence,  they  should  not  be  required 
to  renounce  it,  until  the  treaty  had  been 
ratified  by  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain 
and  if  the  Americans  refused  a  moderate 
contribution  towards  the  common  defence  of 
the  empire  when  reunited,  they  should  be 
warned,  that,  in  that  case,  they  were  not  to 
look  for  support  from  it.  The  minister  de^ 
clared  farther,  that  all  these  concessions 
were  consistent  with  his  former  opinions, 
and  if  the  question  was  asked,  why  they  had 
not  been  sooner  proposed,  he  should  reply, 
that  the  moment  of  victory,  for  which  he 
had  anxiously  waited,  seemed  to  him  the 
only  proper  season  for  offering  terms  of  con 
cession.  But  though  the  result  of  the  war 
had  proved  unfavorable,  he  woiild  no  longer 
delay  the  desirable  and  necessary  work  of 
reconciliation. 

"Never,  perhaps,"  observes  a  modern 
writer  (1),  "  was  the  inexpressible  absurdity 
of  the  ministerial  system  more  apparent  than 
at  the  present  moment.  The  powers  now 
granted  were  precisely  of  the  nature  of 
those  with  which  it  was  the  object  of  the 
motion  made  by  the  duke  of  Grafton,  in  the 
spring  of  1775,  to  invest  the  former  commis^ 
sioners,  lord  and  general  Howe.  Had  that 
motion  been  adopted,  the  contest  might  un- 
questionably have  been,  with  the  utmost  fa^ 
cility,  amicably  and  honorably  terminated ; 
but  the  general  aspect  of  affairs  since  that 
period  was  totally  changed.  From  the  de- 
claration of  independence  which  America 
had  once  made,  she  could  never  be  expected 
to  recede.  The  strength  of  Great  Britam 
had  been  tried,  and  found  unequal  to  the 
contest.  The  measures  adopted  by  the  Eng- 
lish government,  particularly  in  the  employ' 
ment  of  German  mercenaries  and  Indian 
savages,  had  inflamed  the  resentment  of 
America  to  the  highest  pitch.  Her  recent 
success  had  rendered  it  to  the  last  degree 
improbable  that  she  would  ever  again  con- 
sent to  recognize,  in  any  shape,  or  under  any 


modification,  the  authority  of  Britain.  A 
treaty  of  peace,  commerce,  and  alliance,  waa 
all  that  a  just  and  sound  policy,  in  the  pres- 
ent circumstances,  could  hope,  or  would  en- 
deavor to  accomplish." 

The  general  voice  of  the  country  gentle- 
men was,  that  as  taxation  was  now  given 
up,  peace  ought  to  be  procured  on  any  terms, 
and  in  the  speediest  manner. 

The  members  in  opposition,  properly  so 
called,  though  they  approved  of  the  concilia- 
tory bills,  showed  no  mercy  to  the  conduct 
of  the  minister.  He  was  reprobated  indeed 
by  both  parties  in  such  a  manner,  as  must 
have  made  his  situation  extremely  disagree- 
able. By  his  own  he  was  asked,  as  taxation 
had  not  been  his  object,  what  were  the  real 
motives  which  had  induced  him  'to  begin  the 
warl  Had  he  sported  away  30,000  lives, 
and  thirty  millions  of  money,  and,  in  that 
amusement,  put  not  only  the  unity,  but  the 
existence  of  the  empire,  to  the  utmost  hazard, 
in  order  to  try  the  spirit  of  the  Americans, 
and  to  discover  how  they  would  behave  in 
defence  of  everything  that  was  dear  to  them  1 

Fox  in  a  fine  strain  of  irony  complimented 
the  minister  on  his  conversion,  and  congratu- 
lated his  own  party  on  the  acquisition  of  such 
a  potent  auxiliary.  He  was  glad  to  find  that 
his  own  propositions  did  not  materially  diflfer 
from  those  made  by  Burke  three  years  before. 
He  reminded  the  house,  that  though  they 
were  then  rejected,  a  war  of  three  years  had 
convinced  him  that  they  were  really  useful. 
But  if  the  concession  should  be  found  ample 
enough,  and  then  come  too  late,  what  pun- 
ishment would  be  sufficient  for  those  minis- 
ters who  adjourned  parliament,  in  order  to 
make  propositions  of  concession,  and  then 
neglected  to  do  it,  until  France  had  con- 
cluded a  treaty  with  the  independent  states 
of  America,  acknowledging  them  as  such  ] 
He  did  not  speak  from  surmise ;  he  had  it 
from  authority  which  he  could  not  question, 
that  the  treaty  he  mentioned  had  been  signed 
in  Paris  ten  days  before,  counting  from  that 
instant.  He  therefore  wished  that  ministry 
would  give  the  house  satisfaction  on  that 
very  interesting  point ;  for  he  feared  that  it 
would  be  found,  that  their  present  apparently 
pacific  and  equitable  disposition,  with  that 
proposition  which  seemed  to  be  the  result 
of  it,  owed  their  existence  to  the  previous 
knowledge  of  this  treaty,  which  must,  from 
its  nature,  render  that  proposition  as  useless 
to  the  peace,  as  it  was  humiliating  to  the 
dignity  of  Britain. 

The  intimation  of  Fox,  though  faintly 
controverted  by  the  minister,  and  treated  as 
only  matter  of  rumor,  was  too  well  founded ; 
and  the  doubts  of  the  ministry  completely 
removed  in  a  few  days  by  a  formal  notifica- 
tion of  the  fact  from  the  French  ambassa- 
dor. 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


213 


ALLIANCE  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND 
AMERICA. 

Congress  having  agreed  on  the  plan  of 
the  treaty,  which  they  intended  to  propose 
to  his  most  christian  majesty,  proceeded  to 
elect  commissioners  to  solicit  its  acceptance. 
Dr.  Franklin,  Silas  Deane,  and  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, were  chosen.  The  latter  declining 
to  serve,  Arthur  Lee,  who  was  then  in  Lon- 
don, and  had  been  very  serviceable  to  his 
country  in  a  variety  of  ways,  was  elected 
in  his  room.  It  was  resolved,  that  no  mem- 
ber should  be  at  liberty  to  divulge  anything 
more  of  these  transactions  than  "  that  con- 
gress had  taken  such  steps  as  they  judged 
necessary  for  obtaining  foreign  alliances." 
The  secret  committee  were  directed  to  make 
an  effectual  lodgment  in  France  of  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling,  subject  to  the  order  of 
these  commissioners.  Dr.  Franklin,  who 
was  employed  as  agent  ui  the  business,  and 
afterwards  as  minister  plenipotentiary  at 
the  court  of  France,  was  in  possession  of  a 
greater  proportion  of  foreign  fame  than  any 
other  native  of  America.  By  the  force  of 
superior  abilities,  and  with  but  few  advan- 
tages in  early  life,  he  had  attained  the  high- 
est eminence  among  men  of  learning,  and 
in  many  instances  extended  the  empire  of 
science.  His  genius  was  vast  and  compre- 
hensive, and  with  equal  ease  investigated 
the  mysteries  of  philosophy  and  the  labyrinths 
of  politics.  His  fame  as  a  philosopher  had 
reached  as  far  as  human  knowledge  is  pol- 
ished or  refined.  His  philanthropy  knew  no 
bounds.  The  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  human  race  were  objects  which  at  all 
times  had  attracted  his  attention.  Disgusted 
with  Great  Britain,  and  glowmg  with  the 
most  ardent  love  for  the  liberties  of  his  op- 
pressed native  country,  he  lefl  London, 
where  he  had  resided  some  years  in  the 
character  of  agent  for  several  of  the  colo- 
nies, and  early  in  1775  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  immediately  afterwards  was  elect- 
ed by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  to 
share  in  the  opposition  to  Great  Britain  as  a 
member  of  congress.  Shortly  after  his  ap- 
pointment to  solicit  the  interests  of  congress 
in  France  [October  27],  he  sailed  for  that 
country  ;  he  was  no  sooner  landed  [Decem- 
ber 13]  than  universally  caressed.  His  fame 
had  smoothed  the  way  for  his  reception  in  a 
public  character.  Doctor  Franklin,  Silas 
Deane,  and  Arthur  Lee,  havingrendezvoused 
at  Paris,  soon  afler  [December  28]  opened 
their  business  in  a  private  audience  with  the 
count  de  Vergennes. 

At  this  period  congress  did  not  so  much 
expect  any  direct  aid  from  France,  as  the 
indirect  relief  of  a  war  between  that  coun- 
try and  Great  Britain.  To  subserve  this  de- 
sign, they  resolved,  that  "  their  commission- 
ers at  the  court  of  France  should  be  fur- 


nished with  warrants  and  commissions,  and 
authorized  to  arm  and  fit  for  war  in  the 
French  ports  any  number  of  vessels  (not  ex- 
ceeding six)  at  the  expense  of  the  United 
States,  to  war  upon  British  property,  pro- 
vided they  were  satisfied  this  measure 
would  not  be  disagreeable  to  the  court  of 
France."  This  resolution  was  carried  into 
effect,  and  in  the  year  1777  marine  offi- 
cers, with  American  commissions,  both  sail- 
ed out  of  French  ports,  and  carried  prizes 
of  British  property  into  them.  They  could 
not  procure  their  condemnation  m  the  courts 
of  France,  nor  sell  them  publicly,  but  they 
nevertheless  found  ways  and  means  to  turn 
them  into  money.  The  commanders  of 
these  vessels  were  sometimes  punished  by 
authority  to  please  the  English,  but  they 
were  oflener  caressed  from  another  quarter 
to  please  the  Americans. 

While  private  agents  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  were  endeavoring  to  embroil 
the  two  nations,  the  American  commission- 
ers were  urging  the  ministers  of  the  king 
of  France  to  accept  the  treaty  proposed  by 
congress.  They  received  assurances  of  the 
good  wishes  of  the  court  of  France,  but  were 
from  time  to  time  informed,  that  the  import- 
ant transaction  required  farther  considera- 
tion, and  were  enjoined  to  observe  the  most 
profound  secrecy.  Matters  remained  in  this 
fluctuating  state  from  December  1776  till 
December  1777.  Private  encouragement 
and  public  discountenance  was  alternated, 
but  both  varied  according  to  the  complexion 
of  news  from  America.  The  defeat  on  Long- 
Island,  the  reduction  of  New- York,  and  the 
train  of  disastrous  events  in  1776,  which 
have  already  been  mentioned,  sunk  the 
credit  of  the  Americans  very  low,  and  abated 
much  of  the  national  ardor  for  their  support. 
Their  subsequent  successes  at  Trenton  and 
Princeton  effaced  these  impressions,  and 
rekindled  active  zeal  in  their  behalf  The 
capture  of  Burgoyne  fixed  these  wavering 
politics.  The  success  of  the  Americans  in 
the  campaign  of  1777,  placed  them  on  high 
ground ;  their  enmity  had  proved  itself  for- 
midable to  Britain,  and  their  friendship  be- 
came desirable  to  France.  The  news  of 
the  capitulation  of  Saratoga  reached  FVance 
very  early  in  December  1777.  The  Ameri- 
can deputies  took  that  opportunity  to  press 
for  an  acceptance  of  the  treaty,  which  had 
been  under  consideration  for  the  preceding 
twelve  months.  The  capture  of  Burg03me's 
army  convinced  the  French,  that  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  Americans  to  Great  Britain  was 
not  the  work  of  a  few  men  who  had  got 
power  in  their  hands,  but  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  and  was  likely  to  be  finally 
successful.  It  was  therefore  determined  to 
take  them  by  the  hand,  and  publicly  to  es- 
pouse their  cause.    The  commissioners  of 


214 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


congress,  on  the  sixteenth  of  December  1777, 
were  informed,  by  Mr.  Gerard,  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  king's  council  of  state, 
"that  it  was  decided  to  acknowledge  the 
independence  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
make  a  treaty  with  them :  that  in  the  treaty 
no  advantage  would  be  taken  of  their  situa- 
tion to  obtain  terms,  which  otherwise  it 
would  not  be  convenient  for  them  to  agree 
to.  It  was  therefore  intended  that  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  should  be  such  as  the  new- 
formed  states  would  be  willing  to  agree  to, 
if  they  had  been  long  since  established,  and 
in  the  fullness  of  strength  and  power,  and 
such  as  they  should  approve  of  when  that 
time  should  come.  That  his  most  christian 
majesty  was  fixed  in  his  determination  not 
only  to  acknowledge,  but  to  support  their 
independence :  that  in  doing  this  he  might 
probably  soon  be  engaged  in  a  war,  yet  he 
should  not  expect  any  compensation  from 
the  United  States  on  that  account.  The 
only  condition  he  should  require  and  rely  on 
would  be,  that  the  United  States,  in  no  peace 
to  be  made,  should  give  up  their  independ 
ence,  and  return  to  the  obedience  of  the 
British  government."  At  any  time  previous 
to  the  sixteenth  of  December  1777,  when 
Mr.  Gerard  made  the  foregoing  declaration, 
it  was  in  the  power  of  the  British  ministry 
to  have  ended  the  American  war,  and  to 
have  established  an  alliance  with  the  United 
States,  that  would  have  been  of  great  ser 
vice  to  both ;  but  from  the  same  haughtiness 
which  for  some  time  had  predominated  in 
their  councils,  and  blinded  them  to  their  in^ 
terests,  they  neglected  to  improve  the  favor 
able  opportunity. 

Conformably  to  the  preliminaries  proposed 
by  Gerard,  his  most  christian  majesty  Lewis 
the  Sixteenth,  on  the  sixth  of  February  1778, 
entered  into  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce, 
and  of  alliance,  with  the  United  States,  on 
the  footing  of  the  most  perfect  equality  and 
reciprocity. 

As  there  was  nothing  exclusive  in  the 
treaty,  an  opening  was  left  for  Great  Britain 
to  close  the  war  when  she  pleased,  with  all 
the  advantages  of  future  commerce  that 
France  had  stipulated  for  herself  This  ju 
dicious  measure  made  the  establishment  of 
American  independence  the  common  cause 
of  all  the  commercial  powers  of  Europe ; 
for  the  question  then  was,  whether  the  trade 
of  the  United  States  should  by  the  subver- 
sion of  their  independence  be  again  monop- 
olized by  Great  Britain,  or,  by  the  establish- 
ment of  it,  laid  open  on  equal  terms  to  all 
the  world. 

Previous,  however,  to  announcing  the  de- 
claration of  the  French  ambassador  to  the 
British  parliament,  the  minister's  concilia 
tory  bills  passed  both  houses,  and  the  com- 
missioners were  appointed,  viz.  the  earl  of 


Carlisle,  Mr.  Eden,  governor  Johnstone, 
lately  become  a  proselyte  to  the  court,  and 
the  commanders-in-chief  by  sea  and  land. 

The  impression  which  was  made  on  all 
parties  by  the  ill  success  of  the  war,  and 
the  retraction  of  the  ministers,  was  now  be- 
come very  apparent.  So  great  indeed  was 
the  eagerness  of  all  parties  to  obtain  peace 
and  reconciliation  with  the  Americans,  that 
some,  even  of  the  gentlemen  in  office,  wish- 
ed to  extend  the  repeal  to  all  obnoxious  acts 
relative  to  America :  and  the  minister  him- 
self, in  opening  his  propositions,  had  declar- 
ed his  willingness  to  give  up  all  these  laws 
from  the  tenth  of  February  1763.  The  only 
difference  of  opinion  now  upon  the  subject 
was  concerning  the  time  of  carrying  it  into 
execution ;  that  is,  whether  it  should  be  pre- 
liminary to,  or  a  consequence  of  the  treaty  ? 
The  latter  at  length  prevailed,  and  a  motion 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Massachusets  charter- 
act  was  rejected  by  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  to  one  hundred  and  eight.  It  was  after- 
wards agreed,  however,  to  repeal  the  tea- 
act;  and  Burke  having,  the  same  day, 
moved,  that  the  provisions  of  the  bill  should 
be  extended  to  the  West  Indies,  his  motion 
was  likewise  agreed  to. 

WAYS  AND  MEANS. 

In  the  debates  on  the  ways  and  means, 
some  motions  were  made  which  exceeding- 
ly alarmed  administration,  and  even  threat- 
ened the  total  downfall  of  their  power.  In 
order  to  raise  the  interest  of  six  millions, 
which  the  minister  found  it  necessary  to 
borrow,  he  proposed  a  new  tax  on  houses 
and  wines.  This  occasioned  some  debate 
in  the  committee  of  supply  on  the  house-tax, 
which  was  considered  by  the  members  in 
opposition  as  not  only  a  land-tax  in  effect, 
but  as  being  also  exceedingly  disproportion- 
ate and  oppressive,  and  falling  particularly 
heavy  upon  the  inhabitants  of  London  and 
Westminster,  who  already  paid  so  vast  a 
proportion  to  the  land-tax,  and  whose  bur- 
dens, including  poors'  rate,  window-tax, 
watch,  lights,  pavement,  and  other  imposts, 
amounted  in  several  parishes  to  more  than 
eight  shillings  in  the  pound :  whilst,  to  ren- 
der it  still  more  grievous,  it  frequently  hap- 
pened that  those  who  were  the  least  able  to 
bear  them,  had  the  heaviest  burdens  imposed 
upon  them. 

Such,  however,  was  the  present  temper 
of  the  house,  that  though  the  motions  were 
at  last  agreed  to,  another  was  made  by  a 
gentleman  in  office,  and  closely  connected 
with  one  branch  of  the  ministry,  "  That  the 
better  to  enable  his  majesty  to  vindicate  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  his  crown  and  domin- 
ions, in  the  present  exigency  of  affairs,  there 
be  granted  one  fourth  part  of  the  net  annual 
income  upon  the  salaries,  fees,  and  perqui- 
sites of  all  offices  under  the  crown,  except- 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


215 


ing  only  those  held  by  the  speaker  of  the 
house  of  commons,  the  chancellor,  or  com- 
missioners of  the  great  seal,  the  judges, 
ministers  to  foreign  parts,  commissioners, 
officers  m  the  army  and  navy,  and  all  those 
which  do  not  produce  a  clear  yearly  income 
of  two  hundred  pounds  to  their  possessors ; 
the  tax  also  extending  to  all  annuities,  pen- 
sions, stipends,  or  other  yearly  sums  issuing 
out  of  the  exchequer,  or  any  branch  of  the 
revenue;  to  commence  from  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  March  1778,  and  to  continue  for  one 
year,  and  during  the  American  war." 

This  motion,  to  the  astonishment  and  ter- 
ror of  administration,  was  carried  in  the 
committee  by  one  hundred  to  eighty-two; 
and  though  the  ministry  summoned  all  their 
forces  against  the  ensuing  day,  in  order  to 
oppose  it  on  receiving  the  report  from  the 
committee,  it  was  rejected  only  by  a  majori- 
ty of  six ;  nor  would  even  this  have  been 
the  case,  had  the  members  in  opposition 
been  at  all  unanimous  in  its  support. 
DECLARATION  OF  WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  March,  the  follow- 
ing message  was  sent  from  his  majesty  to 
both  houses  of  parliament:  "His  majesty 
having  been  informed,  by  order  of  the  French 
king,  that  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce 
has  been  signed  between  the  court  of 
France,  and  certain  persons  employed  by 
his  majesty's  revolted  subjects  in  North 
America,  has  judged  it  necessary  to  direct, 
that  a  copy  of  the  declaration,  delivered  by 
the  French  ambassador  to  lord  viscount 
Weymouth,  be  laid  before  the  house  of  com- 
mons; and  at  the  same  time  to  acquaint 
them,  that  his  majesty  has  thought  proper, 
in  consequence  of  this  offensive  communi- 
cation on  the  part  of  France,  to  send  orders 
to  his  ambassadors  to  withdraw  from  that 
court.  His  majesty  is  persuaded,  that  the 
justice  and  good  faith  of  his  conduct  towards 
foreign  powers,  and  the  sincerity  of  his 
wishes  to  preserve  the  tranquillity  of  Eu- 
rope, will  be  acknowledged  by  all  the  world; 
and  his  majesty  trusts,  that  he  shall  not  stand 
responsible  for  the  disturbance  of  that  tran- 
quillity, if  he  should  find  himself  called  upon 
to  resent  so  unprovoked  and  so  unjust  an 
aggression  on  the  honor  of  his  crown,  and 
the  essential  interests  of  his  kingdom,  con- 
trary to  the  most  solemn  assurances,  subver- 
sive of  the  law  of  nations,  and  injurious  to 
the  rights  of  every  sovereign  power  in  Eu- 
rope. His  majesty,  relying  with  tlie  firmest 
confidence  on  the  zealous  and  affectionate 
support  of  his  faithful  people,  is  determined 
to  be  prepared  to  exert,  if  it  should  become 
necessary,  all  the  forces  and  resources  of 
his  kingdoms ;  which  he  trusts  will  be  ade- 
quate to  repel  every  insult  and  attack,  and 
to  maintain  and  uphold  the  power  and  repu- 
tation of  this  country."     The  declaration 


mentioned  in  the  above  message,  was  dated 
thirteenth  of  March,  and  was  as  follows : 
"  The  undersigned  ambassador  of  his  most 
christian  majesty  has  received  express  or- 
ders to  make  the  following  declaration  to 
the  court  of  London :  The  United  States  of 
North  America,  who  were  in  full  possession 
of  independence,  as  pronounced  by  them  oa 
the  fourth  of  July  1776,  have  proposed  to 
the  king  to  consolidate,  by  a  formal  conven- 
tion, the  connexion  begun  to  be  established 
between  the  two  nations,  the  respective 
plenipotentiaries  have  signed  a  treaty  of 
friendship  and  commerce,  designed  to  serve 
as  a  foundation  for  their  mutual  good  cor- 
respondence. His  majesty,  being  determin- 
ed to  cultivate  the  good  understanding  sub- 
sisting between  France  and  Great  Britain, 
by  every  means  compatible  with  his  dignity, 
and  the  good  of  his  subjects,  thmks  it  neces- 
sary to  make  this  proceeding  known  to  the 
court  of  London,  and  to  declare  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  contracting  parties  have  paid 
great  attention  not  to  stipulate  any  exclusive 
advantages  in  favor  of  the  French  nation ; 
and  that  the  United  States  have  reserved 
the  liberty  of  treating  with  every  nation 
whatever,  upon  the  same  footing  of  equality 
and  reciprocity.  In  making  this  communi- 
cation to  the  court  of  London,  the  king  is 
firmly  persuaded  it  will  find  new  proofs  of 
his  majesty's  constant  and  sincere  disposi- 
tion for  peace ;  and  that  his  Britannic  ma- 
jesty, animated  by  the  same  sentiments,  will 
equally  avoid  everything  that  may  alter 
their  good  harmony ;  and  that  he  will  par- 
ticularly take  effectual  measures  to  prevent 
the  commerce  between  his  majesty's  sub- 
jects and  the  United  States  of  North  Ameri- 
ca, from  being  interrupted,  and  to  cause  all 
the  usages  received  between  commercial 
nations,  to  be,  in  this  respect,  observed ;  and 
all  those  rules  which  can  be  said  to  subsist 
between  the  two  crowns  of  France  and 
Great  Britain.  In  this  just  confidence,  the 
undersigned  ambassador  thmks  it  superflu- 
ous to  acquaint  the  British  minister,  that, 
the  king  his  master  being  determined  to 
protect  effectually  the  lawful  commerce  of 
his  subjects,  and  to  maintam  the  dignity  of 
his  flag,  his  majesty  has,  in  consequence, 
taken  eventual  methods,  in  concert  with  the 
United  States  of  North  America.  Signed, 
Le  M.  de  Noailles." 

DEATH  OF  LORD  CHATHAM. 
On  the  seventh  of  April,  the  duke  of 
Richmond,  at  the  close  of  the  grand  com- 
mittee of  inquiry,  in  which  the  upper  house 
as  well  as  that  of  the  commons  had  been 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  session  deep- 
ly engaged,  moved  an  address  to  tlie  king 
on  the  state  of  the  nation.  In  his  speech  in 
support  of  this  address,  his  grace  decla-ed 
in  strong  terms  his  conviction  of  the  nece»- 


216 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sity  of  an  immediate  recognition  of  Ameri- 
can independence.  "  The  mischief,"  he 
said,  "whatever  might  be  the  magnitude 
of  it,  was  already  done ;  America  was  al- 
ready lost ;  her  independence  was  as  firmly 
established  as  that  of  other  states.  We  had 
sufficient  cause  for  regret,  but  our  lamenta- 
tion on  the  subject  was  of  no  more  avail 
than  it  would  be  for  the  loss  of  Normandy 
or  France." 

On  this  occasion  lord  Chatham  made  his 
last  and  most  affecting  speech  in  the  house 
of  lords.  He  had  long  been  a  prey  to  those 
incurable  disorders  which  brought  him  to 
his  grave,  and,  at  this  time,  was  so  exceed- 
ingly weak,  that  it  was  with  the  utmost 
difficulty  he  could  be  brought  into  the  house. 
He  delivered  his  speech,  however,  with  ex- 
traordinary energy,  and  was  heard  with  mark- 
ed attention  ;  but  his  lordship's  speech  was 
cut  short  by  extreme  weakness. 

Lord  Chatham,  who  had  appeared  greatly 
moved  during  the  reply,  made  an  eager  ef- 
fort to  rise  at  the  conclusion  of  it,  as  if  la- 
boring with  some  great  idea,  and  impatient 
to  give  full  scope  to  his  feelings ;  but,  be- 
fore he  could  utter  a  word,  pressing  his  hand 
on  his  bosom,  he  fell  down  suddenly  in  a 
convulsive  fit  The  duke  of  Cumberland, 
lord  Temple,  and  other  lords  near  him,  caught 
him  in  their  arms.  The  house  was  imme- 
diately cleared  ;  and  his  lordship  being  car- 
ried into  an  adjoining  apartment,  the  debate 
was  adjourned.  Medical  assistance  being  ob- 
tained, his  lordship  in  some  degree  recovered, 
and  was  conveyed  to  his  villa  of  Hayes  in 
Kent,  where,  after  lingering  some  few  weeks, 
he  expired,  May  eleventh,  1778,  in  the  sev- 
entieth year  of  his  age. 

CHARACTER  OF  LORD  CHATHAM. 

The  decease  of  this  illustrious  person  de- 
mands a  pause  in  our  narration,  and  calls 
for  a  few  general  remarks,  on  his  character 
and  abilities.  Ambition  was  his  ruling 
passion,  and  in  seeking  to  gratify  it,  we 
must  own,  that  he  sometimes  at  least  em- 
ployed the  means  which  other  courtiers 
have  done,  and  even  sacrificed  his  private 
judgment  to  his  advancement.  No  man, 
while  out  of  office,  ever  opposed  continent- 
al and  German  connexions  with  more  force 
of  argument,  with  more  depth  of  political 
sagacity,  than  he  did ;  no  man,  when  call- 
ed to  a  situation  under  a  sovereign,  with 
whom  these  connexions  were  a  darling  ob- 
ject, ever  more  ingeniously  defended  them. 

As  a  minister,  we  must  perhaps  allow  that 
lord  Chatham  had  one  failing.  Formed  by 
nature  for  the  most  active  and  tempestuous 
scenes,  he  was  too  fond  of  war ;  but  let  it  be 
remembered  that  he  was  the  only  minister 
of  this  country  that  ever  had  the  art  of  di- 
recting even  the  calamities  of  war  to  the 
advantages  of  the  nation. 


As  an  orator  he,  perhaps,  yet  stands  unri- 
valled in  this  country.  In  fire  and  energy 
he  equalled  Demosthenes ;  in  a  vivid  fancy, 
and  a  promptness  of  idea,  he  greatly  exceed- 
ed him.  The  best  speakers  of  the  time  shrunk 
before  the  amazing  force  of  his  eloquence. 
Lord  Mansfield  trembled  at  it ;  and  even  the 
vigor  of  lord  Holland  was  found  inadequate 
to  the  contest. 

In  private  life  the  talents  of  lord  Chatham 
were  alloyed  by  a  mixture  of  pride  and  re- 
serve ;  but  it  was  pride  united  with  dignity. 
He  was  not  selfish,  but  rather  too  inattentive 
to  his  private  aflfairs.  He  was  the  man  of 
the  public;  and  though  he  had  certainly 
equal  means  with  other  ministers  of  amass- 
ing wealth,  he  chose  rather  to  leave  his  fam- 
ily dependent  on  the  bounty  of  that  country 
which  he  had  essentially  served,  than  to  en- 
rich them  by  its  plunder. 

His  political  system  was  that  of  a  staunch 
whig;  and  though  he  sometimes  conceded 
to  the  wishes  of  the  court,  as  he  evidently 
did  with  respect  to  the  German  connexions, 
which  he  described  emphatically  as  "  a  mill- 
stone tied  about  his  neck,"  yet  his  enemies 
cannot  charge  him  with  ever  having  made 
a  sacrifice  of  any  great  constitutional  prin- 
ciple. 

On  the  same  evening  which  terminated 
the  existence  of  this  great  statesman,  the 
melancholy  event  was  announced  to  tlie 
house  of  commons  by  colonel  Barre,  who, 
after  a  short  eulogium  on  his  character, 
moved  for  an  address  to  the  king,  request- 
ing that  he  would  give  directions  that  "  the 
remains  of  William  Pitt,  earl  of  Chatham, 
be  interred  at  the  public  expense."  The 
motion  was  seconded  by  Townshend,  and 
seemed  to  receive  a  very  general  approba- 
tion. 

Notwithstanding  the  vast  eflTusions  of  sor- 
row and  gratitude  which  were  poured  forth, 
it  was,  however,  well  known,  that,  for  some 
time  past,  lord  Chatham  had  been  so  ungra- 
cious at  court,  that  it  was  not  even  thought 
proper  frequently  to  mention  his  name  there. 
A  gentleman  (Rigby)  at  that  time  high  in 
office,  endeavored,  therefore,  to  evade  the 
motion  by  a  proposal,  to  erect  a  monument 
to  his  lordship's  memory,  which,  he  could 
not  help  thinking,  would  be  a  more  eligible 
as  well  as  a  more  lasting  testimony  of  the 
public  gratitude,  than  merely  to  defi-ay  his 
funeral  expenses.  This  proposal,  however, 
produced  an  effect  directly  contrary  to  what 
was  intended.  The  opposition  received  it 
with  joy ;  but,  instead  of  the  substitution 
proposed,  they  joined  it  to  the  original  mo- 
tion, in  the  following  words :  "  And  that  a 
monument  be  erected  in  the  collegiate 
church  of  St.  Peter,  Westminster,  to  the 
memory  of  that  great  and  excellent  states- 
man, with  an  inscription  expressive  of  the. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


217 


sentiments  of  the  people  on  so  great  and 
irreparable  a  loss  ;  and  to  assure  his  majes- 
ty that  this  house  will  make  good  the  ex- 
pense." 

Lord  John  Cavendish  arose,  and  said,  he 
hoped  that  virtue  should  not,  in  this  instance, 
be  merely  its  own  reward  ;  but  that  the  grat- 
itude of  the  public  to  lord  Chatham's  family, 
whom  he  had  left  destitute  of  all  suitable 
provision,  should  be  the  means  of  exciting  an 
emulation  in  those  yet  unborn  to  copy  such 
an  example.      / 

The  minister  concurred  in  these  measures 
in  a  manner  that  did  him  honor ;  and  the 
whole  house  seemed  to  participate  of  a  gen- 
eral pleasure  in  the  approbation  of  them. 
In  consequence  of  a  motion,  made  by  Towns- 
hend,  a  bill  was  brought  in  and  passed,  by 
which  an  annuity  of  4000Z.  a-year  payable 
out  of  the  civil-list  revenue,  was  for  ever  set- 
tled on  those  heirs  of  the  late  earl,  on  whom 
the  earldom  of  Chatham  may  descend ;  and 
this  was  followed  by  a  grant  of  20,000^.  from 
the  commons,  for  the  discharge  of  the  late 
earl's  debts. 

Though  all  this  passed  in  the  house  of 
commons  without  any  altercation,  or  with- 
out a  single  dissentient  voice  upon  any  one 
proposition,  it  was  otherwise  in  the  house 
of  lords.  A  motion  made  by  the  earl  of 
Shelburne,  that  the  house  should  attend  his 
funeral,  was  directly  opposed,  and  the  mo- 
tion lost  by  the  majority  of  one.  The  bill 
for  settling  an  annuity  on  his  descendants 
was  likewise  vigorously  opposed  by  a  few 
lords ;  however,  it  was  carried,  by  a  majority 
of  42  to  11. 

RELIEF  TO  THE  TRADE  OF  IRELAND. 

The  distresses  in  which  the  kingdom  of 
Ireland  was  involved,  in  consequence  of  the 
war,  and  the  general  and  loud  complaints 
of  the  majority  of  its  inhabitants,  made  it 
absolutely  necessary  to  attempt  something 
farther  for  its  relief;  and  in  a  committee  of 
the  whole  house,  it  was  resolved, 

L  That  the  Irish  might  be  permitted  to 
export  directly  to  the  British  plantations  or 
settlements,  all  goods,  wares,  and  merchan- 
dise, being  the  produce  of  that  kingdom,  or 
of  Great  Britain,  wool  and  woollen  manu- 
factures only  excepted ;  as  also  foreign  cer- 
tificate goods  legally  imported. 

n.  That  a  direct  importation  be  allowed 
of  all  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  being 
the  produce  of  the  British  plantations,  to- 
bacco only  excepted. 

in.  That  the  direct  exportation  of  glass, 
manufactured  in  Ireland,  be  permitted  to  all 
places  except  Great  Britain. 

IV.  That  the  importation  of  cotton-yam, 
the  manufacture  of  Ireland,  be  allowed,  duty 
free,  into  Great  Britain ;  as  also, 

V.  The  importation  of  sail-cloth  and 
cordage. 

Vol.  IV.  19 


These  resolutions  excited  a  very  great 
and  general  alarm  amongst  tlie  commercial 
part  of  the  British  nation,  who  seemed  to 
consider  the  admission  of  Ireland  to  any  par- 
ticipation in  trade,  as  equally  destructive  to 
their  property,  and  subversive  of  their  rights. 

After  the  recess,  \ery  many  instructions 
and  petitions  were  presented  to  the  house  in 
opposition  to  them :  and  it  deserves  mention, 
as  a  striking  instance  of  commercial  folly 
and  prejudice,  that,  in  several  of  the  peti- 
tions, the  importation  of  Irish  sail-cloth,  and 
of  wrought  iron,  are  particularly  specified 
as  ruinous  to  the  same  manufactures  in  Eng- 
land ;  though  it  was  by  this  time  discovered, 
that,  by  a  positive  law  of  long  standing,  Ire- 
land was  in  actual  possession  of  those  very 
privileges,  although  the  Irish  were  so  far 
from  being  able  to  prosecute  these  manufac- 
tures to  any  purpose  of  competition  with 
the  British,  that  great  quantities  of  both 
were  annually  exported  to  that  country  from 
England.  An  almost  equally  great  and 
equally  groundless  alarm  had  been  taken  at 
the  bill  passed  a  few  years  since,  for  the  free 
impoilation  of  woollen  yarn  into  England  ; 
which  was  by  experience  found  and  acknow- 
ledged to  be  not  merely  innocuous,  but  bene- 
ficial ;.  yet  such  influence  had  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  public  upon  the  disposition  of 
the  house,  that  the  bills  founded  on  the 
resolutions  actually  passed,  were  ultimately 
dismissed,  and  some  trivial  points  only  con- 
ceded, not  meriting  a  distinct  specification. 
RELIEF  TO  ROMAN  CATHOLICS. 

Late  in  the  session,  Sir  George  Saville 
moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  the 
repeal  of  certain  penalties  imposed  by  an 
act  passed  in  the  10th  of  king  William,  en- 
titled, "  an  act  for  preventing  the  farther 
growth  of  popery;"  which  penalties  the 
mover  stated  to  be,  the  punishment  of  popish 
priests,  or  Jesuits,  as  guilty  of  felony,  who 
should  be  found  to  officiate  in  the  services 
of  their  church ;  the  forfeiture  of  estate  to 
the  next  Protestant  heir,  in  case  of  the  edu- 
cation of  the  Romish  possessor  abroad  ;  the 
power  given  to  the  son,  or  other  nearest  re- 
lation, being  a  Protestant,  to  take  possession 
of  the  father's  estate  during  the  lifetime  of 
the  proprietor;  and  the  depriving  Papists 
of  the  power  of  acquiring  any  legal  prop- 
erty by  purchase.  Li  proposing  the  repeal 
of  these  penalties.  Sir  George  Saville  said, 
"  that  he  meant  to  vindicate  the  honor  and 
assert  the  principles  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion, to  which  all  persecution  was  foreign 
and  adverse.  The  penalties  in  question 
were  disgraceful,  not  only  to  religion,  but  to 
humanity.  They  were  calculated  to  loosen 
all  the  bands  of  society,  to  dissolve  all  so- 
cial, moral,  and  religious  obligations  and  du- 
ties ;  to  poison  the  sources  of  domestic  feli- 
city, and  to  annihilate  every  principle  of 


218 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


lienor."  The  motion  was  received  with  ap- 
probation, and  the  bill  founded  upon  it  pass- 
ed without  a  single  negative. 

A  message  for  a  vote  of  credit  excited 
many  severe  strictures  on  the  conduct  of 
ministers;  and  although  it  not  only  passed 
in  the  committee,  but  tlie  report  was  re- 
ceived and  agreed  to  in  the  house  without  a 
division,  opposition  could  not  help  regretting 
the  miserable  situation  into  which  the  con- 
duct of  ministers  had  reduced  the  country. 
Intelligence  had  been  received  that  D'Es- 
tamg,  with  twelve  ships  of  the  line,  had 
sailed  from  Toulon  about  the  middle  of 
April,  and  we  had  no  force  in  America  suf- 
ficient to  oppose  him.  In  answer,  ministers 
endeavored  to  convince  the  house,  that,  if 
D'Estaing  was  really  destined  for  America, 
lord  Howe  would  be  able  to  use  such  means 
of  defence  as  would  prevent  any  immediate 
consequence  of  moment;  if  not,  admiral 
Byron,  with  the  fleet  under  his  command, 
at  Portsmouth,  could  certainly  arrive  in  time 
to  regain  any  losses  that  might  ensue.  It 
was  difficult,  however,  to  persuade  the  pub- 
lic, that  this  tardiness  in  sending  out  a  proper 
force  accorded  with  that  flourishing  state  of 
the  navy  of  which  the  ministry  had  boasted. 

The  disputes  relative  to  the  northern  ex- 
pedition, were  revived  on  the  arrival  of 
general  Burgoyne,  who  was  refused  admit- 
tance into  the  royal  presence ;  the  sun  of 
court-favor  no  longer  shone  upon  him,  and 
while  he  remained  depressed  by  ministerial 
neglect,  a  court  of  inquiry  was  appointed, 
but  the  general  officers  reported,  that  as  he 
was  prisoner  on  parole  to  the  congress,  they 
could  take  no  cognizance  of  his  conduct. 
He  then  demanded  a  court-martial ;  this  be- 
ing refused,  he  determined  to  submit  his  ac- 
tions to  parliamentary  inquiry.  The  inquiry 
was  brought  on  by  Vyner,  and  seconded  by 
Fox.  From  the  manly  and  spirited  behavior 
of  general  Burgoyne  on  this  day,  he  had  no 
reason  to  expect  favor  from  the  administra- 
tion, nor  much  cause  to  think  that  they 
would  very  deeply  interest  themselves  in  an 
inquiry  that  bore  a  more  favorable  aspect  to 
him  than  to  them. 

SESSION  CLOSES. 

This  session  had  now  been  extended  be- 
yond the  usual  time;  it  was,  however,  in 
both  houses  moved,  that  an  address  should 
be  presented  against  the  prorogation  of  par- 
liament, until  the  present  alarming  crisis 
might  be  terminated.  This  was  rejected  by 
the  usual  majorities,  and  on  June  the  third, 
his  majesty  closed  this  tedious  session.  The 
commons  were  thanked  for  the  provision 
made  for  the  more  honorable  support  of  the 
royal  family. 

The  last  particular  mentioned,  refers  to  a 
bill  passed  in  the  course  of  the  session,  for 
settlmg  an  annuity  of  60,000^.  on  the  six 


younger  princes,  of  30,000^.  on  the  five 
princesses,  and  of  12,000Z.  on  the  prince  and 
princess,  son  and  daughter  to  his  royal  high- 
ness the  duke  of  Gloucester ;  the  aniiuities 
to  take  eflfect,  in  the  first  instance,  on  the 
death  of  his  majesty,  and  in  the  second,  on 
the  death  of  the  duke  of  Gloucester. 

PLANS  OF  CONCILIATION  REJECTED  BY 
AMERICA. 

The  conciliatory  bills  of  the  minister, 
even  before  they  had  received  the  sanction 
of  parliament,  were  copied,  and  sent  across 
the  Atlantic,  to  lord  and  general  Howe.  On 
their  arrival  in  America,  they  were  sent  by 
a  flag  to  the  congress  at  York-Town.  When 
they  were  received,  congress  was  uninform- 
ed of  the  treaty  which  their  commissioners 
had  lately  (on  the  twenty-first  of  April)  con- 
cluded at  Paris.  For  upwards  of  a  year, 
they  had  not  received  one  line  of  informa- 
tion from  them  on  any  subject  whatever. 
One  packet  had  in  that  time  been  received, 
but  all  the  letters  were  taken  out  before  it 
was  put  on  board  the  vessel  which  brought 
it  from  France,  and  blank  paper  put  in  their 
stead.  A  committee  of  congress  was  ap- 
pointed to  examine  these  bills,  and  report  on 
them.  Their  report  was  brought  in  the  day 
following,  and  was  unanimously  adopted. 
By  this  they  rejected  the  proposals  of  Great 
Britain.  The  vigorous  and  firm  language 
in  which  congress  expressed  their  rejection 
of  these  offers,  considered  in  connexion  with 
the  circumstance  of  their  being  wholly  ig- 
norant of  the  late  treaty  with  France,  ex- 
hibits the  glowing  serenity  of  fortitude. 
While  the  royal  commissioners  were  indus- 
triously circulating  these  bills  in  a  partial 
and  secret  manner,  as  if  they  suspected  an 
intention  of  concealing  them  from  the  com- 
mon people,  congress,  trusting  to  the  good 
sense  of  their  constituents,  ordered  them  to 
be  forthwith  printed  for  the  public  informa- 
tion. Having  directed  the  affairs  of  their 
country  with  an  honest  reference  to  its  wel- 
fare, they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  peo- 
ple knowing  and  judging  for  themselves. 
They  submitted  the  whole  to  the  public ; 
their  act,  after  some  general  remarks  on  the 
bill,  concluded  as  follows : 

"From  all  which  it  appears  evident  to 
your  committee,  that  the  said  bills  are  in- 
tended to  operate  upon  the  hopes  and  fears 
of  the  good  people  of  these  states,  so  as  to 
create  divisions  among  them,  and  a  defec- 
tion from  the  common  cause,  now,  by  the 
blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  drawmg  near 
to  a  favorable  issue :  that  they  are  the  sequel 
of  that  insidious  plan,  which,  from  the  days 
of  the  stamp-act  down  to  the  present  time, 
hath  involved  this  country  in  contention  and 
bloodshed :  and  that,  as  in  other  cases  so  in 
this,  although  circumstances  may  force  them 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


219 


at  times  to  recede  from  their  unjustifiable 
claims,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  they  will, 
as  heretofore,  upon  the  first  favorable  occa- 
sion, again  display  that  lust  of  domination 
which  hath  rent  in  twain  the  mighty  empire 
of  Britain. 

"  Upon  the  whole  matter,  the  committee 
beg  leave  .to  report  it  as  their  opinion,  that 
as  ttie  Americans  united  in  this  arduous 
contest  upon  principles  of  common  interest, 
for  the  defence  of  common  rights  and  privi- 
leges, which  union  hath  been  cemented  by 
common  calamities,  and  by  mutual  good 
offices  and  affection,  so  the  great  cause  for 
which  they  contend,  and  in  which  all  man- 
kind are  interested,  must  derive  its  success 
from  the  continuance  of  that  union.  Where- 
fore any  man  or  body  of  men,  who  should 
presume  to  make  any  separate  or  partial 
convention  or  agreement  with  commissioners 
under  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  or  any 
of  them,  ought  to  be  considered  and  treated 
as  open  and  avowed  enemies  of  these  United 
States. 

"  And  further,  your  committee  beg  leave 
to  report  it  as  their  opinion,  that  these 
United  States  cannot  with  propriety  hold 
any  conference  with  any  commissioners  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain,  unless  they  shall, 
as  a  preliminary  thereto,  either  withdraw 
their  fleets  and  armies,  or  else,  in  positive 
and  express  terms,  acknowledge  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  said  States. 

"And  inasmuch  as  it  appears  to  be  the 
design  of  the  enemies  of  these  States  to  lull 
them  into  a  fatal  security — to  the  end  that 
they  may  act  with  a  becoming  weight  and 
importance,  it  is  the  opinion  of  your  com- 
mittee, that  the  several  States  be  called  upon 
to  use  the  most  strenuous  exertions  to  have 
their  respective  quotas  of  continental  troops 
in  the  field  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  all 
the  militia  of  the  said  States  be  held  in  readi- 
ness to  act  as  occasion  may  require." 

The  conciliatory  bills  were  speedily  fol- 
lowed by  the  royal  commissioners,  deputed 
to  solicit  their  reception.  Governor  John- 
stone, lord  Carlisle,  and  Mr.  Eden,  appoint- 
ed on  this  business,  attempted  to  open  a  ne- 
gotiation on  the  subject.  They  requested 
general  Washington  to  furnish  a  passport 
for  their  secretary,  Dr.  Ferguson,  with  a 
letter  from  them  to  congress ;  but  this  was 
refused,  and  the  refusal  was  unanimously 
approved  by  congress.  They  then  forward- 
ed in  the  usual  channel  of  communication  a 
letter  addressed  "  To  his  excellency  Henry 
Tjaurens,  the  president,  and  other  the  mem- 
bers of  congress,"  in  which  they  communi- 
cated a  copy  of  their  commission  and  of  the 
acts  of  parliament  on  w^hich  it  was  founded, 
and  offered  to  concur  in  every  satisfactory 
,  and  just  arrangement  towards  the  following 
among  other  purposes : 


"  To  consent  to  a  cessation  of  hostilities, 
both  by  sea  and  land. 

"To  restore  free  intercourse,  to  revive 
mutual  affection,  and  renew  the  common 
benefits  of  naturalization,  through  the  seve- 
ral parts  of  this  empire. 

"  To  extend  every  freedom  to  trade  that 
our  respective  interests  can  require. 

"To  agree  that  no  military  forces  shall 
be  kept  up  in  the  different  states  of  North 
America,  without  the  consent  of  the  gene- 
ral congress  or  particular  assemblies. 

"To  concur  in  measures  calculated  to 
discharge  the  debts  of  America,  and  to  raise 
the  credit  and  value  of  the  paper  circulation. 

"  To  perpetuate  our  union  by  a  reciprocal 
deputation  of  an  agent  or  agents  from  the 
different  States,  who  shall  have  the  privilege 
of  a  seat  and  voice  in  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain ;  or  if  sent  from  Britain,  in 
that  case  to  have  a  seat  and  voice  in  the  as- 
semblies of  the  different  States  to  which 
they  may  be  deputed  respectively,  in  order 
to  attend  the  several  interests  of  those  by 
whom  they  are  deputed. 

"  In  short,  to  establish  the  power  of  the 
respective  legislatures  in  each  particular 
state,  to  settle  its  revenue,  its  civil  or  mili- 
tary establishment,  and  to  exercise  a  perfect 
freedom  of  legislation  and  internal  govern- 
ment, so  that  the  British  states  throughout 
North  America,  acting  with  us  in  peace  and 
war  under  one  common  sovereign,  may  have 
the  irrevocable  enjoyment  of  every  privi- 
lege that  is  short  of  a  total  separation  of  in- 
terests, or  consistent  with  that  union  offeree, 
on  which  the  safety  of  our  common  religion 
and  liberty  depends." 

A  decided  negative  having  been  already 
given,  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  British 
commissioners,  to  the  overtures  contained  in 
the  conciliatory  bills,  and  intelligence  of  the 
treaty  with  France  having  in  the  mean  time 
arrived,  there  was  no  ground  left  for  farther 
deliberation.  President  Laurens  therefore, 
by  order  of  congress,  on  the  seventeenth  of 
June,  returned  the  following  answer : 

"  I  have  received  the  letter  from  your  ex- 
cellencies of  the  ninth  instant,  with  the  in- 
closures,  and  laid  them  before  congress. 
Nothing  but  an  earnest  desire  to  spare  the 
farther  effusion  of  human  blood  could  have 
induced  them  to  read  a  paper,  containing 
expressions  so  disrespectful  to  his  most 
christian  majesty,  the  good  and  great  ally 
!  of  these  States ;  or  to  consider  propositions 
I  so  derogatory  to  the  honor  of  an  independ- 
j  ent  nation. 

"  The  acts  of  the  British  parliament,  the 
j  commission  from  your  sovereign,  and  your 
!  letter,  suppose  the  people  of  those  fc^tates  to 
i  be  the  subjects  of  the  crown  of  Great  Brit- 
i  ain,  and  are  founded  on  the  idea  of  depend- 
I  ence,  which  is  utterly  inadmissible. 


220 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


"  I  am  further  directed  to  inform  your  ex- 
cellencies, that  congress  is  inclined  to  peace, 
notwithstanding  the  unjust  claims  from  which 
this  war  originated,  and  the  savage  manner 
in  which  it  hath  been  conducted.  They 
will  therefore  be  ready  to  enter  upon  the 
consideration  of  a  treaty  of  peace  and  com- 
merce, not  inconsistent  with  treaties  already 
subsisting,  when  the  king  of  Great  Britain 
shall  demonstrate  a  sincere  disposition  for 
that  purpose.  The  only  solid  proof  of  this 
disposition  will  be,  an  explicit  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  independence  of  these  States, 
or  the  withdrawing  his  fleets  and  armies." 

Though  congress  could  not,  consistently 
with  national  honor,  enter  on  a  discussion  of 
the  terms  proposed  by  the  British  commis- 
sioners, yet  some  individuals  of  their  body 
ably  proved  the  propriety  of  rejecting  them. 
Among  these  governor  Morris,  and  W.  H. 
Drayton,  with  great  force  of  argument  and 
poignancy  of  wit,  justified  the  decisive  mea- 
sures adopted  by  their  countrymen. 

These  offers  of  conciliation  in  a  great 
measure  originated  in  an  opinion  that  the 
congress  was  supported  by  a  faction,  and 
that  the  great  body  of  the  people  was  hos- 
tile to  independence,  and  well  disposed  to 
reunite  with  Great  Britain.  The  latter  of 
these  suppositions  was  true,  till  a  certain 
period  of  the  contest;  but  that  period  was 
elapsed.  With  their  new  situation,  new 
opinions  and  attachments  had  taken  place. 
The  political  revolution  of  the  government 
was  less  extraordinary  than  that  of  the  style 
and  manner  of  thinking  in  the  United 
States.  The  independent  American  citizens 
saw  with  other  eyes,  and  heard  with  other 
ears,  than  when  they  were  in  the  condition 
of  British  subjects.  That  narrowness  of 
sentiment,  which  prevailed  in  England  to- 
wards France,  no  loncrer  existed  among  the 
Americans.  The  British  commissioners,  un- 
apprized  of  this  real  change  in  the  public 
mind,  expected  to  keep  a  hold  on  the  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  by  that  illiberality 
which  they  inherited  from  their  forefathers. 
Presuming  that  the  love  of  peace,  and  the 
ancient  national  antipathy  to  France  would 
counterbalance  all  other  ties,  they  flattered 
themselves  that  by  perseverance  an  impres- 
sion favorable  to  Great  Britain  might  yet  be 
made  on  the  mind  of  America.  They  there- 
fore renewed  their  efforts  to  open  a  ne- 
gotiation with  congress,  in  a  letter  of  the 
eleventh  of  July.  As  they  had  been  inform- 
ed, in  answer  to  their  preceding  letter  of 
the  tenth  of  June,  that  an  explicit  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  or  a  withdrawing  of  their  fleets  and 
armies,  must  precede  an  entrance  on  the 
consideration  of  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  as 
neither  branch  of  this  alternative  had  been 
complied  with,  it  was  resolved  by  congress 


that  no  answer  should  be  f^iven  to  their  re- 
iterated application. 

In  addition  to  his  public  exertions  as  a 
commissioner,  governor  Johnstone  endeav- 
ored to  attain  the  objects  on  which  he  had 
been  sent,  by  opening  a  private  correspond- 
ence with  some  of  the  members  of  congress, 
and  other  Americans  of  influence.  He  in 
particular  addressed  himself  by  letter  to 
Henry  Laurens,  Joseph  Reed,  and  Robert 
Morris.  His  letter  to  Henry  Laurens  was 
in  these  words : 
"  Dear  Sir, 

"  I  beg  to  transfer  to  my  friend  Dr.  Fer- 
guson, the  private  civilities  which  my  friends 
Mr.  Manning  and  Mr.  Oswald  request  in 
my  behalf  He  is  a  man  of  the  utmost  prob- 
ity, and  of  the  highest  esteem  in  the  repub- 
lic of  letters. 

"  If  you  should  follow  the  example  of 
Britain  in  the  hour  of  her  insolence,  and 
send  us  back  without  a  hearmg,  I  shall  hope 
from  private  friendship,  that  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  see  the  country,  and  the  worthy 
characters  she  has  exhibited  to  the  world, 
upon  making  the  request  in  any  way  you 
may  point  out." 

In  a  letter  to  Joseph  Reed,  of  April  elev- 
enth, governor  Johnstone  said,  "The  man 
who  can  be  instrumental  in  bringing  us  aU 
to  act  once  more  in  harmony,  and  to  unite 
together  the  various  powers  which  this  con- 
test has  drawn  forth,  will  deserve  more  from 
the  king  and  people,  from  patriotism,  hu- 
manity, and  all  the  tender  ties  that  are  af- 
fected Isy  the  quarrel  and  reconciliation,  than 
ever  was  yet  bestowed  on  human  kind." 
On  the  sixteenth  of  June  he  wrote  to  Robert 
Morris,  "  I  believe  the  men  who  have  con- 
ducted the  affairs  of  America  incapable  of 
being  influenced  by  improper  motives ;  but 
in  all  such  transactions  there  is  risk ;  and  f 
think,  that  whoever  ventures  should  be  se- 
cured, at  the  same  time  that  honor  and 
emolument  should  naturally  follow  the  for- 
tune of  those,  who  have  steered  the  vessel 
in  the  storm,  and  brought  her  safely  to  port. 
I  think  Washington  and  the  president  have 
a  right  to  every  favor  that  grateful  nations 
can  bestow,  if  they  could  once  more  unite 
our  interests,  and  spare  the  miseries  and  de- 
vastations of  war." 

To  Joseph  Reed,  private  information  waa 
communicated,  that  it  had  been  intended  by 
governor  Johnstone,  to  offer  him,  in  case  of 
His  exerting  his  abilities  to  promote  a  re- 
union of  the  two  countries,  if  consistent  with 
Iiis  principles  and  judgment,  ten  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  and  any  office  in  the  colo- 
nies in  his  majesty's  gift.  To  which  Reed 
replied,  "I  am  not  worth  purchasing,  but 
such  as  I  am,  the  king  of  Great  Britain  is 
not  rich  enough  to  do  it."  Congress,  on  the 
ninth  of  July,  ordered  all  letters,  received 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


221 


by  members  of  Congress,  from  any  of  the 
British  commissioners,  or  their  agents,  or 
from  any  subject  of  the  king  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, of  a  public  nature,  to  be  laid  before 
them.  The  above  letters  and  information 
being  communicated,  congress  resolved, 
"  That  the  same  cannot  but  be  considered  as 
direct  attempts  to  corrupt  their  integrity, 
and  that  it  is  incompatible  with  the  honor 
of  congress  to  hold  any  manner  of  corres- 
pondence or  intercourse  with  the  said  George 
Johnstone,  Esquire,  especially  to  negotiate 
with  him  upon  affairs  in  which  the  cause  of 
liberty  is  interested."  Their  determination, 
with  the  reasons  of  it,  were  expressed  in 
the  form  of  a  declaration,  a  copy  of  which 
was  signed  by  the  president,  and  sent  by  a 
flag  to  the  commissioners  at  New-York. 
This  was  answered  by  governor  Johnstone 
by  an  angry  publication,  in  which  he  denied 
or  explained  away  what  had  been  alleged 
against  him.  Lord  Carlisle,  Sir  Henry  Clin- 
ton, and  Mr.  Eden,  denied  their  having  any 
knowledge  of  the  matter  charged  on  gov- 
ernor Johnstone. 

The  commissioners  failing  in  their  at- 
tempts to  negotiate  with  congress,  had  no 
resource  left,  but  to  persuade  the  inhabitants 
to  adopt  a  line  of  conduct  counter  to  that  of 
their  representatives.  To  this  purpose  they 
jyublished  a  manifesto  and  proclamation,  ad- 
dressed to  congress,  the  assemblies,  and  all 
others  the  free  inhabitants  of  the  colonies, 
in  which  they  observed,  "The  policy,  as 
well  as  the  benevolence  of  Great  Britain, 
liave  thus  far  checked  the  extremes  of  war, 
when  they  tended  to  distress  a  people  still 
considered  as  our  fellow-subjects,  and  to  des- 
olate a  country  shortly  to  become  a  source 
of  mutual  advantage  :  but  when  that  coun^ 
try  professes  the  unnatural  design  not  only 
of  estranging  herself  from  us,  but  of  mort 
gating  herself  and  her  resources  to  our  en- 
emies, the  whole  contest  is  changed,  and  the 
question  is,  how  far  Great  Britain  may,  by 
every  means  in  her  power,  destroy  or  ren- 
der useless  a  connexion  contrived  for  her 
ruin,  and  for  the  aggrandizement  of  France. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  laws  of  self- 
preservation  must  direct  the  conduct  of 
Great  Britam ;  and  if  the  British  colonies 
are  ta  become  an  accession  to  France,  will 
direct  her  to  render  the  accession  of  as  little 
avail  as  possible  to  her  enemy." 

Congress,  upon  being  informed  of  the  de- 
sign of  the  commissioners  to  circulate  these 
papers,  declared,  that  the  agents  employed 
to  distribute  the  manifestoes  and  proclama- 
tions of  the  commissioners,  were  not  enti- 
tled to  protection  from  a  flag.  They  also  re- 
commended to  the  several  states  to  secure 
and  keep  them  in  close  custody;  but  that 
they  might  not  appear  to  hoodwink  their 
19* 


constituents,  they  ordered  the  manifestoes 
and  proclamation  to  be  printed  in  the  news- 
papers.  The  proposals  of  the  commissioners 
were  not  more  favorably  received  by  the 
people  than  they  had  been  by  congresa  In 
some  places  the  flags  containing  them  were 
not  received,  but  ordered  instantly  to  de- 
part ;  in  others  they  were  received,  and  for- 
warded to  congress,  as  the  only  proper  tri- 
bunal to  take  cognizance  of  them.  In  no 
one  place,  not  immediately  commanded  by 
the  British  army,  was  there  any  attempt  to 
accept,  or  even  to  deliberate  on  the  propri- 
ety of  closing  with  the  offers  of  Britain. 

To  deter  the  British  from  executing  their 
threats  of  laying  waste  the  country,  con- 
gress, on  the  thirtieth  of  October,  published 
to  the  world  a  resolution  and  manifesto,  in 
which  they  concluded  with  these  words : 

"  We,  therefore,  the  congress  of  tlie  Unit- 
ed States  of  America,  do  solemnly  declare 
and  proclaim,  that  if  our  enemies  presume 
to  execute  their  threats,  or  persist  in  their 
present  career  of  barbarity,  we  will  take 
such  exemplary  vengeance  as  shall  deter 
others  from  a  like  conduct.  We  appeal  to 
that  God  who  searcheth  the  hearts  of  men, 
for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions :  and  in 
his  holy  presence  we  declare,  that  as  we  are 
not  rhoved  by  any  light  and  hasty  sugges- 
tion of  anger  and  revenge,  so  through  every 
possible  change  of  fortune  we  will  adhere 
to  this  our  determmation." 

This  was  the  last  effort  of  Great  Britain, 
in  the  way  of  negotiation,  to  regain  her  col- 
onies. It  originated  in  tolly,  and  ignorance 
of  the  real  state  of  affairs  in  America.  She 
had  begun  with  wrong  measures,  and  had 
now  got  into  wrong  time.  Her  concessions, 
on  this  occasion,  were  an  implied  justifica- 
tion of  the  resistance  of  the  colonists.  By 
offering  to  concede  all  that  they  at  first  ask- 
ed for,  she  virtually  acknowledged  herself 
to  have  been  the  aggressor  m  an  unjust  war- 
Nothing"  could  be  more  favorable  to  the  ce- 
menting of  the  friendship  of  the  new  allies 
than  this  unsuccessfiil  negotiation.  The 
states  had  an  opportunity  of  evmcing  the 
sincerity  of  their  engagements,  and  France 
abundant  reason  to  believe  that,  by  prevent- 
ing their  being  conquered,  her  favorite 
scheme  of  lessening  the  power  of  Great 
Britain  would  be  secured  beyond  the  reach 
of  accident. 

Afler  the  termmation  of  the  campaign  of 
1777,  the  British  army  retired  to  wmter- 
quarters  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  American 
army  to  Valley  Forge.  The  former  enjoy- 
ed all  the  conveniencies  which  an  opulent 
city  afforded,  while  the  latter,  not  half 
clothed,  and  more  than  once  on  the  point  of 
starving,  were  enduring  the  severity  of  a 
cold  winter  in  a  hutted  camp.     It  was  well 


222 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


for  them  that  the  British  made  no  attempt 
to  disturb  them,  while  in  this  destitute  con- 
dition. 

The  winter  and  spring  passed  away  with- 
out any  more  remarkable  events  in  either 
army,  than  a  few  successful  excursions  of 
parties  from  Philadelphia  to  the  neighboring 
country,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  in  sup- 
plies, or  destroying  property.  In  one  of  these, 
a  party  of  the  British  proceeded  to  Borden- 
ton,  and  there  burned  four  store-houses  full 
of  useful  commodities.  Before  they  return- 
ed to  Philadelphia,  they  burned  two  frig- 
ates, nine  ships,  six  privateer  sloops,  twen- 
ty-three brigs,  with  a  number  of  sloops  and 
schooners. 

Soon  after,  an  excursion  from  Newport 
was  made  by  five  hundred  British  and  Hes- 
sians, under  the  command  of  lieutenant-colo- 
nel Campbell.  These  having  landed  in  the 
night,  marched  next  morning  (May  twenty- 
fifth)  in  two  bodies,  the  one  for  Warren,  the 
other  for  the  head  of  Kickemuet  river.  They 
destroyed  about  seventy  flat-bottomed  boats, 
and  burned  a  quantity  of  pitch,  tar,  and 
plank.  They  also  set  fire  to  the  meeting- 
house at  Warren,  and  seven  dwelling-houses. 
At  Bristol  they  burned  the  church  and  twen- 
ty-two houses. 

FRENCH  SQUADRON  ARRIVES  IN  AMER- 
ICA—PHILADELPHIA EVACUATED. 
The  French  squadron,  commanded  by 
count  D'Estaing,  which  had  sailed  from  Tou- 
lon for  America,  arrived,  on  the  9th  of  July, 
after  a  passage  of  eighty-seven  days,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Delaware.  From  an  appre- 
hension of  something  of  this  kind,  and  from 
the  prospect  of  greater  security,  it  was  re- 
solved in  Great  Britain  forthwith  to  evacu- 
ate Philadelphia,  and  to  concentrate  the 
royal  force  in  the  city  and  harbor  of  New- 
York.  The  commissioners  brought  out  the 
orders  for  this  movement,  but  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter :  it  had  an  unfriendly  influence 
on  their  proposed  negotiations,  but  it  was 
indispensably  necessary ;  for  if  the  French 
fleet  had  blocked  up  the  Delaware,  and  the 
Americans  besieged  Philadelphia,  the  escape 
of  the  British  from  either  would  have  been 
scarcely  possible. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  June  the  royal  army 
passed  over  the  Delaware  into  New-Jersey. 
General  Washington,  having  penetrated  into 
their  design  of  evacuating  Philadelphia,  had 
previously  detached  general  Maxwell's  brig- 
ade to  co-operate  with  the  Jersey  militia  in 
obstructing  their  progress,  till  time  should 
be  given  for  his  army  to  overtake  them.  The 
British  were  encumbered  with  an  enormous 
baggage,  which,  together  with  the  impedi- 
ments thrown  in  their  way,  greatly  retarded 
their  march.  The  American  army  having, 
in  pursuit  of  the  British,  crossed  the  Dela- 
ware, six  hundred  men  were  immediately 


detached  under  colonel  Morgan  to  reinforce 
general  Maxwell.  Washington  halted  his 
troops,  when  they  had  marched  to  the  vicin- 
ity of  Princeton.  The  general  officers  in 
the  American  army,  being  asked  by  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, "Will  it  be  advisable  to 
hazard  a  general  action  V  answered  in  the 
negative,  but  recommended  a  detachment 
of  fifteen  hundred  men  to  be  immediately 
sent  to  act  as  occasion  might  serve  on  the 
enemy's  left  flank  and  rear.  This  was  im- 
mediately forwarded  under  general  Scott. 

The  British  pursued  their  march  without 
farther  interruption  than  a  partial  and  inde- 
cisive action  at  Monmouth,  and  on  the  thir- 
tieth of  June  reached  the  neighborhood  of 
Sandy-hook,  without  the  loss  of  either  their 
covering  party  or  baggage.  The  American 
general  declined  all  farther  pursuit  of  the 
royal  army,  and  soon  after  drew  off"  his  troops 
to  the  borders  of  the  North  River. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  the 
American  army  took  post  at  the  White 
Plains,  a  few  miles  beyond  Kingsbridge; 
and  the  British,  though  only  a  few  miles  dis- 
tant, did  not  molest  them.  They  remained 
in  this  position  from  an  early  day  in  July, 
till  a  late  one  in  the  autumn,  and  then  the 
Americans  retired  to  Middlebrook  in  Jersey, 
where  they  built  themselves  huts  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  had  done  at  Valley  Forge. 

FRENCH  AMBASSADOR  TO  CONGRESS- 
BRITISH  FLEET  BLOCKADED  IN  NEW- 
YORK. 

Immediately  on  the  departure  of  the 
British  from  Philadelphia,  congress,  after  an 
absence  of  nine  months,  returned  to  the  for- 
mer seat  of  their  deliberations.  Soon  after 
their  return,  they  were  called  upon  to  give 
a  public  audience  to  a  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary from  the  court  of  France.  The  person 
appointed  to  this  office  was  M.  Gerard,  the 
same  who  had  been  employed  in  tlie  nego- 
tiations antecedent  to  the  treaty.  The  Brit- 
ish had  but  barely  completed  the  removal  of 
their  fleet  and  army,  from  the  Delaware  and 
Philadelphia  to  the  harbor  and  city  of  New- 
York,  when  they  received  intelligence  that 
the  French  fleet  was  on  the  coast  of  Amer- 
ica. Count  D'Estaing  had  with  him  twelve 
ships  of  the  line  and  three  frigates :  among 
the  former,  one  carried  ninety  guns,  another 
eighty,  and  six  seventy-four  guns  each. 
Their  first  object  was  the  surprise  of  lord 
Howe's  fleet  in  the  Delaware,  but  they  ar- 
rived too  late.  In  naval  history  there  are 
few  more  narrow  escapes  than  that  of  the 
British  fleet  on  this  occasion.  It  consisted 
only  of  six  sixty-four  gun  ships,  three  of  fifty, 
and  two  of  forty,  with  some  frigates  and 
sloops.  Most  of  these  had  been  long  on  ser- 
vice, and  were  in  a  bad  condition.  Their 
force,  when  compared  with  that  of  the 
French  fleet,  was  so  greatly  mferior,  that, 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


223 


had  the  latter  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Del- 1  ously  on  the  coast  of  America.     Admiral 

fl.^«  «  ^^oa  *aAintia  naaaacTP    tVipir  Pan.    Rvrnn'«  snnnrlmn  hnA  m*»f  writh  hnri  «7Pnth<ir 


aware  after  a  less  tedious  passage,  their  cap- 
ture, in  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  would 
have  been  inevitable.  This  stroke  was  prov- 
identially prevented  by  the  various  hindranc- 
es which  retarded  D'Estaing  m  his  voyage 
to  the  term  of  eighty-seven  days,  in  the  last 
eleven  of  which,  lord  Howe's  fleet  not  only 
quitted  the  Delaware,  but  reached  the  har- 
bor of  New- York.  D'Estaing,  disappointed 
in  his  first  scheme,  pursued,  and  on  the 
eleventh  of  July  appeared  off  Sandy-hook. 
American  pilots  of  the  first  abilities,  pro- 
vided for  the  purpose,  went  on  board  his 
fleet.  Among  them  were  persons,  whose 
circumstances  placed  them  above  the  ordi- 
nary rank  of  pilots. 

The  sight  of  the  French  fleet  raised  all 
the  active  passions  of  their  adversaries. 
Transported  with  indignation  against  the 
French,  for  interfering  in  what  they  called  a 
domestic  quarrel,  the  British  displayed  a  spirit 
of  zeal  and  bravery  which  could  not  be  exceed- 
ed. A  thousand  volunteers  were  dispatched 
from  their  transports  to  man  their  fleet.  The 
masters  and  mates  of  the  merchantmen  and 
traders  at  New- York  took  their  stations  at 
the  guns  with  the  common  sailors;  others 
put  to  sea  in  light  vessels,  to  watch  the  mo- 
tions of  the  enemy.  The  officers  and  pri- 
vates of  the  British  army  contended  with  so 
much  eagerness  to  serve  on  board  the  men- 
of-war  as  marines,  that  it  became  necessary 
to  decide  the  point  of  honor  by  lot. 

The  French  fleet  came  to  anchor,  and 
continued  without  the  Hook  for  eleven  days. 
During  this  time  the  British  had  the  morti- 
fication of  seeing  the  blockade  of  their  fleet, 
and  the  capture  of  about  twenty  vessels  un- 
der English  colors.  On  the  twenty-second, 
the  French  fleet  appeared  under  way.  It 
was  an  anxious  moment  to  the  British. 
They  supposed  that  count  D'Estaing  would 
force  his  way  into  the  harbor,  and  that  an 
engagement  would  be  the  consequence. 
Everything  with  them  was  at  stake.  No- 
thing less  than  destruction  or  victory  would 
have  ended  the  contest  If  the  first  had 
been  their  lot,  the  vast  fleet  of  transports 
and  victuallers,  and  the  army,  must  have 
fallen.  The  pilots  on  board  the  French 
fleet  declared  it  to  be  impossible  to  carry 
the  large  ships  over  the  bar,  on  account  of 
their  draught  of  water.  D'Estaing  on  that 
account,  and  by  the  advice  of  general 
Washington,  left  the  Hook,  and  sailed  for 
Newport.  By  his  departure  the  British  had 
a  second  escape,  for,  had  he  remained  at  the 
Hook  but  a  few  days  longer,  the  fleet  of  ad- 
miral Byron  must  have  fallen  into  his  hands. 
That  officer  had  been  sent  out  to  relieve 
lord  Howe,  who  had  solicited  to  be  recalled, 
and  the  fleet  under  his  command  had  been 
sent  to  reinforce  that  which  had  been  previ- 


Byron's  squadron  had  met  with  bad  weather, 
and  was  separated  in  different  storms.  It 
now  arrived,  scattered,  broken,  sickly,  dis- 
masted, or  otherwise  damaged.  Within 
eight  days  after  the  departure  of  the  French 
fleet,  the  Renown,  the  Raisonable,  the  Cen- 
turion, and  the  Cornwall,  arrived  singly  at 
Sandy-hook. 

ATTEMPT  ON  RHODE-ISLAND. 
The  next  attempt  of  count  D'Estaing  was 
against  Rhode-Island,  of  which  the  British 
had  been  in  possession  since  December  1776. 
A  combined  attack  against  it  was  projected, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  general  Sullivan 
should  command  the  American  land  forces. 
Such  was  the  eagerness  of  the  people  to  co- 
operate with  their  new  allies,  and  so  confi- 
dent were  they  of  success,  that  some  thou- 
sands of  volunteers  engaged  in  the  service. 
The  militia  of  Massachusets  was  under  the 
command  of  general  Hancock.  The  royal 
troops  on  the  island  having  been  lately  re- 
inforced, were  about  six  thousand.  Sulli- 
van's force  was  about  ten  thousand.  Lord 
Howe  followed  count  D'Estaign,  and  came 
within  sight  of  Rhode-Island  the  day  after 
the  French  fleet  entered  the  harbor  of  New- 
port. The  British  fleet  exceeded  the  French 
in  point  of  number,  but  was  inferior  with 
respect  to  effective  force  and  weight  of 
metal.  On  the  appearance  of  lord  Howe, 
the  French  admiral  put  out  to  sea  with  his 
whole  fleet  to  engage  him :  while  the  two 
commanders  were  exerting  their  naval  skill 
to  gain  respectively  the  advantages  of  posi- 
tion, a  strong  gale  of  wind  came  on,  which 
afterwards  increased  to  a  tempest,  and  great- 
ly damaged  the  ships  on  both  sides.  In  this 
conflict  of  the  elements,  two  capital  French 
ships  were  dismasted.  The  Languedoc  of 
ninety  guns,  D'Estaing's  own  ship,  aft«r 
losing  all  her  masts  and  her  rudder,  was  at- 
tacked by  the  Renown  of  fifty  guns,  com- 
manded by  captain  Dawson,  The  same 
evening  the  Preston  of  fifty  gims  fell  in  with 
the  Tonnant  of  eighty  guns,  with  only  her 
mainmast  standing,  and  attacked  her  with 
spirit,  but  night  put  an  end  to  the  engage- 
ment. Six  sail  of  the  French  squadron 
came  up  in  the  night,  which  saved  the  dis- 
abled ships  from  any  farther  attack.  There 
was  no  ship  or  vessel  lost  on  either  side.  The 
British  suffered  less  in  the  storm  than  their 
adversaries,  yet  enough  to  make  it  necessary 
for  them  to  return  to  New- York  for  the  pur- 
pose of  refitting.  The  French  fleet  came 
to  anchor  on  the  twentieth,  near  Rhode- 
Island,  but  sailed  on  the  twenty-second  to 
Boston.  Before  they  sailed,  general  Greene 
and  the  marquis  de  la  Fayette  went  on  board 
the  Languedoc,  to  consult  on  measures 
proper  to  be  pursued.  They  urged  D'Estaing 
to  return  with  his  fleet  into  the  harbor,  but 


224 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


his  principal  officers  were  opposed  to  the 
measure,  and  protested  against  it.  He  had 
been  instructed  to  go  to  Boston,  if  his  fleet 
met  with  any  misfortune.  His  officers  in- 
sisted on  his  ceasing  to  prosecute  the  expe- 
dition against  Rhode-Island,  that  he  might 
conform  to  the  orders  of  their  common  su- 
periors. Upon  the  return  of  general  Greene 
and  the  marquis  de  la  Fayette,  and  their  re- 
porting tlie  determination  of  count  D'Es- 
taing,  a  protest  was  drawn  up  and  sent  to 
him  against  the  count's  taking  thv.  fleet  to 
Boston,  as  derogatory  to  the  honor  of  France, 
contrary  to  the  intention  of  his  most  chris- 
tian majesty,  and  the  interest  of  his  nation, 
and  destructive  in  the  highest  degree  to  the 
welfare  of  the  United  States,  and  highly  in- 
jurious to  the  alliance  formed  between  the 
two  nations.  Had  D'Estaing  prosecuted  his 
original  plan  within  the  harbor,  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  British  post  on  Rhode-Island 
would  have  been  probable  ;  but  his  departure 
in  the  first  instance  to  engage  the  British 
fleet,  and  in  the  second  from  Rhode-Island 
to  Boston,  frustrated  the  whole  plan.  Per- 
haps count  D'Estaing  hoped  by  something 
brilliant  to  eflface  the  impressions  made  by 
his  late  failure  at  New- York ;  or  he  might 
have  thought  it  imprudent  to  stake  his  whole 
fleet  within  a  harbor  possessed  by  his  ene- 
mies. 

Aft;er  his  ships  had  suffered  both  from  bat- 
tle and  the  storm,  the  letter  of  his  instruc- 
tions, the  importunity  of  his  officers,  and  his 
anxiety  to  have  his  ships  speedily  refitted, 
mi^ht  have  weighed  with  him  to  sail  direct- 
ly For  Boston.  Whatever  were  the  reasons 
which  induced  his  adoption  of  that  measure, 
the  Americans  were  greatly  dissatisfied; 
they  complained  that  they  had  incurred 
great  expense  and  danger,  under  the  pros- 
pect of  the  most  effective  co-operation  ;  that 
depending  thereon,  they  had  risked  their 
lives  on  an  island,  where,  without  naval  pro- 
tection, they  were  exposed  to  particular  dan- 
ger :  that  in  this  situation  they  were  totally 
abandoned,  at  a  time,  when  by  persevering 
in  the  original  plan,  they  had  well-grounded 
hopes  of  speedy  success.  Under  these  ap- 
prehensions, the  discontented  militia  went 
home  in  such  crowds,  that  the  regular  army 
which  remained  was  in  danger  of  being  cut 
off"  from  a  retreat.  In  these  embarrassing 
circumstances,  general  Sullivan  extricated 
himself  with  judgment  and  ability ;  he  be- 
gan to  send  off  his  heavy  artillery  and  bag- 
gage on  the  twenty-sixth  of  August,  and  re- 
treated from  the  lines  on  the  night  of  the 
twenty-eighth.  It  had  been  that  day  re- 
solved in  a  council  of  war,  to  remove  to  the 
north  end  of  the  island,  fortify  their  camp, 
secure  a  communication  with  the  main,  and 
hold  the  ground  till  it  could  be  known  whe- 
ther the  French  fleet  would  return  to  their  as- 


sistance. The  marquis  de  la  Fayette,  by  de- 
sire of  his  associates,  set  off'  for  Boston,  to 
request  the  speedy  return  of  the  French 
fleet.  To  this  count  D'Estaing  would  not 
consent,  but  he  made  a  spirited  offer  to  lead 
the  troops  under  his  command,  and  co-ope- 
rate with  the  American  land  forces  against 
Rhode-Island. 

Sullivan  retreated  with  great  order,  but 
he  had  not  been  five  hours  at  the  north  end 
of  the  island,  when  his  troops  were  fired 
upon  by  the  British,  who  had  pursued  them 
on  discovering  their  retreat.  In  the  first  in- 
stance, these  light  troops  were  compelled  by 
superior  numbers  to  give  way,  but  they  kept 
up  a  retreating  fire.  On  being  reinforced 
they  gave  their  pursuers  a  check,  and  at 
length  repulsed  them.  By  degrees  the  ac- 
tion became  in  some  respects  general,  and 
near  twelve  hundred  Americans  were  en- 
gaged. The  loss  on  each  side  was  between 
two  and  three  hundred. 

Lord  Howe's  fleet,  with  Sir  Henry  Clin- 
ton, and  about  four  thousand  troops  on  board, 
being  seen  off"  the  coast,  general  Sullivan 
concluded  immediately  to  evacuate  Rhode- 
Island.  As  the  sentries  of  both  armies  were 
within  four  hundred  yards  of  each  other,  the 
greatest  caution  was  necessary.  To  cover 
the  design  of  retreatmg,  the  show  of  resist- 
ance and  continuance  on  the  island  was  kept 
up.  The  retreat  was  made  in  the  night  of 
August  the  thirtieth. 

With  the  abortive  expedition  to  Rhode- 
Island,  there  was  an  end  to  the  plans,  which 
were  in  this  first  campaign  projected  by 
the  allies  of  congress,  for  a  co-operation. 
The  Americans  had  been  intoxicated  with 
hopes  of  the  most  decisive  advantages,  but 
in  every  instance  they  were  disappointed. 
Lord  Howe,  with  an  inferiority  of  force,  not 
only  preserved  his  own  fleet,  but  counteract- 
ed and  defeated  all  the  views  and  attempts 
of  count  D'Estaing.  The  French  fleet 
gained  no  direct  advantages  for  the  Ameri- 
cans, yet  their  an'ival  was  of  great  service 
to  their  cause.  Besides  deranging  the  plans 
of  the  British,  it  carried  conviction  to  their 
minds,  that  his  most  christian  majesty  was 
seriously  disposed  to  support  them.  The 
good- will  of  their  new  allies  was  manifested 
to  the  Americans,  and  though  it  had  failed 
in  producing  the  effects  expected  from  it, 
the  failure  was  charged  to  winds,  weather, 
and  unavoidable  incidents.  Some  censured 
count  D'Estaing  ;  but  while  they  attempted 
to  console  themselves,  by  throwing  blame  on 
him,  they  felt  and  acknowledged  their  obli- 
gation to  the  French  nation,  and  were  en- 
couraged to  persevere  in  the  war,  from  the 
hope  that  better  fortune  would  attend  their 
future  co-operations. 

One  of  the  most  disastrous  events  which 
occurred  at  this  period  of  the  campaign,  was 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


225 


the  surprise  and  massacre  of  an  American 
regiment  of  light  dragoons,  commanded  by 
heutenant-colonel  Baylor.  While  employed 
in  a  detached  situation,  to  intercept  and 
watch  a  British  foraging  party,  they  took  up 
their  lodging  in  a  barn  near  Taapan.  The 
officer  who  commanded  the  party  which  sur- 
prised them  was  major-general  Grey  :  he 
acquired  the  name  of  the  "  No-flint  General," 
from  his  common  practice  of  ordering  the 
men  under  his  command  to  take  the  flints 
out  of  their  muskets,  that  they  might  be  con- 
fined to  the  use  of  their  bayonets.  A  party 
of  militia  which  had  been  stationed  on  the 
road  by  which  the  British  advanced,  quitted 
their  post,  without  giving  any  notice  to  colo- 
nel Baylor.  This  disorderly  conduct  was 
the  occasion  of  the  disaster  which  followed. 
Grey's  men  proceeded  with  such  silence  and 
address,  that  they  cut  oflf  a  Serjeant's  patrol 
without  noise,  and  surrounded  Old  Taapan 
without  being  discovered  ;  they  then  rushed 
in  upon  Baylor's  regiment  while  they  were 
in  a  profound  sleep.  Incapable  of  defence 
or  resistance,  cut  off"  from  every  prospect  of 
selling  their  lives  dear,  the  surprised  dra- 
goons sued  for  quarter.  Unmoved  by  their 
supplications,  their  adversaries  applied  the 
bayonet,  and  continued  its  repeated  thrusts, 
while  objects  could  be  found  in  which  any 
signs  of  life  appeared.  A  few  escaped,  and 
others,  after  having  received  from  five  to 
eleven  bayonet-wounds  in  the  trunk  of  the 
body,  were  restored,  in  a  course  of  time,  to 
perfect  health.  Baylor  himself  was  wounded, 
but  not  dangerously :  he  lost,  hi  killed, 
wounded,  and  taken,  sixty-seven  privates  out 
of  a  hundred  and  four ;  and  about  forty  were 
made  prisoners.  These  were  indebted  for 
their  lives  to  the  humanity  of  one  of  Grey's 
captains,  who  gave  quarter  to  the  whole 
fourth  troop,  though  contrary  to  the  orders 
of  his  superior  officers.  The  circumstance 
of  the  attack  being  made  in  the  night,  when 
neither  order  nor  discipline  can  be  observed, 
may  apologize  in  some  degree,  with  men  of 
a  certain  description,  for  this  bloody  scene. 
It  cannot  be  maintained,  that  the  laws  of  war 
require  that  quarter  should  be  given  iif  simi- 
lar assaults,  but  the  lovers  of  mankind  must 
ever  contend,  that  the  laws  of  humanity  are 
of  superior  obligation  to  those  of  war.  The 
truly  brave  will  spare  when  resistance  ceases, 
and  in  every  case  where  it  can  be  done  with 
safety.  The  perpetrators  of  such  actions 
may  justly  be  denominated  the  enemies  of 
refined  society.  As  far  as  their  example 
avails,  it  tends  to  arrest  the  growing  humani- 
ty of  modern  times,  and  to  revive  the  barba- 
rism of  Gothic  ages.  On  these  principles, 
the  massacre  of  colonel  Baylor's  regiment 
was  the  subject  of  much  complaint ;  the  par- 
ticulars of  it  were  ascertained,  by  the  oaths 
of  credible  witnesses,  taken  before  governor 


Livingston  of  Jersey,  und  the  whole  was 
submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the  public. 

EXPEDITION  AGAIJNST  EAST  FLORIDA- 
SAVANNAH  TAKEN  BY  THE  BRITISH. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year  (1778,)  an  ex- 
pedition was  undertaken  by  the  Americans 
against  East  Florida.  This  was  resolved 
upon  with  the  double  view  of  protecting  the 
state  of  Georgia  from  depredation,  and  of 
causing  a  diversion.  General  Robert  Howe, 
who  conducted  it,  had  under  his  command 
about  two  thousand  men,  a  few  hundred  of 
which  were  continental  troops,  and  the  re- 
mainder militia  of  the  states  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia ;  they  proceeded  as  far  eis 
St.  Mary's  River,  and  without  any  opposi- 
tion of  consequence.  At  this  place  the  Brit- 
ish had  erected  a  fort,  which,  in  compliment 
to  Tonyn,  governor  of  the  province,  was 
called  by  his  name.  On  the  approach  of 
general  Howe,  they  destroyed  this  fort,  and 
after  some  slight  skirmishing,  retreated  to- 
wards St  Augustine.  The  season  was  more 
fatal  to  the  Americans  than  any  opposition 
they  experienced  from  their  enemies.  Sick- 
ness and  death  raged  to  such  a  degree,  that 
an  immediate  retreat  became  necessary ; 
but  before  this  was  effected,  they  lost  nearly 
one-fourth  of  their  whole  number. 

The  royal  commissioners  having  failed  in 
their  attempts  to  induce  the  Americans  to 
resume  the  character  of  British  subjects, 
and  the  successive  plans  of  co-operation  be- 
tween the  new  allies  having  also  failed,  a 
solemn  pause  ensued.  It  would  seem  as  if 
the  commissioners  indulged  a  hope  that  the 
citizens  of  tlie  United  States,  on  finding  a 
disappointment  of  their  expectation  from  the 
French,  would  reconsider  and  accept  the 
offers  of  Great  Britain.  Full  time  was  given, 
both  for  the  circulation  of  their  manifesto, 
and  for  observing  its  effects  on  the  public 
mind ;  but  no  overtures  were  made  to  them 
from  any  quarter.  The  year  was  drawing 
near  to  a  close  before  any  interesting  expe- 
dition was  undertaken.  With  this  new  era, 
a  new  system  was  introduced.  Hitherto  the 
conquest  of  the  states  had  been  attempted 
by  proceeding  from  north  to  south :  but  that 
order  was  henceforth  inverted,  and  the 
southern  states  became  the  principal  theatre 
on  which  the  British  conducted  their  offen- 
sive operations.  Georgia  being  one  of  the 
weakest  states  in  the  union,  and  at  the  same 
time  abounding  in  provisions,  was  marked 
out  as  the  first  object  of  renewed  warfare. 
Lieutenant-colonel  Campbell,  an  officer  of 
known  courage  and  ability,  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  November,  embarked  from  New- 
York  for  Savannah,  with  a  force  of  about 
two  thousand  men,  under  the  convoy  of  some 
ships  of  war,  commanded  by  commodore 
Hyde  Parker.  To  make  more  sure  of  suc- 
cess in  the  enterprise,  major-general  Pre- 


226 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


vost,  who  commanded  the  royal  forces  in 
East  Florida,  was  directed  to  advance  with 
them  into  the  southern  extremity  of  Geor- 
gia. The  fleet  that  sailed  from  New- York 
in  about  three  weeks  effected  a  landing  near 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Savannah.  From 
the  landing-place  a  narrow  causeway  of  six 
hundred  yards  in  length,  with  a  ditch  on 
each  side,  led  through  a  swamp.  A  body 
of  the  British  light  infantry  moved  forward 
along  this  causeway.  On  their  advance, 
they  received  a  heavy  fire  from  a  small  party 
under  captaui  Smith,  posted  for  the  purpose 
of  impeding  their  passage.  Captain  Came- 
ron was  killed,  but  the  British  made  their 
way  good,  and  compelled  captain  Smith  to 
retreat  General  Howe,  the  American  offi- 
cer to  whom  the  defence  of  Georgia  was 
committed,  took  his  station  on  the  main 
road,  and  posted  his  little  army,  consisting 
of  about  six  hundred  continentals  and  a  few 
hundred  militia,  between  the  landing-place 
and  the  town  of  Savannah,  with  the  river 
on  his  left,  and  a  morass  in  front.  This  dis- 
position announced  great  difficulties  to  be 
overcome  before  the  Americans  could  be 
dislodged.  While  colonel  Campbell  was 
making  the  necessary  arrangements  for  this 
purjKtse,  he  received  intelligence  from  a 
negro,  of  a  private  path  through  the  swamp 
on  the  right  of  the  Americans,  which  lay  in 
such  a  situation  that  the  British  troops  might 
march  through  it  unobserved.  Sir  James 
Baird,  with  the  light  infantry,  was  directed 
to  avail  himself  of  this  path,  in  order  to  turn 
the  right  wing  of  the  Americans,  and  at- 
tack their  rear.  As  soon  as  it  was  supposed 
that  Sir  James  Baird  had  cleared  his  pas- 
sage, the  British  in  front  of  the  Americans 
were  directed  to  advance  and  engage.  Howe, 
finding  himself  attacked  in  the  rear  as  well 
as  in  the  front,  ordered  an  immediate  re- 
treat. The  British  pursued  with  great  exe- 
cution :  their  victory  was  complete.  Up- 
wards of  one  hundred  of  the  Americans 
were  killed.  Thirty-eight  officers,  four  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  privates,  forty-eight  pieces 
of  cannon,  twenty-three  mortars,  the  fort 
with  its  ammunition  and  stores,  the  shipping 
in  the  river,  a  large  quantity  of  provisions, 
with  the  capital  of  Georgia,  were  all,  in  the 
space  of  a  few  hours,  in  the  possession  of 
the  conquerors.  The  broken  remains  of  the 
American  army  retreated  up  the  river  Sa- 
vannah for  several  miles,  and  then  took  shel- 
ter by  crossing  into  South  Carolina.  Agree- 
ably to  instructions,  general  Prevost  had 
marched  from  East  Florida  about  the  same 
time  that  the  embarkation  took  place  from 
New- York.  After  encountering  many  dif- 
ficulties, the  king's  troops  from  St.  Augus- 
tine reached  the  inhabited  parts  of  Georgia, 
and  there  heard  the  welcome  tidings  of  the 
arrival  and  success  of  colonel  Campbell. 


Savannah  having  fallen,  the  fort  at  Sunbury 
surrendered.  General  Prevost  marched  to 
Savannah,  and  took  the  command  of  the 
combined  forces  from  New- York  and  St.  Au- 
gustine. Previous  to  his  arrival,  a  procla- 
mation had  been  issued,  to  encourage  the 
inhabitants  to  come  in  and  submit  to  the 
conquerors,  with  promises  of  protection,  on 
condition  that  with  their  arms  they  would 
support  royal  government. 

Lieutenant-colonel  Campbell  acted  with 
great  policy,  in  securing  the  submission  of 
the  inhabitants.  He  did  more  in  a  short 
time,  and  with  comparatively  a  few  men, 
towards  the  re-establishment  of  the  British 
interest,  than  all  the  general  officers  who 
had  preceded  him.  He  not  only  extirpated 
military  opposition,  but  subverted  for  some 
time  every  trace  of  republican  government, 
and  paved  the  way  for  the  re-establishment 
of  a  royal  legislature.  Georgia,  soon  after 
the  reduction  of  its  capital,  exhibited  a  sin- 
gular spectacle.  It  was  the  only  state  of 
the  union,  in  which,  after  the  declaration  of 
independence,  a  legislative  body  was  con- 
vened under  the  authority  of  the  crown  of 
Great  Britain.  The  moderation  and  pru- 
dence of  lieutenant-colonel  Campbell  were 
more  successful  in  reconciling  the  minds  of 
the  citizens  to  their  former  constitution,  than 
the  severe  measures  which  had  been  gene- 
rally adopted  by  other  British  commanders. 
NAVAL  PREPARATIONS. 

While  such  were  the  proceedings  on  the 
continent  of  America,  which  was  the  grand 
scene  of  action,  naval  preparations  were 
carried  on  with  some  spirit  both  by  France 
and  England. 

Admiral  Keppel,  an  officer  of  tried  cour- 
age and  great  experience,  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  the  grand  fleet  at  Ports- 
mouth. This  fleet  was  found  in  a  very  in- 
sufficient condition ;  but  so  vigilant  and  ac- 
tive were  the  admiral's  endeavors,  that  about 
June  he  was  enabled  to  take  the  sea. 

The  British  admiral  sailed  from  Ports- 
mouth with  twenty  sail  of  the  line,  before 
war  had  been  declared,  or  even  reprisals  or- 
dered :  when  he  arrived  in  the  bay  of  Bis- 
cay, he  observed  two  French  frigates  (the 
Licorne  and  Belle  Poule)  taking  a  survey 
of  the  British  fleet.  Determined  to  risk  the 
consequences  of  such  conduct  as  the  neces- 
sity of  the  moment  suggested,  he  gave  or- 
ders for  the  frigates  to  be  attacked,  which 
were  soon  forced  to  yield  to  the  English  flag. 
When,  however,  he  understood  the  force  of 
the  French  in  Brest  water  to  be  thirty-two 
sail  of  the  line,  besides  ten  or  twelve  frig- 
ates, he  thought  it  prudent  to  return  to 
Portsmouth,  in  order  to  augment  his  force, 
and  on  the  ninth  of  July  he  was  enabled  to 
put  to  sea  again  with  twenty-four  sail  of  the 
line,  and  was  joined  on  tlie  way  by  six  more. 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


227 


The  French  king  made  the  capture  of  his 
frigates  a  pretence  for  ordering  reprisals; 
this  was  retorted  on  the  part  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  war  was  now  virtually  proclaimed, 
altliough  the  accustomed  ceremony  was  not 
performed. 

The  day  before  the  British  fleet  sailed 
from  Portsmouth,  the  French  fleet  sailed 
from  Brest,  amoimting  to  thirty-two  sail  of 
the  line,  with  a  great  number  of  frigates, 
under  the  command  of  the  count  D'Orvil- 
liers,  assisted  by  several  other  admirals  in 
different  divisions.  The  English  fleet  was 
divided  mto  three  divisions ;  the  van  com- 
manded by  admiral  Harland,  of  the  red,  and 
the  rear  by  Su:  Hugh  Palliser,  of  the  blue. 
The  fleets  came  in  sight  of  each  other  on 
the  twenty-third  of  July.  When,  however, 
the  French  commander  perceived  that  Kep- 
pel's  fleet  had  been  reinforced,  he  avoided 
an  engagement,  and  as  night  was  fast  ad- 
vancing, the  latter  formed  a  line,  leaving  it 
to  the  enemy  to  make  an  attack.  In  the 
mornmg  the  French  had  gained  the  wea- 
ther-gage, by  which  they  had  it  in  their  pow- 
er to  hazard  or  avoid  an  action.  Admiral 
Keppel  had  many  motives  for  attempting  to 
bring  on  a  general  engagement ;  one  was 
the  protection  of  two  East  India,  and  two 
West  India  fleets,  hourly  expected.  ,  It  was 
probable  at  the  same  time  that  the  French 
commander  entertained  hopes  of  a  rein- 
forcement. Admiral  Keppel  discontinued 
the  signal  for  preserving  the  Ime  of  battle, 
and  put  up  that  for  chasing  to  windward.  In 
this  manner  he  kept  up  a  chase,  in  order  to 
seize  the  first  opportunity  of  a  change  of 
wind,  to  bring  the  enemy  to  a  decisive  ac- 
tion. 

ENGAGEMENT  BETWEEN  KEPPEL  AND 
D'ORVILLIERS. 
On  the  mornmg  of  the  twenty-seventh  of 
July,  the  vice-admiral  of  the  blue  was  rather 
more  to  leeward  than  his  station  required, 
upon  which  admiral  Keppel  threw  out  a  sig- 
nal for  several  ships  of  that  division  to  chase 
to  windward.  About  eleven  o'clock  the 
fleets  were  so  shifted,  by  changes  of  wuid, 
that  an  engagement  seemed  inevitable, 
while  the  French  endeavored  to  avoid  it,  by 
putting  about  to  a  contrary  tack,  instead  of 
lying-to,  and  receiving  the  British  fleet  in  a 
line  of  battle  on  the  same  tack,  so  that  the 
ships  could  only  engage  as  they  passed.  In 
this  situation  any  British  ship  that  could 
reach  the  head  of  the  French  fleet,  would 
engage  with  every  ship  in  their  line.  This 
mode  is  obviously  disadvantageous  for  the 
purposes  of  a  general  engagement,  but  there 
was  now  no  choice.  The  French  began  by 
firing  from  a  great  distance  at  the  headmost 
of  Sir  Robert  Harland's  division,  who  did 
not  return  a  single  shot  till  they  came  very 
near ;  the  example  was  followed  by  the  rest 


of  the  British  fleet,  so  that  in  a  short  time 
they  were  all  in  Imttle.     The  action  lasted 
about  three  hours,  and  both  sides  did  consid- 
erable execution.  As  soon  as  the  smoke  per- 
mitted admiral  Keppel  to  make  an  observa- 
tion, he  perceived  that  the  vice-admiral  of 
the  red,  with  part  of  his  division,  had  alrea- 
dy tacked  and  was  standing  towards  the  en- 
emy, but  that  none  of  the  other  ships  which 
were  come  out  of  action  had  yet  tacked. 
His  own  ship  the  Victory  was  not  in  a  con- 
dition for  immediate  tacking ;  but  notwith- 
standing her  damages,  she  was  the  first  ship 
that  wore  of  the  centre  division,  and  that 
got  round  again  towards  the  enemy.    Haul- 
ing down  the  signal  for  battle,  he  made  the 
signal  for  forming  the  line  of  battle  ahead. 
The  Victory  now  w^as  ahead  of  all  the  cen- 
tre and  red  divisions,  and  had  time  to  un- 
bend her  main-topsail  (which  had  been  ren- 
dered totally  unserviceable)  while  the  ships 
astern  were  getting  mto  their  respective 
situations.  The  vice-admiral  of  the  blue  was 
ahead  of  the  Victory,  his  proper  station,  yet 
disregarded  the  signal,  quitted  his  station, 
passed  his  admiral  to  leeward  on  the  contra- 
ry tack,  and  never  came  into  the  line  during 
the  rest  of  the  day.    By  this  manoeuvre,  the 
Victory,  the  nearest  ship  to  the  enemy,  was 
supported  by  no  more  than  three  or  four  of 
her  own  division.    Sir  Robert  Harland,  with 
six  or  seven  of  his  division  ready  for  service, 
was  to  the  windward  ;  other  ships  were  far 
astern,  and  five,  disabled  in  their  rigging, 
were  at  a  great  distance  to  leeward,  so  that 
all  the  force  which  the  admiral  could  col- 
lect for  the  engagement,  at  three  o'clock, 
was  twelve  ships.     The  French,  observing 
the  exposed  situation  of  the  British  ships 
which  had  fallen  to  leeward  to  repair  dam- 
ages, formed  an  intent  of  cutting  them  off" 
from  the  rest  of  the  line.    The  admiral  per- 
ceiving their  design,  stood  across  the  van  of 
the  enemy,  in  a  diagonal  Ime,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  his  ships,  ordermg  Sir  Robert 
Harland  to  form  his  division  at  a  distance 
astern  of  the  Victory  in  order  to  cover  the 
rear,  imtil  the  vice-admiral  of  the    blue 
should  obey  the  signal,  and  bring  his  divi- 
sion into  its  proper  station  :  and  this  move- 
ment aft;erwards  formed  the  grand  charge 
against  admiral  Keppel.     Having    accom- 
plished, by  his  motions,  the  protection  of 
the  disabled  ships,  he  repeated  his  signals 
for  the  ships  to  come  mto  his  wake  ;  but  by 
some  unfortunate  repetition  of  the  signal  by 
the  vice-admiral,  it  was  not  obeyed  as  Kep- 
pel intended.    The  vice-admiral  of  the  blue 
still  continumg  to  windward,  a  fi-igate  was 
dispatched  to  him,  with  express  orders  that 
he  should  bear  down  into  admiral  Keppel'a 
wake ;  this  produced  no  eflfect,  and  before 
another  signal  for  these  ships  to  take  their 
station  m  the  Ime  could  be  obeyed,  night 


228 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


came  on,  and  interrupted  all  farther  opera- 
tions. On  the  return  of  daylight,  the  Brit- 
ish fleet  descried  the  French  fleet  at  an  im- 
mense distance,  bearing  for  the  port  of 
Brest ;  and  in  a  few  hours  they  were  entire- 
ly out  of  sight.  The  loss  of  men  in  the  Brit- 
ish ships  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-three slain,  and  three  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-three wounded.  Private  accounts  from 
France  estimated  the  loss  at  two  thousand 
killed  and  wounded.  Leaving  a  proper  force 
for  the  protection  of  the  homeward-bound 
fleets,  admiral  Keppel  returned  to  Ports- 
mouth to  refit;  but  his  public  letter,  con- 
taining an  account  of  this  transaction,  occa- 
sioned great  speculation — his  desire  to 
screen  the  misconduct  of  the  admiral  of  the 
blue  inducing  him  to  give  such  a  relation  of 
this  engagement  as  seemed  to  imply  great 
impropriety  of  behavior  in  the  commander 
himself.  For  no  reason  whatever  was  as- 
signed for  not  renewing  the  engagement  in 
the  afl;ernoon,  except  the  expectation  of  the 
admiral,  "that  the  French  would  fight  it 
out  handsomely  the  next  day." 

TRIAL  AND  ACQUITTAL  OF  ADMIRAL 
KEPPEL.— TRIAL  AND  DISGRACE  OF 
ADMIRAL  PALLISER. 

It  was  impossible,  however,  that  the  truth 
should  not  transpire ;  and  a  well-written  let- 
ter appearing  some  time  afterwards  in  the 
public  prints,  severely  reflecting  on  the  con- 
duct of  Sir  Hugh  Palliser,  that  officer 
thought  proper  to  require  from  the  com- 
mander-in-chief a  formal  disavowal  of  the 
charges  it  contamed,  and  a  public  justifica- 
tion of  his  character.  This  the  commander 
absolutely  and  indignantly  declined,  and  the 
vice-admiral  immediately  exhibited  articles 
of  accusation  against  admiral  Keppel,  for 
misconduct  and  neglect  of  duty  on  the  twen- 
ty-seventh of  July,  although  he  had  in  the 
month  of  October  a  second  time  sailed  with 
admiral  Keppel,  and  had  never  before  this 
so  much  as  whispered  a  word  to  his  preju- 
dice. 

The  lords  of  the  admiralty,  to  the  aston- 
ishment of  the  nation,  without  the  least  hesi- 
tation, and  even  with  apparent  alacrity  and 
satisfaction,  fixed  a  day  for  the  trial  of  the 


commander-in-chief ;  the  result  of  which 
was  in  the  highest  degree  honorable  to  that 
brave  and  injured  officer,  who  was  not  only 
unanimously  acquitted  by  the  court-martial, 
but  received  the  thanks  of  both  houses  of 
parliament  for  his  services.  Sir  Hugh  Pal- 
liser afterwards  demanded  a  court-martial 
upon  himself,  which  terminated  in  a  slight 
censure  only;  but  the  resentment  of  the 
public  was  so  great,  that  it  was  deemed  ex- 
pedient by  the  ministers  to  accept  his  suc- 
cessive resignations  of  his  place  at  the  board 
of  admiralty,  his  lieutenant-generalship  of 
marines,  his  government  of  Scarborough 
castle,  and  to  permit  him  to  vacate  his  seat 
in  the  house  of  commons.  The  acquittal  of 
admiral  Keppel  was  celebrated  with  illumi- 
nations and  rejoicings  in  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom  ;  and  the  houses  of  lord  Sandwich 
and  Sir  Hugh  Palliser  were  insulted  by  the 
populace,  and  the  demolition  of  them  with 
difficulty  prevented. 

The  ready  acquiescence  of  the  board  of 
admiralty  in  the  appointment  of  the  court- 
martial,  on  a  charge  so  grossly  invidious  and 
unjust,  gave  the  highest  disgust  to  the  offi- 
cers of  the  navy.  A  strong  memorial  was 
presented  to  his  majesty  on  the  subject  by 
the  duke  of  Bolton,  signed  by  twelve  admi- 
rals, with  the  venerable  Hawke  at  their 
head,  stating  to  his  majesty,  in  strong  colors, 
the  ruinous  consequences  which  the  prece- 
dent now  introduced  would  inevitably  bring 
upon  all  naval  service  and  discipline.  "  If," 
said  these  gallant  defenders  of  their  coun- 
try, "  we  had  conceived  that  this  board  had 
no  legal  use  of  their  reason  in  a  point  of 
such  delicacy  and  importance,  we  should 
have  known  on  what  terms  we  served  ;  but 
we  never  did  imagine  it  possible  that  we 
were  to  receive  orders  from,  and  be  account- 
able to,  those  who  by  law  were  reduced  to 
become  mere  passive  instruments  to  the  pos- 
sible ignorance,  malice,  or  treachery  of  any 
individual,  who  might  think  fit  to  disarm 
his  majesty's  navy  of  its  best  and  highest  of- 
ficers. We  conceive  it  to  be  disrespectful 
to  the  laws  of  our  country,  to  suppose  them 
capable  of  such  manifest  injustice  and  ab- 
surdity." 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  XIV. 

1  Mr.  Belsham :  Memoirs  of  the  Eei^n  of  George  III.  rol,  ii. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


229 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Meeting  of  Parliament — Debates  on  the  Manifesto  of  the  Commissioners — Affairs  of 
Ireland — Votes  of  Censure  moved  on  Lord  Sandwich — Return  of  the  Howes — Debates 
thereon — Spaniards  declare  War — Regulation  of  Militia — War  in  East  Indies — In 
America — Descent  on  Virginia — Capture  of  Stoney  Point — British  attack  South 
Carolina — Repulsed  at  Charlestown — Operations  of  French  Fleet — Siege  of  Savan- 
nah by  the  French  and  Americans — Siege  raised — Capture  of  the  British  Settlement* 
on  the  Coast  of  Africa  by  the  French. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

The  accession  of  a  new  enemy  seemed 
almost  to  obliterate  from  the  minds  of  the 
people  every  reflection  which  their  previous 
disasters  had  produced  on  the  wretched  state 
to  which  the  gross  improvidence  and  inca- 
pacity of  ministry  had  reduced  them  in  the 
American  war ;  and  either  from  the  hope- 
lessness of  the  contest  on  the  continent  of 
America,  or  from  resentment  ag^ainst  the 
court  of  France,  all  thoughts  of  the  reduC' 
tion  of  the  former  seemed  to  be  given  up 
by  the  tories  themselves.  The  principal 
topic  of  conversation  throughout  England 
during  the  recess  of  parliament  was  the 
contest  between  the  admirals  Keppel  and 
Palliser,  and  the  expected  trial  of  the  for- 
mer. While  this  was  in  agitation,  the  par- 
liament assembled  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
November.  It  was  remarkable  that  in  the 
speech  from  the  throne,  no  mention  what 
ever  was  made  of  the  war  in  America.  His 
majesty  complained  loudly  of  the  unprovok- 
ed aggression  of  the  court  of  France,  which 
had  not  forborne  to  disturb  the  public  tranquil- 
lity, in  violation  of  the  faith  of  treaties,  and 
the  rights  of  sovereigns,  at  first  by  the  clan- 
destine supply  of  arms,  &c.  to  the  American 
rebels,  and  afterwards  by  openly  entering 
into  engagements  with  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion ;  by  committing  hostilities  and  de- 
predations ;  and  by  an  invasion  of  his  ma- 
jesty's dominions  in  America,  and  the  West 
Indies.  His  majesty  expressed  also  his  re- 
gret that  the  efforts  which  had  been  made 
for  disappointing  the  malignant  designs  of 
the  enemy  had  not  been  attended  with  all 
the  success  which  the  justice  of  the  cause, 
and  the  vigorous  exertions  that  had  been 
made,  seemed  to  promise. 

In  the  course  of  the  debates  on  the  ad- 
dress from  the  house  of  commons,  an  amend- 
ment was  proposed,  inquiring  "  by  what  fa- 
tal councils,  and  unhappy  systems  of  policy, 
this  country  had  been  reduced  to  her  present 
situation." 

DEBATES  ON  THE  MANIFESTO  OF  THE 
COMMISSIONERS. 

Mr.  Coke  moved  for  an  address  to  his 
majesty,  expressing  that  the  sense  of  the 

Vol.  IV.  20 


house  was  directly  against  those  exception- 
able passages  in  the  maledictory  manifesto 
of  the  American  commissioners,  which  were 
inconsistent  with  that  humanity  and  generous 
courage,  that  at  all  times  have  distinguished 
the  British  nation ;  subversive  of  the  max- 
ims which  have  been  established  among  Chris- 
tians, and  civilized  communities  ;  derogatory 
to  the  dignity  of  the  crown  of  this  realm ; 
tending  to  debase  the  spirit  and  subvert  the 
discipline  of  his  majesty's  armies,  and  to  ex- 
pose his  innocent  subjects,  in  all  parts  of  his 
dominions,  to  cruel  and  ruinous  retaliations. 
The  proposed  address  was  rejected  by  a  ma 
jority  of  two  hundred  and  nine  to  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-two. 

A  similar  motion  was  made  in  the  house 
of  lords  by  the  marquis  of  Rockingham, 
"  expressing  the  displeasure  of  the  house  at 
the  manifesto  issued  under  the  seal  of  the 
American  commissioners  on  the  third  day 
of  October  last ;  and  to  acquaint  his  majesty 
with  the  sense  of  this  house,  that  the  said 
commissioners  had  no  authority  whatsoever 
under  the  act  of  parliament,  in  virtue  of 
which  they  were  appointed,  to  make  such 
declaration ;  and  humbly  beseeching  that 
the  said  manifesto  be  publicly  disavowed  by 
his  majesty."  The  motion  was  negatived  by 
a  majority  of  seventy-one  to  thirty-seven 
peers,  thirty-one  of  whom  joined  in  a  protest 
of  uncommon  energy  and  ability.  "The 
public  law  of  nations,"  said  their  lordships, 
"  in  affirmance  of  the  dictates  of  nature  and 
the  precepts  of  religion,  forbids  us  to  resort 
to  the  extremes  of  war  upon  our  own  opin- 
ion of  their  expediency,  or  in  any  case  to 
carry  on  war  for  the  purpose  of  desolation. 
We  are  shocked  to  see  the  first  law  of  na- 
ture, '  self-preservation,'  perverted  and  abus- 
ed into  a  principle  destructive  of  all  other 
laws.  Those  objects  of  war  which  cannot 
be  compa.°sed  by  fair  and  honorable  hostil- 
tiy,  ought  not  to  be  compassed  at  all.  An 
end  that  has  no  means  but  such  as  are 
unlawful,  is  an  unlawfiil  end."  Among  the 
names  recorded  on  this  occasion,  we  find 
that  of  the  venerable  Shipley,  bishop  of  St 
Asaph,  with  a  long  and  illustrious  train  of 
signatures  affixed   to  this  memorable  pro- 


230 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


test ;  which,  if  it  wanted  any  other  recom- 
mendation to  notice  than  its  own  intrinsic 
merit,  might  with  pride  recount  the  names 
of  Rockingham,  Camden,  Effingham,  and 
Harcourt 

In  the  month  of  February,  Sir  Philip 
Jennings  Clerk  made  another  vain  attempt 
to  disqualify  contractors  fi-om  sittmg  in  the 
house.  The  motion  was  carried  upon  a  di- 
vision by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  to  one  hundred  and  forty-three ; 
but  on  the  second  reading,  the  bill  was  lost 
upon  the  motion  of  referring  it  to  a  commit- 
tee ;  the  question  was  rejected  by  a  majori- 
ty of  forty-one ;  and  the  minister  moved 
that  it  might  be  deferred  for  four  months, 
which  was  carried,  and  the  bill  consequently 
lost.  In  a  few  days  after,  it  was  moved 
that  the  house  should  resolve  itself  into  a 
committee,  in  order  to  consider  of  granting 
further  relief  to  Protestant  dissenting  min- 
isters and  school-masters.  Some  of  the 
bigoted  tories  opposed  this  toleration,  but 
without  effect,  as  the  bill,  framed  for  the 
purpose,  was  carried  through  both  houses 
with  facility. 

AFFAIRS  OF  IRELAND. 

A  SUBJECT  of  still  greater  difficulty  next 
presented  itself  to  the  legislature,  and  that 
was  the  grievances  of  Ireland.  The  com- 
plaints from  that  country  became  every  day 
louder.  Besides  the  losses  sustained  from 
the  American  war,  and  the  ancient  restraints 
upon  their  commerce,  an  embargo  had  been 
continued  from  the  year  1776.  Their  beef 
and  butter  were  perishing  in  their  ware- 
houses, and  their  linen  trade  contracted  to 
almost  nothing.  The  embargo  had  answer- 
ed no  beneficial  purpose.  The  want  of  Irish 
provisions  had  not  retarded  the  armaments 
of  the  French,  and  their  West  India  islands 
were  supplied  on  as  good  terms  as  our  own 
islands  with  many  articles.  In  the  northern 
parts  of  Germany,  and  other  countries  ad- 
joining to  the  Baltic,  the  traders  had  begun 
their  trade  of  curing  and  packing  beef,  and 
had  sent  considerable  quantities  of  it  to 
French  markets ;  and  although  they  had  as 
yet  made  but  slow  progress  in  the  art,  it  was 
evident  they  soon  would  take  it  entirely 
from  the  Irish,  who  did  not  scruple  to  affirm 
that  the  cause  of  the  embargo  v/as  merely 
the  avarice  of  contractors.  Added  to  these 
complaints,  it  was  found  that  the  rents  in 
Ireland  had  been  very  much  increased.  The 
people  were  poor  and  destitute  of  employ- 
ment ;  and  although  about  twenty  thousand 
of  them  had  received  relief  from  charitable 
donations  and  subscriptions  in  Dublin,  yet 
this  was  of  small  avail  to  the  remedying  of 
the  general  and  growing  evil.  Lord  New- 
haven,  in  concert  with  other  members  of 
the  house  of  commons,  showed  in  strong 
terms  that  necessity  ought  now  to  impel  us 


to  the  preservation  of  what  remained  of  our 
empire;  that,  however  loyal  the  Irish  had 
proved  hitherto,  yet  there  were  bounds  to 
which  it  would  be  both  cruel  and  unjust  to 
drive  them ;  and  if  we  should  remain  their 
masters  by  a  continuance  of  griping  tyranny, 
as  soon  as  a  peace  was  established,  they 
would  emigrate  to  America,  and  transport  to 
that  country  those  manufactures,  arts,  and 
mdustry,  from  which  this  country  reaped  un- 
deniable advantages.  The  exports  from  Eng- 
land to  Ireland,  on  an  average  of  ten  years, 
amounted  to  two  millions  fifty-seven  thou- 
sand pounds  yearly.  The  exports  from  Ire- 
land to  England,  upon  an  average  of  the 
same  time,  did  not  exceed  one  million  three 
hundred  and  fifty-three  thousand  pounds  an- 
nually, so  that  the  balance  of  trade  in  favor 
of  England  exceeded  seven  millions  sterling 
in  that  time.  This  was  exclusive  of  the  im- 
mense sums  drawn  from  that  country  every 
year,  under  the  heads  of,  rents  to  absentees, 
pensions,  and  the  emoluments  of  places  to 
those  who  never  saw  the  country ;  appeals 
in  law  and  equity;  business  and  pleasure. 
The  decrease  of  the  exports  from  England 
to  Ireland  during  the  last  two  years,  amount- 
ed upon  an  average  to  no  less  than  seven 
hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  pounds  per 
annum. 

On  the  other  side,  it  was  alleged,  that  even 
if  the  distresses  of  Ireland  were  so  great  as 
were  represented,  it  was  not  owing  so  much 
to  the  trade-laws  here,  as  to  mal-administra- 
tion  there  ;  and  to  faults  in  the  internal  con- 
stitution of  their  government ;  that  if  Ireland 
had  suffered  from  the  American  war,  Eng- 
land had  suffered  much  more;  and  while 
gentlemen  were  apprehensive  of  a  rebellion 
in  Ireland,  they  should  reflect  on  the  much 
more  dangerous  consequences  of  one  in  Eng- 
land, which  we  had  just  cause  to  dread  if 
any  addition  was  made  to  the  distresses  of 
our  manufacturers.  Influenced  by  these  and 
similar  arguments,  and  the  remonstrances 
of  some  trading  tovras,  the  motion  for  open- 
ing the  trade  of  Ireland  to  the  West  Indies 
was  lost  by  a  majority  of  four. 

MOTION  OF  CENSURE  ON  LORD  SAND- 
WICH. 
In  the  house  of  lords,  the  earl  of  Bristol 
moved  an  address  to  the  king,  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  earl  of  Sandwich.  His  lord- 
ship supported  this  motion  in  a  speech,  con- 
taining a  very  extensive  display  of  political 
and  professional  knowledge.  This  noble- 
man affirmed,  "that  about  seven  millions 
more  money  had  been  allotted  for  the  sup- 
port and  increase  of  our  navy  during  the 
last  seven  years,  than  in  any  former  equal 
period ;  and  that,  during  this  time,  the  do- 
crease  and  decline  of  the  navy  had  been  in 
an  inverse  ratio  to  tlie  excess  of  the  expen- 
diture.   While  sucli  has  been  the  unbounJ- 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


231 


ed  liberality  of  parliament ;  what  (exclaimed 
the  noble  lord)  is  become  of  our  navy  1  or, 
if  there  is  no  navy,  what  is  become  of  our 
money  1 "  The  motion  was  rejected  by  sev- 
enty-eight voices  to  thirty-nine.  Notwith- 
standing these  repeated  acquittals,  however, 
the  reputation  of  lord  Sandwich  most  de- 
servedly suffered  in  the  estimation  of  the 
public. 

Twenty-five  lords  united  in  a  protest 
against  these  proceedings,  and  one  was  en- 
tered on  the  journals  by  the  earl  of  Bristol 
himself,  from  which  the  following  appear  to 
be  the  grounds  of  accusation.  Since  the 
year  1771,  six  million  nine  hundred  and 
seventeen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-two pounds  had  been  granted  for  naval 
purposes,  more  than  was  granted  in  an 
equal  number  of  years,  between  1751  and 
1759,  for  the  use  of  the  navy,  although  we 
had  Ijeen  four  years  at  war  with  France 
within  that  period.  The  navy  was  reduced 
from  what  it  was  in  1771,  when  lord  Sand- 
wich succeeded  to  the  head  of  that  board, 
notwithstanding  the  immense  sums  granted 
for  its  support  and  increase  since  that  time. 
No  fleet  was  sent  out  to  watch  the  motions 
of  the  Toulon  fleet,  nor  any  reinforcement 
sent  to  lord  Howe,  upon  intelligence  of  the 
said  Toulon  fleet.  Admiral  Keppel,  with 
twenty  sail  of  the  line,  was  sent  off"  Brest, 
when  the  commissioners  of  the  admiralty 
knew,  or  ought  to  have  known,  that  the 
French  fleet  then  actually  at  Brest,  and  fit- 
ting for  sea,  consisted  of  thirty-two  ships  of 
tlie  line.  For  want  of  reinforcements  or  in- 
structions sent  to  admiral  Barrington,  the 
valuable  island  of  Dominica  was  lost ;  and, 
no  naval  force  having  been  sent  to  Africa, 
we  had  lost  Senegal :  and  lastly,  the  admi- 
ralty, without  any  deliberation  whatsoever, 
precipitately  ordered  a  court-martial  upon  a 
commander-in-chief,  of  great  rank  and  char- 
acter, thereby  frustrating  the  salutary  inten- 
tions of  that  discretionary  power,  lodged  by 
the  constitution  in  the  lords  commissioners 
for  executing  the  office  of  lord  high  admiral 
of  Great  Britain,  whereby  all  malicious  and 
ill-founded  charges  (by  whomsoever  exhibit- 
ed) may  be  avoided,  and  the  union  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  service  not  interrupted. 

DEBATES  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  THE 
RETURN  OF  THE  HOWES. 

The  return  of  lord  and  general  Howe  ex- 
cited about  this  time  considerable  attention ; 
and  as  their  characters  had  been  covertly 
attacked  by  ministers,  who  wished  to  excuse 
their  own  misconduct  by  throwing  the  blame 
upon  the  commanders,  they,  as  well  as  gen- 
eral Burgoyne,  earnestly  solicited  a  par- 
liamentary inquiry.  The  minister,  on  the 
contrary,  endeavored  to  avoid  all  inquiry 
whatever,  and  insisted  that  parliament  was 
not  the  place  where  it  should  be  instituted. 


To  this  it  was  answered,  that  the  conduct 
of  ministers  and  that  of  commanders  were 
too  fatally  connected  in  this  war,  and  that 
the  plans  and  the  means  must  be  examined 
together.  To  deny  the  competence  of  the 
house  to  institute  this  inquiry,  was  a  daring 
violation  of  the  privileges  of  parliament.  On 
this  occasion  Sir  William  Howe  proposed* 
that  earl  Cornwallis  should  be  examined, 
"  as  to  the  general  conduct  of  the  American 
war ;  to  military  points  generally  and  par- 
ticularly." To  this  the  minister  instantly 
proposed  an  amendment,  "that  lord  Corn- 
wallis be  called  in  and  examined  relative  to 
general  and  particular  military  points,  touch- 
ing the  general  conduct  of  the  American 
war."  Nothing  could  excite  greater  indig- 
nation than  this  evasion  of  inquiry  and  truth; 
but  on  a  division,  the  minister  carried  his 
amendment  by  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty-five.  The  main 
question  was  rejected  by  one  hundred  and 
eighty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  Thus 
all  inquiry  appeared  at  an  end ;  but  opposi- 
tion were  determined  not  to  let  it  perish  in 
this  manner ;  they  renewed  the  motion  for 
the  examination  of  lord  Cornwallis,  a  few 
days  after,  and  were  so  ably  supported,  that 
no  means  employed  by  the  minister  were 
sufficient  to  prevent  the  hearing  of  that 
noble  lord.  Besides  lord  Cornwallis,  major- 
general  Grey,  Sir  Andrew  Snape  Hammond, 
with  others,  were  examined,  and  the  follow- 
ing facts  resulted  from  their  evidence.  The 
force  sent  to  America  was  at  no  time  equal 
to  the  subjugation  of  the  country,  which 
proceeded  partly  from  the  aversion  of  the 
people  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain, 
and  partly  fi*om  the  nature  of  the  country, 
which  obstructed  many  military  operations. 
Several  other  local  points  were  established, 
which  tended  to  a  refutation  of  the  charges 
brought  against  the  commander-in-chief  It 
was,  at  the  same  time,  proved  that  the  Amer- 
ican minister  had  been  constantly  reminded 
of  the  difficult  and  impracticable  nature  of 
the  war,  that  he  had  discredited  what  was 
said  on  the  subject,  and  had  not  sent  out  the 
necessary  supplies,  and  that  the  reinforce- 
ment he  at  length  had  sent,  came  too  late 
for  any  effectual  purpose. 

After  a  variety  of  facts  tending  to  the 
defence  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and  the 
censure  of  the  American  secretary,  had  been 
established,  evidence  was  moved  to  be  heard 
on  the  other  side.  The  opposition  at  first 
reprobated  the  design  of  bringing  up  Ameri- 
can refugees,  pensioners,  and  custom-house 
officers,  to  impeach  and  set  aside  the  evi- 
dence of  military  men  of  high  rank  and 
great  professional  knowledge.  This  objec- 
tion being  overruled,  orders  were  issued  for 
tl\e  attendance  of  general  Robertson,  general 
Jones,  John  Maxwell,  and  others.     During 


232 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  time  that  intervened  between  the  call- 
ing and  appearance  of  these  gentlemen, 
evidence  was  heard  on  the  part  of  general 
Burgoyne.  The  officers  examined  were  Sir 
Guy  Carleton,  the  earl  of  Balcarras,  captain 
Money,  the  earl  of  Harrington,  major  For- 
bes, captain  Bloomfield,  and  lieutenant-colo- 
nel Kingston ;  all  of  whom,  excepting  the 
first,  were  present  during  the  whole  cam- 
paign. This  evidence  tended  most  clearly 
to  acquit  the  general  of  every  suspicion  of 
misconduct,  and  to  establish  his  character  as 
an  officer  of  the  first  abilities,  and  peculiarly 
the  favorite  of  his  army.  Whether  the  gen- 
eral's orders  for  proceeding  to  Albany  were 
peremptory  or  conditional,  was  still  a  matter 
of  opinion :  but  two  assertions  were  mani- 
festly disproved,  viz.  that  general  Philips  at 
the  time  of  the  convention  offered  to  force 
his  way,  with  a  part  of  the  army,  from  Sar- 
atoga back  to  Ticonderoga ;  and  that  the 
late  general  Fraser  had  disapproved  passing 
the  Hudson  river. 

This  examination  being  closed,  the  wit- 
nesses, brought  in  opposition  to  those  examin- 
ed on  the  part  of  Sir  William  Howe,  now 
attended.  Their  evidence  tended  to  estab- 
lish the  most  absurd  of  all  assertions,  that  a 
great  majority  (two  thirds,  or  four  fifths  of 
the  people  were  attached  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment, and  that  the  force  sent  out  was 
entirely  competent  to  have  brought  the  war 
to  a  speedy  conclusion ;  that  the  country  of 
America  did  not  afford  any  extraordinary 
obstructions  to  military  operations ;  that  the 
rebel  force  was  always  inferior  to  the  reports 
spread  concerning  it.  The  particular  ma- 
noeuvres of  general  Howe  were  reprobated 
by  some  of  the  witnesses,  particularly  one 
of  the  name  of  Galloway,  who  had  been  a 
lawyer  in  America,  and  a  member  of  con- 
gress, and  who  had  come  over  to  general 
Howe  at  a  time  when  the  American  cause 
was  apparently  ruined.  In  consequence  of 
the  charges  which  this  person  laid  against 
Sir  William  Howe,  that  commander  re- 
quested that  a  particular  day  should  be  ap- 
pointed on  which  he  might  bring  witnesses 
to  prove  the  falsity  of  the  assertions ;  but 
this  was  refused,  and  the  committee  was 
dissolved  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  with- 
out coming  to  a  single  resolution  on  all  the 
important  matter  which  had  been  submitted 
to  them. 

While  such  were  the  disgraceful  proceed- 
ings of  the  commons,  the  duke  of  Richmond 
was  engaged  in  strenuously  promoting  an 
inquiry  into  the  abuses  of  Greenwich  hospi- 
tal in  the  house  of  lords.  The  rejection  of 
the  inquiry  through  the  influence  of  the  exe- 
crable Sandwich  and  the  other  ministers,  is 
perhaps  the  best  proof  that  could  be  adduced 
that  the  complaint  was  well  founded. 


WAR  DECLARED  BY  SPAIJX. 

The  Spanish  manifesto  declaring  war 
against  Britain,  was  introduced  by  a  royal 
message,  June  seventeenth,  1779.  As  this 
event  had  been  repeatedly  foretold  by  the 
minority,  and  all  along  treated  with  con- 
tempt by  the  ministry,  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed but  the  verification  of  these  predic- 
tions must  now  produce  the  most  severe  re- 
proaches on  those  who  had  despised  them. 
They  were  indeed  reminded  with  great  se- 
verity of  their  obstinacy,  blindness,  and  ab- 
surdity ;  of  the  contempt  with  w^bich  they 
had  treated  every  warning  of  danger,  tiie 
triumph  which  they  had  constantly  express- 
ed at  the  folly  and  io-norance  of  opposition 
for  entertaining  such  ideas.  Spain,  said  the 
ministry,  could  have  no  interest  in  joining 
our  enemies :  they  had  colonies  of  their  own, 
and  would  never  set  such  an  ill  example  to 
them,  as  to  assist  our  rebellious  colonists. 
Nay,  those  ministers,  whose  daily  conduct 
proved  them  to  be  incapable  of  managing 
their  own  aflfairs  with  any  degree  of  pro- 
priety, had  the  matchless  effrontery  of  settii.g 
themselves  up  as  statesmen  and  politicians 
for  the  house  of  Bourbon,  and  of  knowing 
the  interests  of  France  and  Spain  better 
than  they  did  themselves. 

MILITIA  REGULATIONS. 

All  these  heavy  charges,  however,  were 
disregarded.  A  resolution  was  taken  to  op- 
pose this  new  enemy  as  well  as  the  others, 
and  at  the  same  time  never  to  submit  to  the 
idea  of  American  independence.  As  the 
national  danger  v/as  now  undeniably  very 
great,  it  was  projX)^;eJ  by  the  minister  to  in- 
crease the  militia  to  double  its  number.  To 
this  the  opposition  consented ;  though  they 
considered  it  as  probably  impracticable,  or 
even  dangerous,  from  the  apprehensions  they 
had  of  its  being  violently  opposed  by  the 
people  at  large ;  and  that  along  with  several 
other  causes  of  objection,  it  v/ould  in  its  ef- 
fect go  to  the  annihilation  of  the  regular  or 
standing  army,  in  cutting  off  its  usual  and 
only  means  of  supply  from  the  recruiting 
service.  The  raising  of  new  regiments  ap- 
peared to  them  to  be  vastly  preferable ;  and 
they  severely  reproved  ministers  for  the 
continuance  of  that  v/retched  system  of 
policy  which  had  hitherto  led  them  to  re- 
ject with  indifference,  and  even  contempt, 
the  liberal  and  patriotic  offers  made  by  seve- 
ral of  the  peers  in  opposition  for  raising  regi- 
ments at  their  private  expense  for  the  de- 
fence of  their  country.  But  that  narrow 
predilection  in  favor  of  men  of  a  certain  de- 
scription, and  particularly  of  the  northern 
part  of  the  island,  was  still  predominant, 
and  would  continue  while  there  was  any- 
thing either  to  bestow  or  to  lose  ;  and  thus 
the  duke  of  Rutland,  the  earl  of  Derby,  and 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


233 


others  of  the  oldest  English  nobility,  the 
hereditary  supporters  of  the  throne  and  con- 
stitution, met  with  indifference  or  insult  in 
their  generous  offers  for  the  service  and 
preservation  of  their  country,  in  this  season 
of  peril  and  distress.  It  was  observed,  with 
great  acrimony,  on  this  occasion,  that  all 
these  generous  and  disinterested  offers  came 
from  such  as  ministry  had  stigmatized  with 
the  title  of  leaders  or  partisans  of  faction, 
and  who  were  constantly  represented  as 
enemies  to  government ;  whilst  not  one  of 
those  who  had  grown  rich  on  her  spoils,  or 
great  on  her  ruin,  whether  ministers,  con- 
tractors, court  favorites,  or  king's  friends, 
had  offered  to  raise  a  single  man,  or  to  ex- 
pend a  shilling  in  its  defence. 

As  the  minister  did  not  profess  any  at- 
tachment to  this  particular  mode  of  defence, 
a  great  variety  of  amendments  were  pro- 
posed. The  only  one  of  any  consequence, 
however,  which  was  carried  through,  was 
for  the  raising  of  volunteer  companies,  to  be 
attached  to  the  militia  regiments  of  the 
county  or  district  to  which  they  belonged ; 
and  for  this  purpose  the  lord-lieutenants  of 
counties  were  empowered  to  grant  commis- 
sions to  officers,  as  high  as  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  men  they  were  able  to  procure.  But  when 
the  committee  had  sat  on  this  subject  till 
midnight,  the  house  was  no  sooner  resumed, 
than  they  were  surprised  by  the  introduction 
of  a  new  bill  of  another  nature.  This  was 
to  take  away,  for  a  limited  time,  the  legal 
exemptions  from  being  pressed  on  board  the 
navy,  which  several  descriptions  of  men  and 
apprentices  belonging  to  the  sea,  or  in  some 
degree  to  maritime  affairs,  had  hitherto  en- 
joyed ;  and  also  for  suspending,  for  a  time, 
the  right  of  suing  out  a  writ  of  habeas- 
corpus,  for  such  breaches  of  these  exemp- 
tions as  had  already  taken  place  from  the 
seventeenth  of  that  month,  or  as  might  still 
take  place  before  the  final  ratification  of  the 
bill. 

Such  an  extraordinary  proposal,  militating 
so  strongly  against  the  liberty  and  security 
of  the  subject,  was  severely  censured.  The 
manner  of  bringing  it  forward  indeed,  at  so 
late  an  hour,  and  in  a  very  thin  house,  be- 
came a  subject  of  complaint  even  more  than 
the  proposal  itself,  which  was  likewise  con- 
demned upon  many  accounts,  but  particu- 
larly for  being  a  breach  of  faith  between  the 
legislature  and  the  people,  which  should 
ever  be  held  most  sacred.  All  this,  however, 
was  justified  on  the  plea  of  necessity;  and 
the  time  of  bringing  it  in  was  said  to  be 
chosen  on  purpose  for  the  greater  secrecy 
and  dispatch,  and  to  prevent  the  effect  of  the 
bill  from  bemg  defeated  by  the  knowledge 
of  its  design,  which  the  public  prints  would 
have  spread  through  the  whole  nation.  The 
20* 


measure  itself  was  justified  upon  the  ground 
already  mentioned,  and  the  proposer  remark- 
ed, that  he  could  not  avoid  being  astonished 
at  the  horror  which  was  now  expressed  with 
respect  to  compulsion,  when  they  were  buf 
newly  risen  from  a  committee  wherein  they 
had  been  for  ten  hours  engaged  in  framing 
a  compulsive  law  whereby  arms  would  be 
forced  into  the  hands  of  thirty  thousand  men 
contrary  to  their  inclination. 

The  militia  bill,  like  all  others  proposed 
by  ministry,  was  easily  carried  through  tlie 
house  of  commons ;  but  in  that  of  the  lords, 
it  not  only  met  with  a  vigorous  opposition 
from  the  adverse  party,  but  was  even  much 
more  coolly  received  by  the  friends  of  gov- 
ernment themselves  than  might  have  been 
expected.  Neither  were  the  lords-lieuten- 
ant of  counties  in  general  at  all  satisfied 
with  the  bill.  In  this  state  of  things,  the 
question  being  at  length  put,  Whether  the 
clause  empowering  his  majesty  to  order  the 
militia  to  be  augmented  to  double  its  present 
number,  should  stand  as  part  of  the  bill  1  it 
was  carried  in  the  negative  by  thirty-nine  to 
twenty-two.  In  this  debate,  it  was  remark- 
able, that  the  lord  president  of  the  council, 
and  both  secretaries  of  state,  voted  against 
the  compulsory  principle  of  the  bill. 

Lord  North  could  not  conceal  his  chagrin, 
nor  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  conduct  of 
his  colleagues.  A  new  question,  however, 
now  arose,  which  produced  a  considerable 
debate :  for  the  militia  being  considered  by 
several  members  as  a  money  bill,  they  in- 
sisted, that  no  amendment  of  the  lords  could 
be  admitted,  without  a  surrender  of  their 
own  most  valuable  and  peculiar  privilege ; 
for  which  reason  the  bill  ought  now  to  be 
totally  rejected.  But  the  minister,  consider- 
ing that  it  was  absolutely  incumbent  on  liim 
to  do  something  which  might  at  least  have 
the  appearance  of  regarding  the  public  de- 
fence and  security,  determined  in  the  present 
instance  to  overlook  the  point  of  privilege. 
After  many  ingenious  arguments  on  both 
sides,  therefore,  the  bill  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  sixty-three  to  forty-five. 

The  parliament  was  not  prorogued  till  the 
third  of  July. 

WAR  IN  INDIA. 

About  the  latter  end  of  the  preceding 
year,  hostilities  had  commenced  in  the  East 
Indies.  The  East  India  company  having 
formed  a  design  of  extirpating  the  French 
power  in  India,  transmitted  instructions  for 
an  attack  upon  Pondicherry.  Major-general 
Munro,  commander  of  the  company's  troops 
on  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  about  the  twen- 
ty-first of  August  found  his  troops  in  suffi- 
cient strength  for  the  siege,  and  immediate- 
ly took  possession  of  the  lx)und-hedge,  within 
cannon-shot  of  the  fortifications,  by  which 
all  communication  with  the  country  was  cut 


234 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


OiT.  Some  unavoidable  delays  prevented  the 
farther  operations  of  the  besiegers  until  the 
sixth  and  seventh  of  September,  vt^hen  they 
broke  ground  both  on  the  north  and  south 
sides  of  the  town.  By  this  time  their  opera- 
tions w^ere  greatly  assisted  by  the  English 
fleet  under  Sir  Edward  Vernon,  who  had 
sailed  from  Madras,  at  the  end  of  July,  to 
block  up  Pondicherry.  As  soon  as  he  arrived 
on  his  station  he  perceived  a  French  fleet, 
under  M.  de  Tronjolly,  consisting  of  one 
ship  of  sixty-four,  one  of  thirty-six,  one  of 
thirty-two  guns,  and  two  French  East  India 
ships  armed.  Sir  Edward  Vernon's  fleet 
consisted  of  one  sixty,  one  twenty-eight, 
one  twenty  gun-ship,  a  sJoop,  and  an  East 
India-man.  An  engagement  ensued,  and 
with  so  much  loss  to  the  French,  that  they 
dared  not  to  hazard  another,  but  abandoned 
Pondicherry,  which  was  now  blocked  up 
both  by  sea  and  land.  The  garrison,  under 
M.  de  Bellecombe,  governor  and  general 
commandant  of  all  the  French  settlements 
in  India,  made  a  brave  defence.  Before  the 
middle  of  October,  however,  the  artillery  of 
the  besiegers  had  gained  so  much  superiori- 
ty, that  preparations  were  made  for  a  gene- 
ral assault.  On  the  day  preceding,  the  gov- 
ernor, in  order  to  save  useful  lives,  and  pre- 
vent laloodshed  without  advantage  or  honor, 
offered  to  capitulate.  The  conditions  were 
generous,  and  agreeable  to  the  conquered. 
About  thirty  pieces  of  artillery,  serviceable 
and  unserviceable,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors,  together  with  all  public  property; 
the  private  was  secured  to  the  owners.  The 
company's  troops,  which  amounted  to  ten 
thousand  five  hundred  men,  lost  about  two 
hundred  and  twenty-four  slain,  and  six  hun- 
dred and  ninety-three  wounded ;  the  garri- 
son, amounting  to  three  thousand,  had  two 
hundred  men  killed,  and  four  hundred  and 
eighty  wounded. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  AMERICA. 

1779. — The  British  army  in  America 
seem  to  have  aimed  at  little  more,  durmg 
the  campaign  of  1779,  in  the  states  to  the 
northwards  of  Carolina,  than  distress  and  de- 
predation. Having  publicly  announced  their 
resolution  of  making  "the  colonies  of  as  lit- 
tle avail  as  possible  to  their  new  connex- 
ions," they  planned  several  expeditions  on 
tliis  prmciple. 

One  of  these,  consisting  of  both  naval  and 
land  force,  was  committed  to  Sir  George 
Collyer  and  general  Matthews,  who  made  a 
descent  on  Virginia.  On  the  tenth  of  May 
they  sailed  for  Portsmouth,  and  on  their  ar- 
rival took  possession  of  that  defenceless 
town.  The  remains  of  Norfolk  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  river,  fell  of  course  into 
their  hands.  The  Americans  burned  some 
of  their  own  vessels,  but  others  were  made 
prizes  by  the  invaders.    The  British  guards 


marched  eighteen  miles  in  the  night,  and 
arriving  at  Suffolk  by  morning,  proceeded 
to  the  destruction  of  vessels,  naval  stores, 
and  of  a  large  magazine  of  provisions,  which 
had  been  deposited  in  that  place.  A  similar 
destruction  was  carried  on  at  Kemp's  Land- 
ing, Shepherd's  Gosport,  Tanner's  Creek, 
and  other  places  in  the  vicinity.  The  frig- 
ates and  armed  vessels  were  employed  on 
the  same  business  along  the  margin  of  the 
rivers.  Three  thousand  hogsheads  of  tobac- 
co were  taken  at  Portsmouth.  Every  house 
in  Suffolk  was  burnt  except  the  church  and 
one  dwelling-house.  The  houses  of  several 
private  gentlemen  in  the  country  shared  the 
same  fate.  Above  a  hundred  and  thirty  ves- 
sels were  either  destroyed  or  taken.  All 
that  were  upon  the  stocks  were  burned,  and 
everything  relative  to  the  building  or  fitting 
of  ships,  was  either  carried  off"  or  destroyed. 
The  fleet  and  army,  after  demolishing  Fort 
Nelson,  and  setting  fire  to  the  store-houses, 
and  other  public  buildings  in  the  dockyard 
at  Gosport,  embarked  from  Virginia,  and  re- 
turned with  their  prizes  and  booty  safe  to 
New- York,  in  the  same  month  in  which 
they  had  left  it.  This  expedition  into  Vir- 
ginia distressed  a  number  of  its  inhabitants, 
and  enriched  the  British  forces,  but  was  of 
no  real  service  to  the  royal  cause.  It  was 
presumed,  that  by  involving  the  citizens  in 
losses  and  distresses,  they  would  be  brought 
to  reflect  on  the  advantages  of  submitting 
to  a  power,  against  which  they  had  not  the 
means  of  defending  themselves.  But  the 
temper  of  the  times  was  unfavorable  to  these 
views.  Such  was  the  high-toned  state  of 
the  American  mind,  that  property  had  com- 
paratively lost  its  value.  It  was  fashionable 
to  suffer  in  the  cause  of  independence  ; 
some  hearty  whigs  gloried  in  their  losses, 
with  as  much  pride  as  others  gloried  in  their 
possessions.  The  British,  supposing  the 
Americans  to  be  influenced  by  the  consider- 
ations which  bias  men  in  the  languid  scenes 
of  tranquil  life,  and  not  reflecting  on  the 
sacrifices  which  enthusiastic  patriotism  is 
willing  to  make,  proceeded  in  their  schemes 
of  distress :  but  the  more  extensively  they 
carried  on  this  mode  of  warfare,  the  more 
obstacles  they  created  to  the  reunion  of  the 
empire.  In  about  five  weeks  after  the  ter- 
mination of  the  expedition  to  Virginia,  a 
similar  one  was  projected  against  the  expos- 
ed margin  of  Connecticut.  Governor  Try  on 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  about  two 
thousand  six  hundred  land  forces,  employed 
on  this  business,  and  he  was  supported  by 
general  Garth.  The  transports  which  con- 
veyed these  troops,  were  covered  by  a  suit- 
able number  of  armed  vessels,  commanded 
by  Sir  George  Collyer.  On  the  fiftJi  of  July 
they  proceeded  from  New- York  by  the  way 
of  Hell-Gate,  and  landed  at  East-Haven. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


235 


The  royal  commanders  issued  an  address  to 
the  inhabitants,  in  which  they  invited  them 
to  return  to  their  duty  and  allegiance,  and 
promised  protection  to  all  who  should  re- 
main peaceably  in  their  usual  place  of  resi- 
dence, except  the  civil  and  military  officers 
of  the  government.  It  also  stated  "that 
their  property  lay  still  within  the  grasp  of 
that  power,  whose  lenity  had  persisted  in  its 
mild  and  noble  efforts,  though  branded  with 
the  most  unworthy  imputation :  that  the  ex- 
istence of  a  single  house  on  their  defence- 
less coast,  ought  to  be  a  constant  reproof  of 
their  ingratitude  :  that  they  who  lay  so 
much  in  the  British  power,  afforded  a  strik- 
ing monument  of  their  mercy,  and  there- 
fore ought  to  set  the  first  example  of  re- 
turning to  their  allegiance." 

One  of  the  many  addresses,  from  which 
the  above  extract  is  taken,  was  sent  by  a 
flag  to  colonel  Whiting  of  the  militia  near 
Fairfield.  The  colonel  was  allowed  an  hour 
for  his  answer,  but  he  had  scarcely  time  to 
read  it  before  the  town  was  in  flames.  He 
nevertheless  returned  the  following  answer : 
"Connecticut  having  nobly  dared  to  take 
up  arms  against  the  cruel  despotism  of  Great 
Britain,  and  the  flames  having  preceded  the 
answer  to  your  flag,  they  will  persist  to  op- 
pose, to  the  utmost,  the  power  exerted 
against  injured  innocence."  The  British 
marched  from  their  landing  to  New-Haven. 
The  town,  on  their  entering  it,  was  deliver- 
e:l  up  to  promiscuous  plunder,  a  few  in- 
stances of  protection  excepted.  After  per- 
petrating every  species  of  enormity,  but  that 
of  burning  houses,  the  invaders  suddenly  re- 
imbarked,  and  proceeded  by  water  to  Fair- 
field. The  militia  of  that  place  and  the  vi- 
cinity posted  themselves  at  the  court-house 
green,  and  gave  considerable  annoyance  to 
them,  as  they  were  advancing,  but  soon  re- 
treated to  the  height  at  the  back  of  the 
town.  On  the  approach  of  the  British  the 
town  was  evacuated  by  most  of  its  inhabit- 
ants. A  few  women  remained,  with  the 
view  of  saving  their  property.  Towards 
evening  they  began  to  burn  the  houses, 
which  they  had  previously  plundered.  The 
women  begged  general  Try  on  to  spare  the 
town.  Sayre,  the  episcopal  minister,  who 
had  suffered  for  his  attachment  to  the  royal 
cause,  joined  the  women  in  their  requests, 
but  their  joint  supplications  were  disregard- 
ed. They  then  begged  that  a  few  houses 
might  be  spared  for  a  general  shelter.  This 
was  at  first  denied ;  but  at  length  Tryon 
consented  to  save  the  buildings  of  Burr  and 
of  Elliot,  and  also  said,  that  the  houses  for 
public  worship  should  be  spared.  After  his 
departure  on  the  next  morning  with  the 
main  body,  the  rear-guard,  consistmg  of 
German  yagers,  set  fire  to  everything  which 
Tryon  had  spared ;  but  on  their  departure 


the  inliabitants  extinguished  the  flames,  and 
saved  some  of  the  houses.  The  militia  were 
joined  by  numbers  from  the  country,  which 
successively  came  to  their  aid,  but  they  were 
too  few  to  make  effectual  opposition. 

The  British,  in  this  excursion,  also  burned 
East-Haven,  and  the  greatest  part  of  Green's 
farms,  and  the  flourishing  town  of  Norwalk. 
A  considerable  number  of  ships,  eitlier  fin- 
ished or  on  the  stocks,  with  whale-boats,  and 
a  large  amount  of  stores  and  merchandise, 
were  destroyed.  Particular  accounts  of  these 
devastations  were,  in  a  short  time,  transmit- 
ted by  authority  to  congress.  By  these  it 
appeared  that  there  were  burned  at  Norwalk 
two  houses  of  public  worship,  eighty  dwell- 
ing-houses, eighty-seven  barns,  twenty-two 
stores,  seventeen  shops,  four  mills,  and  five 
vessels ;  and  at  Fairfield  two  houses  of  pub- 
lic worship,  fifteen  dwelling-houses,  eleven 
barns,  and  several  stores.  Congress,  on  re- 
ceiving satisfactory  attestation  of  the  ravages 
of  the  British  in  this  and  other  similar  expe- 
ditions, on  the  nineteenth  of  July  resolved, 
"  To  direct  their  marine  committee  to  take 
the  most  effectual  measures  to  carry  into  ex- 
ecution their  manifesto  of  October  the  thir- 
tieth 1778,  by  burning  or  destroying  the 
towns  belonging  to  the  enemy  in  Great  Brit- 
ain or  the  West  Indies ;"  but  their  resolve 
was  never  carried  into  effect 

While  the  British  w^ere  proceeding  in 
these  desolating  operations,  general  Wasli- 
ington  was  called  upon  for  continental 
troops,  but  he  could  spare  very  few.  He 
durst  not  detach  largely,  as  he  apprehended 
that  one  design  of  the  British  in  these 
movements  was  to  draw  off  a  proportion  of 
his  army  from  West  Point,  to  favor  an  in- 
tended attack  on  that  important  post.  Gen- 
eral Parsons,  though  closely  connected  with 
Connecticut,  and  though  from  his  small 
force  he  was  unable  to  make  successful  op- 
position to  the  invaders,  yet  instead  of  press- 
ing general  Washington  for  a  large  detach- 
ment of  continental  troops,  wrote  to  him  as 
follows :  "  The  British  may  probably  distress 
the  country  exceedingly  by  the  ravages  they 
will  commit ;  but  I  would  rather  see  all  the 
towns  on  the  coast  of  my  country  in  flames, 
than  that  the  enemy  should  possess  West 
Point." 

While  the  British  were  successfully  mak- 
ing these  desultory  operations,  the  American 
army  was  incapable  of  covering  the  country. 
The  former,  having  by  means  of  tlieir  supe- 
rior marine  force  the  command  of  the  nu- 
merous rivers,  bays,  and  harbors  of  the 
United  States,  had  it  in  their  power  to  make 
descents  where  they  pleased,  with  an  expe- 
dition that  could  not  be  equalled  by  the 
American  land  forces.  Had  general  Wash- 
ington divided  his  army,  coTiformably  to  the 
wishes  of  the  invaded   citizens,  he  would 


236 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


have  subjected  his  whole  force  to  be  cut  up 
in  detail.  It  was  therefore  his  uniform  prac- 
tice, to  risk  no  more  by  way  of  covering  the 
country  than  was  consistent  with  the  gene- 
ral safety. 

His  army  was  posted  at  some  distance 
from  the  British  head-quarters  in  New- York, 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  North  River,  The 
advance,  consisting  of  three  hundred  infan 
try  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  cavalry,  under 
the  command  of  colonel  Anthony  Walton 
White,  patrolled  constantly,  for  several 
months,  in  front  of  the  British  lines,  and 
kept  a  constant  watch  on  the  Sound  and  on 
the  North  River.  This  corps  had  several 
skirmishes  with  parties  of  the  British,  and 
was  particularly  useful  in  checking  their  ex- 
cursions, and  in  procuring  and  communicat- 
ing intelligence  of  their  movements. 

About  this  time,  general  Putnam,  who 
had  been  stationed  with  a  respectable  com- 
mand at  Reading  in  Connecticut,  when  on 
a  visit  to  his  out-post  at  Horse  Neck,  was  at- 
tacked by  governor  Tryon  with  about  fifteen 
liundred  men.  General  Putnam  had  only  a 
picket  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  two 
iron  field-pieces  without  horses  or  drag 
ropes.  He,  however,  planted  his  cannon 
on  tlie  high  ground,  near  the  meeting-house 
and  by  several  fires  retarded  the  advancing 
enemy,  and  continued  to  make  opposition 
till  he  perceived  the  enemy's  horse,  sup- 
ported by  the  infantry,  were  about  to  charge, 
General  Putnam,  after  ordering  the  picket 
to  provide  for  their  safety,  by  retiring  to  a 
swamp  inaccessible  to  horse,  galloped  down 
the  precipice  at  the  church.  This  is  so 
steep  as  to  have  artificial  stairs,  composed 
of  nearly  one  hundred  stone  steps,  for  the 
accommodation  of  foot-passengers.  The  dra 
goons  stopped  short,  without  venturing 
down  the  abrupt  declivity,  and  before  they 
got  round  the  brow  of  the  hill,  Putnam  was 
far  enough  beyond  their  reach  ;  of  the  many 
balls  that  were  fired  at  him,  all  missed  ex 
cept  one,  whtch  went  through  his  hat.  He 
proceeded  to  Stamford,  and  having  strength- 
ened his  picket  with  some  militia,  faced 
about  and  pursued  governor  Tryon  on  his 
return. 

CAPTURE  OF  STONEY  POINT. 

The  campaign  of  1779,  though  barren  of 
important  events,  was  distinguished  by  one 
of  the  most  gallant  enterprises  on  the  part 
of  the  Americans  which  took  place  in  the 
course  of  the  war.  This  was  the  capture 
of  Stoney  Point  on  the  North  River.  Gen- 
eral Wayne,  who  had  the  honor  of  conduct- 
ing this  enterprise,  set  out  on  the  fifteenth 
of  July  at  the  head  of  a  strong  detachment 
of  the  most  active  infantry  in  the  American 
army  at  noon,  and  completed  a  march  of 
about  fourteen  miles,  over  bad  roads,  by 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.     The  detach- 


ment being  then  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of 
its  object,  was  halted  and  formed  into  col- 
umns. The  general,  with  a  few  of  his  offi- 
cers, advanced  and  reconnoitred  the  works. 
At  half  past  eleven  the  whole  moved  for- 
ward to  the  attack.  The  van  of  the  right, 
consisting  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  volunteers 
under  the  command  of  lieutenant-colonel 
Fleury,  advanced  with  unloaded  musketfi 
and  fixed  bayonets.  These  were  preceded 
by  twenty  picked  men,  who  were  particu- 
larly instructed  to  remove  the  abatis  and 
other  obstructions.  The  van  of  the  left  was 
led  by  major  Stewart,  and  advanced  with 
unloaded  muskets  and  fixed  bayonets.  It 
was  also  preceded  by  a  similar  forlorn  hope. 
The  general  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  right  column,  and  gave  the  most  pointed 
orders  not  to  fire,  but  to  depend  solely  on 
the  bayonet.  The  two  columns  directed 
their  attacks  to  opposite  points  of  the  works, 
while  a  detachment  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  garrison  by  a  feint  in  their  front 
The  approaches  were  more  difiicult  than 
had  been  apprehended :  the  works  were  de- 
fended by  a  deep  morass,  which  was  also, 
at  that  time,  overflowed  by  the  tide.  Neither 
the  morass,  the  double  row  of  abatis,  nor 
the  strength  of  the  works,  damped  the  ar- 
dor of  the  assailants.  In  the  face  of  a  most 
tremendous  fire  of  musketry,  and  of  cannon 
loaded  with  grape-shot,  they  forced  their 
way  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  through 
every  obstacle,  until  both  columns  met  in 
the  centre  of  the  works  at  nearly  the  same 
instant.  General  Wayne,  as  he  passed  the 
last  abatis,  was  wounded  in  the  head  by  a 
musket-ball,  but  nevertheless  insisted  on 
being  carried  forward,  adding  as  a  reascn 
for  it,  "  That  if  he  died  he  wished  it  might 
be  in  the  fort."  Two  flags,  two  standards, 
fifteen  pieces  of  ordnance,  and  a  considera- 
ble quantity  of  military  stores,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  conquerors.  The  vigor  and 
spirit  with  which  this  enterprise  was  con- 
ducted, was  matter  of  triumph  to  the  Amer- 
icans. Upon  the  capture  of  Stoney  Point, 
the  victors  turned  its  artillery  against  Ver- 
plank's  Point,  and  fired  upon  it  with  such 
eflfect,  that  the  shipping  in  its  vicinity  cut 
their  cables  and  fell  down  the  river.  As 
soon  as  the  news  of  these  events  reached 
New-York,  preparations  were  instantly  made 
to  relieve  the  latter  post  and  to  recover  the 
former.  It  by  no  means  accorded  with  the 
cautious  prudence  of  general  Washington, 
to  risk  an  engagement  for  either  or  for  both 
of  them.  He  therefore  removed  the  cannon 
and  stores,  destroyed  the  works,  and  evacu- 
ated the  captured  post.  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
regained  possession  of  Stoney  Point,  on  the 
third  day  after  its  capture,  and  placed  in  it  a 
strong  garrison. 

The  successful  enterprise  of  the  Ameri- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


237 


cans  at  Stoney  Point  was  speedily  followed 
by  another,  which  equalled  it  in  boldness  of 
desig'n.  This  was  the  surprise  of  the  Brit- 
ish i^mrrison  at  Pawle's  Hook,  opposite  to 
New- York,  which  was  cMected  on  July  the 
nineteentli,  by  Major  Lee,  with  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  men.  Major  Sutherland 
the  commandant,  with  a  number  of  Hessians, 
got  off  safe  to  a  small  block-house  on  the 
left  of  the  fort,  but  about  thirty  of  his  men 
were  killed,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  taken 
prisoners.  The  loss  of  the  Americans  was 
inconsiderable.  Major  Lee,  in  conformity 
to  the  orders  he  had  received,  made  an  im- 
mediate retreat,  without  waiting  to  destroy 
either  the  barracks  or  the  artillery. 
UNSUCCESSFUL  ATTACK  ON  PENOBSCOT. 
These  advantages  were  more  than  coun- 
terbalanced, by  an  unsuccessful  attempt  made 
by  the  state  of  Massachusets  on  a  British 
post  at  Penobscot.  Colonel  Macleane,  by 
the  direction  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  on  the 
sixteenth  of  June  landed  with  a  detachment 
of  six  hundred  and  fifty  men  from  Halifax, 
on  the  banks  of  Penobscot  River,  in  the  east- 
ern confines  of  New-England,  and  proceeded 
soon  after  to  construct  a  fort  in  a  well-chosen 
situation.  This  occasioned  an  alarm  at  Bos- 
ton :  and  to  counteract  the  establishment  of 
the  post,  vigorous  measures  were  resolved 
upon.  That  armed  vessels,  transports,  and 
sailors,  might  be  secured  for  an  expedition, 
which  was  immediately  projected  for  this 
purpose,  an  embargo  for  forty  days  was  laid 
by  the  state  of  Massachusets  on  all  their 
shipping.  A  considerable  armament,  con- 
sisting of  eighteen  armed  vessels  besides 
transports,  was  fitted  out  with  extraordinary 
expedition,  and  put  under  the  command  of 
commodore  Saltonstal.  The  largest  vessel 
in  this  fleet  was  the  Warren  of  thirty-two 
guns,  eighteen  and  twelve  pounders.  The 
others  varied  from  twenty-four  to  twelve 
guns.  A  body  of  land  forces,  commanded 
by  general  Lovel,  embarked  on  this  expedi- 
tion. On  the  twenty- fifth  of  July,  the  Ame- 
rican fleet,  consisting  of  thirty-seven  sail, 
fippeared  off  Penobscot  Colonel  Macleane, 
had  four  days  before  gained  information  of 
what  was  intended  against  him.  This  in- 
duced him  to  redouble  his  exertions  in 
strengthening  his  fort,  which  was  in  an  un- 
finished state.  Two  of  the  bastions  were 
untouched :  the  remaining  two  were  in  no 
part  above  four  or  five  feet  high ;  the  ditch 
was  only  about  three  feet  deep ;  there  was 
no  platform  laid,  nor  any  artillery  mounted. 
The  American  general,  on  his  landing,  sum- 
moned the  colonel  to  surrender  ;  which  be- 
mg  refused,  he  proceeded,  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  July,  to  erect  a  battery  at  the  dis- 
tance of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  yards.  A 
cannonading  commenced,  and  was  kept  up 
for  about  a  fortnight,  but  witliout  any  con- 


siderable eflfect.  While  the  besiegers  were 
making  preparations  for  an  assault,  which 
they  had  in  immediate  contemplation.  Sir 
George  Collyer  appeared  full  in  view,  with 
a  squadron  for  the  relief  of  the  garrison. 
He  had  sailed  from  Sandy-hook  on  hearing 
of  the  intended  attack  on  colonel  Macleane's 
party,  and  in  about  eleven  days  arrived  in 
the  river  Penobscot.  His  marine  force  con- 
sisted of  the  Raisonable  of  sixty-four  guns 
and  five  frigates.  The  Americans  at  first 
made  a  show  of  resistance,  but  they  intend- 
ed no  more  than  to  give  the  transports  time 
to  move  up  the  river,  that  the  troops  might 
have  an  opportunity  of  landing  and  making 
their  escape.  The  superior  force  and  weight 
of  metal  of  the  Raisonable  was  irresistible, 
and  the  escape  of  the  Americans  was  im- 
practicable. A  general  flight  on  the  one 
side,  and  a  general  chase  on  the  other,  took 
place.  Sir  George  destroyed  and  took  seven- 
teen or  eighteen  armed  vessels.  The  Ame- 
rican soldiers  and  sailors  had  to  return  a 
great  part  of  their  way  by  land,  and  to  ex- 
plore their  route  through  thick  woods. 

BRITISH  SUCCESSES  TO  THE  SOUTH- 
WARD. 

Though  the  war  was  carried  on  for  little 
more  than  distress  or  depredation  in  the 
northern  states,  the  re-establishment  of  Brit- 
ish government  was  seriously  attempted  in 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  After  the  reduction 
of  Savannah,  a  great  part  of  the  state  of 
Georgia  was  restored  to  the  king's  peace. 
The  royal  army  in  that  quarter  was  strength- 
ened by  a  numerous  reinforcement  from 
East  Florida,  and  the  whole  was  put  under 
the  command  of  major-general  Prevost. 
The  force  then  in  Georgia  gave  a  serious 
alarm  to  the  adjacent  states.  There  were 
at  that  time  but  few  continental  troops  in 
Georgia  or  South  Carolina,  and  scarcely  any 
in  North  Carolina,  as  during  the  late  tran- 
quillity in  the  southern  states,  they  had  been 
detached  to  serve  in  the  main  army  com- 
manded by  general  Washington.  A  body 
of  militia  was  raised  and  sent  forward  by 
North  Carolina  to  aid  her  neighbors.  These 
joined  the  continental  troops,  but  not  till 
they  had  retreated  out  of  Georgia,  and  taken 
post  in  South  Carolina.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  year  1778,  general  Lincoln,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  delegates  of  South  Carolina, 
was  appointed  by  congress  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  their  southern  army. 

This  consisted  only  of  a  few  hundred  con- 
tinentals. To  supply  the  deficiency  of  reeii- 
lar  soldiers,  a  considerable  body  of  militia 
was  ordered  to  join  him,  but  they  added 
much  more  to  his  numbers  than  to  his  eflTec- 
tive  force. 

They  had  not  yet  learned  the  implicit 
obedience  necessary  for  military  operations. 
Accustomed  to  activity  on  their  farms,  they 


238 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


could  not  bear  the  languor  of  an  encamp- 
ment. Having  grown  up  in  habits  of  free- 
dom and  independence,  they  reluctantly 
submitted  to  martial  discipline.  The  royal 
army  at  Savannah  being  reinforced  by  the 
junction  of  the  troops  from  St.  Augustine, 
was  in  condition  to  extend  their  posts.  The 
first  object  was  to  take  possession  of  Port 
Royal,  in  South  Carolina.  Major  Gardiner, 
with  two  hundred  men,  being  detached  with 
this  view,  landed  on  the  island ;  but  general 
Moultrie,  at  the  head  of  an  equal  number  of 
Americans,  in  which  there  were  only  nine 
regular  soldiers,  attacked  and  drove  him  off 
it.  This  advantage  was  principally  gained 
by  two  field-pieces,  which  were  well  served 
by  a  party  of  Charlestown  militia  artillery. 
This  repulse  restrained  the  British  from  at- 
tempting any  immediate  enterprise  to  the 
northward  of  Savannah ;  but  they  fixed  posts 
at  Ebenezer  and  Augusta,  and  extended 
themselves  over  a  great  part  of  Georgia ; 
they  also  endeavored  to  strengthen  them- 
selves by  reinforcements  from  the  tories,  in 
the  western  settlements  of  Georgia  and 
Carolina. 

Emissaries  were  sent  among  the  inhabit- 
ants of  that  description,  to  encourage  them 
to  a  general  insurrection.  They  were  as- 
sured that  if  they  embodied  and  added  their 
force  to  that  of  the  king's  army  in  Georgia, 
they  would  have  such  a  decided  superiority 
as  would  make  a  speedy  return  to  their  homes 
practicable,  on  their  own  terms.  Several 
hundreds  of  them  accordingly  rendezvoused, 
and  set  off  to  join  the  royal  forces  at  Augus- 
ta. Among  those  who  called  themselves 
loyalists,  there  were  many  of  the  most  infa- 
mous characters.  Their  general  complexion 
was  that  of  a  plundering  banditti,  more  so- 
licitous for  booty  than  for  the  honor  and  in- 
terest of  their  royal  master.  At  every 
period  before  the  war,  the  western  wilder- 
ness of  these  states,  which  extended  to  the 
Mississippi,  afforded  an  asylum  for  the  idle 
or  disorderly,  who  disrelished  the  restraints 
of  civil  society.  While  the  war  raged,  the 
demands  of  militia  duty  and  of  taxes,  con- 
tributed much  to  the  peopling  of  those  re- 
mote settlements,  by  holding  out  prospects 
of  exemption  from  the  control  of  govern- 
ment. Among  these  people  the  royal  emis- 
saries had  successfiilly  planted  the  standard 
of  royalty,  and  of  that  class  was  a  great 
proportion  of  those,  who,  in  the  upper  coun- 
try of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  called 
themselves  the  king's  friends.  They  had 
no  sooner  embodied  and  begun  their  march 
to  join  the  royal  army  at  Augusta,  than  they 
commenced  such  a  scene  of^  plundering  the 
defenceless  settlements  through  which  they 
passed,  as  induced  the  orderly  inhabitants  to 
turn  out  to  oppose  them.  Colonel  Pickens, 
with  about  three  hundred  men  of  the  latter 


character,  immediately  pursued  and  came 
up  with  them  near  Kettle  Creek,  An  ac- 
tion took  place,  which  lasted  three  quarters 
of  an  hour ;  the  tories  were  totally  routed 
about  forty  of  them  were  killed,  and  in  that 
number  was  their  leader,  colonel  Boyd,  who 
had  been  secretly  employed  by  British  au- 
thority to  collect  and  head  them.  By  this 
action  the  British  were  disconcerted ;  the 
tories  were  dispersed,  some  ran  quite  off, 
others  went  to  their  homes,  and  cast  them- 
selves on  the  mercy  of  their  country.  These 
were  tried  by  the  laws  of  South  Carolina, 
for  offending  against  an  act  called  the  sedi- 
tion act,  which  had  been  passed  since  the 
revolution  for  the  security  of  the  new  gov- 
ernment. Seventy  of  them  were  condemned 
to  die,  but  the  sentence  was  only  executed 
on  five  of  their  ringleaders. 

As  the  British  extended  their  posts  on  the 
Georgia  side  of  Savannah  river,  general  Lin- 
coln fixed  encampments  at  Black  Swamp, 
and  nearly  opposite  to  Augusta  on  the  Caro- 
lina side.  From  these  posts  he  formed  a 
plan  of  crossing  into  Georgia,  with  the  view 
of  limiting  the  British  to  the  low  country, 
near  the  ocean.  In  the  execution  of  this 
design,  general  Ash,  with  fifleen  hundred 
North  Carolina  militia,  and  a  few  regular 
troops,  after  crossing  the  river  Savannah, 
took  a  position  on  Briar  Creek ;  but  in  a  few 
days  he  was  surprised  by  lieutenant-colonel 
Prevost,  who  having  made  a  circuitous  march 
of  about  fitly  miles,  came  unexpectedly  on 
his  rear  with  about  nine  hundred  men.  The 
militia  were  thrown  into  confusion,  and  f^ed 
at  the  first  fire.  One  hundred  and  fifty  of 
the  Americans  were  killed,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixty-two  were  taken.  Few  had  any 
chance  of  escaping,  but  by  crossing  the  Sa- 
vannah, in  attempting  which  many  were 
drowned.  Of  those  who  got  off  safe,  a  great 
part  returned  home.  The  number  that  rejoin- 
ed the  American  camp  did  not  exceed  four 
hundred  and  fifly  men.  The  few  continent- 
als under  colonel  Elbert  made  a  brave  re- 
sistance; but  the  survivors  of  them,  with 
their  gallant  leader,  were  at  last  compelled 
to  surrender.  This  event  deprived  general 
Lincoln  of  one  fourth  of  his  numbers,  and 
opened  a  communication  between  the  Brit- 
ish, the  Indians,  and  the  tories  of  North  and 
South  Carolina. 

The  series  of  disasters  which  had  followed 
the  x\merican  arms  since  the  landing  of  the 
British  near  Savannah,  occasioned  a  well- 
founded  apprehension  for  the  safety  of  the 
adjacent  states.  The  militia  of  South  Caro- 
lina was  therefore  put  on  a  better  footing, 
and  a  regiment  of  cavalry  was  raised.  John 
Rutledge,  a  Carolinian  of  the  most  distin- 
guished abilities,  was  called  to  the  chair  of 
government  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote, 
and,  in  imitation  of  the  ancient  republic  of 


GEORGE  m.    1760—1820. 


239 


Rome,  invested,  in  conjunction  with  his 
council,  with  dictatorial  powers.  By  virtue 
of  his  authority,  he  convened  a  large  body 
of  the  militia  near  the  centre  of  tihe  state, 
that  they  might  be  in  constant  readiness  to 
march  whithersoever  public  service  requir- 
ed. The  original  plan  of  penetrating  into 
Georgia  was  resumed ;  part  of  the  American 
force  was  stationed  on  the  north  side  of  the 
kbavannah  at  Purrysburgh  and  Black  Swamp, 
while  general  Lincoln  and  tlie  main  army 
crossed  into  Georgia  near  Augusta.  Gen- 
eral Prevost  availed  himself  of  the  critical 
moment,  when  the  American  army  had  as- 
cended one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  towards 
the  source  of  the  Savannah,  and  crossed  into 
Carolina  over  the  same  river  near  to  its 
mouth,  with  about  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred men.  A  considerable  body  of  Indians, 
whose  friendship  the  British  had  previously 
secured,  were  associated  with  the  British  on 
this  expedition.  The  superior  British  force 
which  crossed  Savannah  River  soon  com- 
pelled general  Moultrie,  who  was  charged 
with  the  defence  of  South  Carolina,  to  re- 
tire. Lincoln,  on  receiving  information  of 
these  movements,  detached  three  hundred 
of  his  light  troops  to  reinforce  Moultrie,  but 
proceeded  with  the  main  army  towards  the 
capital  of  Georgia.  He  was  induced  to  pur- 
sue his  original  intention,  from  an  idea  that 
general  Prevost  meant  nothing  more  than 
to  divert  him  by  a  feint  on  Carolina,  and  be- 
cause his  marching  down  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river  Savannah  would  occasion  very 
little  additional  delay  in  repairing  to  its  de- 
fence. When  Lincoln  found  that  Prevost 
was  seriously  pushing  for  Charlestown,  he 
recrossed  the  Savannah,  and  pursued  him. 
The  British  proceeded  in  their  march  by  the 
jmain  road  near  the  sea-coast,  with  but  little 
opposition,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  Ameri- 
cans retreated  before  them  towards  Charles- 
town.  General  Moultrie,  who  ably  conduct- 
ed this  retreat,  had  no  cavalry  to  check  the 
advancing  foe.  Instead  of  his  receiving  re- 
inforcements from  the  inhabitants,  as  he 
marched  through  the  country,  he  was  aban- 
doned by  many  of  the  militia,  who  went  to 
their  homes;  their  families  and  property  lay 
directly  in  the  route  of  the  invading  army. 
The  absence  of  the  main  army  under  Lin- 
<--0in,  the  retreat  of  Moultrie,  the  plunder- 
ngs  and  devastations  of  the  invaders,  and 
bove  all,  the  dread  of  the  Indian  savages 
which  accompanied  the  royal  army,  diffused 
a  general  panic  among  the  inhabitants.  The 
terror  of  each  individual  became  a  source 
•f  terror  to  another.  From  the  influence  of 
heso  causes,  many  were  induced  to  apply 
)br  British  protection.  New  converts  to  the 
oval  standard  endeavored  to  ingratiate  them- 
selves with  their  protectors,  by  encouraging 
Jiem  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  Charles- 


town.  Being  in  their  power,  they  were 
more  anxious  to  frame  intelligence  on  the 
idea  of  what  was  agreeable,  than  of  what 
was  true.  They  represented  the  inhabitants 
as  being  generally  tired  of  the  war,  and 
wishing  for  peace  at  all  events.  They  also 
stated  that  Charlestown  was  incapable  of 
much  resistance.  These  circumstances, 
combined  with  the  facility  with  which  the 
British  marched  through  the  country,  induc- 
ed general  Prevost  to  extend  his  plan  and 
push  for  Charlestown.  Had  he  designed  it 
at  first,  and  continued  his  march  with  the 
same  rapidity  with  which  it  was  begun,  the 
town  would  probably  have  been  carried  by  a 
coup-de-main ;  but  he  halted  two  or  three 
days  when  advanced  near  half  the  distance. 
In  that  interval,  every  preparation  was  made 
by  the  South  Carolinians  for  the  defence  of 
their  capital ;  all  the  houses  in  its  suburbs 
were  burnt ;  lines  and  abatis  were,  in  a  few 
days,  carried  across  the  peninsula  between 
Ashley  and  Cooper  rivers,  and  cannon  were 
mounted  at  proper  intervals  on  its  whole 
extent.  Though  this  visit  of  the  British, 
and  especially  an  attack  on  the  land-side, 
was  unexpected,  yet  in  a  few  days  great 
preparations  were  made,  and  a  force  of  three 
thousand  three  hundred  men  assembled  in 
Charlestown  for  its  defence. 

BRITISH  FAIL  AT  CHARLESTOWN. 
The  mam  body  and  baggage  of  the  British 
army,  being  left  on  the  south  side  of  Ashley 
river,  an  advanced  detachment  of  nine  hun- 
dred men,  on  the  eleventh  of  May,  crossed 
the  ferry,  and  appeared  before  the  town.  In 
the  mean  time  Lincoln  was  marching  on  as 
fast  as  possible,  for  the  relief  of  Charlestown; 
but  as  his  arrival  was  doubtful,  and  the  crisis 
hazardous,  to  gain  time  was  a  matter  of 
consequence.  A  whole  day  was  therefore 
spent  in  the  exchange  of  flags.  Commis- 
sioners from  the  garrison  were  instructed 
"  to  propose  a  neutrality  during  the  war  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  America,  and  that 
the  question  whether  the  State  shall  belong 
to  Great  Britain,  or  remain  one  of  the  United 
States,  be  determined  by  a  treaty  of  peace 
between  these  powers."  The  British  com- 
manders refused  this  advantageous  offer,  al- 
leging that  they  did  not  come  in  a  legisla- 
tive capacity,  and  insisted  that,  as  the 
inhabitants  and  others  were  in  arms,  they 
should  surrender  prisoners  of  war.  This 
being  refused,  the  garrison  prepared  for  an 
immediate  assault ;  but  tliis  was  not  attempt- 
ed. Prevost,  knowing  by  an  intercepted 
letter  that  Lincoln  was  coming  on  in  his 
rear,  retreated  from  Charlestown,  and  filed 
ofT  with  his  whole  force  from  the  main  to 
the  islands  near  the  sea,  that  he  might  avoid 
being  between  two  fires.  Both  armies  en- 
camped in  the  vicinity  of  Charlestown,  watch- 
ing each  other's  motions  till  the  twentieth 


240 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  June,  when  an  attack  was  made  with 
about  one  thousand  two  hundred  Americans, 
on  six  or  seven  hundred  of  the  British,  ad- 
vantageously posted  at  Stono  Ferry.  The 
latter  had  redoubts,  with  a  line  of  commu- 
nication, and  field-pieces  in  the  intervals, 
and  the  whole  was  secured  with  an  abatis. 
By  a  preconcerted  plan,  a  feint  was  to  have 
been  made  from  James  Island,  with  a  body 
of  Chariestown  militia,  at  the  moment  when 
general  Lincoln  began  the  attack  from  the 
main ;  but  from  mismanagement,  they  did 
not  reach  their  place  of  destination  till  the 
action  was  over.  The  attack  was  continued 
for  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes,  and  the 
assailants  had  the  advantage;  but  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  reinforcement,  to  prevent 
which  the  feint  from  James  Island  was  in- 
tended, made  their  retreat  necessary. 

Soon  after  the  affair  at  Stono,  the  conti- 
nental forces  under  the  command  of  general 
Lincoln  retired  to  Sheldon,  a  healthy  situa- 
tion in  the  vicinity  of  Beaufort.  Both  ar- 
mies remained  in  their  respective  encamp- 
ments, till  the  arrival  of  a  French  fleet  on 
the  coast  roused  the  whole  country  to  imme- 
diate activity. 
OPERATIONS  OF  THE  FRENCH  FLEET. 

Count  D'Estaing  having  repaired  and 
victualled  his  fleet  at  Boston,  on  the  third 
of  November  1778  sailed  for  the  West  In- 
dies ;  and  on  the  same  day  commodore  Ho- 
tham,  with  five  men-of-war,  a  bomb  vessel, 
and  some  frigates,  set  out  from  New- York 
to  convoy  a  number  of  transports  with  gene- 
ral Grant,  and  five  thousand  men,  to  the 
same  theatre  of  naval  operations. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  December  the  British 
took  St.  Lucia,  and  count  D'Estaing  took 
St.  Vincent's  and  Grenada.  Soon  after  the 
reduction  of  the  latter,  the  count  retired  to 
Cape  Francois.  Having,  in  July  1779,  re- 
ceived instructions  from  the  king  his  master, 
to  act  in  concert  with  the  forces  of  the 
United  States,  and  being  strongly  solicited 
by  general  Lincoln,  president  Lowndes,  gov- 
ernor Rutledge,  and  Mr.  Plombard,  consul 
of  France  in  Chariestown,  he  sailed  for  the 
Americacn  continent  with  expectation  of  ren- 
dering essential  service  in  operating  against 
the  common  enemy.  On  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember he  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Georgia, 
with  a  fleet  consisting  of  twenty  sail  of  the 
line,  two  of  fifty  guns,  and  eleven  frigates. 
His  appearance  was  so  unexpected,  that  the 
Experiment  man-of-war,  of  fifty  guns,  com- 
manded by  Sir  James  Wallace,  and  three 
frigates,  fell  into  his  hands. 

SIEGE  OF  SAVANNAH  RAISED. 

As  soon  as  his  arrival  on  the  coast  was 
known,  general  Lincoln,  with  the  army  un- 
der his  command,  marched  for  the  vicinity 
of  Savannah,  and  orders  were  given  for  the 
militia  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  to 


rendezvous  near  the  same  place.  The  Brit- 
ish were  equally  diligent  in  preparing  for 
their  defence ;  great  numbers  were  employed 
both  by  day  and  night,  in  strengthening  and 
extending  their  lines.  The  American  mili- 
tia, flushed  with  the  hope  of  speedily  ex- 
pelling the  British  from  their  southern  pos- 
sessions, turned  out  with  an  alacrity  which 
far  surpassed  their  exertions  in  the  preceding 
campaign.  D'Estamg,  before  the  arrival  of 
Lincoln,  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  town 
to  the  arms  of  France.  Prevost  in  his  an- 
swer declined  surrendering  on  a  general 
summons,  and  requested  that  specific  terms 
should  be  proposed,  to  which  he  would  giv 
a.n  answer.  The  count  replied,  that  it  wa 
the  part  of  the  besieged  to  propose  terms. 
Prevost  then  asked  for  a  suspension  of  hos- 
tilities, for  twenty-four  hours,  for  preparing 
proper  terms.  This  was  inconsiderately 
granted.  Before  the  twenty-four  hours 
elapsed,  lieutenant-colonel  Maitland,  with 
several  hundred  men  who  had  been  stationed 
at  Beaufort,  made  their  way  good  through 
many  obstacles,  and  joined  the  royal  army 
in  Savannah.  The  garrison,  encouraged  by 
the  arrival  of  so  respectable  a  force,  deter- 
mined on  resistance.  The  French  and  Ame- 
ricans, who  formed  a  junction  the  evening 
after,  were  therefore  reduced  to  the  neces- 
sity of  storming  or  besieging  the  garrison. 
The  resolution  of  proceeding  by  siege  being 
adopted,  several  days  were  consumed  in  pre- 
paring for  it,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  works 
of  the  garrison  were  hourly  strengthened  by 
the  labor  of  several  hundred  negroes.  The 
besiegers  on  the  fourth  of  October  opened 
with  nine  mortars,  thirty-seven  pieces  of 
cannon  from  the  land-side,  and  fifteen  from 
the  water.  Soon  after  the  commencement 
of  the  cannonade,  Prevost  solicited  for  leave 
to  send  the  women  and  children  out  of  the 
town  ;  but  this  was  refased.  The  combined 
army  suspected  that  a  desire  of  secreting 
the  plunder,  lately  taken  from  the  South 
Carolinians,  was  covered  under  the  veil  of 
humanity.  It  was  also  presumed  that  a  re- 
fusal would  expedite  a  surrender.  On  a  re- 
port from  the  engineers  that  a  considerable 
time  would  be  necessary  to  reduce  the  gar- 
rison by  regular  approaches,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  make  an  assault.  This  measure 
was  forced  on  count  D'Estaing  by  his  marine 
officers,  who  had  remonstrated  against  his 
continuing  to  risk  so  valuable  a  fleet  on  a 
dangerous  coast,  in  the  hurricane  season,  and 
at  so  great  a  distance  from  the  shore,  that  it 
might  be  surprised  by  a  British  fleet,  com- 
pletely repaired  and  fully  manned.  In  a  few 
days  the  lines  of  the  besiegers  might  have 
been  carried  into  the  works  of  the  besieged ; 
but  under  these  critical  circumstances,  no 
farther  delay  could  be  admitted.  To  assault 
or  raise  the  siege  was  the  alternative  ;  pru- 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


24i 


dence  would  have  dictated  the  latter,  but  a 
sense  of  honor  determined  the  besiegers  to 
adopt  the  former.  Two  feints  were  made 
witli  the  country  militia,  and  a  real  attack 
on  Spring-Hill  battery  early  in  the  morning 
of  the  ninth  of  October,  with  three  thousand 
five  hundred  French  troops,  six  hundred  con- 
tinentals, and  three  hundred  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Charlestown.  These  boldly  marched 
up  to  the  lines,  under  the  command  of  D'Es- 
taing  and  Lincoln ;  but  a  heavy  and  well- 
directed  fire  from  the  batteries,  and  a  cross 
fire  from  the  galleys,  threw  the  front  of  their 
columns  into  confusion.  Two  standards 
were  nevertheless  planted  on  the  British 
redoubts.  A  retreat  of  the  assailants  was 
ordered,  after  they  had  stood  the  enemy's 
fire  for  fifty-five  minutes.  Count  D'Estaing 
and  count  Pulaski  were  both  wounded ;  the 
former  slightly,  but  the  latter  mortally.  Six 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  of  the  French,  and 
upwards  of  two  hundred  of  the  continentals 
and  militia,  were  killed  or  wounded.  Gene- 
ral Prevost,  lieutenant-colonel  Maitland,  and 
major  Moncrief,  deservedly  acquired  great 
reputation  by  this  successful  defence.  The 
force  of  the  garrison  was  between  two  and 
three  thousand,  of  which  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  were  militia.  The  damage  sus- 
tained by  the  besieged  was  trifling,  as  they 
fired  from  behind  works,  and  few  of  the  as- 
sailants fired  at  all.  Immediately  after  this 
unsuccessfiil  assault,  the  militia,  almost  uni- 
versally, went  to  their  homes.  Count  D'Es- 
tamg  reimbarked  his  troops  and  artillery, 
and  left  the  continent. 

WHITE'S  REMARKABLE  EXPLOIT. 
While  the  siege  of  Savannah  was  pend- 
ing, a  remarkable  enterprise  was  eflfected  by 
colonel  John  White  of  the  Georgia  line. 
Captain  French  had  taken  post  with  about 
one  hundred  men  near  the  river  Ogechee, 
some  time  before  the  siege  began.    There 


were  also  at  the  same  place  forty  sailors  on 
board  of  five  British  vessels,  four  of  which 
were  armed.  All  these  men,  together  with 
the  vessels  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  stand 
of  arms,  were  surrendered  to  colonel  Whit^3, 
captain  Elhohn,  and  four  others,  one  of  whicn 
was  the  colonel's  servant.  On  the  preceding 
night  this  small  party  kindled  a  number  of 
fires  in  diflferent  places,  and  adopted  the 
parade  of  a  large  encampment.  By  these 
and  a  variety  of  deceptive  stratagems,  cap- 
tain French  was  fully  impressed  with  an 
opinion  that  nothing  but  an  instant  surren- 
der, in  conformity  to  a  peremptory  summons, 
could  save  his  men  from  being  cut  to  pieces 
by  a  superior  force.  He  therefore  gave  up 
without  making  any  resistance. 

This  visit  of  the  French  fleet  to  the  coast 
of  America,  though  unsuccessfiil  as  to  its 
main  object,  was  not  without  utility  to  the 
United  States.  It  disconcerted  the  measures 
already  digested  by  the  British  commanders, 
and  caused  a  considerable  waste  of  time  be- 
fore they  could  determine  on  a  new  plan  of 
operations.  It  also  occasioned  the  evacua- 
tion of  Rhode-Island.  But  this  was  of  no 
advantage  to  the  United  States ;  for  the 
greatest  blunder  committed  by  the  British  in 
the  course  of  the  American  war,  was  their 
stationing  near  six  thousand  men,  for  two 
years  and  eight  months,  on  that  island,  where 
they  were  lost  to  every  purpose  of  co-opera- 
tion, and  where  they  could  render  very  little 
more  service  to  the  royal  cause,  than  could 
have  been  obtained  by  two  frigates  cruising 
in  the  vicinity. 

BRITISH  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AFRICA 
CAPTURED. 

During  these  transactions  in  America,  the 
British  settlements  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
Senegal,  and  the  forts  on  the  river  Grambia, 
were  taken  by  a  French  squadron,  under  M. 
de  Lauzur. 


voL.rv. 


21 


342 


fflSTORY  OP  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


Alarm  from  the  appearance  of  the  combined  Fleet  off  the  Coast — Irish  Volunteers- 
Proceedings  of  the  Irish  Parliament — Depredations  of  Paul  Jones —  Takes  the  Se- 
rapis — Engagement  between  the  Quebec  and  Surveillante — Secret  enmity  between 
the  States- General  and  the  English  Cabinet — Meeting  of  Parliament — Debates  on 
the  Address — Debates  on  Irish  Affairs — On  Expenses  of  the  War — Associations  and 
Petitions  from  York,  <^c. — Mr.  Burke'' s  Plan  of  Economical  Regulation — Progress 
of  Mr.  Burke's  Bill — Celebrated  Vote  on  the  Influence  of  the  Crown — Riots  in  Lon- 
don— Siege  of  Gibraltar — Admiral  Langara  defeated  by  Rodney — Charlestown  ta- 
ken— Impolitic  Proceedings  of  the  English  in  Carolina — Americans  rally — Gates 
defeated — Distresses  of  Americans — Arrival  of  Rochambeau — Defection  of  General 
Arnold — Andre  executed  as  a  Spy. 


FRENCH  FLEET  ON  THE  ENGLISH 
COAST.— IRISH  AFFAIRS 

The  summer  of  1779  did  not  pass  with- 
out considerable  alarm,  even  in  Eng-land.  A 
junction  was  formed  between  the  French 
and  Spanish  fleets  immediately  after  the 
delivery  of  the  Spanish  memorial.  They 
entered  the  channel  in  the  month  of  Au- 
gust, with  sixty-five  ships  of  the  line,  ac- 
companied by  a  number  of  frigates  and  fire- 
ships.  Sir  Charles  Hardy,  who  commanded 
the  channel-fleet,  found  himself  in  no  con- 
dition to  contend  with  an  enemy  which  was 
greatly  his  superior  in  force,  and  was  under 
the  necessity  of  retiring,  while  the  enemy's 
flag  rode  triumphant  on  the  British  coasts. 
As  the  port  and  harbor  of  Plymouth  had 
been  unaccountably  neglected  by  the  minis- 
try who  unhappily  presided  over  the  affairs 
of  this  country  at  that  period,  the  greatest 
apprehensions  were  entertained  for  its  safety. 
The  count  D'Orvilliers,  the  commander, 
was,  however,  ignorant  either  of  the  weak- 
ness of  the  place,  or  of  the  little  force  which 
England  was  able  to  bring  against  them.  In 
their  cruise,  they  captured  the  Ardent  man- 
of-war,  of  sixty-four  guns,  but  attempted  no 
farther  enterprise;  and  by  their  return  to 
Brest,  relieved  the  English  nation  from  that 
cloud  of  apprehension  by  which  their  po- 
litical atmosphere  had  been  obscured. 

While  all  was  consternation  and  dismay 
in  England,  the  Irish  nation,  happily  for 
themselves  and  their  posterity,  were  acting 
a  more  spirited,  and,  as  it  afterwards  proved, 
a  more  politic  part,  though  the  danger  was 
certainly  more  imminent  to  them  than  to 
the  inhabitants  of  this  island.  To  the  ab- 
surd and  frantic  crusade  against  American 
liberty,  the  incompetent  ministers  of  George 
III.  had  sacrificed  every  other  consideration ; 
and  while  the  clouded  faculties  of  lord  Stor- 
mont  had  been  completely  diverted  by  the 
finesse  of  the  French  court  from  their  real 
designs ;  he  had  wrapped  himself  up  in  his 
own  importance;  and  satisfied  with  being 


permitted  to  treat  the  agents  of  America 
with  arrogance  and  rudeness,  even  upon  oc- 
casions where  humanity  was  interested,  he 
continued  to  transmit  to  his  masters  the 
most  unequivocal  assurances  of  the  pacific 
designs  of  France.  Lulled  into  this  dream 
of  security,  therefore,  the  ministry  had  with- 
drawn almost  the  whole  of  the  troops  from 
Ireland,  and  the  country  was  left  defence- 
less to  any  invader.  Thus  apparently  aban- 
doned by  England,  the  Irish,  at  this  formida- 
ble crisis,  acted  with  an  energy  which  re- 
flects upon  them  the  highest  honor.  Military 
associations  were  formed  in  every  part  of 
the  kingdom,  and  an  army  of  fifty  thousand 
volunteers  started  up  at  once,  as  by  a  mira- 
cle, like  the  armed  men  of  Cadmus,  well 
appointed  and  completely  disciplined.  It 
undoubtedly  occurred  to  the  leaders  of  the 
Irish  nation,  in  favoring  this  arrangement, 
that  the  same  men  who  might  be  useful  to 
defend  the  country  from  foreign  attacks, 
might  also  serve  to  reclaim  their  own  liber- 
ties ;  but  this  was  a  consideration  too  refined 
for  the  undiscriminating  faculties  of  the 
English  ministry;  and  instead  of  counter- 
acting this  rising  spirit,  they  virtually  en- 
couraged it,  and  even  fiirnished  several  of 
the  corps  with  arms  from  the  royal  maga- 
zines. On  the  return  of  the  combined  fleet 
to  Brest,  the  apprehensions  of  the  Irish  sub- 
sided, but  the  volunteers  did  not  disband : 
and  the  eflfect  of  this  extraordinary  combi- 
nation was  soon  apparent  in  the  proceedings 
of  their  parliament,  which  met  on  the  twelfth 
of  October. — An  amendment  was  then  car- 
ried on  the  address  proposed  by  ministry,  in- 
sisting on  a  free  trade ;  the  thanks  of  both 
houses  were  voted  to  the  volunteers,  and  a 
six  months'  money-bill  passed,  to  prevent  a 
premature  prorogation. 

PAUL  JONES— NAVAL  ACTIONS. 
The  empty  triumph  of  the  combined  fleet 
was  not  the  only  instance  in  this  campaign, 
irt  which  the  naval  pride  of  Britain  was  mor- 
tified.    Among  a  number  of  adventurers, 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


243 


which  the  desire  of  plunder  called  into  ac- 
tion, on  the  side  of  the  Americans,  in  this 
unfortunate  war,  one  of  the  most  remarka- 
ble, both  for  courage  and  conduct,  was  Paul 
Jones.  He  is  said  to  have  been  by  birth  an 
Englishman,  and  being  bred  to  the  sea,  con- 
tinued, the  greater  part  of  his  lite,  in  an  in- 
ferior station  on  that  element.  Having  ar- 
rived, by  what  means  we  are  not  informed, 
to  the  command  of  a  small  privateer  in  the 
service  of  the  American  States,  in  the  pre- 
ceding summer  he  had  swept  the  whole 
Irish  channel,  and  had  even  effected  a  land- 
ing at  lord  Selkirk's  house  in  Scotland,  not 
tar  from  Dumfries.  On  his  return  to  France, 
he  was  furnished  by  some  American  and 
French  adventurers  with  a  larger  vessel, 
which,  in  company  with  two  others,  appear- 
ed off  the  coast  of  Scotland  in  the  month  of 
September  1779.  They  steered  directly  up 
the  Frith  of  Forth,  and  on  the  17th  were 
nearly  opposite  to  Leith.  His  intention  was 
supposed  to  have  been  to  burn  or  destroy  the 
shipping  in  that  harbor,  but  he  was  prevent- 
ed from  attempting  anything  by  a  strong 
west  wind,  which  drove  him  down  the  Frith. 
Proper  precautions  were  also  taken  to  pre- 
vent his  repeating  the  attempt  with  any 
probability  of  success.  In  one  day,  three 
batteries  were  erected ;  two  at  the  citadel 
in  North  Leith,  and  one  near  New^haven, 
on  which  were  mounted  thirty  cannon,  be- 
sides carronades,  howitzers,  &;c.  Several 
prizes,  however,  were  t-iken,  some  of  which, 
after  being  plundered,  were  set  adrifl.  From 
this  coast,  our  adventurer  sailed  directly  to 
that  of  Holland,  where  he  fell  in  with  the 
Serapis  and  Countess  of  Scarborough.  A 
dread  fill  engagement  ensued,  the  particulars 
of  v/hich  are  thus  related  by  captain  Pear- 
son, of  the  Serapis :  the  enemy's  squadron 
consisted  of  two  frigates  and  a  two-decked 
ship.  About  twenty  minutes  after  seven, 
the  largest  ship  brought  to  within  musket- 
shot,  and  an  engagement  immediately  com- 
menced, which  was  carried  on  with  the  ut- 
most fury.  The  enemy  at  first  endeavored 
to  board  the  Serapis;  but  being  repulsed, 
after  various  manoeuvres,  the  two  ships  be- 
came entangled  with  each  other  in  such  a 
manner,  that  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  touch- 
ed each  other's  sides.  In  this  situation  the 
engagement  continued  for  two  hours,  during 
which  time,  from  the  great  quantity  of  burn- 
ing matter  thrown  into  the  Serapis,  she  was 
on  fire  in  different  places  no  less  than  ten 
or  twelve  times,  nor  could  it  be  extinguish- 
ed without  the  utmost  difficulty;  at  the 
same  time  that  she  was  raked  in  the  most] 
dreadful  manner  by  the  frigate,  fore  and  aft, 
so  that  almost  every  man  on  the  quarter  unci 
main-decks  was  killed  or  wounded.  About 
half  past  nine,  eitlier  from  a  hand-gTenade, 
thrown  in  at  one  of  the  lower  deck-ports,  or 


from  some  other  accident,  a  cartridge  of 
powder  was  set  on  fire,  the  flames  of  which, 
runnmg  from  cartridge  to  cartridge,  at  last 
blew  up  the  whole  of  the  people  and  officers 
on  the  main  deck,  rendering  also  the  guns 
unserviceable  on  that  part  of  the  ship.  At 
ten  o'clock,  the  enemy  called  out  for  quarter, 
and  said  tliey  had  struck:  but  on  captain 
Pearson  inquiring  into  the  truth  of  this  cir- 
cumstance, and  no  .answer  being  made,  he 
determined  to  board  the  enemy.  On  lookmg 
into  her,  however,  they  discovered  a  supe- 
rior number  with  pikes,  ready  to  receive 
them,  on  which  they  instantly  retreated  into 
their  own  ship.  I'he  firing  was  then  con- 
tinued on  both  sides  till  half  an  hour  after 
ten,  when  the  frigate  coming  across  the  stern 
of  the  Serapis,  poured  a  broadside  into  her ; 
after  which  the  captain  finding  it  impracti- 
cable to  continue  the  engagement  any  longer 
struck  his  colors ;  the  main-mast  coming  by 
the  board  at  the  same  instant.  The  con- 
quering vessel  was  in  such  distress  that  she 
sunk  the  next  night. 

In  the  month  following  another  very  des- 
perate action  took  place.  Captain  Farmer 
of  his  majesty's  ship  Quebec,  being  on  a 
cruise  off"Ushant,  in  company  with  the  Ram- 
bler cutter,  came  up  with,  and  closely  en- 
gaged, a  large  French  frigate  called  the 
Surveillante,  mounting  forty  guns;  while 
the  Rambler  was  engaged  with  a  French 
cutter  as  superior  in  force  as  the  French 
frigate  was  to  the  Quebec.  The  action  on 
both  sides  was  warm  and  bloody,  from  ten  in 
the  morning  till  two  in  the  afternoon,  w-hen 
the  French  cutter  set  all  the  sail  she  could 
crowd,  and  bore  away ;  but  the  Rambler  be- 
ing so  disabled  in  her  mast  and  rigging, 
could  not  follow  her  with  any  hopes  of  com- 
ing up  with  her.  The  commander,  there- 
fore, seeing  both  the  frigates  dismasted,  and 
the  Quebec  taking  fire,  endeavored  to  get 
as  near  the  Quebec  as  possible,  in  hopes  of 
saving  some  of  her  men ;  but  there  being 
but  little  wind  and  a  large  swell,  no  other 
assistance  could  be  afforded  than  by  hoisting 
out  the  boat,  which  picked  up  one  master's 
mate,  two  young  midshipmen,  and  four- 
teen more  of  the  Quebec's  people,  the  ene- 
my's frigate  at  the  same  time  firing  at  tlie 
boat.  The  Quebec  continued  burning  very 
fiercely,  with  her  colors  flying,  till  six  o'clock, 
when  she  blew  up. 

As  Paul  Jones  had  brought  his  prizes  into 
the  Texel,  Sir  Joseph  Yorke,  with  the  same 
wisdom  that  characterized  the  rest  of  tlie 
administration,  presented  a  memorial  to  the 
Slates  of  Holland,  demanding  the  surrender 
of  him  as  a  pirate.  The  States,  with  their 
usual  prudence,  declined  all  interference  in 
the  disputed  question  of  American  indepen- 
dence. But  their  refusal  on  this  occasion  is 
generally  supposed  to  have  implanted  the 


244 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


seeds  of  enmity  deeply  in  the  minds  of  the 
British  cabinet,  and  to  have  determined  a 
ministry,  which  appears  to  have  been  uni- 
formly actuated  by  no  principle  but  that  of 
a  puerile  revenge,  to  embrace  the  first  op- 
portunity of  a  rupture  with  the  States- 
general. 

Previous  to  the  meeting  of  parliament,  a 
pjartial  change  took  place  in  the  administra- 
tion. Lord  Stormont,  who  had  evinced  such 
profound  diplomatic  abilities  during  his  em- 
bassy to  Paris,  and  who  had  been  so  correct 
and  early  in  his  information  to  ministers  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  court  of  Versailles, 
was  promoted  to  the  office  of  secretary  of 
state  in  the  room  of  the  earl  of  Suffolk,  de- 
ceased. Lord  Weymouth  resigned,  as  was 
supposed  in  disgust,  and  was  succeeded  in 
his  department  by  the  earl  of  Hillsborough. 
Earl  Bathurst  was  made  president  of  the 
council  in  the  room  of  earl  Gower,  who  also 
was  supposed  to  resign  in  disgust ;  and  the 
great  seal  was  transferred  to  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Thurlow,  late  attorney-general,  but  who 
on  the  occasion  was,  as  usual,  created  a  peer, 
by  the  title  of  baron  Thurlow ;  he  was  cer- 
tainly a  man  of  ability,  but  his  talents  by  all 
parties  have  been  greatly  overrated. 
(  Some  offence  was  taken  by  the  people  of 
Scotland  at  the  act  which  had  been  passed 
in  favor  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  some 
alarming  riots  ensued  at  Edinburgh  and 
Glasgow,  in  which  the  mass-houses  were 
pulled  down,  as  well  as  several  dwelling- 
houses.  These,  however,  were  only  the 
preludes  to  the  melancholy  scene,  which  we 
shall  have  presently  to  describe. 

PARLIAMENT  MEETS.— VIOLENT  DE- 
BATES. 
The  British  parliament  assembled  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  November, — His  majesty,  in 
his  speech  to  the  two  houses,  began  with 
the  usual  complaints  concerning  the  unjust 
and  unprovoked  war,  in  which  the  nation 
was  engaged,  and  the  dangerous  confederacy 
formed  against  the  crown  and  people  of 
Great  Britain.  By  the  blessing  of  Provi- 
dence, he  said,  the  attempts  of  the  enemy  to 
invade  the  kingdom  had  been  frustrated; 
and  though  they  still  continued  to  menace 
us  with  great  armaments  and  preparations, 
— "  I  know,"  added  his  majesty,  "  the  char- 
acter of  my  brave  people ;  the  menaces  of 
their  enemies,  and  the  approach  of  danger, 
have  no  effect  on  their  minds,  but  to  animate 
their  courage,  and  to  call  forth  that  national 
spirit  which  has  so  ofl:en  checked  and  de- 
feated the  projects  of  ambition  and  injustice, 
and  enabled  the  British  fleets  and  armies  to 
protect  their  own  country,  to  vindicate  their 
ovyn  rights,  and  at  the  same  time  to  uphold 
and  preserve  the  liberties  of  Europe  from 
the  restless  and  encroaching  power  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon."     After  observing  that 


the  state  of  Ireland  had  been  attended  to,  it 
was  recommended  to  consider  what  further 
benefits  and  advantages  might  be  extended 
to  that  kingdom.  The  usual  regret  was  ex- 
pressed for  the  unavoidable  increase  of  the 
supplies :  but  no  notice  whatever  was  taken 
of  the  affairs  of  America,  or  the  West  In- 
dies, or  any  part  of  the  campaign. 

The  motions  for  addresses,  in  both  houses, 
produced  great  debates,  in  which  opposition 
delivered  their  sentiments  with  unusual  con- 
fidence, and  pointed  their  censures  with 
great  skill.  They  reprobated  that  ruinous 
•system  of  government  which  had  debilitated 
and  disgraced  this  country,  and  which  was 
particularly  aggravated  by  its  support  from 
a  secret  combination.  The  influence  of  this 
combination  was  visible  in  every  depart- 
ment of  our  executive  services,  and  had  al- 
tered the  character  both  of  our  armies  and 
navies ;  and  the  futility  of  our  councils  seem- 
ed to  vie  with  the  contempt  bestowed  by  all 
the  world  on  our  arms. 

The  general  terror  which  the  parade  of 
the  combined  fleets  of  France  and  Spain  in 
the  channel  had  this  year  occasioned  through- 
out the  southern  coasts  of  England,  added 
fresh  force  to  the  objections  of  opposition. 
It  was  reserved,  said  they,  for  the  present 
inauspicious  and  disgraceful  era,  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  those  men  who  had  severed 
tlie  one  part  of  the  empire  from  the  other, 
and  who  had  plunged  the  Daiion.  in  all  the 
guilt  and  calamity  of  a  cruel  and  unextin- 
guishable  civil  war,  to  brand  this  country 
with  the  indelible  disgrace  of  the  preced- 
ing summer,  to  exhibit  the  unthought-of  and 
unheard-of  spectacle,  of  a  British  fleet  fly- 
ing, in  sight  of  their  own  coast,  before  that 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon, 

Besides  this  grand  article  of  accusation, 
the  neglect  of  the  island  of  Jersey  afforded 
another,  very  little  inferior.  Through  the 
want,  they  said,  of  two  or  three  frigates,  of 
that  small  marine  force  which  would  have 
been  then  sufficient  to  repel  the  desultory 
attempts  to  be  expected  from  St.  Maloes, 
admiral  Arbutlinot  was  obliged  to  abandon 
his  convoy,  and  to  defer  his  voyage  to  New- 
York.  By  that  means  a  fleet  of  three  hun- 
dred merchantmen  and  transports  were  ex- 
posed to  the  danger  of  the  sea  and  the  ene- 
my in  the  open  road  of  Torbay ;  the  trade 
was  detained  a  full  month  at  home,  and  suf- 
fered at  least  an  equal  delay  on  the  voyage, 
to  the  immense  loss  and  expense  of  the  mer- 
chant ;  and  the  reinforcements  for  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  which,  to  answer  any  effectual  pur- 
pose, should  have  been  landed  at  New- York 
before  the  time  of  their  departure  from  Eng- 
land, did  not  reach  the  continent  of  America 
until  the  end  of  August,  when  the  season 
for  action  was  nearly  over,  and  the  troops 
had   suffered   so  much  from  the    unusual 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


245 


length  of  their  confinement  on  ship-board, 
that  they  were  incapable  of  any  immediate 
service.  Thus  were  all  the  views  and  hopes 
of  the  campaign  frustrated  in  the  outset, 
and  thus,  year  after  year,  was  the  blood  and 
Iretisure  of  the  nation  consumed,  and  its 
strength  ejthausted,  in  that  fatal  contest, 
while  the  unequalled  misconduct  prevailing 
at  home,  rendered  all  the  exertions  of  valor 
and  ability  fruitless,  and  insured  the  ill  suc- 
cess which  followed. 

The  same  conduct  which  had  prevailed 
in  Europe,  was  to  be  traced  in  every  part 
of  the  world.  The  enemy  had,  at  one  sweep, 
carried  away  everything  that  was  English, 
tlirough  the  whole  extent  of  the  African 
coasts.  The  dominion  of  the  sea  was  no 
less  eflectually,  though  less  disgracefully, 
lost  in  the  West  Indies,  than  in  the  narrow 
seas  and  the  channel.  Our  West  India  isl- 
ands had  been  more  properly  delivered  up 
to  the  enemy,  than  subdued  by  them.  It 
made  no  difference  in  the  nature  of  tilings, 
whether  our  possessions  were  surrendered 
or  sold  by  a  public  or  private  treaty  with 
France,  or  vv'hether  they  were  lefl  so  naked 
and  defenceless,  that  the  enemy  should  have 
nothing  more  to  do  than  to  send  garrisons 
to  take  possession  of  them.  This,  they  in- 
sisted, was  the  case  with  respect  to  the  isl- 
ands we  had  lost ;  and  those  that  remained, 
were  not  in  a  much  better  situation.  Jamai- 
ca, now  the  most  valuable  of  our  colonies, 
and  the  principal  source  of  our  remaining 
trade  and  wealth,  was  most  shamefully  aban 
doned,  and  was  at  that  time  in  the  most  im^ 
minent  danger  of  being  totally  lost,  if  not 
already  so. 

This  extraordinary  torrent  of  accusation 
and  invective,  w^'as  finished  by  a  declaration, 
that  the  omissions  and  defects  which  pro- 
duced all  these  calamities,  went  so  much  be- 
yond anything  which  could  be  allowed  for 
impotence  and  imperfection  of  mind,  that 
they  seemed  under  a  necessity  of  deriving 
their  origin  from  direct  treachery.  Final 
ruin,  or  a  total  change  of  system  and  of  men, 
was  now  the  alternative  to  which  w^e  were 
reduced.  All  the  means  of  national  preser 
ration  which  now  remained,  and  the  senti 
ments  of  every  intelligent  and  independent 
man  in  England,  were  now  expressed  in  the 
short  sentence,  "New  counsels  and  new 
counsellors!"  This  was  the  universal  lan^ 
guage  without  doors,  and  of  those  within 
when  they  went  out 

The  speech  itself  was,  as  usual,  criti 
cjsed  in  the  severest  manner.  It  held 
forth,  that  though  the  designs  and  attempts 
of  our  enemies  to  invade  this  island  had 
been  hitherto  frustrated,  they  still  menaced 
Hs  with  great  armaments  and  preparations ; 
but  it  was  trusted  we  were  well  prepared 
21* 


to  meet  every  attack,  and  to  repel  every 

insult. 

In  return  to  this  speech,  addresses  from 
both  houses  had  been  proposed,  as  usual,  ap- 
proving of  every  part  of  it 

Amendments  were  proposed  in  the  house 
of  commons  by  lord  John  Cavendish,  and  in 
the  house  of  lords  by  the  marquis  of  Rock- 
ingham. Both  were  to  the  following  pur- 
pose, viz.  "  To  beseech  his  majesty  to  re- 
flect upon  the  extent  of  territory,  the  pow- 
er, opulence,  reputation  abroad,  and  concord 
at  home,  which  distinguished  the  opening 
of  his  majesty's  reign,  and  marked  it  as  the 
most  splendid  and  happy  period  in  the  histo- 
ry of  this  nation — That  he  would  now  con- 
sider the  endangered,  impoverished,  enfee- 
bled, distracted,  and  even  dismembered  state 
of  the  whole,  after  all  the  grants  of  succes- 
sive parliaments,  liberal  to  profusion,  and 
trusting  to  the  very  utmost  of  rational  con- 
fidence— That  his  majesty  would  naturally 
expect  to  receive  the  honest  opinion  of  a 
faithful  and  affectionate  parliament,  who 
would  betray  his  majesty,  and  those  whom 
they  represented,  if  they  did  not  distinctly 
state  to  his  majesty,  that,  if  anything  could 
prevent  the  consummation  of  public  ruin,  it 
only  could  be  new  counsels  and  counsellors, 
without  farther  loss  of  time,  and  a  real 
change,  from  a  severe  conviction  of  past  er- 
rors ;  not  a  mere  palliation,  which  must  prove 
fruitless." 

With  regard  to  this  amendment,  the  min- 
ister observed,  that  the  language  was  strict- 
ly  parliamentary.  It  was  the  duty,  as  well 
as  the  right  of  parliament,  to  cause  evil 
ministers  to  be  removed;  but  justice  first 
required  a  proof  of  their  delinquency.  To 
remove  the  servants  of  the  crown,  without 
assigning  any  cause  for  it,  or  attributing  to 
them,  without  any  evidence  or  trial,  those 
errors  or  crimes  which  on  trial  would  not 
be  found  imputable  to  them,  would  be  equally 
unjust  and  unprecedented.  Though  he  ad- 
mitted, therefore,  to  the  fullest  extent,  the 
right  of  that  house  to  address  the  throne  for 
a  removal  of  ministers,  yet  as  nothing  was 
specifically  charged  against  them  in  the 
amendment,  he  must  certainly  oppose  it  on 
principle ;  and  it  certainly  could  not  be  ima- 
gined, that  he  would  agree  to  the  indirect 
censure  implied  against  himself  in  the  requi- 
sition of  new  counsels  and  counsellors.  The 
charge  of  treachery  was  denied,  as  were  all 
the  others,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 

Charles  Fox  greatly  distinguished  him- 
self in  this  debate.  He  said,  "  that  the  plan 
of  government  which  had  been  in  this  reign 
invariably  pursued,  had  been  very  early 
adopted.  It  was  not  the  mere  rumor  of  the 
streets  that  the  king  was  his  own  minister^^ 
the  fatal  truth  was  evident;    and  thougli 


246 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


denied  by  the  members  of  the  administra- 
tion, it  was  propagated  by  their  followers. 
It  was  a  doctrine  in  the  highest  degree  dan- 
gerous, as  tending  to  relieve  ministers  from 
their  responsibility,  and  to  transfer  it  to  a 
personage  who  could  not  by  the  principles 
of  our  constitution  be  called  to  an  account. 
But  he  said  it  should  be  a  warning  to  sove- 
reigns, that  though  in  general  the  evils  of  a 
reign  were,  according  to  the  principles  of 
our  government,  ascribed  to  the  wicked 
counsels  of  ministers,  yet  when  these  evils 
reach  to  a  certain  height,  ministers  are  for- 
gotten, and  the  prince  alone  is  punished. 
Thus  it  was  with  the  royal  house  of  Stuart. 
Charles  and  James  had  no  doubt  wicked 
ministers,  to  whom  the  errors  of  their  reign 
were  justly  in  a  great  degree  to  be  attributed ; 
yet  the  one  lost  his  life,  and  the  other  his 
crown.  The  patience  of  the  people  was  not 
unlimited,  and,  however  passive  for  a  time, 
they  would  at  last  do  themselves  justice." 
The  amendment  was  in  the  result  negatived 
by  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  voices  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four. 

Notwithstanding  this  apparent  triumph,  it 
was  easy  to  see,  that  the  debates  on  this  oc- 
casion carried  a  quite  different  aspect  from 
what  they  had  ever  done  before ;  and  that 
though  the  ministry  carried  their  point  at 
this  time,  it  would  not  be  long  before  they 
would  be  entirely  defeated.  In  fact,  they 
were  now  universally  complained  of,  and  the 
nation  at  large  had  in  a  great  measure  with- 
drawn their  confidence. 

DEBATES  ON  IRISH  AFFAIRS. 

While  lord  North  was  preparing  his 
plans  of  relief  for  Ireland,  a  motion,  similar 
to  the  above,  was  made  on  the  sixth  of  De- 
cember in  the  house  of  commons  by  the  earl 
of  Upper  Ossory.  In  answer  to  this  attack, 
the  friends  of  ministry  endeavored  to  justify 
them,  by  throwing  considerable  blame  on  a 
gradual  impolicy  which  had  crept  into  the 
system  of  our  trade  laws,  the  prejudices 
in  favor  of  which  were  so  strong  as  to  pro- 
duce petitions,  and  every  mark  of  displeas- 
ure in  England  at  whatever  time  gentle- 
men had  attempted  to  introduce  modifica- 
tions of  them;  of  course  parliament,  in 
obeying  the  wills  of  their  constituents,  were 
doing  their  duty,  and  ministers  were  totally 
incompetent  to  act  otherwise ;  and  that 
hitherto  ministers  had  not  been  able  ex- 
actly to  ascertain  the  wishes  of  the  Irish, 
but  as  these  were  now  rendered  more  plain, 
the  matter  could  be  brought  to  a  regular 
discussion. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  days  lord  North 
laid  his  propositions  relative  to  Ireland,  be- 
fore the  house  of  commons  ;  they  were  three : 
the  repeal  of  those  laws  which  prohibited  the 
exportation  of  Irish  manufactures,  made  of 
or  mixed  with  wool,  and  wool  stocks,  from 


Ireland  to  any  part  of  Europe :  the  repeal 
of  so  much  of  the  act  of  19  Geo.  I.I.  as  pro- 
hibited the  importation  of  glass  mto  Ireland, 
except  of  British  manufacture,  or  to  export 
glass  from  that  kingdom:  and  third,  that 
Ireland  be  suffered  to  trade  with  the  British 
colonies  in  America  and  the  West  Indies, 
and  Africa,  subject  to  such  regulations,  du- 
ties, &c.  as  the  parliament  of  Ireland  should 
impose.  These  resolutions  were  unanimously 
agreed  to,  the  latter  only  admitting  of  some 
small  delay. 

On  the  seventh  of  December,  while  the 
affairs  of  Ireland  were  still  in  agitation,  the 
duke  of  Richmond  attempted  to  call  the  at- 
tention of  the  house  to  the  enormous  ex- 
penses of  the  war.  He  showed,  that  if  the 
war  only  continued  to  the  end  of  the  ensu- 
ing year,  and  was  to  consume  the  provision 
which  parliament  was  making  for  its  sup- 
port, it  would  by  that  time  complete  an  ad- 
dition from  its  beginning  of  sixty-three  mil- 
lions to  the  former  national  debt ;  the  whole 
being  then  little  short  of  two  hundred  mil- 
lions; and  that  as  the  minister  had  given, 
on  an  average,  about  six  per  cent,  for  the 
new  debt,  the  standing  interest  of  the 
whole  would  not  amount  to  less  than  eight 
millions  annually  :  a  tribute  to  the  payment 
of  which  all  the  landed  interest  of  England 
was  to  be  for  ever  mortgaged.  Such,  he 
said,  would  be  the  state  of  the  British 
finances  at  the  close  of  the  following  year ; 
and  it  would  only  be  better  by  twelve  millions 
were  peace  to  be  concluded  at  that  instant 
Under  such  vast  burdens,  the  necessity  of 
the  most  exact  and  rigid  economy  was  self- 
evident. 

ASSOCIATIONS  AND  PETITIONS  AGAINST 
THE  WAR. 

1780. — The  aversion  of  the  people  to  the 
present  system  of  administration,  and  their 
sensibility  to  the  horrors  of  a  war  obviously 
ruinous  to  the  country  in  all  its  parts,  be- 
came now  very  conspicuous.  Associations 
were  formed  in  different  places,  particularly 
at  York,  where  a  petition  to  the  house  of 
commons  was  unanimously  agreed  upon,  and 
accompanied  with  a  resolution,  that  a  com- 
mittee of  sixty-one  gentlemen  be  appointed 
to  carry  on  the  necessary  correspondence 
for  effectually  promoting  the  object  of  the 
petition,  and  likewise  to  prepare  the  plan 
of  an  association,  on  legal  and  constitutional 
grounds,  to  support  a  laudable  reform,  and 
such  other  measures  as  might  conduce  to 
the  freedom  of  parliament,  to  be  presented 
by  the  chairman  of  the  committee  at  their 
next  meeting,  to  be  held  by  adjournment  in 
Easter-week. 

In  this  petition,  they  began  by  stating,  as 
matters  of  fact.  That  the  nation  had  been 
engaged  for  several  years  in  a  most  expen- 
sive and  unfortunate  war;  many  of  our  val- 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


247 


uable  colonies  had  declared  themselves  in- 
dependent, had  formed  a  strict  confederacy 
with  our  most  inveterate  and  dangerous  ene- 
mies; and  that  the  consequence  of  those 
combined  misfortunes  had  been  a  large  ad- 
dition to  the  national  debt,  a  heavy  accumu- 
lation of  taxes,  with  a  rapid  decline  of  the 
trade,  manufactures,  and  land-rents  of  the 
kingdom.  They  then  declared,  that  "alarm- 
ed at  the  diminished  resources,  as  well  as 
the  growing  burdens  of  the  country,  and 
convinced  that  rigid  frugality  was  now  in 
dispensably  necessary  in  every  department 
of  the  state,  they  observed  with  grief,  that 
notwithstanding  the  calamities  and  impov 
erished  condition  of  the  nation,  much  pub- 
lic money  had  been  improvidently  squander 
ed ;  that  many  individuals  enjoyed  sinecure 
places,  with  exorbitant  emoluments  and  pen- 
sions, unmerited  by  public  service,  to  a  large 
and  still  increasing  amount;  whence  the 
crown  had  acquired  a  great  and  unconstitu- 
tional influence,  which,  if  not  checked  in 
time,  might  soon  prove  fatal  to  the  liberties 
of  the  country."  They  further  declared,  that, 
"conceiving  the  true  end  of  every  legiti- 
mate government  to  be,  not  the  emolument 
of  any  individual,  but  the  welfare  of  the 
community ;  and  considering  that,  by  the 
constitution,  the  custody  of  the  nation^ 
purse  is  intrusted  in  a  peculiar  manner  to 
that  house,  they  begged  leave  to  represent, 
that  until  effectual  measures  were  taken  to 
redress  those  oppressive  grievances,  the 
grant  of  any  additional  sum  of  money  be- 
yond the  produce  of  the  present  taxes, 
would  be  injurious  to  the  rights,  and  deroga- 
tory to  the  honor  and  dignity  of  parliament. 
They,  therefore,  appealing  to  the  justice  of 
the  commons,  most  earnestly  requested,  that 
before  any  new  burdens  were  laid  upon  this 
country,  effectual  measures  might  be  taken 
to  inquire  into,  and  correct  the  gross  abuses 
in  the  expenditure  of  public  money ;  to  re- 
duce all  exorbitant  emoluments ;  to  rescind 
and  abolish  all  sinecure  places  and  unmerited 
pensions ;  and  to  appropriate  the  produce  to 
the  necessities  of  the  state." 

The  example  of  York  was  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  other  counties  and  corporations. 
Similar  petitions  were  agreed  to  by  the 
counties  of  Middlesex,  Chester,  Hertford, 
Sussex,  Huntingdon,  Surrey,  Cumberland, 
Bedford,  Essex,  Somerset,  Gloucester,  Wilts, 
Dorset,  Devon,  Norfolk,  Berks,  Bucks,  Not- 
tingham, Kent,  Northumberland,  Suffolk, 
Hereford,  Cambridge,  and  Derby ;  Denbigh, 
Flint,  and  Brecknock;  as  well  as  by  the 
cities  of  London,  Westminster,  York,  Bris- 
tol, Gloucester,  and  Hereford;  with  the 
towns  of  Nottingham,  Reading,  Cambridge, 
Bridgewater,  and  Newcastle  upon  Tyne. 
The  county  of  Northampton  declined  peti- 


tioning, but  voted  resolutions  and  instruc- 
tions to  their  representatives,  to  the  same 
purpose  with  the  petitions. 

These  proceedings  greatly  alarmed  min- 
istry, and  even  many  of  those  who  wished 
well  to  the  cause  of  reformation,  shuddered 
at  the  thoughts  of  what  might  be  the  conse- 
quence. Associations  and  committees  had 
produced  such  recent  effects  in  America, 
and  even  in  Ireland,  that  the  very  terms  had 
become  suspicious.  These  fears  were  dex- 
terously cherished  by  the  ministerial  party. 
It  was  contended,  that  the  true  sense  of  the 
counties  could  not  be  collected,  nor  the  mat- 
ter proposed  duly  examined,  in  such  meet- 
ings, so  new  in  their  form,  and  so  v  A  of 
regularity ;  that  the  petitions  conveyed  in- 
sinuations injurious  and  disrespectful  to  par- 
liament, to  whose  province  only  belonged 
the  granting  of  supplies ;  and  that  the  peti- 
tions and  resolutions  were  calculated  to  pro- 
duce diffidence  and  suspicions  in  the  minds 
of  his  majesty's  subjects,  at  a  time  when 
unanimity  and  confidence  in  government 
were  essentially  necessary  to  support  and 
invigorate  the  exertions  of  the  state.  In  this 
manner,  several  counties  were  prevented 
from  petitioning  or  forming  committees ; 
but,  in  general,  the  endeavors  of  ministry 
to  prevent  county-meetings  were  totally  frus- 
trated. So  impetuous  was  the  spirit  which 
now  prevailed,  that  lord  Sandwich  in  per- 
son, and  at  the  head  of  a  great  body  of  his 
numerous  friends,  could  not  prevent  a  peti- 
tion and  committee  from  being  carried  in 
his  own  native  and  fevorite  county.  All  en- 
deavors to  prevent  petitions  being  thus  found 
abortive,  means  were  used  to  obtain  pro- 
tests ;  but  though  the  business  was  under- 
taken by  one  or  two  persons  of  great  prop- 
erty and  consequence,  it  was  attended  with 
very  indifferent  success.  Even  in  those 
places  where  protests  were  obtained,  the  dis- 
senting parties  durst  not  oppose  the  prayer 
of  the  petitions,  but  declared  themselves  of 
opinion,  that  everything  ought  to  be  left  to 
the  discretion  of  parliament,  in  whose  in- 
tegrity and  public  spirit  they  thought  it  im- 
proper to  express,  particularly  at  that  time, 
any  kind  of  distrust. 

The  petition  from  the  county  of  York  was 
presented  on  the  eighth  of  February,  by  Sir 
George  Saville,  member  for  the  county,  who 
stated,  "  that  it  was  signed  by  above  eight 
thousand  freeholders.  This  petition,  he  said, 
had  been  procured  by  no  underhand  arts  of 
public  canvass ;  it  was  first  moved  in  a  meet- 
ing of  six  hundred  gentlemen ;  and  there 
was,  he  believed,  more  property  in  the  hall 
where  it  was  agreed  to,  than  was  contained 
within  the  walls  of  the  house  of  commons. 
It  was  a  petition,  he  said,  to  which  the  ad 
mmistration  would  not  dare  to  refuse  a  hear- 


248 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ing,  however  the  arts  of  ministerial  artifice 
and  finesse  might  be  employed  to  defeat  the 
purpose  of  it." 

Sir  George  Saville  was  peevishly  an- 
swered by  the  minister,  and  powerfully  sup- 
ported by  Fox.  The  petition  was  allowed 
to  be  laid  on  the  table,  as  well  as  a  petition 
from  Jamaica,  complaining  of  the  defence- 
less state  of  that  island. 

MR.  BURKE'S  PLAN  OF  ECONOMICAL 
REGULATION. 

The  way  being  thus  prepared  by  the  pe- 
titions, Burke  proceeded  to  open  his  prom- 
ised plan  of  economy,  which  included  the 
following  bills,  viz.  First,  "A  bill  for  the 
better  regulation  of  his  majesty's  civil  es- 
tablishments, and  of  certain  public  offices ; 
for  the  limitation  of  pensions,  and  the  sup- 
pression of  sundry  useless,  expensive,  and 
inconvenient  places;  and  for  applying  the 
moneys  saved  thereby  to  the  public  service." 
The  second,  "  A  bill  for  the  sale  of  the  for- 
est and  other  crown  lands,  rents,  and  here- 
ditaments, with  certain  exceptions ;  and  for 
applying  the  produce  thereof  to  the  public 
service ;  and  for  securing,  ascertaining,  and 
satisfying,  tenant-rights,  and  common,  and 
other  rights."  Third,  "  A  bill  for  the  more 
perfectly  uniting  to  the  crown  the  princi- 
pality of  Wales,  and  the  county  palatine  of 
Chester,  and  for  the  more  commodious  ad- 
ministration of  justice  within  the  same ;  as 
also,  for  abolishing  certain  oflices  now  ap- 
pertaining thereto;  for  quieting  dormant 
claims,  ascertaining  and  securing  tenant- 
rights,  and  for  the  sale  of  forest  lands,  and 
other  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments, 
held  by  his  majesty  in  right  of  the  said 
principality,  or  county  palatine  of  Chester, 
and  for  applying  the  produce  thereof  to  the 
public  service."  Fourth,  "  A  bill  for  uniting 
to  the  crown  the  dutchy  and  county  palatine 
of  Lancaster ;  for  the  suppression  of  unne- 
cessary offices,  now  belonging  thereto,  for 
the  ascertainment  and  security  of  tenant  and 
other  rights ;  and  for  the  sale  of  all  rents, 
lands,  tenements,  hereditaments,  and  forests, 
within  the  -said  dutchy  and  county  palatine, 
or  either  of  them ;  and  for  applying  tJie  pro- 
duce thereof  to  the  public  service."  And 
fifthly,  "A  bill  for  uniting  the  dutchy  of 
Cornwall  to  the  crown ;  for  the  suppression 
of  unnecessary  offices  now  belonging  there- 
to; for  the  ascertainment  and  security  of 
tenant  and  other  rights;  and  for  the  sale  of 
certain  rents,  lands,  and  tenements,  within 
or  belonofing  to  the  said  dutchy ;  and  for  ap- 
plying the  produce  thereof  to  the  public  ser- 
vice." 

The  scheme  of  reform  was  commenced 
with  the  royal  household.  It  comprehended 
the  treasurer,  comptroller,  cofferer  of  the 
household ;  the  treasurer  of  the  chamber ; 
the  master  of  the   household;  the   whole 


board  of  green  cloth ;  and  a  vast  number  of 
subordinate  offices  in  the  department  of  the 
steward  of  the  household.  It  included  also 
the  whole  establishment  of  the  great  ward- 
robe, the  removing  wardrobe,  the  jewel  of- 
fice, the  robes,  and  almost  the  whole  charge 
of  the  civil  branch  of  the  board  of  ordnance. 
All  these  arrangements  taken  together,  he 
said,  would  be  found  to  relieve  the  nation 
from  a  vast  weight  of  influence ;  and  that, 
so  far  from  distressing,  it  would  rather  for- 
ward every  public  service. 

His  plan  likewise  extended  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  subordinate  treasuries,  of  consequence 
to  the  two  treasuries  or  pay-offices  of  tlie 
army  and  navy.  He  proposed  that  these 
offices  should  be  no  longer  banks  or  trea- 
suries, but  mere  offices  of  administration; 
and  that  all  money  which  was  formerly  im- 
pressed to  them,  should  for  tlie  future  be 
impressed  to  the  bank  of  England.  He  was 
likewise  of  opinion,  that  the  business  of  the 
mint,  excepting  what  related  to  it  as  a  man- 
ufactory, should  be  transferred  to  that  cor- 
poration. He  proposed  likewise  the  total 
removal  of  the  subordinate  treasury,  and 
office  of  the  pay-master  of  the  pensions ;  the 
payments,  in  future,  to  be  made  by  the  ex- 
chequer; the  great  patent  offices  of  the 
e.xchequer  to  be  reduced  to  fixed  salaries ; 
and,  as  the  present  lives  and  reversions 
should  fall,  the  several  places  of  keepers  of 
the  stag-hounds,  buck-hounds,  fox-hounds, 
and  harriers,  to  be  totally  abolished.  He 
also  proposed  to  reform  the  new  office  of 
third  secretary  of  state,  commonly  called 
secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies ;  the  fab- 
rication of  which,  like  that  of  all  other  late 
arrangements,  he  considered  merely  as  a  job, 
the  two  ancient  secretaries  being  supposed 
now,  as  heretofore,  fully  competent  to  the 
whole  of  the  public  business.  He  concluded 
his  plan  of  reduction,  by  proposing,  the  total 
annihilation  of  the  board  of  trade,  as  an 
office  totally  useless,  answering  none  of  its 
avowed  or  supposed  purposes,  and  serving 
merely  to  provide  eight  members  of  par- 
liament, and  thereby  to  retain  their  services. 
He  likewise  proposed  a  limitation  of  the  totil 
amount  of  pensions  to  sixty  thousand  pounds 
per  annum ;  but  he  did  not  wish  to  take 
away  any  man's  pension,  and  thought  it 
more  prudent,  in  that  respect,  not  to  adhere 
to  the  letter  of  the  petitions. 

This  plan  of  reduction  had  annexed  to  it 
a  plan  of  arrangement,  which  he  confessed 
to  be  the  favorite  part  of  his  scheme,  as  he 
imagined  it  would  prevent  all  prodigality  in 
the  civil-list  for  the  future.  He  proposed  to 
establish  a  fixed  and  invariable  order  in  all 
payments,  from  which  the  first  lord  of  the 
treasury  should  not  be  permitted  in  any  case 
to  deviate.  For  this  purpose,  the  civil-list 
payments  were  to  be  divided  into  nine  classes, 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


249 


putting  each  class  forward  according  to  the 
importance  or  justice  of  the  demand,  or  to 
tlie  inability  of  the  persons  entitled  to  en- 
force their  pretensions.  In  the  first  of  these 
classes  were  placed  the  judges ;  in  the  sec- 
ond, the  ministers  to  foreign  courts ;  in  the 
third,  the  tradesmen  who  supplied  the  crown ; 
in  the  fourth,  the  domestic  servants  of  the 
king,  and  all  persons  in  efficient  offices, 
whose  salaries  did  not  exceed  two  hundred 
pounds  annually ;  and  the  fifth  class  compre- 
hended the  pensions  and  allowances  of  the 
royal  family,  comprehending  of  course  the 
queen,  together  with  the  stated  allowance 
of  the  privy-purse.  The  sixth  took  in  those 
efficient  officers  of  duty,  whose  salaries 
might  exceed  two  hundred  pounds  a-year. 
The  whole  pension-list  was  included  in  the 
seventh ;  the  officers  of  honor  about  the  king, 
in  the  eighth ;  and  the  ninth  included  the 
salaries  of  the  first  lord  of  the  treasury  him- 
self, the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and 
other  commissioners  of  that  department. 
To  these  arrangements  were  added  some 
regulations,  which  would  for  ever  have  pre- 
vented any  civil-list  debt  from  coming  on 
the  public. 

Burke's  speech  on  this  occasion,  upwards 
of  three  hours  in  length,  was  not  only  heard 
with  the  greatest  attention,  but  received  the 
highest  encomiums  from  both  sides  of  the 
house,  who  could  not  refrain  from  express- 
ing their  admiration  of  the  vast  fund  of  po- 
litical knowledge  displayed  by  that  gentle- 
man with  regard  to  every  department  of 
state.  The  minister,  therefore,  perceiving 
this,  thought  proper  not  to  object  to  the  plan 
on  the  first  motion.  He  assured  the  house, 
that  no  man  was  more  zealous  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  permanent  system  of  economy 
tlian  himself  But  that,  besides  the  subjects 
of  the  present  being  so  numerous  and  vari- 
ous as  to  require  some  time  for  comprehen- 
sion, some  of  them  aflTected  the  king's  pat- 
rimonial income;  on  which  account  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  obtain  the  consent 
of  the  crown  before  they  proceeded  upon 
them.  For  this  reason  he  proposed  to  post- 
pone the  three  bills  which  related  to  the 
crown  lands,  the  principality  of  Wales,  Sic. 
which  was  yielded  to  as  a  point  of  decorum. 
In  three  days,  however,  they  were  brought 
in  without  any  objection.  The  surveyor- 
general  of  the  dutchy  of  Cornwall  made  ob- 
jections to  that  relating  to  the  union  of  this 
county  with  the  crown,  on  account  of  the 
minority  of  the  prince  of  Wales ;  on  which 
Burke,  though  with  reluctance,  withdrew 
his  motion. 

The  house  of  peers  in  the  mean  time  were 
far  from  being  indolent  or  inattentive  spec- 
tators of  the  interesting  scenes  now  passing. 
On  the  very  day  tliat  the  petition  of  the 
county  of  York  was  presented  to  the  house 


of  commons,  the  earl  of  Shelbume  moved, 
in  the  house  of  peers,  "  for  the  appomtment 
of  a  committee  of  members  of  both  houses 
of  parliament,  possessing  neither  employ- 
ments nor  pensions,  to  examine  into  the 
public  expenditure  and  the  mode  of  account- 
ing for  the  same."  This  motion  was  sup- 
ported by  his  lordship  in  a  very  able  speech, 
in  which  he  declared  "  that  the  great  point 
to  which  his  wishes  tended,  and  to  effect 
which  his  motion  was  chiefly  framed,  was  to 
annihilate  that  undue  influence  operating 
upon  both  houses  of  parliament,  which,  if 
not  eradicated,  would  prove  the  destruction 
of  this  country.  To  restore  to  parliament 
its  constitutional  independence,  and  to  place 
government  upon  its  true  foundations,  wis- 
dom, justice,  and  public  virtue,  was,  the 
noble  earl  said,  his  most  earnest  desire,  and 
this  could  not  be  effected  without  striking 
at  the  root  of  parliamentary  corruption. 
Exclusive  of  this  great  and  primary  object, 
his  lordship  showed,  that  the  most  shameful 
waste  of  the  public  money  had  taken  place 
in  every  branch  of  the  national  expenditure. 
To  support  a  most  ruinous  and  disgraceful 
war,  a  wicked,  bloody,  and  unjust  war !  the 
minister  had  borrowed  year  after  year  upon 
fictitious  and  unproductive  taxes,  and  anti- 
cipated the  produce  of  the  sinking  fund  to 
answer  his  own  views.  Solely  intent  upon 
borrowing,  he  appeared  to  have  lost  sight  of 
every  idea  of  decreasing  the  debt.  It  was 
the  uncontrolled  possession  of  the  public 
purse  which  created  that  corrupt  and  dan- 
gerous influence  in  parliament,  of  which 
such  fatal  use  had  been  made ;  which  put 
into  the  minister's  hands  the  means  of  delu- 
sion, which  served  to  fortify  him  in  his  mad 
career,  and  which  left  no  hope  or  prospect  of 
punishing  him  for  the  enormity  of  his  crimes. 
Influence  so  employed,  his  lordship  declared 
to  be  a  curse  far  greater,  and  more  to  be 
deprecated,  than  pestilence  or  famine.  The 
present  motion,  the  noble  earl  observed,  was 
not  of  a  nature  novel  to  parliament ;  in  for- 
mer times,  particularly  in  the  years  1702, 
1703,  and  1717,  there  had  been  commission- 
ers of  accounts  appointed  by  act  of  par- 
liament. The  object  of  the  proposition  now 
before  the  house  was  of  a  nature  exactly 
similar,  and  it  went  to  the  abolition  of  all 
offices,  whatever  their  salaries  or  appoint- 
ments, that  answered  no  other  end  but  that 
of  increasing  the  undue  and  unconstitutional 
influence  of  the  crown."  In  support  of  the 
motion,  the  duke  of  Grafton  declared,  "that 
from  his  own  knowledge  and  immediate 
observation,  he  could  assert  with  confidence 
that  the  spirit  of  discontent  and  dissatisfac- 
tion was  almost  universally  gone  forth,  and 
that  the  petitions  recently  presented  ex- 
pressed the  genuine  sense  of  the  people," 
The  lords  Stormont,  Mansfield,  and  the  lord- 


250 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


chancellor,  maintained,  "  that  the  present 
motion  was  a  violation  of  the  inherent  ex- 
clusive privilege  of  the  other  house  to  con- 
trol the  public  expenditure,  vv^hich  no  com- 
position, compromise,  or  compact,  would 
induce  them  to  part  with.  They  insisted 
that  the  motion  was  brought  forward  to  em- 
barrass government,  and  to  throw  an  odium 
upon  his  majesty's  confidential  advisers ;  and 
that  the  petitions  with  which  the  motion 
was  connected  were  filled  with  absurd  and 
impracticable  notions  of  public  reform,  and 
specious  theories  calculated  to  mislead  the 
nation,  and  to  introduce  universal  confusion." 
The  marquis  of  Rockingham  distinguished 
himself  in  the  debate  by  an  animated  speech 
in  defence  of  the  motion.  His  lordship  said, 
"  that  a  system  had  been  formed  at  the  ac- 
cession of  his  present  majesty  to  govern  this 
country  under  the  forms  of  law,  but  in  re- 
ality through  the  immediate  influence  of  the 
crown.  This  was  the  origin  of  all  our  na- 
tional misfortunes;  the  measures  of  the 
present  reign  wore  every  internal  and  ex- 
ternal evidence  of  that  dangerous  and  alarm- 
ing origin ;  and,  when  combined,  they  pre- 
sented such  a  system  of  corruption,  venality, 
and  despotism,  as  had  never  perhaps  been 
known  under  any  form  of  free  and  limited 
government.  This  system  he  had  for  sev- 
enteen years  uniformly  and  vigorously  op- 
posed, and  particularly  during  the  short  time 
he  had  presided  at  the  head  of  the  treasury, 
but  to  very  little  purpose.  As  he  had  come 
into  office  at  his  majesty's  desire,  so  he  had 
quitted  it  in  obedience  to  his  authority.  His 
lordship  implored  the  ministry  not  to  persist 
in  that  blind  and  hitherto  invincible  spirit  of 
obstinacy,  which  had  brought  the  nation  into 
its  present  calamitous  situation,  but  to  pay 
some  attention  to  the  voice  of  the  people 
and  the  interests  of  their  country."  On  the 
division  the  numbers  were,  non-contents 
one  hundred  and  one,  contents  fifty-five, 
five-and-thirty  of  whom  entered  their  pro- 
test on  the  journals.  This  was  the  largest 
minority  that  had  for  many  years  been 
known  in  the  house  of  peers  in  opposition 
to  the  court;  and,  exclusive  of  placemen, 
pensioners,  and  bishops,  this  expiring  faction 
constituted  a  clear  and  decisive  majority 
of  the  lords  present  at  this  interesting  dis- 
cussion. 

Burke's  economical  bill,  having  been  read 
a  first  time,  was  proposed  for  a  second  read- 
ing. But  the  minister,  instead  of  using  any 
arguments  against  it,  charged  the  minority 
with  precipitating  a  measure  not  sufficiently 
considered  ;  until  at  last  being  called  upon 
to  declare,  whether  he  would  oppose  it  on 
the  second  reading,  or  let  it  go  to  a  commit- 
tee, he  declared,  after  much  apparent  irreso- 
lution, that  he  did  not  mean  to  oppose  it. 
The  bill  bems:  then  read  a  second  time  with- 


out opposition,  another  debate  ensued  on  its 
commitment.  Burke  insisted  on  its  being 
committed  the  ensuing  day,  and  the  minister 
that  it  should  be  delayed  for  some  time.  Af- 
ter some  altercation,  however,  the  question 
was  carried  in  favor  of  tlie  minister,  by  two 
hundred  and  thirty  to  one  hundred  and  nine- 
ty-five. 

One  clause  of  the  bill  was  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  tlie  board  of  trade.  On  this  subject 
the  opponents  of  ministry  endeavored  to 
prove,  that  the  board  in  question  was  totally 
inefficient  and  useless ;  or,  if  at  any  time  it 
was  active,  it  became  either  mischievous  or 
ridiculous ;  but  of  late  it  had  dwindled  into 
a  mere  sinecure  office,  which  answered  no 
other  purpose,  than  that  of  providing  eight 
members  for  parliament,  and  securing  their 
votes  to  the  minister  by  a  pension  of  a  thou- 
sand a-year  each.  On  this  occasion  it  was 
shown,  that  when  the  business  of  trade  and 
plantations  had  been  managed  by  a  com- 
mittee of  council  without  salaries,  it  had 
been  attended  by  persons  of  greater  rank, 
weight,  and  ability,  and  that  much  more  dif- 
ficult and  delicate  business  was  transacted 
with  more  expedition  and  satisfaction  than 
after  the  appointment  of  the  board  of  trade. 
The  question  was  called  after  two  in  the 
morning,  when  the  abolition  of  the  board 
was  carried  against  ministry  by  a  majority 
of  eight ;  the  numbers  being  two  hundred 
and  seven  against  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine.  Some  members  in  opposition  had  en- 
deavored to  persuade  the  lords  of  trade  to 
withdraw  before  the  division,  on  the  footing 
of  decency ;  but  the  question  was  too  inter- 
esting for  them  to  make  any  sacrifice  to  deli- 
cacy and  punctilio  on  such  an  occasion. 

During  the  debates  on  tliis  subject  it  was 
first  discovered,  that  the  minister  and  Sir 
Fletcher  Norton,  the  speaker  of  the  house 
of  commons,  were  on  bad  terms.  Fox  hav- 
ing called  up  the  latter  to  give  his  private 
opinion  as  a  member,  and  his  professional 
one  as  a  lawyer,  on  the  competency  of  par- 
liament to  control  the  civil-list  revenue,  the 
speaker,  after  stating  several  other  reasons 
against  complying  with  Fox's  request,  de- 
clared also,  that  he  had  formerly  given  an 
opinion  with  regard  to  a  law  question  in  that 
house  (supposed  to  allude  to  a  clause  in  the 
royal  marriage  bill),  which  not  only  subject- 
ed him  to  a  misinterpretation  of  his  conduct ; 
but  he  had  also  the  misfortune  to  find,  that 
he  had  thereby  given  offence  in  a  quarter 
where  he  certainly  did  not  intend  or  wish  to 
give  any.  He  then  took  notice,  that  the 
minister  had  long  withdrawn  from  him  all 
friendship  and  confidence :  that  from  the 
time  of  his  reporting  the  sense  of  that  house 
at  the  bar  of  the  other,  on  delivering  the 
money-bills  for  the  discharge  of  the  civil-list 
debts,  and  the  increase  of  its  revenue,  all 


GEORGE  m.    1760—1820. 


251 


appearances  of  friendship  and  confidence 
had  ceased  on  the  part  of  the  ministry; 
though  he  was  still  at  a  loss  to  guess  what 
just  cause  of  offence  he  had  given.  After 
apologizing  for  his  conduct  on  that  occasion, 
and  giving  some  hints  of  a  recent  injury  he 
had  received,  he  declared,  that  he  was  not  a 
friend  to  the  minister,  and  he  had  repeated 
and  convincing  proofs  that  the  minister  was 
no  friend  to  him.  The  time,  however,  was 
not  yet  arrived  when  it  would  be  proper  to 
make  the  circumstances  of  the  transaction 
public  :  but,  if  the  noble  lord  did  not  do  him 
justice,  he  would  state  the  particulars  to 
the  house ;  and  he  would  submit  to  them, 
how  far  he  was  bound  to  remain  in  a  situa- 
tion, where  a  performance  of  the  duties  an- 
nexed to  it  subjected  him  to  gross  and  fla- 
grant injury. 

The  minister  expressed  the  greatest  sur- 
prise at  this  charge,  as  well  as  ignorance 
concerning  anything  that  could  possibly  have 
given  occasion  to  it;  which  at  length  in- 
duced Sir  Fletcher  to  depart  from  his  pro- 
posed intention  of  keeping  secret  the  injury 
he  had  received,  and  to  lay  it  before  the 
house.  It  was  stated  by  Sir  Fletcher,  that 
upon  the  death  of  the  late  speaker,  he  had 
been  strongly  solicited  by  the  minister  at 
that  time  (the  duke  of  Grafton)  to  accept  of 
the  honorable  station  of  speaker  of  the  house 
of  commons.  As  he  had  then  several  very 
strong  objections  to  his  acceptance  of  the 
place  in  question ;  particularly,  that  his  busi- 
ness as  a  lawyer  would  thereby  be  interrupt- 
ed ;  the  minister  endeavored  to  remove  that 
objection,  by  promising,  that  in  consequence 
of  the  advantages  he  had  given  up,  he  should 
be  entitled  to  hold  the  sinecure  place  of 
chief  justice  in  eyre,  which  he  now  possess- 
ed. But  notwithstanding  this,  he  had  lately 
discovered,  to  his  great  surprise,  that  a  ne- 
gotiation was  then  on  foot  between  the  pres- 
ent minister,  and  the  chief  judge  of  one  of 
the  courts,  by  which  the  latter  was  to  retire 
on  a  pension,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  an- 
other to  supply  his  place,  and  to  the  utter 
subversion  of  his  own  claim.  He  assured 
the  committee,  that  he  never  meant  to  chal- 
lenge their  attention  upon  any  subject  mere- 
ly personal  to  himself:  but  thinking  at  all 
times,  that  nothing  ought  to  be  kept  more 
pure  and  unpolluted  than  the  fountains  of 
public  justice,  he  could  not  but  feel  when 
any  measure  was  adopted,  under  whatever 
pretext,  that  might  afford  even  a  color  of 
their  being  corrupted,  or  that  any  improper 
means  were  used  for  rendering  the  courts 
of  justice  subservient  to  party  and  to  fac 
tious  views  ;  on  which  account,  he  thought 
it  incumbent  upon  him  to  relate  the  whole 
transaction.  Money,  he  said,  had  been  pro- 
posed to  be  given  and  received  to  a  very 
large  amount,  to  bring  about  the  arrange- 


ment he  had  mentioned;  and  he  pledged 
hunself  to  the  house,  that  at  a  proper  time 
he  would  bring  a  satisfactory  proof  of  what 
he  had  asserted. 

To  all  this  the  minister  replied,  that  he 
did  not  look  upon  himself  to  be  responsible 
for  any  promise  which  might  have  been 
made  by  his  predecessors  in  office.  He  did 
not  question  the  account  given  by  the  right 
honorable  gentleman,  of  the  considerations 
on  which  he  had  accepted  the  chair ;  but  he 
could  fairly  answer,  that  he  neither  knew 
of  the  transactions  at  the  time,  nor  looked 
upon  himself  as  bound,  when  he  did  come 
into  office,  by  any  such  promise.  With  re- 
spect to  the  speaker's  assertion,  that  a  nego- 
tiation, such  as  he  had  described,  was  on 
foot,  and  that  money  had  been  proposed  to 
be  given  and  received,  he  totally  denied  it ; 
assuring  the  speaker,  that  he  had  been 
grossly  misinformed ;  and,  as  he  himself 
was  accused  of  being  one  of  the  acting  par- 
ties, he  was  entitled  to  say,  that  no  suc'h  ne- 
gotiation was  on  foot. 

This  produced  such  a  scene  of  altercation 
between  these  two  illustrious  antagonists  as 
had  never  before  been  exhibited  in  the  Brit- 
ish parliament;  but  though  the  affair  made 
a  noise  at  the  time,  it  produced  no  farthe  • 
effect,  than  that  of  furnishing  opposition  with 
a  new  argument,  namely,  that  the  alarming 
influence  of  the  crown  had  not  only  per- 
vaded, but  deranged  every  part  of  the  na- 
tional economy. 

The  twentieth  of  March,  Burke's  clause, 
for  the  abolition  of  the  offices  of  treasurer 
of  the  chamber,  treasurer  of  the  household, 
cofferer,  and  a  number  of  subordinate  places 
belonging  to  them,  was  introduced  to  the 
committee.  This  was  regarded  by  many  of 
the  friends  of  administration  with  the  great- 
est horror,  as  a  kind  of  sacrilege  with  re- 
gard to  the  person  and  dignity  of  the  sove- 
reign. This,  they  said,  was  not  a  regulation 
of  office ;  it  was  an  intrusion  into  the  kmg's 
own  household.  The  state  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  domestic  servants  of  the  king. 
The  bill  they  considered  from  the  beginning 
as  a  systematic  attack  on  the  constitution, 
and  the  pernicious  tendency  of  it  appeared 
every  day  more  and  more.  The  question 
with  them  was  not  the  utility  of  the  em- 
ployments, but  the  power  of  taking  them 
away.  If  this  could  be  done  by  parliament, 
the  king  had  nothmg  that  he  could  call  hiit 
own. 

Burke  himself  insisted  very  much  upon 
the  present  clause  of  the  bill ;  and  said,  that 
if  this  was  carried  against  him,  he  would 
consider  the  whole  as  lost.  The  office  of 
treasurer  of  the  chamber  was  the  first  office 
he  had  fixed  upon ;  it  led  the  way,  and  in- 
volved all  the  rest.  He  concluded,  by  de- 
claring, that  he  would  not  continue  to  tor- 


252 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ture  his  weak  and  disordered  constitution  by 
fighting  his  bill  through,  inch  by  inch,  but 
would  leave  it  to  the  people  at  large  to  go 
on  with  it  as  they  thought  proper ;  and  they 
would  judge  by  the  event,  how  far  their  pe- 
titions were  likely  to  procure  redress  for  the 
grievances  they  complained  of. 

In  this  manner  the  debates  were  carried 
on  till  very  late,  when  the  question  was  lost 
by  two  hundred  and  ten  to  a  hundred  and 
fifty-eight.  Burke  then  declared  his  total 
indifference  as  to  what  became  of  the  rest 
of  the  bill ;  but  Fox  encouraged  him  to  go 
on.  The  mere  abolition  of  the  board  of 
trade,  even  if  nothing  more  was  done,  he 
said,  was  worth  the  struggle ;  for  as  he  was 
determined,  and  hoped  his  honorable  friend 
would  join  him,  in  renewing  his  bill  from 
session  to  session,  they  would  have  seven 
fewer  of  the  enemy  to  encounter  the  next 
time.  The  succeeding  parts  were  accord- 
ingly gone  through,  and  each  of  them  nega 
tived  without  a  division. 

CELEBRATED  VOTE  ON  THE  INFLUENCE 
OF  THE  CROWN 
On  the  sixth  of  April,  administration  met 
with  a  severe  defeat;  a  more  remarkable 
resolution  having  been  adopted  than  any 
that  had  been  passed  in  the  British  parlia- 
ment since  the  revolution.  The  day  had 
been  previously  appointed  for  taking  into 
consideration  the  petitions  of  the  people  of 
England,  amounting  to  forty  in  number,  and 
filled  with  such  immense  numbers  of  sub- 
scriptions as  occupied  a  most  astonishing 
bulk.  The  business  was  introduced  by 
Dunning;  who,  with  his  usual  eloquence 
and  ability,  observed,  that  though  the  peti- 
tions conveyed  many  different  ideas,  they 
all  agreed  in  one  fundamental  principle, 
which  was,  the  setting  limits  to  the  danger- 
ous, increased,  and  unconstitutional  influ- 
ence of  the  crown ;  and  a  request  of  an 
economical  method  of  spending  the  public 
money.  Though  these  appeared  to  be  two 
different  subjects,  they  were,  he  said,  very 
strictly  connected.  If  the  public  money  was 
faithfully  applied,  and  frugally  expended,  it 
would,  in  its  effect,  reduce  the  undue  influ- 
ence of  the  crown ;  and  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  mfluence  should  be  reduced  with- 
in its  due  bounds,  it  would  immediately  re- 
store the  energy  of  parliament,  and  once 
more  give  efficacy  to  the  exercise  of  that 
great  power  of  seeing  to  the  disposal,  and 
controlling  the  expenditure  of  the  public 
money,  with  which  the  constitution  had  in- 
vested the  house.  Having  stated,  at  great 
length,  the  little  regard  which  had  been  paid 
to  the  petitions  of  so  many  counties,  he  con- 
cluded, that  as  every  means  had  foiled  of 
producing  the  desired  effect,  he  thought  it 
his  duty,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  house,  to 
take  some  determinate  measure,  by  which 


the  people  might  certainly  know  what  they 
had  to  trust  to,  and  whether  their  petitions 
were  adopted  or  rejected  ;  and,  in  order  to 
bring  matters  fairly  to  a  decision,  he  said, 
that  he  should  now  frame  two  propositions, 
abstracted  fi-om  the  petitions  on  the  table, 
and  take  the  sense  of  the  committee  upon 
them. 

The  first  of  these  propositions  was,  that 
"  the  influence  of  the  crown  has  increased, 
is  increasing,  and  ought  to  be  diminished." 
The  fact,  he  said,  was  notorious.  But  as  a 
collateral  evidence,  he  observed,  that  nothing 
less  than  the  most  alarming  and  corrupt  in- 
fluence could  induce  a  number  of  gentle- 
men in  that  house  to  support  the  minister 
by  their  votes  in  those  measures  which  they 
reprobated  witliout-doors  as  absurd  and  ru- 
inous. This  he  declared  upon  his  honor  to 
be  the  case,  and  within  his  own  immediate 
knowledge ;  and  he  added,  that  he  himself 
had  never  bestowed  upon  the  measures  of 
administration  such  severe  epithets  as  had 
fallen  m  his  presence  from  the  mouths  of 
members  abroad,  who  had  nevertheless  sup- 
ported them  within  the  walls  of  the  house. 
Nor  was  the  number  small  who  behaved  in 
this  manner,  as  he  had  it  in  his  power,  were 
not  the  task  too  invidious,  to  point  out  more 
than  fifty  members  who  held  such  strange 
language  and  conduct. 

On  this  trying  occasion,  the  ministry  de- 
fended themselves  by  calling  Dunning's  reso- 
lution an  abstract  proposition,  which  ought 
not  to  come  before  the  house.  In  other  re- 
spects it  was  entirely  useless,  being  neither 
calculated  to  avert  any  evil,  nor  to  point  out 
any  remedy ;  it  was  unsupported  by  facts ; 
and  as  for  the  allegations  of  Dunning,  they 
could  answer  for  themselves,  that  they  were 
totally  without  foundation.  The  very  unfor- 
tunate circumstances  of  the  times,  when  the 
people  were  universally  discontented  by  the 
consequences  of  a  ruinous  war,  and  their 
own  heavy  burdens,  showed  that  the  influ- 
ence of  the  crown  could  not  be  increasing. 
It  was,  besides,  very  unfair  to  represent  mat- 
ters in  such  a  light  as  if  the  influence  of  the 
crown  had  only  taken  place  during  the  pres- 
ent administration.  This  was  a  censure  of 
such  a  severe  nature,  that  the  most  substan- 
tial and  solid  proofs  were  evidently  required 
before  it  could  be  adopted ;  whereas,  there 
was  not  a  single  word  of  evidence  tending 
in  any  manner  of  way  to  show,  that  the 
present  administration  was,  in  the  least,  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  had  gone  before  it. 

The  speaker  (Sir  Fletcher  Norton)  now 
joined  his  influence  to  that  of  oppsition. 
He  said,  that  however  disagreeable  it  might 
be  to  him  to  take  any  part  in  the  debates  of 
the  house,  there  were  some  cases,  and  he 
considered  the  present  as  one  of  them,  in 
which  it  would  be  criminal  to  remain  silent 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1620. 


253 


He  affirmed,  from  his  own  knowledge,  that 
the  influence  of  the  crown  was  increasing; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  he  asserted,  that  the 
allv^gation  could  admit  of  no  proofs;  it  could 
(Hily  be  known  by  the  members  of  the  house, 
who  were  to  decide  upon  it  as  jurors,  from 
the  internal  conviction  arising  in  their  minds. 
After  appealing  to  the  feelings  of  the  gen- 
tlemen who  heard  him,  and  pointing  out  how 
idle  it  was  to  prescribe  limits  to  the  prerog- 
atives of  the  crown,  while  they  permitted  a 
more  dangerous,  because  concealed,  influ- 
ence to  remain,  he  observed,  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  Britain,  under  its  true  and  proper 
definition  of  "  a  monarchy  limited  by  law," 
required  no  other  assistance  for  the  exercise 
of  its  functions,  than  what  it  derived  from 
the  constitution  and  the  laws.  The  powers 
vested  in  the  executive  part  of  government, 
and,  in  his  opinion,  wisely  placed  there,  were 
abundantly  sufficient  for  every  useful  pur 
pose  of  government,  and  without  any  further 
assistance  were  too  ample  for  the  purposes 
of  bad  government ;  and  he  thought  Jiim- 
self  bound,  as  an  honest  man,  to  declare, 
that  the  influence  of  the  crown  had  increas- 
ed far  beyond  the  bounds  of  a  monarchy 
strictly  limited  in  its  nature  and  extent.  He 
likewise  observed,  that  it  was  no  doubt  very 
galling  to  the  house,  to  be  informed  of  their 
duty  by  the  petitioners ;  but  they  ought  to 
recollect,  that  it  was  entirely  their  own 
f  mlt.  What  the  petitioners  now  demanded, 
o'ight  to  have  originated  within  the  v>^alls 
of  the  house ;  and  then,  what  would  now 
bear  the  appearance  of  too  much  compul- 
sion, would  have  been  received  with  grati- 
tude. But,  at  all  events,  they  ought  to  con- 
sider that  they  were  then  sitting  as  the 
representatives  of  the  people,  and  solely  for 
their  advantage  and  benefit,  and  that  they 
in  duty  stood  pledged  to  that  people,  as  their 
creators,  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  their 
trust. 

The  authority  of  the  speaker  had  such  an 
CiTect,  that  the  ministerial  party  soon  found 
the  question  going  against  them.  The  lord 
advocate  of  Scotland,  in  order  to  prevent  it 
from  being  lost,  proposed  such  an  amend- 
ment as  he  supposed  would  be  rejected  by 
opposition,  and  consequently  that  the  whole 
would  fall  to  the  ground.  The  amendment 
consisted  in  inserting  the  words,  "  That  it 
is  now  necessary  to  declare ;"  but  in  this  he 
was  mistaken :  the  amendment  was  readily 
and  unexpectedly  agreed  to  by  the  opposite 
party  ;  and  on  a  division  the  numbers  were 
in  fivor  of  the  motion  two  hundred  and 
thirty-three,  against  it  two  hundred  and  fif- 
teen ;  so  that  the  court  was  left  in  a  minori- 
ty of  eighteen.  Dunning  then  moved,  "  that 
it  was  competent  to  that  house  to  examine 
into  and  correct  abuses  in  the  expenditure 
of  the  civil-list,  as  well  as  in  every  other 

Vol.  TV.  id 


branch  of  the  public  revenue,  whenever  it 
shall  seem  expedient  to  the  house  to  do  so." 
This  was  opposed  by  lord  North,  who,  in  the 
strongest  terms,  expressed  his  wishes  that 
the  committee  would  not  proceed.  The 
motion  was  nevertheless  agreed  to  by  the 
house.  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt  then  moved,  "  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  that  house  to  provide,  as 
far  as  might  be,  an  immediate  and  effectual 
redress  of  the  abuses  complained  of  in  the 
petitions  presented  to  the  house  from  the 
different  counties,  cities,  and  towns  in  this 
kingdom."  The  minister  once  more  earnest- 
ly implored  the  committee  to  desist,  but  with 
no  effect;  the  motion  was  agreed  to.  Itv/as 
lastly  moved  by  Fox,  "  that  the  resolutions 
should  be  immediately  reported  to  the  house;" 
which  was  deprecated  and  protested  against 
by  lord  North,  as  violent,  arbitrary,  and  con- 
trary to  the  established  usage  of  parlia- 
ment. The  motion,  however,  was  carried, 
and  the  chairman  reporting  the  resolutions 
accordingly,  they  were  severally  agreed  to 
by  the  house. 

On  the  tenth  of  April,  the  committee  be- 
ing resumed,  Dunning  "  congratulated  the 
house  upon  the  late  decisions,  which  he 
however  said,  could  avail  little  unless  the 
house  proceeded  effectually  to  remedy  the 
grievances  complained  of  by  the  people. 
The  alarming  and  increasing  influence  of 
the  crown  being  now  admitted  by  a  solemn 
decision  of  that  house,  it  was  incumbent 
upon  them  to  go  from  generals  to  particu- 
lars. With  a  view  therefore  of  extirpatmg 
that  corrupt  influence,  he  should  move, 
"  that  there  be  laid  before  the  house  every 
session,  within  seven  days  after  the  meeting 
of  parliament,  an  account  of  all  moneys  paid 
out  of  the  civil  revenue,  to  or  for  the  use 
of,  or  in  trust  for,  any  member  of  parlia- 
ment since  the  last  recess."  This  was  ob- 
jected to  by  lord  North,  the  lord-advocate 
of  Scotland,  the  attorney-general  Wedder- 
bume,  &c.  but  was  carried  without  a  divis- 
ion. Dunning  %en  moved,  "  that  the  per- 
sons holding  the  offices  of  treasurer  of  the 
chamber,  treasurer  of  the  household,  cofferer 
of  the  household,  comptroller  of  the  house- 
hold, master  of  the  household,  clerks  of  the 
green  cloth,  and  their  deputies,  should  be 
rendered  incapable  of  a  seat  in  that  house." 
This  was  again  opposed,  and  by  the  same 
persons  as  before ;  but  on  a  division  was  car- 
ried by  a  majority  of  two  hundred  and  fif- 
teen to  two  hundred  and  thirteen  voices. 
So  far  the  patriotic  party  in  parliament  had 
triumphantly  proceeded,  to  the  infinite  joy 
of  the  disinterested  and  independent  part  of 
the  public,  when  the  sudden  illness  of  the 
speaker  obliged  the  house  to  adjourn  to  the 
twenty-fourth  of  April ;  on  which  day,  the 
committee  being  resumed,  Dunning  moved 
for  an  address,  « that  his  majesty  would  b« 


254 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


pleased  not  to  dissolve  the  parliament  or 
prorogue  the  present  session  until  the  ob- 
jects of  the  petitions  were  answered." 
When  the  house,  after  a  vehement  debate, 
came  to  a  division  on  this  important  ques- 
tion, it  was  at  once  discovered  that  the  un- 
fortunate illness  of  the  speaker  had  infected 
"  the  very  life-blood  of  their  enterprise ;" 
the  motion  being  rejected  by  a  majority  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty-four  to  two  hundred 
and  three. 

On  the  question  being  carried,  Fox  rose 
to  speak,  but  the  ministerial  party,  dreading 
bis  eloquence,  especially  after  such  provoca- 
tion, resolved  that  he  should  not  be  heard. 
A  most  extraordinary  scene  of  confusion 
and  disorder  ensued ;  and  the  chair  being 
repeatedly  called  upon  to  exercise  its  authori- 
t}',  the  speaker  at  length,  with  the  utmost 
vehemence  of  voice,  called  upon  every  side 
of  the  house  to  order ;  and  having  caused 
the  bar  to  be  cleared  by  the  proper  officers, 
required  and  insisted  that  every  member 
should  take  his  place.  The  way  being  thus 
cleared  for  Fox,  the  deserters  were  condemn- 
ed to  hear  their  conduct  represented  in  such 
a  manner  as  perhaps  was  never  done  on  any 
occasion  in  that  house  before,  the  severity  of 
which  was  aggravated  by  the  consciousness 
that  the  treatment  they  received  was  not 
unmerited. 

Fox  was  seconded  in  his  censure  by  Dun- 
ning, and  a  direct  charge  of  treachery 
against  the  nation  was  brought  by  both. 
The  counties,  they  said,  depending  on  the 
faith  of  parliament  for  the  redress  held  out 
by  those  resolutions,  had  relaxed  greatly  in 
the  measures  they  had  formerly  pursued  for 
obtaining  it  by  other  means ;  and  the  coun- 
ty of  Cambridge  in  particular  had,  upon 
that  dependence,  rescinded  its  own  resolu- 
tion of  appointing  a  committee  of  associa- 
tion. They  both  likewise  declared,  that 
the  division  of  this  night  was  totally  deci- 
sive with  regard  to  the  petitions;  that  it 
amounted  to  a  full  and  general  rejection 
of  their  prayer ;  and  that  all  hope  of  obtain- 
ing any  redress  for  the  people  in  that  house 
was  at  an  end.  The  minister  replied  in  his 
usual  strain  of  address ;  and  the  house  be- 
ing now  disposed  to  assent  to  whatever  he 
said,  tlie  affair  of  reformation  was  totally 
abandoned,  and  the  remainder  of  Burke's  es- 
tablishment bill  was  rejected  as  fast  as  it  v/as 


The  triumph  of  the  ministry  was  soon 
completed,  and  every  attempt  at  reformation 
was  rendered  for  ever  fruitless  in  this  coun- 
try by  the  proceedings  of  an  intolerant  and 
lawless  mob.  The  offence  which  the  repeal 
of  the  penal  laws  against  Papists  gave  to 
the  people  of  Scotland,  and  the  violent  pro- 
ceedings of  the  intemperate  zealots  in  that 
part  of  the  kingdom,  have  teen  already  no- 


ticed. The  prejudice  was  gradually  extend- 
ed to  England,  and  much  pains  were  taken 
by  inflammatory  harangues  and  pamphlets  to 
prejudice  the  minds  of  the  people  against 
tlie  late  wise  and  salutary  relaxation  of  the 
penal  code.  It  was  at  length  determined  to 
prepare  a  petition  for  a  repeal  of  the  law  in 
question,  which  is  affirmed  to  have  obtained 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  signatures, 
or  marks,  of  men  of  the  lowest  orders  of 
society,  whose  excess  of  zeal  could  be  equal- 
led only  by  the  grossness  of  their  ignorance ; 
a  combination  of  qualities  at  once  ridiculous 
and  terrible.  Lord  George  Gordon,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Protestant  associations  both  in 
England  and  Scotland,  who  was  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  of  commons,  declined  to 
present  this  petition,  unless  he  were  accom- 
panied to  the  house  Ijy  at  least  twenty  thou- 
sand men. 

RIOTS  IN  LONDON. 

A  PUBLIC  meeting  of  the  association  was, 
in  consequence,  convened  in  St.  George's 
Fields,  June  second,  1780,  whence  it  was 
supposed  that  not  less  than  fifty  thousand 
persons  proceeded  in  regular  divisions,  with 
lord  George  Gordon  at  their  head,  to  the 
house  of  commons,  where  their  petition  was 
presented  by  their  president.  Towards  even- 
ing this  multitude  began  to  grow  very  tu- 
multuous, and  grossly  insulted  various  mem- 
bers of  both  houses,  compelling  them  in 
passing  to  and  from  the  house  to  cry,  "  No 
Popery !"  and  to  wear  blue  cockades.  During 
the  debates  on  the  petition,  lord  George  Gor- 
don frequently  addressed  the  mob  without, 
in  terms  calculated  to  inflame  their  passions, 
and  expressly  stating  to  them,  "  that  the 
people  of  Scotland  had  no  redress  till  they 
pulled  down  the  Popish  chapels."  After 
the  adjournment  of  the  house,  the  mob,  on 
this  suggestion,  immediately  proceeded  to 
the  demolition  of  the  chapels  of  the  Sardinian 
and  Bavarian  ambassadors.  The  military 
being  ordered  out  could  not  prevent  the  mis- 
chief, but  apprehended  various  of  the  ring- 
leaders. 

The  next  day,  Saturday,  passed  quietly  ; 
but  on  Sunday  the  rioters  reassembled  in  vast 
numbers,  and  destroyed  the  chapels  and  pri- 
vate dwellings  belonging  to  the  principal 
Catholics  in  the  vicinity  of  Moorfields. 

On  Monday  they  extended  their  devasta- 
tions to  other  parts  of  the  town ;  and  Sir 
George  Saville's  house,  in  Leicester  Fields, 
was  totally  dem.olished  by  these  blind  and 
barbarous  bigots-- — that  distinguished  senator 
and  patriot  having  had  the  honor  to  be  the 
first  mover  of  the  bill. 

On  Tuesday,  the  day  appointed  for  taking 
the  petition  into  consideration,  the  mob  again 
surrounded  the  parliament-house,  and  re- 
newed their  outrages  and  in;^  ults.  The  house, 
after  pat"Kir,g  ecme  retcluticns  adapted  to  tlie 


GEORGE  HI.   1760—1820. 


255 


occasion,  and  expressive  of  their  just  indig- 
nation, immediately  adjourned.  In  the  even- 
ing the  populace,  now  grown  more  daring 
than  ever,  attacked  the  prison  of  Newgate, 
where  their  comrades  were  confined,  with 
astonishing  resolution;  and,  setting  the 
building  in  flames,  liberated  more  than  three 
hundred  felons  and  debtors  resident  within 
its  walls.  Encouraged  by  the  impunity 
with  which  they  had  hitherto  acted,  they 
then  proceeded  to  lord  Mansfield's  house  in 
Bloomsbury  Square,  which  they  totally  de- 
molished, his  lordship  escaping  not  without 
difficulty.  The  prisons  of  Clerkenwell  were 
also  forced,  many  private  houses  plundered 
or  destroyed,  and  scarcely  did  the  night 
afford  any  cessation  of  the  riots. 

On  Wednesday,  the  King's  Bench  prison, 
the  Fleet,  and  the  house  of  Langdale,  a  dis- 
tiller in  Holborn,  were  marked  for  destruc- 
tion ;  and  as  the  evening  approached,  a  scene 
presented  itself,  the  outlines  of  which  may 
be  described,  but  the  human  imagination  is 
incapable  of  conveying  those  sensations  of 
horror  which  filled  the  breasts  of  those  who 
saw  it.  At  the  same  instant  the  King's 
Bench  and  Fleet  prisons,  New  Bridewell, 
the  toll-gates  on  Blackfriars  bridge,  the 
lar^e  houses  at  the  bottom  of  Holborn,  and 
various  houses  in  other  parts  of  the  town,  to 
the  number  of  thirty-six,  were  seen  in 
flames. — Some  wretches  were  burned  at  the 
houses  of  distillers ;  the  spirits  were  brought 
out  in  pail-fuls,  and  not  only  common  but 
non-rectified  spirits  were  drunk  with  avidity. 
At  one  time  a  piece  of  ruins  fell  6n  the  heads 
of  these  devoted  miscreants;  at  another 
they  were  discovered  nodding  over  the  fire, 
and  so  desperately  insensible  of  their  situa- 
tion, and  incapable  to  move,  through  intoxi- 
cation, that  many  of  them  were  seen  to  drop 
into  eternity,  in  a  manner  too  shocking  for 
description.  The  same  day  attempts  were 
made  on  the  Bank,  and  the  Pay-Office ;  but 
these  places  being  strongly  guarded,  they 
failed,  and  many  of  the  rioters  embraced  an 
untimely  and  unprepared  death  at  the  hand 
of  the  military,  rather  than  abandon  their 
destructive  pursuits.  This  night  was  the 
most  dreadful  of  any ;  the  numbers  of  the 
killed  cannot  be  ascertained ;  but  as  far  as 
report  enables  us  to  estimate  them,  they  stand 
thus ;  one  hundred  and  nine  killed  by  asso- 
ciation troops  and  guards,  one  hundred  and 
one  by  light-horse,  and  seventy-five  died  in 
the  hospitals.  Those  who  were  present 
speak  of  these  scenes  as  exceeding  anything 
recorded  in  our  annals.  Before  noon  on 
Thursday,  the  regulars  and  militia  from  the 
country  had  put  a  stop  to  any  further  devas- 
tations. 

In  the  mean  time  about  two  hundred 
members  of  the  house  of  commons  had  the 
courage  to  assemble  in  that  place,  under  the 


protection  of  the  military.  Some  resolu- 
tions were  passed ;  one  was,  an  assertion  of 
their  own  privileges ;  the  second,  for  a  com- 
mittee of  inquiry  into  the  late  and  present 
outrages,  and  for  the  discovery  of  their  pro- 
moters and  abettors ;  a  third  tor  a  prosecu- 
tion by  the  attorney-general ;  and  the  fourth 
for  an  address  to  his  majesty  for  the  reim- 
bursement of  the  foreign  ministers  to  the 
amount  of  the  damages  they  had  sustained 
by  the  rioters.  But  the  news  of  the  confla- 
gration begun  in  the  city  arriving,  occasion- 
ed their  hasty  adjournment.  On  Thursday 
the  eighth  of  June,  lord  George  Gordon  was 
taken  into  custody,  and  conveyed  to  the 
horse-guards,  where  he  underwent  an  ex- 
amination before  the  lord  president,  lord 
North,  lord  Amherst,  the  secretaries  of  state, 
and  several  lords  of  the  privy-council,  and 
in  the  evening  was  committed  a  close  pris- 
oner to  the  Tower.  He  was  attended  thither 
by  a  greater  force  than  ever  was  known  on 
any  similar  occasion.  Lord  George  Gordon 
was  in  the  following  year  brought  to  trial 
for  high  treason,  and  acquitted  of  all  the 
charges ;  nor  among  all  those  who  were  ap- 
prehended, brought  to  trial,  and  hanged, 
were  there  any  proved  to  belong  to  that 
company  who  assembled  in  St.  George's 
Fields. 

Thus  ended  this  disgraceful  affair.  Though 
the  ministry,  however  artfully,  endeavored 
to  throw  tlie  whole  of  the  riots  on  the  in- 
tolerant spirit  of  the  Protestant  association, 
yet  it  is  certain  that  their  own  unpopularity 
greatly  served  to  increase  that  spirit  of  dis- 
content in  the  people,  which,  on  the  slightest 
occasion,  was  ready  to  break  out  into  vio- 
lence. The  American  war,  and  the  misery 
it  occasioned,  was  what  gave  spirit  and  vigor 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  Protestant  associa- 
tion, and  popularity  to  the  mobs  which  as- 
sembled. The  actual  mischief,  however, 
was  done  by  the  felons  who  were  rescued 
from  the  prisons,  joined  by  a  set  of  miscre- 
ants, who  are  ever  ready  to  take  the  oppor- 
tunity of  any  popular  commotion  to  plunder 
and  rob  their  fellow-citizens. 

It  was  determined  in  a  committee  of  the 
whole  house  of  commons,  that  no  repeal 
should  take  place  of  the  act  in  favor  of  the 
Roman  Catholics,  as  the  grievances  said  to 
arise  from  it  were  imaginary ;  they  came  to 
resolutions  in  order  to  set  the  conduct  of 
parliament  in  a  fair  light,  and  to  undeceive 
the  ill-informed  but  well-meaning  part  of 
the  petitioners.  On  Saturday,  July  the 
eighth,  his  majesty  closed  this  tedious  ses- 
sion with  a  speech,  in  which  he  expressed 
his  satisfaction  at  the  magnanimity  and  per- 
severance of  his  faithful  commons. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  a  special 
commission  was  issued  for  the  trial  of  the 
rioters,  of  whom  a  very  great  number,  con- 


256 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sisting  of  men  very  opposite  in  description 
and  character,  were  apprehended.  Lord 
chief  justice  De  Grey,  whose  mild  and  be- 
nignant disposition,  as  well  as  his  infirm 
health,  was  ill  suited  to  this  painful  task, 
willingly  resigning  his  office ;  the  attorney- 
general  Wedderburne  was  advanced  to  the 
chief  justiceship,  under  the  title  of  lord 
Loughborough.  The  multiplicity  combined 
with  the  precipitate  and  indiscriminate  se- 
verity of  the  sentences  passed  in  his  judicial 
capacity  by  this  magistrate  upon  the  rioters, 
far  exceeded  anything  known  in  this  country 
since  the  days  of  Judge  Jefferies :  such  in- 
deed as  left  the  memory  of  these  transac- 
tions impressed  upon  the  public  mind  in  in- 
delible characters  of  blood. 

On  the  first  of  September,  a  proclamation 
was  issued  for  the  dissolution  of  the  parlia- 
ment, and  for  calling  a  new  one. 
SIEGE  OF  GIBRALTAR. 

While  intestine  violence  and  riot  shook 
the  capital,  our  fleets  abroad  met  with  suc- 
cess, which  served  to  console  the  unthink- 
ing populace  for  past  misfortunes. 

The  close  investment  of  Gibraltar  imme- 
diately succeeded  the  Spanish  declaration 
of  war.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  August 
1779,  when  the  enemy's  troops  first  began 
to  break  ground  before  that  fortress.  Though 
the  Spanish  batteries  were  not  sufficiently 
in  forwardness  to  annoy  the  garrison  to  any 
extent,  they  suffered  much  from  a  dreadful 
scarcity.  Thistles,  dandelion,  &c.  were  the 
daily  food  of  multitudes.  The  squadron, 
therefore,  which  had  been  fitted  out,  in  the 
latter  end  of  1779,  for  the  defence  of  the 
West  Indies,  under  the  command  of  adiniral 
Sir  George  Rodney,  was  ordered,  in  its  way, 
to  touch  at  Gibraltar,  to  relieve  it  from  the 
blockade,  and  to  convoy  thither  a  considera- 
ble fleet  of  transports  with  necessaries  for 
the  garrison.  He  had  been  but  a  few  days 
at  sea,  when  a  fortunate  chance  threw  in 
his  way  a  convoy  bound  from  St.  Sebastian 
to  Cadiz,  consisting  of  fifteen  sail  of  mer- 
chantmen, under  the  protection  of  a  fine 
new  sixty-four  gun  ship,  and  four  frigates. 
The  whole  fleet  was  captured  by  the  Eng- 
lish admiral,  who  had  scarcely  adjusted  the 
distribution  of  his  prizes,  when,  on  the  six- 
teenth of  January,  off  Cape  St.  Vincent,  he 
came  in  sight  of  a  Spanish  squadron  of  eleven 
ships  of  the  line,  commanded  by  Don  Juan 
Langra.  After  a  most  gallant  defence  by  the 
Spaniards,  their  admiral's  ship  of  eighty 
guns,  and  three  others  of  seventy,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  English,  and  were  carried 
to  Gibraltar.  After  having  relieved  that  for- 
tress, the  English  admiral  sailed  about  the 
middle  of  February  with  a  part  of  the  fleet 
to  the  West  Indies,  leaving  the  Spanish 
prizes,  with  a  squadron,  under  the  care  of 
rear-admiral  Digby,  who  in  his  way  home 


captured  a  French  man-of-war  of  sixty-four 
guns. 

AMERICAN  AFFAIRS. 

The  successful  defence  of  Savannah,  t(v 
ge^ther  with  the  subsequent  departure  of 
count  D'Estaing  from  the  coast  of  the  United 
States,  soon  dissipated  all  apprehensions 
previously  entertained  for  the  safety  of  Nev/- 
Yoik.  These  circumstances  pointed  out  to 
Su-  Henry  Clinton  the  propriety  of  renewing 
oflfensive  operations.  Having  effected  no- 
thing of  importance  for  the  two  preceding 
campaigns,  he  turned  his  attention  south- 
ward, and  regaled  himself  with  flattering 
prospects  of  easy  conquest  among  the  weakei 
states.  The  suitableness  of  the  climate  tor 
winter  operations,  the  richness  of  the  coun- 
try, and  its  distance  from  support,  designated 
South  Carolina  as  a  proper  object  of  enter- 
prise. No  sooner,  therefore,  was  the  depar- 
ture of  the  French  fleet  known  and  confirm- 
ed, than  Sir  Henry  Clinton  committed  the 
command  of  the  royal  army  in  New- York  to 
lieutenant-general  Kniphausen,  and  embark- 
ed for  the  southward,  with  four  flank  bat- 
talions, twelve  regiments,  and  a  corps  of 
British,  Hessian,  and  provincials,  a  powerful 
detachment  of  artillery,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  cavalry,  together  with  an  ample  supply 
of  military  stores  and  provisions.  Vice-ad- 
miral Arbuthnot,  with  a  suitable  naval  force, 
undertook  to  convoy  the  troops  to  the  placo 
of  their  destination.  On  the  twenty-sixtli  of 
December  1779,  the  whole  sailed  from  New- 
York.  After  a  tedious  and  dangerous  pas- 
sage, in  wliich  part  of  tlieir  ordnance,  most 
of  their  artillery,  and  all  their  cavalry  horses 
were  lost,  the  fleet,  on  the  twenty-first  of 
January  1780,  arrived  at  Tybee  in  Georgia. 
In  a  few  days  the  transports,  with  the  arniy 
on  board,  sailed  from  Savannah  for  North 
Edisto,  and  after  a  short  passage,  the  troops 
made  good  their  landing  about  tliirty  miles 
from  Charlestown,  and  on  the  eleventh  of 
February  took  possession  of  John's  Island 
and  Stono  Ferry,  and  soon  after  of  James 
Island  and  Wappoo  Cut. — A  bridge  was 
thrown  over  the  canal,  and  part  of  the  royal 
army  took  post  on  the  banks  of  Ashley  River, 
opposite  to  Charlestown. 

The  assembly  of  the  state  was  sitting 
when  the  British  landed,  but  broke  up  after 
"  delegating  to  governor  Rutledge,  and  .such 
of  his  council  as  he  could  conveniently  con- 
sult, a  power  to  do  everything  necessary  for 
the  public  good,  except  the  taking  away  the 
life  of  a  citizen  without  a  legal  trial."  The 
governor  immediately  ordered  the  militia  to 
rendezvous.  Though  the  necessity  was  great, 
few  obeyed  the  pressing  call.  A  proclama- 
tion was  issued  by  the  governor,  under  his 
extraordinary  powers,  requiring  such  of  the 
militia  as  were  regidarly  drafted,  and  all 
the  inhabitants  and  owners  of  property  in 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


257 


the  town,  to  repair  to  the  American  standard 
and  join  the  garrison  immediately,  under 
pain  of  confiscation.  This  severe  though 
necessary  measure  produced  very  little  ef- 
fect ;  so  much  was  the  country  dispirited  by 
the  late  repulse  at  Savannah. 

CHARLESTOWN  TAKEN. 
The  tedious  passage  from  New- York  to 
Tybee  gave  the  Americans  time  to  fortify 
Charlestown.  This,  together  with  the  losses 
which  the  royal  army  had  sustained  in  the 
late  tempestuous  weather,  induced  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  to  dispatch  an  order  to  New- York 
for  reinforcements  of  men  and  stores.  He 
also  directed  major-general  Prevost  to  send 
on  to  hun  twelve  hundred  men  from  the  gar- 
rison of  Savannah.  Brigadier-general  Pat- 
terson, at  the  head  of  this  detachment,  made 
his  way  good  over  the  river  Savannah,  and 
through  the  intermediate  country,  and  soon 
after  joined  Sir  Henry  Clinton  near  the 
banks  of  Ashley  River.  The  royal  forces 
witliout  delay  proceeded  to  the  siege.  At 
Wappoo  on  James  Island,  they  formed  a 
depot,  and  erected  fortifications  both  on  that 
island  and  on  the  main,  opposite  to  the  south- 
em  and  western  extremities  of  Charlestown. 
An  advanced  party  crossed  Ashley  River, 
and  soon  after  broke  ground  at  the  distance 
of  eleven  hundred  yards  from  the  American 
works.  At  successive  periods,  they  erected 
five  batteries  on  Charlestown  Neck.  The 
garrison  was  equally  assiduous  in  preparing 
for  its  defence.  The  works  which  had  been 
previously  thrown  up  were  strengthened 
and  extended.  Lines  and  redoubts  were 
continued  across  from  Cooper  to  Ashley 
River.  In  front  of  the  whole  was  a  strong 
j'batis,  and  a  wet  ditch  made  by  passing  a 
canal  from  the  heads  of  swamps  which  run 
in  opposite  directions.  Between  the  abatis 
and  the  lines,  deep  holes  were  dug  at  short 
intervals.  The  lines  were  made  particularly 
strong  on  the  right  and  left,  and  so  con- 
structed as  to  rake  the  wet  ditch  in  almost 
its  whole  extent.  To  secure  the  centre,  a 
horn-work  had  been  erected,  which  being 
closed  during  the  siege  formed  a  kind  of 
citadel.  Works  were  also  thrown  up  on  all 
sides  of  the  town,  where  a  landing  was  prac- 
ticable. Though  the  lines  were  no  more 
than  field  works,  yet  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
treated  them  with  the  respectful  homage  of 
three  parallels.  From  the  third  to  the  tenth 
of  April,  the  first  parallel  was  completed, 
and  immediately  after  the  town  was  sum- 
moned to  surrender.  On  the  twelfth,  the 
batteries  were  opened,  and  from  that  day  an 
almost  incessant  fire  was  kept  up.  About 
the  time  the  batteries  were  opened,  a  work 
was  thrown  up  near  Wando  River,  nine 
miles  from  town,  and  another  at  Lempriere's 
Point,  to  preserve  the  communication  witli 
the  country  by  water.  A  post  was  also  or- 
22* 


dered  over  the  Santee,  to  favor  the  coming 
in  of  reinforcements,  or  the  retreat  of  the 
garrison  when  necessary.  On  the  twenty- 
first  of  March,  the  British  marine  force,  con- 
sisting of  one  ship  of  fifty  guns,  two  of  forty- 
four  guns,  four  of  thirty-two,  and  the  Sand- 
wich armed  ship,  crossed  the  bar  in  front  of 
Rebellion  Road,  and  anchored  in  Five  Fath- 
om Hole.  The  American  force  opposed  to 
this  was  the  Bricole,  which,  though  pierced 
for  forty-four  guns,  did  not  mount  half  of 
that  number,  two  of  thirty-two  guns,  one  of 
twenty-eight,  two  of  twenty-six,  two  of 
twenty,  and  the  brig  Notre  Dame  of  sixteen 
guns.  The  first  object  of  its  commander, 
commodore  Whipple,  was  to  prevent  admiral 
Arbuthnot  from  crossing  the  bar,  but  en  far- 
ther examination  this  was  found  to  be  im- 
practicable. He  therefore  fell  back  to  Fort 
Moultrie,  and  afterwards  to  Charlestown. 
The  crew  and  guns  of  alibis  vessels,  except 
one,  were  put  on  shore  to  reinforce  the  bat- 
teries. 

On  the  ninth  of  April,  admiral  Arbuthnot 
weighed  anchor  at  Five  Fathom  Hole,  and 
with  the  advantage  of  a  strong  southerly 
wind,  and  flowing  tide,  passed  Fort  Moultrie 
without  stopping  to  engage  it,  and  anchored 
near  the  remains  of  Fort  Johnson.  Colonel 
Pinckney,  who  commanded  on  Sullivan's 
Island,  kept  up  a  brisk  and  well-directed  fire 
on  the  ships  in  their  passage,  which  did  as 
great  execution  as  could  be  expected.  To 
prevent  the  royal  armed  vessels  from  run- 
ning into  Cooper  River,  eleven  vessels  were 
sunk  in  the  channel  opposite  to  the  Exchange. 
The  batteries  of  the  besiegers  soon  obtained 
a  superiority  over  those  of  the  town.  All 
expectation  of  succor  was  at  an  end :  the 
only  hope  left  was  that  nine  thousand  men, 
the  flower  of  the  British  army,  seconded  by 
a  naval  force,  might  fail  in  storming  exten- 
sive lines  defended  by  less  than  three  thou- 
sand men.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
siege  was  protracted  till  the  eleventh.  On 
that  day  a  great  number  of  the  citizens  ad- 
dressed general  Lincoln  in  a  petition,  ex- 
pressing their  acquiescence  in  the  terms 
which  Sir  Henry  Clinton  had  offered,  and 
requesting  his  acceptance  of  them.  On  the 
reception  of  this  petition,  general  Lincoln 
wrote  to  Sir  Henry,  and  offered  to  accept 
the  terms  before  proposed.  The  royal  com- 
manders, wishing  to  avoid  the  extremity  of 
a  storm,  and  unwilling  to  press  to  uncondi- 
tional submission  an  enemy  whose  friend- 
ship they  wished  to  conciliate,  returned  a 
favorable  answer.  A  capitulation  was  signed, 
and  major-general  Leslie  took  possession  of 
the  town  on  the  next  day. 

The  number  which  surrendered  prisoners 
of  war,  inclusive  of  the  militia  and  every 
adult  male  inhabitant,  was  above  five  thou- 
sand ;  but  the  proper  garrison  at  the  time  of 


258 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  surrender  did  not  exceed  two  thousand 
five  hundred. 

This  was  the  first  instance  in  which  the 
Americans  had  attempted  to  defend  a  town. 
The  unsuccessfiil  event,  with  its  conse- 
quences, demonstrated  the  policy  of  sacrific- 
ing' the  towns  of  the  union,  in  preference  to 
endangering  the  whole,  by  risking  too  much 
for  their  defence. 

Shortly  after  the  surrender,  the  command- 
er-in-chief adopted  measures  to  induce  the 
inhabitants  to  return  to  their  allegiance.  It 
was  stated  to  them  in  a  hand-bill,  which, 
though  without  a  name,  seemed  to  flow  fi*rm 
authority,  "  That  the  helping  hand  of  every 
man  was  wanting  to  re-establish  peace  and 
good  government:  that  the  commander-in- 
chief  wished  not  to  draw  them  into  danger, 
while  any  doubt  could  remain  of  his  success ; 
but  as  that  was  now  certain,  he  trusted  that 
one  and  all  would  heartily  join,  and  give 
efi^ect  to  necessary  measures  for  that  pur- 
pose." Those  who  had  families  were  in- 
formed, "  that  they  would  be  permitted  to 
remain  at  home,  and  form  a  militia  for  the 
maintenance  of  peace  and  good  order ;  but 
from  those  who  had  no  families  it  v^as  ex- 
pected that  they  would  cheerfully  assist  in 
driving  their  oppressors,  and  all  the  miseries 
of  war,  from  their  borders."  To  such  it  was 
promised,  "  that  when  on  service,  they  would 
be  allowed  pay,  ammunition,  and  provisions, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  king's  troops." 
About  the  same  time  [May  22,]  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  in  a  proclamation,  declared,  "  That 
if  any  person  should  thenceforward  appear 
in  arms  in  order  to  prevent  the  establishment 
of  his  majesty's  government  in  that  country, 
or  should,  under  any  pretence  or  authority 
whatever,  attempt  to  compel  any  other  per- 
son or  persons  so  to  do,  or  who  should  hinder 
the  king's  faithful  subjects  from  joining  his 
forces,  or  from  performing  those  duties  their 
allegiance  required,  such  persons  should  be 
treated  with  the  utmost  severity,  and  their 
estates  be  immediately  seized  for  confisca- 
tion." In  a  few  days  after  [June  1,]  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  and  admiral  Arbuthnot,  in 
the  cliaracter  of  commissioners  for  restoring 
peace,  offered  to  the  inhabitants,  with  some 
exceptions,  "  pardon  for  their  past  treasona- 
ble offences,  and  a  reinstatement  in  the  pos- 
session of  all  those  rights  and  immunities 
which  they  heretofore  had  enjoyed  under  a 
free  British  government,  exempt  from  taxa- 
tion, except  by  their  own  legislatures." 

The  capital  having  surrendered,  the  next 
object  with  the  Bridsh  was  to  secure  the 
general  submission  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
people. 

IMPOLITIC  PROCEEDINGS  IN  NORTH 

CAROLINA. 
To  this  end,  they  posted  garrisons  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country  to  awe  the  in- 


habitants. They  also  marched  with  upwards 
of  two  thousand  men  towards  North  Caro- 
lina. This  caused  an  immediate  retreat  of 
some  parties  of  Americans,  who  had  advanc- 
ed into  the  northern  extremity  of  South 
Carolina,  with  the  expectation  of  relieving 
Charlestown.  One  of  these,  consisting  of 
about  three  hundred  continentals  command- 
ed by  colonel  Buford,  was  overtaken  at  Wa- 
chaws  by  lieutenant-colonel  Tarleton,  and 
completely  defeated.  Five  out  of  six  of  the 
whole  were  either  killed,  or  so  badly  wound- 
ed, as  to  be  incapable  of  being  moved  from 
the  field  of  battle  ;  and  this  took  place 
though  they  made  such  ineffectual  opposi- 
tion as  only  to  kill  twelve  and  wound  five 
of  the  British.  This  great  disproportion  of 
the  killed,  on  the  two  sides,  arose  from  the 
circumstance  that  Tarleton's  parly  refused 
quarter  to  the  Americans  after  they  had 
ceased  to  resist  and  laid  down  their  arms. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  having  left  about  four 
thousand  men  for  the  southern  service,  em- 
barked early  in  June  with  the  main  army 
for  New- York.  On  his  departure  the  com- 
mand devolved  on  lieutenant-general  earl 
Cornwallis.  The  season  of  the  year,  the 
condition  of  the  army,  and  the  unsettled 
state  of  South  Carolina,  impeded  the  imme- 
diate invasion  of  North  Carolina.  Earl  Corn- 
wallis dispatched  instructions  to  the  princi- 
pal loyalists  in  that  state  to  attend  to  tlie 
harvest,  prepare  provisions,  and  remain  quiet 
till  the  latter  end  of  August  or  beginning  of 
September.  His  lordship  committed  the  care 
of  the  frontier  to  lord  Rawdon,  and  repair- 
ing to  Charlestown,  devoted  his  principal  at- 
tention to  the  commercial  and  civil  regula- 
tions of  South  Carolina.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  impossibility  of  fleeing  with  their  fami- 
lies and  effects,  and  the  want  of  an  army  to 
which  the  militia  of  the  states  might  repair, 
induced  the  people  in  the  country  to  aban- 
don all  schemes  of  farther  resistance.  At 
Beaufort,  Camden,  and  Ninety-six,  they  gen- 
erally laid  down  their  arms,  and  submitted 
either  as  prisoners  or  as  subjects.  Excej)!- 
ing  the  extremities  of  the  state  bordering  on 
North  Carolina,  the  inhabitants  who  did  not 
flee  out  of  the  country  preferred  submission 
to  resistance.  This  was  followed  by  an  un- 
usual calm,  and  the  British  believed  that  tbe 
state  was  thoroughly  conquered.  An  oppor- 
tunity was  now  given  to  make  an  experi- 
ment from  which  much  was  expected,  and 
for  the  omission  of  which.  Sir  Henry  Clin- 
ton's predecessor.  Sir  William  Howe,  had 
been  severely  censured.  It  had  been  con- 
fidently asserted,  that  a  majority  of  the 
Americans  were  well-affected  to  the  British 
government,  and  that,  under  proper  regula- 
tions, substantial  service  might  be  expected 
from  them,  in  restoring  the  country  to  peace. 
At  this  crisis  every  bias  in  favor  of  congress 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


259 


was  removed.  Their  armies  in  the  southern 
states  were  either  captured  or  defeated. 
There  was  no  regular  force  to  the  south- 
ward of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  sufficient 
to  awe  the  friends  of  royal  government. 
Every  encouragement  was  held  forth  to 
those  of  the  inhabitants  who  would  with 
arms  support  the  old  constitution.  Confisca- 
tion and  death  were  threatened  as  the  con- 
sequence of  opposing  its  re-establishment. 
While  there  was  no  regular  army  within 
four  hundred  miles  to  aid  the  friends  of  in- 
dependence, the  British  were  in  force  post- 
ed over  all  the  country.  The  people  were 
thus  left  to  themselves,  or  rather  strongly 
impelled  to  abandon  an  apparently  sinking 
cause,  and  arrange  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  conquerors.  Under  these  favorable 
circumstances,  the  experiment  was  made, 
for  supporting  the  British  interest  by  the  ex- 
ertion of  loyal  inhabitants,  unawed  by  Amer- 
ican armies  or  republican  demagogues.  It 
soon  appeared  that  the  disguise  which  fear 
had  imposed,  subsisted  no  longer  than  the 
present  danger,  and  that  the  minds  of  the 
people,  though  overawed,  were  actuated  by 
a  hostile  spirit.  In  prosecuting  the  scheme 
tor  obtaining  a  military  aid  from  the  inhab- 
itants, that  tranquillity  which  previous  suc- 
cesses had  procured  was  disturbed,  and  that 
ascendency  which  arms  had  gained  was  in- 
terrupted. The  inducement  to  submission 
with  many,  was  a  hope  of  obtaining  a  respite 
from  the  calamities  of  war,  under  the  shel- 
ter of  British  protection.  Such  were  not 
loss  astonished  than  confounded,  on  finding 
themselves  virtually  called  upon  to  take 
arms  in  support  of  royal  government.  This 
was  done  in  the  following  manner  : — After 
the  inhabitants,  by  the  specious  promises  of 
protection  and  security,  had  generally  sub- 
mitted as  subjects,  or  taken  their  parole  as 
prisoners  of  war,  a  proclamation  was  issued 
by  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  which  set  forth,  "  That 
it  was  proper  for  all  persons  to  take  an  ac- 
tive part  in  settling  and  securing  his  majes- 
ty's government" — And  in  which  it  was  de- 
clared, "That  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
province  who  were  then  prisoners  on  parole 
(those  who  were  taken  in  Fort  Moultrie  and 
Charlestown,  and  such  as  were  in  actual 
confinement,  excepted)  should,  from  and  af- 
ter the  twentieth  of  June,  be  freed  from 
their  paroles,  and  restored  to  all  the  riglits 
and  duties  belongmg  to  citizens  and  inhabit- 
ants." And  it  was  in  tlie  same  proclamation 
farther  declared,  "  that  all  persons  under 
tlie  description  above  mentioned,  who  should 
aflerwards  neglect  to  return  to  their  alle- 
giance, and  to  his  majesty's  government, 
should  be  considered  as  enemies  and  rebels 
to  the  same,  and  treated  accordmgly."  It 
was  designed  by  this  arbitrary  change  of  the 
political  condition  of  the  inhabitants,  from 


prisoners  to  citizens,  to  bring  them  into  a 
dilemma  which  would  force  them  to  take  an 
active  part  in  settling  and  securing  the  roy- 
al government.  It  involved  a  majority  m 
the  necessity  of  either  fleeing  out  of  the 
country,  or  of  becoming  a  British  militia. 
With  this  proclamation  tlie  declension  of 
British  authority  commenced ;  for  though 
the  inhabitants,  from  motives  of  fear  or  con- 
venience, had  generally  submitted,  the  great- 
est part  of  them  retained  an  affection  for 
their  American  brethren,  and  shuddered  at 
the  thought  of  taking  arms  against  them. 
Among  such  it  was  said,  "  If  we  must  fight, 
let  it  be  on  the  side  of  America,  our  friends 
and  countrymen."  A  great  number  consid- 
ering this  proclamation  as  a  discharge  from 
their  paroles,  armed  themselves  in  self-de- 
fence, being  induced  to  this  step  by  the  roy- 
al menaces,  that  they  who  did  not  return  to 
their  allegiance  as  British  subjects,  must  ex- 
pect to  be  treated  as  rebels, 

A  party  always  attached  to  royal  govern- 
ment, though  they  had  conformed  to  the 
laws  of  the  state,  rejoiced  in  the  ascenden- 
cy of  the  royal  arms  ;  but  their  number  was 
inconsiderable,  in  comparison  with  the  mul- 
titude who  were  obliged  by  necessity,  or  in- 
duced by  convenience,  to  accept  of  British 
protection. 

THE  AMERICANS  RALLY. 

While  the  conquerors  were  endeavoring 
to  strengthen  the  party  for  royal  govern- 
ment, the  Americans  were  not  inattentive 
to  their  interests.  Governor  Rutledge,  who, 
during  the  siege  of  Charlestown,  had  been 
requested  by  general  Lincoln  to  go  out  of 
town,  was  industriously  and  successfully  ne- 
gotiating with  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  and 
congress,  to  obtain  a  force  for  checking  the 
progress  of  the  British  arms.  Representa- 
tions to  the  same  effect  had  also  been  made 
in  due  time  by  general  Lincoln.  Congress 
ordered  a  considerable  detachment  from 
their  main  army  to  be  marched  to  the  south- 
ward. North  Carolina  also  ordered  a  large 
body  of  militia  to  take  the  field.  As  the 
British  advanced  to  the  upper  country  of 
South  Carolina,  a  considerable  number  of 
determined  whigs  retreated  before  them, 
and  took  refuge  in  North  Carolina.  In  this 
class  was  colonel  Sumter,  a  distinguished 
partisan,  w^ho  was  well  qualified  for  con- 
ducting military  operations.  A  party  of  ex- 
iles from  South  Carolina  made  choice  of  him 
for  their  leader.  At  the  head  of  this  little 
band  of  freemen,  he  returned  to  his  own 
state,  and  took  the  field  against  the  victori- 
ous British,  after  the  inhabitants  had  gene- 
rally abandoned  all  ideas  of  farther  resist- 
ance. This  unexpected  impediment  to  the 
extension  of  British  conquests,  roused  all 
the  passions  which  disappointed  ambitior* 
can  inspire.    Previous  successes  had  flatter 


260 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ed  the  royal  commanders  with  hopes  of  dis- 
tinguished rank  among  the  conquerors  of 
America,  but  the  renewal  of  hostilities  ob- 
scured the  pleasing  prospect.  Flushed  with 
the  victories  they  had  gained  in  the  first  of 
the  campaign,  and  believing  everything  told 
them  favorable  to  their  wishes,  to  be  true, 
they  conceived  that  they  had  little  to  fear 
on  the  south  side  of  Virginia.  When  expe- 
rience refuted  these  hopes,  they  were  trans- 
ported with  indignation  against  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  confined  several  of  them  on  suspi- 
cion of  their  being  accessory  to  the  recom- 
mencement of  hostilities. 

The  first  effort  of  renewed  warfare  was 
on  the  twelfth  of  July,  two  months  after  the 
fall  of  Charlestown,  when  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  of  colonel  Sumter's  corps  attack- 
ed and  routed  a  detachment  of  the  royal 
forces  and  militia,  which  were  posted  in  a 
lane  at  Williamson's  plantation.  This  was 
the  first  advantage  gained  over  the  British, 
since  their  landing  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year.  The  steady  persevering  friends  of 
America,  who  were  very  numerous  in  the 
north-western  frontier  of  South  Carolina, 
turned  out  with  great  alacrity  to  join  colonel 
Sumter,  though  opposition  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment had  entirely  ceased  in  every  other 
part  of  the  state.  His  corps  in  a  few  days 
amounted  to  six  hundred  men.  With  this 
increase  of  strength  he  made  a  spirited  at- 
tack on  a  party  of  the  British  at  Rocky 
Mount ;  but  as  he  had  no  artillery,  and  they 
were  secured  under  cover  of  earth  filled  in 
between  logs,  he  could  make  no  impression 
upon  them,  and  was  obliged  to  retreat.  Sen- 
sible that  the  minds  of  men  are  influenced 
by  enterprise,  and  that  to  keep  militia  to- 
gether it  is  necessary  to  employ  them,  this 
active  partisan  attacked  another  of  the  royal 
detachments,  consisting  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  regiment,  and  a  large  body  of  to- 
ries,  posted  at  the  Hanging  Rock.  The 
Prince  of  Wales's  regiment  was  almost 
totally  destroyed.  From  two  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  it  was  reduced  to  nine.  The 
loyalists,  who  were  of  that  party  which  had 
advanced  from  North  Carolina  under  colonel 
Bryan,  were  dispersed.  The  panic  occa- 
sioned by  the  fall  of  Charlestown  daily  aba- 
ted. The  whig  militia  on  the  extremities 
of  tlie  state  formed  themselves  into  parties, 
under  leaders  of  their  own  choice,  and  some- 
times attacked  detachments  of  the  British 
army,  but  more  frequently  those  of  their  own 
countrymen,  who,  as  a  royal  militia,  were 
co-operating  with  the  king's  forces.  While 
Sumter  kept  up  the  spirits  of  the  people  by 
a  succession  of  gallant  enterprises,  a  respect- 
able continental  force  was  advancing  through 
the  middle  states,  for  the  relief  of  their 
southern  brethren.  With  the  hopes  of  re- 
lieving Charlestown,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 


March  orders  were  given  for  the  Maryland 
and  Delaware  troops  to  march  from  general 
Washington's  head-quarters  to  South  Caro- 
lina; but  the  quarter-master-general  was 
unable  to  put  this  detachment  in  motion  as 
soon  as  was  intended. 

The  manufacturers  employed  m  providing 
for  the  army  would  neither  go  on  with  their 
busmess,  nor  deliver  the  articles  they  had 
completed,  declaring  they  had  suflTered  so 
much  from  the  depreciation  of  the  money, 
that  they  would  not  part  with  their  property 
without  immediate  payment.  Under  these 
embarrassing  circumstances,  the  southern 
states  required  an  aid  from  the  northern 
army,  to  be  marched  through  the  interme- 
diate space  of  eight  hundred  miles.  The 
Maryland  and  Delaware  troops  were  with 
great  exertions  at  length  enabled  to  move. 
After  marching  through  Jersey  and  Penn- 
sylvania, they  embarked  at  the  head  of  Elk, 
and  on  the  sixteenth  of  April  landed  at  Pe- 
tersburgh,  and  hence  proceeded  through  the 
country  towards  South  Carolina.  This  force 
was  at  first  put  under  the  command  of  major- 
general  baron  de  Kalb,  and  afterwards  of 
general  Gates.  The  success  of  the  latter 
in  the  northern  campaigns  of  1776  and  1777, 
induced  many  to  believe  that  his  presence 
as  commander  of  the  southern  army,  would 
reanimate  the  friends  of  independence. 
While  baron  de  Kalb  commanded,  a  council 
of  war  had  advised  him  to  file  off  from  the 
direct  road  to  Camden,  towards  the  well- 
cultivated  settlements  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Waxhaws :  but  general  Gates,  on  taking  the 
command,  did  not  conceive  this  movement 
to  be  necessary,  supposing  it  to  be  most  for 
the  interest  of  the  States  that  he  should  pro- 
ceed immediately  with  his  army  on  the 
shortest  road  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Britivsh 
encampments.  This  led  through  a  barren 
country,  in  passing  over  which,  the  Ameri- 
cans severely  felt  the  scarcity  of  provisions. 
Their  murmurs  became  audible,  and  there 
were  strong  appearances  of  mutiny ;  but  the 
officers,  who  shared  every  calamity  in  com- 
mon with  the  privates,  interposed  and  con- 
ciliated them  to  a  patient  sufferance  of  their 
hard  lot.  They  principally  subsisted  on  lean 
cattle,  picked  up  in  the  woods.  The  whole 
army  was  under  the  necessity  of  using  green 
corn,  and  peaches,  in  the  place  of  bread ; 
they  subsisted  mdeed  for  several  days  on  the 
latter  alone.  Dysenteries  became  common 
in  consequence  of  this  diet.  The  heat  of 
the  season,  the  unhealthiness  of  the  climate, 
together  with  insufficient  and  unwholesome 
food,  threatened  destruction  to  the  army. 
The  common  soldiers,  instead  of  desponding, 
began  after  some  time  to  be  merry  with 
their  misfortunes.  They  used  "  starvation" 
as  a  cant  word,  and  vied  with  each  other  in 
burlesquing  then*  situation :  and  the  wit  and 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


261 


humor  displayed  on  the  occasion  contributed 
not  a  little  to  reconcile  them  to  their  suffer- 
ing's. The  American  army  having  made  its 
way  through  a  country  of  pine-barrens,  sand- 
hills, and  swamps,  on  the  thirteenth  of  Au- 
gust reached  Clermont,  thirteen  miles  from 
Camden.  The  next  day  general  Stephens 
arrived  with  a  large  body  of  Virginia  militia. 

As  tlie  American  army  approached  South 
Carolina,  lord  Rawdon  concentred  his  force 
at  Camden.  The  retreat  of  the  British  from 
their  out-posts,  the  advances  of  the  Ameri- 
can army,  and  the  impolitic  conduct  of  the 
conquerors  towards  their  new  subjects,  con- 
curred at  this  juncture  to  produce  a  general 
revolt  in  favor  of  congress.  The  people 
were  daily  more  dissatisfied  with  their  sit- 
uation. Tired  of  war,  they  had  submitted 
to  British  government  with  the  expectation 
of  bettering  their  condition ;  but  they  soon 
found  their  mistake.  The  greatest  address 
should  have  been  practised  towards  the  in- 
habitants, in  order  to  second  the  views  of  the 
parent  state  in  reuniting  the  revolted  colo- 
nies to  her  government.  That  the  people 
might  be  induced  to  return  to  the  condition 
pf  subjects,  their  minds  and  affections,  as 
well  as  their  armies,  ought  to  have  been 
conquered.  This  delicate  task  was  rarely 
attempted.  The  officers,  privates,  and  fol- 
lowers of  the  royal  army,  were  generally 
more  intent  on  amassing  fortunes  by  plun- 
der and  rapine,  than  on  promoting  a  reunion 
of  the  dissevered  members  of  the  empire. 
Instead  of  increasing  the  number  of  real 
friends  to  royal  government,  they  disgusted 
those  that  they  found.  The  high-spirited 
citizens  of  Carolma,  impatient  of  their  ra- 
pine and  insolence,  rejoiced  in  the  prospect 
of  freeing  their  country  from  its  oppressors. 
Motives  of  this  kind,  together  with  a  pre- 
vail mg  attachment  to  the  cause  of  independ- 
ence, induced  many  to  break  through  all  ties 
to  join  general  Gates,  and  more  to  wish  hun 
the  completest  success. 

The  similarity  of  language  and  appear- 
ance between  the  British  and  American  ar- 
mies, gave  opportunities  for  imposing  on  the 
inhabitants.  Lieutenant-colonel  Tarleton, 
with  a  party,  by  assuming  the  name  and 
dress  of  Americans,  passed  themselves  near 
Black  River  for  the  advance  of  general 
Gates's  army.  Some  of  the  neighboring 
militia  were  eagerly  collected  by  Mr.  Brad- 
ley to  co-operate  with  their  sup|X)sed  friends; 
but  after  some  time  the  veil  being  thrown 
aside,  Bradley  and  his  volunteers  were  car- 
ried to  Camden,  and  confined  there  as  pris- 
oners. 

GATES  DEFEATED.— DISTRESSES  OF  THE 
AMERICANS. 
General  Gates,  on  reaching  the  frontier 
of  South  Carolina,  issued  a  proclamation,  in- 
viting the  patriotic  citizens  "  to  join  heartily 


in  rescuing  themselves  and  their  country, 
from  the  oppression  of  a  government  impos- 
ed on  them  by  the  ruffian  hand  of  conquest." 
He  also  gave  "assurances  of  forgiveness 
and  perfect  security  to  sucli  of  the  unfortu- 
nate citizens  as  had  been  induced  by  the 
terror  of  sanguinary  punishment,  the  menace 
of  confiscation,  and  the  arbitrary  measures 
of  military  domination,  apparently  to  acqui- 
esce under  the  British  government,  and  to 
make  a  forced  declaration  of  allegiance  and 
support  to  a  tyranny  which  the  indignant 
souls  of  citizens  resolved  on  freedom,  in- 
wardly revolted  at  with  horror  and  detesta- 
tion," excepting  only  from  this  amnesty, 
"  those  who  in  the  hour  of  devastation  had 
exercised  acts  of  barbarity  and  depredation 
on  the  persons  and  property  of  their  fellow- 
citizens."  The  army  with  which  Gates  ad- 
vanced, was,  by  the  arrival  of  Stephens's 
militia,  increased  nearly  to  four  thousand 
men ;  but  of  this  large  number,  the  whole 
regular  force  was  only  nine  hundred  infan- 
try, and  seventy  cavalry.  On  the  approach 
of  Gates,  lord  Cornwallis  hastened  from 
Charlestown  to  Camden,  and  arrived  there 
on  the  fourteenth.  The  force  which  his 
lord.ship  found  collected  on  his  arrival,  was 
seventeen  hundred  infantry  and  three  hun- 
dred cavalry.  The  inferior  number  would 
have  justified  a  retreat,  but  he  chose  rather 
to  stake  his  fortune  on  the  decision  of  a  bat- 
tle. On  the  night  of  the  fifteenth,  he  march- 
ed from  Camden  with  his  whole  force,  in- 
tending to  attack  the  Americans  in  their 
camp  at  Clermont.  In  the  same  night 
Gales,  after  ordering  his  baggage  to  the 
Waxhaws,  put  his  army  in  motion,  with  an 
intention  of  advancing  to  an  eligible  posi- 
tion, about  eight  miles  from  Camden.  The 
American  army  was  ordered  to  march  at 
ten  o'clock,  P.  M.  in  the  following  order : 
colonel  Armand's  advance  cavalry ;  colonel 
Porterfield's  light  infantry  on  the  right  flank 
of  colonel  Armand's,  in  Indian  file,  two  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  road.  Major  Armstrong's 
light  infantry  in  the  same  order  as  colonel 
Porterfield's  on  the  left  flank  of  the  legion 
advanced  guard  of  foot,  composed  of  the  ad- 
vanced pickets,  first  brigade  of  Maryland, 
second  brigade  of  Maryland,  a  division  of 
North  Carolina,  Virginia  rear-guard,  volun- 
teer cavalry,  upon  flanks  of  the  baggage 
equally  divided.  The  light  infantry  upon 
each  flank  were  ordered  to  march  up  and 
support  the  cavalry,  if  it  should  be  attacked 
by  the  British  cavalry,  and  colonel  Armand 
was  directed  in  that  case  to  stand  the  attack 
at  all  events. 

The  advance  of  both  armies  met  in  the 
night  and  engaged.  Some  of  tlie  cavalry 
of  Armand's  legion  being  wounded  in  the 
first  fire,  fell  back  on  others,  who  recoiled 
so  suddenly,  that  the  first  Maryland  regi- 


262 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ment  was  broken,  and  the  whole  line  of  the 
army  was  thrown  into  confusion.  This  first 
impression  struck  deep,  and  dispirited  the 
militia.  The  American  army  soon  recov- 
ered its  order,  and  both  they  and  their  ad- 
versaries kept  their  ground,  and  occasion- 
ally skirmished  through  the  night.  Colonel 
Porterfield,  a  most  excellent  officer,  on 
whose  abilities  general  Gates  particularly 
depended,  was  wounded  in  the  early  part 
of  this  night-attack.  In  the  morning,  a  se- 
vere and  general  engagement  took  place.  At 
the  first  onset,  the  great  body  of  the  Vir- 
ginia militia,  who  formed  the  left  wing  of 
the  American  army,  on  being  charged  with 
fixed  bayonets  by  the  British  infantry,  threw 
down  their  arms,  and  with  the  utmost  pre- 
cipitation fled  from  the  field.  A  considera- 
ble part  of  the  North  Carolina  militia  fol- 
lowed the  unworthy  example ;  but  the  con- 
tinentals, who  formed  the  right  wing  of  the 
army,  inferior  as  they  were  in  numbers  to 
the  British,  stood  their  ground,  and  main- 
tained the  conflict  with  great  resolution. 
Never  did  men  acquit  themselves  better: 
for  some  time  they  had  clearly  the  advan 
tage  of  their  opponents,  and  were  in  posses- 
sion of  a  considerable  body  of  prisoners 
overpowered  at  last  by  numbers,  and  nearly 
surrounded  by  the  enemy,  they  were  com 
polled  reluctantly  to  leave  the  ground.  In 
justice  to  the  North  Carolina  militia,  it 
should  be  remarked  that  part  of  the  brigade, 
commanded  by  general  Gregory,  acquitted 
themselves  well.  The  Americans  lost  the 
whole  of  their  artillery,  eight  field-pieces, 
upwards  of  two  hundred  wagons,  and  the 
greatest  part  of  their  baggage;  almost  all 
their  officers  were  separated  from  their  re 
spective  commands.  Every  corps  was  bro 
ken  in  action,  and  dispersed. 

To  add  to  the  distresses  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, the  defeat  of  Gates  was  immediately 
followed  by  the  surprise  and  dispersion  of 
Sumter's  corps,  by  Tarleton's  legion,  and  a 
detachment  of  infantry,  at  Fishing  Creek, 

Though  there  was  no  army  to  oppose  lord 
Cornwallis,  yet  the  season  and  bad  health 
of  his  army  restramed  him  from  pursuing 
his  conquests.  By  the  complete  dispersion 
of  the  continental  forces,  the  country  was  in 
his  power.  The  present  moment  of  triumph 
seemed  therefore  the  most  favorable  conjunc- 
ture for  breaking  the  spirits  of  those  who 
were  attached  to  independence.  To  pre- 
vent their  future  co-operation  with  the  ar 
mies  of  congress,  a  severer  policy  was  hence- 
forward adopted. 

tFnfortunately  for  the  inhabitants,  this 
was  taken  up  on  grounds  which  involved 
thousands  in  distress,  and  not  a  few  in  the 
loss  of  life.  The  British  conceived  them- 
selves in  possession  of  the  rights  of  sove- 
reignty over  a  conquered  country,  and  that 


therefore  the  efforts  of  the  citizens  to  assert 
their  independence,  exposed  them  to  the 
penal  consequences  of  treason  and  rebellion. 
Influenced  by  these  opinions,  and  transport- 
ed with  indignation  against  the  inhabitants, 
they  violated  the  rights  which  are  held  sa- 
cred between  independent  hostile  nations. 
Orders  were  given  by  lord  Cornwallis, 
"  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  province, 
who  had  submitted,  and  who  had  taken  part 
in  this  revolt,  should  be  punished  with  the 
greatest  rigor — that  they  should  be  impris- 
oned, and  their  whole  property  taken  from 
them  or  destroyed."  He  also  ordered  in  the 
most  positive  manner,  "  that  every  militia- 
man, who  had  borne  arms  with  the  British, 
and  afterwards  joined  the  Americans,  should 
be  put  to  death."  At  Augusta,  at  Camden, 
and  elsewhere,  several  of  the  inhabitants 
were  hanged  in  consequence  of  these  or- 
ders. The  men  who  suffered,  had  been  com- 
pelled, by  the  necessities  of  their  families, 
and  the  prospect  of  saving  their  property, 
to  make  an  involuntary  submission  to  the 
royal  conquerors.  Experience  soon  taught 
them  the  inefficacy  of  these  submissions. 
This,  in  their  opinion,  absolved  them  from 
the  obligations  of  their  engagements  to  sup- 
port the  royal  cause,  and  left  them  at  liberty 
to  follow  their  inclinations.  To  treat  men 
thus  circumstanced,  with  the  severity  of  pun- 
ishment usually  inflicted  on  deserters  and 
traitors,  might  have  a  political  tendency  to 
discourage  farther  revolts;  but  the  impar- 
tial world  must  regret  that  the  unavoidable 
horrors  of  war  should  be  aggravated  by  such 
deliberate  eflfusions  of  human  blood. 

To  compel  the  re-establishment  of  British 
government,  lord  Cornwallis,  on  the  six- 
teenth of  September,  about  four  weeks  after 
his  victory,  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  se- 
questration of  all  estates  belonging  to  the 
active  friends  of  independence.  By  this  he 
constituted  "  John  Cruden,  commissioner, 
with  full  power  and  authority,  on  the  re- 
ceipt of  an  order  or  warrant,  to  take  into 
his  possession  the  estates  both  real  and  per- 
sonal (not  included  in  the  capitulation  of 
Charlestown)  of  those  in  the  service,  or  act- 
ing under  the  authority  of  the  rebel  con- 
gress; and  also  the  estates,  both  real  and 
personal,  of  those  persons,  who,  by  an  open 
avowal  of  rebellious  principles,  or  by  other 
notorious  acts,  manifested  a  wicked  and  des- 
perate perseverance  in  opposing  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  his  majesty's  just  and  lawful 
authority ;"  and  it  was  farther  declared, 
"  That  any  person  or  persons  obstructing  or 
impeding  the  said  commissioner  in  the  exe- 
cution of  his  duty,  by  the  concealment  or 
removal  of  property  or  otherwise,  should,  on 
conviction,  be  punished  as  aiding  and  abet- 
ting rebellion." 

An  adherent  to  independence  was  now 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


263 


considered  as  one  who  courted  exile,  pov 
erty,  and  ruin.  Many  yielded  to  the  tempta- 
tion, and  became  British  subjects.  The  mis- 
chievous effects  of  slavery,  in  facilitating 
tlie  conquest  of  the  country,  now  became 
apparent.  As  the  slaves  had  no  interest  at 
stake,  the  subjugation  of  the  state  was  a 
matter  of  no  consequence  to  them.  Instead 
of  aiding  in  its  defence,  they,  by  a  variety 
of  means,  threw  the  weight  of  their  little 
influence  into  the  opposite  scale. 

The  British  ministry,  by  this  flattering 
posture  of  affairs,  were  once  more  intoxi 
cated  with  the  hope  of  subjugating  America. 
New  plans  were  formed,  and  great  expecta- 
tions indulged,  of  speedily  reuniting  the  dis- 
severed members  of  the  empire.  It  was 
now  asserted,  with  a  confidence  bordering 
on  presumption,  that  such  troops  as  fought 
at  Camden,  put  under  such  a  commander  as 
lord  Cornwallis,  would  soon  extirpate  rebel 
lion  so  effectually  as  to  leave  no  vestige  of 
it  in  America.  The  British  ministry  and 
army,  by  confidence  in  their  own  wisdom 
and  prowess,  were  duly  prepared  to  give,  in 
their  approaching  downfall,  a  usefijl  lesson 
to  the  world. 

AMERICAN  PROSPECTS  BRIGHTEN. 

The  disaster  of  the  army  under  general 
Gates  overspread  at  first  the  fiice  of  Ameri 
can  affairs  with  a  dismal  gloom  ;  but  the  day 
of  prosperity  to  the  United  States  began 
from  that  moment  to  dawn.  Their  prospects 
brightened  up,  while  those  of  their  enemies 
were  obscured  by  disgrace,  broken  by  de- 
feat, and  at  last  covered  with  ruin.  Elated 
v/ith  their  victories,  the  conquerors  grew 
inore  insolent  and  rapacious,  while  the  real 
friends  of  independence  became  resolute 
and  determined. 

We  have  seen  Sumter  penetrating  into 
South  Carolina,  and  recommencing  a  mili- 
tary opposition  to  British  government.  Soon 
after  that  event,  he  was  promoted  by  gover- 
nor Rutledge  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-gene- 
ral. About  the  same  time  Marion  was  pro- 
moted to  the  same  rank,  and  in  the  north- 
eastern extremities  of  the  state  successfully 
prosecuted  a  similar  plan. 

Opposition  to  British  government  was  not 
wholly  confined  to  the  parties  commanded 
by  Sumter  and  Marion.  It  was  at  no  time 
altogether  extinct  in  the  extremities  of  the 
state.  The  disposition  to  revolt,  which  had 
been  excited  on  the  approach  of  general 
Gates,  was  not  overcome  by  his  defeat.  The 
spirit  of  the  people  was  overawed,  but  not 
subdued.  The  severity  with  which  revolters 
w\\o  fell  into  the  iiands  of  the  British  were 
treated,  induced  those  who  escaped  to  perse- 
vere and  seek  safaty  in  swamps. 

The  total  rout  of  a  party  which  had  joined 
major  Ferguson,  operated  as  a  check  on  the 
future  exertions  of  the  loyalist3.    The  samei 


timid  caution  which  made  them  averse  to 
jommg  their  countrymen  in  opposing  the 
claims  of  Great  Britain,  restrained  them 
from  risking  any  more  in  support  of  the  royal 
cause.  Henceforward  they  waited  to  see 
how  the  scales  were  likely  to  incline,  and 
reserved  themselves  till  the  British  army, 
by  its  own  unassisted  efl^rts,  should  gain  a 
decided  superiority. 

In  a  few  weeks  after  the  general  action 
near  Camden,  lord  Cornwallis  left  a  small 
force  in  that  village,  and  marched  with  the 
main  army  towards  Salisbury,  intending  to 
push  forwards  in  that  direction.  While  on 
his  way  thither,  the  North  Carolina  militia 
was  very  industrious  and  successful  in  an- 
noying his  detachments.  Riflemen  frequent- 
ly penetrated  near  his  camp,  and  from  be- 
hind trees  made  sure  of  their  objects.  The 
late  conquerors  found  their  situation  very 
uneasy,  being  exposed  to  unseen  dangers  if 
they  attempted  to  make  an  excursion  of  only 
a  few  hundred  yards  from  their  main  body. 
Lord  Cornwallis  soon  after  retreated  to 
Winnsborough.  As  he  retired,  the  militia 
took  several  of  his  wagons,  and  single  men 
often  rode  up  within  gunshot  of  his  army, 
discharged  their  pieces,  and  made  their  es- 
cape. The  panic  occasioned  by  the  defeat 
of  general  Gates  had  in  a  great  measure 
worn  off!  The  defeat  of  major  Ferguson, 
and  the  consequent  retreat  of  lord  Conwal- 
lis,  encouraged  the  American  militia  to  take 
the  field,  and  the  necessity  of  the  times  in- 
duced them  to  submit  to  stricter  discipline. 
Sumter,  soon  after  the  dispersion  of  his  corps 
on  the  eighteenth  of  August,  collected  a 
band  of  volunteers,  partly  from  new  adven- 
turers, and  partly  from  those  who  had  es- 
caped on  that  day.  With  these,  though  for 
three  months  there  was  no  continental  army 
in  the  state,  he  constantly  kept  the  field  in 
support  of  American  independence.  He 
varied  his  position  from  time  to  time  about 
Evoree,  Broad,  and  Tyger  Rivers,  and  had 
frequent  skirmishes  with  his  adversaries. 
Having  mounted  his  followers,  he  infested 
the  British  parties  with  frequent  excursions, 
beat  up  their  quarters,  intercepted  their  con- 
voys, and  so  harassed  them  with  successive 
alarms,  that  their  movements  could  not  bo 
made  but  with  caution  and  difficulty.  His 
spirit  of  enterprise  was  so  particularly  inju- 
rious to  the  British,  that  they  laid  many 
plans  for  destroymg  his  force,  but  they  all 
failed  in  the  execution.  On  the  twelfth  of 
November,  he  was  attacked  at  Broad  River 
by  major  Wemys,  commanding  a  corps  of 
infantry  and  dragoons.  In  this  action  the 
British  were  defeated,  and  their  command- 
ing officer  taken  prisoner.  Eight  days  after 
he  was  attacked  at  Black  Stocks,  near  Ty- 
srer  River,  by  lieutenant-colonel  Tarleton. 
The  attack  was  besrun  witli  a  hundred  and 


dCy4: 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


seventy  dragoons  and  eighty  men  of  the  63d 
regiment.  A  considerable  part  of  Sumter's 
force  had  been  thrown  into  a  large  log  barn, 
ifrom  the  apertures  of  which  they  fired  with 
security.  Many  of  the  63d  regiment  were 
killed.  Tarleton  charged  with  his  cavalry, 
but  being  unabl«  to  dislodge  the  Americans, 
retreated,  and  Sumter  was  left  in  quiet  pos- 
session of  the  field. 

For  the  three  months  which  followed  the 
defeat  of  the  American  army  near  Camden, 
general  Gates  was  industriously  preparing 
to  take  tlie  field.  Having  collected  a  force 
at  Hillsbury,  he  advanced  to  Salisbury,  and 
very  soon  after  to  Charlotte.  He  had  done 
everything  in  his  power  to  repair  the  injuries 
of  his  defeat,  and  was  again  in  a  condition 
to  face  the  enemy  ;  but  from  that  influence 
which  popular  opinion  has  over  public  affairs 
in  a  commonwealth,  congress  resolved  to 
supersede  him,  and  to  order  a  court  of  in- 
quiry to  be  held  on  his  conduct 

While  the  war  raged  in  South  Carolina, 
the  campaign  of  1780,  in  the  northern  states, 
was  barren  of  important  events.  At  the 
close  of  the  preceding  campaign,  the  Amer- 
ican northern  army  took  post  at  Morristown, 
and  built  themselves  huts,  agreeably  to  the 
practice  which  had  been  first  introduced  at 
Valley  Forge.  This  position  was  well  cal- 
culated to  cover  the  country  from  the  ex- 
cursions of  the  British,  being  only  twenty 
miles  from  New- York. 

The  loyal  Americans  who  had  fled  within 
the  British  lines,  commonly  called  refugees, 
reduced  a  predatory  war  into  system.  On 
their  petition  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  they 
had  been,  in  the  year  1779,  permitted  to  set 
up  a  distinct  government  in  New- York,  un- 
der a  jurisdiction  called  the  honorable  board 
of  associated  loyalists.  They  had  something 
like  a  fleet  of  small  privateers  and  cruisers 
by  the  aid  of  which  they  committed  various 
depredations.  A  party  of  them  who  had 
formerly  belonged  to  Massachusets,  went  to 
Nantucket,  broke  open  the  warehouses,  and 
carried  off  everything  that  fell  m  their  way. 
They  also  carried  off  two  loaded  brigs  and 
two  or  three  schooners.  In  a  proclamation 
they  left,  behind  them,  they  observed,  "  That 
they  had  been  deprived  of  their  property, 
and  compelled  to  abandon  their  dwellings, 
friends,  and  connexions :  and  that  they  con- 
ceived themselves  warranted  by  the  laws  of 
God  and  man,  to  wage  war  against  their 
persecutors,  and  to  endeavor  by  every  means 
in  their  power  to  obtain  compensation  for 
their  sufferings."  These  associated  loyalists 
eagerly  embraced  every  adventure  which 
gratified  either  their  avarice  or  their  re- 
venge. Their  enterprises  were  highly  lu- 
crative to  themselves,  and  extremely  dis- 
tressing to  the  Americans,  Their  know- 
ledge of  the  country  and  superior  means  of 


transportation  enabled  them  to  make  hasty 
descents  and  successful  enterprises.  A  war 
of  plunder,  in  which  the  feelings  of  humani- 
ty were  often  suspended,  and  which  tended 
to  no  valuable  public  purpose,  was  carried 
on  in  this  shameful  manner,  from  the  double 
incitements  of  profit  and  revenge.  The  ad- 
joining coasts  of  the  continent,  and  especially 
the  maritime  parts  of  New-Jersey,  became 
scenes  of  waste  and  havoc. 

The  distress  which  the  Americans  suffered 
from  the  diminished  value  of  their  currency, 
though  felt  in  the  year  1778,  and  still  more 
so  in  the  year  1779,  did  not  arrive  to  its 
highest  pitch  till  the  year  1780.  Under  th 
pressure  of  sufferings  from  this  <)ause,  th 
officers  of  the  Jersey  line  addressed  a  me- 
morial to  their  state  legislature,  setting  forth, 
"  That  four  months'  pay  of  a  private  would 
not  procure  for  his  family  a  single  bushel  of 
wheat ;  that  the  pay  of  a  colonel  would  not 
purchase  oats  for  his  horse  ;  that  a  common 
laborer  or  express  rider  received  four  times 
as  much  as  an  American  officer." 

A  tide  of  misfortunes  from  all  quarters 
was,  indeed,  at  this  time,  pouring  in  upon 
the  new  states.  There  appeared  not,  how- 
ever, in  their  public  bodies,  the  smallest  dis- 
position to  purchase  safety  by  concessions  of 
any  sort.  They  seemed  to  rise  in  the  midst 
of  their  distresses,  and  to  gain  strength  from 
the  pressure  of  calamities.  When  congress 
could  neither  command  money  nor  credit  for 
the  subsistence  of  their  army,  the  citizens 
of  Philadelphia  formed  an  association  to  pro- 
cure a  supply  of  necessary  articles  for  their 
sufJermg  soldiers.  The  sum  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  was  subscribed  in  a 
few  days,  and  converted  mto  a  bank,  the 
principal  design  of  which  was  to  purchase 
provisions  for  the  troops  in  the  most  prompt 
and  efficacious  manner.  The  advantages 
of  this  institution  were  great,  and  particular- 
ly enhanced  by  the  critical  time  in  which  it 
was  instituted.  The  loss  of  Charlestown, 
and  the  subsequent  British  victories  in  Caro- 
lina, produced  effects  directly  the  reverse  of 
what  were  expected.  It  being  the  deliberate 
resolution  of  the  Americans  never  to  return 
to  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  such 
unfavorable  events  as  threatened  the  subver- 
sion of  independence  operated  as  incentives 
to  their  exertions. 

The  powers  of  the  committee  of  congress 
in  the  American  camp  were  enlarged  so  far 
as  to  authorize  them  to  frame  and  execute 
such  plans  as,  in  their  opinion,  would  most 
effectually  draw  forth  the  resources  of  the 
country,  in  co-operating  with  the  armament 
expected  from  France.  In  this  character 
they  wrote  letters  to  the  states,  stimulating 
them  to  vigorous  exertiona  It  was  agreed 
to  make  arrangements  for  bringing  into  the 
field  thirty-five  thousand  effective  men,  and 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


265 


to  call  on  the  states  for  specific  supplies  of 
everything  necessary  for  their  support  To 
obtain  the  men  it  was  proposed  to  complete 
the  regular  regiments  by  drafts  from  the 
militia,  and  to  make  up  what  they  fell  short 
of  thirty-five  thousand  effectives,  by  calling 
forth  more  of  the  militia.  The  tardiness  of 
deliberation  in  congress  was  in  a  great 
measure  done  away,  by  the  full  powers 
given  to  their  committee  in  camp.  Accu- 
rate estimates  were  made  of  every  article 
of  supply  necessary  for  the  ensuing  cam- 
paign. These,  and  also  the  numbers  of 
men  wanted,  were  quotaed  on  the  ten  north- 
ern states  in  proportion  to  their  abilities  and 
numbers.  In  conformity  to  these  requisi- 
tions, vigorous  resolutions  were  adopted  for 
carrying  them  into  effect.  Where  volun- 
tary enlistments  fell  short  of  the  proposed 
number,  the  deficiencies  were,  by  the  laws 
of  several  states,  to  be  made  up  by  drafts  or 
lots  from  the  militia.  The  towns  in  New- 
England  and  the  counties  in  the  middle 
states  were  respectively  called  on  for  a  spe- 
cified number  of  men.  Such  was  the  zeal 
of  the  people  in  New-England,  that  neigh- 
bors would  otlten  club  together,  to  engage 
one  of  their  number  to  go  into  the  army. 
The  legislative  part  of  these  complicated  ar- 
rangements was  speedily  passed,  but  the  ex- 
ecution, though  uncommonly  vigorous,  lag- 
ged far  behind.  Few  occasions  could  occur 
in  which  it  might  so  fairly  be  tried,  to  what 
extent,  in  conducting  a  war,  a  variety  of  wills 
might  be  brought  to  act  in  unison.  The  result 
of  the  experiment  was,  that  however  favor- 
able republics  may  be  to  the  liberty  and  hap- 
piness of  the  people  in  the  time  of  peace, 
they  will  be  greatly  deficient  in  that  vigor 
and  dispatch,  which  military  operations  re- 
quire, unless  they  imitate  the  policy  of  mon- 
archies, by  committing  the  executive  depart- 
ments of  government  to  the  direction  of  a 
single  will. 

ARRIVAL  OF  ROCHAMBEAU. 

WmLE  these  preparations  were  making 
in  America,  the  armament  which  had  been 
promised  by  the  kmg  of  France  was  on  its 
way.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  in  France, 
that  a  resolution  was  adopted  to  send  out 
troops  to  the  United  States,  the  young 
French  nobility  discovered  the  greatest  zeal 
to  be  employed  on  that  service.  Court  fa- 
vor was  scarcely  ever  solicited  with  more 
earnestness,  than  was  the  honor  of  ser\'ing 
under  general  Washington.  The  number 
of  applicants  was  much  greater  than  the  ser- 
vice required.  The  disposition  to  support 
the  American  revolution  was  not  only  prev- 
alent in  tlie  court  of  France,  but  it  animated 
the  whole  body  of  the  nation.  The  winds 
and  waves  did  not  second  the  ardent  wishes 
of  the  French  troops.  Though  they  sailed 
from  France  on  the  first  of  May,  1790,  they 

Vol.  IV.  23 


did  not  reach  a  port  in  the  United  States  till 
the  tenth  of  July  following.  On  that  day, 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  Americans,  M.  d« 
Ternay  arrived  at  Rhode-Island,  with  a 
squadron  of  seven  sail  of  the  line,  five  frig- 
ates, and  five  smaller  armed  vessels.  He 
likewise  convoyed  a  fleet  of  transports  witk 
four  old  French  regiments,  besides  the  le- 
gion de  Lauzun,  and  a  battalion  of  artillery, 
amounting  in  the  whole  to  six  thousand  men, 
all  under  the  command  of  lieutenant-gene - 
oral  count  de  Rochambeau.  To  the  French 
as  soon  as  they  landed  possession  was  given 
of  the  forts  and  batteries  on  the  island,  and 
by  their  exertions  they  were  soon  put  in  a 
high  state  of  defence.  Rochambeau  de- 
clared, "  that  he  only  brought  over  the  van- 
guard of  a  much  greater  force  which  was 
destined  for  their  aid ;  that  he  was  ordered 
by  the  king  his  master  to  assure  them,  that 
his  whole  power  should  be  exerted  for  their 
support 

Admiral  Arbuthnot  had  only  four  sail  of 
the  line  at  New-York,  when  M.  de  Ternay 
arrived  at  Rhode  Island.  This  inferiority 
was  in  three  days  reversed,  by  the  arrival 
of  admiral  Graves  with  six  sail  of  the  line. 
The  British  admiral,  having  now  a  superi- 
ority, proceeded  to  Rhode-Island.  He  soon 
discovered  that  the  French  were  perfectly 
secure  from  any  attack  by  sea.  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  who  had  returned  in  the  preced- 
ing month  with  his  victorious  troops  from 
Charlestown,  embarked  about  eight  thou- 
sand of  his  best  men,  and  proceeded  as  far 
as  Huntingdon  Bay,  on  Long-Island,  with  the 
apparent  design  of  concurring  with  the  Brit- 
ish fleet,  in  attacking  the  French  force  at 
Rhode-Island.  When  this  movement  took 
place,  general  Washington  set  his  army  in 
motion,  and  proceeded  to  Peek's  Kill.  Had 
Sir  Henry  Clinton  prosecuted  what  appear- 
ed to  be  his  design,  general  Washington  in- 
tended to  have  attacked  New- York  in  his 
absence.  Preparations  were  made  for  this 
purpose,  but  Sir  Henry  Clinton  instantly 
turned  about  from  Huntingdon  Bay  towardi 
New-York. 

DEFECTION  OF  ARNOLD. 

The  campaign  of  1780  passed  away  ia 
the  northern  states,  as  has  been  related,  in 
successive  disappointments  and  reiterated 
distresses  to  the  American  cause.  The 
country  was  exhausted,  the  continental  cur- 
rency expiring.  While  these  disasters  were 
openly  menacuig  the  new  states,  treachery 
was  silently  undermining  them.  A  distin- 
guished officer  engaged,  for  a  stipulated 
sum  of  money,  to  betray  into  the  hands  of 
the  British  an  important  poet  committed  te 
his  care.  General  Arnold,  who  committed 
this  foul  crime,  was  a  native  of  Connecticut 
The  disposition  of  the  American  forces  in 
the  year  1780  aflbrded  an  opportunity  ©f 


266 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


accomplishing  this  so  much  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  British,  that  they  could  well 
afford  a  liberal  reward  for  the  beneficial 
treachery.  The  American  army  was  sta- 
tioned in  the  strong-holds  of  the  highlands 
on  both  sides  of  the  North  River.  In  this 
arrangement,  Arnold  solicited  for  the  com- 
mand of  West  Point.  This  had  been  called 
the  Gibraltar  of  America.  It  was  built  after 
the  loss  of  Fort  Montgomery,  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  North  River,  and  was  deemed 
the  most  proper  for  commanding  its  naviga- 
tion. Rocky  ridges  rismg  one  behind  an- 
other, rendered  it  incapable  of  bemg  invested 
by  less  than  twenty  thousand  men.  Though 
some  even  then  entertained  doubts  of  Ar- 
nold's fidelity,  yet  general  Washington  be- 
lieving it  to  be  impossible  that  honor  should 
be  wanting  in  a  breast  which  he  knew  was 
the  seat  of  valor,  cheerfully  granted  his 
request,  and  intrusted  him  with  the  impor- 
tant post.  General  Arnold,  thus  invested 
with  command,  carried  on  a  negotiation  with 
Sir  Henry  Clinton,  by  which  it  was  agreed 
that  the  former  should  make  a  disposition  of 
his  forces,  which  would  enable  the  latter  to 
surprise  West  Point  under  such  circum- 
stances, that  he  would  have  the  garrison  so 
completely  in  his  power,  that  the  troops 
must  eitlier  lay  down  their  arms  or  be  cut  to 
pieces.  The  object  of  this  negotiation  was 
the  strongest  post  of  the  Amerilcans,  the 
thoroughfare  of  communication  between  the 
eastern  nnd  southern  states,  and  was  the  re- 
pository of  their  most  valuable  stores.  The 
loss  of  it  would  have  been  severely  felt. 

The  agent  employed  in  this  negotiation 
on  the  part  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  was  ma- 
jor Ansko,  adjutant-general  of  the  British 
army.  To  favor  the  necessary  communica- 
tions, tlie  Vulture  sloop  of  war  had  been 
previously  stationed  in  the  North  River,  as 
near  to  Arnold's  posts  as  was  practicable, 
without  exciting  suspicion.  Before  this  a 
written  correspondence  between  Arnold  and 
Andre  had  been  for  some  time  carried  on 
under  the  fictitious  names  of  Gustavus  and 
Anderson.  In  the  night  of  the  twenty-first 
of  September,  a  boat  was  sent  from  the 
shore  to  fetch  major  Andre.  Arnold  met 
him  at  the  beach,  without  the  posts  of  ei- 
ther army.  Their  business  was  not  finished 
till  it  was  too  near  the  dawn  of  day  for  An- 
dre to  return  to  the  Vulture.  Arnold  told 
him  he  must  be  concealed  till  tlie  next  night. 
For  that  purpose,  he  was  conducted  within 
one  of  the  American  posts,  against  his  pre- 
vious stipulation  and  knowledge,  and  con- 
tinued with  Arnold  the  following  day.  The 
boatmen  refused  to  carry  him  back  the  next 
night,  as  the  Vulture,  from  being  exposed  to 
the  fire  of  some  cannon  brought  up  to  annoy 
her,  had  changed  her  position.  Andre's  re- 
turn to  New- York  by  land,  was  tbep  the 


only  practicable  mode  of  escape.  To  favor 
this  he  quitted  his  uniform,  which  he  had 
hitherto  worn  under  a  surtout,  for  a  com- 
mon coat,  and  was  furnished  with  a  horse, 
and  under  the  name  of  John  Anderson,  with 
a  passport  "  to  go  to  the  lines  of  White  Plains, 
or  lower  if  he  thought  proper,  he  bemg  on 
public  business."  He  advanced  alone  and 
undisturbed  a  great  part  of  the  way. — When 
he  thought  himself  almost  out  of  danger,  he 
was  stopped  by  three  of  the  New- York  mili- 
tia, who  were  with  others  scouting  between 
the  out-posts  of  the  two  armies.  Major  An- 
dre, instead  of  producing  his  pass,  asked 
the  man  who  stopped  hun,  "  Where  he 
belonged  to,"  who  answered,  "  To  below," 
meaning  New- York.  He  replied,  "  So  do 
I,"  and  declared  himself  a  British  officer, 
and  pressed  that  he  might  not  be  detained. 
He  soon  discovered  his  mistake.  His  cap- 
tors proceeded  to  search  him:  several  pa- 
pers were  found  in  his  possession.  These 
were  secreted  in  his  boots,  and  were  in 
Arnold's  hand- writing ;  they  contained  ex- 
act returns  of  the  state  of  the  forces,  ord- 
nance, and  defences  at  West  Point,  with 
the  artillery  orders,  critical  remarks  on  the 
works,  &c. 

ANDRE  EXECUTED  AS  A  SPY. 
Andre  offered  his  captors  a  purse  of  gold 
and  a  new  valuable  watch,  if  they  would  let 
him  pass,  and  permanent  provision  and  fu- 
ture promotion,  if  they  would  convey  and 
accompany  him  to  New- York.  They  nobly 
disdained  the  proffered  bribe,  and  delivered 
him  a  prisoner  to  lieutenant-colonel  Jame- 
son, who  commanded  the  scouting  parties. 
In  testimony  of  the  high  sense  entertained 
of  the  virtuous  and  patriotic  conduct  of  John 
Paulding,  David  Williams,  and  Isaac  Van 
Vert,  the  captors  of  Andre,  congress  resolv- 
ed, "  That  each  of  them  receive  annually 
two  hundred  dollars  in  specie  during  life, 
and  that  the  board  of  war  be  directed  to  pro- 
cure for  each  of  them  a  silver  medal,  on  one 
side  of  which  should  be  a  shield  with  this 
inscription.  Fidelity ;  and  on  the  other  the 
following  motto :  Vincit  Amor  Patrice ;  and 
that  the  commander-in-chief  be  requested 
to  present  the  same,  with  the  thanks  of  con- 
gress, for  their  fidelity,  and  the  eminent  ser- 
vice they  had  rendered  their  country."  An- 
dre, when  delivered  to  Jameson,  continued - 
to  call  himself  by  the  name  of  Anderson, 
and  asked  leave  to  send  a  letter  to  Arnold, 
to  acquaint  him  with  Anderson's  detention. 
This  was  inconsiderately  granted.  Arnold, 
on  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  abandoned 
everything,  and  went  on  board  the  Vulture 
sloop  of  war.  Lieutenant-colonel  Jameson 
forwarded  to  general  Washington  all  the 
papers  found  on  Andre,  tofrether  with  a  let- 
ter giving  an  account  of  the  whole  affair  ; 
but  the  express,  by  taking  a  different  route 


GEORGE  ni.    1760—1820. 


267 


from  the  general,  who  was  returning  from  a 
conference  at  Hartford  with  count  de  Ro- 
shambeau,  missed  him.  This  caused  such  a 
delay  as  gave  Arnold  time  to  effect  his  es- 
cape. The  same  packet  which  detailed  the 
particulars  of  Andre's  capture,  brought  a 
letter  from  him,  in  which  he  avowed  his 
name  and  character,  and  endeavored  to 
show  that  he  did  not  come  under  the  de- 
scription of  a  spy.  He  stated,  that  he  held 
a  correspondence  with  a  person  under  the 
orders  of  his  general :  that  his  mtention 
went  no  farther  than  meeting  that  person 
on  neutral  ground,  for  the  purpose  of  intel- 
ligence ;  and  that,  against  his  stipulation, 
his  intention,  and  without  his  knowledge  be- 
forehand, he  was  brought  within  the  Amer- 
ican posts,  and  had  to  concert  his  escape 
from  them ;  being  taken  on  his  return,  he 
was  betrayed  into  the  vile  condition  of  an 
enemy  in  disguise. 

General  Washington  referred  the  whole 
case  of  major  Andre  to  the  examination  and 
decision  of  a  board,  consisting  of  fourteen 
general  officers.  On  his  examination,  he 
voluntarily  confessed  everything  that  related 
to  himself,  and  particularly  that  he  did  not 
come  ashore  under  the  protection  of  a  flag. 
The  board  did  not  examine  a  single  wit- 
ness, but  founded  their  report  on  his  own 
confession.  In  this  they  stated  the  following 
facts :  "  That  major  Andre  came  on  shore 
on  the  night  of  the  twenty-first  of  Septem- 
ber, in  a  private  and  secret  manner,  and  that 
he  changed  his  dress  within  the  American 
Tnes,  and  under  a  fei^'ned  name  and  dis- 
guised habit  passed  their  works,  and  was  ta- 
ken in  a  disguised  habit  when  on  his  way  to 
New- York,  and  when  taken,  several  papers 
were  found  in  his  possession,  which  con- 
tained intelligence  for  the  enemy."  From 
these  facts  they  farther  reported  it  as  their 
opinion,  "That  major  Andre  ought  to  be 
considered  as  a  spy,  and  agreeably  to  the 
laws  and  usages  of  nations,  he  ought  to  suf- 
fer death." 

Sir  Henry  Clinton,  lieutenant-general 
Robertson,  and  the  late  American  general 
Arnold,  wrote  pressing  letters  to  general 
Washington,  to  prevent  the  decision  of  the 
board  of  general  officers  from  being  carried 
into  effect  General  Arnold  in  particular 
urged,  that  everything  done  by  major  An- 
dre was  done  by  his  particular  request,  and 
at  a  time  when  he  was  the  acknowledged 
commanding  officer  in  the  department.  He 
contended,  "  that  he  had  a  right  to  transact 
all  these  matters,  for  which,  though  wrong, 
major  Andre  ought  not  to  suffer."  An  in- 
terview also  took  place  between  general 
Robertson,  on  the  part  of  the  British,  and 
general  Greene,  on  the  part  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. Everything  was  urged  by  the  former, 
that  ingenuity  or  humanity  could  suggest 


for  averting  the  proposed  execution ;  Greene 
made  a  proposition  for  deliveruig  up  Andre 
for  Arnold,  but  found  this  could  not  be  ac- 
ceded to  by  the  British.  Robertson  urged, 
"  that  Andre  went  on  shore  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  a  flag,  aij^^  that  being  then  in  Ar- 
nold's power,  he  V,  is  not  accountable  for  hia 
subsequent  actions,  which  were  said  to  be 
compulsory."  To  this  it  was  replied,  that 
"  he  was  employed  in  the  execution  of  mea- 
sures very  foreign  from  the  objects  of  flags 
of  truce,  and  such  as  they  were  never  meant 
to  authorize  or  countenance ;  and  that  major 
Andre  in  the  course  of  his  examination  had 
candidly  confessed,  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  suppose  that  he  came  on  shore 
under  the  sanction  of  a  flag."  As  Greene 
and  Robertson  differed  so  widely,  both  in 
their  statement  of  facts,  and  the  inferences 
they  drew  from  them,  the  latter  proposed  to 
the  former,  that  the  opinions  of  disinterest- 
ed gentlemen  might  be  taken  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  proposed  Kniphausen  and  Rocham- 
beau.  Robertson  also  urged  that  Andre  pos- 
sessed a  great  share  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton's 
esteem,  and  that  he  would  be  infinitely 
obliged  if  he  should  be  spared.  He  offered 
that  in  case  Andre  was  permitted  to  return 
with  him  to  New- York,  any  person  what- 
ever that  might  be  named  should  be  set  at 
liberty.  All  these  arguments  and  entreaties 
[having  failed,  Robertson  presented  a  long 
I  letter  from  Arnold,  in  w^hich  he  endeavored 
I  to  exculpate  Andre,  by  acknowledging  him- 
self the  author  of  every  part  of  his  conduct, 
"and  particularly  insisted  on  his  coming 
from  the  Vulture,  under  a  flag  which  he  had 
sent  for  that  purpose."  He  declared,  that  if 
Andre  suffered,  he  should  think  himself 
bound  m  honor  to  retaliate.  He  also  observ- 
ed, "  that  forty  of  the  principal  inhabitants 
of  South  Carolina  had  justly  forfeited  thfjir 
lives,  which  hitherto  had  been  spared  only 
through  the  clemency  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
but  who  could  no  longer  extend  his  mercy 
if  major  Andre  suffered ;  an  event  which 
would  probably  open  a  scene  of  bloodshed, 
at  which  humanity  must  revolt."  He  en- 
treated Washington  by  his  own  honor,  and 
for  that  of  humanity,  not  to  suffer  an  unjust 
sentence  to  touch  the  life  of  Andre  ;  "  but 
if  that  warning  should  be  disregarded,  and 
Andre  suffer,  he  called  Heaven  and  earth  to 
witness,  that  he  alone  should  be  justly  an- 
swerable for  the  torrents  of  blood  that  might 
be  spilt  in  consequence." 

Every  exertion  was  made  by  the  royal 
commanders  to  save  Andre,  but  without  ef- 
fect. It  was  the  general  opinion  of  the 
American  army  that  his  life  was  forfeited, 
and  that  national  dignity  and  sound  policy 
required  that  the  forfeiture  sliould  he  ex- 
acted. 

The  execution  was  the  subject  of  severt 


268 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


censures.  Barbarity,  cruelty,  and  murder, 
were  plentifully  charged  on  the  Americans ; 
but  the  impartial  of  all  nations  allowed,  that 
it  was  warranted  by  the  usages  of  war.  It 
cannot  be  condemned,  without  condemning 
the  maxims  of  self-preseryation,  which  have 
uniformly  guided  the  prci^tice  of  hostile  na^ 
tions.  The  finer  feelings  of  humanity  might 
have  been  gratified,  by  dispensing  with  the 
rigid  maxims  of  war ;  but  these  feelings 
must  be  controlled  by  a  regard  for  the  pub- 
lic safety.  Such  was  the  distressed  state  of 
the  American  army,  and  so  abundant  were 
their  causes  of  complaint,  that  there  was 
much  to  fear  from  the  contagious  nature  of 
treachery.  Could  it  have  been  reduced  to  a 
certamty  that  there  were  no  more  Arnolds 
in  America,  perhaps  Andre's  life  might  have 
been  spared ;  but  the  necessity  of  discour- 
aging farther  plots,  fixed  his  fate,  and  stamp- 
ed it  with  the  seal  of  political  necessity.  If 
conjectures  in  the  boundless  field  of  possible 
contingencies  were  to  be  indulged,  it  might 
be  said  that  it  was  more  consonant  to  ex- 
tended humanity  to  take  one  life,  than  by 
ill-timed  lenity  to  lay  a  foundation,  which 
probably  would  occasion  not  only  the  loss  of 
many,  but  endanger  the  independence  of  a 
great  country. 

This  grand  project  terminated  with  no 
other  alteration  in  respect  of  the  British, 
than  that  of  their  exchanging  one  of  their 
best  officers  for  the  worst  man  in  the  Amer- 
ican army.  Arnold  was  immediately  made 
a  brigadier-general  in  the  service  of  the  king 
of  Great  Britain.  The  failure  of  the  scheme 
respecting  West  Point,  made  it  necessary 
for  him  to  dispel  the  cloud  which  oversiiad- 
Gwed  his  character,  by  the  performance  of 
some  signal  service  for  his  new  masters. 
The  condition  of  the  American  army,  af- 
forded him  a  prospect  of  doing  something 
of  consequence.  He  flattered  himself  that 
by  the  allurements  of  pay  and  promotion, 
he  should  be  able  to  raise  a  numerous  force 
from  among  the  distressed  American  sol- 
diery. He  therefore  took  methods  for  ac- 
rr  .plishing  this  purpose,  by  obviating  their 
scruples,  and  working  on  their  passions. 
His  first  public  measure  w^as  issuing  an  ad- 


dress, directed  to  the  inhabitants  of  America, 
dated  from  New- York  [October  7th,]  five 
days  after  Andre's  execution.  This  address 
was  soon  followed  by  another,  inscribed  to 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  continental 
army.  This  was  intended  to  induce  them 
to  follow  his  example,  and  engage  in  the 
royal  service.  He  informed  them,  that  he 
was  authorized  to  raise  a  corps  of  cavalry 
and  infantry,  who  were  to  be  on  the  same 
footing  with  the  other  troops  in  the  British 
service.  To  allure  the  private  men,  three 
guineas  were  oflfered  to  each,  besides  pay- 
ments for  their  horses,  arms,  and  accoutre- 
ments. Rank  in  the  British  army  was  also 
held  out  to  the  American  officers  who  would 
recruit,  and  bring  in  a  certain  number  of 
men,  proportioned  to  the  different  grades  in 
military  service.  These  oflfers  were  proposed 
to  unpaid  soldiers,  who  were  suffering  from 
tlie  want  of  both  food  and  clothing,  and  to 
officers  who  were  in  a  great  degree  obliged 
to  support  them.selves  from  their  own  re- 
sources, while  they  were  spending  the  prime 
of  their  days,  and  risking  their  lives,  in  the 
unproductive  service  of  congress.  Though 
they  were  urged,  at  a  time  when  the  paper 
currency  was  at  its  lowest  ebb  of  deprecia- 
tion, and  the  wants  and  distresses  of  the 
American  army  were  at  their  highest  pitch, 
yet  they  did  not  produce  tlie  intended  effect 
on  a  single  sentinel  or  officer.  Whether  the 
circumstances  of  Arnold's  case  added  new 
shades  to  the  crime  of  desertion,  or  whether 
their  providential  escape  from  the  deep-laid 
scheme  again?;!':  Vv'cst  Point,  gave  a  higher 
tone  to  the  Eirruiet's  ()f  the  American  sol- 
diery, cannot  i;o  unfolded :  but  either  from 
these  or  some  other  causes,  desertion  wholly 
ceased  at  this  remarkable  period  of  the  war. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Spaniards, 
on  the  American  fi-ontier,  would  be  totally 
inactive  during  these  transactions.  Don  Ber- 
nardo de  Galves,  the  governor  of  Louisiana, 
was  one  of  the  first  to  proclaim  the  inde- 
pendence of  America ;  and  in  the  spring  of 
1780,  assembled  a  small  force  at  New-Or- 
leans, and  surprised  and  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  Mobile,  and  all  the  British  settlements 
on  the  Mississippi. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


269 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Causes  which  produced  c  Rupture  with  Holland — Armed  Neutrality^  Count  Byland's 
Squadron  taken — Capture  of  Mr.  Laurens — Declaration  of  War — Affairs  of  East 
Indies — Mr.  Cornwall  chosen  Speaker — Dutch  War — India  Affairs — Burke's  Re- 
form Bill — Petition  of  Delegates  from  Counties — Bill  to  repeal  the  Marriage  Act 
— Motion  on  American  War — Session  concluded — Attack  upon  Jersey — Siege  of 
Gibraltar — Capture  of  St.  Eustatia — Campaign  in  America — Revolt  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Line — Arnold's  Expedition  to  Virginia — General  Greene  appointed  to  the 
Command  in  Carolina — Tarleton  defeated  by  Morgan — Masterly  Retreat  of  the 
Americans — Battle  of  Guildford — Lord  Cornwallis  proceeds  to  Virginia — Operations 
in  Virginia — Capture  of  Lord  Cornwallis — Expedition  of  Commodore  Johnstone — 
Operations  in  the  West  Indies — Tobago  taken — St.  Eustatia  Convoy  taken — East 
Indies — Hyder  Ally  defeated — Cheyt  Sing — Engagement  with  the  Dutch — Com- 
bined Fleets  in  the  Channel. 


CAUSES  OF  RUPTURE  WITH  HOLLAND- 
ARMED  NEUTRALITY. 

The  desperation  which  ill  success  and  ill 
conduct  produced  in  ministers  was  never 
more  clearly  evinced  than  in  the  course  of 
the  year  1780.  As  if  Great  Britain  had  not 
been  sufficiently  mvolved  in  the  work  of 
bloodshed  and  devastation ;  by  the  singular 
diligence  and  activity  of  administration  a 
new  enemy  was  conjured  up,  and  added  to 
an  already  sufficiently  powerful  combination. 

One  of  the  causes  which  provoked  the 
resentment  of  the  British  ministry  against 
the  States-General  has  already  been  no- 
ticed ;  but  there  were  some  of  a  still  more 
important  nature,  which  it  is  now  time  to 
remark. 

The  naval  superiority  of  Great  Britain 
had  long  been  the  subject  of  regret  and 
envy  in  Europe.  As  it  was  the  interest,  so 
it  seemed  to  be  the  wish  of  the  European 
powers  to  avail  themselves  of  the  present 
favorable  moment  to  eifect  a  humiliation 
of  her  maritime  grandeur.  That  the  flag 
of  all  nations  must  strike  to  British  ships  of 
war,  could  not  be  otherwise  than  mortifying 
to  independent  sovereigns.  The  haughty 
demand  was  not  their  only  cause  of  com- 
plaint. Various  litigations  had  taken  place 
between  the  commanders  of  British  armed 
vessels,  and  those  who  were  in  the  service 
of  neutral  powers,  respecting  the  extent  of 
that  commerce,  which  was  consistent  with 
a  strict  and  fair  neutrality.  The  British  in- 
sisted on  the  lawfulness  of  seizing  supplies, 
which  were  about  to  be  carried  to  their  ene- 
mies. Having  been  in  the  habit  of  com- 
manding on  the  sea,  they  considered  power 
and  right  to  be  synonymous  terms.  As  other 
nations,  from  a  dread  of  provoking  their  ven- 
geance, had  submitted  to  their  claim  of  do- 
minion on  the  ocean,  they  fancied  them- 
selves invested  with  authority  to  control  the 
commerce  of  independent  nations,  when  it 
23* 


interfered  with  their  views.  This  haughti- 
ness worked  its  own  overthrow.  The  em- 
press of  Russia  took  the  lead  in  establishing 
a  system  of  maritime  laws,  which  subverted 
the  claims  of  Great  Britain. 

On  the  twenty-sixth  of  February  1780,  a 
declaration  was  published  by  the  empress  of 
Russia,  addressed  to  the  courts  of  London, 
Versailles,  and  Madrid.  In  this  it  was  ob- 
served, "That  her  Imperial  majesty  had 
given  such  convincing  proofs  of  the  strict 
regard  she  had  for  the  rights  of  neutrality, 
and  the  liberty  of  commerce  in  general,  that 
it  might  have  been  hoped  her  impartial  con- 
duct would  have  entitled  her  subjects  to  tlie 
enjoyment  of  the  advantages  belonging  to 
neutral  nations.  Experience  had  however 
proved  the  contrary  :  her  subjects  had  been 
molested  in  their  navigation  by  the  ships 
and  privateers  of  the  belligerent  powers. 
Her  majesty  therefore  declared,  "  That  she 
found  it  necessary  to  remove  these  vexations 
which  had  been  offered  to  the  commerce  of 
Russia ;  but  before  she  came  to  any  serious 
measures,  she  thought  it  just  and  equitable 
to  expose  to  the  world,  and  particularly  to 
the  belligerent  powers,  the  principles  she 
had  adopted  for  her  conduct,  which  were  as 
follows : 

"  That  neutral  ships  should  enjoy  a  free 
navigation,  even  from  port  to  port,  and  on 
the  coasts  of  the  belligerent  powers.  That 
all  effects  belonging  to  the  belligerent  pow- 
ers should  be  looked  on  as  free  on  board  such 
neutral  ships,  with  an  exception  of  places 
actually  blocked  up  or  besieged,  and  with  a 
proviso  that  they  do  not  carry  to  the  enemy 
contraband  articles."  These  were  limited 
by  an  explanation,  so  as  to  "comprehend 
only  warlike  stores  and  ammunition;"  and 
her  Imperial  majesty  declared,  that  "she 
was  firmly  resolved  to  maintain  these  prin- 
ciples, and  that  with  the  view  of  protecting 
the  commerce  and  navigation  of  her  subjects 


270 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


she  had  given  orders  to  fit  out  a  considerable 
part  of  her  naval  force.  This  declaration 
was  communicated  to  the  States-General, 
and  the  empress  of  Russia  invited  them  to 
make  a  common  cause  with  her,  so  far  as 
such  a  union  might  serve  to  protect  com- 
merce and  navigation.  Similar  communica- 
tions and  invitations  were  also  made  to  the 
courts  of  Copenhagen,  Stockholm,  and  Lis- 
bon. A  civil  answer  was  received  from  the 
court  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  very  cordial 
one  from  the  court  of  France.  On  this  oc- 
casion it  was  said  by  his  most  christian  ma- 
jesty, that  what  her  Imperial  majesty  claim- 
ed from  the  belligerent  powers  was  nothmg 
more  than  the  rules  prescribed  to  the  French 
navy."  The  kings  of  Sweden  and  Denmark 
also  formally  acceded  to  the  principles  and 
measures  proposed  by  the  empress  of  Rus- 
sia. The  States-General  did  the  same.  The 
queen  of  Portugal  was  the  only  sovereign 
who  refused  to  concur.  The  powers  en- 
gaged in  this  association  resolved  to  support 
each  other  against  any  of  the  belligerent 
nations,  who  should  violate  the  principles 
which  had  been  laid  down  in  the  declaration 
of  the  empress  of  Russia. 

This  combination  assumed  the  name  of 
the  armed  neutrality.  By  it  a  respectable 
guarantee  was  procured  to  a  commerce 
from  which  France  and  Spain  procured  a 
plentiful  supply  of  articles  essentially  con- 
ducive to  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 

The  armed  neutrality  led  almost  immedi- 
ately to  a  rupture  with  the  States-General. 
— Besides  this  cause,  their  conduct  had  in- 
deed all  along  been  directed  by  the  narrow 
and  selfish  views  of  trading  policy,  and  not 
by  any  sense  of  former  obligations.  Few 
Europeans  had  a  greater  prospect  of  advan- 
tage from  American  independence  than  the 
Hollanders.  The  conquest  of  the  United 
States  would  have  regained  to  Great  Britain 
a  monopoly  of  their  trade ;  but  the  establish- 
ment of  their  independence  promised  to 
other  nations  an  equal  chance  of  partici- 
pating therein.  As  commerce  is  the  soul 
of  the  United  Netherlands,  to  have  neglect- 
ed the  present  opportunity  of  extending  it 
would  have  been  a  deviation  from  their  es- 
tablished maxims  of  policy.  Former  trea- 
ties framed  in  distant  periods,  when  other 
views  were  predominant,  opposed  but  a 
feeble  barrier  to  the  claims  of  present  in- 
terest. From  the  year  1777,  Sir  Joseph 
Yorke,  the  British  minister  at  the  Hague, 
had  made  representations  to  their  high 
mightinesses  of  the  clandestine  commerce 
carried  on  between  their  subjects  and  the 
Americans.  He  particularly  stated  that 
Mr.  Van  Graaf,  the  governor  of  St  Eustatia, 
had  permitted  an  illicit  commerce  with  the 
Americans ;  and  had  at  one  time  returned 
the  ialute  of  a  vessel  carrying  their  flag. 


Sir  Joseph,  therefore,  demanded  a  formal, 
disavowal  of  this  salute,  and  the  dismission 
and  immediate  recall  of  governor  Van  Graaf. 
This  demand  was  answered  with  a  pusillani- 
mous, temporizing  reply.  On  the  twelfth 
of  September  1778,  a  memorial  was  present- 
ed to  the  States-General  from  the  merchants 
and  others  of  Amsterdam,  in  which  they 
complained  that  their  lawful  commerce  was 
obstructed  by  the  ships  of  his  Britannic  ma- 
jesty. On  the  twenty-second  of  July,  1779, 
Sir  Joseph  Yorke  demanded  of  the  States- 
General  the  succors  which  were  stipulated 
in  the  treaty  of  1678 :  but  this  was  not  com- 
plied with. 

COUNT  BYLAND'S  SQUADRON  TAKEN. 
The  British  government,  therefore,  being 
determined  to  break  with  Holland,  and  hav- 
ing received  information,  that  a  large  fleet 
of  Dutch  merchant-ships,  laden  with  naval 
and  military  stores,  had  sailed  for  the  ports 
of  France,  dispatched  captain  Fielding  with 
a  proper  force  to  examine  the  convoy,  and 
to  seize  such  articles  as  should  be  deemed 
contraband.  On  the  first  of  January  1780, 
commodore  Fielding  fell  in  with  this  fleet : 
and  the  Dutch  admiral  peremptorily  refus- 
ing permission  to  search  the  ships ;  and  the 
boats  which  commodore  Fielding  dispatched 
for  that  purpose,  having  been  fired  at,  and 
prevented  from  executing  his  orders;  the 
commodore  proceeded  to  fire  a  shot  ahead 
of  the  Dutch  admiral,  which  was  answered 
by  a  broadside.  Count  Byland,  the  Dutch 
admiral,  however,  having  received  one  in 
return,  and  not  being  in  condition  to  support 
the  engagement,  struck  his  colors.  Most  of 
the  suspected  vessels  escaped  during  the 
contest.  The  admiral,  with  the  rest  of  his 
squadron,  was  brought  to  Spithead.  Strong 
remonstrances  were  addressed  to  the  minis- 
try by  the  States-General  on  this  transaction, 
but  no  satisfaction  was  obtained.  On  the 
seventeenth  of  April,  a  most  hostile  procla- 
mation was  published  by  tlie  king  of  Great 
Britain ;  but  the  policy  of  the  Dutch  was  too 
deep  to  be  led  into  the  snare  laid  for  them 
by  the  British  ministry.  They  saw  that 
more  numerous  advantages  were  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  cultivation  of  a  pacific  sys- 
tem, than  from  precipitating  themselves  vio- 
lently into  all  the  calamities  of  war. 

CAPTURE  OF  MR.  LAURENS.— DECLARA- 
TION OF  WAR. 
Another  occasion,  however,  soon  pre- 
sented itself  for  the  English  to  regard  the 
Dutch  as  enemies.  On  the  third  of  Septem- 
ber the  Mercury  packet,  from  Philadelphia 
for  Holland,  was  captured  off"  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland  by  the  Vestal  frigate.  On 
board  the  packet  was  Mr.  Laurens,  late  pres- 
ident of  the  congress,  who  was  proceeding 
on  a  diplomatic  commission  to  the  Sta  es- 
general.     Before  the  vessel  struck,  he  had 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


271 


thrown  his  papers  overboard ;  but  the  greater 
part  of  them  were  recovered,  and  submitted 
to  the  inspection  of  the  privy-council ;  and 
among  them,  it  is  said,  was  found  the  sketch 
of  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  between 
the  two  republics,  which  liad  been  examined 
and  approved  by  M.  Van  Berkel,  counsellor 
and  grand  pensionary  of  Amsterdam.  Mr. 
Laurens,  after  having  been  examined  by  the 
privy-council,  wsls  committed  close  prisoner 
to  the  Tower,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason ; 
and  strong  representations  were  made  by 
tlie  British  ambassador  at  the  Hague,  to  the 
States-General,  demanding,  that  "exem- 
plary punishment  should  be  inflicted  on  Van 
Berkel  and  his  accomplices,  as  disturbers  of 
the  public  peace,  and  violators  of  the  rights 
of  nations."  The  States-General  observed 
their  usual  caution  on  this  occasion;  but 
their  deliberate  proceedings  were  not  agree- 
able to  the  British  ministry,  who  actually 
published  a  declaration  of  war  against  Hol- 
land on  the  twentieth  of  December. 
INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 

It  was  not  only  in  Europe  and  America 
that  Great  Britain  was  involved  in  the  most 
distressing  embarrassments  at  this  disastrous 
period,  but  even  in  the  East  Indies  several 
causes  had  occurred  to  inspire  the  native 
powers  of  India  wath  general  disgust  and 
disapprobation  of  the  politics  of  England. 
No  regular  system  was  adopted  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  those  provinces,  which  British 
valor  and  rapacity  had  wrested  from  the  na- 
tive princes  of  the  East.  The  whole  politics 
of  India  were  committed  to  the  mercenary 
servants  of  the  company,  who  were  too  in- 
tent upon  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  to  enter- 
tain any  liberal  system  of  policy ;  and  whose 
whole  time  and  attention  were  consequently 
consumed  in  low  intrigues  with  the  native 
princes,  and  in  schemes  of  conquest  formed 
on  no  regular  plan. 

About  the  year  1779  the  British  in  India 
made  repeated  attempts  to  interfere  in  the 
revolution  which  had  taken  place  in  the 
IVIahratta  government.  Ragonaut  Row  caus- 
ed his  nephew  the  reigning  Paishwa  (with 
the  care  of  w^hom,  during  his  minority,  he 
was  solemnly  intrusted)  to  be  assassinated, 
in  the  hope  of  securing  to  himself  the  sover- 
eignty. From  these  circumstances,  and  from 
the  British  presidency  at  Bombay  receiving 
and  protecting  Ragonaut  the  murderer  of  his 
nephew,  the  foundation  was  laid  for  that  fa- 
mous confederacy  which,  in  the  year  1779, 
was  formed  between  the  Nizam,  Hyder  Ally, 
and  the  Mahrattas,  the  object  of  which  was 
no  less  than  the  complete  expulsion  of  the 
British  from  the  continent  of  India.  Early 
in  the  year  1780  preparations  were  made  for 
invading  the  Mahratta  territories,  and  on  the 
fifteenth  of  February,  general  Goddard 
marched  with  a  considerable  force  to  besiege 


the  city  of  Ahmedabad,  tlie  capital  of  the 
province  of  Guzerat,  which  was  taken  by 
storm  in  five  days  after  the  arrival  of  the 
British  army  under  its  walls ;  the  reduction 
of  the  whole  province  soon  followed.  On 
the  third  of  April  following,  the  general 
surprised  the  camp  of  Scindia  and  Holkar, 
and  the  Mahratta  chiefs  were  forced  to  re- 
treat with  considerable  loss.  Some  brilliant 
services  were  also  performed  on  the  side  of 
Bengal.  But  these  successes  were  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  the  progress  made 
by  Hyder  Ally,  who,  having  collected  a  pro- 
digious force,  on  the  twentieth  of  July,  made 
his  way  through  the  ghauts,  or  narrow  passes 
in  the  mountains ;  and,  at  the  head  of  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  men,  entered  without 
resistance  the  Carnatic ;  and  by  the  tenth  of 
August  his  cavalry  had  penetrated  even  to 
the  vicinity  of  Madras. 

In  this  emergency,  Sir  Hector  Munro 
hastily  assembled  the  different  corps  which 
were  scattered  through  the  province,  and 
endeavored  to  post  himself  strongly  on  the 
Mount,  to  cover  and  protect  the  capital ;  and 
orders  were  dispatched  to  colonel  Baillie, 
who  commanded  in  the  Guntoor,  to  hasten 
back  to  join  the  main  army,  and  in  the  course 
of  his  march  to  endeavor,  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, to  intercept  the  enemy's  convoys.  In 
the  mean  time  Hyder  formed  the  siege  of 
Arcot,  and  Sir  Hector  thought  it  an  mdis- 
pensable  duty  to  march  to  its  relief.  On  the 
approach  of  the  British  general,  Hyder  rais- 
ed the  siege,  but  directed  the  route  of  his 
army  in  such  a  manner  across  the  course  of 
colonel  Baillie's  detachment,  as  effectually 
to  prevent  the  intended  junction.  On  the 
sixth  of  September,  the  troops  of  the  sultan, 
under  the  command  of  his  brother  Meer 
Saib  and  his  son,  the  since  celebrated  Tippoo 
Sultan,  encountered  colonels  Baillie  and 
Fletcher  at  a  place  called  Perinbancum. 
All  that  skill  could  devise  or  valor  effect, 
was  performed  by  the  British ;  and  tliough 
the  disparity  of  force  was  almost  unexam- 
pled, victory  at  first  declared  in  favor  of  col- 
onel Baillie.  Unfortunately,  in  the  moment 
of  success  and  exultation,  the  tumbrils  which 
contained  the  ammunition  suddenly  blew 
up,  with  two  dreadful  explosions,  in  the 
centre  of  the  British  lines ;  and  one  whole 
face  of  their  column  was  laid  open,  and  the 
artillery  destroyed.  The  moment  of  advan- 
tage was  suddenly  caught  by  Tippoo  Saib, 
who  forced  his  way,  at  the  head  of  his  cav- 
alry, into  the  broken  square ;  and  the  British 
being  deprived  of  their  ammunition,  and  not, 
having  had  even  time  to  form,  were,  after 
prodigies  of  valor,  cut  to  pieces,  or  made 
prisoners  of  war.  The  British  are  said  to 
have  lost  on  this  occasion  about  four  thou- 
sand Sepoys,  and  six  hundred  Europeans. 
Immediately  after  tl)is  disastrous  event,  the 


272 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


army,  under  Sir  Hector  Munro,  retreated, 
and  abandoned  Arcot  to  its  fate,  which  soon 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Hyder  Ally.  Thus 
ended  this  unfortunate  campaign  in  India. 

MR.  CORNWALL  CHOSEN  SPEAKER. 

While  these  things  were  transacting 
abroad,  the  ministry  had  contrived  to  pro- 
cure a  new  parliament  at  home,  modelled 
for  their  purposes.  It  met  on  the  thirty-first 
of  October  1780,  when  their  first  business 
was  the  choice  of  a  speaker.  The  great 
merit  and  faithful  services  of  Sir  Fletcher 
Norton,  were  totally  obliterated  by  the  quar- 
rel he  had  with  the  minister,  as  has  been 
already  mentioned;  and  another  speaker 
was  determined  upon.  The  business,  how- 
ever, was  introduced  with  the  highest  com- 
pliments to  the  late  speaker,  and  the  choice 
of  another  was  proposed  on  account  of  the 
importance  of  parliamentary  business,  which 
might  be  productive  of  debates  inconsistent 
with  his  precarious  state  of  health ;  on 
which  account  the  American  secretary  (lord 
George  Germaine)  moved  that  Wolfran 
Cornwall  be  appointed  to  that  high  office ; 
and  the  motion  was  seconded  by  Welbore 
Ellis. 

The  members  in  opposition  expressed  the 
utmost  astonishment,  not  only  at  the  conduct 
of  administration  in  proposing  a  new  speaker, 
at  the  very  time  that  they  acknowledged 
Sir  Fletcher  Norton  to  be  the  most  proper 
of  all  men  to  fill  the  office,  but  at  the  strange 
arguments  made  use  of  on  the  occasion. 
The  health  of  the  speaker  was  now  so 
firmly  established,  that  the  pretence  of  his 
want  of  it,  especially  when  coming  from 
the  ministerial  side,  must  be  considered  as  an 
absolute  mockery  of  the  house,  and  a  direct 
insult  upon  the  gentleman  himself.  Dunning 
therefore  proposed,  that  Sir  Fletcher  Norton 
should  be  continued  speaker,  and  his  motion 
was  seconded  by  Thomas  Townshend.  The 
late  speaker,  however,  declined  the  intended 
honor,  and  said,  that  he  had  come  to  the 
house  with  a  full  resolution  not  to  stand  a 
candidate  for  the  chair  upon  any  account ; 
but  he  declared  that  he  must  be  an  idiot  in- 
deed, if  he  could  believe  that  his  state  of 
health  was  the  reason  of  the  determination 
of  ministry  against  his  being  continued  in 
the  chair. 

Cornwall's  election  was  carried  by  two 
hundred  and  three  to  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four. 

DUTCH  WAR. 

1781. — On  the  twenty-fifth  of  January, 
the  king  sent  a  message  to  the  house  by  his 
minister,  acquainting  them  that  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisals  had  been  issued  against 
the  Dutch.  This  communication  was  no 
sooner  made,  than  Burke  observed,  "  That, 
however  lightly  a  war  might  be  thought  of 
by  some  men,  he  was  one  of  those  who 


thought  it  always  a  most  serious  matter ;  a 
matter  which  nothing  but  the  greatest  ne- 
cessity could  justify."  It  was  further  ob- 
served by  the  opposition,  "  that  the  British 
manifesto  stated  that  a  treaty  was  entered 
into  between  the  city  of  Amsterdam  and 
America;  but  the  treaty  now  laid  before 
the  house  was,  in  the  express  terms  of  it, 
the  plan  of  a  treaty,  or  the  rough  draught 
of  a  compact,  the  ratification  of  which  was 
to  depend  upon  events  which  might  never 
happen.  This  declaration  of  war  was  also 
ventured  on,  contrary  to  every  recent  pre- 
cedent, during  a  recess.  The  minister  was 
remmded,  that  in  this  manner  the  house  had 
been  betrayed  into  all  the  pernicious  mea- 
sures of  his  administration.  In  this  manner 
had  the  house  been  led  into  the  American 
war,  that  fatal  source  of  all  our  calamities. 
In  this  manner  had  the  French  rescript  been 
announced ;  and  afterwards  the  Spanish  re- 
script, and  at  length  the  declaration  of  war 
against  Holland,  our  ancient  and  natural 
ally.  Year  after  year  had  the  minister  ac- 
quainted the  house  with  a  new  enemy,  but 
never  had  he  yet  brought  them  the  welcome 
information  of  a  new  friend.  Much  had 
been  said  of  the  provocations  we  had  re- 
ceived from  Holland,  and  the  predominance 
of  a  Frencli  interest  in  that  country — but 
had  Holland  received  no  provocation  from 
us  ]  The  insolence  of  the  British  memorial 
presented  to  the  States  in  1777,  contributed 
more  than  anything  else  to  the  prevalence 
of  the  French  faction  in  Holland.  It  had 
been  stated,  as  a  serious  ground  of  offence, 
that  Holland  had  not  complied  with  the  re- 
quisition of  troops,  which,  by  treaty,  she 
had  engaged  to  furnish.  But  it  was  notori- 
ous, that,  in  the  event  of  this  compliance, 
Holland  would  have  been  immediately  in- 
vaded by  France ;  and,  in  conformity  with 
the  same  treaties,  we  must  then  have  sent 
a  much  greater  aid  to  the  assistance  of  the 
republic.  If  the  Dutch,  at  the  present  pe- 
riod, had  changed  their  political  system  re- 
specting this  country,  it  was  owing  to  tlie 
criminal  conduct  of  an  administration,  who 
had  precipitated  us  into  a  war,  whence  all 
our  misfortunes  had  arisen.  In  consequence 
of  that  war,  our  American  commerce  was 
lost ;  and  could  it  be  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  the  Dutch,  a  people  who  existed  by 
commerce,  should  be  desirous  to  secure  a 
share  of  it  1  We  were  abandoned,  not  by  the 
Dutch  only,  but  by  all  the  powers  of  Eu- 
rope, who  were  all  equally  convinced,  that, 
under  the  present  wretched  administration 
of  aflTairs,  whoever  became  the  ally  of  Great 
Britain,  would  only  share  in  her  disgrace 
and  her  misfortunes." 

An  address  to  his  majesty,  however,  in 
favor  of  the  war,  was  voted  by  a  great  ma- 
jority in  the  two  houses  of  parliament 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


273 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS.— BURKE'S  REFORM 
BILL. 

The  crude  and  improvident  politics  of 
lord  North  and  his  colleag'ues,  had  reduced 
the  British  poseessions  in  the  East  Indies  to 
an  unsettled  and  distracted  state.  On  the 
fourth  of  December  1780,  a  petition  was 
presented  to  the  house  of  commons  from  the 
British  inhabitants  of  Bengal,  Bahar,  and 
Grissa,  complaining  of  the  injudicious  and 
indiscriminate  manner  in  which  the  judges 
of  the  supreme  court  endeavored  to  admin- 
ister the  English  laws  in  those  provinces ; 
and  this  was  seconded  by  another  from  the 
governor-general  and  council,  containing  a 
long  statement  of  the  transactions,  and  re- 
questing an  indemnification  from  the  legal 
penalties,  which,  for  the  preservation  of  gov- 
ernment and  the  country,  they  had  been 
under  the  necessity  of  incurring,  by  forcibly 
resisting  the  proceedings  of  the  chief-justice. 
Sir  Elijah  Impey.  General  Smith,  on  the 
twelfth  of  February,  moved  that  these  peti- 
tions should  be  referred  to  a  committee  gf 
fifteen  members  to  he  chosen  by  ballot,  and 
to  meet  in  a  chamber  above-stairs ;  and  after 
some  time,  a  bill  was  introduced  by  general 
Smith,  founded  on  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee of  fift.een,  for  regulating  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  in  India,  and  for  indem- 
nifying the  governor-general  and  council  for 
the  resistance  made  by  them  to  the  supreme 
court.  This  bill,  after  some  resistance  from 
the  law-members,  passed  both  houses,  and 
received  the  royal  assent;  it  defined  and 
limited  the  authority  of  the  supreme  court, 
and  exempted  the  governor-general  and 
council  of  Bengal  from  its  jurisdiction.  It 
declared  farther,  that  no  person  should  be 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  supreme  court, 
on  account  of  his  being  a  landholder  or  far- 
mer in  the  provinces  of  Bengal,  Bahar,  and 
Orissa ;  and  that  no  judicial  officers  in  the 
country  courts  should  be  liable  to  actions  in 
the  supreme  court  for  their  decisions. 

Burke,  not  being  dejected  by  the  rejec- 
tion of  his  reform  bill  last  year,  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  February  moved  for  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill  exactly  similar,  and  opened  his 
proposition  by  stating  the  powerful  motives 
which  engaged  him  now  to  resume  his  un- 
dertaking; and  these  were  the  celebrated 
resolutions  of  the  late  parliament,  respect- 
ing the  alarming  increase  of  the  influence 
of  the  crown ;  the  general  wish  and  expect- 
ation of  the  people,  and  the  direct  applica- 
tions to  himself  fi-om  several  of  the  most 
considerable  counties. 

Under  very  unfavorable  auspices,  the  bill 
was  read  a  second  time,  when  it  experienced 
the  weight  of  that  influence  it  was  meant 
to  reduce.  It  however  introduced  to  public 
notice  the  splendid  talents  of  young  lord 
Maitland,  and  the  captivating  eloquence  of 


William  Pitt,  the  second  son  of  tlie  late  earl 
of  Chatham,  who  in  very  early  youth  had 
been  elected  a  member  of  the  present  par- 
liament, and  who  now  exhibited  himself  U) 
an  admiring  nation  as  the  supposed  heir  of 
his  talents  and  virtues.  "  One  great  object," 
Pitt  said,  "of  all  the  petitions  which  had 
been  presented,  was  a  recommendation  of 
economy  in  the  public  expenditure ;  and  the 
design  of  the  present  bill  was,  to  carry  into 
effect  the  wishes  of  the  people,  by  intro- 
ducing a  substantial  system  of  economy. 
Besides  the  benefits  which  would  result  from 
the  bill  in  this  respect,  it  had  another  object 
still  more  important,  and  that  was  tlie  re- 
duction of  the  influence  of  the  crown,  an 
influence  which  was  the  more  to  be  dread- 
ed, because  more  secret  in  its  attacks,  and 
more  concealed  in  its  operations,  than  the 
power  of  prerogative."  Pitt  adverted  to  the 
extraordinary  objections  which  had  been 
made  to  the  bill;  it  proposed  to  bring  no 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  per 
annum  into  the  public  coffers,  and  that  surn 
was  insignificant,  in  comparison  of  the  mil- 
lions annually  expended.  "  What  then  is  the 
conclusion  we  are  led  to  deduce  1  The  ca- 
lamities of  the  present  crisis  are  too  great 
to  be  benefited  by  economy.  Our  expenses 
are  so  enormous,  that  it  is  useless  to  give 
ourselves  any  concern  about  them ;  we  have 
spent,  and  are  spending,  so  much,  that  it  is 
foolish  to  think  of  saving  anything.  Such 
is  the  language  which  the  opponents  of  this 
bill  have  virtually  employed.  It  had  ala) 
been  said,  that  the  king's  civil-list  was  an 
irresumable  parliamentary  grant,  and  it  had 
been  even  compared  to  a  private  freehold. 
The  weakness  of  such  arguments  was  their 
best  refutation.  The  civil-list  revenue  was 
granted  to  his  majesty,  not  for  his  private 
use,  but  for  the  support  of  the  executive 
government  of  the  state.  His  majesty,  in 
fact,  was  the  trustee  of  the  public,  subject 
to  parliamentary  revision.  The  parliament 
made  the  grant,  and  undoubtedly  had  a  right 
to  resume  it  when  the  pressure  of  the  times 
rendered  such  resumption  necessary.  Upon 
the  whole,  he  considered  the  present  bill  as 
essential  to  the  being  and  independence  of 
this  country,  and  he  would  give  it  his  most 
determined  support." 

PETITIONS  OF  COUNTY  DELEGATES- 
PROPOSED  MARRIAGE  BILL. 
The  existing  grievances  of  the  country 
appeared  so  much  to  increase  in  consequence 
of  the  war,  and  so  little  prospect  of  redress 
was  afforded  by  the  last  parliament,  that  an 
association  was  formed  by  several  of  the 
most  opulent  and  populous  counties,  and  del- 
egates were  chosen  for  the  purpose  of  pros- 
ecuting the  object  of  a  parliamentary  re- 
form, with  proper  vigor  and  imanimity.  A 
petition  prepared  by  the  delegates,  and  sigo- 


274 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ed  by  themselves  only,  was  presented  on  the 
eighth  of  May,  by  Mr.  Buncombe  and  Sir 
George  Saville,  who  moved  that  it  should 
be  referred  to  a  committee  of  the  whole 
house.  The  motion  was  however  rejected 
on  the  plea  that  it  was  a  petition  not  from 
the  parties  who  complained  of  the  griev- 
ances, but  from  persons  in  a  delegated  ca- 
pacity. The  numbers  were  two  hundred 
and  twelve,  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five. 
Fox  made  an  effort,  in  the  course  of  this 
session,  to  introduce  a  bill  for  the  repeal,  or 
at  least  for  a  modification,  of  the  famous 
marriage  act.  The  principal  feature  in  the 
proposed  bill  was,  that  it  reduced  the  legal 
age  for  contracting  marriage,  to  eighteen  in 
males,  and  sixteen  in  females,  and  no  mar- 
riage was  to  be  annulled  after  the  parties 
had  cohabited  for  one  year.  The  bill  passed 
the  house  of  commons,  but  was  rejected  by 
the  lords. 

MOTION  ON  AMERICAN  WAR— SESSION 
CLOSED. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  session.  Fox 
moved  the  house  to  resolve  itself  into  a 
committee,  to  consider  of  the  American  war, 
for  the  purpose  of  devising  some  means  of 
accommodation.  This  motion  was  supported 
in  an  animated  speech  by  Pitt,  who  express- 
ed his  utter  abhorrence  cf  a  war,  "  which 
was  conceived,"  he  said,  ''  in  injustice,  nur- 
tured in  folly,  and  whose  footsteps  were 
marked  with  slaughter  and  devastation.  It 
exhibited  the  height  of  moral  depravity  and 
human  turpitude.  The  nation  was  drained 
of  its  best  blood  and  its  vital  resources,  for 
which  nothing  was  received  in  return  but  a 
series  of  inefficient  victories  or  disgraceful 
defeats,  victories  obtained  over  men  strug- 
gling in  the  holy  cause  of  liberty,  or  defeats 
which  filled  the  land  with  mourning  for  the 
loss  of  dear  and  valuable  relatives,  slain  in 
a  detested  and  impious  quarrel."  The  mo- 
tion was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  seventy- 
three  voices. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  July  1781,  the  ses- 
sion was  closed  by  a  speech,  in  which  his 
majesty  observed,  "  that  the  great  efforts 
made  by  the  nation,  to  surmount  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  present  arduous  and  complicated 
war,  must  convmce  the  world  that  the  an- 
cient spirit  of  the  British  nation  was  not 
abated  or  diminished ;  and  he  was  resolved 
to  accept  of  no  terms  or  conditions  of  peace, 
than  such  as  might  consist  with  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  his  crown,  and  the  perma- 
nent interests  and  security  of  his  people." 
ATTACK  ON  JERSEY. 

We  now  return  to  the  military  transac- 
tions of  this  eventful  year.  On  the  sixth  of 
January  1781,  eight  hundred  French  troops 
under  the  command  of  the  baron  de  Rulle, 
landed  before  daybreak  on  the  island  of  Jer- 
sey ;  and  so  little  expectation  was  entertaua- 


ed  of  any  attack,  that  they  passed  undiscov- 
ered to  the  town  of  St  Hillier,  and,  to  the 
utter  astonishment  of  the  inhabitants,  at  day- 
break, the  market-place  v;as  filled  with 
French  soldiers.  Fortunately  the  lieuten- 
ant-governor, major  Moses  Corbet,  had  re- 
ceived information  of  their  landing,  time 
enough  to  dispatch  intelligence  to  the  differ- 
ent stations  of  the  three  regiments  in  the 
island,  and  to  the  militia.  But  he  was  taken 
prisoner  himself  by  seven  o'clock,  and  im- 
mediately carried  before  the  French  com- 
mander, who  pressed  him  to  sign  terms  of 
capitulation,  under  pain  of  firing  the  town 
and  putting  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword.  It 
was  in  vain  the  governor  represented,  that, 
being  a  prisoner,  he  was  deprived  of  all  au- 
thority, and  no  capitulation  that  he  could 
sign  would  be  of  any  force  or  efficacy :  the 
general  still  insisted,  and  to  avoid  the  con- 
sequences, the  governor  ratified  the  capitu- 
lation. 

The  king's  troops  and  the  militia  assem- 
bled on  the  heights  near  the  town,  under  the 
command  of  major  Pierson,  and  now  in  their 
turn  summoned  the  invaders  to  surrender 
themselves  prisoners  of  war.  An  engage- 
ment ensued,  in  which  major  Pierson  was 
killed ;  and  the  French  general  being  mor- 
tally wounded,  the  second  in  command  de- 
sired Corbet  to  resume  the  government,  and 
accept  their  submission  as  prisoners  of  war. 
The  negligence  of  the  lieutenant-governor 
was  afterwards  censured  by  a  court-martial, 
and  he  was  dismissed  from  his  office. 
SIEGE  OF  GIBRALTAR. 

The  siege  of  Gibraltar  still  continued, 
and  the  blockade  was  renewed  after  admiral 
Rodney's  departure  ;  but  the  Spaniards  un- 
der Don  Barcelo  were  defeated  on  the  sev- 
enth of  June,  in  an  attempt  to  burn  the 
English  shipping  in  the  harbor  there.  In  the 
command  of  the  channel  fleet.  Sir  Charles 
Hardy,  who  died  on  the  nineteenth  of  May, 
was  succeeded  by  admiral  Geary.  He  sail- 
ed in  the  beginning  of  June,  and  was  not 
out  many  days  before  he  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  intercept  a  considerable  convoy  of  Frencli 
West  India  ships,  homeward-bound  from  St. 
Domingo,  and  captured  twelve  rich  vessels. 
But  this  advantage  was  counterbalanced  by 
the  loss  of  almost  the  whole  outward-bound 
convoy  from  England  to  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  which,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  July, 
was  taken  by  the  combined  fleets,  to  the 
number  of  fifty-five. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  court  of  Spain, 
mortified  at  this  repeated  disappointment, 
determined  to  make  greater  exertions  for 
the  reduction  of  Gibraltar.  Their  works 
were  carried  on  with  more  vigor  than  ever. 
Having,  on  an  experiment  of  twenty  months, 
found  the  inefficacy  of  a  blockade,  they  re- 
solved to  try  the  effects  of  a  bombardment 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


275 


Their  batteries  were  mounted  with  guns 
of  the  heaviest  metal,  and  with  mortars  of 
the  largest  dimensions.  These  disgorged 
torrents  of  fire  on  a  narrow  spot.  It  seem- 
ed as  if  not  only  the  works,  but  the  rock 
itself,  must  have  been  overwhelmed.  All 
distinction  of  parts  was  lost  in  flame  and 
smoke.  This  dreadful  cannonade  continued 
day  and  night,  almost  incessantly,  for  three 
weeks,  in  every  twenty-four  hours  of  which 
one  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  gunpowder 
were  consumed,  and  between  four  and  five 
thousand  shot  and  shells  went  through  the 
town.  It  then  slackened,  but  was  not  inter- 
mitted during  one  whole  day  for  upwards  of 
a  twelve-month.  The  fatigues  of  the  gar- 
rison were  extreme ;  but  the  loss  of  men 
was  less  than  might  have  been  expected. 
For  the  first  ten  weeks  of  this  unexampled 
bombardment,  the  whole  number  of  killed 
and  wounded  was  only  about  three  hundred. 
The  damage  done  to  the  works  was  trifling. 
The  houses  in  the  town,  about  five  hundred 
in  number,  were  mostly  destroyed.  Such 
of  the  inhabitants  as  were  not  buried  in  the 
ruins  of  their  houses,  or  torn  to  pieces  by 
the  shells,  fled  to  the  remote  parts  of  the 
rock ;  but  destruction  followed  them  to  places 
which  had  always  been  deemed  secure.  No 
scene  could  be  more  deplorable.  Mothers 
and  children  clasped  in  each  other's  arms, 
were  so  completely  torn  to  pieces,  that  it 
seemed  more  like  an  annihilation,  than  a 
dispersion  of  their  shattered  fragments. 
Ladies  of  the  greatest  sensibility  and  most 
delicate  constitutions  deemed  themselves 
h  ippy  to  be  admitted  to  a  few  hours  of  re- 
pose in  the  casement,  amidst  the  noise  of 
a  crowded  soldiery,  and  the  groans  of  the 
wo-mded. 

At  the  first  onset  general  Elliot  retorted 
on  the  besiegers  a  shower  of  fire ;  but  fore- 
seeing the  difficuby  of  procuring  supplies, 
he  soon  retrenched,  and  received  with  com- 
parative unconcern  the  fury  and  violence 
of  his  adversaries.  By  the  latter  end  of 
November,  the  besiegers  had  brought  their 
works  to  that  state  of  perfection  which  they 
intended.  The  care  and  ingenuity  employed 
upon  them  were  extraordinary.  The  best 
engineers  of  France  and  Spain  had  united 
their  abilities,  and  both  kingdoms  were  filled 
with  sanguine  expectations  of  speedy  suc- 
cess. In  this  conjuncture,  when  all  Europe 
was  in  suspense  concerning  the  fate  of  the 
garrison,  and  when,  from  the  prodigious  ef- 
forts made  for  its  reduction,  many  believed 
that  it  could  not  hold  out  much  longer,  a  sal- 
ly was  projected  and  executed,  which  in 
about  two  hours  destroyed  those  works  which 
had  required  so  much  time,  skill,  and  labor 
to  accomplish. 

A  body  of  two  thousand  chosen  men,  un- 
der the  command  of  brigadier-general  Ross, 


marched  out  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  twenty-seventh  of  November  1781, 
and  at  the  same  instant  made  a  general  at- 
tack on  the  whole  exterior  front  of  the  lines 
of  the  besiegers.  The  Spaniards  gave  way 
on  every  side,  and  abandoned  their  works. 
The  pioneers  and  artillery-men  spread  their 
fire  with  such  rapidity,  that  in  a  little  time 
everything  combustible  was  in  flames.  The 
mortars  and  cannon  were  spiked,  and  their 
beds,  platforms,  and  carriages  destroyed. 
The  magazines  blew  up  one  afl:er  another. 
The  loss  of  the  detachment  which  accom- 
plished all  this  destruction,  was  inconsider- 
able. 

This  unexpected  event  disconcerted  the 
besiegers ;  but  they  soon  recovered  fi-om 
their  alarm,  and  with  a  perseverance  al- 
most peculiar  to  their  nation,  determined 
to  go  on  with  the  siege.  Their  subsequent 
exertions  and  reiterated  defeats  shall  be  re- 
lated in  the  order  of  time  in  which  they  took 
place. 

ST.  EUSTATIUS  TAKEN. 

The  war  with  Holland  was  no  sooner 
resolved  upon,  than  British  vengeance  burst 
on  the  Dutch  island  of  St.  Eustatius.  This, 
though  intrinsically  of  little  value,  had 
long  been  the  seat  of  an  extensive  com- 
merce. It  was  the  grand  free  port  of  the 
West  Indies,  and  as  such  was  a  general 
market  and  magazine  to  all  nations.  In  con- 
sequence of  its  neutrality  and  situation,  to- 
gether with  its  unbounded  fi-eedom  of  trade, 
it  reaped  the  richest  harvests  of  commerce, 
durmg  the  seasons  of  warfare  among  its 
neighbors  ;  it  was  in  a  particular  manner  a 
convenient  channel  of  supply  to  the  Ameri- 
cans. 

The  island  is  a  natural  fortification,  and 
very  capable  of  being  made  strong ;  but  as 
its  inhabitants  were  a  motley  mixture  of 
transient  persons,  wholly  intent  on  the  gains 
of  commerce,  they  were  more  solicitous  to 
acquire  property,  than  attentive  to  improve 
those  means  of  security  which  the  island  af- 
forded. 

On  the  third  of  February  1781,  Sir 
George  Rodney  and  general  Vaughan,  with 
a  large  fleet  and  army,  surrounded  this  isl- 
and, and  demanded  a  surrender  of  it  and 
of  its  dependencies  within  an  hour.  Mr.  de 
Graaf  returned  for  answer,  "  that  being 
utterly  incapable  of  making  any  defence 
against  the  force  which  invested  the  island, 
he  must  of  necessity  surrender  it,  only  re- 
commending the  town  and  its  inhabitants  to 
the  known  and  usual  clemency  of  British^ 
commanders." 

The  wealth  accumulated  in  this  barren 
spot  was  prodigious.  The  whole  island 
seemed  to  be  one  vast  magazine.  The 
storehouses  were  filled,  and  the  beach  cov- 
ered   with  valuable    commodities.     These 


276 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


alone,  on  a  moderate  calculation,  were  es- 
timated to  be  worth  above  three  millions 
sterling-.  All  this  property,  together  with 
what  was  found  on  the  island,  was  indis- 
criminately seized  and  declared  to  be  con- 
fiscated. This  valuable  booty  was  farther 
increased  by  new  arrivals.  The  conquerors 
for  some  time  kept  up  Dutch  colors,  which 
decoyed  a  number  of  French,  Dutch,  and 
American  vessels  into  their  hands.  Above 
one  hundred  and  fifty  merchant-vessels,  most 
of  which  were  richly  laden,  were  captured. 
A  Dutch  fi-igfate  of  thirty-eight  guns,  and 
five  small  armed  vessels,  shared  the  same 
fiite.  The  neighboring  islands  of  St  Martin 
and  Saba  were  in  like  manner  reduced.  Just 
before  the  arrival  of  the  British,  thirty  large 
ships,  laden  with  West  India  commodities, 
had  sailed  from  Eustatius  for  Holland,  under 
the  convoy  of  a  ship  of  sixty  guns.  Admiral 
Rodney  dispatched  the  Monarch  and  Pan- 
ther, with  the  Sybil  frigate,  in  pursuit  of  this 
fleet;  the  whole  of  it  was  overtaken  and 
captured. 

The  Dutch  West  India  company,  many 
of  the  citizens  of  Amsterdam,  and  several 
Americans,  were  great  sufferers  by  the  cap- 
ture of  this  island,  and  the  confiscation  of  all 
property  found  therein,  which  immediately 
followed ;  but  the  British  merchants  were 
much  more  so.  These,  confiding  in  the  ac- 
knowledged neutrality  of  the  island,  and  in 
acts  of  parliament,  had  accumulated  there 
great  quantities  of  West  India  produce  as 
well  as  European  goods.  They  stated  their 
hard  case  to  admiral  Rodney  and  general 
Vaughan,  and  contended  that  their  connex- 
ion with  the  captured  island  was  under  the 
sanction  of  acts  of  parliament,  and  that 
their  commerce  had  been  conducted  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  and  maxims  of  trading  na- 
tions. To  applications  of  this  kind  it  was 
answered,  "that  the  island  was  Dutch,  every- 
thing in  it  was  Dutch,  under  the  protection 
of  the  Dutch  flag,  and  as  Dutch  it  should  be 
treated." 

The  severity  with  which  the  victors  pro- 
ceeded drew  on  them  pointed  censures,  not 
only  from  the  immediate  sufferers,  but  from 
all  Europe.  It  must  be  supposed  that  they 
Vv^ere  filled  with  resentment  for  the  sup- 
{)lies  which  the  Americans  received  through 
this  channel ;  but  there  is  also  reason  to  sus- 
pect, that  the  love  of  gain  was  cloaked  under 
the  specious  veil  of  national  policy. 

While  Admiral  Rodney  and  his  oflScers 
were  at  St.  Eustatius,  and  especially  while 
his  fleet  was  weakened,  by  a  large  detach- 
ment sent  off  to  convoy  their  booty  to  Great 
Britain,  the  French  were  silently  executing 
a  well-digested  scheme,  which  assured  them 
a  naval  superiority  on  the  American  coast,  to 
the  total  ruin  of  the  British  interest  in  tlie 
United  States. 


AMERICAN  CAMPAIGN.— REVOLT  OF 
PENNSYLVAIMA  LII^E. 

The  campaign  in  America  however  com- 
menced with  some  favorable  omens  to  the 
British;  for  though  general  Arnold's  ad- 
dress to  his  countrymen  produced  no  effect 
in  detaching  the  soldiery  of  America  from 
the  unproductive  service  of  congress,  their 
steadiness  could  not  be  accounted  for,  from 
any  melioration  of  their  circumstances.  They 
still  remained  without  pay,  and  without 
such  clothing  as  the  season  required.  They 
could  not  be  induced  to  enter  the  British 
service ;  but  their  complicated  distresses  at 
length  broke  out  into  deliberate  mutiny. 
This  event,  which  had  been  long  expected, 
made  its  first  threatening  appearance  in  the 
Pennsylvania  line.  The  common  soldiers 
enlisted  in  that  state  were  for  the  most  part 
natives  of  Ireland,  but  though  not  bound  to 
America  by  the  accidental  tie  of  birth,  they 
were  inferior  to  none  in  discipline,  courage, 
or  attachment  to  the  cause  of  independ- 
ence. They  had  been,  but  a  few  months 
before,  the  most  active  instruments  in  quell- 
ing a  mutiny  of  the  Connecticut  troops,  and 
had  on  all  occasions  done  their  duty  to  ad- 
miration. An  ambiguity  in  the  terms  of 
their  enlistment  furnished  a  pretext  for 
their  conduct.  A  great  part  of  them  were 
enlisted  for  three  years,  or  during  the  war ; 
the  three  years  were  expired,  and  the  men 
insisted  that  the  choice  of  staying  or  going 
remained  with  them,  while  the  officers  con- 
tended that  the  choice  was  in  the  state. 

The  mutiny  was  excited  by  the  noncom- 
missioned officers  and  privates  in  the  night 
of  the  first  of  January  1781,  and  soon  be- 
came so  universal  in  the  line  of  that  state 
as  to  defy  all  opposition.  The  whole,  ex- 
cept three  regiments,  upon  a  signal  for  the 
purpose,  turned  out  under  arms  without 
their  officers,  and  declared  for  a  redress  of 
grievances.  The  officers  in  vain  endeavor- 
ed to  quell  them.  Several  were  wounded, 
and  a  captain  was  killed,  in  attempting  it 
General  Wayne  presented  his  pistols,  as  if 
about  to  fire  on  them  ;  they  held  their  bayo- 
nets to  his  breast,  and  said,  "  We  love  and 
respect  you,  but  if  you  fire,  you  are  a  dead 
man.  We  are  not  going  to  the  enemy ;  on 
the  contrary,  if  they  were  now  to  come  out, 
you  should  see  us  fight  under  your  orders 
with  as  much  alacrity  as  ever ;  but  we  will 
be  no  longer  amused ;  we  are  determined 
on  obtaining  what  is  our  just  due."  Deaf 
to  arguments  and  entreaties,  they,  to  the 
number  of  one  tliousand  three  hundred,  mov- 
ed off  in  a  body  from  Morristown,  and  pro- 
ceeded in  good  order  with  their  arms  and  six 
field-pieces  to  Princeton.  They  elected  tem- 
porary officers  from  their  own  body,  and 
appointed  a  serjeant-major,  who  had  former- 
ly deserted  from   Oie  British  army,  to  be 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


277 


their  commander.  General  Wayne  forwarded 
provisions  after  them  to  prevent  their  plun- 
dermg  the  country  for  their  subsistence. 
They*  invaded  no  man's  property,  farther 
than  their  immediate  necessities  made  una- 
voidable. This  was  readily  submitted  to  by 
the  inhabitants,  who  had  long  been  used  to 
exactions  of  the  same  kind,  levied  for  simi- 
lar purposes  by  their  lawful  rulers.  They 
professed  that  they  had  no  object  in  view,  but 
to  obtain  wliat  was  justly  due  to  them,  nor 
were  their  actions  inconsistent  with  that  pro- 
fession. 

Congress  sent  a  committee  of  their  body 
consistmg  of  general  Sullivan,  Matthews, 
Atlee,  and  Dr.  Witherspoon,  to  procure  an 
accommodation.  The  revoiters  were  reso- 
lute in  refusing  any  terms,  of  which  a  re 
dress  of  their  grievances  was  not  the  found- 
ation. Everythmg  asked  of  their  country, 
they  might,  at  any  time  after  the  sixth  of 
January,  have  obtained  from  the  British,  by 
passing  over  into  New- York :  this  they  re- 
fused. Their  sufferings  had  exhausted  their 
patience,  but  not  their  patriotism.  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  by  confidential  messengers,  offered 
to  take  them  under  the  protection  of  the 
British  government,  to  pardon  all  their  past 
oifences,  to  have  the  pay  due  to  them  from 
congress  faithfully  made  up,  v/ithout  any  ex- 
pectation of  military  service  in  return,  al- 
though it  would  be  received  if  voluntarily 
offered.  It  was  recommended  to  them  to 
move  behind  the  South  River ;  and  it  was 
promised,  that  a  detachment  of  the  British 
troops  should  be  in  readmess  for  their  pro- 
tection as  soon  as  desired.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  troops  passed  over  from  New- York 
to  Staten  Island,  and  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  moving  them  into  New- 
Jersey,  whenever  they  might  be  wanted. 
The  royal  commander  was  not  less  disap- 
pointed than  surprised  to  find  that  the  faith- 
ful though  revolting  soldiers  disdained  his 
oflfers.  The  messengers  of  Sir  Henry  Clin- 
ton were  seized  and  delivered  to  general 
Wayne.  President  Reed  and  general  Pot- 
ter were  appointed,  by  the  council  of  Penn- 
sylvania, to  accommodate  matters  with  the 
revoiters.  They  met  at  Princeton,  and 
greed  to  dismiss  all  whose  terms  of  enlist- 
ment were  completed,  and  admitted  the  oath 
of  each  soldier  to  be  evidence  in  his  own 
case.  A  board  of  officers  tried  and  con- 
demned the  British  spies,  and  they  were  in- 
stantly executed.  President  Reed  offered  a 
purse  of  one  hundred  guineas  to  the  muti- 
neers, as  a  reward  of  their  fidelity,  in  deliv- 
ering up  the  spies ;  but  they  refused  to  ac- 
cept it,  saying,  "  That  what  tliey  had  done 
was  only  a  duty  they  owed  their  country, 
and  that  they  neither  desired  nor  would  re- 
ceive any  reward  but  the  approbation  of  that 
Vol.  IV.  24 


country,  for  which  they  have  so  often  fought 
and  bled." 
ARNOLD'S  EXPEDITION  TO  VIRGINIA. 
While  the  Americans  were  suffering  the 
complicated  calamities  which  introduced  the 
year  1781,  their  adversaries  were  carrying 
on  the  most  extensive  plan  of  operation, 
which  had  ever  been  attempted  since  the 
war.  It  had  often  been  objected  to  tlie  Brit- 
ish commanders,  that  they  had  not  conducted 
the  war  in  the  manner  most  likely  to  efliect 
the  subjugation  of  the  revolted  provinces. 
Military  critics,  in  particular,  found  fault 
with  them  for  keeping  a  large  army  idle  at 
New- York,  which  they  said,  if  properly  ap- 
plied, would  have  been  sufficient  to  make 
successful  impressions  at  one  and  the  same 
time  on  several  of  the  states.  The  British 
seem  to  have  calculated  the  campaign  of 
1781,  with  a  view  to  make  an  experiment 
of  the  comparative  merit  of  this  mode  of 
conducting  military  operations.  The  wai 
raged  in  that  year,  not  only  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  British  head-quarters  at  New- York, 
but  in  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  in  Virginia.  The  latter  state,  from 
its  peculiar  situation,  and  from  the  modes  of 
building,  planting,  and  living,  which  had 
been  adopted  by  tlie  inhabitants,  is  particu- 
larly exposed,  and  lies  at  the  mercy  of  what- 
ever army  is  master  of  the  Chesapeak. 
These  circumstances,  together  with  the  pre- 
eminent rank  which  Virginia  held  in  the 
confederacy,  pointed  out  the  propriety  of 
making  that  state  tlie  object  of  particular 
attention.  To  favor  lord  Cornwallis's  de- 
signs in  the  southern  states,  major-general 
Leslie,  with  about  two  thousand  men,  had 
been  detached  from  New- York  to  the  Chesa- 
peak, in  the  latter  end  of  1780  ;  but  subse- 
quent events  induced  his  lordship  to  order 
him  from  Virginia  to  Charlestown,  with  tlie 
view  of  his  more  effectually  co-operating 
with  the  army  under  his  own  immediate 
command.  Soon  after  the  departure  of  gen- 
eral Leslie,  Virginia  Avas  agam  invaded  by 
another  party  from  New- York.  This  v;as 
commanded  by  general  Arnold,  now  a  briga- 
dier in  the  royal  army.  His  force  consisted 
of  about  sixteen  hundred  men,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  such  a  number  of  armed  vessels 
as  enabled  him  to  commit  extensive  ravages 
on  the  unprotected  coasts  of  that  well- watered 
country.  On  the  fifth  of  January  the  invad- 
ers landed  about  fifteen  miles  below  Rich- 
mond; and  in  two  days  marched  into  the 
towm,  where  they  destroyed  large  quantities 
of  tobacco,  salt,  rum,  sail-cloth,  and  other 
merchandise.  Successive  excursions  were 
made  to  several  other  places,  in  v.^hich  the 
royal  army  committed  similar  devastations. 

In  about  a  fortnight,  they  marched  into 
Portsmouth,  and  began  to  fortify  it     The 


278 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


loss  they  sustained  from  the  feeble  opposi- 
tion of  the  dispersed  inhabitants  was  incon- 
siderable. The  havoc  made  by  general  Ar- 
nold, and  the  apprehension  of  a  design  to  fix 
a  permanent  post  in  Virginia,  induced  gene- 
ral Washington  to  detacli  the  marquis  de  la 
Fayette,  with  twelve  hundred  of  the  Ameri- 
can infantry,  to  that  state,  and  also  to  urge 
the  French  in  Rhode-Island  to  co-operate 
with  him  in  attempting  to  capture  Arnold 
and  his  party.  The  French  commanders 
eagerly  closed  with  the  proposal.  Since 
they  had  landed  in  the  United  States,  no 
proper  opportunity  of  gratifying  their  passion 
for  military  fame  had  yet  presented  itself 
They  rejoiced  at  that  which  now  offered, 
and  indulged  a  cheerful  hope  of  rendering 
essential  service  to  their  allies,  by  cutting 
off  the  retreat  of  Arnold's  party.  With  this 
view,  their  fleet,  with  fifteen  hundred  addi- 
tional men  on  board,  on  the  eighth  of  March 
sailed  from  Rhode-Island  for  Virginia.  D'Es- 
touches,  who,  since  the  death  of  de  Ternay 
in  the  preceding  December,  had  commanded 
the  French  fleet,  previous  to  the  sailing  of 
his  whole  naval  force,  on  the  ninth  of  Feb- 
ruary dispatched  the  Eveille,  a  sixty-four 
gun  sliip,  and  two  frigates,  with  orders  to 
destroy  the  British  ships  and  frigates  in  the 
Chesapeak.  These  took  or  destroyed  ten 
vessels,  and  captured  the  Romulus  of  forty- 
four  guns.  On  the  tenth  of  March,  Arbuth 
not  with  a  British  fleet  sailed  from  Gardi- 
ner's Bay,  in  pursuit  of  D'Estouches.  On 
the  sixteenth  of  the  same  month,  the  former 
overtook  and  engaged  the  latter  off  the  Capes 
of  Virginia.  The  British  had  the  advantage 
of  more  guns  than  the  French  ;  but  the  lat- 
ter were  much  more  strongly  manned  than 
the  former.  The  contest  between  the  fleets 
thus  nearly  balanced,  ended  without  the  loss 
of  a  ship  on  either  side  ;  but  the  British  ob- 
tained the  fruits  of  victory  so  far  as  to  frus- 
trate the  whole  scheme  of  their  adversaries. 
The  French  fleet  returned  to  Rhode-Island 
without  effecting  the  object  of  the  expedi- 
tion. Thus  was  Arnold  saved  from  immi- 
nent danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  his 
exasperated  countrymen.  The  day  before 
the  French  fleet  returned  to  Newport,  March 
twenty-fifth,  a  convoy  arrived  in  the  Chesa- 
peak from  New- York,  with  major-general 
Philips,  and  about  two  thousand  men.  This 
distinguished  officer,  who  having  been  taken 
at  Saratoga,  had  been  lately  exchanged,  was 
appointed  to  be  commander  of  the  royal 
forces  in  Virginia.  Philips  and  Arnold  soon 
made  a  junction,  and  carried  everything  be- 
fore them.  They  successively  defeated  those 
bodies  of  militia  which  came  in  their  way. 
The  whole  country  was  open  to  their  ex- 
cursions. 

With  this  expedition,  major-general  Phil 
ip8  terminated  a  life,  which  in  all  his  pre 


vious  operations  had  been  full  of  glory.  At 
early  periods  of  his  military  career,  on  dif- 
ferent occasions  in  a  preceding  war,  he  had 
gained  the  full  approbation  of  prince  Ferdi- 
nand, under  whom  he  had  served  in  Ger- 
many. As  an  officer  he  was  universally 
admired.  Though  mucli  of  the  devastations 
committed  by  the  troops  under  his  command, 
may  be  vindicated  on  the  principles  of  those 
who  hold  that  the  rights  and  laws  of  war 
are  of  equal  obligation  with  the  rights  and 
laws  of  humanity ;  yet  the  friends  of  his 
fame  have  reason  to  regret  that  he  did  not 
die  three  weeks  sooner. 

The  successes  which,  with  a  few  checks, 
followed  the  British  arms  since  they  had  re- 
duced Savannah  and  Charlestown,  encour- 
aged them  to  pursue  their  object  by  advanc- 
ing from  south  to  north.  A  vigorous  invasion 
of  North  Carolina  was  therefore  projected, 
for  the  business  of  the  winter,  which  followed 
general  Gates's  defeat. 

GENERAL  GREENE  SUCCEEDS  GATES.— 
TARLETON  DEFEATED. 

The  American  army,  after  its  defeat  and 
dispersion  on  the  sixteenth  of  August  1780, 
rendezvoused  at  Hillsborough.  In  the  latter 
end  of  the  year  they  advanced  to  Charlotte- 
Town,  At  this  place  general  Gates  trans- 
ferred the  command  to  general  Greene,  The 
manly  resignation  of  the  one,  was  equalled 
by  the  delicate  disinterestedness  of  the 
other.  Expressions  of  civility,  and  acts  of 
friendship  and  attention,  were  reciprocally 
exchanged. 

With  an  inconsiderable  army,  miserably 
provided,  general  Greene  took  the  field 
against  a  superior  British  regular  force, 
which  had  marched  in  triumph  two  hundred 
miles  from  the  sea-coast,  and  was  flushed 
with  successive  victories  through  a  whole 
campaign.  Soon  after  he  took  the  com- 
mand, he  divided  his  force,  and  sent  general 
Morgan  with  a  respectable  detachment  to 
tlie  western  extremity  of  South  Carolina, 
and  about  the  same  time  marched  with  the 
main  body  to  Hicks'  Creek,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Pedee,  opposite  the  CherawHill. 

When  this  irruption  was  made  into  the 
district  of  Nmety-six,  lord  Cornwall  is  was 
far  advanced  in  his  preparations  for  the  in- 
vasion of  North  Carolina.  To  leave  gen- 
eral Morgan  in  the  rear,  was  contrary  to 
military  policy.  In  order  therefore  to  drive 
him  from  his  station,  and  to  deter  the  inhab- 
itants from  joining  him,  lieutenant-colonel 
Tarleton  was  ordered  to  proceed  with  about 
one  thousand  one  hundred  men,  and  "  push 
him  to  the  utmost."  He  had  two  field-pieces, 
and  a  superiority  of  infantry  in  the  propor- 
tion of  five  to  four,  and  of  cavalry  in  the 
proportion  of  three  to  one.  Besides  this  ui- 
equality  of  force,  two-thirds  of  the  troops 
under  general  Morgan  were  militia.    With 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


279 


these  fair  prospects  of  success,  Tarleton,  on 
the  seventeenth  of  January  1781,  engaged 
Morgan  at  the  Cowpens,  with  the  expecbi- 
tion  of  driving  him  out  of  kSouth  Carolina. 
The  mihtia  fell  hack.  The  British  advanced 
and  engaged  the  second  line,  which,  after 
an  obstinate  conflict,  was  compelled  to  re- 
treat to  the  cavalry.  In  this  crisis,  lieuten- 
ant-colonel Washington  made  a  successful 
charge  on  captain  Ogilvie,  who,  with  about 
forty  dragoons,  was  cutting  down  the  militia, 
and  forced  them  to  retreat  in  confusion. 
Lieutenant-colonel  Howard  almost  at  the 
same  moment  rallied  the  continental  troops, 
and  charged  with  fixed  bayonets.  The  ex- 
ample was  instantly  followed  by  the  militia. 
Nothing  could  exceed  the  astonishment  and 
confusion  of  the  British,  occasioned  by  these 
unexpected  charges.  Their  advance  fell  back 
on  their  rear,  and  communicated  a  panic  to 
the  whole.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  horse 
which  had  not  been  engaged,  fled  with  pre- 
cipitation. The  pieces  of  artillery  were 
seized  by  the  Americans,  and  the  greatest 
confusion  took  place  among  the  infantry. 
While  they  were  in  this  state  of  disorder, 
lieutenant-colonel  Howard  called  to  them  to 
"  lay  down  their  arms,"  and  promised  them 
good  quarter.  Some  hundreds  accepted  the 
offer,  and  surrendered.  The  first  battalion 
of  the  seventy-first,  and  two  British  light 
infantry  companies,  laid  down  their  arms  to 
the  American  militia,  x\  party  which  had 
been  left  some  distance  in  the  rear  to  guard 
the  baggage,  was  tlie  only  body  of  intantry 
that  escaped. 

MASTERLY  RETREAT  OF  THE  AMERI- 
CANS. 
Lord  Cornwallis,  though  preparing  to 
extend  his  conquests  northerly,  was  not  in- 
attentive to  the  security  of  South  Carolina. 
Besides  the  force  at  Charlestown,  he  left  a 
considerable  body  of  troops  under  the  com- 
mand of  lord  Rawdon.  These  were  princi- 
pally stationed  at  Camden,  from  which  cen- 
tral situation  they  might  easily  be  drawn 
forth  to  defend  the  frontiers,  or  to  suppress 
insurrections.  To  facilitate  the  intended 
operations  against  North  Carolina,  major 
Craig,  with  a  detachment  of  about  three 
hundred  men  from  Charlestown,  and  a  small 
marine  force,  took  possession  of  Wilmington. 
While  these  arrangements  were  making, 
the  year  1781  commenced  with  the  fairest 
prospects  to  the  friends  of  British  govern- 
ment. The  arrival  of  general  Leslie  in 
Charlestown  from  Virginia,  gave  earl  Corn- 
wallis a  decided  superiority,  and  enabled  him 
to  attempt  the  reduction  of  North  Carolina, 
with  a  force  sufficient  to  bear  down  all  prob- 
able opposition.  Arnold  was  before  him  in 
Virginia,  wdiile  &'outh  Carolina  in  his  rear 
was  considered  as  completely  subdued.  His 
lordship  had  much  to  hope  and  little  to  fear. 


His  admirers  flattered  him  with  the  exjiect- 
ation,  that  his  victory  at  Camden  would  but 
prove  the  dawn  of  his  glory  ;  and  that  the 
events  of  tlie  approaching  campaign  would 
immortalize  his  name,  as  the  conqueror,  at 
least,  of  the  southern  states.  Whilst  lord 
Cornwallis  was  indulging  these  pleasing 
prospects,  ht^  received  intelligence,  no  less 
unwelcome  than  unexpected,  that  Tarleton, 
his  favorite  officer,  in  whom  he  placed  the 
greatest  confidence,  instead  of  driving  Mor- 
gan out  of  the  country,  was  completely  de- 
feated by  hhn.  This  surprised  and  morti- 
fied, but  did  not  discourage  his  lordship.  He 
hoped  by  vigorous  exertions  soon  to  obtain 
reparation  for  the  late  disastrous  event,  and 
even  to  recover  what  he  had  lost.  With 
the  expectation  of  retaking  the  prisoners 
captured  at  the  Cowpens,  and  to  obliterate 
the  impression  made  by  the  issue  of  the  late 
action  at  that  place,  his  lordship  instantly 
determined  on  the  pursuit  of  general  Mor- 
gan, who  had  moved  oft'  towards  Virginia 
with  his  prisoners.  The  movements  of  the 
royal  army  in  consequence  of  this  determi- 
nation, induced  general  Greene  immediately 
to  retreat  from  Hicks'  Creek,  lest  the  Brit- 
ish, by  crossing  the  upper  sources  of  the 
Pedee,  should  get  between  him  and  the  de- 
tachment, which  was  encumbered  with  the 
prisoners.  In  this  critical  situation  general 
Greene  left  the  main  army,  under  the  com- 
mand of  general  Huger,  and  rode  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  through  the  country,  to 
join  the  detachment  under  general  Morgan, 
that  he  might  be  in  front  of  lord  Cornwallis, 
and  direct  the  motions  of  both  divisions  of 
his  army,  so  as  to  form  a  speedy  junction 
between  them.  Immediately  after  the  ac- 
tion, on  the  seventeenth  of  January,  Morgan 
sent  on  his  prisoners  under  a  proper  guard, 
and  having  made  every  arrangement  in.  his 
power  for  their  security,  retreated  with  ex- 
pedition. Nevertheless  the  British  gained 
ground  upon  him.  Morgan  intended  to  cross 
the  mountains  with  his  detachment  and  pris- 
oners, that  he  might  more  effectually  secure 
the  latter :  but  Greene,  on  his  arrival,  order- 
ed the  prisoners  to  Charlotteville,  and  di- 
rected tlie  troops  to  Guildford  court-house, 
to  which  place  he  had  also  ordered  general 
Huarer  to  proceed  with  the  main  arn^y. 

The  British  had  urged  the  pursuit  witli 
so  much  rapidity,  that  they  reached  the  Ca- 
tawba on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  on 
which  their  fleeing  adversaries  had  crossed 
it.  Before  the  next  morning  a  heavy  fall  of 
rain  made  that  river  impassable.  The  Ameri- 
cans, confident  of  the  justice  of  their  cause, 
considered  this  event  as  an  interposition  of 
Providence  in  their  favor.  It  is  certain,  that 
if  the  rising  of  the  river  had  taken  place  a 
few  hours  sooner,  general  Morgan,  with  his 
whole  detachment,  and  five  hundred  prison- 


280 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ers,  would  have  scarcely  had  any  chance  of 
escape.  When  the  flood  had  subsided  so 
far  as  to  leave  the  river  fordable,  a  large 
proportion  of  the  king's  troops  received  or- 
ders to  be  in  readiness  to  march  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  first  of  Feb- 
ruary. Feints  had  been  made  of  passing  at 
several  diiierent  fords,  but  the.  real  attempt 
was  made  at  a  ford  near  M'Cowans,  the 
north  banks  of  which  were  defended  by  a 
small  guard  of  militia,  commanded  by  gen- 
eral Davidson.  The  British  marched  through 
the  river,  upwards  of  five  hundred  yards 
v/ide,  and  about  three  feet  deep,  sustaining 
a  constant  fire  from  the  militia  on  the  oppD- 
site  bank,  without  returning  it  till  they  had 
made  good  their  passage.  The  light  infan- 
try and  grenadier  companies,  as  soon  as  they 
reached  the  land,  dispersed  the  Americans, 
general  Davidson,  the  brave  leader  of  the 
latter,  being  killed  on  the  first  onset.  The 
militia  throughout  the  neighboring  settle- 
ments v/ere  dispirited,  and  but  few  of  them 
could  be  persuaded  to  take  or  keep  the  field. 
A  small  party  which  collected  about  ten 
miles  from  the  ford,  was  attacked  and  dis- 
})ersed  by  lieutenant-colonel  Tarleton.  All 
the  fords  were  abandoned,  and  the  whole 
royal  army  crossed  over  without  any  farther 
opposition.  The  passage  of  the  Catawba 
being  effected,  the  Americans  continued  to 
flee  and  the  British  to  pursue.  The  former 
by  expeditious  movements  crossed  the  Yad- 
kin, partly  in  flats,  and  partly  by  fording, 
on  the  second  and  third  days  of  February, 
and  secured  their  boats  on  the  north  side. 
Though  the  British  were  close  in  their  rear, 
yet  the  want  of  boats,  and  the  rapid  rising 
of  the  river  from  the  preceding  rains,  made 
their  crossing  impossible.  This  second  hair- 
breadth escape  was  considered  by  the  Ameri- 
cans as  a  farther  evidence  that  their  cause 
v/as  favored  by  Heaven. 

The  British  having  failed  in  their  first 
scheme  of  passing  the  Yadkin,  were  obliged 
to  cross  at  the  upper  fords ;  but  before  this 
was  completed,  the  two  divisions  of  the 
American  army,  on  the  seventh  of  February, 
made  a  junction  at  Guildford  court-house. 
Though  this  had  taken  place,  their  combined 
numbers  were  so  much  inferior  to  the  Brit- 
is'i,  that  general  Greene  could  not  with  any 
propriety  risk  an  action.  He  therefore  call- 
ed a  council  of  officers,  who  unanimously 
concurred  in  opinion  that  he  ought  to  retire 
over  the  Dan,  and  to  avoid  an  engagement 
till  he  was  reinforced.  Lord  Cornwallis, 
knowing  t'lo  inr'T'ority  of  tlie  American 
force,  conceivoii  iiopes,  by  getting  between 
general  Greene  and  Virginia,  to  cut  off  his 
retreat,  intercept  his  supplies  and  reiiiforce- 
ments,  and  oblige  him  to  fight  under  many 
disadvantages.  With  t'nis  vic'V,  his  lordship 
kept  the   upper   country,  ^vhere   only  the 


rivers  are  fordable — supposing  that  his  ad- 
versaries, from  the  want  of  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  flats,  could  not  make  good  their  pas- 
sage in  the  deep  water  below,  or,  in  case  of 
their  attempting  it,  he  expected  to  overtake 
and  force  them  to  action  before  they  could 
cross.  In  this  expectation  he  was  deceived. 
General  Greene  by  good  management  elud- 
ed his  lordship.  The  British  urged  their 
pursuit  with  so  much  rapidity,  that  the 
American  light  troops  were  on  the  fourteenth 
compelled  to  retire  upwards  of  forty  miles. 
By  the  most  indefatigable  exertions,  general 
Greene  had  that  day  transported  his  army, 
artillery,  and  baggage,  over  the  river  Dan 
into  Virginia.  So  rapid  was  the  pursuit,  and 
so  narrow  the  escape,  that  the  van  of  the 
pursuing  British  just  arrived  as  the  rear  of 
the  Americans  had  crossed.  The  hardships 
and  difficulties  which  the  royal  army  had 
undergone  in  this  march,  were  exceeded  by 
the  mortification  that  all  their  toils  and  ex- 
ertions were  to  no  purpose.  They  conceiv- 
ed it  next  to  impossible  that  general  Greene 
could  escape  without  receiving  a  decisive 
blow.  They  therefore  cheerfully  submitted 
to  difficulties,  of  which  they  who  reside  in 
cultivated  countries  can  form  no  adequate 
ideas.  After  surmounting  incredible  hard- 
ships, when  they  fancied  themselves  within 
grasp  of  their  object,  they  discovered  that 
all  their  hopes  were  blasted. 

PLANS  OF  LORD  CORNTVALLIS  DE- 
FEATED. 

The  continental  army  being  driven  out 
of  North  Carolina,  lord  Cornwallis  thought 
the  opportunity  favorable  for  assembling  the 
loyalists.  With  this  view  he  left  the  Dan, 
and  proceeded  to  Hillsborough.  On  his  ar- 
rival there,  he  erected  the  king's  standard, 
and  published  a  proclamation,  inviting  all 
loyal  subjects  to  repair  to  it  with  their  arms 
and  ten  days'  provision,  and  assuring  them 
of  his  readiness  to  concur  with  them  in 
effectual  measures  for  suppressing  the  re- 
mains of  rebellion,  and  for  the  re-establish- 
ment of  good  order  and  constitutional  gov- 
ernment. Soon  after  the  king's  standard 
was  erected  at  Hillsborough,  some  hundreds 
of  the  inhabitants  rode  into  the  British  camp. 
They  seemed  to  be  very  desirous  of  peace, 
but  averse  to  any  co-operation  for  procuring 
it.  They  acknowledged  the  continentals 
were  chased  out  of  the  province,  but  ex- 
pressed their  apprehensions  that  they  would 
soon  return,  and  on  the  whole  declined  to 
take  any  decided  part  in  a  cause  which  yet 
appeared  dangerous.  Notwithstanding  the 
indifference  or  timidity  of  the  loyalists  near 
Hillsborough,  lord  Cornwallis  hoped  for  sub- 
stantial aid  from  the  inhabitants  between 
Haw  and  Deep  River.  He  therefore  detach- 
ed lieutenant-colonel  Tarleton  with  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  to  give  countenance  to 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


281 


the  friends  of  royal  government  in  that  dis- 
trict. Greene  being  informed  that  many  of 
the  inhabitants  had  joined  his  lordsliip,  and 
that  they  were  repairing  in  great  numbers 
to  make  their  submission,  was  apprehensive 
that  unless  some  spirited  measure  was  im- 
mediately taken,  the  whole  country  would 
be  lost  to  the  Americans.  He  therefore 
concluded,  at  every  hazard,  to  recross  the 
Dan.  This  was  done  by  the  light  troops, 
{ind  these  on  the  next  day  were  followed  by 
the  main  body,  accompanied  with  a  brigade 
of  Virginia  n'lilitia.  Immediately  after  the 
return  of  the  Americans  to  North  Carolina, 
some  of  their  light  troops,  commanded  by 
general  Pickens  and  lieutenant-colonel  Lee, 
were  detached  in  pursuit  of  Tarleton,  who 
liad  been  sent  to  encourage  the  insurrection 
C'f  the  loyalists.  Three  hundred  and  fifty 
of  these  tories  commanded  by  colonel  Pyles, 
;vhen  on  their  w^ay  to  join  the  British,  fell 
in  with  this  light  American  party,  and  mis- 
took them  for  the  royal  detachment  sent  for 
thsir  support  The  Americans  attacked 
them,  laboring  under  this  mistake,  to  great 
advantage,  and  cut  them  down  as  they  were 
crying  out,  "  God  save  the  king,"  and  mak- 
ing protestcitions  of  their  loyalty.  Natives 
of  txhe  British  colonies,  who  were  of  this 
cliaracter,  more  rarely  found  mercy  than 
European  soldiers.  Tarleton  was  refreshing 
his  legion  about  a  miie  from  the  scene  of 
slaughter.  Upon  hearing  the  alarm,  he  re- 
crossed  the  Haw  and  returned  to  Hillsbo- 
rough. On  his  retreat  he  cut  down  several 
of  the  royalists,  as  they  were  advancing  to 
join  the  British  army,  mistaking  them  for 
tiie  rebel  militia  of  the  country.  These 
events,  together  with  the  return  of  the 
American  army,  overset  all  the  schemes  of 
lord  Cornwallis.  The  tide  of  public  senti- 
ment was  no  longer  in  his  favor.  The  re- 
cruiting service  in  behalf  of  the  royal  army 
was  entirely  stopped.  The  absence  of  the 
American  army,  for  one  fortnight  longer, 
might  have  turned  the  scale.  The  advocates 
for  royal  government  being  discouraged  by 
these  adverse  accidents,  and  being  also  gene- 
rally deficient  in  that  ardent  zeal  which 
characterized  the  patriots,  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  act  with  confidence.  They  were 
so  dispersed  over  a  large  extent  of  a  thinly 
settled  country,  that  it  was  difficult  to  bring 
them  to  unite  in  any  common  plan.  They 
had  no  superintending  congress  to  give  sys- 
tem or  concert  to  their  schemes.  While 
each  little  district  pursued  separate  measures, 
all  were  obliged  to  submit  to  the  American 
governments.  Numbers  of  them,  who  were 
on  their  way  to  join  lord  Cornwallis,  struck 
with  terror  at  the  unexpected  return  of  the 
American  army,  and  the  unhappy  fate  of 
their  brethren,  went  home  to  wait  events. 
Their  policy  wae  of  that  timid  kind,  which 
24* 


disposed  them  to  be  more  attentive  to  per- 
sonal safety,  than  to  the  success  of  either 
army. 

BATTLE  OF  GUILDFORD. 

Though  general  Greene  had  recrossed, 
his  plan  was  not  to  venture  upon  an  imme- 
diate action,  but  to  keep  alive  the  courage 
of  his  party,  to  depress  that  of  the  loyalists, 
and  to  harass  the  foragers  and  detachments 
of  the  British,  till  reinforcements  should  ar- 
rive. While  Greene  was  unequal  even  to 
defensive  operations,  he  lay  seven  days  with- 
in ten  miles  of  Cornwallis's  camp,  but  took 
a  new  position  every  night,  and  kept  it  a 
profound  secret  where  the  next  was  to  be. 
By  such  frequent  movements  lord  Cornwallis 
could  not  gain  intelligence  of  his  situation 
in  time  to  profit  by  it.  He  manoeuvred  in 
this  manner  to  avoid  an  action  for  three 
weeks.  By  the  end  of  that  period,  two 
brigades  of  militia  from  North  Carolina,  and 
one  from  Virginia,  together  with  four  hun- 
dred regulars  raised  for  eighteen  months, 
joined  his  army,  and  gave  him  a  superiority 
of  numbers:  he  therefore  determined  no 
longer  to  avoid  an  engagement.  Lord  Corn- 
wallis having  long  sought  for  this,  no  longer 
delay  took  place  on  either  side.  The  Ameri- 
can army  consisted  of  about  four  thousand 
four  hiindred  men,  of  which  more  than  one 
half  were  militia ;  the  British  of  about  two 
thousand  four  hundred,  chiefly  troops  grown 
veteran  in  victories.  The  former  was  drawn 
up  in  three  lines ;  the  front  composed  of 
North  Carolina  militia,  the  second  of  Vir- 
ginia militia,  the  third  and  last  of  conti- 
nental troops  commanded  by  general  Huger 
and  colonel  Williams.  After  a  brisk  can- 
nonade in  front,  the  British  advanced  in 
three  columns ;  the  Hessians  on  the  right, 
the  guards  in  the  centre,  and  lieutenant- 
colonel  Webster's  brigade  on  the  left ;  and 
attacked  the  front  line.  This  gave  way 
when  their  adversaries  were  at  the  distance 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  yards,  from  the 
misconduct  of  a  colonel,  who,  on  the  ad- 
vance of  the  enemy,  called  out  to  an  officer 
at  some  distance  that  he  would  be  surround- 
ed. The  alarm  was  sufficient :  without  in- 
quiring into  the  probability  of  what  had  been 
injudiciously  suggested,  the  militia  precipi- 
tately quitted  the  field.  As  one  good  officer 
may  sometimes  mend  the  face  of  affairs,  so  the 
misconduct  of  a  bad  one  may  mjure  a  whole 
army.  Untrained  men  when  on  the  field 
are  similar  to  each  other.  The  difference 
of  their  conduct  depends  much  on  inci- 
dental circumstances,  and  on  none  more 
than  the  manner  of  their  being  led  on,  and 
the  quality  of  the  officers  by  whom  they  are 
commanded. 

The  Virginia  militia  stood  their  ground, 
and  kept  up  their  fire  till  they  were  ordered 
to  retreat     General   Stevens,  their  com- 


282 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


mander,  had  posted  forty  riflemen  at  equal 
distances,  twenty  paces  in  the  rear  of  his 
brigade,  with  orders  to  shoot  every  man 
who  should  leave  his  post.  The  continental 
troops  were  last  engaged,  and  maintained 
the  conflict  with  great  spirit  for  an  hour  and 
a  half  At  length  the  discipline  of  veteran 
troops  gained  the  day.  They  broke  the 
second  Maryland  brigade,  turned  the  Ameri- 
can left  flank,  and  got  in  rear  of  the  Virginia 
brigade.  They  appeared  to  be  gaining 
Greene's  right,  which  would  have  encircled 
the  whole  of  the  continental  troops :  a  re 
treat  was  therefore  ordered.  This  was  made 
in  good  order,  and  no  farther  than  over  the 
Reedy  Fork,  a  distance  of  about  three  miles, 
Greene  halted  there,  and  drew  up  till  he 
had  collected  most  of  the  stragglers,  and 
then  retired  to  Speedwell's  iron-works,  ten 
miles  distant  from  Guildford.  The  Ameri- 
cans lost  four  pieces  of  artillery,  and  two 
ammimition-wagons.  The  victory  cost  the 
British  dear.  Their  killed  and  wounded 
amounted  to  several  hundreds.  The  guards 
lost  colonel  Stuart  and  three  captains,  be^ 
sides  subalterns.  Colonel  Webster,  an  offi- 
cer of  distinguished  merit,  died  of  his  wounds, 
to  the  great  regret  of  the  whole  army.  Gen- 
erals O'Hara  and  Howard,  and  lieutenant- 
colonel  Tarleton,  were  wounded.  About 
three  hundred  of  the  continentals,  and  one 
hundred  of  the  Virginia  militia,  were  killed 
or  wounded.  Among  the  former  was  major 
Anderson,  of  the  Maryland  line,  a  most  val- 
uable officer;  of  the  latter  were  generals 
Huger  and  Stevens.  The  early  retreat  of 
the  North  Carolinians  saved  them  from  much 
loss.  The  American  army  sustained  a  great 
diminution,  by  the  numerous  fugitives,  who, 
instead  of  rejoining  the  camp,  went  to  their 
homes.  On  the  other  hand,  lord  Comwallis 
suffered  so  much,  that  he  was  in  no  condi- 
tion to  improve  the  advantage  he  had  gain- 
ed. The  British  had  only  the  name,  the 
Americans,  all  the  good  consequences  of  a 
victory.  General  Greene  retreated,  and  lord 
Comwallis  kept  the  field ;  but  notwithstand- 
ing, the  British  interest  in  North  Carolina 
was  from  that  day  ruined.  Soon  after  this 
action,  (on  the  eighteenth  of  March)  lord 
Comwallis  issued  a  proclamation  setting 
forth  his  complete  victory,  and  calling  on 
all  loyal  subjects  to  stand  forth,  and  take  an 
active  part  in  restoring  order  and  good  gov- 
ernment, and  offering  a  pardon  and  protec- 
tion to  all  rebels,  murderers  excepted,  who 
would  surrender  themselves  on  or  before  the 
twentieth  of  April.  On  the  next  day  after 
this  proclamation  was  issued,  his  lordship 
left  his  hospital  and  seventy-flve  wounded 
men,  with  the  numerous  loyalists,  in  the 
vicinity,  and  began  a  march  towards  Wil- 
mington, which  had  the  appearance  of  a  re- 
treat.    Major  Craig,  who  for  the  purposes 


of  co-operating  with  his  lordship,  had  been 
stationed  at  Wilmington,  was  not  able  to 
open  a  water-communication  with  the  Brit- 
ish army,  while  they  were  in  the  upper 
country.  The  distance,  the  narrowness  of 
Cape  Fear  River,  the  commanding  elevation 
of  its  banks,  and  the  hostile  sentiments  of  the 
inhabitants  on  each  side  of  it,  forbade  the 
attempt.  The  destitute  condition  of  the 
British  army  made  it  necessary  to  go  to 
these  supplies,  which  for  these  reasons  could 
not  be  brought  to  them. 

General  Greene  no  sooner  received  in- 
formation of  this  movement  of  lord  Com- 
wallis, than  he  put  his  army  in  motion  to 
follow  him.  As  he  had  no  means  of  pro- 
viding for  the  wounded,  of  his  own,  and  the 
British  forces,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  neigh- 
boring inhabitants  of  the  Quaker  persuasion, 
in  which  he  mentioned  his  being  brought  up 
a  Quaker,  and  urged  them  to  take  care  of 
the  wounded  on  both  sides.  His  recom- 
mendations prevailed,  and  the  Quakers  sup- 
plied the  hospitals  with  every  comfort  in 
their  power. 

Lord  Comwallis  halted  and  refreshed  his 
army  for  about  three  weeks  at  Wilmington, 
and  then  marched  across  the  country  to  Pe- 
tersburgh,  in  Virginia.  The  resolution  of 
returning  to  South  Carolina  was  formed  by 
general  Greene.  This  animated  the  friends 
of  congress  in  that  quarter.  Had  the  Ameri- 
can army  followed  his  lordship,  the  southern 
states  would  have  considered  themselves  con- 
quered ;  for  their  hopes  and  fears  prevailed 
just  as  the  armies  marched  north  or  south. 
Though  lord  Comwallis  marched  through 
North  Carolina  to  Virginia,  yet  as  the  Amer- 
ican army  returned  to  South  Carolina,  the 
people  considered  that  movement  of  his  lord- 
ship in  the  light  of  a  retreat. 

While  the  two  armies  were  in  North 
Carolina,  the  whig  inhabitants  of  South 
Carolina  were  animated  by  the  gallant  ex- 
ertions of  Sumter  and  Marion.  These  dis- 
tinguished partisans,  while  surrounded  with 
enemies,  kept  the  field.  Though  the  conti- 
nental army  was  driven  into  Virginia,  they 
did  not  despair  of  the  commonwealth.  Hav- 
ing mounted  their  followers,  their  motions 
were  rapid,  and  their  attacks  unexpected. 
With  their  light  troops  they  intercepted  the 
British  convoys  of  provisions,  infested  their 
out-posts,  beat  up  their  quarters,  and  harassed 
their  detachments  with  such  frequent  alarms, 
that  they  were  obliged  to  be  always  on  their 
guard. 

While  lord  Comwallis  was  preparing  to 
invade  Virginia,  general  Greene  determined 
to  recommence  offensive  military  operations 
in  the  southern  extreme  of  the  confederacy, 
in  preference  to  pursuing  his  lordship  into 
Virginia.  General  Sumter,  w^ho  had  warmly 
urged  this  measure,  was  about  this  time  au- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


283 


thorized  tx)  raise  a  state-brigade,  to  be  in 
service  for  eighteen  months.  He  had  also 
prepared  the  militia  to  co-operate  with  the 
returning  continentals.  With  these  forces, 
an  offensive  v^ar  was  recommenced  in  South 
Carolina,  and  prosecuted  with  spirit  and  suc- 
cess. 

Camden,  before  which  the  main  Ameri- 
can army  was  encamped,  is  a  village  situ- 
ated on  a  plain,  covered  on  the  south  and 
east  sides  by  the  Wateree  and  a  creek,  on  the 
western  and  northern  by  six  redoubts.  It 
was  defended  by  lord  Rawdon,  with  about 
nine  hundred  men.  The  American  army, 
consisting  only  of  about  an  equal  number  of 
continentals,  and  between  two  and  three 
hundred  militia,  was  unequal  to  the  task  of 
carrying  this  post  by  storm,  or  of  completely 
investing  it.  General  Greene,  therefore, 
took  a  good  position,  about  a  mile  distant,  in 
expectation  of  alluring  the  garrison  out  of 
their  lines.  Lord  Rawdon  armed  his  whole 
force,  and  with  great  spirit  sallied  on  the 
twenty-fifth.  An  engagement  ensued.  Vic- 
tory for  some  time  evidently  inclined  to  the 
Americans,  but  in  the  progress  of  the  ac- 
tion, the  premature  retreat  of  two  compa- 
nies eventually  occasioned  the  defeat  of  the 
whole  American  army.  Greene,  with  his 
usual  firmness,  instantly  took  measures  to 
prevent  lord  Rawdon  from  improving  the 
success  he  had  obtained.  He  retreated  with 
such  order,  that  most  of  his  wounded,  and 
all  his  artillery,  together  with  a  number  of 
prisoners,  were  carried  off.  The  British  re- 
tired to  Camden,  and  the  Americans  en- 
camped about  five  miles  from  their  former 
position.  Their  loss  was  between  two  and 
three  hundred.  Soon  after  this  action,  gene- 
ral Greene,  knowing  that  the  British  garri- 
son could  not  subsist  long  in  Camden  with- 
out fresh  supplies  from  Charlestown  or  the 
country,  took  such  positions  as  were  most 
likely  to  prevent  their  procuring  any. 

On  the  seventh  of  May,  lord  Rawdon  re- 
ceived a  reinforcement  of  four  or  five  hun- 
dred men,  by  the  arrival  of  colonel  Watson 
from  Pedee.  With  this  increase  of  strength, 
he  attempted,  on  the  next  day,  to  compel 
general  Greene  to  another  action,  but  found 
it  to  be  impracticable.  Failing  in  this  de- 
sign, he  returned  to  Camden,  and  burned  the 
jail,  mills,  many  private  houses,  and  a  great 
deal  of  his  own  baggage.  He  then  evacu- 
ated the  post,  and  retired  to  the  southward 
of  Santee.  His  lordship  discovered  as  much 
prudence  in  evacuating  Camden,  as  he  had 
shown  bravery  in  its  defence.  The  position 
of  the  American  army,  in  a  great  measure, 
intercepted  supplies  from  the  adjacent  coun- 
try. The  British  in  South  Carolina,  now 
cut  off  from  all  communication  with  lord 
Cornwallis,  would  have  hazarded  the  capita], 
by  keeping  large  detachments  in  their  distant 


out-posts :  they  therefore  resolved  to  contract 
their  limits,  by  retiring  within  the  Santee. 
This  measure  animated  the  friends  of  con- 
gress in  the  extremities  of  the  state,  and 
disposed  them  to  co-operate  with  the  Amer- 
ican army. 

While  operations  were  carrying  on  against 
the  small  posts,  Greene  proceeded  with  his 
main  army,  and  laid  siege  to  Ninety-six,  in 
which  lieutenant-colonel  Cruger,  with  up- 
wards of  five  hundred  men,  was  advan- 
tageously posted.  On  the  left  of  the  besieg- 
ers was  a  work,  erected  m  the  form  of  a 
star;  on  the  right  was  a  strong  blockade 
fort,  with  two  block-houses  in  it.  The  town 
was  also  picketed  in  with  strong  pickets, 
and  surrounded  with  a  ditch,  and  a  bank, 
near  the  height  of  a  common  parapet.  The 
besiegers  were  more  numerous  than  the  be- 
sieged, but  the  disparity  was  not  great. 

The  siege  was  prosecuted  with  indefati- 
gable industry.  The  garrison  defended  them- 
selves with  spirit  and  address.  On  the  twen- 
ty-fifth of  May,  the  morning  after  the  siege 
began,  a  party  sallied  from  the  garrison,  and 
drove  the  advance  of  the  besiegers  from 
their  works.  The  next  night,  two  strong 
block  batteries  were  erected  at  the  distance 
of  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards.  Another 
battery,  twenty  feet  high,  was  erected  with- 
in two  hundred  and  twenty  yards,  and  soon 
after  a  fourth  was  erected  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  main  fort,  and  lastly,  a  rifle  bat- 
tery was  erected  thirty  feet  high,  within 
thirty  yards  of  the  ditch  ;  from  all  of  which 
the  besiegers  fired  into  the  British  works. 
The  abatis  was  turned,  and  a  mine  and  two 
trenches  were  so  far  extended,  as  to  be 
within  six  feet  of  the  ditch.  At  that  inter- 
esting moment,  intelligence  was  conveyed 
into  the  garrison,  that  lord  Rawdon  was 
near  at  hand  with  about  two  tliousand  men 
for  their  relief  These  had  arrived  in 
Charlestown  from  Ireland  after  the  siege  be- 
gan, and  were  marched  for  Ninety-six  on 
the  seventh  day  after  they  landed.  In  these 
circumstances,  general  Greene  had  no  al- 
ternative but  to  raise  the  siege,  or  attempt 
the  reduction  of  the  place  by  assault.  The 
latter  was  attempted.  Though  the  assailants 
displayed  great  resolution,  they  failed  of 
success.  On  this,  general  Greene  raised  tlie 
siege,  and  retreated  over  Saluda.  His  loss 
in  the  assault  and  previous  conflicts  was 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  men.  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Cruger  deservedly  gained  great  re- 
putation by  this  successful  defence.  He  was 
particularly  indebted  to  major  Greene,  who 
had  bravely  and  judiciously  defended  that 
redoubt,  for  the  reduction  of  which  the 
greatest  exertions  had  been  made.  I-ord 
Rawdon,  who  by  rapid  marches  was  near 
Ninety-six  at  the  time  of  the  assault,  pursu- 
ed the  Americans  as  far  as  the  Enoree  riv- 


284 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


er ;  but  without  overtaking  them.  Desist- 
ing from  this  fruitless  pursuit,  he  drew  off  a 
part  of  his  force  from  Ninety-six,  and  fixed 
a  detachment  at  the  Congaree.  General 
Greene,  on  hearing  that  the  British  force 
was  divided,  faced  about  to  give  them  bat- 
tle. I^rd  Rawdon,  no  less  surprised  than 
alarmed  at  this  unexpected  movement  of  his 
lately  retreating  foe,  abandoned  the  Conga- 
ree m  two  days  after  he  had  reached  it,  and 
marched  to  Orangeburgh.  General  Greene 
in  his  turn  pursued  and  offered  him  battle. 
His  lordship  would  not  venture  out,  and  his 
adversary  was  too  weak  to  attack  him  in  his 
encampment  with  any  prospect  of  success. 

Reasons  similar  to  those  which  induced 
the  British  to  evacuate  Camden,  weighed 
with  them  about  this  time  to  withdraw 
their  troops  from  Ninety-six.  While  the 
American  army  lay  near  Orangeburgh,  lieu- 
tenant-colonel Cruger,  having  evacuated  the 
post  he  had  gallantly  defended,  was  march- 
ing with  the  troops  of  that  garrison,  through 
the  forks  of  Edisto,  to  join  lord  Rawdon  at 
Orangeburgh.  General  Greene  being  un- 
able to  prevent  their  junction,  and  still  less 
so  to  stand  before  their  combined  force,  re- 
tired to  the  high  hills  of  Santee.  The  evac- 
uation of  Camden  having  been  effected  by 
striking  at  the  posts  below  it,  the  same  ma- 
noeuvre was  now  attempted  to  induce  the 
British  to  leave  Orangeburgh.  With  this 
view,  generals  Sumter  and  Marion,  with 
their  brigades,  and  the  legion  of  cavalry, 
were  detached  to  Monk's  Corner  and  Dor- 
chester. They  moved  down  different  roads, 
and  commenced  separate  and  successful  at- 
tacks, on  convoys  and  detachments,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Charle&town.  In  this  manner  was 
the  war  carried  on.  While  the  British  kept 
their  forces  compact,  they  could  not  cover 
the  country,  and  the  American  general  had 
the  prudence  to  avoid  fighting.  When  they 
divided  their  army,  their  detachments  were 
attacked  and  defeated.  While  they  were  in 
the  upper  country,  liglit  parties  of  Ameri- 
cans annoyed  their  small  posts  in  the  low^er 
wettlemente.  The  people  soon  found  that  the 
late  conquerors  were  not  able  to  afford  them 
their  promised  protection.  The  spirit  of  re- 
volt became  general,  and  the  royal  interest 
daily  declined. 

The  British  having  evacuated  all  their 
[wsts  to  the  northward  of  Santee  and  Con- 
f^-aree,  and  to  the  westward  of  Edisto,  con- 
ceived themselves  able  to  hold  all  that  fer- 
tile country,  which  is  in  a  great  measure 
inclosed  by  these  rivers.  They  therefore 
once  more  resumed  their  station  near  the 
junction  of  the  Wateree  and  Congaree. 

The  Americans  retired  to  their  former  po- 
sition on  the  high  liills  of  Santee,  and  the 
British  took  post  in  the  vicinity  of  Monk's 
Corner.     In  the  close  of  the  year  general 


Greene  moved  down  into  the  lower  country, 
and  about  the  same  time  the  British  aban- 
doned their  out-posts,  and  retired  with  their 
whole  force  to  the  quarter-house  on  Charles- 
town  Neck.  The  defence  of  the  country 
was  given  up,  and  the  conquerors,  who  had 
lately  carried  their  arras  to  the  extremitieis 
of  the  state,  seldom  aimed  at  anything  more 
than  to  secure  themselves  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  capital.  The  crops  which  had  been 
planted  in  the  spring  of  the  year  under  Brit- 
ish auspices,  and  with  the  expectation  of  af- 
fording them  supplies,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Americans,  and  administered  to  them  a 
seasonable  relief  A  few  excursions  were 
afterwards  made  by  the  British,  and  some 
small  enterprises  were  executed,  but  nothing 
of  more  general  consequence  occurred  than 
the  loss  of  property,  and  of  individual  lives. 

LORD  CORNWALLIS  PROCEEDS  TO  VIR- 
GINIA. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  lord 
Cornwallis,  soon  after  the  battle  of  Guildford, 
marched  to  Wilmington  in  North  Carolina. 
When  he  had  completed  that  march,  various 
plans  of  operation  were  presented  to  his 
view.  It  was  said  in  favor  of  his  proceednig 
southwardly,  that  the  country  between  Wil- 
mington and  Camden  was  barren,  and  of 
difficult  passage — that  an  embarkation  for 
Charlestown  would  be  both  tedious  and  dis- 
graceful, and  that  a  junction  with  the  rcyai 
forces  in  Virginia,  and  the  prosecution  of 
solid  operations  in  that  quarter,  would  be  the 
most  effectual  plan  for  effecting  and  secur- 
ing the  submission  of  the  more  southern 
states.  Other  arguments  of  apparently  equal 
force  urged  his  return  to  South  Caroling]. 
Previous  to  his  departure  for  Virginia,  he 
had  received  information  that  general  Greene 
had  begun  his  march  for  Camden,  and  he 
had  reason  from  past  experience  to  fear  that 
if  he  did  not  follow  him,  the  inhabitants,  ly 
a  second  revolt,  would  give  the  Am.eric&n 
army  a  superiority  over  the  small  force  left 
under  lord  Rawdon.  Though  his  lordship 
was  very  apprehensive  of  danger  frcm  that 
quarter,  he  hoped  either  that  lord  Rawdon 
would  be  able  to  stand  his  ground,  or  that 
general  Greene  would  follow  the  royal  army 
to  Virginia  ;  or  in  the  most  unfavorable 
event  he  flattered  himself,  that  by  the  con- 
quest of  Virginia,  the  recovery  of  South 
Carolina  would  be  at  any  time  practicable. 
His  lordship  having  too  much  spirit  to  turn 
back,  and  preferring  the  extensive  scale  of 
operations  which  Virginip-^iresented,  to  the 
narrow  one  of  preserving  past  conquests, 
determined  to  leave  Carolina  to  its  fate.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  April,  he  therefore  proceed- 
ed on  his  march  from  Wilmington  towards 
Virginia.  To  favor  the  passage  of  the  many 
rivers,  v/ith  v/hich  tlie  country  is  intersect- 
ed, two  boats  were  mounted  on  carriages 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


285 


and  taken  along  with  his  army.  The  king's 
troops  proceeded  several  days  without  oppo- 
sition, and  almost  without  intelligence.  The 
x\mericans  made  an  attempt  at  tSwifl  Creek, 
and  afterwards  at  Fishing  Creek,  to  stop 
their  progress,  but  without  any  effect.  The 
British  took  the  sliortest  road  to  Halifax, 
and  on  their  arrival  there  defeated  several 
parties  of  the  Americans,  and  took  some 
stores,  with  very  little  loss  on  their  side. 
The  Roanoke,  the  Meherrin,  and  the  Notta- 
way  rivers  were  successfully  crossed  by  the 
royal  army,  and  with  little  or  no  opposition 
from  the  dispersed  inhabitants.  In  less  than 
a  month  the  march  from  Wilmington  to  Pe- 
tersburgh  was  completed.  The  latter  had 
been  fixed  upon  as  the  place  of  rendezvous, 
ni  a  private  correspondence  with  general 
Philips.  By  this  combination  of  the  royal 
force  previously  employed  in  Virginia,  with 
the  troops  which  had  marched  from  Wil- 
mington, lord  Cornwallis  was  at  the  head  of 
a  very  powerful  army.  This  junction  was 
scarcely  completed,  when  lord  Cornwallis 
received  lord  Rawdon's  report  of  the  advan- 
tage he  had  gained  over  general  Greene,  on 
the  twenty-fifth  of  the  precedmg  month. 
About  the  same  time  he  received  informa- 
tion that  three  British  regiments  had  sailed 
from  Cork  for  Charlestown. 

These  two  events  eased  his  mind  of  all 
anxiety  for  South  Carolina,  and  inspired  him 
with  brilliant  hopes  of  a  glorious  campaign. 
He  considered  himself  as  having  already 
subdued  both  the  Carolinas,  and  as  being  in 
a  fair  way  to  increase  his  military  fame,  by 
the  addition  of  Virginia  to  the  list  of  his 
conquests.  By  the  late  combination  of  the 
royal  forces  under  Philips  and  Cornwallis, 
and  by  the  recent  arrival  of  a  reinforcement 
of  fifteen  hundred  men  directly  from  New- 
York,  Virginia  became  the  principal  theatre 
of  operation  for  the  remainder  of  the  cam- 
paign. The  formidable  force,  thus  collected 
in  one  body,  called  for  vigorous  exertions. 
The  defensive  operations,  in  opposition  to  it, 
were  principally  intrusted  to  the  marquis 
de  la  Fayette.  Early  in  the  year  he  had 
been  detached  from  the  main  American  army 
on  an  expedition,  the  object  of  which  was 
a  co-operation  with  the  French  fleet  in  cap- 
turing general  Arnold.  On  the  failure  of 
this,  the  marquis  marched  back  as  far  as  the 
head  of  Elk.  There  he  received  an  order 
to  return  to  Virginia  to  oppose  the  British 
forces,  which  had  become  more  formidable 
by  tlie  arrival  of  a  considerable  reinforce- 
ment, under  general  Philips.  He  proceeded 
without  delay  to  Richmond,  and  arrived 
there  the  day  before  the  British  reached 
?<'Ianchester,  on  the  opposite  side  of  James 
River.  Thus  was  the  capital  of  Vinrinia, 
at  that  time  filled  with  almost  all  the  mili- 
tary stores  of  the  state,  saved  from  imminent 


danger.  So  great  was  the  superiority  of 
numbers  on  the  side  of  the  British,  that  the 
marquis  had  before  him  a  labor  of  the  great- 
est difficulty,  and  was  pressed  with  many 
embarrassments.  In  the  first  moments  of 
the  rising  tempest,  and  till  he  could  provide 
against  its  utmost  rage,  he  began  to  retire 
with  his  little  army,  which  consisted  only  of 
about  one  thousand  regulars,  two  thou.sand 
militia,  and  sixty  dragoons. 

OPERATIONS  IN  VIRGINIA. 
Lord  Cornwallis  advanced  from  Peters- 
burgh  to  James  River,  which  he  crossed  at 
W^eston,  and  thence  marching  through  Hano- 
ver county,  crossed  the  South  Anna,  or  Pa- 
munkey  river.  The  marquis  followed  his 
motions,  but  at  a  guarded  distance.  The 
superiority  of  the  British  army,  especially 
of  their  cavalry,  which  they  easily  supplied 
with  good  horses  from  the  stables  and  pas- 
tures of  private  gentlemen  in  Virginia, 
enabled  him  to  traverse  the  country  in  all 
directions.  Two  distant  expeditions  were 
therefore  undertaken.  The  one  was  to 
Charlotteville,  with  the  view  of  capturing 
the  governor  and  assembly  of  the  state ;  the 
other  to  Point  of  Fork,  to  destroy  stores. 
Lieutenant-colonel  Tarleton,  to  whom  the 
first  was  committed,  succeeded  so  far  as  to 
disperse  the  assembly,  capture  seven  of  its 
members,  and  to  destroy  a  great  quantity  of 
stores  at  and  near  Charlotteville.  The  other 
expedition,  which  was  committed  to  lieuten- 
ant-colonel  Simcoe,  was  only  in  part  success- 
ful, for  the  Americans  had  previously  re- 
moved most  of  their  stores  from  Point  of 
Fork.  In  the  course  of  these  marches  and 
counter-marches,  immense  quantities  of  prop- 
erty were  destroyed,  and  some  unimportant 
skirmishes  took  place.  The  British  made 
many  partial  conquests,  but  these  were  sel- 
dom of  longer  duration  than  their  encamp- 
ments. The  young  marquis,  with  a  degree 
of  prudence  that  would  have  done  honor  to 
an  old  soldier,  acted  so  cautiously  on  the  de- 
fensive, and  made  so  judicious  a  choice  of 
posts,  and  showed  so  much  vigor  and  design 
in  his  movements,  as  to  prevent  any  advan- 
tage being  taken  of  his  weakness.  In  his 
circumstances,  not  to  be  destroyed  was  tri- 
umph. He  effected  a  junction  at  Racoon 
Ford  with  general  Wayne,  who  was  at  the 
head  of  eight  hundred  Pennsylvanians. 
While  this  junction  was  forming,  the  British 
got  between  the  American  army  and  its 
stores,  which  had  been  removed  from  Rich- 
mond to  Albemarle  old  court-house.  The 
possession  of  these  was  an  object  with  botli 
armies.  The  marquis,  by  forced  marches, 
o-ot  vvdthin  a  few  miles  of  tlie  British  army, 
when  they  wer©  two  days'  march  from  x^lbe- 
marle  old  court-house.  The  British  general 
considered  himself  as  sure  of  his  adversary, 
for  he  knew  that  the  stores  were  his  object; 


286 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  he  conceived  it  impracticable  for  the. 
marquis  to  get  between  him  and  the  stores  ; 
but  by  a  road,  in  passing  which  he  might  be 
attacked  to  advantage.  The  marquis  had 
the  address  to  extricate  himself  from  this 
difficulty,  by  opening  in  tlie  night  a  nearer 
road  to  Albemarle  old  court-house,  which 
had  been  long  disused  and  was  much  em- 
barrassed. To  the  surprise  of  lord  Cornwal- 
lis,  the  marquis  fixed  himself  the  next  day, 
June  eighteenth,  between  the  British  army 
and  the  American  stores.  Lord  Cornwallis 
finding  his  schemes  frustrated,  fell  back  to 
Richmond.  About  this  time  the  marquis's 
army  was  reinforced  by  Steuben's  troops, 
and  by  militia  from  the  parts  adjacent.  He 
followed  lord  Cornwallis,  and  had  the  address 
to  impress  him  with  an  idea  that  the  Ameri- 
can army  was  much  greater  than  it  really 
was.  His  lordship  therefore  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  retreated  to  Williamsburgh.  The  day 
after  the  main  body  of  the  British  army  ar- 
rived there,  their  rear  was  attacked  by  an 
American  light  corps  under  colonel  Butler, 
and  sustained  a  considerable  loss. 

It  being  a  principal  object  of  the  campaign 
to  fix  on  a  strong  permanent  post  or  place 
of  arms  in  the  Chesapeak,  for  the  security 
of  both  the  army  and  navy,  and  Portsmouth 
and  Hampton  road  having  both  been  pro- 
nounced mifit  for  that  purpose,  York-Town 
and  Gloucester  Points  were  considered  as 
the  most  likely  to  accord  with  the  views  of 
the  royal  commanders.  Portsmouth  was 
therefore  evacuated,  and  its  garrison  trans- 
ferred to  York-Town.  Lord  Cornwallis  ap- 
plied himself  with  industry  to  fortify  his 
new  posts,  so  as  to  render  them  tenable  by 
his  present  army,  amounting  to  seven  thou- 
sand men,  against  any  force  that  he  supposed 
likely  to  be  brought  against  them. 

Count  de  Grasse,  with  a  French  fleet  of 
twenty-eight  sail  of  the  line  from  the  West 
Indies,  on  the  thirtieth  of  August  entered 
the  Chesapeak,  and  about  the  same  time  in- 
telligence arrived,  that  the  French  and  Amer- 
ican arm.ies  which  had  been  lately  stationed 
in  tlie  more  northern  states,  were  advancing 
towards  Virginia.  Count  de  Grasse,  with- 
out loss  of  time,  blocked  up  York  River  with 
three  large  ships  and  some  frigates,  and 
moored  the  principal  part  of  the  fleet  in  Lyn- 
haven  Bay.  Three  thousand  two  hundred 
French  troops,  brought  in  this  fleet  from  the 
West  Indies,  commanded  by  the  marquis  de 
St.  Simon,  were  disembarked,  and  soon  after 
formed  a  junction  with  the  continental  troops 
under  the  marquis  de  la  Fayette,  and  the 
whole  took  post  at  Williamsburgh.  An  attack 
on  this  force  was  intended,  but  before  all  the 
arrangements  subservient  to  its  execution 
were  fixed  upon,  letters  of  an  early  date  in 
September  were  received  by  lord  Cornwal- 
lis from  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  announcing  that 


he  would  do  his  utmost  to  reinforce  the  royal 
army  in  the  Chesapeak,  or  make  every  di- 
version in  his  power,  and  that  admiral  Digby 
was  hourly  expected  on  the  coast.  On  the 
receipt  of  this  intelligence,  earl  Cornwallis, 
not  thinking  himself  justified  in  hazarding 
an  engagement,  abandoned  the  resolution  of 
attacking  the  combined  force  of  Fayette  and 
St.  Simon. 

Admiral  Graves,  with  twenty  sail  of  the 
line,  made  an  efibrt  for  the  relief  of  lord 
Cornwallis,  but  without  eflfecting  his  pur- 
pose. When  he  appeared  off'  the  Capes  of 
Virginia,  M.  de  Grasse  went  out  to  meet  him, 
and  an  indecisive  engagement  took  place  on 
the  seventh  of  September.  The  British 
were  willing  to  renew  the  action,  but  M.  de 
Grasse  for  good  reasons  declined  it.  His 
chief  object  in  coming  out  of  the  Capes  was 
to  cover  a  French  fleet  of  eight  line-of-bat- 
tle  ships,  which  was  expected  from  Rhode- 
Island.  In  conformity  to  a  preconcerted 
plan,  count  de  Barras,  commander  of  this 
fleet,  had  sailed  for  the  Chesapeak,  about 
the  time  de  Grasse  sailed  from  the  West  In- 
dies for  the  same  place.  To  avoid  the  Brit- 
ish fleet,  he  had  taken  a  circuit  by  Bermuda. 
For  fear  tliat  the  British  fleet  might  inter- 
cept him  on  his  approach  to  the  Capes  of 
Virginia,  de  Grasse  came  out  to  be  at  hand 
for  his  protection.  While  Graves  and  de 
Grasse  were  manceuvring  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Chesapeak,  count  de  Barras  passed  the 
former  in  the  night,  and  got  within  the  Capee 
of  Virginia.  This  gave  the  French  fleet  a 
decided  superiority.  Admiral  Graves  soon 
took  his  departure,  and  M.  de  Grasse  re-en- 
tered the  Chesapeak.  All  this  time,  con- 
formably to  the  well-digested  plan  of  the 
campaign,  the  French  and  the  American 
forces  were  marching  through  the  middle 
states  on  their  way  to  York-Town.  To  un- 
derstand in  their  proper  connexion  the  great 
events  shortly  to  be  described,  it  is  necessary 
to  go  back  and  trace  the  remote  causes 
which  brought  on  this  grand  combination  of 
fleets  and  armies  which  put  a  period  to  the 
war. 

AIDS  FROM  FRANCE. 

The  fall  of  Charlestown  in  May  1780,  and 
the  complete  rout  of  the  American  and  south- 
ern army  in  August  following,  together  with 
the  increasing  inability  of  the  Americans  to 
carry  on  the  war,  gave  a  serious  alarm  to 
the  friends  of  independence.  In  this  low 
ebb  of  their  affairs,  a  pathetic  statement  of 
their  distresses  was  made  to  their  ally  the 
king  of  France.  To  give  greater  efficacy 
to  their  solicitations,  congress  appointed  lieu- 
tenant-colonel John  Laurens  their  special 
minister,  and  directed  him,  after  repairing 
to  the  court  of  Versailles,  to  urge  the  neces- 
sity of  speedy  and  effectual  succor,  and  in 
particular  to  solicit  for  a  loan  of  money,  and 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


287 


the  co-operation  of  a  French  fleet,  in  attempt- 
ing some  important  enterprise  against  the 
common  enemy.  At  this  crisis  his  most  Chris- 
tian majesty  gave  his  American  allies  a  sub- 
sidy of  six  millions  of  livres,  and  became 
their  security  for  ten  millions  more,  borrowed 
for  their  use  in  the  United  Netherlands.  A 
naval  co-operation  was  promised,  and  a  con- 
junct expedition  against  their  common  foe 
was  projected. 

The  American  war  was  now  so  far  in- 
Tolved  in  the  consequences  of  naval  opera- 
tions, that  a  superior  French  fleet  seemed 
to  be  the  only  hinge  on  which  it  was  likely 
soon  to  take  a  favorable  turn.  The  British 
army  being  parcelled  in  the  different  sea- 
ports of  the  United  States,  any  division  of 
it  blocked  up  by  a  French  fleet,  could  not 
long  resist  the  superior  combined  force 
which  might  be  brought  to  operate  against 
it.  The  marquis  de  Castries,  who  directed 
the  marine  of  France,  with  great  precision 
calculated  the  naval  force  which  the  British 
could  concentre  on  the  coast  of  the  United 
States,  and  disposed  his  own  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  insured  him  a  superiority.  In  con- 
formity to  these  principles,  and  in  subserv- 
iency to  the  design  of  the  campaign,  M.  de 
Grasse  sailed  in  March  1781  from  Brest, 
with  twenty-five  sail  of  the  line,  several 
thousand  land  forces,  and  a  large  convoy, 
amounting  to  more  than  two  hundred  ships. 
A  small  part  of  this  force  was  destined  for 
the  East  Indies,  but  M.  de  Grasse  with  the 
greater  part  sailed  for  Martinique.  The 
British  fleet  then  in  the  West  Indies  had 
been  previously  weakened  by  the  departure 
of  a  squadron  for  the  protection  of  the  ships 
which  were  employed  in  carrying  to  Eng- 
land the  booty  which  had  been  taken  at  St. 
Eustatius.  The  British  admirals  Hood  and 
Drake  were  detached  to  intercept  the  out- 
ward-bound French  fleet  commanded  by  M. 
de  Grasse ;  but  a  junction  between  his  force 
and  eight  ships  of  the  line,  and  one  of  fifty 
guns,  which  were  previously  at  Martinique 
and  St.  Domingo,  was  nevertheless  effect- 
ed. By  this  combination  of  fi-esh  ships  from 
Europe,  with  the  French  fleet  previously  in 
the  West  Indies,  they  had  a  decided  superi- 
ority. M.  de  Grasse  having  finished  his 
business  in  the  West  Indies,  sailed  in  the 
beginning  of  August  xvith  a  prodigious  con- 
voy. After  seeing  this  out  of  danger,  he 
directed  his  course  for  the  Chesapeak,  and 
arrived  there,  as  has  been  related,  on  the 
tliirteenth  of  the  same  month.  Five  days 
before  his  arrival  in  the  Chesapeak,  the 
French  fleet  in  Rhode-Island  sailed  for  the 
same  place.  These  fleets,  notwithstanding 
their  original  distance  from  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, and  from  each  other,  coincided  in  their 
operations  in  an  extraordinary  maimer,  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  military  calculation. 


They  all  tended  to  one  object  and  ac  one 
and  the  same  time,  and  that  object  was  nei- 
ther known  nor  suspected  by  the  weak  and 
ill-informed  British  ministry,  till  the  proper 
season  for  counteraction  was  elapsed.  The 
plan  of  operations  had  been  so  well  digested, 
and  was  so  faithfully  executed  by  the  differ- 
ent commanders,  that  general  Washington 
and  count  Rochambeau  had  passed  the  Brit- 
ish head-quarters  in  New- York,  and  were 
considerably  advanced  in  their  way  to  York- 
Town  before  count  de  Grasse  had  reached 
the  American  coast.  This  was  effected  in 
the  following  manner  :  Mens,  de  Barras,  aj)- 
pointed  to  the  command  of  the  French  squad- 
ron at  Newport,  on  the  sixth  of  May  arrived 
at  Boston  with  dispatches  for  count  de  Roch- 
ambeau. An  interview  soon  after  took  place 
at  Weathersfield,  between  general  Wash- 
ington, Knox,  and  Du  Portail,  on  the  part 
of  the  Americans,  and  count  de  Rocham- 
beau, and  the  chevalier  Chastelleux,  on  the 
part  of  the  French.  At  this  interview,  an 
eventual  plan  of  the  whole  campaign  was 
fixed.  This  was  to  lay  siege  to  New-Y^ork 
in  concert  with  a  French  fleet,  which  was 
to  arrive  on  the  coast  in  the  month  of  Au- 
gust. It  was  agreed  that  the  French  troops 
should  march  towards  the  North  River : 
the  French  troops  marched  from  Rhode- 
Island  in  June,  and  early  in  the  following 
month  joined  the  American  army.  About 
the  time  this  junction  took  place,  general 
Washington  marched  his  army  from  their 
winter  encampment  near  Peek's  Kill,  to  the 
vicinity  of  Kingsbridge.  General  Lincoln  fell 
down  the  North  River  with  a  detachment 
in  boats,  and  took  possession  of  the  ground 
where  Fort  Independence  formerly  stood.  An 
attack  was  made  upon  him,  but  was  soon  dis- 
continued. The  British  about  this  tune  re- 
tired with  almost  the  whole  of  their  force 
to  New- York  Island.  General  Washington 
hoped  to  be  able  to  commence  operations 
against  New- York,  about  the  middle,  or  at 
farthest,  the  latter  end  of  July. 

That  tardiness  of  the  states,  which  at 
other  times  had  brought  them  near  the  brink 
of  ruin,  was  now  the  accidental  cause  of 
real  service.  Had  they  sent  forward  their 
recruits  for  the  regular  army,  and  their  quo- 
tas of  militia,  as  was  expected,  the  siege  of 
New- York  would  have  commenced  in  the 
latter  end  of  July,  or  early  in  August.  While 
the  season  was  wasting  away  in  expectation 
of  these  reinforcements,  lord  Comwallis,  as 
has  been  mentioned,  fixed  himself  near  tlie 
Capes  of  Virginia.  His  situation  there,  the 
arrival  of  a  reinforcement  of  three  thousand 
Germans  from  Europe  at  New-York,  the 
superior  strength  of  that  garrison,  the  fail- 
ure of  the  states,  in  filling  up  their  battal- 
ions, and  embodying  their  militia,  and  espe- 
cially recent  intelligence   from   count  de 


288 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Grasse,  that  his  destination  was  fixed  to  the 
Chesapeak,  concurred,  about  the  middle  of 
August,  to  make  a  total  change  in  the  plan 
cf  the  campaign. 

The  appearance  of  an  intention  to  attack 
New- York  was  nevertheless  kept  up.  While 
this  deception  continued,  the  allied  army  on 
the  twenty-fourth  of  that  month  crossed  the 
North  River,  and  passed  on  the  way  of  Phil- 
adelphia to  York-Town.  An  attempt  to 
reduce  the  British  forces  in  Virgmia,  prom- 
ised success  with  more  expedition,  and  to 
secure  an  object  of  nearly  equal  import- 
ance with  the  reduction  of  New- York.  No 
one  can  undertake  to  say  what  would  have 
been  the  consequence,  if  the  allied  forces 
had  persevered  ui  their  original  plan ;  but 
it  is  evident  from  the  event,  that  no  success 
could  have  been  greater,  or  more  conducive 
to  the  establishment  of  their  schemes,  than 
what  resulted  from  their  operations  in  Vir- 
ginia. 

While  the  attack  of  New- York  was  in 
serious  contemplation,  a  letter  from  general 
Washington  detailuig  the  particulars  of  the 
intended  operations  of  the  campaign  being 
intercepted,  it  fell  mto  the  hands  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton.  After  the  plan  was  chang- 
ed, tlie  royal  commander  was  so  much  un- 
der  the  impression  of  the  intelligence  con 
tained  in  the  intercepted  letter,  that  he  be- 
lieved every  movement  towards  Virginia  to 
be  a  feint  calculated  to  draw  off  his  atten- 
tion from  the  defence  of  New- York.  Un- 
der the  influence  of  this  opinion,  he  bent  his 
whole  force  to  strengthen  that  post,  and 
suffered  the  French  and  American  armies 
to  pass  him  without  any  molestation.  When 
the  best  opportunity  of  striking  at  them  w^as 
elapsed,  then  for  the  first  time  he  was 
brought  to  believe  that  the  allies  had  fixed 
on  Virginia  for  the  theatre  of  their  combined 
operations.  As  truth  may  be  made  to  an- 
swer the  purposes  of  deception,  so  no  feint 
of  attacking  New- York  could  have  been 
more  successful  than  the  real  intention. 

In  the  latter  end  of  August,  the  American 
army  began  their  march  to  Virginia,  from 
the  neighborhood  of  New- York.  General 
Washington  had  advanced  as  far  as  Chester, 
before  he  received  the  news  of  the  arrival 
of  the  fleet  commanded  by  Monsieur  de 
Grasse.  The  French  troops  marched  at  the 
same  time,  and  for  the  same  place.  Gene- 
ral Washington  and  count  Rochambeau 
reached  Williamsburgh  on  the  fourteenth  of 
September.  They,  with  generals  Chastel- 
leux,  Du  Portail,  and  Knox,  proceeded  to 
visit  count  de  Grasse  on  board  his  ship  the 
Ville  de  Paris,  and  agreed  on  a  plan  of  ope- 
rations. 

The  count  afterwards  wrote  to  Washing- 
ton, that  in  case  a  British  fleet  appeared, 
"  he  conceived  that  he  ought  to  go  out  and 


meet  them  at  sea,  instead  of  risking  an  en- 
gagement in  a  confined  situation."  This 
alarmed  the  general.  He  sent  the  marquis 
de  la  Fayette  with  a  letter  to  dissuade  him 
from  the  dangerous  measure.  This  letter 
and  the  persuasions  of  the  marquis  had  the 
desired  efiect. 

The  combined  forces  proceeded  on  their 
way  to  York-Town,  partly  by  land,  and 
partly  down  the  Chesapeak.  The  whole, 
together  with  a  body  of  Virginia  militia, 
under  the  command  of  general  Nelson, 
amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  twelve  thou- 
sand men,  rendezvoused  at  Williamsburgh 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  September,  and  in  five 
days  after,  moved  down  to  the  investiture  of 
York-Town.  The  French  fleet  at  the  same 
time  moved  to  the  mouth  of  York  river,  and 
took  a  position  which  was  calculated  to  pre- 
vent lord  Cornwallis  either  from  retreating 
or  receiving  succor  by  water.  Previously 
to  the  march  from  Williamsburgh  to  York- 
Town,  Washington  gave  out  in  general  or- 
ders as  follows :  "  If  the  enemy  should  be 
tempted  to  meet  the  army  on  its  march,  the 
general  particularly  enjoins  the  troops  to 
place  their  principal  reliance  on  the  bayonet, 
that  they  may  prove  the  vanity  of  the  boast 
which  the  British  make  of  their  peculiar 
prowess  in  deciding  battles  with  that 
weapon." 

The  combined  army  halted  in  the  even- 
ing, about  two  miles  from  York-Town,  and 
lay  on  their  arms  all  night.  About  this  time 
lord  Cornwallis  received  a  letter  from  Sir 
Henry  Clmton,  announcing  the  arrival  of 
admiral  Digby  with  three  ships  of  the  line 
from  Europe,  and  the  determination  of  the 
general  and  flag  oflEicers  in  New- York  to 
embark  five  thousand  men  in  a  fleet,  which 
vv^ould  probably  sail  on  the  fifth  of  October ; 
that  this  fleet  consisted  of  twenty-three  sail 
of  the  line,  and  that  joint  exertions  of  the 
navy  and  army  would  be  made  for  his  relief 
On  the  night  after  the  receipt  of  this  in- 
telligence, lord  Cornwallis  quitted  his  out- 
ward position,  and  retired  to  one  more 
inward. 

CAPTURE  OF  LORD  CORNWALLIS. 
The  works  erected  for  the  security  of 
York-Town  on  the  right,  were  redoubts  and 
batteries,  with  a  line  of  stockade  in  the  rear. 
A  marshy  ravine  lay  in  front  of  the  right, 
over  which  was  placed  a  large  redoubt.  The 
morass  extended  along  the  centre,  which 
was  defended  by  a  Ime  of  stockade,  and  by 
batteries :  on  the  left  of  the  centre  was  a 
horn-work  with  a  ditch,  a  row  of  fraise  and 
an  abatis.  Two  redoubts  were  advanced 
before  the  left.  The  combined  forces  ad- 
vanced and  took  possession  of  the  ground 
from  which  the  British  had  retired.  About 
this  time  the  legion  cavalry  and  mounted 
infantry  passed  over  the  river  to  Gloucester; 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


289 


general  de  Choisy  invested  the  British  post 
on  that  side  so  fully,  as  to  cut  off  all  commu- 
nication between  it  and  the  country.  In 
the  mean  time  the  royal  army  was  straining 
every  nerve  to  strengthen  their  works,  and 
their  artillery  was  constantly  employed  in 
Mnpeding  the  operations  of  the  combined 
army.  On  the  ninth  and  tenth  of  October, 
the  French  and  Americans  opened  their  bat- 
teries ;  they  kept  up  a  brisk  and  well  direct- 
ed lire  from  heavy  cannon,  from  mortars, 
and  howitzers.  The  shells  of  the  besiegers 
reached  the  ships  in  the  harbor,  and  the 
Charon  of  forty-four  guns  and  a  transport 
ship  were  burned.  On  the  tenth  a  messen- 
ger arrived  with  a  dispatch  from  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  to  lord  Cornwallis,  dated  on  the 
thirtieth  of  September,  which  stated  various 
circumstances  tending  to  lessen  the  proba- 
bility of  relief  being  obtained,  by  a  direct 
movement  from  New- York.  Lord  Corn- 
wallis was  at  this  juncture  advised  to  evacu 
ate  York-Town,  and  after  passmg  over  to 
Gloucester,  to  force  his  way  into  the  coun 
try.  Whether  this  movement  w^ould  have 
been  successful,  no  one  can  with  certainty 
pronounce ;  but  it  could  not  have  produced 
any  consequences  more  injurious  to  the  royal 
interest  than  those  which  resulted  from  de 
dining  the  attempt.  On  the  other  hand, 
had  this  movement  been  made,  and  the  royal 
army  been  defeated  or  captured  in  the  int& 
r:or  country,  and  in  the  mean  time  had  Sir 
ifenry  Clinton,  with  the  promised  relief, 
reached  York-Town,  the  precipitancy  of  the 
noble  lord  would  have  been  perhaps  more 
the  subject  of  censure,  than  his  resolution 
of  standing  his  ground  and  resisting  to  the 
last  extremity.  On  the  eleventh  of  October 
the  besiegers  commenced  their  second  par- 
allel two  hundred  yards  from  the  works  of 
the  besieged.  Two  redoubts  which  were 
ad^^anced  on  the  left  of  the  British,  greatly 
impeded  the  progress  of  the  combined  ar- 
mies; it  was  therefore  proposed  to  carry 
them  by  storm.  To  excite  a  spirit  of  emu 
lation,  the  reduction  of  the  one  was  com 
mitted  to  the  French,  of  the  other  to  the 
Americans,  and  both  marched  to  the  assault 
with  unloaded  arms.  The  Americans  hav- 
ing passed  the  abatis  and  palisades,  they  at- 
tacked on  all  sides,  and  carried  the  redoubt 
in  a  few  minutes. 

The  French  were  equally  successful  on 
their  part.  They  carried  the  redoubt  as- 
signed to  them  with  rapidity,  but  lost  a  con 
siderable  number  of  men.  These  two  re 
doubts  Vere  included  in  the  second  parallel 
and  facilitated  the  subsequent  operations  of 
the  besiegers.  The  British  could  not  witli 
propriety  risk  repeated  sallies.  One  was 
projected  at  this  time,  October  sixteenth, 
consisting  of  four  hundred  men,  commanded 
by  lieutenant-colonel  Abercrombie.    He  pro- 

VoL.  IV.  25 


ceeded  so  far  as  to  force  two  redoubts,  and 
to  spike  eleven  pieces  of  cannon.  Though 
the  officers  and  soldiers  displayed  great  bra- 
very in  this  enterprise,  yet  their  success 
produced  no  essential  advantage.  The  can- 
non were  soon  unspiked  and  rendered  fit  for 
service. 

By  this  time  the  batteries  of  the  besiegers 
were  covered  with  nearly  a  hundred  pieces 
of  heavy  ordnance,  and  the  works  of  the  be- 
sieged were  so  damaged,  that  they  could 
scarcely  show  a  single  gun.  Lord  Corn- 
wallis had  now  no  hope  left  but  from  offer- 
ing terms  of  capitulation  or  attempting  an 
escape.  He  determined  on  the  latter.  This, 
though  less  practicable  than  when  first  pro- 
posed, was  not  altogether  hopeless.  Boata 
were  prepared  to  receive  the  troops  in  the 
night,  and  to  transport  them  to  Gloucester 
Point.  After  one  whole  embarkation  had 
crossed,  a  violent  storm  of  wind  and  rain 
dispersed  the  boats  employed  on  this  busi- 
ness, and  frustrated  the  whole  scheme.  The 
royal  army,  thus  weakened  by  division,  was 
exposed  to  increased  danger. 

Orders  were  sent  to  those  who  had  passed, 
to  recross  the  river  to  York-Town.  With 
the  failure  of  this  scheme  the  last  hope  of 
the  British  army  expired.  Longer  resist- 
ance could  answer  no  good  purpose,  and 
might  occasion  the  loss  of  many  valuable 
lives.  Lord  Cornwallis  therefore  wrote  a 
letter  to  general  Washington,  requesting  a 
cessation  of  arms  for  twenty-four  hours,  and 
that  commissioners  might  be  appointed  to 
digest  terms  of  capitulation.  It  is  remark- 
able while  lieutenant-colonel  Laurens,  the 
officer  employed  by  general  Washington,  on 
this  occasion,  was  drawing  up  these  articles, 
that  his  father  was  closely  confined  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  of  which  lord  Cornwallis 
was  constable.  By  this  singular  combination 
of  circumstances,  his  lordship  became  a  pris- 
oner to  the  son  of  his  own  prisoner. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October  the  posts  of 
York  and  Gloucester  were  surrendered  by  a 
capitulation,  the  principal  articles  of  which 
were  as  follows :  The  troops  to  be  prisoners 
of  war  to  congress,  and  the  naval  force  to 
France.  The  officers  to  retain  their  side- 
arms  and  private  property  of  every  kind ; 
but  all  property,  obviously  belonging  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  to  be  sub- 
ject to  be  reclaimed.  The  soldiers  to  be 
kept  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  to  be  supplied  witli  the  same  rations 
as  were  allowed  to  soldiers  in  the  service  of 
congress.  A  proportion  of  the  officers  to 
march  mto  the  country  with  the  prisoners; 
the  rest  to  be  allowed  to  proceed  on  parole 
to  Europe,  to  New- York,  or  to  ajiy  other 
American  maritime  post  in  possession  of  the 
British.  The  honor  of  marching  out  with 
colors  flying,  which  had  been  refused  to 


290 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


general  Lincoln  on  his  giving  up  Charlestown, 
was  now  refused  tx)  lord  Cornwallis ;  and  gen- 
eral Lincoln  was  appointed  to  receive  the  sub- 
mission of  the  royal  army  at  York-Town, 
precisely  in  the  same  way  his  own  had  been 
conducted  about  eighteen  months  before. 
Lord  Cornwallis  endeavored  to  obtain  per- 
mission for  the  British  and  German  troops 
to  return  to  their  respective  countries,  under 
no  other  restrictions  than  an  engagement 
not  to  serve  against  France  or  Am^erica.  He 
also  tried  to  obtain  an  indemnity  for  those 
of  the  inhabitants  who  had  joined  him ;  but 
he  was  obliged  to  recede  from  the  former, 
and  also  to  consent  that  the  loyalists  in  his 
camp  should  be  given  up  to  the  uncondition- 
al mercy  of  their  countrymen.  His  lordship 
nevertheless  obtained  permission  for  the  Bo 
netta  sloop  of  war  to  pass  unexamined  to 
New-York.  This  gave  an  opportunity  of 
screening  such  of  them  as  were  most  obnox- 
ious to  tlie  Americans. 

The  regular  troops  of  France  and  Amer- 
ica, employed  in  this  siege,  consisted  of  about 
seven  thousand  of  the  former,  and  five  thou- 
sand five  hundred  of  the  latter ;  and  they 
were  assisted  by  about  four  thousand  militia. 
On  the  part  of  the  combined  army  about 
three  hundred  were  killed  or  wounded :  on 
the  part  of  the  British  about  five  hundred, 
and  seventy  were  taken  in  the  redoubts, 
which  were  carried  by  assault  on  the  four- 
teenth of  October.  The  troops  of  every 
kind  that  surrendered  prisoners  of  war  ex- 
ceeded seven  thousand  men ;  but  so  great 
was  tlie  number  of  sick  and  wounded,  that 
there  v/ere  only  three  thousand  capable  of 
bearing  arms. 

A  British  fleet  and  an  army  of  seven  thou- 
sand men,  destined  for  the  relief  of  lord 
Cornwallis,  arrived  off  the  Chesapeak  on 
the  twenty-fourth  of  October;  but  on  re- 
ceiving advice  of  his  lordship's  surrender, 
they  returned  to  Sandy-hook  and  New- York. 
Such  was  the  fate  of  that  general,  from 
whose  gallantry  and  previous  successes  the 
speedy  conquest  of  the  southern  states  had 
been  so  confidently  expected.  No  event 
during  the  war  promised  fairer  for  overset- 
ting the  independence  of  at  least  a  part  of 
the  confederacy,  than  his  complete  victory 
at  Camden ;  but  by  the  consequences  of  that 
action,  his  lordship  became  the  occasion  of 
rendering  that  a  revolution,  which  from  his 
previous  success  was  in  danger  of  terminat- 
ing as  a  rebellion.  The  loss  of  his  army 
may  be  considered  as  the  closing  scene  of 
the  continental  war  in  North  America, 

EXPEDITION  OF  COMMODORE  JOHN- 
STONE—OPERATIONS  IN  THE  WEST 
INDIES. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  a  squad- 
ron of  ships,  under  the  command  of  commo- 
dore Johnstone,  won  sent  iP-esinst  tie  Ca^x^ 


of  Good  Hope ;  the  court  of  France  however 
not  being  unapprized  of  its  destination,  dis- 
patched a  fleet  of  superior  force  from  Brest, 
under  the  command  of  M.  de  Suffrein,  to 
counteract  the  design  of  the  British  commo- 
dore. The  French  overtook  the  English 
squadron  at  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  on  the 
sixteenth  of  April,  and  though  the  latter 
was  at  anchor  in  a  neutral  port  (Port  Praya, 
in  the  island  of  St.  Jago),  and  consequently 
under  the  protection  of  the  Portuguese  flag, 
proceeded  to  attack  it.  The  British  squad- 
ron was  thrown  into  some  confusion  on  the 
first  attack,  and  the  conduct  of  the  commo- 
dore has  not  escaped  censure  on  this  occa- 
sion. The  native  valor  of  the  British  sea- 
men, however,  soon  displayed  itself,  and  the 
outward-bound  India  ships  which  came  un- 
der convoy  of  the  commodore,  taking  an  ac- 
tive part  in  the  engagement,  the  French 
were  beaten  ofi^,  but  not  without  the  loss  of 
seventy-seven  killed  and  wounded  on  the 
part  of  the  English.  The  object  of  the  ex- 
pedition was  by  this  rencounter  completely 
defeated. 

As  before  mentioned,  a  fleet  of  twenty 
sail  of  the  line,  and  a  fifty-four  gun  ship,  had 
sailed  from  Brest,  under  the  command  of  M. 
de  Grasse ;  and  as  the  French  had  already 
eight  sail  of  the  line  and  a  fifty  gun  ship  at 
Martinique  and  St.  Domingo,  it  was  gene- 
rally supposed  they  would  have  a  decided 
superiority  in  the  West  Indies.  The  British 
fleet  was  weakened  by  the  admiral's  sending 
a  squadron  under  the  command  of  commo- 
dore Hotham,  with  the  convoy  which  con- 
veyed the  Eustatia  treasure  to  England, 
which  reduced  his  fleet  to  twenty-one  sail 
of  the  line.  As  it  was  therefore  of  the  ut- 
most importance  to  intercept  the  squadron 
of  de  Grasse,  admiral  Rodney  detached  the 
admirals  Hood  and  Drake,  with  seventeen 
sail,  for  that  purpose,  while  he  remained  him- 
self at  St.  Eustatia,  with  a  few  ships,  for  its 
protection. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  April  the  French 
fleet  appeared  in  sight  of  the  British  admi- 
ral Hood  as  he  lay  in  the  channel  of  St.  I.>u- 
cia.  The  French  convoy  got  safe  into  tlie 
harbor  of  Fort  Royal  in  Martinique,  and 
four  ships  of  the  line,  and  a  fifty  gun  ship 
out  of  the  same  harbor,  were  enabled  to  join 
the  French  fleet  The  enem}'-,  notwithstand- 
ing this  superiority,  appeared  desirous  of 
avoiding  a  general  engagement,  and  after 
many  ineffectual  endeavors  on  the  part  of 
the  English  to  gain  the  wmd,  so  as  to  force 
the  French  admiral  to  a  decisive  action,  both 
fleets  ceased  firin?",  and  each  claimed  the 
victory.  To  the  French  indeed  it  was  aj- 
most  productive  of  equal  consequences;  for 
tliough  they  lost  the  greatest  number  of  men 
in  the  action,  five  of  the  English  ships  were 
SQ  di^tiibled  a£  to  be  rendered  unfit  for  imme- 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1620. 


291 


diate  service.  Thus  the  superiority  of  the 
enemy  in  those  seas  was  decided  and  irre- 
sistible. M.  de  Grasse,  on  the  following  day, 
was  desirous  of  bringing  the  contest  to  that 
conclusive  point  which  before  he  had  evad- 
ed ;  but  Sir  Samuel  Hood  disappointed  him 
by  his  masterly  movements,  by  which  the 
English  fleet  arrived  safe  at  Antigua  after 
being  pursued  by  the  French. 

On  the  twenty-sixth  of  May,  admiral  Rod- 
ney received  intelligence  from  governor 
Ferguson  that  the  French  fleet  had  appear- 
ed off  the  island  of  Tobago  on  the  twenty- 
third  ;  upon  which  admiral  Drake  was  dis- 
patched with  six  sail  of  the  line  and  some 
land  forces  to  its  relief  Upon  reaching  the 
island  on  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth,  ad- 
miral Drake  discovered  the  enemy's  fleet 
of  twenty  sail,  between  him  and  the  land : 
he  was  therefore  obliged  to  retreat.  When 
admiral  Rodney  on  the  fourth  of  June  arriv- 
ed off"  the  island,  with  twenty  sail  of  the 
line,  he  found  it  in  possession  of  the  enemy ; 
the  next  day  he  saw  the  French  fleet  of 
twenty-four  sail  of  the  line,  with  which  he 
did  not  think  it  prudent  to  engage  on  ac- 
count of  their  superiority ;  he  therefore  re- 
turned to  Barbadoes. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  remark  in  this 
place  the  ill  fate  which  attended  the  booty 
seized  by  the  plunderers  of  St.  Eustatia. 
The  homeward-bound  convoy,  which  convey- 
ed a  great  part  of  the  property,  was  almost 
entirely  captured  by  the  French  in  the  chan- 
nel, on  the  second  of  May;  and  the  '.^ind 
itself  was  taken  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  No- 
vember following,  by  four  ships  of  the  line, 
and  a  handful  of  men,  under  the  command 
of  the  marquis  de  Bouille,  and  the  whole 
English  garrison  made  prisoners  of  war. 
The  island  of  St.  Martin  submitted  at  the 
eame  time  to  the  French  arms. 

SUCCESSES  IN  INDIA— HYDER  ALLY 
DEFEATED. 

When  we  turn  our  attention  towards  the 
East  Indies,  we  find  the  British  forces  more 
successful  than  in  the  West.  After  the  de- 
feat of  colonel  Baillie,  the  whole  Carnatic 
was  evacuated  by  the  British,  and  Madras 
itself  miglit  be  considered  as  in  a  state  of 
blockade.  The  arrival  of  the  indefatigable 
Sir  Eyre  Coote,  in  the  latter  end  of  1780, 
and  the  vigorous  measures  which  he  pursu- 
ed, effected  a  sudden  and  unexpected  change, 
and  relieved,  almost  at  a  single  blow,  the 
Carnatic  from  the  ravages  of  a  dangerous 
and  remorseless  enemy.  In  two  days  after 
his  arrival  he  took  his  seat  at  the  council- 
board,  and  produced  orders  from  the  supreme 
government  of  Bengal,  for  the  suspension  of 
Mr.  Whitehill,  the  president,  whose  intem- 
perate conduct  had  been  a  chief  cause  of 
alienating  the  aflfections  of  the  Nizam. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Sir  Eyre  Coote,  the 


troops  were  in  a  wretched  state  of  despond- 
ency ;  the  Sepoys  deserting,  the  inhabitants 
treacherous,  and  all  the  resources  cut  off! 
The  general,  therefore,  ordered  dispatches 
at  the  same  time  to  Sir  Edward  Hughes  and 
to  general  Goddard,  to  urge  them  to  be  ac- 
tive in  distressing  the  possessions  of  Hyder 
on  the  Malabar  coast,  and  to  promote  as 
much  as  possible  a  peace  with  the  Mahrat- 
tas. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1781,  Ry- 
der's force  witliin  the  boundaries  of  the  Car- 
natic alone  was  estimated  at  above  one  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  while  that  of  Sir  Eyre 
Coote  did  not  exceed  seven  thousand. 

The  two  armies  encountered  near  Porto 
Novo  on  the  first  of  July.  At  seven  in  the 
mornmg  the  British  troops  proceeded  from 
that  place,  and  after  an  hour's  march  came 
in  sight  of  the  enemy  strongly  posted.  Hy- 
der's  artillery  was  well  served  by  Europeans, 
or  those  instructed  by  them,  and  did  consid- 
erable execution.  In  this  critical  situation, 
a  bold  movement  was  necessary ;  and  the 
British  general  determined  to  turn  the  right 
of  the  enemy.  Fortunately  the  country  ac- 
corded with  his  wishes,  and  by  this  move- 
ment he  was  enabled  to  take  the  enemy  ob- 
liquely, and  avoid  the  full  fi-ont  and  fire  of 
their  works  and  batteries.  In  this  manner 
the  first  line  only  decided  the  fortune  of  the 
day.  Though  Hyder,  with  great  dexterity 
and  promptness,  formed  a  new  front  to  re- 
ceive the  British  general,  and  detached  a 
large  body  of  infantry  to  prevent  the  second 
line  from  obtaining  possession  of  some  high 
grounds,  yet  at  length  European  order  and 
discipline  was  victorious  over  the  undisci- 
plined rabble  of  an  eastern  camp.  Hyder 
was  obliged  to  retreat,  after  leaving  three 
thousand  of  his  best  troops  dead  on  the  field 
of  battle. 

In  the  course  of  the  following  month  the 
British  gained  a  second  victory  over  Hyder, 
after  fighting  from  nine  in  the  morning  till 
sun-set,  within  about  sixteen  miles  of  the 
city  of  Trepassore. 

In  the  mean  time  the  shipping  of  Hyder 
Ally  was  destroyed  by  Sir  Edward  Hughes, 
in  his  own  ports  of  Callicut  and  Mangalore. 
The  Dutch  also  fatally  experienced  the  valor 
and  enterprise  of  the  British  forces  in  that 
quarter  of  the  globe. 

Some  gentlemen  of  the  factory  at  Fort 
Marlborough,  in  the  month  of  August,  under- 
took an  expedition  against  Sumatra  ;  and  all 
the  Dutch  settlements  on  the  western  coast 
of  that  island  were  reduced  without  any  loss. 
The  town  and  fortress  of  Negapatam,  in  the 
Tanjore  country  (one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  the  Dutch  settlements  on  the  continent 
of  India),  surrendered  by  capitulation  to  the 
English  on  the  twelfth  of  November,  after  a 
siege  of  twenty-two  days. 


292 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ENGAGEMENT  WITH  THE  DUTCH. 

The  inactivity  of  the  Dutch  has  been  at- 
tributed to  the  treachery  of  certain  persons, 
employed  in  high  offices  of  trust  under  the 
States-general,  secretly  in  league  with  the 
court  of  London. 

To  harass  the  trade  of  Holland,  and  to  pro- 
tect that  of  England,  a  squadron  was  fitted 
out  at  Portsmouth,  in  the  month  of  June,  and 
the  command  given  to  admiral  Sir  Hyde 
Parker.  The  Dutch  seemed,  at  an  instant, 
to  awake  from  their  torpid  inactivity ;  and 
by  the  middle  of  July,  a  considerable  fleet 
was  fitted  out  in  the  Texel,  under  the  com- 
mand of  admiral  Zoutman,  who  sailed  about 
that  period,  with  a  considerable  convoy  un- 
der his  protection.  The  British  admiral  was 
then  on  his  return  with  the  convoy  from 
Elsineur.  The  hostile  fleets  met  and  fought 
on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  August  off  the 
Dogger  Bank.  The  force  of  the  Dutch  was 
seven  ships  of  the  line,  and  ten  frigates ;  and 
the  British  squadron  consisted  only  of  six 
ships  of  the  line,  and  five  frigates,  but  was 
superior  in  weight  of  metal  to  the  Dutch 
fleet :  the  firing  on  both  sides  was  restrained 
till  the  ships  came  within  half-musket  shot 
of  each  other ;  and  the  action  continued  with 
an  unceasing  fire  for  three  hours  and  forty 
minutes,  till  the  vessels  on  both  sides  were 
so  shattered  that  they  became  unmanagea- 
ble and  unable  to  form  a  line  to  renew  the 
combat.  For  a  considerable  time  both  squad- 
rons lay  to  in  this  condition ;  at  length  the 
Dutch,  with  their  convoy,  bore  away  for  the 
Texel ;  and  admiral  Parker  was  in  no  con- 
dition to  follow  them.  The  English  lost  one 
hundred  and  four  men  killed,  and  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-nine  wounded ;  the  loss  of 
the  enemy  must  have  been  more  considera- 
ble. It  was  attributed  to  the  neglect  of  the 
admiralty  that  the  advantages  on  the  part  of 
the  English  were  not  greater. 

It  was  owing  to  the  remissness  of  the  same 
department,  that  the  French  fleet  from  Brest, 
under  the  count  de  Guichen,  was  permitted 
to  form  a  junction  with  the  Spanish  fleet 
from  Cadiz,  in  the  latter  end  of  July.  The 
combined  fleets  consisted  of  forty-nine  ships 
of  the  line,  and  carried  with  them  ten  thou- 
sand land  forces  for  the  reduction  of  Minor- 
ca. After  landing  the  troops  upon  that  island, 


the  combined  fleets  returned  with  the  arro- 
gant intention  of  annihilating,  for  ever,  the 
naval  force  of  England.  The  hostile  fleets 
appeared  in  the  British  channel  before  the 
ministry  had  any  information  of  their  move- 
ments ;  and  it  was  owing  to  the  accidental 
meeting  of  a  neutral  vessel  that  admiral 
Darby  had  time  to  escape  into  Torbay  with 
the  British  fleet.  The  count  de  Guichen  was 
for  an  immediate  attack  upon  the  Britisli 
ships  as  they  lay ;  a  contrary  opinion  was 
supported  by  M.  Boussel,  an  officer  of  great 
reputation,  who  pointed  out  the  danger  there 
would  be  in  attacking  admiral  Darby,  in  his 
present  situation,  as  they  could  not  bear 
down  upon  him  in  a  line  of  battle  abreast, 
but  must  go  down  upon  the  enemy  singly. 
The  Spanish  admiral,  and  the  major  part  of 
the  officers  of  the  fleet,  coincided  with  M. 
Boussel  in  opinion :  besides,  the  leaky  con- 
dition of  the  ships,  and  the  mortality  which 
prevailed  among  the  seamen,  were  further 
inducements  to  refrain  from  an  immediate 
attack. 

The  combined  fleets,  after  waiting  in  vain 
for  some  time  to  intercept  our  homeward- 
bound  ships,  were  obliged,  from  the  hard 
weather,  which  set  in  about  September,  to 
return  to  port  as  soon  as  possible.  M.  Gui- 
chen took  shelter  in  Brest ;  but  though  the 
Spanish  squadron  was  scarcely  in  a  condi- 
tion to  reach  its  destined  port,  the  etiquette 
of  that  frivolous  court  forbade  its  entrance 
into  a  French  harbor. 

In  the  beginning  of  December  M.  de  Gui- 
chen sailed  a<znin  rrom  Brest  w'Ah  nineteen 
ships  of  the  lint-,  and  a  considerable  convoy 
of  merchant-siiips.  Admiral  Kempenfelt  was 
dispatched  to  intercept  them  with  no  more 
than  twelve  sail  of  the  line.  On  the  twelftli 
the  British  admiral  encountered  the  enemy 
in  a  hard  gale  of  wnnd,  when  both  fleet  and 
convoy  were  considerably  dispersed.  Witli 
much  professional  skill  he  cut  off  twenty  of 
the  convoy,  and  afterwards  drew  up  in  a  fine 
of  battle  to  face  the  enemy,  when,  for  fne 
first  time,  he  was  apprized  of  his  great  in- 
feriority, and  was  obliged  to  retreat.  The 
gross  neglect  of  the  admiralty  excited  the 
discontent  of  the  public,  when  they  saw  so 
favorable  an  opportunity  lost  of  regaining 
the  honor  of  the  British  flasr. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


293 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Decline  of  Lord  North's  Influence — Session  of  Parliament — Kind's  Speech — Motion 
against  offensive  War  with  America — Petitions  against  the  War — Misconduct  of 
Admiralty — General  Conway's  Motion  against  the  War — Dissoliition  of  the  Minis- 
try— New  Ministry — Popular  Measures — Affairs  of  Ireland — Reform  Bills — Mi- 
norca taken — French  Fleet  in  the  West  Indies  defeated  by  Rodney — Misfortunes  of 
West  India  Fleet — Bahamas  taken  by  the  Spaniards — Defeat  of  Spaniards  at  Gib- 
raltar— New  Administration. 


DECLINE  OF  LORD  NORTH'S  INFLUENCE. 
—KING'S  SPEECH  TO  PARLIAMENT. 

Notwithstanding  ministers  had  flattered 
themselves  that  they  had  secured  such  a 
majority  at  the  general  election,  as  to  render 
their  power  permanent  and  irresistible,  yet 
it  soon  appeared  that  they  were  mistaken  in 
this  opinion,  and  that  of  the  new  members 
the  majority  were  secretly  disposed  to  favor 
the  whig  party.  From  the  moment  of  the 
capture  of  lord  Comwallis,  all  discerning 
men  foresaw  the  downfall  of  lord  North's 
administration,  and  the  wavering  and  venal 
phalanx  in  the  senate  had  already  begun  to 
make  overtures  to  the  leaders  of  opposition. 
In  the  midst  of  the  dissatisfaction  and  gene- 
ral ill-humor  created  by  the  repeated  dis- 
graces which  had  attended  the  British  arms 
in  America,  the  parliament  assembled  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  November  1781.  In 
the  speech  from  the  throne,  his  majesty  ob- 
served, "that  the  war  was  still  unhappily 
prolonged,  and  that  to  his  great  concern,  the 
events  of  it  had  been  very  unfortunate  to  his 
army  in  Virginia,  having  ended  in  the  total 
loss  of  his  forces  in  that  province.  But  he 
could  not  consent  to  sacrifice,  either  to  his 
own  desire  of  peace,  or  to  the  temporary 
ease  and  relief  of  his  subjects,  those  essen- 
tial rights  and  permanent  interests  upon 
which  the  strength  and  security  of  this 
country  must  ever  principally  depend."  His 
majesty  declared,  "  that  he  retained  a  firm 
confidence  in  the  protection  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, and  a  perfect  conviction  of  the  jus- 
tice of  his  cause ;"  and  he  concluded  by  call- 
ing "for  the  concurrence  and  support  of 
parliament,  and  a  vigorous,  animated,  and 
united  exertion  of  the  faculties  and  resources 
of  his  people." 

A  motion  for  an  address  of  thanks,  in  the 
usual  style,  was  made  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons. 

MOTION  AGAINST  AMERICAN  WAR. 

Not  discouraged  by  repeated  defeats,  the 
minority,  on  the  twelfth  of  December,  re- 
newed their  opposition  to  the  American  war 
under  the  form  of  a  specific  motion ;  two 
of  the  leading  men  among  the  landed  inter- 
est, Sir  James  Lowther  and  Powys,  were 
25* 


appointed  to  introduce  the  motion.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  debate,  lord  North  rose  to 
make  a  declaration,  that  it  was  no  longer  in 
the  contemplation  of  government  to  prose- 
cute the  war  internally  in  America,  but  that 
the  whole  form  and  conduct  of  it  was  to  un- 
dergo a  total  change.  The  motion  of  oppo- 
sition, however,  went  no  farther  than  to  de- 
clare, that  the  war  has  hitherto  been  inef- 
fectual to  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  un- 
dertaken, and  that  all  further  attempts  to 
reduce  the  Americans  by  force,  would  be 
injurious  to  tlie  interests  of  the  country. 

In  the  course  of  the  debate,  general  Bur- 
goyne  aclmowledged  "  that  he  was  now 
convinced  the  principle  of  the  American 
war  was  wrong,  though  he  had  not  been  of 
that  opinion  when  he  engaged  in  the  ser- 
vice. Passion,  and  prejudice,  and  interest, 
were  now  no  more,  and  reason  and  observa- 
tion had  led  him  to  a  very  different  conclu- 
sion: and  he  now  saw  that  the  American 
war  was  only  one  part  of  a  system  levelled 
against  the  constitution  of  this  country,  and 
the  general  rights  of  mankind." 

The  minister  stated  various  arguments 
against  the  motion,  such  as  the  impolicy  of 
pointing  out  to  the  enemy  what  was  to  bo 
the  future  system  of  the  war.  On  the  vote 
of  this  day,  the  minister  experienced  a  de- 
fection of  about  twenty  of  tliose  members 
who  usually  divided  with  him,  as  Sir  James 
Lowther's  motion  was  rejected  by  only  a 
majority  of  forty-one,  or  two  hundred  and 
twenty  against  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine. 

The  late  hour  to  which  the  debate  on  the 
twelfth  had  been  protracted,  made  it  neces- 
sary to  defer  proceeding  on  the  business  of 
the  army  estimates  till  the  following  Friday, 
fourteenth  of  December,  wlien  the  subject 
of  the  American  war  underwent,  for  the 
fourth  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  ses- 
sion, a  long  and  vehement  discussion.  The 
secretary  at  war  informed  the  house,  tliat 
the  whole  force  of  the  army,  including  the 
militia  of  the  kingdom,  required  for  the  ser^ 
vice  of  the  year  1782,  would  amount  to  one 
hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  men.  One 
hundred  tliousand  seamen  and  marines  had 


294 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


been  already  voted  by  the  house.  It  was, 
however,  stated  by  lord  George  Germaine, 
"  that  the  ministry  were  of  opinion,  consid- 
ering the  present  situation  of  affairs,  and 
the  misfortunes  of  the  war,  that  it  would  not 
be  right  to  continue  any  longer  the  plan  on 
which  it  had  hitherto  been  conducted ;  and 
that  a  fresh  army  would  not  be  sent  to  sup- 
ply the  place  of  that  captured  at  York- 
Town.  It  was  intended  only  to  preserve 
such  posts  in  America  as  might  facilitate 
and  co-operate  with  the  enterprises  of  our 
fleets." 

General  Conway  declared  himself  "  anxi- 
ous for  a  recall  of  our  fleets  and  armies  from 
America.  Of  two  evils,  he  would  choose 
the  least,  and  submit  to  the  independence 
of  America,  rather  than  persist  in  the  prose- 
cution of  so  pernicious  and  ruinous  a  war. 
As  to  the  idea  now  suggested  of  a  war  of 
posts,  what  garrisons,  he  asked,  would  be 
able  to  maintain  them,  when  it  was  well 
known  that  even  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  at 
New- York,  did  not  consider  himself  as  se- 
cure ?" 

Fox  remarked,  "  that  four  years  ago,  after 
the  disaster  of  Saratoga,  the  noble  lord  at 
the  head  of  affairs  had  amused  the  house 
with  the  same  language  as  at  present.  Then 
the  plan  of  future  hostilities  was  to  be  dif- 
ferently modified,  and  the  war  conducted  on 
a  smaller  and  more  contracted  scale.  On 
this  contracted  scale,  however,  we  had  lost 
another  great  army,  besides  suffering  other 
grievous  defeats,  and  irretrievable  calami- 
ties." 

Pitt  reprobated,  with  the  utmost  force  of 
language,  "as  a  species  of  obstinacy  bor- 
dering upon  madness,  the  idea  of  any  fur- 
ther prosecution  of  the  American  war,  with 
our  fleets  opposed  by  a  superior  force,  and 
our  armies  in  captivity.  He  appealed  to  the 
whole  house,  whether  every  description  of 
men  did  not  detest  and  execrate  the  Ameri- 
can war,  and  whether  it  were  uncharitable 
to  implore  the  Almighty  to  shower  down  his 
vengeance  on  the  men  who  were  the  au- 
thors of  their  country's  ruin  7" 

PETITIONS  AGAINST  THE  WAR.— MIS- 
CONDUCT  OF  ADMIRALTY. 
The  approbation  of  the  people  to  the  cause 
of  the  minority  now  appeared  in  several  pe- 
titions and  remonstrances  which  were  pre- 
sented against  the  war.  The  city  of  London, 
on  this  occasion,  led  the  way  in  a  very  strong 
remonstra,nce,  in  which  they  tell  his  majesty, 
**  Your  armies  have  been  captured ;  your  do- 
minions have  been  lost ;  and  your  majesty's 
faithful  subjects  have  been  loaded  with  a 
burden  of  taxes,  which,  even  if  our  victories 
had  been  as  splendid  as  our  defeats  have 
been  disgraceful ;  if  our  accession  of  do- 
minion had  been  as  fortunate  as  the  dismem- 
berment of  the  empire  has  been  cruel  and 


disastrous,  could  not  itself  be  considered 
but  as  a  great  and  grievous  calamity."  Seve- 
ral other  remonstrances  and  addresses  were 
brought  in  from  other  places ;  and  the  speedy 
dissolution  of  the  ministry  appeared  evident. 

1782. — An  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  the 
first  lord  of  the  admiralty  was  the  first  busi- 
ness of  parliament  after  the  recess.  The 
accusation  was  opened  on  the  twenty-third 
of  January  1782,  with  great  address  and 
ability,  by  Mr.  Fox. 

In  support  of  the  motion  it  was  urged  that 
our  naval  armaments  had  been  always  too 
late  to  be  attended  with  any  success ;  and 
that  the  earl  of  Sandwich  had  uniformly  neg- 
lected to  send  fleets  at  the  opening  of  the 
several  campaigns,  to  prevent  the  junction 
of  the  French  and  Spanish  squadrons ;  nor 
had  he,  at  the  conclusion  of  those  campaigns, 
made  any  attempts  to  attack  or  to  annoy 
their  separate  force.  The  confederate  fleets, 
amounting  to  sixty  sail  of  the  line,  under 
count  d'Orvilliers,  had  appeared  in  the  chan- 
nel, with  every  mark  of  triumph,  for  two 
campaigns,  not  only  unresisted  but  even 
shunned  by  our  naval  armaments.  The 
chevalier  de  Ternay  had  also  been  suffered 
to  proceed  unmolested  with  his  ships  to 
America,  when  he  transported  thither  those 
French  troops  which  aflerwards  served  under 
general  Washington,  and  assisted  in  the 
capture  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and  his  army. 
Captain  Moutray,  and  the  large  fleet  of  East 
and  West  Indiamen  under  his  convoy,  had 
been  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
by  being  directed  to  repair  to  Madeira; 
whereby  they  were  of  necessity  obliged  to 
proceed  in  that  track  which  could  not  fail 
to  conduct  them  to  the  naval  armaments  of 
the  enemy.  Indeed,  the  first  lord  of  the 
admiralty  had  acted  uniformly  as  the  ally 
and  servant  of  the  house  of  Bourbon ;  and 
so  had  the  rest  of  his  majesty's  ministers ; 
without  whose  aid,  the  wisdom  of  a  Frank- 
lin, the  valor  and  the  prudence  of  a  Mau- 
repas,  the  vigilance  of  a  Sartine,  the  craft 
of  a  de  Caistres,  the  policy  of  America,  and 
all  the  vigor  and  resources  of  France  and 
Spain,  though  doubly  formidable  from  their 
confederacy  with  Holland,  could  never  have 
attained  the  power  of  overwhelming  our 
once  invincible  dominions  with  so  much  dis- 
grace and  calamity. 

The  culprit  was  defended  by  captain  John 
Luttrel,  lord  Mulgrave  and  lord  North. 
Afler  some  altercation,  however,  it  was 
agreed,  that  the  inquiry  should  be  referred 
to  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  on  the 
following  Thursday ;  and  this  was  followed 
by  resolutions  for  certain  papers,  which 
were  necessary  to  substantiate  the  criminal 
charges.  The  committee  of  inquiry  having 
been,  from  various  causes,  delayed  to  the 
seventh  of  February,  Fox  on  that  day  rose 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


295 


to  move  a  resolution  of  censure,  founded  on 
facts  contained  in  the  papers  which  were 
laid  in  evidence  before  the  house.  Though 
no  charges  could  be  better  founded,  or  more 
satisfactorily  proved,  than  those  against  the 
lirst  lord  of  the  admiralty,  the  vote  of  censure 
was  negatived  in  a  very  full  house  by  a  ma- 
jority of  twenty-two. 

LORD  gp:orge  germaine  made  a  peer. 

The  creating  of  lord  George  Germaine  a 
peer,  and  consequently  calling  him  to  that 
house  which  lord  Chesterfield  has  emphati- 
cally termed,  "  The  hospital  of  incurables," 
was  the  first  happy  omen  for  the  country  of 
the  mouldering  state  of  the  ministry ;  but 
before  he  assumed  his  new  title  of  lord  vis- 
count Sackville,  he  resigned  his  office  of 
American  secretary.  A  motion  was  made 
by  the  marquis  of  Carmarthen  (afterwards 
duke  of  Leeds),  intimating,  that  it  was  de- 
rogatory to  the  honor  of  the  house,  that  any 
person,  laboring  mider  the  heavy  censure 
of  a  court-martial,  should  be  recommended 
by  the  crown  as  a  proper  person  to  sit  in 
that  house." 

The  motion  was  evaded  by  the  question 
of  adjournment ;  but  lord  George  Germaine 
having  actually  taken  his  seat  in  the  house 
imder  the  title  of  lord  viscount  Sackville, 
the  marquis  of  Carmarthen  renewed  his  at- 
tack, and  urged,  "  that  the  house  of  peers 
being  a  court  of  honor,  it  behoved  them  to 
preserve  that  honor  uncontaminated,  and  to 
mark  in  the  most  forcible  manner  their  dis- 
approbp.tion  of  the  introduction  of  a  person 
into  that  assembly  who  was  stigmatized  in 
the  orderly-books  of  every  regiment  in  the 
service." 

Lord  Abingdon,  who  seconded  the  motion, 
styled  the  admission  of  lord  George  Germaine 
to  a  peerage  "  an  unsufferable  indignity  to 
that  house,  and  an  outrageous  insult  to  the 
public. — What  (said  his  lordship)  has  that 
person  done  to  merit  honors  superior  to  his 
fellow-citizens'?  His  only  claim  to  promo- 
tion was,  that  he  had  undone  his  country  by 
executing  the  plan  of  that  accursed,  invisi- 
ble, though  inefficient  cabinet,  from  whom 
as  he  received  his  orders,  so  he  had  obtained 
his  reward." 

Lord  Sackville,  in  his  own  vindication, 
denied  the  justice  of  the  sentence  passed 
upon  him,  and  affirmed  "  that  he  considered 
his  restoration  to  the  council-board,  at  a  very 
early  period  of  the  present  reign,  as  amount 
ing  to  a  virtual  repeal  of  that  miquitous  ver 
diet." 

The  duke  of  Richmond  strongly  defended 
the  motion,  and  said  "  that  he  himself  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  Minden,  and  was 
summoned  on  the  trial  of  Lord  George  Ger- 
maine ;  and  had  his  deposition  been  called 
for,  he  could  have  proved  that  the  time  lost 
when  the  noble  viscount  delayed  to  advance, 


under  pretence  of  receiving  contradictory 
orders,  was  not  less  than  one  hour  and  a 
half;  that  the  cavalry  were  a  mile  and  a 
quarter  only  from  the  scene  of  action ;  and 
it  was  certainly  in  his  lordship's  power, 
therefore,  to  have  rendered  the  victory,  im- 
portant as  it  was,  far  more  brilliant  and  de- 
cisive ;  and  he  had  little  reason  to  complain 
of  the  severity  of  the  sentence  passed  upon 
him." 

Lord  Southampton  also,  who,  as  aid-de- 
camp to  prince  Ferdinand  on  that  memora- 
ble day,  delivered  the  message  of  his  serene 
highness  to  his  lordship,  vindicated  the  equity 
of  the  sentence. 

On  the  division,  nevertheless,  it  was  re- 
jected by  a  majority  of  ninety-three  to 
twenty-eight  voices :  but  to  the  inexpressible 
chagrin  of  lord  Sackville,  a  protest  was  en- 
tered on  the  journals  of  the  house,  declaring 
his  promotion  to  be  "  an  insult  on  the  memory 
of  the  late  sovereign,  and  highly  derogatory 
to  the  dignity  of  that  house." 

GENERAL  CONWAY'S  MOTION  AGAINST 
THE  WAR.— DEFEAT  OF  MINISTRY. 
The  appointment  of  Welbore  Ellis  to  the 
office  of  secretary  to  the  American  depart- 
ment in  the  room  of  lord  Sackville,  and 
Sir  Guy  Carleton  to  that  of  commander-in- 
chief  in  North  America,  occasioned  an  alarm 
among  those  who  were  persuaded,  that  there 
still  existed  a  secret  and  obstinate  attach- 
ment in  the  court  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  against  the  Americans.  Another  at- 
tempt, therefore,  was  made  in  the  commons, 
on  the  twenty-second  of  February,  to  bind 
the  hands  of  the  executive  power,  by  the 
strong  and  explicit  declaration  of  parliament. 
To  this  purpose  general  Conway  made  a 
motion,  "  That  an  address  should  be  present- 
ed, imploring  his  majesty,  that  the  war 
might  be  no  longer  pursued  for  the  imprac- 
ticable purpose  of  reducing  the  people  of 
America  by  force."  The  motion  was  second- 
ed by  lord  John  Cavendish,  and  opposed  by 
the  new  secretary  for  the  American  depart- 
ment, who  declared,  "that  it  was  now  in 
contemplation  to  contract  the  scale  of  the 
war,  and  to  prosecute  hostilities  by  such 
means  as  were  very  dissimilar  from  the 
past.  In  order  to  obtain  peace  with  America, 
we  must  vanquish  the  French ;  and  as  in  the 
late  war,  America  had  been  said  to  be  con- 
quered in  Germany,  so  in  this  America  must 
be  conquered  in  France.  In  the  present 
circumstances  the  administration  were  con- 
scious of  the  necessity  of  drawing  into  a 
narrow  corApass  the  operations  of  the  Ameri- 
can war,  a  change  of  circumstances  de- 
manding a  corresponding  change  of  mea- 
sures." The  decision  of  this  question  was  a 
real  triumph  to  opposition,  as  the  motion  was 
lost  only  by  a  single  vote ;  and  as  a  majority 
of  the  absent  members  were  supposed  to  be 


296 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


adverse  to  the  ministry,  it  was  thought  ex- 
pedient to  bring  the  question  again  before 
the  house  in  a  ditferent  form.  On  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  February,  therefore,  general 
Conway  brought  forward  a  new  motion  to 
the  same  effect,  which  was  seconded  by  lord 
Althorpe,  and  petitions  from  several  trading 
towns  were  read,  in  disapprobation  of  the 
war.  In  order  to  evade  the  question,  the  at- 
torney-general, Wallace,  recommended  that 
a  truce  should  be  proposed  with  America : 
the  intended  deception,  however,  was  too 
obvious  to  impose  upon  the  house  ;  and,  on 
a  division  upon  his  amendment,  a  majority 
of  nineteen  appeared  against  the  ministry. 
The  motion  of  general  Conway  was  imme- 
diately followed  by  another,  for  an  address 
to  his  majesty,  to  put  an  end  to  the  war ; 
and  it  was  further  resolved,  that  the  address 
should  be  presented  by  the  whole  house. 

When  the  house  went  up  to  St.  James's 
with  the  address,  it  was  observed  as  a  re- 
markable circumstance,  that  the  noted  gen- 
eral Arnold  was  found  standing  at  the  right 
hand  of  his  majesty.  This  circumstance 
drew  forth  some  pointed  observations  in  par- 
liament from  lord  Surrey,  afterwards  duke 
of  Norfolk,  who  declared,  "  that  it  was  an 
insult  to  the  house,  and  deserved  its  cen- 
sure." 

His  majesty's  answer  to  the  address  was 
in  general  terms,  that  he  should  take  such 
measures  as  might  appear  to  him  most  con- 
ducive to  the  restoration  of  peace.  All  refer- 
ence to  the  prosecution  of  offensive  war  was 
cautiously  avoided. 

The  evasive  nature  of  this  answer  induc- 
ed general  Conway  to  move  another  resolu- 
tion in  the  commons,  declaring,  "  that  the 
house  would  consider  as  enemies  to  his  ma- 
jesty, and  to  the  country,  all  those  who 
should  advise  the  further  prosecution  of  of- 
fensive war  on  the  continent  of  North  Amer- 
ica." After  a  feeble  opposition,  the  motion 
was  permitted  to  pass  without  a  division. 
The  embarrassment  of  ministers,  and  the 
triumph  and  exultation  which  pervaded  the 
whole  nation  on  the  success  of  these  mo- 
tions, are  hardly  to  be  described.  The  whigs 
were  regarded  as  the  real  friends  and  sa- 
viors of  their  country.  The  continuance  of 
the  ministry  in  office  was,  however,  thought 
to  be  a  favorite  object  with  certain  persons 
in  high  authority ;  and  it  had  been  intimated 
by  ministers  themselves,  that  though  parlia- 
ment had  interfered  with  its  advice  respect- 
ing the  American  war,  still,  since  it  had  ex- 
pressed no  direct  censure  on  their  conduct, 
they  could  not  be  expected  to  resign.  In  or- 
der to  remove  this  impediment,  lord  John 
Cavendish,  on  the  eighth  of  March,  moved 
a  direct  vote  of  censure  upon  the  adminis- 
tration, which  was  seconded  by  Powys,  in  a 
forcible  speech.     The  debate  lasted  till  two 


in  the  morning,  when,  on  a  division,  there 
appeared,  in  favor  of  administration,  a  ma- 
jority of  ten. 

The  unpopularity  of  lord  North,  however, 
was  now  tiirther  augmented  by  his  proposal 
of  some  new  taxes  ;  particularly  that  on 
soap,  the  carriage  of  goods,  and  places  of 
public  entertainment ;  all  of  which  were 
finally  rejected  by  the  house. 

The  interval  between  the  eighth  and  fif- 
teenth was  generally  supposed  to  have  been 
employed  in  various  unsuccessful  attempts 
to  divide  the  party  in  opposition ;  and  as  lord 
North  still  seemed  averse  to  resign,  on  the 
latter  day  a  motion  was  made  by  Sir  John 
Rous,  and  seconded  by  the  younger  lord 
George  Cavendish,  the  design  of  which  was 
to  accelerate  a  change  of  administration. 
After  reciting  the  facts  contained  in  the  re- 
solutions moved  on  the  eighth,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  resolve,  "That,  on  consideration 
thereof,  the  house  could  have  no  farther  con- 
fidence in  the  ministers  who  had  the  direc- 
tion of  public  affairs."  In  the  debate,  the 
necessity  of  some  new  arrangement  in  the 
administration  of  public  affairs  was  no  lon- 
ger denied  ;  but  the  impolicy,  and  even  the 
danger,  of  throwing  the  country  entirely 
into  the  hands  of  any  party,  was  still  strong- 
ly contended.  A  coalition  was  loudly  called 
for  by  many  moderate  and  independent 
members,  and  the  propriety  of  leaving  the 
noble  lord  at  the  head  of  the  treasury  in 
possession  of  his  office,  till  such  a  measure 
could  be  accomplished,  was  much  insisted  on. 

On  the  other  side  it  was  urged,  that  the 
bait  of  a  coalition  had  been  thrown  out  by 
the  court  merely  for  the  purpose  of  delay, 
and  giving  room  for  intrigue  and  cabal ;  and 
that,  in  order  to  secure  to  the  nation  the  ad- 
vantages which  it  was  now  universally  ad- 
mitted would  arise  from  a  total  change  in 
the  public  councils,  it  was  necessary  not  to 
relax,  for  a  moment,  the  vigorous  pursuit  of 
such  measures,  as  could  not  fail  of  being 
speedily  crowned  with  success. 

Lord  North  endeavored  to  vindicate  his 
own  administration.  He  affirmed,  that  it 
could  not  be  declared  with  truth,  by  that 
house,  that  the  loss  of  the  American  colo- 
nies, or  of  the  West  India  islands,  or  our 
other  national  calamities,  originated  from 
the  measures  of  the  present  administration. 
The  repeal  of  the  American  stamp-act,  and 
the,passing  of  the  declaratory  law,  took  place 
before  his  entrance  into  oflSce.  As  a  private 
member  of  parliament,  he  gave  his  vote  in 
favor  of  both ;  but,  as  a  minister,  he  was 
not  responsible  for  either.  The  house  at 
length  divided  upon  the  question,  when 
there  appeared  for  it  two  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-seven, and  against  it  two  hundred  and 
thirty-six ;  so  that  there  was  a  majority  of 
nine  in  favor  of  administration. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


297 


MINISTRY  DISSOLVED. 

Notwithstanding  this  seemingly  favora- 
ble determination,  it  was  so  well  known  that 
the  ministry  could  not  stand  their  gromid, 
that  four  days  after  (March  nineteenth)  a 
similar  motion  to  that  made  by'  Sir  John 
Rous,  was  to  have  been  made  by  the  earl  of 
Surrey ;  but  when  his  lordship  was  about  to 
rise  for  that  purpose,  lord  North  addressed 
himself  to  the  speaker,  and  observed,  that 
as  he  understood  the  motion  to  be  made  by 
the  noble  earl  was  similar  to  that  made  a 
few  days  before ;  and  the  object  of  which 
was  the  removal  of  the  ministers,  he  had 
such  information  to  communicate  to  the 
house,  as  must,  he  conceived,  render  any 
such  motion  now  unnecessary.  He  could 
with  authority  assure  the  house,  that  his 
majesty  had  come  to  a  full  determination  to 
change  his  ministers.  Indeed,  those  persons 
who  had  for  some  time  conducted  the  public 
affairs,  were  no  longer  his  majesty's  mmis- 
ters.  They  were  not  now  to  be  considered 
as  men  holding  the  reins  of  government, 
and  transacting  matters  of  state,  but  merely 
remaining  to  do  their  official  duty,  till  other 
ministers  were  appointed  to  take  their  places. 
The  sooner  those  new  ministers  were  ap- 
pointed, his  lordship  declared,  that,  in  his 
opinion,  the  better  it  would  be  for  the  pub- 
lic business,  and  the  general  interests  of  the 
nation.  He  returned  thanks  to  the  house 
for  the  many  instances  of  favor  and  indul- 
gence which  he  had  received  from  them 
daring  the  course  of  his  administration ;  and 
he  declared,  that  he  considered  himself  as 
responsible,  in  all  senses  of  the  word,  for 
every  circumstance  of  his  ministerial  con- 
duct, and  that  he  should  be  ready  to  answer 
to  his  country,  whenever  he  should  be  called 
upon  for  that  purpose.  Upon  this  intelli- 
gence the  motion  was  withdrawn,  and  the 
house  adjourned  to  the  Monday  following, 

Thus  ended  an  administration  which  had 
plnnged  the  nation  into  a  war,  under  the 
pretext  of  levying  a  tax  which  would  not 
lave  paid  for  the  collection  of  it ;  and  which 
?efiised  every  offer  of  accommodation  from 
the  revolted  colonies,  short  of  the  most  un^ 
conditional  submission.  The  venerable 
Franklin,  and  the  judicious  Penn,  were 
equally  insulted,  with  proposals  in  their 
hands  for  the  adjustment  of  the  disputed 
points  between  the  Americans  and  the 
mother  country. 

NEW  MINISTRY. 

While  the  nation  at  large  evinced  the 
most  unfeigned  joy  at  the  sudden  dissolution 
of  this  cabal,  it  was  still  feared  by  many, 
that  great  difficulty  would  arise  in  the  for- 
mation of  a  new  and  efficient  administra- 
tion, on  account  of  the  unfortunate  division 
which  had  long  subsisted  among  the  whigs 
in  opposition  to  the  court.     Of  the  two  par- 


ties, that  of  lord  Rockingham  was  by  far  the 
most  numerous  and  powerful ;  but,  from  va- 
rious causes,  easily  and  distinctly  ascertain- 
able by  attentive  observers,  the  other  party, 
of  which,  since  the  death  of  lord  Chatham, 
the  earl  of  Shelburne  was  accounted  the 
head,  were  in  less  disfavor  with  the  king ; 
and  the  highest  department  of  government 
was  upon  this  occasion  expressly  offered  to 
that  nobleman  by  his  majesty.  For,  not  to 
descend  to  subordinate  reasons  of  prefer- 
ence, it  is  evident  that  the  chief  of  the  in- 
ferior party,  lord  Shelburne,  would,  from  his 
comparative  weakness  of  connexion,  have 
been  more  immediately  and  necessarily  de- 
pendent than  his  competitor  lord  Rocking- 
ham upon  the  crown  for  protection  and  sup- 
port. But  the  noble  lord  had  the  generosity 
and  wisdom  to  resist  the  temptation;  and 
the  marquis  of  Rockingham,  to  the  univer- 
sal satisfaction  of  the  kingdom,  was  a  second 
time,  in  a  manner  the  most  honorable  and 
flattering  to  his  character  and  feelings, 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  treasury ;  under 
whom  lord  John  Cavendish  acted  as  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer ;  the  earl  of  Shel- 
burne and  Fox  were  nominated  secretaries 
of  state  ;  lord  Camden  was  appointed  presi- 
dent of  the  council ;  the  duke  of  Grafton 
reinstated  as  lord  privy-seal ;  admiral  Kep- 
pel,  now  created  lord  Keppel,  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  admiralty  ;  general  Conway,  of 
the  army ;  the  duke  of  Richmond,  of  the 
ordnance.  The  duke  of  Portland  succeeded 
lord  Carlisle  as  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland  ; 
Burke  was  constituted  paymaster  of  the 
forces ;  and  colonel  Barre,  treasurer  of  the 
navy.  Lord  Thurlow  alone,  by  the  unac- 
countable and  unmerited  indulgence  of  the 
new  ministers,  continued  in  possession  of  the 
great  seal. 

Previous  to  their  coming  into  office,  the 
whig  ministry  stipulated  for  peace  with 
America,  and  the  acknowledgment  of  its  in- 
dependence, should  it  be  necessary  to  that 
object ;  a  reform  in  the  several  branches  of 
the  civil-list  expenditure,  upon  the  plan  sug- 
gested by  Burke  ;  and  the  diminution  of  the 
influence  of  the  crown  by  excluding  con- 
tractors from  the  house  of  commons,  and  by 
disqualifying  revenue  officers  from  voting  in 
elections  for  members  of  parliament 

While  these  changes  were  taking  place, 
the  Irish  began  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the 
opposition  which  the  ministry  had  manifested 
to  what  they  considered  as  their  natural 
rights.  At  a  general  meeting  of  the  volun- 
teers of  the  province  of  Ulster  on  the  fif^ 
teenth  of  Febmary  1782,  it  was  resolved, 
"  That  the  claim  of  any  body  of  men,  other 
than  the  king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland, 
to  make  laws  to  bind  that  kingdom,  is  un- 
constitutional, illegal,  and  a  grievance ;  that 
the  powers  exercised  by  the  privy-councils 


298 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  both  kingdoms,  under  the  color  of  Poyn- 
ing's  law,  are  unconstitutional :  and  that  all 
restraints  imposed  upon  the  trade  of  Ireland, 
except  by  the  parliament  of  that  kingdom, 
are  likewise  unconstitutional,"  These  reso- 
lutions they  determined  to  support  by  every 
legal  means. 

AFFAIRS  OF  IRELAND— EFFORTS  FOR 
PEACE. 

The  parliament  met  on  the  eighth  of 
April ;  and  on  the  following  day  Fox  pre- 
sented a  message  from  his  majesty  to  the 
house  of  commons,  recommending  to  them 
to  take  the  affairs  of  Ireland  into  considera- 
tion. 

In  the  Irish  house  of  commons  the  cele- 
brated orator  Grattan  moved  an  address  to 
his  majesty,  which  was  unanimously  voted, 
stating,  that  Ireland  was  a  distinct  kingdom, 
the  crown  of  Ireland  an  imperial  crown ; 
and  that  no  authority  except  the  king,  lords, 
and  commons  of  Ireland,  could  make  laws 
to  bind  that  nation.  It  represented  the 
power  assumed  by  the  councils  of  both  king- 
doms, of  altering  bills,  as  an  unconstitutional 
grievance ;  and  insisted  upon  a  mutiny-bill, 
limited  in  duration,  as  essential  to  the  liber- 
ty of  the  nation. 

Justice  and  policy  seconding  the  views  of 
Ireland,  the  obnoxious  acts  of  parliament 
were  immediately  repealed ;  by  which  the 
whole  powers  of  government  were  vested 
solely  in  the  king,  Jords,  and  commons  of 
Ireland  ;  the  controlling  power  of  the  Eng- 
lish parliament,  and  the  practice  of  altering 
the  bills  in  the  privy-council,  were  renounced 
for  ever. 

The  parliament  of  Ireland  in  return  for 
these  concessions  immediately  voted  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  twenty  tliousand  seamen  for  the  pub- 
lic service.  At  the  same  time  fifty  thousand 
pounds  was  voted  to  Henry  Grattan,  Esquire, 
I'or  his  services. 

Whilst  measures  were  thus  happily  pur- 
suing for  restoring  order  and  tranquillity  in 
the  sister  kingdom,  the  new  ministry  were 
no  less  anxiously  intent  on  effectuating  a 
general  peace  with  the  different  foreign 
powers  with  whom  the  nation  was  at  war. 
No  time  was  lost  in  pursuit  of  this  great  ob- 
ject, or  in  taking  the  necessary  steps^for  its 
attainment.  Accordingly,  the  empress  of 
Russia  having  offered  her  mediation,  in  or- 
der to  restore  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  Holland,  secretary  Fox,  within  two  days 
after  his  entrance  into  office,  wrote  a  letter 
to  Mons.  Simolin,  the  Russian  minister  in 
London,  informing  him,  that  his  majesty  was 
ready  to  enter  into  a  negotiation,  for  the 
purpose  of  setting  on  foot  a  treaty  of  peace, 
on  the  terms  and  conditions  of  that  which 
was  agreed  to  in  1764,  between  his  majesty 
and  the  republic  of  Holland ;   and  that  in 


order  to  facilitate  such  a  treaty,  he  was  will- 
ing to  give  immediate  orders  for  a  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities,  if  the  States-General 
were  disposed  to  agree  to  that  measure.  But 
the  states  of  Holland  did  not  appear  inclined 
to  a  separate  peace  ;  nor,  perhaps,  would  it 
have  been  agreeable  to  the  principles  of 
sound  policy,  if  they  had  agreed  to  any 
propositions  of  this  kind.  However,  unme- 
diately  after  the  change  of  ministry,  negotia- 
tions for  a  general  peace  were  commenced 
at  Paris.  Grenville  was  invested  with  full 
powers  to  treat  with  all  the  parties  at  war ; 
and  was  also  directed  to  propose  the  inde- 
pendency of  the  thirteen  united  provinces 
of  America,  in  tlie  first  instance,  instead  of 
making  it  a  condition  of  a  general  treaty. 
Admiral  Digby  and  general  Carleton  were 
also  directed  to  acquaint  the  American  con- 
gress with  the  pacific  views  of  the  British 
court,  and  with  the  offer  that  was  made  to 
acknowledge  the  independency  of  the  United 


REFORM  BILLS. 

The  British  parliament  prosecuted  with 
vigor  the  plans  of  reformation  and  economy 
which  had  been  recommended  by  the  new 
ministry.  The  bills  for  excluding  contrac- 
tors from  seats  in  the  house  of  commons, 
and  incapacitating  revenue  officers  from 
voting  at  elections  for  members  of  parlia- 
ment, were  passed  with  a  feeble  opposition 
from  lord  Mansfield  and  the  chancellor,  the 
latter  declaring  it  to  be  a  "  puny  regulation, 
only  calculated  to  deceive  and  betray  the 
people."  Every  good  patriot  will  indeed 
agree  with  the  noble  lord  in  the  truth  of  the 
assertion,  that  it  was  a  "  puny,"  that  is,  aa 
inefficient  "  regulation,"  but  on  very  differ- 
ent principles.  Burke's  bill  for  the  reform 
of  the  civil-list  expenditure  was  introduced 
with  augmented  splendor,  but  diminished 
utility.  By  this  bill,  which  now  passed  the 
house  with  little  difficulty,  the  board  of  trade, 
and  the  board  of  works,  with  the  great  ward- 
robe, were  abolished ;  together  with  tie 
office  of  American  secretary  of  state,  noA' 
rendered  useless  by  the  loss  of  the  Americai 
colonies ;  the  offices  of  treasurer  of  the 
chamber,  cofferer  of  the  household,  the  lordfe 
of  police  in  Scotland,  the  paymaster  of  the 
pensions,  the  master  of  the  harriers,  the 
master  of  the  stag-hounds,  and  six  clerks  of 
the  board  of  green  cloth.  Provision  also 
was  made  to  enable  his  majesty  to  borrow  a 
sum  for  the  liquidation  of  a  new  arrear  of 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds,  by  a  tax  on 
salaries  and  pensions;  for  a  debt  to  this 
amount  had  been  again  contracted  by  the 
shameful  prodigality  of  the  late  ministers, 
notwithstanding  the  addition  of  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  per  annum,  so  recently 
made  to  the  civil-list. 

The  economical  abolitions  and  retrench- 


GEORGE  in.  1760—1820. 


299 


raents  of  the  reform  bill  met  with  a  violent 
opposition  in  the  upper  house,  from  the  lords 
Thurlow  and  Loughborough,  but  it  finally 
passed  by  a  great  majority.  A  bill  sent  up 
from  the  commons,  for  disfranchising  certain 
voters  of  the  borough  of  Cricklade,  who  had 
been  proved  guilty  of  the  most  shameful  and 
scandalous  acts  of  bribery,  was  also  impeded 
and  embarrassed  in  all  its  stages  by  the  same 
law  lords,  with  every  possible  subtilty  of 
legal  quibble  and  chicanery.  The  duke  of 
Richmond  was  upon  this  occasion  provoked 
to  charge  the  chancellor  with  indiscriminate- 
ly opposing  every  measure  of  regulation 
and  improvement  which  was  laid  before  the 
house.  And  lord  Fortescue,  with  unguarded 
but  honest  warmth,  remarked,  "  that  what 
he  had  long  feared  was  at  length  come  to 
pass ;  from  the  profusion  of  lawyers  intro- 
duced into  that  house,  it  was  no  longer  a 
house  of  lords,  it  was  converted  into  a  mere 
court  of  law,  where  a'U  the  solid  and  honor- 
able principles  of  truth  and  justice  were 
sacrificod  to  the  low  and  miserable  chicanery 
used  in  Westminster  Hall.  That  once  vene- 
rable, dignified,  and  august  assembly,  now 
resembled  more  a  meeting  of  pettifoggers 
than  a  house  of  parliament.  With  respect 
to  the  learned  lord  on  the  woolsack,  who  had 
now  for  some  years  presided  in  that  house, 
he  seemed  to  be  fraught  with  nothing  but 
contradictions  and  distinctions  and  law  sub- 
tilties.  As  to  himself,"  lord  Fortescue  with 
a  noble  pride  added,  "  he  had  not  attended 
a  minister's  levee,  till  very  lately,  for  these 
forty  years ;  and  the  present  mmistry  he 
v/ould  support  no  longer  than  they  deserved 
it.  But  as  they  came  into  office  upon  the 
most  honorable  and  laudable  of  all  princi- 
ples, the  approbation  of  their  sovereign,  and 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  nation,  it 
filled  his  breast  with  indignation  when  he 
l)eheld  their  measures  day  after  day  thwarted 
and  opposed,  by  men  who  resembled  more  a 
set  of  Cornish  attorneys  than  members  of 
that  right  honorable  house." 

On  the  third  of  May,  on  the  motion  of 
Wilkes,  seconded  by  Byng,  the  celebrated 
vote  of  the  seventeenth  of  February  1769, 
relative  to  t!ie  Middlesex  election,  was  re- 
scinded and  expunged  from  the  journals,  as 
well  as  all  the  other  motions  relative  to  the 
incapacity  of  Wilkes  to  take  his  seat  in  that 
parliament. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  April,  the  lord- 
advocate  of  Scotland  moved  a  long  series  of 
resolutions  relative  to  the  affairs  of  the  East 
India  company,  which  were  passed  by  the 
house;  and  on  tlie  twenty-ninth,  a  bill  for 
inflicting  pains  and  penalties  on  Sir  Thomas 
Rumbold,  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors 
committed  during  his  administration  in  tlie 
Camatic;   and  another  for  restraining  Sir 


Thomas  Rumbold,  and  Peter  Perring,  Esq. 
from  going  out  of  the  kingdom ;  were  in- 
troduced under  the  same  authority.  A  vote 
of  censure  was  soon  afterwards  passed  on  the 
conduct  of  Warren  Hastings,  Esq.  governor- 
general  m  Bengal,  and  William  Hornsby, 
Esq.  president  of  the  council  in  Bombay , 
and  a  declaration,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  th(r 
court  of  directors  to  take  the  necessary  le  • 
gal  steps  for  their  recall.  Several  resolu- 
tions were  also  passed,  censuring  the  con- 
duct of  Laurence  Sullivan,  Esq.  chairman 
of  the  court  of  directors,  for  neglecting  to 
transmit  the  act  for  the  regulation  of  the 
company's  service  in  India.  An  address  to 
the  king  was  also  agreed  to  by  the  house, 
pressing  for  the  recall  of  Sir  Elijah  Impey. 

MINORCA  TAKEN.— FRENCH  FLEET  DE- 
FEATED BY  RODNEY. 
On  the  seventh  of  May,  Pitt  made  a  mo- 
tion "  that  a  committee  should  be  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  representa- 
tion, and  to  report  to  the  house  their  opin- 
ion thereon."  Though  ably  supported  by- 
several  members,  the  motion  was  rejected 
by  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  against  one 
hundred  and  forty-one.  While  this  patriotic 
ministry  were  reforming  abuses  at  home, 
our  fleets  and  armies  were  reaping  laurels 
abroad.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year,  how- 
ever. Great  Britain  experienced  some  ad- 
verse fortune — the  island  of  Minorca  was 
taken  by  the  Spaniards,  on  the  fifth  of  Feb- 
ruary, after  a  close  siege  of  upwards  of  six 
months.  On  the  first  of  January,  the  mar- 
quis de  Bouille  landed  on  the  island  of  St. 
Christopher  with  eight  thousand  men,  and 
was  supported  by  the  count  de  Grasse,  with 
thirty-two  ships  of  the  Ime.  After  a  press- 
ing siege  of  four  weeks,  the  fortress  on 
Brimstone-hill,  to  which  the  British  forces 
had  retired  upon  the  approach  of  the  enemy, 
was  compelled  to  surrender,  though  Sir 
Samuel  Hood  had  made  a  bold  effort  to  re- 
lieve the  island  with  his  fleet.  Nevis  and 
Montserrat  followed  the  fortune  of  St.  Chris- 
topher's ;  but  the  naval  career  of  the  French 
and  Spaniards  was  fortunately  interrupted 
in  the  beginning  of  February,  by  the  arrival 
of  Sir  George  Radney,  with  twelve  ships  of 
the  line,  at  Barbadoes,  which  were  augment- 
ed by  the  beginning  of  March  to  a  fleet  of 
thirty-six  sail  of  the  line ;  that  of  the  French 
consisting  only  of  thirty-four.  On  the  eighth 
of  April,  the  count  de  Grasse  weighed  an- 
chor from  Fort  Royal,  with  a  large  convoy 
under  his  protection,  and  intended  to  pro- 
ceed to  Hispaniola,  where  he  expected  to 
meet  the  Spanish  fleet  But  the  British  ad- 
miral, by  means  of  good  intelligence,  was 
enabled  to  follow  them  by  noon  of  the  same 
day,  from  Gros-islet  Bay,  in  St.  Lucia,  and 
came  witliin  Kght  of  Uie  enemy  off  Domi- 


300 


HISTORY  OP  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


niqiie  that  night.  Both  fleets  prepared  for 
action  by  daybreak  on  the  succeeding  day. 
The  English,  however,  lay  becalmed  under 
the  high  lands  of  Dominique,  till  near  nine 
o'clock,  when  the  breeze  at  length  reached 
the  fleet,  and  carried  the  van  directly  into 
the  centre  of  the  enemy,  while  the  centre 
and  the  rear  of  the  English  were  still  be- 
calmed. The  French  admiral  could  not  re- 
sist the  temptation  of  falling  upon  one-third 
of  the  force  of  his  adversaries,  with  his 
whole  fleet.  The  combat  commenced  with 
the  van  of  the  English,  which  was  greatly 
pressed  for  more  than  an  hour  by  the  supe- 
rior force  of  the  enemy.  Upon  the  approach 
of  some  ships  to  the  assistance  of  the  van, 
the  French  admiral  perceived  that  he  had 
tailed  in  his  design  of  crushing  the  first  di- 
vision of  the  British ;  he  therefore  withdrew 
his  fleet  from  the  action,  and,  having  the 
command  of  the  wind,  completely  evaded 
all  the  efforts  of  the  British  commanders  for 
its  renewal.  Two  of  the  French  ships  were 
so  much  disabled,  as  to  be  under  the  neces- 
sity of  putting  into  Guadaloupe  to  refit.  The 
damages  the  English  received  were  not  so 
frreat,  but  that  they  were  reparable  at  sea, 
On  the  eleventh,  the  French  were  so  far  to 
the  windward  as  to  weather  Guadaloupe 
and  had  gained  such  a  distance,  that  the 
tody  of  their  fleet  could  only  be  perceived 
from  the  masts  of  the  English  centre.  About 
noon,  however,  two  of  the  disabled  ships 
were  observed  to  fall  considerably  to  lee- 
ward. The  British  admiral  made  signals 
for  a  general  chase ;  and  the  pursuit  became 
so  vigorous,  that  these  ships  must  have  been 
mevitably  cut  off"  before  the  evening,  had 
not  M.  de  Grasse  borne  down  to  their  as- 
sistance. The  scene  of  action  is  described 
as  a  moderately  large  basin  of  water,  lying 
tetween  the  islands  of  Guadaloupe,  Domi- 
nique, the  Saints,  and  Marigalante.  The 
hostile  fleets  met  upon  opposite  tacks ;  and 
the  line  of  battle  being  formed  early  in  the 
morning  of  the  twelfth,  the  battle  commenced 
about  seven,  and  continued  with  unremit- 
ting fury  till  about  the  same  hour  in  the 
evening.  The  ships  were  so  near  each  other, 
tliat  every  shot  told ;  and  those  of  the  French 
teing  full  of  men,  a  dreadfiil  carnage  en- 
sued. The  Formidable,  Sir  George  Rod- 
ney's ship,  fired  no  less  than  eighty  broad- 
Kides,  and  every  other  ship  in  proportion; 
and  the  gallantry  of  the  French  was  in  no 
instance  inferior  to  that  of  their  opponents. 
About  noon,  the  British  admiral,  with  his 
seconds  the  Duke  and  the  Namur,  broke 
through  the  enemy's  line ;  and  immediately 
throwing  out  the  signals  for  the  van  to  tack, 
the  British  got  to  windward,  and  completed 
the  general  confusion  of  the  French  squad- 
ron.    In  this  state  the  contest  continued 


with  unabated  violence  till  the  close  of  the 
day,  when  the  admiral's  ship,  the  Ville  de 
Paris,  struck  to  Sir  Samuel  Hood  in  the 
Barfleur.  Four  other  ships  of  the  line  were 
taken ;  one  was  sunk,  and  another  blew  up 
in  the  action.  Sir  Samuel  Hood  pursued 
the  flying  squadron,  and  on  the  nineteenth 
overtook  and  captured  two  of  them  in  the 
Mona  Passage,  the  Jason  and  the  Caton, 
with  two  frigates.  Sir  George  Rodney  im- 
mediately proceeded  with  the  ships  and 
prizes  for  Jamaica,  and  on  his  return  to 
England,  was  honored  with  an  English,  and 
,  Sir  Samuel  Hood  with  an  Irish,  peerage. 

This  victorious  fleet,  however,  suffered 
afterwards  from  the  inclemency  of  the  ele- 
ments. On  the  twenty-sixth  of  July,  admi- 
ral Graves  sailed  from  Jamaica,  v/ith  seven 
ships  of  the  line,  including  the  Ville  de 
Paris,  and  some  other  of  the  prizes,  the  Pal- 
las frigate,  and  about  one  hundred  sail  of 
merchantmen.  The  admiral  had  not  been 
long  at  sea,  before  the  Hector  of  seventy- 
four  guns,  one  of  the  prizes,  from  her  bad 
condition,  lost  company  with  the  fleet,  and 
was  never  able  afterwards  to  recover  it.  On 
the  eighth  of  September,  the  Caton  of  sixty- 
four  guns,  another  of  the  French  vessels, 
sprung  a  leak  in  a  hard  gale  of  wind,  and 
the  admiral  ordered  both  her  and  the  Pallas 
to  Halifax  to  refit.  This  was  only  a  pre- 
lude to  their  future  misfortunes ;  for  on  the 
tenth  the  fleet  and  convoy,  which  still 
amounted  to  nearly  ninety,  encountered,  on 
the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  one  of  the  most 
dreadful  storms  which  was  ever  known  in 
that  quarter.  The  hurricane  increased  du- 
ring the  night,  and  was  accompanied  with 
a  dreadful  deluge  of  rain.  At  ten  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  Ramillies,  the  admiral's 
ship,  had  five  feet  of  water  in  her  hold,  and 
she  was  obliged  to  part  with  several  of  her 
guns,  and  other  heavy  articles,  to  enable  her 
to  keep  afloat.  The  water  increasing,  the 
admiral  removed  the  people  on  board -some 
of  the  merchantmen.  About  four  o'clock, 
the  water  in  her  hold  was  increased  to  fif- 
teen feet,  and  at  the  same  period  she  was  so 
completely  set  on  fire,  that  captain  Mori- 
arty  and  the  people  had  quitted  her  but  a 
few  minutes  when  she  blew  up. 

The  fate  of  the  Centaur  was  still  more 
dreadfiil.  After  losing  her  masts  and  rud- 
der, she  was,  by  the  unwearied  exertions  of 
the  crew,  kept  afloat  till  the  twenty-third ; 
but  the  struggle  was  then  at  an  end.  The 
ship  rapidly  filling  with  water,  while  the  as- 
pect of  the  sea  indicated  that  neither  boat 
nor  raft  could  live  for  any  lengtli  of  time, 
the  majority  of  the  crew  had  given  them- 
selves up  for  lost,  and  remained  below.  In 
this  extremity,  captain  Inglefield  came  upon 
deck,  and  observed  that  a  few  of  the  people 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


301 


I 


had  forced  their  way  into  the  pinnace,  and 
others  were  preparing  to  follow ;  upon  this 
he  threw  himself  into  the  boat,  but  found 
much  difficulty  in  getting  clear  of  the  ship's 
aide,  from  the  violence  of  the  crowd  that 
was  passing  to  follow  his  example.  Of  all 
these  Mr.  Baylis  only,  a  youth  of  seventeen, 
who  tlirew  himself  into  the  waves  and  swam 
after  the  boat,  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
taken  in.  The  number  of  the  persons  who 
were  thus  committed  to  the  mercy  of  the 
waves,  amounted  to  twelve;  their  whole 
stock  of  provisions  consisted  of  a  bag  of 
bread,  a  small  ham,  a  single  piece  of  pork, 
a  few  French  cordials,  and  one  quart  bottle 
of  water.  A  minute  detail  of  their  suffer- 
ings would  exceed  our  bounds ;  suffice  it  to 
aay,  that  they  were  sixteen  days  exposed  in 
this  forlorn  state  ;  when  at  length  their  pro- 
vision and  water  being  totally  exhausted, 
they  were  happy  enough  to  gain  the  port  of 
Fayal.  The  rest  of  the  crew,  it  is  presum- 
ed, perished  with  the  vessel. 

For  an  account  of  the  fate  of  the  Ville  de 
Paris,  and  the  Glorieux,  the  public  are  in- 
debted to  a  singular  accident  A  Danish 
merchant-ship  returning  from  the  West  In- 
dies, found  a  man  floating  upon  a  piece  of  a 
wreck,  who  appears  to  have  been  insensible 
when  taken  on  board.  When  restored  to 
his  senses,  he  reported  that  his  name  was 
Wilson ;  that  he  had  been  a  seaman  on  board 
the  Ville  de  Paris ;  and  added,  that  when 
she  was  going  to  pieces,  he  clung  to  a  part 
of  the  wreck,  and  remained  in  a  state  of  in- 
sensibility during  most  of  the  time  that  he 
continued  in  the  water ;  he  perfectly  recol- 
lected that  the  Glorieux  had  foundered,  and 
that  he  saw  her  go  down  on  the  day  pre- 
ceding that  on  which  the  Ville  de  Paris 
perished. 

The  crew  of  the  Hector,  after  suffering 
great  hardships,  were  saved  by  the  good  for- 
tune of  meeting  with  a  merchant-ship  called 
the  Hawke,  commanded  by  Thomas  Hill,  of 
Dartmouth,  who  humanely  received  them 
on  board  his  own  vessel,  and  conveyed  them 
to  Newfoundland.  The  Hector  had  previ- 
ously had  a  desperate  engagement  with  two 
of  the  enemy's  frigates,  who  left  her  in  that 
miserable  condition  in  which  the  merchant- 
ship  found  her.  Thus  of  seven  ships  of  the 
line,  which  composed  the  Jamaica  squad- 
ron, only  two,  the  Canada  and  the  Caton, 
escaped. 

The  victory  of  Rodney  was  in  some  mea- 
sure damped  by  the  taking  of  the  Bahama 
Islands  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  eighth  of 
May,  which  were  found  in  a  defenceless  state 
by  the  enemy.  This  loss  was  however  again 
nearly  compensated  by  the  capture  of  Acra, 
and  four  other  Dutch  forts  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  by. captain  Shirley  in  the  Leander. 

Vol.  IV.  26 


On  the  fifth  of  January,  also.  Sir  Edward 
Hughes  reduced  the  town  of  Trincomale 
belonging  to  the  Dutch,  in  the  island  of 
Ceylon. 

TOTAL  DEFEAT  OF  THK  SPANIARDS  AT 
GIBRALTAR. 

In  Europe  the  conclusion  of  the  campaign 
was  not  less  glorious  for  Great  Britain,  than 
it  had  been  in  the  West  Indies.  The  reduc- 
tion of  Minorca  inspired  the  Spanish  nation 
with  fresh  motives  to  perseverance.  The  ** 
duke  de  Crillon,  who  had  been  recently  suc- 
cessful in  the  siege  of  Minorca,  was  appoints 
ed  to  conduct  the  siege  of  Gibraltar,  and  it  ' 
was  resolved  to  employ  the  whole  strength 
of  the  Spanish  monarchy  in  seconding  his  ' 
operations.  No  means  were  neglected,  nor 
expense  spared,  that  promised  to  forward  the 
views  of  the  besiegers.  From  the  failure  | 
of  all  plans  hitherto  adopted  for  effecting 
the  reduction  of  Gibraltar,  it  was  resolved 
to  adopt  new  ones.  Among  the  various  pro- 
jects for  this  purpose,  one  which  had  been 
formed  by  the  chevalier  d'Arcon  was  deem- 
ed the  most  worthy  of  trial.  This  was  to 
construct  such  floating  batteries  as  could 
neither  be  sunk  nor  fired.  With  this  view, 
their  bottoms  were  made  of  the  thickest 
timber,  and  their  sides  of  wood  and  cork 
long  soaked  in  water,  with  a  large  layer  of 
wet  sand  between. 

To  prevent  the  effects  of  red-hot  balls,  a 
number  of  pipes  were  contrived  to  carry 
water  through  every  part  of  them,  and 
pumps  were  provided  to  keep  these  con- 
stantly supplied  with  water.  The  people 
on  board  were  to  be  sheltered  from  the  fall 
of  bombs  by  a  cover  of  rope  netting,  which 
was  made  sloping,  and  overlaid  with  wet 
hides. 

These  floating  batteries,  ten  in  number, 
were  made  out  of  the  hulls  of  large  vessels, 
cut  down  for  the  purpose,  and  carried  from 
twenty-eight  to  ten  guns  each,  and  were 
seconded  by  eight  large  boats  mounted  with 
guns  of  heavy  metal,  and  also  by  a  multi- 
tude of  frigates,  ships  of  force,  and  some 
hundreds  of  small  craft. 

General  Elliot,  the  intrepid  defender  of 
Gibraltar,  was  not  ignorant  that  inventions 
of  a  peculiar  kind  were  prepared  against 
him,  but  knew  nothing  of  thjifcgonstruction. 
He  nevertheless  provided  fjjptery  circum- 
stance of  danger  that  couUPbe  foreseen  or 
imagmed.  The  thirteenth  day  of  Septem- 
ber was  fixec^  upon  by  the  besiegers  for 
making  a  grand  attack,  when  the  new-, 
invented  machines,  with  all  the  united  pow- 
ers of  gunpowder  and  artillery  in  their 
highest  state  of  improvement,  were  to  be 
called  into  action.  The  combined  fleets  of 
France  and  Spain  in  the  bay  of  Gibrdtar 
amounted  to  forty-eight  sail  of  the  line. 


302 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Their  batteries  were  covered  with  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  pieces  of  heavy  brass 
cannon.  The  numbers  employed  by  land 
and  sea  against  the  fortress  were  estimated 
at  one  hundred  thousand  men.  With  this 
force,  and  by  the  fire  of  three  hundred  can- 
non, mortars,  and  howitzers,  from  the  adja- 
cent isthmus,  it  was  intended  to  attack  every 
part  of  the  British  works  at  one  and  the 
same  instant.  The  surrounding  hills  were 
T  covered  with  people  assembled  to  behold  the 
^  spectacle.  The  cannonade  and  bombard- 
ment were  tremendous.  The  showers  of 
S  shot  and  shells  from  the  land  batteries  and 
/  the  ships  of  the  besiegers,  and  from  the  va- 
]  rious  works  of  the  garrison,  exhibited  a  most 
7  dreadful  scene.  Four  hundred  pieces  of  the 
I  heaviest  artillery  were  playing  at  the  same 
V  moment.  The  whole  peninsula  seemed  to 
be  overwhelmed  in  the  torrents  of  fire  which 
were  incessantly  poured  upon  it.  The  Span- 
ish floating  batteries  for  some  time  answered 
the  expectations  of  their  framers.  The 
heaviest  shells  often  rebounded  from  their 
tops,  while  thirty-two  pound  shot  made  no 
visible  impression  upon  their  hulls.  For 
some  hours  the  attack  and  defence  were  so 
equally  supported,  as  scarcely  to  admit  of 
any  appearance  of  superiority  on  either  side. 
The  construction  of  the  battering  ships  was 
so  well  calculated  for  withstanding  the  com- 
bined force  of  fire  and  artillery,  that  they 
seemed  for  some  time  to  bid  defiance  to  the 
powers  of  the  heaviest  ordnance.  In  the 
afternoon  the  effects  of  hot  shot  became  vis- 
ible. At  first  there  was  only  an  appearance 
of  smoke,  but  in  the  course  of  the  night, 
after  the  fire  of  the  garrison  had  continued 
about  fifteen  hours,  two  of  the  floating  bat- 
teries were  in  flames,  and  several  more  vis- 
ibly beginning  to  kindle.  The  endeavors 
of  the  besiegers  were  now  exclusively  di- 
rected to  bring  off"  the  men  from  the  burn- 
ing vessels;  but  in  this  they  were  inter- 
rupted. Captain  Carlis,  who  lay  ready  with 
twelve  gun-boats,  advanced  and  fired  upon 
them  with  such  order  and  expedition,  as  to 
throw  them  into  confusion  before  they  had 
finished  their  business.  They  fled  with 
tlieir  boats,  and  abandoned  to  their  fate  great 
numbers  of  their  people.  The  opening  of 
daylight  disGi|Bsed  a  most  dreadful  specta- 
cle. Many  w%e  seen  in  the  midst  of  the 
flames  crying  olt  for  help,  while  others  were 
floating  upon  pieces  of  timber,  exposed  to 
equal  danger  from  the  opposite  element. 
The  generous  humanity  of  the  victors  equal- 
led their  valor,  and  was  the  more  honorable, 
aa  the  exertions  of  it  exposed  them  to  no  less 
danger  than  those  of  active  hostility.  In 
endeavoring  to  save  the  lives  of  his  enemies, 
captain  Curtis  nearly  lost  his  own.  While 
for  the  moet  benevolent  purpose  he  was 


along-side  of  the  floating  batteries,  one  of 
them  blew  up,  and  some  heavy  pieces  of 
timber  fell  into  his  boat,  and  pierced  through 
its  bottom.  By  similar  perilous  exertions, 
near  four  hundred  men  were  saved  from  in- 
evitable destruction.  The  exercise  of  hu- 
manity to  an  enemy  under  such  circum- 
stances of  immediate  action  and  impending 
danger,  conferred  more  true  honor  than 
could  be  acquired  by  the  most  splendid  se- 
ries of  victories.  It  in  some  degree  ob- 
scured tiie  impression  made  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  human  nature,  by  the  madness 
of  mankind  in  destroying  each  other  by 
wasteful  wars.  The  floating  batteries  were 
all  consumed.  The  violence  of  their  ex- 
plosion was  such,  as  to  burst  open  the  doors 
and  windows  at  a  great  distance.  Soon 
after  the  destruction  of  the  floating  batte- 
ries, lord  Howe,  with  thirty-five  ships  of  the 
line,  brought  to  the  brave  garrison  an  ample 
supply  of  everything  wanted,  either  for 
their  support  or  their  defence.  This  com- 
plete relief  of  Gibraltar  was  the  third  de- 
cisive event  in  the  course  of  a  twelvemonth, 
which  favored  the  re-establishment  of  a 
general  peace. 

NEW  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  prosperity  of  nations  often  depends 
upon  unforeseen  contingencies.  We  have 
seen  the  government,  in  the  year  1782, 
wrested  out  of  the  unskilful  hands  which 
had  conducted  it  almost  to  the  verge  of  de- 
struction ;  and  the  whole  ability,  the  patriot- 
ism, the  landed  interest  of  the  nation,  at 
once  united  in  support  of  an  administra- 
tion formed  on  the  most  popular  basis.  But 
this  pleasing  prospect  was  clouded  by  the 
lamented  death  of  the  marquis  of  Rocking- 
ham on  the  first  of  July.  He  was  the  centre 
of  union  which  kept  up  the  jarring  particles 
of  the  whig  interest  united,  A  few  days 
after  the  death  of  the  marquis,  a  meeting 
of  the  Rockingham  party  was  convened  by 
Fox,  the  avowed  object  of  which  was,  to  de- 
feat the  appointment  of  Lord  Shelburne  to 
the  situation  of  prime  minister.  At  this 
meeting  it  was  agreed  to  support  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  duke  of  Portland  to  the  first 
office  in  the  treasury,  and  that  Fox  should 
wait  on  his  majesty  with  this  resolve.  It  is 
said  that  Fox  arrived  at  the  royal  closet  only 
in  time  to  learn  that  the  treasurer's  staffs  had 
just  been  committed  to  the  hands  of  lord 
Shelburne.  It  is  added,  that  Fox  then  re- 
quested leave  to  name  the  new  secretary  of 
state ;  and,  on  being  informed  that  the  office 
was  already  disposed  of,  he  requested  per- 
mission to  resign,  and  was  followed  by  lord 
John  Cavendish,  the  duke  of  Portland,  Burke, 
Sheridan,  Montague,  lord  Althorpe,  lord 
Duncaimon,  J.  Townshend,  and  I^e. 


i 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


303 


The  Shelbume  administration  was  re- 
spectable, but  it  was  feeble :  it  wanted  both 
parliamentary  interest  and  parliamentary 
ability.  Lord  Grantham,  a  nobleman  more 
distinguished  by  his  amiable  character  than 
by  the  extent  of  his  abilities,  succeeded  to 
the  office  of  Fox ;  Pitt  was  made  chancellor 
of  tlie  exchequer,  and  earl  Temple  succeed- 
ed the  duke  of  Portland  as  lord-lieutenant 
of  Ireland. 


Though  lord  Shelbume  had  formerly  de- 
clared in  the  house  of  lords,  "  that  when- 
ever the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  should 
acknowledge  the  independence  of  America, 
the  sun  of  England's  glory  was  set  for  ever ;" 
he  took  occasion  to  observe,  in  the  same 
house,  when  he  came  into  administration, 
that  he  now  considered  it  as  a  necessary  evil 
to  which  the  country  must  inevitably  submit 


304 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Motives  for  a  general  Peace — Preliminaries  Signed  with  America — With  France, 
Spain,  <^c. — Meeting  of  Parliament — Debates  on  the  Peace — Resolutions  carried 
against  Ministry — Lord  Shelburne  resigns — Coalition  Ministry — Bill  preventing 
appeals  from  Ireland — India  Affairs — Pittas  Motion  on  the  Subject  of  a  Parliament- 
ary Reform — The  Quakers  petition  the  House  of  Commons  against  the  Slave  Trade 
— Fox  introduces  his  India  Bill — A  second  Bill  for  the  intei'nal  Government  of  the 
British  Dominions  in  India — The  Bill  lost  in  the  House  of  Peers — Contest  between 
the  Croivn  and  Commons — The  Conduct  of  the  High  Bailiff  of  Westminster  in  re- 
fusing to  return  Fox  brought  before  the  House  of  Commons — PitVs  India  Bill — 
The  Commutation  Tax — Bill  for  the  Restoration  of  the  Estates  forfeited  in  Scot- 
land in  1715  and  1745,  passed.  • 


MOTIVES  FOR  A  GENERAL  PEACE. 

The  events  which  disposed  the  hostile  na- 
tions to  pacific  measures  have  been  amply 
detailed  in  the  two  preceding  chapters.  The 
capture  of  the  British  army  in  Virginia,  the 
defeat  of  count  de  Grasse,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Spanish  floating  batteries,  incul- 
cated on  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain, 
the  policy  of  sheathing  the  sword,  and  stop- 
ping the  effusion  of  human  blood.  Each  na- 
tion foimd,  on  a  review  of  past  events,  that 
though  their  losses  were  great,  their  gains 
were  little  or  nothing.  By  urging  the 
American  war.  Great  Britain  had  increased 
her  national  debt  upv^^ards  of  one  hundred 
millions  of  pounds  sterling,  and  wasted  the 
lives  of  at  least  fifty  thousand  of  her  sub- 
jects. To  add  to  her  mortification,  she  had 
brought  ail  this  on  herself,  by  pursuing  an 
object,  the  attainment  of  which  seemed  to 
be  daily  less  probable,  and  the  benefits  of 
which,  even  though  it  could  have  been  at- 
tained, were  very  problematical. 

The  empress  of  Russia,  and  the  emperor 
of  Germany,  were  the  mediators  in  accom- 
plishing the  great  work  of  peace.  Such 
was  the  state  of  the  contending  parties,  that 
the  intercession  of  powerful  mediators  was 
no  longer  necessary.  The  disposition  of 
Great  Britain  to  recognize  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  had  removed  the  prin- 
cipal difficulty  which  had  hitherto  obstruct- 
ed a  general  pacification. 

The  avowed  object  of  the  alliance  be- 
tween France  and  i^merica,  and  the  steady 
adherence  of  both  parties  not  to  enter  into 
negotiations  without  the  concurrence  of  each 
other,  reduced  Great  Britain  to  the  alterna- 
tive of  continuing  a  hopeless  unproductive 
war,  or  of  negotiatin«T  under  the  idea  of  re- 
cognizing American  independence.  Seven 
years'  experience  had  proved  to  the  nation 
that  the  conquest  of  the  Americian  states  was 
impracticable ;  they  now  received  equal  con- 
viction, that  the  recognition  of  their  inde- 
pendence was  an  indispensable  preliminary! 


to  the  termination  of  a  war,  from  the  con- 
tinuance of  which,  neither  profit  nor  honor 
was  to  be  acquired.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
a  revolution  was  eflfected  in  the  sentiments 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  not  less 
remarkable  than  what  in  the  beginning  of  it 
took  place  among  the  citizens  of  America. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1782, 
Fitzherbert,  the  minister  at  Brussels,  was 
appointed  plenipotentiary  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  to  conclude  the  treaty  with 
the  ministers  of  France,  Spain,  and  Holland ; 
and  Mr.  Oswald,  a  merchant,  who  had  been 
long  conversant  in  American  affairs,  was 
nominated  as  commissioner  from  h's  Eritsn- 
nic  majesty  to  treat  with  John  Adams,  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  John  Jay,  and  Henry  Lau- 
rens, the  commissioners  from  America. 

PRELIMINARIES  OF  PEACE  WITH  AMER- 
ICA— FRANCE,  SPAIN,  &c. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  November  1782,  pro- 
visional articles  were  signed  by  the  British 
and  American  commissioners,  which  were 
to  be  inserted  in  the  general  treaty  of  peace, 
whenever  it  should  be  concluded  between 
the  European  powers.  By  these  articles  the 
independence  of  America  was  acknowledg- 
ed in  the  fullest  extent ;  very  ample  bounda- 
ries were  assigned  to  the  States,  compre- 
hending the  extensive  countries  on  both  sides 
the  Ohio,  and  on  the  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  full  right  of  fishing  on  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland. 

The  preliminary  articles  between  Great 
Britain  and  France  were  signed  at  Versailles 
by  Fitzherbert  and  the  count  de  Vergennes, 
on  the  twenty-eighth  of  January  1783,  and 
those  with  Spain  on  the  same  day.  By  the 
former  of  these  treaties  the  fishery  on  the 
coast  of  Newfoundland  was  permitted  to  the 
French,  from  Cape  St.  John,  on  the  eastern 
side,  round  the  north  of  the  island,  to  Cape 
Ray  on  the  west. — The  islands  of  St.  Pierre 
and  Miquelon  were  ceded  to  France.  In  the 
West  Indies  Great  Britain  ceded  also  the 
island  of  Tobago,  and  restored  that  of  St 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


305 


Lucia.  In  Africa  the  river  Senegal,  and  all 
its  dependencies  and  forts,  were  ceded,  and 
the  island  of  Goree  restored  to  the  French. 
In  the  East  Indies  England  restored  all  her 
conquests.  The  articles  also  relative  to  the 
port  and  harbor  of  Dunkirk,  established  at 
the  peace  of  Utrecht,  were  by  the  new 
treaty  annulled. 

In  return  for  these  concessions,  France 
restored  to  Great  Britain  the  islands  of  Gren- 
ada, the  Grenadines,  St.  Vincent,  Dominica, 
St  Christopher's,  Nevis,  and  Montserrat,  in 
the  West  Indies ;  and  m  Africa  the  posses- 
sion of  Fort  James,  and  the  river  Gambia, 
were  guarantied  to  Great  Britain. 

By  the  treaty  with  Spain,  Great  Britain 
relinquished  all  right  and  claim  to  West 
Florida,  and  the  island  of  Minorca,  and 
ceded  the  province  of  East  Florida :  on  the 
other  side,  the  Bahama  islands  were  restor- 
ed to  Great  Britain.  With  respect  to  the 
Dutch,  a  suspension  of  arms  only  was  agreed 
to ;  and  it  was  some  months  before  the  pre- 
liminaries were  settled.  [See  note  B,  at  the 
end  of  this  Vol.] 

By  these  treaties  an  end  was  put  to  the 
most  unfortunate  war,  in  which  Great  Brit- 
ain had  hitherto  been  engaged.  From  the 
conflict  of  parties  which  distracted  the  na- 
tion, however,  these  articles  of  peace  were 
doomed  to  undergo  a  severe  examination. 

DEBATES  IN  PARLIAMENT  ON  THE 
PEACE.— MINISTRY  OUTVOTED— THEY 
RESIGN. 

The  parliament  met  on  the  twenty-first 
of  January  1783,  and  a  coalition  having 
been  previously  formed  between  lord  North 
and  the  Portland  faction,  some  debates  en- 
sued concerning  the  provisional  articles 
with  America ;  but  little  business  of  conse- 
quence was  transacted  till  the  seventeenth 
of  February,  when  the  preliminary  articles 
were  laid  before  the  two  houses. 

An  address  of  thanks  and  approbation  be- 
ing moved  in  the  house  of  peers  by  lord 
Pembroke,  and  seconded  by  the  marquis  of 
Carmarthen,  a  succession  of  able  and  elo- 
quent speeches  were  made  by  the  lords  Car- 
lisle, Walsington,  Sackville,  Stormont,  and 
Loughborough,  reprobating  the  prelimina- 
ries of  peace  as  derogatory  from  the  dignity, 
and  in  the  highest  degree  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  the  nation.  "  The  dereliction  of 
the  loyalists  of  America,  and  the  Indians  our 
allies,  was  said  to  be  a  baseness  unexampled 
in  the  records  of  history.  In  the  lowest  ebb 
of  distress  we  ought  not  to  have  subscribed 
to  terms  so  ignominious.  Francis  I.  when 
conquered  and  a  captive,  wrote,  "that  all 
was  lost  except  his  honor;"  and  his  mag- 
nanimity finally  re-established  his  fortune. 
The  folly  of  our  negotiations  was  every- 
where apparent  In  Africa,  our  trade  was 
surrendered  to  France  by  the  cession  of 
26* 


Senegal  and  Goree — In  Asia,  Pondicherry 
was  not  only  given  back,  but,  to  render  the 
boon  more  acceptable,  a  large  territory  was 
made  to  accompany  it — In  America,  the  pro- 
hibitions against  fortifying  St  Pierre  and 
Miquelon  were  removed,  and  the  limits  of 
the  fishery  extended — and  under  pretence 
of  drawing  a  boundary  line,  the  treaty  grants 
to  the  United  States  an  immense  tract  of 
country  inhabited  by  more  than  twenty  In- 
dian nations — In  the  West  Indies,  St  Lucia 
was  relinquished,  which  was  of  such  mili- 
tary importance,  that  so  long  as  we  retained 
this  island  in  our  hands,  we  might  well  have 
stood  upon  the  uti  possidetis,  as  the  basis  of 
negotiation  in  that  quarter — The  cession  of 
East  Florida  to  Spain  was  an  extravagance 
for  which  it  was  impossible  to  find  even  the 
shadow  of  a  pretence — to  complete  the 
whole,  France  was  allowed  to  repair  and 
fortify  the  harbor  of  Dunkirk,  which,  in  the 
event  of  a  future  war,  might  annoy  our 
trade  in  its  centre,  and  counteract  all  the 
advantages  of  our  local  situation  for  foreign 
commerce:  and  what  is  most  wonderful, 
all  these  sacrifices  are  made  on  the  professed 
ground  of  arranging  matters  on  the  princi- 
ples of  reciprocity." 

The  minister  defended  himself  from  these 
attacks  with  great  ability.  His  lordship  de- 
clared, "  that  peace  was  the  object  for  which 
the  nation  at  large  had  discovered  the  most 
unequivocal  desire ;  the  end  he  had  in  view 
was  the  advantage  of  his  country,  and  he 
was  certain  that  he  had  attained  it.  The 
vast  uncultivated  tract  of  land  to  the  south- 
ward of  the  lakes,"  his  lordship  said,  "  was 
of  infinite  consequence  to  America,  and  of 
none  to  England ;  and  the  retention  of  it,  or 
even  of  the  forts  which  commanded  it,  could 
only  have  laid  the  foundation  of  future  hos- 
tility. If  our  liberality  to  Ireland  was  the  sub- 
ject of  just  applause,  why  act  upon  princi- 
ples of  illiberality  to  America  ]  The  refusal 
of  the  Newfoundland  fishery  would  have 
been  a  direct  manifestation  of  hostile  inten- 
tions ;  and  as  it  lay  on  their  coasts,  it  was  in 
reality  impossible  to  exclude  them  from  it 
by  any  restrictions ;  it  is  an  advantage  which 
nature  has  given  them,  and  to  attempt  to 
wrest  it  from  them  would  not  only  be  unjust, 
but  impracticable.  Of  one  objection  his 
lordship  acknowledged  that  he  deeply  felt 
the  force.  His  regret  and  compassion  for  the 
situation  of  tlie  unhappy  loyalists  were  as 
pungent  as  those  of  their  warmest  advocates. 
This  objection  admitted  only  of  one  answer, 
the  answer  which  he  had  given  to  his  own 
bleedmg  heart — 'It  is  better  that  a  part 
should  suffer,  rather  than  the  whole  empire 
perish.'  He  would  have  dashed  from  him 
the  bitter  cup  which  the  adversities  of  his 
country  held  out  to  him,  if  peace  had  not 
been  absolutely  neceasary — if  it  had  not 


306 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


been  called  for  with  a  unanimity  and  vigor 
that  could  not  be  resisted.  No  arts  of  ad- 
dress or  negotiation  had  been  neglected ;  but 
the  American  commissioners  had  no  power 
to  concede  further.  The  congress  itself  had 
not  the  power — for,  by  the  constitution  of 
America,  every  state  was  supreme,  including 
in  itself  the  legislative  and  judicial  powers ; 
its  jurisdiction,  therefore,  was  not  liable  to 
control.  In  the  mode  of  interposition,  by 
recommendation  alone,  could  the  congress 
act.  If,  after  all,  the  loyalists  should  not  be 
received  into  the  bosom  of  their  native  coun- 
try, Britain,  penetrated  with  gratitude  for 
their  services,  and  warm  with  the  feelings 
of  humanity,  would  afford  them  an  asylum : 
SL  and  it  would  doubtless  be  wiser  to  indemnify 
them  for  their  losses,  than  to  ruin  the  nation 
by  a  renewal  or  prolongation  of  the  calami- 
ties of  war.  The  cession  of  East  Florida, 
his  lordship  said,  was  rendered  unavoidable, 
by  the  mistaken  and  ruinous  policy  of  those 
ministers  who  had  brought  the  nation  under 
the  miserable  necessity  of  treating  with  its 
enemies  on  terms  very  different  from  those  it 
could  formerly  have  commanded.  This  prov- 
ince, detached  from  Western  Florida,  already 
conquered  by  the  arms  of  Spam,  was  how- 
ever of  trivial  value ;  and  the  amount  of  its 
hnports  and  exports  bore  no  proportion  to 
the  expense  of  its  civil  establishment.  We 
had,  nevertheless,  obtained  a  compensation 
in  the  restitution  of  the  Bahamas.  Although 
the  bounds  of  the  French  fishery  were  some- 
what extended,  by  far  the  most  eligible 
parts  of  the  Newfoundland  coast  were  left 
in  possession  of  the  English,  and  a  source  of 
future  contention  removed  by  the  exact  as- 
certainment of  limits.  In  exchange  for  St. 
Lucia,  France  had  restored  six  of  the  seven 
islands  she  had  taken,  and  only  retained 
Tobago.  Senegal  and  Goree  had  been  origi- 
nally French  settlements,  but  their  com- 
merce was  inconsiderable;  and  the  whole 
African  trade  was  open  to  the  English,  by 
our  settlements  on  the  river  Gambia,  which 
were  guarantied  to  us  by  this  treaty.  The 
restoration  of  Pondicherry,  and  our  other 
conquests  in  the  East,  must  be  acknowledg- 
ed not  a  measure  of  expediency  so  much  as 
of  absolute  necessity,  if  the  state  of  the 
East  India  company  were  adverted  to.  Such 
liad  been  the  formidable  confederacy  against 
which  they  were  compelled  to  contend,  such 
th^  wretched  derangement  of  their  finances, 
and  so  exposed  to  hazard  were  their  vast 
and  precarious  possessions,  that  nothing  but 
peace  could  recover  to  them  their  ascen- 
dency in  Asia;  in  such  a  situation  it  was 
impossible  to  procure  terms  of  accommoda- 
tion more  honorable.  The  removal  of  the 
restraints  relative  to  the  harbor  of  Dunkirk 
— restraints  disgraceful  to  France,  and  of 
trifling  advantage  to  England — was  inveigh- 


ed against  without  candor  or  reason ;  Dun- 
kirk, as  a  port,  was,  as  his  lordship  asserted, 
far  from  possessing  the  consequence  ascribed 
to  it ;  it  lies  near  a  shoaly  part  of  the  chan- 
nel ;  it  cannot  receive  ships  of  a  large  size, 
and  can  never  be  a  rendezvous  for  squadrons; 
it  may  indeed  be  a  resort  for  privateers,  but 
these  we  know  by  experience  could  easily 
issue  from  other  ports.  In  fine,  the  confede- 
racy formed  against  us  was  decidedly  su- 
perior to  our  utmost  exertions — our  taxes 
were  exorbitant — our  debts,  funded  and  un- 
funded, amounted  to  two  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  millions — our  commerce  was  rapidly 
declining — our  navy  was  overbalanced  by 
the  fleets  of  the  combined  powers,  in  the 
alarming  proportion  of  more  than  fifty  ships 
of  the  line.  Peace  was  in  those  circum- 
stances necessary  to  our  existence  as  a  na- 
tion. The  best  terms  of  accommodation 
which  our  situation  would  admit  had  been 
procured;  and  his  lordship  ventured  to  affirm, 
that  they  could  be  decried  or  opposed  only 
by  ignorance,  prejudice,  or  faction."  On  a 
division,  the  address  was  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of  seventy-two  to  fifty-nine  voices. 

In  the  house  of  commons  the  ministry 
were  less  successful.  The  address  was 
moved  by  T.  Pitt,  and  seconded  by  Wilber- 
force.  It  however  met  with  a  very  different 
fate,  after  giving  occasion  to  very  warm 
debates. 

An  amendment  to  the  address  was  pro- 
posed by  lord  John  Cavendish,  and  seconded 
by  St.  John. 

Lord  North,  in  a  very  long,  but  (consid- 
ering his  situation)  a  most  unbecoming 
speech,  went  over  the  different  articles  of 
the  peace,  which  he  reprobated  as  being  al- 
together unfavorable  to  Great  Britain,  dan- 
gerous to  the  safety,  and  derogatory  to  the 
honor  of  the  nation,  and  not  warranted  or 
justified  by  the  situation  of  the  parties  at 
war.  He  therefore  said,  he  would  vote  for 
the  amendment,  to  which  he  proposed  to  add 
a  clause  in  favor  of  the  American  loyalists. 

Powys  was  strenuous  for  the  address,  and 
declared  his  satisfaction  with  the  peace  in 
the  most  unequivocal  manner.  He  disavow- 
ed all  personal  and  interested  motives ;  and 
while  he  gloried  that  the  first  lord  of  the 
treasury  had  broken  the  confederacy  in  arms 
against  this  country,  he  confessed  that  lie 
had  no  great  predilection  for  his  character. 
He  thought  that  this  was  the  age  of  strange 
confederacies.  The  world  had  seen  great 
and  arbitrary  despots  stand  forth  the  pro- 
tectors of  an  infant  republic.  France  and 
Spain  had  combined  to  establish  the  rising 
liberties  of  America;  and  what  was  wonder- 
ful, the  house  of  commons  now  surveyed  the 
counterpart  of  this  picture.  A  monstrous 
coalition  had  been  made  between  a  noble 
lord,  and  an  illustrious  commoner.  The  lofty 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


307 


asserter  of  the  prerogative  had  joined  in  al- 
liance with  the  worshipper  of  the  majesty 
of  the  people. 

The  lord  advocate  exclaimed  aouinst  the 
amendment,  and  against  the  addition  made 
to  it  by  lord  North ;  and  from  the  coalition 
formed  between  the  latter  and  Fox,  he  judg- 
ed that  they  would  be  both  against  the  ori- 
ginal motion.  After  attacking  the  coalition, 
his  lordship  defended  the  treaties.  He  was 
persuaded  that,  with  regard  to  the  loyalists, 
the  ministry  had  done  everything  within  the 
compass  of  their  power. 

Sheridan  remarked  the  reflections  which 
had  been  thrown  out  against  the  coalition 
of  lord  North  and  Fox ;  and  pointed  out,  as 
something  more  singular,  the  intimate  alli- 
ance which  had  been  formed  between  the 
lord  advocate,  the  most  pledged  supporter 
of  the  high  prerogative  of  the  crown,  and 
Pitt,  the  leader  of  the  popular  advocates  for 
a  parliamentary  reform.  He  doubted  not 
the  convenience  of  the  principles  of  the 
learned  lord.  They  could  perpetually  fluc- 
tuate with  his  interest  It  mattered  not  to 
him  whether  he  was  to  advance  the  pre- 
rogative, or  to  act  to  its  overthrow.  In  their 
opposite  lines  of  conduct  he  could  preserve 
his  consistency  ;  for  his  uniform  object  was 
himself 

Fox  now  rose,  and  pointed  out  the  pecu- 
liar delicacy  of  his  situation.  He  had  been 
accused  of  having  formed  a  union  with  a 
noble  lord  whose  principles  he  had  opposed 
for  several  years  of  his  life.  But  the  grounds 
of  their  opposition  being  removed,  he  did 
not  conceive  it  to  be  honorable  to  keep  up 
animosities  for  ever.  The  American  war 
was  the  source  of  his  disagreement  with  the 
noble  lord ;  and  that  cause  of  enmity  being 
now  no  more,  it  was  wise  and  fit  to  put  an 
end  to  the  ill-will,  the  animosity,  the  rancor, 
and  the  feuds  which  it  engendered.  The 
learned  lord,  who  had  imprudently  been  so 
lavish  of  his  charges,  had  once  been  the 
obedient  friend  of  the  noble  person  in  the 
blue  riband;  and  with  what  view  had  he 
deserted  him  1  He  had  formerly  approved 
his  system  when  it  was  calamitous  and  un- 
just ;  and  did  he  now,  from  a  spirit  of  sys- 
tem, avoid  him  when  his  line  of  conduct  was 
more  meritorious]  The  maxims  adopted 
by  the  learned  lord  were  not  unknown; 
and  no  virtuous  statesman  could  possibly  ap- 
prove of  them.  They  taught  him  to  submit 
to  perpetual  variations  of  his  sentiments ; 
and  to  go  decidedly  into  the  views  of  minis- 
ters, whatever  they  might  be. 

Pitt,  and  several  other  members,  took  part 
in  the  debate ;  after  which  the  house  having 
divided,  it  appeared  that  ministry  were  out- 
voted, there  being  a  majority  for  the  amend- 
ment of  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  to  two 
hundred  and  eight 


The  defeat  of  the  minister  in  the  house 
of  commons  on  the  subject  of  the  address 
to  the  throne,  was  a  topic  of  universal  con- 
versation, and  considered  as  a  prognostic  of 
his  approaching  fall.  It  was  immediately 
perceived,  that  the  determination  of  the 
house  would  be  a  public  notification  of  the 
impropriety  of  the  peace  ;  and  it  was  there- 
fore thought  advisable  that  it  should  be  fol- 
lowed up  by  some  other  proceedings.  Ac- 
cordingly, on  the  twenty-first  February,  the 
subject  was  a  second  time  brought  before 
the  house  of  commons  by  lord  John  Caven- 
dish. His  lordship  expressed  his  concern, 
that  the  majority  for  the  amendment  on  the 
address  to  the  throne  had  been  represented 
as  having  actually  voted  against  the  peace, 
possibly  by  some  persons  who  might  have 
had  their  own  views  to  serve  in  propagating 
such  a  report  He  was  therefore  anxious  to 
convince  the  nation,  and  the  powers  with 
whom  we  were  negotiating,  of  our  fixed  de- 
termination not  to  renew  the  war.  Never- 
theless, he  censured  in  severe  terms  the 
conditions  on  which  the  peace  had  been  ob- 
tained; and  having  recapitulated  the  va- 
rious disadvantages  we  had  sustained  in  ef- 
fecting the  pacification,  read  the  following 
motions : 

"  1.  That  in  consideration  of  the  public 
faith,  which  ought  to  be  preserved  inviolable, 
his  faithfiil  commons  will  support  his  majes- 
ty in  rendering  firm  and  permanent  the  peace 
to  be  concluded  definitively,  in  consequence 
of  the  provisional  treaty,  and  the  prelimma- 
ry  articles. — 2.  That,  in  concurrence  with 
his  majesty's  paternal  regard  for  his  people, 
they  will  employ  their  best  endeavors  to  im- 
prove the  blessings  of  peace. — 3.  That  his 
majesty,  in  acknowledging  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  has  acted 
as  the  circumstances  of  affairs  indisputably 
required,  and  in  conformity  to  the  sense  of 
parliament. — 4.  That  the  concessions  made 
to  the  adversaries  of  Great  Britain,  are  great- 
er than  they  were  entitled  to,  either  from 
the  actual  situation  of  their  respective  pos- 
sessions, or  from  their  comparative  strength. 
— And,  5.  That  they  would  take  the  case 
of  the  loyalists  into  consideration,  and  admin- 
ister such  relief  as  their  conduct  and  neces- 
sity should  be  found  to  merit" 

The  two  first  resolutions  were  agreed  to 
without  any  opposition.  On  the  third  a  short 
debate  took  place,  occasioned  by  doubts  hav- 
ing arisen  in  the  minds  of  several  members, 
respecting  the  power  vested  in  the  king,  to 
acknowledge  the  independency  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  which,  it  was  unanimously  agreed 
by  the  gentlemen  of  the  long  robe,  his  ma- 
jesty had  full  authority  to  do,  in  consequence 
of  the  statute  past  last  year  to  enable  him 
to  make  peace  with  America.  The  last  reso- 
lution lord  Jolm  Cavendish  consented  to 


308 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


waive.  On  the  fourth,  which  conveyed  so 
jx)inted  a  censure  on  ministry,  a  very  ani- 
mated debate  took  place ;  but  thie  memorable 
coalition  brought  such  an  accession  of  strength 
and  numbers  to  one  side,  that  the  question 
was  carried  against  the  ministry  by  a  major- 
ity of  two  hundred  and  seven  voices  to  one 
hundred  and  ninety. 

The  success  of  this  motion  ascertained  the 
certainty  of  a  ministerial  revolution,  and  the 
house  of  commons  adjourned  from  time  to 
time,  with  the  view  of  forwarding  a  new 
arrangement.  From  these  ineffectual  en- 
deavors to  accommodate  party  views,  the 
business  of  the  nation  was  suspended,  and 
more  than  a  month  passed  in  a  kind  of  min- 
isterial interregnum. 

The  want  of  an  efficient  government 
could  be  at  no  time  more  severely  felt  than 
at  this.  At  home  the  disembodying  the  mi- 
litia, the  discharge  of  seamen,  the  reduc- 
tion of  soldiers,  the  neglect  of  giving  them 
their  pay,  contributed  to  fill  Portsmouth  and 
Plymouth  with  tumult  and  confusion,  and 
spread  mutinies  and  riots  all  over  the  king- 
dom. But  these  were  not  the  only  matters 
that  called  for  the  attention  of  government. 
Our  negotiations  with  foreign  powers  were 
not  brought  to  an  end.  No  definitive  trea- 
ty was  concluded  with  France  and  Spain. 
No  commercial  alliance  was  adjusted  with 
America,  and  the  East  India  Company  re- 
quired the  immediate  aid  of  parliament  both 
with  regard  to  its  foreign  and  domestic  con- 
cerns. 

Such  was  the  state  of  public  afiairs,  when 
Coke,  member  for  Norfolk,  moved,  on  the 
tv/enty-fourth  of  March,  an  address  to  the 
king,  "  That  he  would  be  graciously  pleased 
to  take  into  consideration  the  distracted  and 
unsettled  state  of  the  empire,  and  conde- 
scend to  a  compliance  with  the  wishes  of 
this  house,  by  forming  an  administration  en- 
titled to  the  confidence  of  his  people."  This 
address  was  unanimously  carried,  and  pre- 
sented to  the  king,  by  such  members  of  the 
liouse  as  were  privy-counsellors.  His  majes- 
ty replied,  "  That  it  was  his  earnest  desire 
to  do  everything  in  his  power  to  comply 
with  the  wishes  of  his  faithful  commons." 
This  answer  not  being  deemed  sufficiently 
explicit,  lord  Surrey  moved,  in  a  few  days 
after,  another  address,  framed  in  very  strong 
and  pointed  terms,  "Assuring  his  majesty 
that  all  delays  in  a  matter  of  this  moment, 
have  an  inevitable  tendency  to  weaken  the 
authority  of  his  government,  and  most  hum- 
bly entreating  his  majesty  that  he  will  take 
.'=;uch  measures  towards  this  object  as  may 
quiet  the  anxiety  and  apprehension  of  his 
faithful  subjects."  But  Pitt,  declaring  that 
he  had  resigned  his  office  of  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  and  that  any  resolution  or  address 
relative  to  a  new  arrangement  of  administra- 


tion was  unnecessary,  lord  Surrey  consented 
to  withdraw  his  motion :  and  the  ministers, 
who,  reluctant  to  quit  the  luxury  of  power, 
had  lingered  in  office  to  the  last  moment, 
now  gave  place  to  their  determined  and  vic- 
torious antagonists. 

COALITION  MINISTRY.— ACT  AGAINST 
APPEALS  FROM  IRELAND. 

The  duke  of  Portland  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  treasury ;  and  lord  John  Caven- 
dish was  reappointed  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer ;  lord  North  and  Fox  were  nominat- 
ed joint  secretaries  of  state,  the  first  for  the 
home,  the  latter  for  the  foreign  department ; 
lord  Keppel,  who  had  recently  resigned  on 
account  of  his  disapprobation  of  the  peace, 
was  again  placed  at  the  head  of  the  admi- 
ralty ;  lord  Stormont  was  created  president 
of  the  council ;  and  lord  Carlisle  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  post  of  lord  privy-seal.  The 
great  seal  was  put  into  commission :  the 
chief-justice  Loughborough,  so  distinguished 
for  political  versatility,  "  who  could  change 
and  change  and  yet  go  on,"  being  declared 
first  lord  commissioner ;  the  earl  of  Northing- 
ton  was  appointed  to  the  government  of 
Ireland :  and  Burke  was  reinstated  in  his 
former  post  of  paymaster  of  the  forces.  Of 
the  seven  cabinet  ministers,  the  majority, 
who  also  occupied  the  most  important  posts 
of  administration,  were  of  the  old  whig,  or 
Rockingham  party.  Lord  Stormont,  lord 
North,  and  lord  Carlisle,  contented  them- 
selves rather  with  a  participation  of  honors 
and  emoluments,  than  of  power. 

Notwithstanding,  therefore,  the  admission 
of  those  tory  lords  into  the  ministry,  it  could 
not  but  be  acknowledged,  as  to  all  the  grand 
purposes  of  government,  a  whig  adminis- 
tration :  more  especially  when  the  ability, 
the  vigor,  and  the  decision,  of  its  efficient 
leader,  were  justly  and  impartially  estimatr 
ed.  But  unfortunately  a  junction  of  persons 
whose  principles  were  radically  hostile,  op- 
erated to  diminish  public  confidence  in  their 
measures ;  and  therefore,  while  it  obtained 
them  a  complete  conquest,  it  deprived  them 
of  the  more  solid  advantages  of  victory. 

One  of  the  first  measures  of  the  new 
ministry  was  to  expedite  the  passage  of  a 
bill,  before  pending,  "for  preventing  any 
writs  of  error  or  appeal  from  the  kingdom 
of  Ireland,  from  being  received  by  any  of 
his  majesty's  courts  in  Great  Britain ;  and 
of  renouncing,  in  express  terms,  the  legisla- 
tive authority  of  the  British  parliament  in 
relation  to  Ireland."  This  bill  was  a  neces- 
sary consequence  of  the  general  plan  of 
Irish  emancipation  ;  for  the  mere  repeal  of 
the  declaratory  act  did  not,  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  common  law,  make  any  dif- 
ference whatever  in  the  relative  situation 
of  the  two  countries. 

Mr.  Fox  lost  no  time  in  attempting  to  ro- 


GEORGE  HI.    1760—1820. 


309 


move  every  obstacle  which  opposed  the 
opening  an  immediate  intercourse  with 
America ;  and  early  in  April  he  moved  for 
liberty  to  bring  in  a  "bill  for  preventing 
any  manifesto,  certificate,  or  other  docu- 
ment being  required  from  any  ships  belong- 
ing to  the  United  States  of  America,  arriv- 
ing from  thence  at  any  port  of  this  king- 
dom ;  or  upon  entering  or  clearing  out  from 
any  port  of  this  kingdom,  for  any  port  with- 
in the  United  States."  The  bill,  in  its  origin- 
al shape,  was  supposed  to  go  too  far,  by  ex- 
tending an  indulgence  that  might  be  made 
subservient  to  the  practice  of  smuggling ; 
an  amendment  was  therefore  adopted,  Umit- 
ing  for  a  certain  time  the  powers  to  be  vest- 
ed in  the  king,  after  which  it  was  carried 
through  the  commons,  and  with  some  slight 
opposition  passed  the  lords. 

INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 

The  very  critical  situation  of  our  affairs 
in  the  East  next  engaged  the  attention  of 
parliament.  The  house  of  commons  had  ap- 
pointed a  select  committee  to  examine  into 
the  state  of  the  British  dominions  in  India. 
In  the  prosecution  of  this  important  inquiry, 
it  was  discovered  that  the  administration  of 
justice  in  the  provinces  of  Bengal,  Bahar, 
and  Orissa,  had  been  perverted  to  the  base 
purposes  of  peculation,  plunder,  and  oppres- 
sion, and  that  corruption,  fraud,  and  injus- 
tice, pervaded  all  the  departments  of  the 
company's  government  in  India.  These 
alarming  discoveries  produced  a  general 
unity  of  opinion  amongst  public  men  of 
every  description,  on  the  immediate .  neces- 
sity of  taking  some  effectual  step,  to  rescue 
the  British  name  from  disgrace,  to  restore 
to  the  natives  the  pure  administration  of 
mild  and  equal  laws,  and  to  secure  and  im- 
prove our  territorial  possessions  in  India. 

To  a  representation  of  tlie  defects  and 
abuses  of  Indian  government,  succeeded  in 
a  few  days  a  disclosure  of  the  ruined  state 
of  the  company's  finances,  by  a  bill  intro- 
duced by  Sir  Henry  Fletcher,  "  For  sus- 
pending the  payments  of  the  company  now 
due  to  the  royal  exchequer,  and  for  enabling 
them  to  borrow  the  sum  of  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds  for  their  farther  relief" 

Lord  John  Cavendish  declared  this  bill  to 
be  only  a  branch  of  a  larger  plan  ;  and  that 
it  was  brought  forward  separately,  in  order 
to  answer  an  exigency  which  did  not  admit 
of  delay. 

In  the  upper  house,  lord  Fitzwilliam 
dwelt  on  the  desperate  situation  of  the  East 
India  company,  and  affirmed,  "  that,  unless 
the  bill  passed,  their  bankruptcy  would  be 
inevitable.  The  expenditure  of  their  settle- 
ments had  far  exceeded  their  revenue ;  bills 
had  been  drawn  upon  them  which  they  were 
unable  to  answer  without  a  temporary  sup- 
ply, so  that  the  existence  of  the  company 


depended  upon  the  success  of  the  bill;'* 
which  accordingly  passed  both  houses  with 
little  difficulty  or  opposition. 

Here  it  may  not  be  improper  to  remark, 
that  about  this  period,  intelligence  was  re- 
ceived of  an  event,  that  opened  a  prospect 
of  a  favorable  change  to  our  aflTairs  in  the 
East.  This  was  peace  being  concluded  with 
the  Mahrattas.  This  advantage  to  Great 
Britain,  and  to  the  East  India  company,  was 
soon  followed  by  the  death  of  Hyder  Ally,  a 
man  eminently  distinguished  for  an  enter- 
prising spirit,  and  vigor  of  mind  ;  who  en- 
tertained the  most  rooted  aversion  to  the 
English  name  ;  and  who  by  his  power,  cour- 
age, and  military  skill,  had  long  proved  him- 
self the  most  daring  and  formidable  of  all 
the  company's  enemies. 

PITT'S  REFORM  BILL. 

The  former  motion  of  Pitt,  for  an  inqui- 
ry into  the  state  of  the  representation,  being 
negatived,  he  now  brought  forward  (May 
7th)  a  specific  plan  for  adding  one  hundred 
members  to  the  counties,  and  abolishing  a 
proportionable  number  of  the  burgage-ten- 
ure,  and  other  small  and  obnoxious  boroughs. 
The  revival  of  this  important  subject,  which 
had  deeply  agitated  the  public  mind,  pro- 
duced an  animated  debate ;  in  the  course 
of  which,  the  discordant  sentiments  of  min- 
isters did  not  fail  to  awaken  afresh  the  re- 
sentment of  the  house  against  the  "  ill-star- 
red coalition." 

Lord  North,  in  a  strain  of  allusive  plea- 
santry declared,  "That  while  some  with 
Lear  demanded  a  hundred  knights,  and 
others  with  Goneril  were  satisfied  with  fifty, 
he  with  Regan  exclaimed.  No,  not  one." 

Fox,  whose  opinion  on  this  great  national 
question  was  totally  irreconcilable  with  that 
of  his  brother  secretary's,  very  honorably 
preferred  the  consistency  of  public  charac- 
ter to  every  consideration.  "  In  his  opinion 
the  constitution  required  innovation  and  re- 
novation. Its  nature  exposed  it  to  change  ; 
and  he  regarded  it  as  one  of  its  chief  excel- 
lences, that  it  was  capable  of  renewed  im- 
provements. It  might  thus  be  gradually  car- 
ried to  perfection." 

While  the  discussion  of  this  important 
subject  exposed  the  absurdity  of  one  coali- 
tion, it  is  very  remarkable  that  it  paved  the 
way  for  another,  in  every  view  certainly  as 
singular  and  extraordinary.  The  lord  advo- 
cate for  Scotland,  who  had  all  along  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  zeal  for  high  prerog- 
ative, suspended  upon  the  present  occasion 
his  natural  sentiments,  became  at  once  a 
convert  to  the  doctrine  of  reform,  and  as- 
serted his  entire  approbation  of  Pitt's  reso- 
lutions. He  stood  up  boldly  the  advocate  of 
the  people,  and  affirmed,  "  tliat  the  yielding 
to  their  wishes  would  be  the  happiest  means 
of  putting  an  end  to  their  complaints ;  and 


310 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


would  certainly  give  a  fresh  infusion  of  fine 
blood  into  the  constitution  of  the  house  of 
commons."  Thoug-h  the  lord  advocate  and 
Pitt  had  been  in  office  together  during  the 
short-lived  Shelburne  administration,  they 
had  continued  until  now  rather  shy  than 
familiar,  but  this  unexpected  support  and 
patriotic  effusion  effected  a  cordial  and  last- 
ing union  between  those  two  celebrated 
characters.  But  Pitt's  motion  and  resolu- 
tions were  lost  by  a  majority  of  two  hundred 
and  ninety-three  to  one  hundred  and  forty- 
nine. 

Pitt  having  failed  in  his  attempt  to  im- 
prove the  constitution  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons, alderman  Sawbridge  brought  forward. 
May  sixteenth,  his  motion  for  shortening  the 
duration  of  parliaments.  He  observed  "  that 
he  had  heard  the  British  constitution  char- 
acterized, on  a  former  day,  as  the  most  glo- 
rious fabric,  the  work  of  ages,  and  the  won- 
der of  the  world.  It  was  his  rooted  persua- 
sion, that  the  British  constitution,  till  the  de- 
collation of  Charles  the  first,  was  a  system 
of  the  most  wretched  despotism.  No  gleam 
of  liberty  had  ever  shone  out  till  after  that 
era.  It  was  in  late  times  only,  that  the 
flame  of  public  liberty  illuminated  the  con- 
stitution. It  was  in  late  times  only,  that  our 
constitution  had  become  the  wonder  of  the 
world.  To  talk  of  it  as  having  been  so  for 
ages;  was  to  falsify  records  and  history." 
The  motion  of  Sawbridge  was  seconded  by 
alderman  Bull,  and  warmly  supported  by 
the  earl  of  Surrey  and  others,  but  was  lost 
by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  to  fifty-six. 

QUAKERS  PETITION  AGAINST  THE 
SLAVE  TRADE 

A  BILL  for  regulating  the  trade  of  the 
African  Company,  being  introduced  towards 
the  close  of  the  session,  with  a  clause  pro- 
hibiting the  officers  of  the  company  from 
exporting  negroes,  that  humane,  intelligent, 
and  respectable  class  of  citizens,  known  by 
the  appellation  of  Quakers,  convened  in  their 
annual  assembly  in  the  metropolis,  embraced 
this  favorable  occasion  to  petition  the  house 
of  commons,  "  That  the  clause  in  question 
might  be  extended  to  all  persons  whatsoever, 
professing  themselves  deeply  affected  with 
the  consideration  of  the  rapine,  oppression, 
and  blood  attending  this  traffic  :  under  the 
countenance  of  the  laws  of  this  country,  say 
the  petitioners,  many  thousands  of  these  our 
fellow-creatures,  entitled  to  the  natural  rights 
of  mankind,  are  held  as  personal  property  in 
cruel  bondage.  Your  petitioners  regret, 
that  a  nation  professing  the  Christian  faith 
should  so  far  counteract  the  principles  of 
humanity  and  justice."  This  petition  awak- 
ened in  a  remarkable  degree  the  compassion 
of  the  house,  and  ef  the  public,  for  those  un- 
happy beings,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the 


subsequent  noble  and  generous  efforts,  to  ef^ 
feet  a  total  abolition  of  this  detestable  and 
inhuman  commerce. 

A  variety  of  business  comprehending  de- 
tails not  sufficiently  important  to  claim  a 
place  in  history,  having  been  completed; 
the  parliament  was  at  length  prorogued,  July 
sixteenth,  by  a  speech,  in  which  his  majesty- 
declared  his  intention  of  calling  them  to- 
gether at  an  early  period,  in  order  to  resume 
the  consideration  of  the  affairs  of  the  East 
Indies,  which  would  demand  their  most  se- 
rious and  unintermitted  attention. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer,  few  material 
events  occurred  deserving  of  particular  no- 
tice. The  king,  by  virtue  of  an  act  passed 
for  that  purpose,  issued  an  order  in  council, 
limiting  the  commerce  between  the  continent 
of  America  and  the  British  West  India  isl^^ 
ands,  to  ships  British  built.  This  was  con- 
formable to  the  grand  principle  on  which  the 
act  of  navigation  was  originally  founded ; 
and  though  this  restriction  gave  extreme  of- 
fence to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  Statea> 
they  had  certainly  no  just  reason  to  com- 
plain, as  they  could  have  no  possible  right  to 
claim  the  advantages  of  dependence  and  in- 
dependence at  one  and  the  same  time. 

On  the  third  of  September  the  definitive 
treaties  of  peace  with  France,  Spain,  and 
America,  were  with  some  alteration  signed  5 
and  also  preliminaries  of  peace  with  the 
States-General,  by  which  all  the  conquests 
of  England  were  restored,  except  the  town 
of  Negapatnam  on  the  coast  of  CoromandeJ, 
which  their  high  mightinesses  were  at  last 
most  reluctantly  compelled  to  cede. 

In  the  speech  from  the  throne,  at  the 
meeting  of  parliament  on  the  eleventh  of 
November,  his  majesty,  after  noticing  the 
conclusion  of  peace  with  France,  Spain,  and 
America ;  and  the  ratification  of  the  pre- 
liminary articles  with  the  States-General ; 
stated  as  a  principal  object  of  their  conside- 
ration, the  situation  of  the  East  India  com- 
pany. "  The  utmost  exertions  of  their  wis- 
dom," he  said,  "  would  be  required  to  mairt- 
tain  and  improve  the  valuable  advantages  de- 
rived from  our  India  possessions  ;  and  to  pro- 
mote and  secure  the  happiness  of  the  native 
inhabitants  of  those  provinces."  The  ad- 
dress passed  without  opposition. 
FOX'S  INDIA  BILL. 
On  the  eighteenth  of  November,  accord- 
ingly. Fox  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill 
for  vesting  the  affairs  of  the  East  India  com- 
pany in  the  hands  of  certain  commissioners, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  proprietary  and  the 
public.  The  plan  proposed  by  Fox,  wat 
marked  with  all  the  characteristics  of  his 
ardent,  daring,  and  luminous  mind.  The 
total  derangement  of  the  finances  of  the 
company,  and  their  utter  incompetency  to 
govern  the  vast  territories  of  which  they 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


311 


had  by  very  questionable  means  obtained  the 
possession,  was  too  evident  to  admit  of  con- 
tradiction. The  evil  was  notorious,  and  dif- 
ficult indeed  was  the  task  of  devising  an 
adequate  remedy.  This  famous  bill  proposed 
to  take  at  once  from  the  directors  and  pro- 
prietors, the  entire  administration,  both  of 
their  territorial  and  commercial  affairs  ;  and 
to  vest  the  management  and  direction  of 
them  in  the  hands  of  seven  commissioners 
named  in  the  bill,  and  irremovable  by  the 
crown,  except  in  consequence  of  an  address 
of  either  house  of  parliament.  These  com- 
missioners were  to  be  assisted  by  a  subordi- 
nate board  of  nine  directors,  to  be  named  in 
the  first  instance  by  parliament,  and  after- 
wards chosen  by  the  proprietors. 

These  commissioners  and  directors  were 
empowered  to  enter  immediately  into  pos- 
session of  all  lands,  tenements,  books,  re- 
cords, vessels,  goods,  merchandise,  and  secu- 
rities, in  trust  for  the  company.  They  were 
required  to  come  to  a  decision  upon  every 
question  within  a  limited  time,  or  to  assign 
a  specific  reason  for  their  delay.  They  were 
never  to  vote  by  ballot,  and  they  were  al- 
most in  all  cases  to  enter  upon  their  journals 
the  reasons  of  their  vote.  They  were  to 
submit  once  in  every  six  months  an  exact 
state  of  their  accounts  to  the  court  of  pro- 
prietors, and  at  the  beginning  of  every  ses- 
sion to  present  a  statement  of  their  affairs 
to  both  houses  of  parliament. 

This  bill  which  vested  the  government  in 
commissioners,  was  to  continue  in  force  four 
years,  that  is,  till  the  year  after  the  next 
general  election.  It  was  accompanied  by  a 
second  bill,  enacting  regulations  for  the  fu- 
ture government  of  the  British  territories  in 
Hindostan.  It  took  from  the  governor-gene- 
ral all  power  of  acting  independently  of  his 
council.  It  declared  every  existing  British 
power  in  India  incompetent  to  the  acquisi- 
tion or  exchange  of  any  territory  in  behalf 
of  the  company ; — to  the  acceding  to  any 
treaty  of  partition ; — to  the  hiring  out  the 
company's  troops ;  to  the  appointment  to 
office  of  any  person  removed  for  misdemean- 
or ; — and  to  the  hiring  out  any  property  to 
any  civil  servant  of  the  company.  It  pro- 
hibited all  monopolies;  and  also  declared 
every  illegal  present  recoverable  by  any  per- 
son for  his  own  sole  benefit.  But  that  part 
of  the  present  bill,  upon  which  the  principal 
value  seemed  to  be  placed  by  its  author,  re- 
lated to  the  Zemindars,  or  native  landholders, 
whom  it  employed  effectual  means  to  secure 
in  the  possession  of  their  respective  inher- 
itances, and  to  defend  from  oppression.  It 
particularly  endeavored  to  preclude  all  vexa- 
tious and  usurious  claims  that  might  be  made 
upon  them.  It  therefore  prohibited  mort- 
gages, and  subjected  every  doubtful  claun 


to  the  examination  and  censure  of  the  com 
missioners. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  the  as 
tonishment  excited  in  the  house  of  commons 
by  the  disclosure  of  this  system.  It  was 
espoused  with  zeal  and  enthusiasm  by  the 
friends  of  the  minister ;  and  it  was  attacked 
by  his  opponents  with  all  the  vehemence  of 
indignation,  and  all  the  energy  of  invective. 
It  was  on  one  side  of  the  house  extolled  as 
a  masterpiece  of  genius,  virtue,  and  ability ; 
while  on  the  other  it  was  reprobated  as  a 
deep  and  dangerous  design,  fraught  with 
mischief  and  ruin.  Pitt  distinguished  him- 
self on  this  occasion  as  a  formidable  adver- 
sary of  the  minister.  He  acknowledged, 
"  that  India  indeed  wanted  a  reform,  but  not 
such  a  reform  as  this.  The  bill  under  con- 
sideration included  a  confiscation  of  the 
property,  and  a  disfranchisement  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  East  India  company.  The  influ- 
ence which  would  accrue  from  this  bill — a 
new,  enormous,  and  unexampled  influence,  I 
— was  indeed  in  the  highest  degree  alarm- 
ing. Seven  commissioners  chosen  ostensibly 
by  parliament,  but  really  by  administration, 
were  to  involve  in  the  vortex  of  their  au- 
thority, the  patronage  and  treasures  of  India. 
The  right  honorable  mover  had  acknow- 
ledged himself  to  be  a  man  of  ambition,  and 
it  now  appeared  that  he  was  prepared  to 
sacrifice  the  king,  the  parliament,  and  the 
people,  at  the  shrine  of  his  ambition.  He 
desired  to  elevate  his  present  connexions  to 
a  situation  in  which  no  political  convulsions, 
and  no  variations  of  power,  might  be  able  to 
destroy  their  importance,  and  terminate  their 
ascendency." 

On  the  other  hand,  Fox  with  his  astonish- 
mg  eloquence  and  ability  vmdicated  the  hi]]. 
The  arguments  of  his  opponents,  he  said, 
might  have  been  adopted  with  additional 
propriety,  by  king  James  the  second.  He 
might  have  claimed  the  property  of  domin- 
ion ;  but  what  had  been  the  language  of  the 
people  ]  No,  you  have  no  property  in  domin- 
ion;— dominion  was  vested  in  you,  as  it  is 
in  every  chief  magistrate,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  community  to  be  governed.  It  was  a 
sacred  trust  delegated  by  compact.  You 
have  abused  the  trust.  You  have  exercised 
dominion  for  the  purpose  of  vexation  and 
tyranny,  not  of  comfort,  protection,  and  good 
order.  We  therefore  resume  the  power 
which  was  originally  ours.  I  am  also  (con- 
tinued Fox,)  charged  with  increasing  the 
influence,  and  giving  an  immense  acce^ion 
of  power  to  the  crown.  But  certainly  this 
bill  as  little  augments  the  influence  of  the 
crown,  as  any  measure  that  could  be  devised 
for  the  government  of  India,  with  the  slight- 
est promise  of  success.  The  very  genius 
of  influence  consisted  in  hope  or  fear ;  fear 


312 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  losing  what  we  had,  or  hope  of  gaining 
more.  Make  the  commissioners  removable 
at  will,  and  you  set  all  the  little  passions  of 
human  nature  afloat.  Invest  them  with 
power,  upon  the  same  tenure  as  the  British 
judges  hold  their  station,  removable  upon 
delinquency,  punishable  upon  guilt,  but  fear- 
less of  danger  if  they  discharge  their  trust ; 
and  they  will  be  liable  to  no  seducement, 
and  wiU  execute  their  functions  with  glory 
to  themselves,  and  for  the  common  good  of 
the  country  and  mankind.  This  bill  pre- 
sumes the  possibility  of  bad  administration, 
for  every  word  in  it  breathes  suspicion.  It 
supposes  that  men  are  but  men  ;  it  confides 
in  no  integrity ; — it  trusts  to  no  character. 
It  annexes  responsibility,  not  only  to  every 
action,  but  even  to  the  inaction  of  the  powers 
it  has  created.  He  would  risk  (he  said)  his 
all  upon  the  excellence  of  this  bill.  He 
would  risk  upon  it  whatever  was  most  dear 
to  him,  whatever  men  most  valued,  the  cha- 
racter of  integrity,  of  talents,  of  honor,  of 
present  reputation  and  future  fame  : — these 
he  would  stake  upon  the  constitutional  safety, 
the  enlarged  policy,  the  equity  and  wisdom 
of  the  measure.  Whatever  therefore  might 
be  the  fate  of  its  authors,  he  had  no  fear  that 
it  would  produce  to  this  country  every  bless- 
ing of  commerce  and  revenue  ;  and  by  ex- 
tending a  generous  and  humane  government 
over  those  millions  whom  the  inscrutable 
dispensations  of  Providence  had  placed  un- 
der us  in  the  remotest  regions  of  the  earth ; 
it  would  consecrate  the  name  of  England 
among  the  noblest  of  nations." 

While  the  bill  was  pending  in  the  com- 
mons, a  petition  was  presented  by  the  East 
India  company,  representing  the  measure 
as  subversive  of  their  charter,  and  operating 
as  a  confiscation  of  their  property  without 
charging  against  them  any  specific  delm- 
quency ;  without  trial,  without  conviction ;  a 
proceeding  contrary  to  the  most  sacred 
privileges  of  British  subjects ;  and  praying 
to  be  heard  by  counsel  against  the  bill.  The 
city  of  London  also  took  the  alarm,  and  pre- 
sented a  strong  petition  to  the  same  effect 
But  it  was  carried  with  uncommon  rapidity 
through  all  its  stages  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons by  decisive  majorities,  the  division  on 
the  second  reading  being  two  hundred  and 
seventeen  to  one  hundred  and  three  voices. 

On  the  ninth  of  December,  Fox,  attended 
by  a  numerous  train  of  members,  presented 
the  bill  at  the  bar  of  the  house  of  lords. 
FOX'S  BILL  THROWN  OUT  BY  THE  PEERS. 

The  second  reading  of  the  bill  took  place 
on  the  fifteenth  of  December,  when  counsel 
was  heard  at  the  bar  in  behalf  of  the  compa- 
ny :  and  on  the  seventeenth  it  was  moved 
that  the  bill  be  rejected.  On  this  occasion, 
lord  Camden  spoke  with  great  ability  against 
tfee  bill,  which  his  lordship  affirmed  to  be 


"  in  the  highest  degree  pernicious  and  un- 
constitutional. To  divest  the  company  of 
the  management  of  their  own  property,  and 
commercial  concerns,  was  to  treat  them  as 
Idiots;  and  he  regarded  the  bill,  not  so 
much  in  the  light  of  a  commission  of  bank- 
ruptcy as  of  lunacy.  But  as  a  means  of 
throwing  an  enormous  edition  of  weight 
into  the  scale,  not  of  legal,  but  mmisterial 
influence,  it  was  still  more  alarming.  Were 
this  bill  to  pass  into  a  law,  his  lordship  for- 
cibly declared,  we  should  see  the  king  of 
England  and  the  king  of  Bengal  contending 
for  superiority  in  the  British  parliament." 
After  a  vehement  debate,  the  motion  of  re- 
jection was  carried  by  ninety-five  against 
seventy-six  voices. 

Such  was  the  concluding  scene  of  an  ad- 
ministration from  whose  vigor  its  partisans 
had  conceived  the  most  sanguine  hopes; 
and  whose  strength  had  been  represented 
by  its  enemies  so  vast  and  irresistible,  as 
would,  in  its  progress,  break  down  all  the 
barriers  of  the  constitution.  As  the  first  di- 
visions in  the  upper  house  were  favorable  to 
this  bill,  it  will  naturally  be  imagined  that 
such  a  sudden  and  remarkable  change  of 
sentiment,  must  have  been  occasioned  by  the 
intervention  of  some  powerful  cause,  ade- 
quate to  so  extraordinary  and  unexpected  an 
effect.  On  the  eleventh  of  December,  earl 
Temple  had  a  conference  with  his  majesty, 
which  appears  principally  to  have  turned  on 
the  bill  then  pending  in  parliament.  Though 
it  was  generally  believed  that  the  most  en- 
tire cordiality  and  confidence  on  all  points 
did  not  subsist  between  the  king  and  his 
ministers,  yet  upon  this  measure  they  had 
obtained  his  perfect  concurrence.  It  was 
probably  the  language  that  had  been  held 
by  some  of  the  members  in  the  house  of 
commons,  who,  in  the  heat  of  debate  had 
asserted,  that  if  the  bill  passed  into  a  law, 
the  crown  would  be  no  longer  worth  wear- 
ing, that  first  excited  doubts  in  the  royal 
breast.  The  monarch  considered  himself  as 
having  been  duped  and  deceived  by  his  con- 
fidential servants.  A  card  was  immediately 
written,  stating,  "  that  his  majesty  allowed 
earl  Temple  to  say,  that  whoever  voted  for 
the  India  bill,  was  not  only  not  his  friend, 
but  would  be  considered  by  him  as  his  ene- 
my. And  if  these  words  were  not  strong 
enough,  earl  Temple  might  use  whatever 
words  he  might  deem  stronger,  or  more  to 
the  purpose." 

An  interference  of  so  extraordinary  a  na- 
ture, was  not  likely  to  pass  without  animad- 
version and  censure.  William  Baker,  ac- 
cordingly, moved  the  house  of  commons  on 
the  seventeenth,  the  very  day  that  the  bill 
was  rejected  by  the  lords;  "That  it  was 
now  necessary  to  declare,  that  to  report  any 
opinion,  or  pretended  opinion  of  the  king 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


313 


upon  any  bill,  or  other  proceeding  depend- 
inff  in  either  house  of  parliament,  with  a 
view  to  influence  the  votes  of  the  members, 
was  a  high  crime  and  misdemeanor."  After 
an  animated  debate,  the  house  divided  upon 
the  question,  when  the  resolution  was  car- 
ried, by  a  majority  of  seventy-three. 

CONTEST  BETWEEN  THE  CROWN  AND 
THE  COMMONS. 

This  contest  between  the  crown  and  the 
commons,  presented  to  the  public  a  scene 
truly  novel  and  interesting.  Prerogative 
and  privilege  at  war,  is  one  of  those  alarm- 
ing events,  which  the  wisdom  of  preceding 
reigns  had  taken  care  to  prevent.  The 
crown,  therefore,  boldly  entering  the  lists 
with  the  commons,  exhibited  a  conduct  with- 
out example  in  the  annals  of  the  present 
royal  family.  The  situation  of  the  prince 
was  critical :  he  had  gone  perhaps  too  far  to 
be  able  to  recede.  The  ministers  were  com- 
mitted upon  their  Indian  system,  and  could 
not,  without  a  total  sacrifice  of  personal  in- 
dependence, and  the  reputation  of  principle, 
abandon  the  scheme.  It  was  impossible  to 
discover  a  medium  to  preserve,  unwounded, 
the  lienor  of  both. 

An  entire  change  of  admmistration  was 
therefore  determined  upon ;  and  accordingly 
at  midnight,  on  the  eighteenth  of  Decem- 
ber, a  royal  message  was  sent  to  the  secre- 
taries of  state,  demanding  the  seals  of  their 
several  departments,  and  at  the  same  time 
directing  that  they  should  be  delivered  to 
the  sovereign  by  the  under-secretaries,  as  a 
personal  interview  would  be  disagreeable. 
Early  next  morning,  letters  of  dismission, 
signed  Temple,  were  sent  to  the  other  mem- 
1  ers  of  the  cabinet.  In  a  few  days  after, 
Pitt  was  declared  first  lord  of  the  treasury, 
and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  the  mar- 
quis of  Carmarthen  and  Thomas  Townshend 
created  lord  Sydney,  were  nominated  secre 
taries  of  state ;  lord  Thurlow  was  reinstated 
as  lord-chancellor ;  earl  Gower  as  president 
of  the  council ;  the  duke  of  Rutland  was 
constituted  lord  privy-seal ;  lord  Howe  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  admiralty  ;  and  the  duke 
of  Richmond  of  the  ordnance.  The  earl  of 
Northington  was  recalled  from  his  govern- 
ment of  Ireland,  to  which  lord  Temple,  who 
had  retained  the  seals  of  secretary  only 
three  days,  was  again  appointed  to  succeed. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  December,  the 
Irouse  of  commons,  being  in  a  committee  on 
the  state  of  the  nation,  Erskine  moved, 
"  That  an  address  be  presented  to  the  king, 
stating,  that  alarming  reports  had  gone  forth 
of  an  intended  dissolutionof  jmrliament,  and 
humbly  representing  to  his  majesty,  the  in- 
conveniencies  and  dangers  of  a  prorogation 
or  dissolution  in  the  present  conjuncture; 
and  entreating  the  sovereign  to  hearken  to 

Vol.  IV.  27 


the  advice  of  that  house,  and  not  to  the  se- 
cret advice  of  particular  persons  who  might 
have  private  interests  of  their  own,  sepa- 
rate from  the  true  interests  of  the  king  and 
people." — This  address  was  carried  without 
a  division,  and  on  the  twenty-fourth  was  pre- 
sented to  the  sovereign,  who  returned  the 
following  answer :  "  Gentlemen,  it  has  been 
my  constant  object  to  employ  the  authority 
intrusted  to  me  by  the  constitution  to  its 
true  and  only  end,  the  good  of  my  people ; 
and  I  am  always  happy  in  concurring  with 
the  wishes  and  opinions  of  my  faithful  com- 
mons. I  agree  with  you  in  thinking,  that 
the  support  of  the  public  credit  and  revenue 
must  demand  your  most  earnest  and  vigilant 
care.  The  state  of  the  East  Indies  is  also 
an  object  of  as  much  delicacy  and  import- 
ance as  can  exercise  the  wisdom  and  justice 
of  parliament.  I  trust  you  will  proceed  in 
these  considerations  with  all  convenient 
speed,  after  such  an  adjournment  as  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  may  seem  to  require ;  and 
I  assure  you,  that  I  shall  not  interrupt  your 
meeting,  by  any  exercise  of  my  prerogative, 
either  of  prorogation  or  dissolution." 

1784. — The  house  now  with  tolerable  sat- 
isfaction adjourned  for  the  usual  Christmas 
recess  to  the  tenth  of  January,  1784;  on 
which  day  the  committee  on  the  state  of  the 
nation  was  resumed ;  and  several  resolutions 
were  brought  forward  by  Fox,  and  agreed 
to  by  the  house  ;  prohibiting  the  lords  of  the 
treasury  from  assenting  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  company's  bills  from  India ;  forbidding 
also  the  issue  of  any  of  the  public  money 
after  a  prorogation  or  dissolution  of  parlia- 
ment, unless  the  act  of  approbation  shall 
have  previously  passed ;  and  ordering  ac- 
counts to  be  laid  before  the  house  of  the 
moneys  already  issued.  These  resolutions 
were  followed  by  a  motion  from  the  earl  of 
Surrey,  "1.  That  in  the  present  situation 
of  his  majesty's  dominions  it  was  peculiarly 
necessary  that  there  should  be  an  adminis- 
tration that  had  the  confidence  of  the  public. 
2.  That  the  late  changes  in  his  majesty's 
councils  were  accompanied  with  circum- 
stances new  and  extraordinary,  and  such  as 
did  not  conciliate  the  confidence  of  that 
house."  On  this  motion  the  house  divided, 
but  it  was  carried  in  the  affirmative  by  one 
hundred  and  ninety-six  to  one  hundred  and 
forty-two  voices. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  January  a  resolution 
was  moved  by  lord  Charles  Spencer,  "  That 
the  continuance  of  the  present  ministers  in 
trusts  of  the  highest  importance  and  respon- 
sibility, was  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the 
constitution,  and  injurious  to  the  interests 
of  the  king  and  people."  Upon  this  ques- 
tion the  house  divided,  ayes  two  hundred 
and  five,  noes  one  hundred  and  eighty-four ; 


314 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


so  that  the  antiministerial  majority  was  re- 
duced by  defection  from  fifty-four  to  twenty- 
one  voices. 

About  this  time  the  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer introduced  into  the  house  a  bill  for 
the  better  government  of  India,  on  princi- 
ples which  left  the  commercial  concerns  of 
the  company  in  their  own  hands,  and  estab- 
lished a  board  of  control,  consisting  of  cer- 
tain commissioners  appointed  by  the  king, 
possessing  a  negative  on  the  proceedings  of 
tlie  company  hi  all  matters  of  government. 
On  the  motion  of  commitment,  this  bill  was 
lost  by  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  agamst 
two  hundred  and  fourteen — so  that  the  op- 
position majority  was  now  dimmished  by  an 
ominous  defection  to  eight. 

Whatever  hopes  the  present  cabinet  might 
ibrm,  from  this  flattering  accession  of  par- 
liamentary strength,  they  were  still  more 
encouraged  by  the  addresses  of  thanks  to 
the  Icing  lor  the  removal  of  his  late  minis- 
ters, which  now  began  to  pour  in  from  every 
quarter  of  the  kingdom.  In  this  the  city  of 
London  took  the  lead,  and  hi  their  address 
they  say,  "  Your  faithfiil  citizens  lately  be- 
held with  infinite  concern  the  progress  of  a 
tneasure  which  equally  tended  to  encroach 
on  the  right  of  your  majesty's  crown — to 
annihilate  the  chartered  rights  of  the  East 
India  company — and  to  raise  a  power  un- 
known to  this  free  government,  and  highly 
inimical  to  its  safety.  As  this  dangerous 
measure  was  warmly  supported  by  your  ma- 
jesty's late  ministers,  we  heartily  rejoice  in 
their  dismission,  and  humbly  thank  your 
majesty  for  exerting  your  prerogative  in  a 
manner  so  salutary  and  constitutional."  And 
concluding  in  a  style  widely  different  from 
tiie  usual  tenor  of  their  addresses  on  former 
(occasions,  they  say,  "Highly  sensible  of 
your  majesty's  paternal  care  and  afiection 
for  your  people,  v/e  pray  the  Almighty  that 
you  may  long  reign  in  peace  over  a  free,  a 
happy,  and  united  nation." 

Though  the  dismissal  of  the  late  minis- 
ters originated  in  a  cause  merely  accidental, 
and  on  the  part  of  the  crown  from  a  sudden 
and  strong  resentment  at  a  supjx)sed  inva- 
Kion  of  tlie  prerogative ;  yet  the  monarch 
acquired  a  popularity  by  the  measure  that 
effaced  for  a  time  all  recollection  of  former 
<lisagreements ;  and  elevated  the  loyalty  of 
the  people  to  a  degree  of  ardor,  which  court 
flattery  itself  cannot  but  acknowledge  was 
at  leaet  commensurate  with  the  merits  of 
the  sovereign.  However  grateftil  this  cir- 
cumstance might  prove  to  the  royal  feelings, 
imd  however  acceptable  to  the  ministers ;  it 
HtiD  failed  in  eecfiring  to  government  the 
advantage  most  esst^ntial  to  the  interests  of 
the  country,  an  ascendency  in  the  house  of 
commons.  Nor  could  tlie  opposition  exp<3ct 
to  possess  long  the  groL'^d  they  now  occu- 


pied. Every  gazette  threatened  them  witn 
three  or  four  addresses  of  thanks  for  their 
late  removal  from  power ;  their  numbers 
were  daily  falling  off,  and  under  such  cir- 
cumstances the  most  sanguine  could  not 
hope  for  ultimate  success.  Both  parties, 
therefore,  alarmed  at  the  novel  and  danger- 
ous situation  of  the  country,  seemed  at 
length  disposed  to  pause  ;  and  a  number  of 
respectable  independent  members  having 
expressed  a  strong  desire,  that  the  great 
leaders  of  both  sides  would  unite  and  form 
an  admmistration  on  a  broad  and  compre- 
hensive basis,  the  idea  was  listened  to  with 
such  general  approbation  as  held  out  for  a 
time  a  tolerable  prospect  of  its  being  carried 
into  effect. 

With  a  view  to  forward  this  general  union 
of  parties,  a  meetmg  had  been  held  of  the 
independent  interest  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons. These  gentlemen,  finding  their  en- 
deavors fruitless,  m  attempting  to  induce 
Pitt  to  an  actual  or  virtual  resignation  of 
office  ;  or  to  bring  the  duke  of  Portland  to 
negotiate  on  any  other  terms ;  came  at  last 
to  the  resolution  that  a  message  should  be 
sent  from  the  king  desiring  an  interview 
between  his  grace  and  Pitt,  as  the  only  re- 
maining expedient  that  could  preserve  un- 
sullied the  honor  of  both,  without  any  con- 
cession of  principle  on  either  side.  His  ma- 
jesty accordingly  complied  with  this  request, 
and  sent  a  message  to  the  duke  of  Portland, 
expressing  his  desire  that  an  interview 
might  take  place  between  his  grace  and 
Mr.  Pitt,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a 
new  plan  of  administration  on  fair  and  equal 
terms.  The  duke,  previous  to  such  inter- 
view, requested  to  be  informed  in  what 
sense  he  was  to  understand  the  words  fair 
and  equal ;  and  Pitt  declining  any  explana- 
tion, the  negotiation  finalljr  terminated. 

The  king  and  the  nation  at  large  were 
now  evidently  and  openly  united  in  senti- 
ment against  the  commons ;  and  the  house 
of  peers,  who  had  hitherto  remained  the  si- 
lent and  passive  spectators  of  this  extraor- 
dinary contest,  thought  proper  to  come  for- 
ward at  this  time,  and  at  the  motion  of  tlie 
earl  of  Effingham  their  lordships  resolved, 
"  I.  That  an  attempt  in  any  one  branch  of 
the  legislature  to  suspend  the  execution  of 
law,  by  separately  assuming  to  itself  the  di-  ■ 
rection  of  a  discretionary  pov/er  vested  by 
act  of  parliament,  is  unconstitutional.  2. 
That  by  the  known  principles  of  the  consti- 
tution the  undoubted  authority  of  appointing 
to  the  great  offices  of  the  executive  govern- 
ment was  solely  vested  in  the  king;  and 
that  this  house  had  every  reason  to  place  the 
finnest  reliance  on  his  majesty's  wisdom  in 
the  exercise  of  this  prerogative."  Tlicse 
resolution?-',  shaped  i^  tiie  form  of  an  axl- 
drcsK,  wi^re  jiresciitc;5  to  the  king'.     It  w&s 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


315 


not  to  be  supposed  that  so  direct  an  attack 
upon  the  authority  and  wisdom  of  the  com- 
mons, would  be  passed  over  in  silence.  In 
return  therefore  they  resolved,  at  the  mo- 
tion of  lord  Beauchamp,  "  1.  That  the  house 
had  not  assumed  to  itself  a  right  to  suspend 
the  execution  of  law,  and  2.  that  for  them 
to  declare  their  opinion  respecting  the  exer- 
cise of  any  discretionary  power  was  consti- 
tutional and  agreeable  to  established  usage." 

The  opposition,  who  were  still  the  major- 
ity of  the  house  of  commons,  found  them- 
selves daily  in  a  more  embarrassing  situa- 
tion. But  no  difficulties  however  pressing, 
no  dangers  however  formidable,  could  sub- 
due their  spirit,  or  suspend  their  exertions. 
On  the  eighteenth  of  February,  previous  to 
the  house  entering  on  business,  Pitt  thought 
proper  to  acquaint  them,  not  as  a  message 
from  the  king,  but  as  a  piece  of  information 
he  conceived  himself  pledged  to  communi- 
cate, "  That  his  majesty  had  not  yet,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  resolutions  of  the  house 
thought  proper  to  dismiss  his  ministers,  and 
that  his  ministers  had  not  resigned."  This 
intimation  so  far  affected  the  temper  and 
feelings  of  the  house,  that  it  was  found  ne 
cessary  to  adjourn  for  two  days,  in  order  to 
recover  a  state  of  mind  suitable  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  a  question,  which  involved  the 
character,  the  attributes,  and  the  existence 
of  the  popular  branch  of  the  legislature 
On  the  twentieth  of  February  the  house 
met  again,  and  an  address,  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of  twenty  voices  only,  was  presented 
to  the  king,  expressive  of  "  the  relianc?  the 
house  had  on  the  wisdom  of  the  sovereign, 
that  he  would  take  such  measures  as  might 
tend  to  give  effect  to  the  wishes  of  his  faith 
ful  commons,  by  removing  every  obstacle  to 
the  formation  of  such  an  administration  as 
the  house  of  commons  had  declared  to  be 
requisite."  To  this  the  king  agam  replied 
in  terms  happily  adapted  to  the  occasion. 
He  mentioned  "his  recent  endeavors  to 
unite  in  the  public  service,  on  a  fair  and 
equal  footing,  those  whose  joint  efforts  might 
have  a  tendency  to  put  an  end  to  the  unhap- 
py divisions  and  distractions  of  the  country. 
Observing,  at  the  same  time,  that  there  was 
no  specific  charge  or  complaint  suggested 
against  his  present  ministers,  and  that  num- 
bers of  his  subjects  had  expressed  to  him  in 
the  warmest  manner  their  satisfaction  at  the 
late  changes.  Under  these  circumstances 
he  trusted  his  faithful  commons  would  not 
wish  that  the  essential  offices  of  the  execu- 
tive government  should  be  vacated,  until 
such  a  plan  of  union  as  he  had  called  for, 
and  they  had  pointed  out,  could  be  carried 
into  effect." 

This  answer  was  by  no  means  satisfacto- 
ry, and  on  the  first  of  March  a  yet  stronger 
address  was  moved  and  carried,  but  by  a 


still  smaller  majority  than  the  last.  The 
house,  "  humbly  besought  his  majesty  that 
he  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  strong  and  stable  govern- 
ment, by  the  previous  removal  of  his  present 
ministers.  To  this  address,  which  went  di- 
rectly to  the  point  at  issue,  and  left  no  room 
for  evasion,  the  king  replied  in  the  same 
mild  and  firm  language  as  before,  repeating, 
"that  no  charge  nor  complaint,  nor  any 
specific  objection,  was  yet  made  against 
any  of  his  present  ministers ;"  and  adding 
this  remarkable  observation,  "  that  if  there 
were  any  just  grounds  for  their  removal,  it 
ought  to  be  equally  a  reason  for  not  admit- 
ting them  as  a  part  of  that  extended  and 
united  administration  which  is  stated  to  be 
requisite." 

The  measure  of  addressing  having  been 
fully  and  unavailingly  tried,  and  it  now  ap- 
pearing unquestionably  clear,  that  any  far- 
ther experiment  of  this  kind  would  prove 
useless  and  nugatory ;  Fox,  in  the  following 
week,  moved  a  representation  to  the  crown, 
a  mode  of  addressing  to  which  no  answer 
was  customary,  and  which  at  great  length, 
and  in  energetic  language,  stated  "  the  dan- 
gerous and  pernicious  tendency  of  those  mea- 
sures and  maxims,  by  which  a  new  system 
of  executive  government  had  been  set  up, 
which,  wanting  the  confidence  of  that  house 
and  acting  in  defiance  of  their  resolutions, 
must  prove  at  once  inadequate  by  its  ineffi- 
ciency to  the  necessary  objects  of  govern- 
ment, and  dangerous  by  its  example  to  the 
libertios  of  the  people."  This  motion  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  one. 

On  the  following  day.  Fox  perceiving  him- 
self deserted  by  many  of  his  partisans,  aban- 
doned his  original  intention  of  moving  the 
postponement  of  the  mutiny-bill,  as  a  secu- 
rity against  a  sudden  and  premature  dissolu- 
tion. Here  then  the  contest  finally  termin- 
ated, and  administration  obtained  a  complete 
victory.  And  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  March 
the  parliament  was  prorogued,  and  the  next 
day  dissolved  by  proclamation,  and  a  new  par- 
liament convened  to  meet  on  the  eighteenth 
of  May. 

NEW  PARLIAMENT. 

At  the  general  election,  the  influence  of 
the  crown  being  evidently  combined  witli 
the  inclination  of  the  country,  the  effect  pro- 
duced was  astonishing.  The  coalitionists, 
even  those  who  once  stood  highest  in  the 
estimation  of  the  public,  were  almost  every- 
where thrown  out.  But  the  most  distmguish- 
ed  contest  was  that  of  the  election  for  the 
city  of  Westminster ;  where  the  parties  main- 
tained a  long  and  violent  struggle,  almost  as 
memorable  as  a  battle  between  contending 
nations.  Fox,  however,  to  the  surprise  of  all, 
closed  the  poll  with  a  majority  of  two  hun- 
dred and  tliirty-five  ;  but  the  high-bailif!;  by 


316 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


a  scandalous  partiality,  refused  to  make  the 
return  in  his  favor,  for  which  an  action  was 
afterwards  brought  by  Fox,  in  the  court  of 
king's-bench,  and  a  verdict  with  large  dam- 
ages obtained. 

The  meeting  of  parliament  took  place  on 
the  eighteenth  of  May ;  and  from  tliis  term 
we  may  date  the  commencement  of  the  par- 
liamentary existence  of  administration.  The 
remainder  of  the  last  session  may  rather  be 
said  to  have  been  spent  in  a  contest  about 
places  and  power,  than  in  the  characteristic 
exertions  of  a  regular  government.  The 
new  ministers  had  now  completed  their  ar- 
rangements ;  they  had  now  obtained  every 
advantage  of  situation ;  and  had  leisure  to 
pursue,  and  strength  to  carry  those  measures 
which  were  to  decide  their  character  as 
statesmen  and  legislators.  The  king  in 
his  opening  speech  expressed  "  great  satis- 
faction at  meeting  his  parliament  at  this 
time,  after  having  recurred  in  so  important 
a  moment  to  the  sense  of  his  people.  He 
recommended  to  their  most  serious  consid- 
eration to  frame  suitable  provisions  for  the 
good  government  of  our  possessions  in  the 
East  Indies.  Upon  this  subject,  parliament 
would  not  lose  sight  of  the  effect  which  the 
measures  they  adopted  might  have  on  our 
own  constitution  and  our  dearest  interests  at 
home."  The  address  of  thanks  proposed  on 
this  occasion,  contained  strong  expressions 
of  approbation  respecting  the  late  dissolu- 
tion. On  this  point,  therefore,  the  house 
divided,  and  the  address,  as  originally  pro- 
posed, was  carried  by  a  majority  of  seventy- 
six  voices;  a  decisive  proof  that  the  disso- 
lution had  fully  answered  its  intended  pur- 
pose. 

HIGH-BAILIFF'S  CONDUCT  IN  REFUSING 
TO  RETURN  FOX. 

The  business  which  chiefly  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  house  and  the  public  for 
some  time,  was  the  complaint  stated  by  Fox 
respecting  the  conduct  of  the  high-bailiflf  of 
Westminster,  who  had  daringly  refused  to 
make  the  return  in  his  favor,  although  he 
was  evidently  entitled  to  it  from  a  large  and 
decided  majority. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  a  resolution 
was  moved  by  Lee,  late  attorney-general, 
"  That  the  high-bailiff  of  Westminster,  on 
the  day  upon  which  the  writ  of  election  ex- 
pired, ought  to  have  returned  two  citizens 
to  serve  in  parliament  for  that  city."  A 
long  and  violent  debate  ensued,  but,  on  the 
motion  of  Sir  Lloyd  Kenyon,  the  previous 
question  was  put  and  carried,  by  more  than 
two  to  one.  It  was  then  ordered  that  the 
high-bailiff  and  his  deputy  should  attend 
the  house  on  the  day  following.  The  only 
ground  on  which  that  officer  rested  his  de- 
fence was  that  he  had  granted  a  scrutiny, 
and  could  not  in  conscience  make  the  return 


till  its  termination.  But  to  this  simple  and 
barefaced  plea,  a  decisive  answer  present- 
ed itself  He  was  bound,  by  the  nature  of 
his  office  and  the  tenor  of  his  oath,  to  make 
his  return  at  the  period  the  writ  was  re- 
turnable, according  to  the  poll  actually  ta- 
ken. If  he  really  felt  any  of  those  scruples 
of  conscience  by  which  he  professed  to  be 
embarrassed,  the  law  of  parliament  allowed 
him  to  include  all  the  three  candidates  in 
the  same  return ;  which  would  at  once  have 
transferred  the  burden  of  the  decision  from 
his  own  conscience  to  the  conscience  of  the 
house.  After  long  pleadings  by  counsel  at 
the  bar  of  the  house  on  either  part,  the  mo- 
tion was  renewed,  "  that  the  high-bailiff  be 
directed  forthwith  to  make  the  return  ;"  but 
to  the  astonishment  of  every  liberal  mind 
in  the  kingdom,  this  motion  was  on  a  divis- 
ion finally  negatived  by  a  majority  of  seventy- 
eight.  It  was  then  moved  by  lord  Mulgrave, 
and  carried ;  "  that  the  high-bailiff'  do  pro- 
ceed in  the  scrutiny  with  all  possible  dis- 
patch." Thus  ended  for  the  present  session 
this  shameftil  business. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  June,  a  motion  was 
made  by  alderman  Sawbridge,  "  that  a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  pres- 
ent state  of  the  representation  of  the  com- 
mons of  Great  Britain  in  parliament."  Pitt, 
in  the  usual  language  of  ministers,  stated, 
that  the  time  was  improper,  but  observeil 
also,  that  the  measure  had  his  approbatior., 
and  he  should  bring  the  subject  before  par- 
liament early  next  session.  But  the  most 
remarkable  rimiinstance  attending  this  de- 
bate was,  thvA  Lur^das,  who  had  supported 
the  former  ]yro]K)sition  of  Pitt,  had  the  good 
luck  to  escape  the  charge  of  inconsistency 
in  opposing  the  present  motion,  by  the  for- 
tunate discovery  of  a  distinction  which  pre- 
served his  reputation.  His  objection  was, 
that  the  committee  now  moved  for,  was  a 
select  committee,  whereas  the  committee  for 
which  he  had  formerly  voted,  was  a  commit- 
tee of  the  whole  house.  Lord  Mulgrave 
moved  tlie  previous  question,  w^hich  was  car- 
ried by  a  majority  of  seventy-four. 
PITT'S  INDIA  BILL. 

Pitt  had  now  readied  the  summit  of 
popularity,  and  the  public  with  impatient 
anxiety  expected  the  production  of  his  plan 
for  the  future  government  of  India.  He 
therefore  introduced  the  subject  on  the  sixth 
of  July,  by  a  bill,  founded  on  the  general 
principles  of  that  rejected  by  the  former  par- 
liament, and  to  which  the  company  had  now 
given  their  slow  and  reluctant  assent.  By 
this  bill,  a  board  of  control,  composed  of  a 
certain  number  of  commissioners  of  the  rank 
of  privy-counsellors,  was  established,  the 
members  of  which  were  to  be  appointed  by 
the  king,  and  removable  at  his  pleasure. 
This  board  was  authorized  to  check,  super- 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


317 


intend,  and  control  the  civil  and  military 
government  and  revenue  of  the  company. 
The  dispatches  transmitted  by  the  court  of 
directors  to  the  different  presidencies,  were 
to  be  previously  subjected  to  the  inspection 
of  the  board,  and  were  also  by  them  to  be 
counter-signed.  The  directors  were  enjoin- 
ed to  pay  due  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the 
board,  touching  civil  and  military  govern- 
ment and  revenues;  and  in  case  such  orders 
do  at  any  time,  in  the  opinion  of  the  direct- 
ors, relate  to  matters  not  connected  with 
these  points,  they  are  empowered  to  appeal 
to  his  majesty  in  council,  whose  decision  is 
declared  final.  The  bill  also  enacted,  that 
the  appointment  of  the  court  of  directors  to 
the  office  of  governor-general,  president,  or 
counsellor  to  the  different  presidencies,  shall 
be  subject  to  the  approbation  and  recall  of 
his  majesty.  As  to  the  Zemindars,  or  great 
hereditary  land-holders  of  India,  who  had 
been  violently  dispossessed  of  their  property, 
and  who,  agreeably  to  the  generous  and  de- 
cisive tenor  of  Fox's  bill,  were  to  have  been 
universally  and  peremptorily  reinstated  in 
their  zemindaries,  the  present  bill  provided, 
only  that  an  inquiry  should  be  instituted,  in 
order  to  restore  such  as  should  appear  to 
have  been  irregularly  and  unjustly  deprived. 
X^astly,  a  high  tribunal  was  created,  for  the 
trial  of  Indian  delmquents,  consisting  of 
three  judges,  one  from  each  court,  of  four 
peers,  and  six  members  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons, who  were  authorized  to  judge  without 
appeal ;  to  award,  in  case  of  conviction,  the 
])unishment  of  fine  and  imprisonment,  and  to 
f'eclare  the  party  convicted  incapable  of  serv- 
ino-  the  East  India  company.  Such  were  the 
grand  and  leading  features  of  Pitt's  bill. 

Fox,  with  his  usual  powers  of  discrimina- 
tion, pointed  out  the  defects  of  the  bill.  He 
observed,  "  that  it  established  a  weak  and 
inefficient  government,  by  dividing  its  pow- 
ers. To  the  one  board  belonged  the  privi- 
lege of  ordering  and  contriving  measures ; 
to  the  other,  that  of  carrying  them  into  ex- 
ecution. Theories  which  did  not  connect 
men  with  measures,  were  not  theories  for 
this  world.  The  new  tribunal  he  stigma- 
tized as  a  screen  for  delinquents ;  as  a  pal- 
pable and  unconstitutional  violation  of  the 
sacred  right  of  a  trial  by  jury.  Since  no 
man  was  to  be  tried  but  on  the  accusation 
of  the  company,  or  the  attorney-general,  he 
had  only  to  conciliate  government  in  order 
to  his  remaining  in  perfect  security.  It  was 
a  part  of  the  general  system  of  deception 
and  delusion,  and  he  would  venture  to  pro- 
nounce it  a  bed  of  justice,  where  justice 
would  for  ever  sleep." 

With  all  the  partiality  of  the  house  in  fa- 
vor of  Pitt,  this  bill  was  found  to  be  so  crude 
and  imperfect  on  its  first  appearance,  that 
almost  all  his  own  friends  objected  to  one  or 
27* 


other  of  its  clauses ;  and  in  a  variety  of  sub- 
sequent amendments  which  it  underwent,  it 
may  be  said  to  have  lost  entirely  its  original 
shape ;  and  after  all,  such  were  its  radical 
defects,  that  it  required  (as  will  appear  in 
the  sequel)  a  declaratory  act  to  render  it  in- 
telligible. With  respect  to  the  amendments, 
Sheridan  humorously  remarked,  "  that  twen- 
ty-one new  clauses  were  added  to  the  bill, 
which  were  distmguished  by  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet,  and  he  requested  some  gentle- 
man to  suggest  three  more,  in  order  to  com- 
plete the  horn-book  of  the  present  ministry." 
On  the  motion  of  commitment,  the  numbers 
were,  ayes  two  hundred  and  seventy-six, 
noes  sixty-one;  and  it  was  carried  in  tri- 
umph to  the  house  of  peers,  where,  after  an 
opposition  vigorous  in  point  of  exertion,  but 
feeble  in  regard  of  numbers,  the  bill  passed 
August  ninth,  1784.  It  was  however  ac- 
companied by  a  protest,  in  which  it  was 
severely  branded  as  a  measure  ineffectual  in 
its  provisions,  unjust  in  its  inquisitorial  spirit, 
and  unconstitutional  in  its  partial  abolition 
of  the  trial  by  jury. 

COMMUTATION  TAX. 

On  the  dismission  of  this  unwelcome  bus- 
iness, the  attention  of  the  house  was  imme- 
diately transferred  to  a  bill  introduced  by 
the  minister  for  the  more  effectual  preven- 
tion of  smugglmg,  which  had  of  late  years 
arisen  to  a  most  alarming  height.  This  bill 
contained  various  prudential,  but  somewhat 
severe  regulations.  The  distance  from  shore 
at  which  seizures  should  in  future  be  deem- 
ed lawful  was  extended,  and  the  construct- 
ing of  vessels  of  a  certain  form  and  dimen- 
sion peculiarly  calculated  for  smuggling 
prohibited.  But  by  far  the  most  extraordi- 
nary part  of  the  present  plan  was  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  duties  paid  by  the  East  India 
company  on  the  importation  of  tea,  which 
was  declared  to  be  the  grand  medium  of  the 
smuggling  traffic ;  and  the  consequent  im- 
position of  a  new  duty  on  windows,  already 
most  grievously  burdened,  to  the  amount  of 
the  deficiency,  stated  at  no  less  than  six 
hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum.  This 
was  styled  by  the  minister  a  commutation 
tax,  and  the  equity  of  it  was  defended  on 
the  simple  and  vague  idea,  that  teas  being 
an  article  of  universal  consumption,  tlie 
weight  of  the  tax  would  be  compensated  by 
a  proportional  abatement  in  the  purchase 
of  the  commodity. 

A  vigorous  but  unavailmg  opposition  was 
made  to  the  bill  by  Fox — He  asked,  "  what 
connexion  there  was  between  an  impost  upon 
tea,  and  an  impost  upon  windows,  to  entitle 
the  latter  to  be  denominated  a  commutation 
for  the  former?  He  affirmed  it  to  be  the  es- 
sence of  financial  injustice  and  oppression 
to  take  off  a  tax  upon  luxury,  and  substitute 
in  its  stead  a  tax  upon  that  which  was  of 


318 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


indispensable  necessity."  The  bill  at  length 
passed  the  house  by  a  great  majority. 

The  remaining  great  operation  of  finance 
during  this  session,  was  the  providing  for 
the  arrears  of  the  unfunded  debt  left  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  war,  amounting  to  more 
than  twenty  millions.  This  was  disposed 
of  partly  in  the  four  per  cents,  and  partly  in 
a  new  created  five  per  cent,  stock,  made 
irredeemable  for  thirty  years,  or  until  twen- 
ty-five millions  of  the  existing  fimds  should 
be  extinguished.  It  must  not  be  omitted, 
that  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  pounds  was 
voted  to  his  majesty,  to  enable  him  to  dis- 
charge the  debt  contracted  on  the  civil-list. 
This  was  the  fourth  grant  for  the  same  pur- 
pose since  his  accession.  A  warm  alterca- 
tion took  place  as  to  the  precise  period  when 
this  debt  was  incurred.  All  however  that 
the  public  could  be  fully  certified  of  was, 
^  that  with  the  civil-list  revenue  of  eight 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  afterwards  in- 
creased to  nine  hundred  thousand  pounds 
per  annum,  exclusive  of  the  revenues  aris- 
ing from  the  crown  lands,  more  than  four- 
teen hundred  thousand  pounds  had  been 
voted  within  the  space  of  about  fifteen  years, 
for  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  crown. 
The  stem  observation  of  the  great  Milton 
could  not  but  forcibly  recur  at  this  time  to 
the  public  recollection — "That  the  very 
trappings  of  a  monarchy  were  more  than 
sufficient  to  defray  the  whole  expense  of  a 
republic." 

RESTORATION  OF  THE  FORFEITED 
ESTATES. 

The  last  measure  which  came  before  par- 
liament during  the  present  session,  was  a 
bill  introduced  by  Dundas  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  estates  forfeited  in  Scotland  in 
consequence  of  the  rebellions  in  1715  and 
1745:  he  declared  "  the  measure  to  be,  in  his 


opinion,  worthy  of  the  justice  and  generosity 
of  parliament.  He  said  there  was  not  one 
of  the  families  comprehended  in  the  scope 
of  it,  in  which  some  person  had  not  atoned 
for  the  crimes  and  errors  of  his  ancestors, 
by  sacrificing  his  blood  in  the  cause  of  his 
country ;  and  that  the  sovereign  had  not  for 
a  long  series  of  years  past  a  more  loyal  set 
of  subjects  than  the  highlanders  and  their 
chieftains.  Of  this  the  late  lord  Chatham 
was  deeply  sensible,  and  that  illustrious 
statesman  had  publicly  recognized  the  rec- 
titude of  the  measure  now  proposed.  He 
did  not  however  mean,  that  the  estates 
should  be  freed  from  the  claims  existing 
against  them  at  the  time  of  forfeiture.  This 
might  be  regarded  as  a  premium  for  rebel- 
lion. He  therefore  proposed  the  appropria- 
tion of  such  sums,  amounting  to  about  eighty 
thousand  pounds,  to  public  purposes;  fifty 
thousand  of  which  he  would  recommend  to 
be  employed  in  the  completion  of  the  grand 
canal  reaching  from  the  Frith  of  Forth  to 
that  of  Clyde." 

This  liberal  measure  was  received  in  a 
manner  that  did  honor  to  the  feelings  of  the 
house.  Fox,  in  particular,  with  his  usual 
generosity,  bestowed  upon  it  the  highest  en- 
comiums. Nevertheless  when  the  bill  was 
sent  to  the  lords,  it  met  with  a  most  deter- 
mined resistance  from  the  lord  chancellor, 
who  expatiated  with  much  satisfaction  on 
that  maxim  of  ancient  wisdom,  which  pro- 
nounced treason  to  be  a  crime  of  so  deep  a 
dye,  that  nothing  less  was  adequate  to  its 
punishment,  than  the  total  eradication  of 
the  person,  the  name,  and  the  family  out  of 
the  community.  Fortunately  on  dividing 
the  house,  this  nobleman  was  left  in  a  mi- 
nority, and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
public  the  bill  passed,  and  an  end  was  put  to 
the  session,  August  twentieth,  1784. 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


31*9 


CHAPTER  XX. 


Meeting  of  Parliament — Westminster  Scrutiny  resumed  by  the  Commons — Parlia- 
mentary Reform — The  Shop-Tax — The  Hawkers  and  Pedlars'  Tax — both  unjust 
and  oppressive — The  Irish  Commercial  Propositions  pass  the  Commons — carried 
to  the  Lords — amended  by  the  Lords — returned  to  the  Commons—finally  passed — 
Reflections  on  the  System  of  Commercial  Intercourse  held  out  by  the  Irish  Proposi- 
tions— Plan  of  Fortifications  submitted  to  the  House  of  Commons — Proposal  of  a 
Sinking  Fund — Bill  passed — The  Civil-List  in  Arrears — Burke  commences  his 
Charges  against  Warren  Hastings — Attempt  to  assassinate  the  King  by  Margaret 
Nicholson — Treaty  of  Commerce  with  France  signed — A  Convention  with  Spain  re- 
specting the  British  Settlements  on  the  Mosquito  Shore,  and  the  Coast  of  Honduras 
— Consideration  of  the  French  Commercial  Treaty — Embarrassed  circumstances  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales — Hastings''  Impeachment  resumed  by  the  Commons — Interfer- 
ence of  the  Courts  of  London  and  Berlin  in  the  Affairs  of  Holland — Meeting  of  Par- 
liament— The  East  India  Declaratory  Act — Hastings'  Trial — A  Bill  to  regulate  the 
Transportation  of  Slaves  passed — The  King's  Indisposition — Disputes  on  the  Mode 
of  Establishing  a  Regency — Notification  of  the  King's  Recovery — Parliament  regu- 
larly opened — The  Shop-Tax  repealed — Test  and  Corporation  Acts — African  Slave 
Trade — Prorogation  of  Parliament, 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— WESTMIN- 
STER SCRUTINY  CLOSED. 

The  short  interval  between  the  proroga- 
tion of  parliament  and  its  reassembling, 
proved  a  period  of  profound  national  tran- 
quillity, in  which  no  event  occurred  of  suf- 
ficient importance  to  demand  particular  at- 
tention. The  people  of  England,  highly- 
gratified  with  the  recent  change  which  had 
taken  place,  seemed  to  repose  with  unbound- 
ed confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  integrity 
of  the  present  administration.  The  young 
premier  had  indeed  become  the  idol  of  the 
public,  and  the  most  sanguine  hopes  were 
indulged,  that,  under  his  auspices,  Britain 
would  soon  resume  her  rank  and  dignity 
among  the  nations,  and  rise  to  a  state  of 
prosperity  and  splendor  superior  to  the  bright- 
est era  of  her  former  greatness. 

1785. — Such  appeared  to  be  the  temper 
of  the  public  mind,  and  such  the  flattering 
hopes  of  the  nation,  when  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain  assembled  for  its  second  ses- 
sion on  the  twenty-fifth  of  January  1785. 
The  measure,  on  this  occasion,  chiefly  re- 
commended in  the  speech  from  the  throne, 
was  the  adjustment  of  such  points  in  the 
commercial  intercourse  between  this  coun- 
try and  Ireland,  as  were  not  yet  finally  ar- 
ranged. The  address  of  thanks  being  car- 
ried unanimously,  the  first  business  which 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons, was  the  state  of  the  Westminster 
scrutiny ;  and  such  was  the  violent  and  ma- 
lignant spirit  with  which  its  continuance 
was  defended,  that  this  wretched  burlesque 
on  English  jurisprudence  was  at  last  digni- 
fied by  the  appellation  of  the  "  Court  of 
Scrutiny."     This  court  had  now  existed  for 


a  period  of  eight  months,  and  only  two 
parishes  out  of  seventeen  had  been  scru- 
tinized; so  that  there  remained  no  proba- 
bility, by  this  mode  of  procedure,  of  deciding 
the  question  of  return  during  the  existence 
of  the  present  parliament  The  high-bailiff' 
had  no  power  to  summon  witnesses,  to  im- 
pose an  oath,  or  to  commit  for  contempt; 
and  in  consequence  of  this  miserable  imbe- 
cility, both  court  and  council  were  exposed 
to  low  and  sarcastic  buffoonery. 

Pitt,  however,  condescended  to  vindicate 
the  proceedings  of  this  judicature,  and  led 
Fox  to  remark,  "  that  he  well  remembered 
the  day  when  he  congratulated  the  house  on 
the  acquisition  of  Pitt's  splendid  abilities: 
it  had  been  his  pride  to  fight,  in  conjunction 
with  him,  the  battles  of  the  constitution :  he 
had  been  ever  ready  to  recognize  in  the 
right  honorable  gentleman  a  formidable  ri- 
val, who  would  leave  him  far  behind  in  the 
pursuit  of  glory ;  but  he  had  never  expected 
that  this  rival  would  become  his  persecutor. 
He  thought  he  had  possessed  an  elevation 
of  mind  wholly  incompatible  with  so  low 
and  grovelling  a  passion.  He  considered  the 
present  measure,  with  regard  to  Westmin- 
ster, as  a  succedaneum  to  expulsion,  with- 
out daring  to  exhibit  any  charge  against  the 
person  expelled." 

The  motion  of  Welbore  Ellis,  "  that  the 
high-bailiff  do  attend  at  the  bar  of  this 
house,"  was  at  length  negatived,  February 
ninth,  by  one  hundred  and  seventy-four,  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  voices.  This 
being  but  a  slender  majority,  the  motion  was 
renewed  by  colonel  Fitzpatric,  and  rejected 
by  a  majority  of  only  nine :  and  was  finally 
repeated  by  alderman  I'Sawbridge,  on  tiiu 


.3^0 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


third  of  March,  and  carried  in  the  affirma- 
tive, ayes  one  hundred  and  sixty-two,  noes 
one  hundred  and  twenty-four.  Thus  did  the 
house,  by  a  decision  truly  honorable  to  them- 
selves, and  highly  satisfactory  to  the  nation, 
leave  the  minister,  and  the  veteran  phalanx 
of  courtiers  and  king's  friends,  in  a  disgrace- 
ful minority.  Thus  abruptly  terminated  this 
scandalous  scrutiny,  and  the  high-bailiff"  next 
day  made  a  return  of  lord  Hood  and  Fox. 
PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM. 

As  the  late  proceedings  in  parliament  on 
the  business  of  the  scrutiny,  were  viewed, 
even  by  the  minister's  friends,  with  inex- 
pressible regret  and  astonishment,  it  was 
fortunate  for  Pitt  that  the  public  attention 
was  quickly  transferred  to  a  subject  of  high 
national  importance,  namely,  reform  in  the 
commons  house  of  parliament.  In  support- 
ing this  measure,  which,  of  all  others,  has 
long  been  deemed  by  the  wisest  and  best  of 
men,  the  most  essential  to  the  true  honor 
and  lasting  interests  of  Britain,  he  discover- 
ed a  conduct  more  worthy  of  his  talents, 
station,  and  character,  and  which  tended  to 
revive  all  the  former  flattering  preposses- 
sions in  his  favor;  and  he  shone  forth  at 
once  the  patriot  and  statesman. 

This  plan  of  reform  w^as  brought  forward 
by  Pitt,  on  the  eighteenth  of  April,  and  in 
his  introductory  speech,  "  He  rose,"  he  said, 
"  with  hopes  infinitely  more  sanguine  than 
he  had  ventured  to  entertain  at  any  former 
period.  There  never  was  a  moment  when 
the  minds  of  men  were  more  enlightened 
on  this  interesting  topic,  or  more  prepared 
for  its  discussion.  He  declared  his  present 
plan  of  reform  to  be  perfectly  coincident  with 
the  spirit  of  those  changes  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise 
from  the  earliest  ages,  and  not  in  the  least 
allied  to  the  spirit  of  innovation.  King  James 
the  first,  in  his  first  proclamation  for  call- 
ing a  parliament,  directed  that  the  sheriffs 
should  not  call  upon  such  boroughs  as  were 
decayed  and  ruined,  to  send  members  to  par- 
liament. For  this  discretion,  as  vested  in 
the  crown,  he  was  certainly  no  advocate ; 
but  he  wished  to  establish  a  permanent  rule, 
to  operate  like  the  discretion  out  of  which 
the  constitution  had  sprung.  He  wish- 
ed," he  said,  "  to  bring  forward  a  plan  that 
should  be  complete,  gradual,  and  perma- 
nent ;  a  plan  that  not  only  corrected  the  ine- 
qualities of  the  present  system,  but  which 
would  be  competent  to  preserve  the  purity 
it  restored,  and  give  to  the  constitution  not 
only  consistency,  but  if  possible  immortal i 
ty.  It  was  his  design  that  the  actual  num- 
ber of  the  house  of  commons  should  be  pre 
served  inviolate.  His  immediate  object  was 
oo  select  a  certain  number  of  the  decayed 
and  rotten  boroughs,  the  right  of  represent 
ation  attached  to  thirty-six  of  which,  should 


be  transferred  to  the  counties,  m  such  pro- 
portions as  the  wisdom  of  parliament  might 
prescribe ;  and  that  all  unnecessary  harsh- 
ness might  be  avoided,  he  recommended  the 
appropriation  of  a  fund  of  one  million  to  be 
applied  to  the  purchasing  the  franchise  of 
such  boroughs,  on  their  voluntary  applica- 
tion to  parliament.  When  this  was  eflected, 
he  proposed  to  extend  the  bill  to  the  pur- 
chasing the  franchise  of  other  boroughs,  be- 
sides the  original  thirty-six ;  and  to  transfer 
the  right  of  returning  members  to  large 
towns,  hitherto  unrepresented,  upon  their 
petitioning  parliament  to  be  indulged  with 
this  privilege."  The  other  most  important 
particulars  of  Pitt's  plan,  were  the  admitting 
of  copy-holders  to  an  equality  with  free- 
holders, and  the  extendmg  the  franchise  in 
populous  towns,  where  the  electors  were 
few,  to  the  inhabitants  in  general.  The  re- 
sult of  the  minister's  plan  was  to  give  one 
hundred  members  to  the  popular  interest  in 
the  kingdom,  and  to  extend  the  right  of  elec- 
tion to  one  hundred  thousand  persons,  who, 
by  the  existing  provisions  of  the  law,  were 
excluded  from  the  privilege. 

This  plan,  which  was  admitted  on  all 
hands  to  be  cautious,  temperate,  and  well- 
digested,  was  nevertheless  destined  to  en- 
counter the  raillery  and  ridicule  of  an  oppo- 
sition truly  formidable  in  point  of  numbers ; 
for  the  bill  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-eight  to  one  hundred  and 
seventy-four  voices. 

SHOP  AND  HAWKERS'  TAX— IRISH  COM- 
MERCIAL PROPOSITIONS. 
On  the  ninth  of  May,  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer  proposed  that  the  remaining 
part  of  the  floating  arrear  of  debt,  consisting 
of  navy  bills  and  ordnance  debentures, 
should  be  funded  on  five  per  cent,  stock; 
and  the  interest,  amounting  to  above  four 
hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum,  pro- 
vided by  fresh  taxes.  Among  the  taxes 
brought  forward  on  this  occasion,  was  one 
on  retail  shops,  which  proved  singularly  ob- 
noxious. As  this  tax  was  proportioned  to 
the  rent  of  the  house,  it  was  inevitably  des- 
tined to  fall,  almost  exclusively,  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  the  metropolis.  It  was  there- 
fore with  great  justice  denominated  neither 
more  nor  less  than  a  partial  house-tax ;  and 
the  whole  body  of  retail  traders  were  uni- 
versally agreed,  that  it  was  utterly  imprac- 
ticable to  indemnify  themselves,  by  raising 
the  price  of  their  different  commodities  upon 
the  consumer.  Struck  with  the  force  of 
these  and  other  arguments,  and  conscious  of 
the  extreme  unpopularity  of  the  measure, 
Pitt,  by  way  of  recompense  to  the  shop- 
keeper, proposed  to  revoke  and  take  away 
the  license  from  all  hawkers  and  pedlars, 
whom  he  styled  "  a  pest  to  the  community, 
and  a  nursery  and  medium  for  the  preserya- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


321 


tion  of  illicit  trade."  The  cause  of  this 
humble,  useful,  and  unprotected  description 
of  men  was  generally  and  powerfully  sup- 
ported by  Fox,  Courtenay,  and  other  gentle- 
men. In  the  result,  the  prohibition  was 
changed  to  a  very  heavy  duty,  with  a  num- 
ber of  severe  restrictions. 

But  the  subject  which  chiefly  engaged 
the  attention  of  parliament  during  the  pres- 
ent session,  was  the  projected  plan  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  Ireland.  This  new 
system  was  first  introduced  into  the  parlia- 
ment of  Ireland,  on  the  seventh  of  February, 
by  Orde,  secretary  to  the  lord-lieutenant,  in 
the  form  of  ten  propositions ;  but  by  slight 
alteration,  and  a  distribution  of  the  subject 
of  one  of  them  into  two  heads,  they  were 
increased  to  eleven.  In  this  state  they  re- 
ceived the  final  assent  of  the  parliament  of 
Ireland,  on  the  sixteenth  of  February.  On 
the  twenty-second  of^the  same  month  Pitt 
brought  the  subject  before  the  British  house 
of  commons ;  and  in  the  opening  of  this  im^ 
portant  business,  he  observed,  "that  the 
species  of  policy  which  had  been  long  exer- 
cised by  the  English  government  in  regard 
to  Ireland,  was  calculated  to  debar  her  from 
the  enjoyment  and  use  of  her  own  resources, 
and  to  make  her  completely  subservient  to 
the  interest  and  opulency  of  this  country. 
Some  relaxation  of  this  system  had  taken 
place  at  an  early  period  of  the  present  cen- 
tury ; — more  had  been  done  in  the  reign  of 
king  George  the  second ;  but  it  was  not  till 
within  a  very  few  years  that  the  system  had 
been  reversed.  Still  however  the  future 
intercourse  between  the  two  kingdoms  re- 
mained for  legislative  wisdom  to  arrange; 
and  the  propositions  moved  by  Orde  in  the 
Irish  parliament,  and  ratified  by  that  assem- 
bly, held  out  a  system  liberal,  beneficial,  and 
permanent  If  the  question  should  be  ask- 
ed, whether,  under  the  accumulation  of  our 
heavy  taxes,  it  would  be  wise  to  equalize 
the  duties,  and  to  enable  a  country  free  from 
those  taxes  to  meet  us  in  their  own  market 
and  in  ours,  he  would  answer  that  Ireland, 
with  an  independent  legislature,  would  no 
longer  submit  to  be  treated  with  inferiority. 
A  great  and  generous  effort  was  to  be  made 
by  this  country,  and  we  were  to  choose  be- 
tween inevitable  alternatives.  We  must  cal- 
culate from  general  and  not  from  partial 
views.  Above  all,  we  should  learn  not  to 
regard  Ireland  with  an  eye  of  jealousy.  It 
required  little  philosophy  to  reconcile  us  to 
a  competition,  which  would  give  us  a  rich 
customer  instead  of  a  poor  one.  The  prop- 
erty of  the  sister  kingdom  would  be  a  fresh 
and  inexhaustible  source  of  opulence  to  us." 
Fox  remarked  that  they  had  entirely  over- 
looked a  question  which  appeared  to  him  of 
primary  importance ;  he  meant  the  propriety 
and  policy  of  permitting  the  produce  of 


Africa  and  America  to  be  brought  into  Great 
Britain  through  Ireland.  By  ^is  means  we 
threw  down  the  whole  fabric  of  our  naviga- 
tion laws ;  even  with  regard  to  the  great  ar- 
ticle of  tea,  the  period  was  not  very  distant, 
when  the  charter  of  the  East  India  company 
would  expire;  and  according  to  the  tenor 
of  the  resolutions  now  proposed,  there  cer- 
tamly  remained  no  power  in  this  country  to 
renew  it  with  the  same,  or  indeed  any  ex- 
clusive privileges.  Fox  severely  censured 
the  precipitancy  with  which  this  business 
was  urged :  he  asserted,  that  not  only  the 
manufactures,  but  the  revenues  and  political 
existence  of  Britain  were  involved  in  the  dis- 
cussion ;  and  he  contended  for  the  necessity 
of  calling  the  merchants  and  manufacturers 
to  the  bar  of  the  house,  in  order  that  the 
house  might  be  fully  informed  in  a  case  of 
this  momentous  nature,  before  ihey  proceed- 
ed to  vote  a  definitive  resolution. 

About  the  middle  of  March,  the  spirit  of 
commercial  jealousy  appeared  to  be  tho- 
roughly awakened.  The  petitions  presented 
against  the  measure  amounted  in  the  whole 
to  upwards  of  sixty.  They  were  sent  up  to 
parliament  from  every  quarter  of  the  king- 
dom, and  there  was  scarcely  a  single  species 
of  manufacture  or  merchandise,  upon  the 
subject  of  which  the  persons  peculiarly  in- 
terested had  not  conceived  considerable 
alarm.  From  the  sixteenth  of  March  to  tlie 
twelfth  of  May,  the  house  of  commons  were 
almost  incessantly  employed  in  the  hearing 
of  counsel,  and  the  examination  of  witnesses. 
In  consequence  of  this  long  and  able  inves- 
tigation, many  additional  lights  were  thrown 
upon  the  subject ;  and  Pitt  was  at  last  re- 
luctantly compelled  to  acknowledge  the  ne- 
cessity of  making  some  material  alterations 
and  amendments  in  his  original  plan. 

Accordingly,  on  the  twelfth  of  May,  the 
minister  brought  forward  a  series  of  propo- 
sitions, so  altered,  modified,  and  enlarged,  as 
to  exhibit  in  their  improved  form  what 
might  well  be  considered  as  a  new  system. 
On  this  occasion,  Fox,  in  the  language  of 
triumph,  congratulated  the  house  on  the 
happy  escape  they  had  made  from  the  system 
proposed  by  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
but  two  months  since;  all  opposition  to 
which,  was  then  treated  as  the  effect  of  fac- 
tion and  disappointment.  "If,"  said  Fox, 
"the  origmal  resolutions  had  passed,  we 
should  have  lost  for  ever  the  monopoly  of  the 
East  India  trade;  we  must  have  hazarded 
all  the  revenue  arising  from  spirituous 
liquors ;  we  should  have  sacrificed  the  whole 
of  the  navigation  laws  of  this  country.  The 
just  alarm  of  the  minister  on  the  subject  of 
the  navigation  laws,  sufficiently  appeared 
from  the  extraordinary  remedy  he  had 
thought  it  expedient  to  adopt,  which  was  no 
other  than  to  assert,  that,  notwithstanding 


322 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  independence  of  Ireland,  she  must  still 
in  commercial  laws  and  external  legislation 
be  governed  by  Britain."  Fox  affirmed 
that  the  propositions,  as  they  were  even  now 
modified,  were  far  too  complicated  and  eX' 
tensive  to  be  voted  by  a  majority  of  that 
house,  on  any  other  ground  than  that  of  con 
fidence  in  the  minister ;  and  surely  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  had  sufficiently  demon 
strated,  that  implicit  confidence  in  him  was 
as  dangerous  as  it  was  absurd ;  that  infalli- 
bility was  no  more  his  prerogative  than  that 
of  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  house  at 
length  divided  on  the  motion  of  adjournment, 
ayes  one  hundred  and  fifty-five,  noes  two 
hundred  and  eighty-one  ;  and  the  first  reso- 
lution, broken  into  two  distinct  propositions 
in  the  new  arrangement,  passed  the  house. 
The  remaining  resolutions  were  subsequent- 
ly carried,  after  an  obstinate  and  violent  con^ 
test,  and  on  the  thirtieth  of  May  were  sent 
up  to  the  house  of  lords. 

Here  they  were  again  the  subject  of  long 
and  laborious  investigation ;  in  the  course 
of  which,  various  amendments  were  offered 
and  received  by  the  house.  At  last,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  July,  the  resolutions  in  their 
altered  state  were  sent  down  from  the  lords 
to  the  commons ;  where,  after  much  eager 
debate,  the  amendments  of  their  lordships 
were  agreed  to  by  the  commons ;  and  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  July,  an  address  was  pre- 
sented to  the  king  by  both  houses  of  parlia- 
ment, acquainting  his  majesty  with  the  steps 
which  had  been  taken  m  this  important  af- 
fair ;  adding,  "  that  it  remained  for  the  par- 
liament of  Ireland  to  judge  of  the  condi- 
tions according  to  their  wisdom  and  discre- 
tion, as  well  as  of  every  other  part  of  the 
settlement  proposed  to  be  established  by 
mutual  consent."  The  two  houses  now  ad- 
journed themselves  to  a  distant  day,  and  on 
the  thirtieth  of  September  1785,  the  parlia- 
ment was  prorogued  by  royal  proclamation. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  COMMERCIAL 
INTERCOURSE. 
If  the  original  propositions  adopted  by  the 
Irish  legislature  were  rejected  with  indig- 
nation by  the  British  parliament,  the  Eng- 
lish series  of  propositions  proved  still  more 
obnoxious  to  the  general  spirit  of  the  Irish 
nation.  To  promote  the  mutual  interest  of 
England  and  Ireland,  to  regulate  the  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  both  countries 
on  equal  principles,  were  the  objects  the 
original  propositions  professed  to  have  in 
view ;  and  the  philanthropist  will  certainly 
lament,  that  a  scheme  of  so  liberal  and  gen- 
erous an  aspect,  should  be  defeated  by  the 
malign  spirit  of  mercantile  jealousy.  The 
sister  kingdom,  however,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, in  the  rejection  of  the  plan  transmit- 
ted from  England,  was  actuated  by  high  and 
noble  motives.     Ireland,  by  a  long  series  of 


virtuous  and  patriotic  struggles,  had  at  last 
established  the  independence  of  her  legisla- 
ture ;  and  finding  that  the  fourth  proposition 
struck  at  that  independence,  the  parliament, 
jealous  of  their  infant  liberty,  and  almost 
without  glancing  at  the  commercial  features 
of  the  proffered  system,  peremptorily  re- 
jected the  whole  on  that  ground,  with  just 
and  manly  indignation.  Public  illumina- 
tions in  the  populous  towns  of  Ireland  tes- 
tified the  general  joy  excited  by  the  sudden 
termination  of  a  business  which  was  origin- 
ally intended  to  communicate  both  to  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  solid  and  lasting  advan- 
tages ;  but,  from  the  issue,  appears  to  have 
been  destined  by  a  singular  fate  to  rouse 
commercial  jealousies,  to  awaken  national 
prejudices,  and  to  disturb  the  public  tran- 
quillity of  both  kingdoms  more,  perhaps, 
than  any  preceding  measure  of  that  reign. 

PROPOSED  NEW  PLAN  OF  FORTIFICA- 
TIONS. 
1786. — After  a  tranquil  interval  of  a  few 
months,  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  met 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  January  1786.  In 
the  speech  from  the  throne,  the  king  de- 
clared to  the  house  of  commons,  his  earnest 
wish  to  enforce  economy  in  every  depart- 
ment; recommending  to  them  the  mainte- 
nance of  our  naval  strength  on  the  most  re- 
spectable footing ;  and  above  all,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  fixed  plan  for  the  reduction  of 
the  national  debt.  Nothing  very  material 
occurred  until  near  the  middle  of  February, 
when  the  attention  of  parliament  and  the 
public  was  drawn  to  a  plan  of  fortifications, 
originally  suggested  by  the  duke  of  Rich- 
mond. This  design  had  been  interrupted 
last  session,  in  consequence  of  a  suggestion 
of  colonel  Barre,  "  that  a  board  of  land  and 
sea  officers  ought  to  be  appointed  to  examine 
the  merits  of  the  system."  This  idea  hav- 
ing been  pretty  generally  adopted  by  the 
house,  Pitt  not  only  agreed,  that  no  money 
should  be  then  voted  for  the  purpose,  but 
also  that  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  pound.s, 
granted  in  the  year  1784,  for  that  service, 
and  not  yet  expended,  should  be  reserved 
till  the  matter  had  undergone  a  complete  in- 
vestigation. In  conformity  with  this  agree- 
ment, a  board  of  officers  was  appointed  on 
the  thirteenth  of  April  1785,  and  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  June  following,  they  made 
their  report  to  the  king. 

This  business  was  again  brought  before 
parliament,  in  the  present  session,  on  the 
tenth  of  February  ;  when  Pitt  stated  the  re- 
port of  the  board  of  land  and  sea  officers  to 
be  in  the  highest  degree  favorable  to  the  plan 
of  fortification,  submitted  to  their  decision, 
but  the  report  itself  he  declined  laying  be- 
fore the  house,  as  a  matter  of  too  serious  and 
delicate  a  nature  for  public  inspection.  The 
discontent  manifested  when  the  question  was 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


323 


last  year  under  discussion,  now  rose  into  the 
warmth  of  indignation.  "  If  the  report,  or 
the  essentials  it  contained,  were  not  to  be  in 
some  mode  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the 
house,  they  were,  it  was  affirmed,  in  exactly 
the  same  situation  in  which  they  had  stood 
before  the  board  was  appointed.  They  must 
decide,  not  upon  their  own  judgments,  but 
in  deference  to  the  authority  of  the  minis- 
ter. But  the  house  of  commons  were  not 
justified  in  voting  away  the  money  of  their 
constituents  upon  the  grounds  of  passive 
complai^nce,  and  courtly  submission.  The 
expense  attending  this  novel  system  would 
be  enormous,  and  it  was  at  least  their  duty, 
before  they  adopted  it,  to  be  fully  convinced 
of  its  necessity."  General  Burgoyne,  who 
was  one  of  the  board,  controverted  the  asser- 
tion of  Pitt  respecting  the  entire  approbation 
expressed  by  them  of  the  system  in  ques- 
tion.— "  It  was  well  known,"  he  said,  "  that 
cases  hypothetically  put,  admitted  only  of  a 
direct  answer,  given  under  the  admission  of 
the  hypothesis.  It  remained  to  be  ascer 
tained,  whether  the  case  thus  hypothetically 
put,  was  sufficiently  within  the  limits  of 
probability  to  deserve  attention.  The  ques- 
tion relative  to  the  fortifications  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  party.  It  was,  in  his  mind,  the 
most  important  and  the  most  interesting, 
whether  considered  as  a  question  of  science, 
of  revenue,  or  of  constitution,  that  was  ever 
submitted  to  the  decision  of  parliament." 

Pitt  waived  the  farther  discussion  of  the 
([(lestion  at  present,  but  declared  his  inten- 
tion of  bringing  it  again  before  the  house  in 
a  short  time,  in  the  most  specific  and  solemn 
manner.  Accordingly,  in  about  a  fortnight 
afl^r,  he  moved  the  following  resolution; 
"  That  it  appears  to  the  house,  that  to  pro- 
vide effectually  for  securing  the  dockyards 
of  Portsmouth  and  Plymouth  by  a  perma- 
nent system  of  fortification,  was  an  essential 
object  for  the  safety  of  the  state,"  &c.  &c. 
On  this  occasion  a  violent  debate  arose,  in 
which  Sheridan  eminently  distinguished 
himself  as  an  enemy  to  the  measure.  "  When 
we  talked  of  a  constitutional  jealousy  of  the 
military  power  of  the  crown,  what  was  the 
real  object,"  he  asked,  **  to  which  we  pointed 
our  suspicion  ?  Wliat,  but  that  it  was  in  the 
nature  of  kings  to  love  power,  and  in  the 
constitution  of  armies  to  obey  kings.  The 
fact  was,  that  these  strong  military  holds, 
if  maintained,  as  they  must  be  in  peace,  by 
flill  and  disciplined  garrisons,  would  in  truth 
promise  tenfold  the  means  of  curbing  and 
subduing  tlie  country,  than  could  arise  even 
from  doubling  tlie  present  army  establish- 
ment, with  this  extraordinary  aggravation, 
t'jat  tlioao  very  naval  stores  and  magnzines, 
tlie  seeds  and  sources  of  future  navies,  the 
efrectual  preservation  of  which  was  the  pre- 
tence for  theee  unas9?.ilQl>]e  fortreeseg,  vrould, 


in  that  case,  become  a  pledge  and  hostage 
in  the  hands  of  the  crown ;  a  circumstance 
which,  in  a  country  like  this,  must  insure 
unconditional  submission  to  the  most  ex- 
travagant claims  that  despotism  could  dic- 
tate. The  minutes  which  contained  the 
opinion  of  the  naval  officers,  in  condemna- 
tion of  the  plan,  were  wholly  omitted,  be- 
cause they  were  mixed  with  matter  of  such 
dangerous  import  that  no  chemical  process 
known  in  the  ordnance  elaboratory  could 
possibly  separate  them ;  while,  on  the  con- 
trary, every  approving  opinion,  like  a  light, 
oily  fluid,  floated  at  the  top,  and  was  capable 
of  being  presented  to  the  house,  pure  and 
untinged  by  a  single  particle  of  the  argu- 
ment and  information  upon  which  it  was 
founded." 

It  was  thought  by  many  to  be  impossible, 
that  a  man  of  Pitt's  discernment,  could  be 
the  sincere  and  cordial  advocate  of  so  pre- 
posterous a  scheme ;  and  it  was  even  men- 
tioned in  the  house,  by  one  of  his  friends,  as 
a  topic  of  report,  that  in  this  business  he 
was  suspected  of  acting  agamst  his  own 
opinion :  but,  however  this  may  be,  certain 
it  is,  that  he  found  himself  on  this  occasion 
very  generally  deserted  by  the  country  gen- 
tlemen ;  and  the  division  was  rendered  mem- 
orable by  an  exact  equality  of  numbers, 
both  the  ayes  and  the  noes  amounting  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty-nine.  The  speaker, 
being  of  course  compelled  to  give  his  cast- 
ing vote,  acquired  much  applause,  by  de- 
claring for  the  rejection  of  this  chimerical, 
extravagant,  and  dangerous  system. 
SINKING  FUND. 

The  subject  which  the  minister  seemed 
to  intend  should  make  the  principal  figure 
in  this  session  of  parliament,  was  the  pro- 
posal of  a  sinking  fund  for  the  liquidation  of 
the  national  debt.  On  the  seventh  of  Marcli, 
Pitt  moved  for  the  appointment,  by  ballot, 
of  a  select  committee  of  nine  persons,  to  re- 
port to  the  house  the  state  of  the  public 
revenue  and  expenditure.  The  result  of 
their  mquiry  was  laid  before  the  house  on 
the  twenty-first  of  the  same  montli ;  and 
proved  in  the  highest  degree  pleasing  and 
satisfactory.  The  amount  of  the  revenue 
for  the  current  year  was  estimated  by  tlie 
committee  at  fifteen  millions  three  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  thousand  pounds.  The 
permanent  expenditure,  including  the  civil- 
list,  and  the  interests  payable  on  the  differ- 
ent funds,  amounted  to  ten  millions  five  hun- 
dred and  fifly-four  thousand  pounds.  The 
peace-establishment,  allowing  eighteen  thou- 
sand men  for  the  navy,  and  the  usual  com- 
plement of  seventy  regiments  for  the  army, 
exclusive  of  life-guards  and  cavalry,  was 
estimated  at  tliree  millions  nine  hundred  and 
twenty-four  thousand  pounds.  In  all,  four- 
teen miliione  four  hundred  and  seventy-eight 


324 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


thousand  pounds ;  of  consequence  there  re- 
mained a  surplus  of  more  than  nine  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds.  Pitt  observed  upon 
this  report,  "  that  though  this  was  stated  to 
be  the  annual  expenditure,  a  considerable 
interval  must  elapse  before  this  reduction 
could  take  place ;  this  term  he  fixed  at  four 
years.  The  exceedings  of  the  army,  navy, 
and  ordnance,  together  with  the  sums  ne- 
cessary for  the  indemnification  of  the  Amer- 
ican loyalists,  he  calculated,  would  not,  du- 
ring this  period,  fall  short  of  three  millions. 
There  were  sums  appropriated,  during  the 
war,  to  different  services,  which  had  not 
been  expended ;  four  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sjiad  pounds  haA  already  been  paid  into  the 
Exchequer  upon  this  account.  There  were, 
moreover,  immense  sums  in  the  hands  of 
former  paymasters,  wliich  it  was  expected 
would  soon  be  brought  to  account ;  these  he 
conjecturally  stated  at  the  sum  of  one  mil- 
lion. There  was  a  balance  of  six  hundred 
thousand  pounds  due  to  government  from 
tlie  East  India  company.  When  to  these 
were  added  the  improvements  that  might 
yet  be  made  by  judicious  regulations  in  the 
different  branches  of  the  revenue,  he  was 
not,"  Pitt  said,  "  he  hoped,  too  sanguine  in 
affirming,  that  we  possessed  resources  equal 
to  all  our  ordinary  and  extraordinary  de- 
mands." The  proposition  which  he  now 
Bubmitted  to  the  house,  was,  the  appropria- 
tion of  the  annual  sum  of  one  million  to  be 
invariably  applied  to  the  liquidation  of  the 
national  debt.  This  annual  million  he  pro- 
posed to  vest  in  the  hands  of  certain  com- 
missioners, to  be  by  them  applied  regularly 
to  the  purchase  of  stock ;  so  that  no  sum 
should  ever  lie  within  his  grasp  large  enough 
to  tempt  him  to  violate  this  sacred  deposit. 
The  interests  annually  discharged,  were, 
<  onformably  to  this  plan,  to  be  added  to,  and 
incorporated  with,  the  original  fund,  so  that 
it  would  operate  with  a  determinate  and  ac- 
celerated velocity.  This  fund  was  also  to 
be  assisted  by  the  annuities  granted  for  dif- 
ferent times,  which  would  from  time  to 
time  fall  in  within  the  limited  period  of 
twenty-eight  years,  at  the  expiration  of 
which,  Pitt  calculated  that  the  fund  would 
produce  an  income  of  four  millions  per  an- 
num. The  commissioners  to  be  nominated 
under  the  act,  were,  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons, the  master  of  the  rolls,  the  governor 
and  deputy-governor  of  the  bank  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  accomptant-general  of  the  high 
court  of  chancery. 

The  only  amendment  of  any  material  con- 
sequence, suggested  on  Pitt's  plan,  was,  in 
the  progress  of  tlie  bill,  offered  by  Fox, 
"  that  whenever  a  new  loan  should  hereaf- 
ter be  made,  the  commissioners  should  be 
empowered  to  accept  the  loan,  or  such  pro- 


portion of  it,  as  should  be  equal  to  the  cash 
then  in  their  hands ;  the  interest  and  dou- 
ceur annexed  to  which  should  be  applied  to 
the  purposes  of  the  sinking  fund."  This 
amendment  was  readily  and  candidly  ac- 
cepted by  Pitt,  and  the  bill  finally  passed 
with  great  and  deserved  approbation. 
CIVIL-LIST  IN  ARREARS. 
Notwithstanding  the  acknowledged  ne- 
cessity of  economy  in  every  department  of 
government,  it  is  truly  painful  to  relate,  that 
even  before  the  sinking  fund  bill  passed  into 
a  law,  a  message  from  the  king  to  the  house 
of  commons  was  delivered  by  the  minister 
stating,  "  that  it  gave  him  great  concern 
inform  them,  that  it  had  not  been  found  pos 
sible  to  confine  the  expenses  of  the  civil- 
list  within  the  annual  sum  of  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  now  applicable  to 
that  purpose.  A  farther  debt  had  been  ne- 
cessarily incurred,  and  the  king  relied  on 
the  zeal  and  affection  of  his  parliament  to 
make  provision  for  its  discharge."  On  this 
occasion,  Pitt  stated,  "  that  under  Burke's  re- 
form bill  an  annual  reduction  of  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds  from  the  civil-list  had  been  set 
apart  by  parliament  for  the  liquidation  by  in- 
stalments of  the  sum  of  three  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  then  issued  in  exchequer-bills 
for  the  supply  of  former  deficiencies.  Of 
this  debt,  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
pounds  yet  remained  unpaid,  and  a  fresh 
debt  of  thirty  thousand  pounds  had  accru- 
ed." This  application  was  the  more  extra- 
ordinary, as  at  the  opening  of  the  session  of 
December  1782,  and  when  Pitt  was  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  the  king  in  his 
speech  from  the  throne  had  said,  "  I  have 
carried  into  strict  execution  the  several  re- 
ductions in  my  civil-list  expenses,  directed 
by  an  act  of  last  session ;  I  have  introduced 
a  farther  reform  in  other  departments,  and 
suppressed  several  sinecure  places  in  them. 
I  have  by  this  means  so  regulated  my  estab- 
lishments, that  my  expenses  shall  not  in  fu- 
ture exceed  my  income."  It  is  almost  su- 
perfluous to  say,  that  all  the  arguments  of- 
fered on  this  head,  proved  a  mere  waste  of 
words,  and  that  the  money  was  ultimately 
voted. 

BURKE'S  CHARGES  AGAINST  WARREN 
HASTINGS. 
The  remaining  subject  of  importance  that 
belongs  to  the  history  of  this  session,  is  the 
impeachment  of  Warren  Hastings,  late  gov- 
ernor-general of  Bengal.  In  undertaking 
the  arduous  task  of  public  accuser  against 
this  supposed  great  Indian  delinquent,  the 
various  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  pre- 
sented such  a  train  of  formidable  obstacles 
to  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  accused, 
as  only  the  spirit,  the  perseverance,  and  the 
inflexibility  of  Burke  could  overcome.  That 
powerful  Lidia  interest,  which  had  defeated 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


325 


the  scheme  of  Fox,  and  effected  the  ruin  of 
bis  administration,  was  to  be  exerted  in  vig- 
orous hostility  to  the  present  measure.  It 
was  also  obvious,  that  the  opinions  of  admin- 
istration were  much  in  favor  of  the  ex-gov- 
ernor. Burke,  however,  far  from  sinking 
under  the  pressure  of  circumstances  so  in- 
auspicious to  his  design,  resolutely  persisted 
in  his  purpose  ;  and  having  adopted  the  an- 
cient mode  of  trial  by  impeachment,  he  pro- 
ceeded on  the  fourth  of  April  1786,  to  charge 
Warren  Hastings,  Esq.  before  the  house  of 
commons,  with  high  crimes  and  misdemean- 
ors, exhibiting  at  the  same  time  nine  distinct 
articles  of  accusation,  which  in  a  few  weeks 
were  uicreased  to  the  number  of  twenty- 
two. 

Hastings,  at  his  own  express  desire,  ap- 
peared at  the  bar  of  the  house  of  commons 
on  the  first  of  May,  and  delivered  in  his  de- 
fence an  answer  to  Burke's  charges.  The 
defence,  hov/ever,  was  of  little  service  to 
his  cause,  and  contributed  in  a  very  slight 
degree  to  the  vindication  of  his  character, 
Though  his  assertions  were  bold,  his  argu- 
ments were  weak,  and  the  language  of  his 
defence  was  beyond  all  example  boastful 
and  arrogant.  He  even  called  in  question 
the  authority  of  the  house  to  institute  a  ju- 
dicial inquiry  into  his  conduct.  The  house, 
unmoved  by  what  they  had  heard,  proceed- 
ed in  the  examination  of  evidence  :  and  the 
first  article  of  impeachment  respecting  the 
Rohilla  war  was  brought  formally  before  the 
house  on  the  first  of  June :  after  a  very  long 
debate,  the  question  was  decided  in  favor  of 
#  Hastings,  ayes  for  the  impeachment  being 
sixty-seven,  noes  one  hundred  and  nineteen. 
On  the  thirteenth  of  June,  the  second  charge 
relative  to  the  Rajah  of  Benares  being 
brought  forward,  it  was  resolved  by  the 
house,  on  a  division  of  one  hundred  and 
nineteen  to  seventy-nine  voices,  "  that  this 
charge  contained  matter  of  impeachment 
against  the  late  governor-general  of  Ben- 
gal." On  the  eleventh  of  July  an  end  was 
put  to  these  proceedings  for  the  present,  by 
a  prorogation  of  the  parliament,  which  was 
dismissed  with  assurances  of  "  the  particu- 
lar satisfaction  with  which  the  king  had  ob- 
served their  diligent  attention  to  the  public 
usiness,  and  the  measures  they  had  adopted 
for  improving  the  resources  of  the  country." 

MARGARET  NICHOLSON'S  ATTEMPT  TO 
ASSASSINATE  THE  KING. 

On  the  second  of  August,  after  the  rising 
of  parliament,  a  singular  incident  occurred, 
which  engrossed  for  a  short  time  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public.  As  the  king  was  alight- 
ing from  his  post  chariot,  at  the  garden  en- 
trance of  St.  James's  palace,  a  woman  de- 
cently dressed  presented  a  paper  to  his  ma- 
jesty ;  and  while  he  was  in  the  act  of  re- 
ceiving it,  she  struck  with  a  concealed  knife 

Vol.  IV.  28 


at  his  breast.  The  king  happily  avoided  the 
blow  by  drawing  back ;  and  as  she  was  pre- 
paring to  make  a  second  thrust,  one  of  the 
yeomen  caught  her  arm,  and  the  weapon 
was  wrenched  out  of  her  hand.  The  king, 
with  great  temper,  exclaimed,  "  I  am  not 
hurt — take  care  of  the  poor  woman,  do  not 
hurt  her."  On  examination  before  the  privy- 
council,  it  immediately  appeared  that  the 
woman  was  insane.  Being  asked  where  she 
had  lately  resided,  she  answered  frantically, 
"  That  she  had  been  all  abroad  since  that 
matter  of  the  crown  broke  out."  Being  far- 
ther questioned  what  matter  ]  she  said, 
"  That  the  crown  was  her's  ;  and  that  if  she 
had  not  her  right,  England  would  be  del- 
uged in  blood  for  a  thousand  generations." 
On  being  interrogated  as  to  the  nature  of 
her  right,  she  refused  to  answer,  saying  ui 
the  genuine  style  of  royalty,  "  That  her 
rights  were  a  mystery."  It  appeared  that 
this  poor  maniac,  whose  name  was  Marga- 
ret Nicholson,  had  presented  a  petition  ten 
days  before,  full  of  wild  and  incoherent  non- 
sense. Like  most  other  petitions,  it  had 
probably  never  been  read,  or  the  person  of 
the  petitioner  would  have  been  secured. 
The  idea  of  a  judicial  process  was  of  course 
abandoned,  and  she  was  consigned  to  an 
apartment  provided  for  her  in  Bethlehem 
hospital. 

COMMERCIAL  TREATY  WITH  FRANCE. 
In  the  month  of  September,  the  king  was 
pleased  to  appoint  a  new  committee  of  coun- 
cil for  the  consideration  of  all  matters  relat- 
ing to  trade  and  foreign  plantations.  Of  this 
board,  Charles  Jenkinson,  since,  for  his  long 
and  faithful  services,  created  lord  Hawltes- 
bury,  and  constituted  chancellor  of  the 
dutchy  of  Lancaster,  was  declared  president 
Under  this  new  commission,  a  treaty  of  com- 
merce was,  on  September  the  twenty-sixth, 
signed  between  the  courts  of  England  and 
France.  Its  general  principle  was  to  admit 
the  mutual  importation  and  exportation  of 
the  commodities  of  each  country  at  a  very 
low  ad  valorem  duty.  The  negotiator  of 
this  treaty  was  Eden,  who  under  tlie  coali- 
tion administration  had  filled  the  lucrative 
office  of  vice-treasurer  of  Ireland.  This  was 
the  first  memorable  defection  from  that  un- 
fortunate alliance  :  and  it  was  the  more  re- 
markable, as  Eden  had  himself  been  gene- 
rally considered  as  the  original  projector  of 
the  coalition,  or  at  least  as  the  man  who 
might  contest  that  honor  with  Burke. 

CONVENTION  WITH  SPAIN  RELATIVE 
TO  THE  BAY  OF  HONDURAS. 
About  the  same  time  a  convention  was 
signed  with  Spain,  of  some  importance,  as 
it  finally  terminated  th^  long  subsistmg  dis- 
putes respecting  the  British  settlements  on 
the  Mosquito  shore  and  the  coast  of  Hondu- 
ras. By  the  present  treaty  the  Mosquito  set- 


526 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


tlements  were  formally  and  explicitly  relin- 
quished, as  they  had  already  virtually  been 
by  the  sixth  article  of  the  general  treaty  of 
1783.  In  return,  the  boundaries  of  the  Brit- 
ish settlements  on  the  coast  and  bay  of  Hon- 
duras were  somewhat  extended.  In  a  politi- 
cal view  this  convention  answered  a  valua- 
ble purpose,  as  it  removed  a  probable  source 
of  national  disagreement.  But  the  claims 
of  humanity  and  justice  were  not  sufficient- 
ly attended  to:  for  the  Mosquito  settlers, 
who  had  for  time  immemorial  occupied  their 
lands  and  habitations  under  the  protection 
of  the  English  government,  and  who  amount- 
ed to  many  hundred  families  in  number, 
were  peremptorily  commanded  to  evacuate 
the  country  without  exception,  in  the  space 
of  eighteen  months,  nothing  farther  being 
stipulated  in  their  favor,  than  that  his  Cath- 
olic majesty  "  shall  order  his  governors  to 
grant  to  the  said  English,  so  dispersed,  all 
possible  facilities  for  their  removal  to  the 
settlements  agreed  upon  by  the  present  con- 
vention." The  greatest  confusion,  conster- 
nation, and  distress  among  this  unhappy  peo- 
ple were  the  inevitable  consequences  of  this 
barbarous  edict  of  expulsion,  which  with  the 
cold-blooded  politicians  of  Europe,  at  the 
distance  of  three  thousand  miles,  passed  only 
for  a  regulation  of  commerce.  An  affecting 
representation  of  their  distresses,  and  an 
humble  petition  for  some  sort  of  indemnifi- 
cation from  the  government  which  had  thus 
shamefully  abandoned  them  to  their  fate, 
was  subsequently  presented  to  the  board  of 
treasury ;  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  ex- 
cited any  attention. 

TREATY  WITH  FRANCE  CONSIDERED 
BY  THE  COMMONS. 
1787. — The  parliament  reassembled  on 
January  the  twenty-third  1787,  but  no  sub- 
ject of  material  import  came  under  discus- 
sion till  the  twelfth  of  February,  when  the 
house  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  on 
the  commercial  treaty  with  France.  On  this 
occasion,  Pitt  entered  into  an  able  and  elo- 
quent vindication  of  the  measure.  It  was 
ridiculous  to  imagine,  he  said,  that  the 
French  would  consent  to  yield  advantages 
without  the  idea  of  compensation.  The  trea- 
ty would  doubtless  be  a  benefit  to  them ;  but 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  say,  it  would  be  a 
much  greater  benefit  to  us.  She  gained  for 
her  wines  and  other  productions  a  great  and 
opulent  market.  We  did  the  same  for  our 
manufactures  to  a  far  greater  degree.  She 
procured  a  market  of  eight  millions  of  peo- 
ple, we  a  market  of  twenty-four  millions. 
Both  nations  were  disposed  and  prepared  for 
such  a  connexion.  France,  by  the  peculiar 
dispensation  of  Providence,  was  gifted  per- 
haps more  than  any  other  country  upon  earth 
with  what  made  life  desirable  in  point  of 
soil,  climate,  and  natural  productions,  in  the 


most  fertile  vineyards  and  the  richest  bar 
vests.  Britain,  on  the  other  hand,  possessing 
these  advantages  in  an  inferior  degree,  had 
from  the  happy  freedom  of  its  constitution, 
and  the  equal  security  of  its  laws,  risen  to 
a  state  of  commr^rcial  grandeur,  and  acquir- 
ed the  ability  of  supplying  France  with  the 
requisite  conveniencies  of  life,  in  exchange 
for  her  natural  luxuries. 

The  only  real  difficulty,  respecting  the 
execution  of  this  treaty,  arose  from  its  in- 
consistency with  the  famous  Methuen  trea- 
ty, concluded  with  Portugal  early  in  the 
present  century ;  and  in  conformity  to  which 
the  duties  on  Portugal  wines  were  to  bear 
in  future  the  proportion  of  only  two-thirds 
of  those  imported  from  France  and  other 
countries.  But  this  point  being  candidly 
conceded  by  France  in  the  progress  of  the 
business,  the  measure  received,  as  it  well 
deserved,  the  necessary  concurrence  and 
sanction  of  parliament ;  and  the  whole  trans- 
action terminated  greatly  to  the  honor  of 
the  minister,  and  the  advantage  of  the  na- 
tion. 

EMBARRASSMENTS  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF 
WALES. 

The  subject  which  next  claims  our  atten- 
tion, will  be  found  upon  every  account  high- 
ly interesting.  The  great  personage  to 
whom  it  relates  is  the  heir  apparent  of  the 
British  crown.  In  addition  to  the  rank  and 
character  of  the  party,  the  narrative  is  ren- 
dered still  more  attractive  by  private  anec- 
dote, by  delicacy  of  situation,  and  by  a  new 
and  uncommon  circumstance,  that  alarmed 
the  apprehensions  of  many,  and  employed 
the  reflections  of  all.  When  his  royal  high- 
ness attained  the  age  of  majority,  A.  D. 
1783,  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  pounds  per 
annum  only  was  allotted  to  him  out  of  the 
civil-list  revenue  to  defray  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  his  establishment.  Considering  the 
numerous  salaries  payable  to  the  officers  of 
his  household,  this  sum  was  clearly  inade- 
quate to  the  support  of  his  rank  and  situa- 
tion in  life ;  and  the  then  ministers.  Fox  and 
lord  North,  strongly  insisted  upon  the  ne- 
cessity of  fixing  the  revenue  of  the  prince 
at  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum, 
which  the  late  king  had  enjoyed  as  prince 
of  Wales,  at  a  period  when  the  civil-list  pro- 
duced two  hundred  thousand  pounds  per  an- 
num less  than  at  present.  To  this  the  sove- 
reign positively  objected ;  and  the  prince, 
to  prevent  disagreeable  consequences,  gen- 
erously declared  that  he  chose  to  depend  on 
the  spontaneous  bounty  of  the  king.  The 
obvious  result  of  this  miserable  economy 
was,  that  the  prince  in  the  four  years  which 
were  now  elapsed  had  contracted  debts  to  a 
large  amount ;  his  negligence  as  to  pecuni- 
ary concerns  being  perhaps  increased  by  the 
consciousness  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of 


GEORGE  m.    1760—1820. 


327 


contracting  his  expenses  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  his  income.  The  public,  not  suffi- 
ciently adverting  to  these  circumstances, 
censured  the  prince  with  a  too  rigid  severi- 
ty for  the  heedlessness  and  prodigality  of 
his  conduct.  It  was  however  too  notorious 
to  admit  of  disguise  or  palliation,  that  the 
prince  Wcis  exempt  from  none  of  those  youth- 
ful indiscretions  and  excesses  by  which  men 
of  high  rank  in  early  life  are  for  the  most 
part  so  unhappily  characterized. 

The  prince  of  Wales,  like  most  other 
young  men,  had  been  more  distinguished  by 
a  general  regard  to  the  fair  sex  than  for  any 
particular  individual  attachment.  A  report 
however  of  a  serious  nature  had  for  some 
time  past  gained  very  general  credit ;  name- 
ly, that  the  prince  had  contracted  a  secret 
marriage  with  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  a  lady  of 
family,  and  justly  celebrated  for  her  person- 
al beauty  and  mental  accomplishments. 
That  the  prince  should  not  be  privately  mar- 
ried, was  an  event  particularly  guarded 
against  by  the  royal  marriage  act.  By  this 
act  it  was  declared  that  the  heir  apparent 
was  incapable  of  marrying  till  the  age  of 
twenty-five  years,  without  his  father's  con- 
sent, or,  in  case  of  refusal,  without  the  con- 
sent of  both  houses  of  parliament.  The 
marriage  therefore,  if  it  had  taken  place, 
was  null  in  law.  But  this  was  by  no  means 
tlic  circumstance  which  made  the  greatest 
impression  upon  the  public  mind.  The  lady 
was  educated  in  the  Roman  Catholic  religion, 
and  the  act  of  settlement  which  seated  the 
house  of  Brunswick  on  the  British  throne, 
expressly  declared  the  prince  who  married 
a  Catholic  to  have  forfeited  his  right  of  suc- 
cession to  the  crown.  To  add  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  a  situation  in  the  highest  degree 
trying  and  critical,  the  prince  found  his  em- 
barrassments continually  increasing,  and  a 
large  debt  already  accumulated.  In  the 
summer  therefore  of  1786,  the  prince  applied 
to  the  king  his  father  for  assistance,  but 
meeting  with  a  peremptory  refusal,  he  im- 
mediately adopted  a  resolution,  which  in 
every  view  reflected  the  highest  honor  on 
his  character.  Suppressing  the  establish- 
ment of  his  household,  he  formally  vested 
forty  thousand  pounds  per  annum  of  his  reve- 
nue in  the  hands  of  trustees  for  the  liquida- 
tion of  his  debts.  His  stud  of  running  horses, 
his  hunters,  and  even  his  coach  horses  were 
sold  by  public  auction.  The  elegant  im- 
provements and  additions  making  to  the 
palace  of  Carlton  house  were  suddenly  stop- 
ped, and  the  most  splendid  apartments  shut 
up  from  use.  In  this  manner  he  thought 
proper  to  retire  from  the  splendor  of  his  sta- 
tion, rather  than  forfeit  tlie  honor  of  a  gen- 
tleman by  practising  on  the  credulity  of  his 
creditors. 

The  prince  had  lived  in  a  state  of  retire- 


ment for  near  a  twelvemonth,  when  he  waa 
persuaded  to  countenance  a  proposal  for  lay- 
ing the  state  of  his  affairs  before  parliament ; 
and  on  the  twentietli  of  April,  alderman 
Newnham,  member  for  the  city  of  I^ondon, 
gave  notice  that  he  would  bring  forward  a 
motion  for  an  address  to  the  king,  prayuig 
him  to  take  the  situation  of  the  prince  into 
consideration,  and  to  grant  him  such  relief 
as  he  in  his  wisdom  should  think  fit,  and 
pledging  the  house  to  make  good  the  same. 
This  gave  rise  to  an  interesting  conversa- 
tion ;  and  Newnham  was  by  the  minister  and 
many  other  members  earnestly  entreated  to 
withdraw  his  motion,  as  fertile  of  inconve- 
nience and  mischief  Pitt  said,  "  that  by  the 
perseverance  of  Newnham  he  should  be  driv- 
en to  the  disclosure  of  circumstances  which 
he  should  otherwise  have  thought  it  his  duty 
to  conceal."  Rolle,  member  for  Devonshire, 
declared,  "  that  the  investigation  of  this 
question  involved  in  it  circumstances  which 
tended  immediately  to  affect  the  constitution 
in  church  and  state."  Fox,  Sheridan,  and 
other  gentlemen  in  the  confidence  of  the 
prince,  declared,  "  that  there  was  nothing 
his  royal  highness  less  feared  than  a  full  and 
impartial  investigation  of  his  conduct ;  and 
nothing  that  he  would  more  deprecate,  than 
a  studied  ambiguity  or  affected  tenderness 
on  the  pretence  of  respect  and  indulgence." 
Rolle  was  particularly  called  upon,  but  in 
vain,  to  explain  the  extraordinary  language 
he  had  used.  The  subject  being  in  a  few 
days  resumed,  Fox  again  called  the  atten- 
tion of  the  house  to  the  declaration  of  Rolle. 
"  To  what  that  declaration  alluded  (Fox  said) 
it  was  impossible  to  ascertain,  till  the  person 
who  made  it  thought  proper  to  explain  his 
meaning ;  but  he  supposed  it  must  refer  to 
that  base  and  malicious  calumny  which  had 
been  propagated  without  doors  by  the  ene- 
mies of  the  prince,  with  a  view  to  depreciate 
his  character  and  injure  him  in  the  esteem 
of  his  country."  Fox  further  declared, 
"  that  the  prince  had  authorized  him  to  as- 
sert, that  as  a  peer  of  parliament,  he  wa* 
ready  in  the  other  house  to  submit  to  any 
the  most  pointed  questions  that  could  be  put 
to  him  upon  the  subject,  or  to  afford  the  king 
or  his  ministers  the  fullest  assurances  of  the 
utter  falsehood  of  the  fact  in  question." 
Rolle  now  thought  proper  to  acknowledge, 
that  the  subject  upon  which  Fox  had  spoken, 
was  the  matter  to  which  he  alluded  as  af- 
fecting both  church  and  state.  He  said, 
"  that  the  reports  relative  to  this  transaction 
had  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  minds 
of  all  men  who  loved  and  venerated  the  con- 
stitution. He  knew  that  this  thing  could 
not  have  been  accomplished  under  the  formal 
sanction  of  law  ;  but  if  it  existed  as  a  fact, 
it  might  be  productive  of  tlie  most  alarming 
consequences,  and  ought  to  be  Kitisfactorily 


328 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


cleared  up."  Fox  replied,  "  that  he  did  not 
deny  the  calumny  in  question  merely  with 
regard  to  the  eftect  of  certain  existing  laws, 
but  he  denied  it  in  toto,  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
law.  The  fact  not  only  could  never  have 
happened  legally,  but  never  did  happen  any 
way,  and  had  from  the  beginning  been  a  vile 
and  malignant  falsehood."  Rolle  rose  again, 
and  asked,  "  whether  in  what  he  now  assert- 
ed Fox  spoke  from  direct  authority  ?"  Fox 
said,  he  had  spoken  from  direct  authority.  In 
consequence  of  these  explicit  and  authorita- 
tive asseverations,  Rolle  was  loudly  called 
upon  to  express  his  satisfaction :  but  this  he 
obstinately  declined,  saying  only  "  that  the 
house  would  judge  for  themselves  of  what 
had  passed."  On  this  Sheridan  was  provoked 
to  declare,  "  that  if  Rolle  persisted  in  his 
refusal,  or  otherwise  to  put  the  matter  into 
such  a  state  of  inquiry  as  should  satisfy  him, 
the  house  ought  to  come  to  a  resolution,  that 
it  was  seditious  and  disloyal  to  propagate 
reports  injurious  to  the  prince."  Pitt  now 
properly  interposed,  and  protested  against  so 
flagrant  an  attack  on  the  freedom  of  speech 
and  deliberation  in  that  house.  And  it  must 
be  confessed  that  Rolle  was  so  far  justified 
as  the  voice  of  the  public  could  justify  him, 
in  retaining  his  doubts ;  for  a  general  and 
firm  persuasion  still  prevailed  of  a  secret 
marriage  between  the  prince  and  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert,  though  no  one  presumed  to  call  in 
question  the  honor  of  Fox  in  the  declara- 
tions made  by  him  in  the  prince's  name,  for 
which  he  undoubtedly  had,  or  thought  he 
had,  sufficient  authority,  and  which  operated 
to  the  perfect  apparent  conviction  of  the 
house  of  commons. 

In  this  stage  of  the  business  an  interview, 
at  the  desire  of  the  king,  took  place  between 
the  prince  of  Wales  and  Pitt  at  Carlton 
house  ;  and  the  prince  was  informed,  "  that 
if  the  intended  motion  were  withdrawn, 
everything  might  be  settled  to  his  royal 
highness's  satisfaction."  This  being  acceded 
to,  a  message  was  delivered  by  the  minister 
from  the  king  to  the  house,  stating  his  ma- 
jesty's great  concern,  "that  from  the  ac- 
counts of  the  prince  of  Wales,  it  appeared 
that  he  had  incurred  a  debt  to  a  large  amount, 
which,  painful  as  it  was  to  him  to  propose 
any  addition  to  the  burdens  of  his  people, 
he  v/as  mduced  by  his  paternal  affection  to 
the  prince,  to  desire  the  assistance  of  parlia- 
men  to  discharge — on  the  well-grounded 
expectation,  nevertheless,  that  the  prince 
would  avoid  contracting  any  debts  in  future ; 
with  a  view  to  which,  the  king  had  directed 
a  sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds  to  be  paid  out 
of  the  civil-list,  in  addition  to  his  former  al- 
lowance ;  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  ob- 
serve, that  the  prince  had  given  the  fullest 
assurance  of  his  determination  to  confine  his 
future  expenses  within  his  income,  and  had 


settled  a  plan,  and  fixed  an  order  in  those 
expenses,  which  it  was  trusted  would  effect 
the  due  execution  of  his  intentions."  On 
the  very  next  day  after  the  accounts  referred 
to  in  the  royal  message  were  laid  before  the 
house,  and  of  which  the  dignified  generosity 
of  parliament  suflered  not  the  inspection,  an 
address  was  voted  to  the  king,  to  request 
him  to  direct  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-one  thousand  pounds  to  be  paid  out  of 
the  civil-list  for  the  full  discharge  of  the 
debts  of  the  prince  of  Wales,  and  the  farther 
sum  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  to  complete 
the  repairs  of  Carlton  house. 

IMPEACHMENT  OF  HASTINGS  VOTED  BY 
THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 
The  subject  of  Hastings'  impeachment 
had  been  resumed  early  in  the  present  ses- 
sion, and  had  occupied  a  large  proportion  of 
time  and  attention.  The  primary  charge 
respecting  the  Rohilla  war,  brought  for- 
ward towards  the  conclusion  of  the  session 
of  1786,  had  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
the  house ;  and  although  Hastings  had  been 
acquitted  of  the  charge,  it  was  upon  grounds 
on  which  it  was  impossible  to  rest  his  future 
defence.  The  conduct  of  the  minister  in 
this  business  had  been  hitherto  indecisive 
and  mysterious ;  but  the  part  taken  by  Jen- 
kinson,  and  the  party  of  which  he  was  con- 
sidered as  the  head,  left  no  room  for  doubt 
as  to  the  secret  inclination  of  the  court. 
Pitt  had  negatived  the  dv^Vyf  f.r*  thv?  EoJiilla 
war,  upon  the  ground  that  iiab!,:ii^;s  had  sub- 
sequent to  that  event  received  the  highest 
certificate  of  legislative  approbation,  by  being 
nominated,  by  act  of  parliament,  governor- 
general  of  India :  and  although  on  the  Ben- 
ares charge  he  had  voted  against  Hastings, 
he  expressly  declared  that  he  did  not  upon 
that  account  consider  himself  as  committed 
to  a  final  vote  of  impeachment.  The  grand 
question  therefore  still  remained  doubtful, 
when  on  the  seventh  of  February  1787, 
Sheridan  opened  the  third  charge  respecting 
the  Begum  princess  Oude,  with  an  eloquence 
and  energy  which  were  perhaps  never  sur- 
passed, and  which,  in  their  consequences, 
proved  completely  decisive.  On  this  occa- 
sion Pitt  acted  a  part  which  did  him  great 
honor.  Though  the  wonderful  speech  of 
Sheridan  had  excited  a  spirit  of  enthusiasm 
in  the  house,  which  perhaps  no  degree  of 
ministerial  influence  could  have  counteract- 
ed, it  would  be  highly  invidious  and  unjust 
to  attribute  the  decided  conduct  of  Pitt  on 
this  memorable  night  to  the  dread  of  being 
left  in  a  minority,  by  an  attempt  to  negative 
the  motion.  On  the  contrary,  he  appeared 
penetrated  with  a  perfect  conviction  of  the 
atrocity  of  the  facts,  and  of  the  strength  of 
the  evidence  by  which  they  were  supported : 
and  the  minister  felt  all  the  sympathies  of  hu- 
manity, all  the  energies  of  virtue  awakened 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


329 


in  his  breast,  and  impelling  him  to  testify, 
in  terms  the  most  explicit  and  expressive, 
his  detestation  of  perfidy  so  vile,  of  cruelty 
so  remorseless.  On  a  division  the  numbers 
were,  in  favor  of  the  motion  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five,  against  it  sixty-eight. 

On  the  second  of  March,  Pelham  opened 
the  charge  relative  to  the  Nabob  of  Fer- 
ruckabud,  which  was  affirmed  by  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve  against  fifty  voices.  On  the 
fifteenth  of  March,  the  charge  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  contracts  was  brought  forward  by 
Sir  James  Erskine ;  and  on  this  article  the 
division  was  ayes  sixty,  noes  twenty-six. 
Upon  the  twenty-second  of  March,  the 
charge  relative  to  Fyzoola  Kan  was  intro- 
duced by  Wyndham ;  and  was  carried  on  a 
division  of  ninety-six  against  thirty-seven 
voices.  On  the  second  of  April,  Sheridan 
opened  to  the  house  the  charge  upon  the 
subject  of  presents ;  and  on  this  occasion  he 
observed,  "that  the  late  governor-general 
had,  in  every  part  of  his  conduct,  exhibited 
proofs  of  a  wild,  eccentric,  and  irregular 
mind.  In  pride,  in  passion,  in  all  things 
changeable,  except  in  corruption.  His  re^ 
venge  was  a  tempest,  a  tornado  involving 
all  within  its  influence  in  one  common  de- 
struction. But  his  corruption  was  regular 
and  systematic,  a  monsoon  blowing  uniformly 
from  one  point  of  the  compass,  and  wafting 
the  wealth  of  India  to  the  same  port  in  one 
certain  direction."  Upon  a  division  the 
numbers  appeared  ayes  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five,  noes  sixty-four.  On  the  nine^ 
teenth  of  April  the  charge  respecting  the 
revenues  was  opened  by  Francis,  who  had 
formerly  occupied,  with  much  honor  to  him^ 
self,  the  office  of  member  in  the  supreme 
council  of  India,  and  who  had  recently  taken 
his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  house  of  com 
mons.  This  charge  was  confirmed,  not- 
withstanding the  unexpected  dissent  of  the 
minister,  by  seventy-one  to  fifty-five  voices. 

On  the  ninth  of  May  the  report  made  by 
Burke,  from  the  committee  to  whom  it  had 
been  referred  to  prepare  the  articles  of  im- 
peachment, was  confirmed  by  the  house, 
ayes  one  hundred  and  seventy-five,  noes 
eighty-nine.  On  the  following  day  it  was 
voted  that  Hastings  be  impeached ;  and 
Burke  accordingly,  in  the  name  of  the  house 
of  commons,  and  of  all  the  commons  of 
Great  Britain,  repaired  to  the  bar  of  the 
house  of  lords,  and  impeached  Hastings  of 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors ;  at  the  same 
tune  acquainting  their  lordships,  that  the 
commons  would  with  all  convenient  speed 
exhibit  articles  against  him,  and  make  good 
the  same.  On  the  fourteenth  another  charge 
respecting  misdemeanors  in  Oude  was  added 
to  the  former,  and  voted  without  a  division ; 
and  on  the  twenty-first  Hastings  being  con 
ducted  to  the  bar  of  the  house  of  lords  by 
28* 


the  serjeant-at-arms,  was  taken  into  the  cueh 
tody  of  the  black  rod  ;  but  on  the  motion  of 
the  lord  chancellor  was  admitted  to  bail — 
himself  in  twenty  thousand  pounds,  and  two 
sureties,  Sullivan  and  Summer,  in  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  each ;  and  he  was  ordered  to 
deliver  in  an  answer  to  the  articles  of  im- 
peachment in  one  month  from  that  time,  or 
upon  the  second  day  of  the  next  session  of 
parliament. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  May  1787,  the  king 
put  an  end  to  the  present  session  by  a  speech 
applauding  "  the  measures  taken  by  parlia- 
ment respecting  the  reduction  of  the  na- 
tional debt,  and  the  treaty  of  navigation  and 
commerce  with  the  most  christian  king.  He 
spoke  of  the  general  tranquillity  of  Europe, 
and  lamented  the  dissensions  which  unhap- 
pily prevailed  amongst  the  states  of  the 
united  provinces." 

INTERFERENCE  WITH  THE  AFFAIRS  OF 
HOLLAND. 
During  the  recess  of  parliament,  the  at- 
tention of  government  was  particularly  at- 
tracted by  the  troubled  state  of  Holland.  In 
the  autumn  of  the  year  1787,  the  dissensions 
which  had  long  subsisted  between  the  stadt- 
holder  and  the  states  of  Holland,  had  risen 
to  an  alarming  height,  and  the  ultimate 
event  of  the  contest  seemed  to  depend  greatly 
on  the  forbearance  or  interposition  of  foreign 
nations.  The  French  were  known  to  be 
friendly  to  the  states  of  Holland,  but  they 
were  too  deeply  engaged  by  their  domestic 
situation,  to  be  able  to  render  them  any  ef- 
fectual assistance.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
cause  of  the  stadtholder  was  warmly  espous- 
ed by  the  king  of  Prussia,  in  conjunction 
with  Great  Britain.  The  head  of  the  house 
of  Nassau  displayed  neither  the  talents  nor 
the  virtues  which  had  for  ages  been  sup- 
posed attached  to  that  illustrious  name.  The 
princess  his  consort  was  said  to  possess 
a  much  larger  share  of  spirit  as  well  as  un- 
derstanding. In  the  month  of  June  1787, 
for  reasons  which  have  never  perfectly  tran- 
spired, her  royal  highness,  then  resident  at 
Nimeguen,  adopted  the  bold  and  hazardous 
resolution  of  proceeding  in  person  to  the 
Hague,  where  the  States-General  were  at 
that  time  assembled,  accompanied  only  by 
the  baroness  de  Wassanaer  and  a  few  do- 
mestics. As  might  previously  be  expected, 
she  was  arrested  in  her  progress  at  about  a 
league  beyond  Schoonhoven,  and  forced  back 
to  Nimeguen.  On  the  tenth  of  July  a  me- 
morial was  addressed  by  the  Prussian  mon- 
arch to  the  states  of  Holland,  in  which  he 
affected  to  consider  the  indignity  offered  to 
the  princess  of  Orange  his  sister,  as  a  per- 
sonal insult  to  himself.  To  avenge  this  pre- 
tended affront,  the  duke  of  Brunswick,  who 
commanded  the  Prussian  forces  in  the  con- 
tiguous dutchy  of  Clevee,  entered  Holland 


330 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


at  the  head  of  an  army  consisting  of  about 
twenty  thousand  men  on  the  thirteenth  of 
September.  The  march  of  the  Prussian 
general  bore  the  appearance  of  a  triumphal 
procession.  On  the  seventh  day  from  the 
commencement  of  the  invasion,  the  prince 
of  Orange  made  his  public  entry  into  the 
Hague.  Amsterdam  only  made  a  show  of 
resistance ;  but  on  the  tenth  of  October,  that 
proud  capital,  now  closely  invested,  opened 
its  gates  to  the  victor.  To  the  astonishment 
of  the  world,  that  republic  which  maintain 
ed  a  contest  of  eighty  years  against  the 
power  of  Spain ;  which  contended  for  the 
empire  of  the  ocean  with  Great  Britain 
which  repulsed  the  attacks  of  Louis  the 
fourteenth  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory ;  was 
overrun  by  the  arms  of  Prussia  in  a  single 
month.  In  the  whole  of  this  transaction, 
Prussia  acted  in  intimate  and  avowed  con 
cert  with  Great  Britain ;  and  it  was  on  this 
occasion  that  the  British  government  con 
eluded  a  subsidiary  treaty  with  the  land 
grave  of  Hesse-Cassel ;  by  which  the  latter 
engaged  to  furnish  England  with  a  body  of 
twelve  thousand  men  at  four  weeks'  notice, 
for  thirty-six  thousand  pounds  per  annum 
So  late  as  the  month  of  September,  and  just 
before  the  duke  of  Brunswick  began  his 
march,  France  tardily  professed  her  inten 
tion  of  assisting  the  Dutch  in  case  they  were 
attacked  by  any  foreign  power.  This  cir- 
cumstance animated  the  court  of  London  to 
act  with  spirit  and  decision,  and  vigorous 
naval  preparations  were  made  to  support  the 
king  of  Prussia,  in  opposition  to  the  menac- 
ing  declarations  of  France.  But  the  object 
of  the  Prussian  expedition  being  accom^ 
plished  in  a  much  shorter  space  of  time  than 
could  have  been  previously  imagined,  the 
court  of  Versailles  found  itself  disengaged 
from  all  obligations. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— CONTI- 
NENTAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

In  consequence  of  these  transactions,  it 
was  found  necessary  to  assemble  the  parlia- 
ment of  Great  Britain  somewhat  earlier 
than  is  usual  in  time  of  peace ;  and,  the  ses- 
sion having  commenced  on  the  twenty-sev- 
enth of  November,  the  king,  in  his  speech  to 
both  houses,  remarked,  "that  at  the  close 
of  the  last  session,  he  had  informed  them  of 
the  concern  with  which  he  observed  the  dis- 
putes unhappily  subsisting  in  the  republic 
of  the  united  provmces.  Their  situation 
soon  afterwards  became  more  critical  and 
alarming.  The  king  of  Prussia  having  de- 
manded satisfaction  for  the  insult  offered  to 
the  princess  of  Orange  his  sister,  the  party 
which  had  usurped  the  government,  applied 
to  the  most  christian  king  for  assistance; 
and  that  prince  having  notified  to  his  majesty 
his  intention  of  granting  their  request,  the 
King  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  he 


could  not  remain  a  quiet  spectator,  and  gave 
immediate  orders  for  augmenting  his  forces 
both  by  sea  and  land ;  and,  in  the  course  of 
this  transaction,  he  had  concluded  a  subsidi- 
ary treaty  with  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse- 
Cassel.  In  the  mean  time,  the  rapid  success 
of  the  duke  of  Brunswick  enabled  the  prov- 
inces to  deliver  themselves  from  the  oppres- 
sion under  which  they  labored ;  and  all  sub- 
jects of  contest  being  thus  removed,  an 
amicable  explanation  had  taken  place  be- 
tween the  courts  of  London  and  Versailles." 

It  is  worthy  of  transient  remark,  that  the 
language  of  the  speech  from  the  throne,  was 
that  of  a  zealous  partisan  of  the  house  of 
Orange.  It  is  inconceivable  how  the  exist- 
ing government  of  Holland  could,  with  any 
color  of  justice,  be  stigmatized  as  an  usurp- 
ation ;  for  by  the  constitution  of  that  coun- 
try, the  prince  of  Orange,  as  stadtholder, 
was  not  a  sovereign,  but  a  subject,  possess- 
ing no  share  of  the  legislative  power ;  and 
though  by  the  formula  of  1747,  the  office 
was  declared  hereditary,  it  was  not  on  that 
account  irrevocable,  any  more  than  the  he- 
reditary offices  of  earl  marshal,  or  great 
chamberlain,  under  the  English  constitution. 
And  the  oppressions  alluded  to  in  the  speech, 
were  certainly  nothing  more  than  the  usual 
severities  inflicted  upon  those  who  presumed 
to  resist  the  measures  of  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment. It  must,  however,  be  confessed, 
that  the  prompt  and  vigorous  measures  of 
the  English  cabinet  were  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  counteract  the  insidious  designs  of 
France  in  her  projected  interference  in  the 
affairs  of  Holland,  and  in  this  point  of  view 
their  conduct  was  highly  and  deservedly  ap- 
plauded by  the  nation.  The  addresses,  in 
answer  to  the  king's  speech,  were  voted 
with  great  unanimity  in  both  houses ;  and 
the  subsidy  to  Hesse  passed  without  a  dis- 
sentient vote. 

In  a  short  time,  treaties  of  alliance  were 
concluded  between  the  courts  of  London, 
Berlin,  and  the  Hague ;  by  which  the  two 
former  guarantied  the  stadtholderate  in  per- 
petuity to  the  serene  house  of  Orange,  as 
an  essential  part  of  the  constitution  of  the 
united  provinces.  By  the  treaty  between 
the  kings  of  Great  Britain  and  Prussia,  each 
of  the  high  contracting  powers  engages,  in 
case  of  attack,  to  furnish  the  other  with  a 
succor  of  sixteen  thousand  infantry,  and  four 
thousand  cavalry,  or  an  equivalent  in  mo- 
ney, within  the  term  of  two  months  from 
the  date  of  the  requisition.  Thus  was  Brit- 
ain once  more  fatally  entangled  in  the  in- 
tricate and  inextricable  toils  of  continental 
engagements. 

"east  INDIA  DECLARATORY  ACT. 

The  most  considerable  legislative  mea- 
sure of  the  present  session,  related  to  a  con- 
troversy which  had  arisen  between  the  board 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


331 


of  control  and  the  East  India  company.  At 
th'e  moment  of  the  general  alarm  excited 
by  the  affairs  of  Holland,  government  pro- 
posed to  the  directors,  to  send  out  four  regi- 
ments of  the  king's  troops,  as  a  reinforce- 
ment to  the  army  in  India,  upon  condition 
that  the  whole  expense  was  defrayed  by  the 
company.  This  proposal  was  at  first  partly 
accepted,  but  the  rumor  of  war  having 
speedily  subsided,  the  matter  was  reconsid- 
ered by  the  board  of  direction,  and  finally 
rejected.  They  contended,  that  lord  North's 
bill  of  1781  expressly  provided,  that  the 
company  should  pay  only  for  such  troops  as 
by  their  requisition  should  be  sent  to  India ; 
and  the  opinion  of  different  eminent  law- 
yers, who  had  been  consulted  on  the  sub- 
ject, appeared  perfectly  to  coincide  with 
that  of  the  directors.  Part  of  the  troops, 
however,  were  already  prepared  for  embark- 
ation, and  the  company  refusing  to  admit 
them  on  board  their  ships,  the  minister,  to 
extricate  himself  from  this  perplexing  di- 
lemma, introduced  into  parliament  his  fa- 
mous declaratory  act,  to  show  that  his  own 
India  bill  of  1784  had  vested  in  the  board 
of  control,  and  not  in  the  directors,  the  su- 
preme power  of  determining  the  propriety 
of  every  such  measure.  The  declaratory 
bill  met  with  a  most  formidable  opposition 
in  parliament.  Colonel  Barre  protested  that 
he  had  from  the  first  discerned  the  traces  of 
a  system  of  Indian  patronage,  of  which  he 
believed  the  bill  under  discussion  to  be  a 
great  advance  to  the  final  completion ;  and 
if  it  should  be  suffered  to  pass,  a  fatal  stab 
would  be  given  to  the  constitution.  The 
question  of  commitment  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  fifty-seven  voices  only ;  and  on 
being  carried  into  the  house  of  lords,  it  ex 
perienced  a  second  opposition  not  less  vio 
lent  than  the  first.  It  passed  at  length,  ac 
companied  with  a  protest,  signed  by  sixteen 
peers,  in  which  the  declaratory  bill  was 
reprobated  as  friendly  to  corrupt  intrigue 
and  cabal — hostile  to  all  good  government 
— and  abhorrent  to  the  principles  of  our 
constitution. 

TRIAL  OF  HASTINGS. 
1788. — In  the  early  part  of  the  session 
Hastings  had  delivered  in  his  answer  to  the 
impeachment  of  the  commons,  who  imme- 
diately appointed  a  committee  of  managers 
to  make  good  the  same,  and  the  trial  com- 
menced on  the  fifteenth  of  February  1788, 
in  Westminster-hall,  which  was  fitted  up 
for  the  purpose  with  great  magnificence. 
Burke  was  four  days  in  making  his  prelimi- 
nary speech,  which  was  filled  with  vehe- 
ment invective,  with  much  rhetorical  exag- 
geration, and  with  matter  almost  wholly  ex- 
traneous to  the  subject  of  the  impeachment. 
The  friends  of  Burke  extolled  this  sj:>eech 
as  a  more  than  Ciceronean  effort  of  elo- 


quence ;  but  the  public  considered  it  injudi- 
cious, extravagant,  and  bombastical.  On  the 
twenty-second  of  February,  the  Benarea 
charge  was  opened  by  Fox ;  and  concluded 
on  the  twenty- fifth  by  Gray,  member  for 
Northumberland,  a  gentleman  whose  talents, 
at  a  very  early  period  of  life,  attracted,  in 
an  eminent  degree,  the  attention  of  the 
house.  On  the  fifteenth  of  April,  the  charge 
relative  to  the  Begums  of  Oude  was  brought 
forward  by  Adam,  and  the  evidence  on  this 
charge  was  summed  up  by  Sheridan  with 
transcendent  ability. 

BILL  TO  REGULATE  THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 
•  The  last  business  of  importance  which, 
engaged  the  attention  of  parliament,  was  a 
bill  to  regulate  the  transportation  of  slaves 
from  the  coast  of  Africa  to  the  West  Indies. 
This  bill,  which  was  intended  merely  to  es- 
tablish a  certain  reasonable  proportion  be- 
tween the  number  of  the  slaves  and  tonnage 
of  the  ships,  was  violently  and  obstinately 
opposed  by  petitions  from  the  merchants  of 
London  and  Liverpool,  concerned  in  the  Af- 
rican trade.  Counsel  being  therefore  en- 
gaged, and  witnesses  examined,  it  appeared 
in  evidence,  at  the  bar  of  the  house,  that 
the  slaves  had  not,  as  was  emphatically 
stated,  when  stowed  together,  so  much  room 
as  a  man  in  his  coffin,  either  in  length  or 
breadth.  They  drew  their  breath  with  labo- 
rious and  painful  efforts,  and  many,  unable 
to  support  the  struggle,,  died  of  suffocation. 
The  customary  mortality  of  the  voyage  ex- 
ceeded seventeen  times  the  usual  estimate 
of  human  life.  A  slave-ship,  when  full 
fraught  with  this  cargo  of  wretchedness  and 
abomination,  exhibited  at  once  the  extremes 
of  human  depravity  and  human  misery.  In 
reviewing  this  superlatively  wicked  and  de- 
testable traffic,  Pitt,  with  indignant  elo- 
quence, declared,  "  that  if,  as  had  been  as- 
serted by  the  members  of  Liverpool,  the 
trade  could  not  be  carried  on  in  any  other 
manner,  he  would  retract  what  he  had  said 
on  a  former  day,  and  waiving  every  farther 
discussion,  give  his  instant  vote  for  the  an- 
nihilation of  a  traffic  thus  shocking  to  hu- 
manity. He  trusted  that  the  house,  being 
now  in  possession  of  such  evidence  as  was 
never  before  exhibited,  would  endeavor  to 
extricate  themselves  from  the  guilt  and  re- 
morse, which  every  man  ought  to  feel,  for 
having  so  long  overlooked  such  cruelty  and 
oppression."  The  bill  was  carried  up,  June 
the  eighteenth,  to  the  house  of  lords,  where 
it  was  fated  to  encounter  the  determined 
opposition  of  lord  Thurlow,  the  duke  of 
Chandos,  and  lord  Sidney.  The  bill,  how- 
ever, had  a  number  of  friends,  and  to  the 
honor  of  parliament,  the  nation,  and  human 
nature,  finally  passed  by  a  considerable  ma- 
jority. 
The  king  put  an  end  to  the  session,  July 


332 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  eleventh,  by  a  speech  from  the  throne, 
in  which  he  complimented  the  two  houses 
on  their  attention  and  liberality.  "  His  faith 
ful  subjects  had  every  reason,"  as  he  affirmed, 
*'  to  expect  the  continuance  of  the  blessings 
vf  peace,  and  the  engagements  which  he 
dad  recently  formed  with  the  king  of  Prus- 
sia and  the  States-General  of  the  united 
provinces  would,  he  trusted,  promote  the  se- 
curity and  welfare  of  his  own  dominions, 
and  contribute  to  the  general  tranquillity  of 
Europe." 

THE  KING'S  INDISPOSITION. 
Soon  after  the  recess  of  parliament,  the 
king,  who  had  been  for  some  time  rather  in 
disposed,  was  advised  by  his  physicians  to  try 
the  mineral  waters  of  Cheltenham.  His 
majesty  accordingly  took  a  journey  to  that 
place.  His  health  appeared,  during  his  resi 
dence  there,  greatly  re-established ;  but  soon 
after  his  arrival  at  Windsor,  late  in  the  sum- 
mer, his  illness  returned  with  new  and 
alarming  symptoms.  By  the  end  of  Octo- 
ber, it  could  no  longer  be  concealed  that  the 
malady  of  the  king  was  of  a  nature  peculi- 
arly afflictive  and  dreadful.  A  mental  de- 
rangement had  taken  place,  which  rendered 
him  totally  incapable  of  public  business. 
The  parliament  stood  prorogued  to  the  twen- 
tieth of  November.  On  the  fourteenth  of 
that  month  circular  letters  were  addressed 
to  the  members  of  the  legislature,  signifying 
that  the  indisposition  of  the  sovereign  ren- 
dered it  doubtful  whether  there  would  be  a 
}X)ssibility  of  receiving  his  commands  for  the 
further  prorogation  of  parliament.  If  not, 
in  that  case  the  two  houses  must  of  neces- 
sity assemble,  and  the  attendance  of  the  dif- 
ferent members  was  earnestly  requested. 
Parliament  being  accordingly  assembled,  the 
state  of  the  king's  health  was  formally  no- 
tified to  the  house  of  peers  by  the  lord-chan- 
cellor, and  to  the  commons  by  INIr.  Pitt :  and 
as  the  session  of  parliament  could  not  be 
opened  in  the  regular  mode,  an  adjournment 
of  fourteen  days  was  recommended  and 
adopted.  Upon  the  reassembling  of  parlia- 
ment, December  the  fourth,  a  report  of  the 
lx)ard  of  privy-council  was  presented  to  the 
two  houses,  containing  an  examination  of  the 
royal  physicians ;  and  it  was  suggested,  that, 
considering  the  extreme  delicacy  of  the  sub- 
ject and  the  person  concerned,  parliament 
would  do  well  to  rest  satisfied  without  any 
TYiore  direct  or  express  information,  especial- 
ly as  the  examinations  of  counsel  had  been 
taken  upon  oath,  which  the  house  of  com- 
mons had  no  power  to  administer :  doubts, 
however,  were  started  by  Fox,  Burke,  and 
others  of  t)ie  same  party,  whether  parliament 
could  in  this  momentous  case  dispense  with 
that  sort  of  evidence  on  which  they  liad  been 
accustomed  to  proceed.  As  the  minister's 
chief  object  was  procrastination,  the  objec- 


tion was  too  acceptable  to  be  warmly  con- 
tested, and  theretbre,  after  a  trifling  debate, 
a  committee  of  twenty-one  persons  was  ap- 
pointed in  each  house  to  examine  and  report 
the  sentiments  of  the  royal  physicians.  The 
report  of  the  committee  was  laid  upon  the 
table  of  the  house  of  commons  on  the  tenth 
of  December,  when  a  motion  was  made  by 
Pitt,  for  the  appointment  of  another  com- 
mittee to  inspect  the  journals  for  precedents. 
"  With  respect  to  precedents,  there  were," 
said  Fox,  "  notoriously  none  which  applied 
to  the  present  instance ;  and  he  affirmed, 
that  all  that  was  requisite  to  their  ultimate 
decision  had  been  obtained  by  the  report  now 
lying  upon  their  table.  By  that  report  they 
had  ascertained  the  incapacity  of  the  sove- 
reign :  and  he  advanced  as  a  proposition  de- 
ducible  from  the  principles  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  the  analogy  of  the  law  of  heredita- 
ry succession,  that  whenever  the  sovereign 
was  incapable  of  exercising  the  functions 
of  his  high  office,  the  heir  apparent,  if  of 
full  age  and  capacity,  had  as  indisputable  a 
claim  to  the  exercise  of  the  executive  au- 
thority, in  the  name  and  on  the  behalf  of  the 
sovereign,  during  his  incapacity,  as  in  the 
case  of  his  natural  demise."  Pitt  immedi- 
ately, with  much  apparent  warmth,  declared, 
"  that  the  assertion  which  had  been  made  by 
Fox  was  little  short  of  treason  against  the 
constitution;  and  he  pledged  himself  to 
prove,  that  the  heir  apparent,  in  the  instance 
in  question,  had  no  more  right  to  the  exer- 
cise of  the  executive  power  than  any  other 
person  ;  and  that  it  belonged  entirely  to  the 
two  remaining  branches  of  the  legislature, 
to  make  such  a  provision  for  supplying  the 
temporary  deficiency  as  they  might  think 
proper.  To  assert  an  inherent  right  in  the 
prince  of  Wales  to  assume  the  government, 
was  virtually  to  revive  those  exploded  ideas 
of  the  divine  and  indefeasible  authority  of 
princes,  which  had  so  justly  sunk  into  con- 
tempt, and  almost  into  oblivion.  Kings  and 
princes  derive  their  power  from  the  people, 
and  to  the  people  alone,  through  the  organ 
of  their  representatives,  did  it  appertain  to 
decide  in  cases  for  which  the  constitution 
had  made  no  specific  or  positive  provision." 
Thus  was  this  famous  political  question  at 
issue  between  these  two  great  political 
rivals ;  in  which  it  was  remarkable  that 
Fox,  the  steady,  uniform,  and  powerful  ad- 
vocate of  the  people,  appeared  to  lean  to 
prerogative  ;  and  Pitt,  who  had  been  loudly 
and  justly  accused  of  deserting  the  princi- 
ples of  liberty,  stood  forth  their  intrepid  and 
zealous  asserter.  All  those  popular  argu- 
ments and  primary  axioms  of  government, 
on  which  the  friends  of  freedom  delight  to 
dwell,  were  upon  this  occasion  urged  by  Pitt 
with  energy  and  eloquence.  If  he  was  sin- 
cere on  this  occasion,  his  sentiments,  as  will 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


333 


appear  in  the  sequel,  afterwards  underwent 
an  entire  revolution. 

The  motion  of  Pitt  for  a  committee  to 
examine  precedents  being  carried  in  the 
commons,  a  similar  motion  was  the  next  day 
made  by  lord  Camden  in  tlk3  house  of  peers, 
and  the  doctrine  of  Fox  reprobated  by  his 
lordship  with  great  severity.  It  was  on  the 
other  hand  defended  with  much  ability  by 
lord  Loughborough  and  lord  Stormont ;  the 
latter  of  whom  concluded  his  speech  with 
recommending  an  immediate  address  to  the 
prince  of  Wales,  entreating  him  to  assume 
the  exercise  of  the  royal  authority.  The 
discussion  of  the  abstract  question  of  right 
having  afforded  a  great  and  unexpected  ad- 
vantage to  the  ministry,  the  duke  of  York, 
soon  after  this  debate,  in  the  name  of  the 
prince,  expressed  his  wishes,  "  that  the  ques- 
tion might  be  waived.  No  claim  of  right," 
his  highness  said,  "  had  been  advanced  by 
the  prince  of  Wales ;  and  he  was  confident 
that  his  brother  too  well  understood  the  sa- 
cred principles  which  seated  the  house  of 
Brunswick  upon  the  throne,  ever  to  assume 
or  exercise  any  power,  be  his  claim  what  it 
might,  that  was  not  derived  from  the  will  of 
the  people  expressed  by  their .  representa- 
tives." The  duke  of  Gloucester  confirmed 
the  declaration  of  the  duke  of  York.  Lord 
Thurlow,  who  had  at  first  consented  to  take 
a  part  in  the  regency  administration,  in  the 
arrangement  of  which  the  post  of  lord  presi- 
dent had  been  assigned  to  him,  now  varying 
the  course  of  his  policy,  spoke  with  great 
energy  of  his  "  sentiments  of  affection  to- 
wards the  king.  Nothing  could  be  more 
disgraceful  than  to  desert  the  sovereign  in 
his  distressed  and  helpless  situation.  His 
own  debt  of  gratitude  for  favors  received 
was  ample  :  when  he  forgot  his  king,  might 
God  forget  him."  This  pathetic  and  loyal 
exclamation,  not  being  perhaps  in  perfect 
unison  with  the  acceptance  of  a  place  in  the 
new  administration,  it  was  rumored  to  be 
the  result  of  certain  intimations  which  his 
lordship  recently  received  of  the  happy  and 
not  very  distant  prospect  of  the  king's  re- 
covery. This  was  however  as  yet  a  matter 
of  anxious  and  doubtful  speculation. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  December,  the  house 
being  in  a  committee  on  the  state  of  the  na- 
tion, Pitt  moved  the  two  following  declara- 
tory resolutions ;  first,  the  interruption  of 
the  royal  authority ;  and,  second,  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  parliament  to  provide  the  means 
of  supplying  that  defect.  A  vehement  de- 
bate ensued,  in  the  course  of  which  Fox  de- 
clared the  principles  of  the  minister  to  be, 
that  the  monarchy  was  indeed  hereditary, 
but  that  the  executive  power  ought  to  be 
elective.  "  Where,"  said  he,  "  is  that  fa- 
mous dictum  to  be  found  by  which  the  crown 
is  guarded  with  inviolable  sanctity,  while  its 


powers  are  left  to  the  mercy  of  every  assail- 
ant 1  The  prince,  it  is  asserted,  has  no  more 
right  than  another  person,  and  at  the  same 
time  it  is  acknowledged  that  parliament  is 
not  at  liberty  to  think  of  any  other  regent , 
and  all  this  paradoxical  absurdity  for  the 
paltry  triumph  of  a  vote  over  a  political  an- 
tagonist." The  resolution  was,  however,  on 
a  division,  carried  by  two  hundred  and  six- 
ty-eight against  two  hundred  and  four  voices. 
This  great  point  being  gained,  the  ministiy 
proceeded  without  delay  to  convert  it  to 
their  own  advantage. 

A  third  resolution  passed,  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  December,  empowering  the  chan- 
cellor of  Great  Britain  to  affix  the  great  seal 
to  such  bill  of  limitations  as  might  be  neces- 
sary to  restrict  the  power  of  the  future  re- 
gent. This  mode  of  procedure  was  warmly 
opposed  by  lord  North.  "  A  person,"  said 
his  lordship,  "  is  to  be  set  up  without  power 
or  discretion,  and  this  pageant,  this  fictitious 
being,  is  to  give  the  force  of  a  law  to  the 
decisions  of  the  two  houses.  Was  it  ever 
before  heard  of,  that  there  could  be  a  power 
of  giving  assent  without  the  power  of  refus- 
ing that  assent  ]  Would  any  man  seriously 
maintain  that  the  third  estate,  thus  conjured 
up,  is  really  distinct  from  the  other  two  ?" 

1789.— On  the  second  of  January  1789, 
to  complete  the  singularity  and  perplexity 
of  the  business,  died  Cornwall,  speaker  of 
the  house  of  commons ;  and  on  the  fiflJi  the 
vacant  chair  was  fillm  by  Grenville,  brother 
to  lord  Temple,  and  though  there  were  a 
striking  irregularity  in  entering  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office  without  the  previous 
sanction  of  royal  approbation,  yet  in  this 
season  of  novelties,  a  defect  of  this  sort  was 
scarcely  noticed,  amid  the  pressure  of  af- 
fairs so  much  more  important. 

In  consequence  of  some  diflference  of  opin- 
ion among  the  royal  physicians  respecting 
the  state  of  his  majesty's  health,  Loveden 
made  a  motion  for  a  fresh  committee  to  re- 
examine the  physicians  on  the  subject  of 
the  king's  illness,  and  the  probability  of  re- 
covery. This  motion  having  been  acceded 
to,  gave  rise  to  a  second  report,  which  left 
the  house,  with  regard  to  the  event,  as 
much  in  the  dark  as  ever,  answering  no 
other  purpose  than  to  create  delay,  of  which 
the  minister  well  knew  the  value  and  ad- 
vantage. A  letter  was  at  length  AVTitten  to 
the  prince  of  Wales  by  Pitt,  informing  his 
royal  highness  of  the  plan  meant  to  be  pur- 
sued :  that  tile  care  of  the  king's  person  and 
the  disposition  of  the  royal  hoii^hold  should 
be  committed  to  the  queen,  \v  uo  would  b^' 
this  means  be  vested  with  the  patronage  of 
four  hundred  places,  amongst  which  were 
the  great  offices  of  lord  steward,  lord  cham- 
berlain, and  the  master  of  the  horse.  That 
the  power  of  the  prince  should  not  extend 


334 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


to  the  granting  any  office,  reversion,  or  pen- 
sion, for  any  other  term  than  during  the 
king's  pleasure,  nor  to  the  conferring  any 
peerage.  The  answer  of  the  prince  was 
firm,  dignified,  and  temperate.  He  said,  "  it 
was  with  deep  regret,  that  he  perceived  in 
the  propositions  of  administration,  a  project 
for  introducing  weakness,  disorder,  and  in- 
security into  every  branch  of  political  busi- 
ness;— for  separating  the  court  from  the 
state,  and  depriving  government  of  its  natu- 
ral and  accustomed  support ;  a  scheme  for 
disconnecting  authority  to  command  service, 
from  the  power  of  animating  it  by  reward  ; 
and  for  allotting  to  him  all  the  invidious  du- 
ties of  the  kingly  station,  without  the  means 
of  softening  them  to  the  public  by  any  one 
act  of  grace,  favor,  or  benignity."  He  ob- 
served, that  the  plea  of  public  utility  must 
be  strong,  manifest,  and  urgent,  that  could 
thus  require  the  extinction  or  suspension  of 
any  of  those  essential  rights  in  the  supreme 
power  or  its  representative,  or  which  could 
justify  the  prince  in  consenting,  that  in  his 
person  an  experiment  should  be  made  to  as- 
certain with  how  small  a  portion  of  kingly 
power  the  executive  government  of  this 
country  could  be  conducted.  In  fine,  the 
prince  declared,  that  his  conviction  of  the 
evils  which  might  otherwise  arise,  outweigh- 
ed in  his  mind  every  other  consideration, 
and  would  determine  him  to  undertake  the 
painful  trust  imposed  upon  him  by  that  mel- 
ancholy necessity,  which  of  all  the  king's 
subjects  he  deplored  the  most. 

KING'S  RECOVERY. 
The  bill  intended  to  carry  into  effect  this 
wild  and  dangerous  project,  the  offspring  of 
party  interest,  and  personal  ambition,  was 
brought  into  the  house  on  the  sixteenth  of 
January  1789.  Long  and  violent  debates 
ensued ;  and  in  the  house  of  lords,  it  was 
accompanied  by  a  protest,  signed  by  the  duke 
of  York,  at  the  head  of  the  princes  of  the 
blood,  and  fifly-five  other  peers,  expressive 
of  their  highest  indignation  at  the  restric- 
tions thus  arbitrarily  imposed  on  the  execu- 
tive authority.  These  extraordinary  and  un- 
precedented proceedings  were  at  length, 
happily  for  the  public,  arrested  m  their  pro- 
gress by  an  intimation  from  the  chancellor, 
that  the  king  was  declared  by  his  physicians 
to  be  in  a  state  of  convalescence.  This  was 
followed  by  a  declaration  on  the  tenth  of 
March,  that  his  majesty  being  perfectly  re- 
covered from  his  indisposition,  had  ordered 
a  commission  to  be  issued  for  holding  the 
parliament  m  the  usual  manner.  The  tidings 
of  the  king's  recovery  diffused  the  most  gen- 
eral and  heartfelt  satisfaction.  A  national 
thanksgiving  was  appointed,  and  the  king 
himself  went  in  solemn  procession  to  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Paul's,  to  offer  up  to  the 
Almighty  his    grateful    devotions   on  this 


event.  His  recovery  was  also  celebrated 
throughout  the  kingdom  by  splendid  illumi- 
nations, and  all  the  other  accustomed  de- 
monstrations of  joy. 

PARLIAMENT  REGULARLY  OPENED. 

In  the  speech  delivered  by  the  chancellor 
in  the  name  of  the  king  to  the  two  housed!, 
his  majesty  conveyed  to  them  his  warmest 
acknowledgments  for  the  additional  proofli 
they  had  given  of  attachment  to  his  persoix, 
of  their  concern  for  the  honor  and  interests 
of  his  crown,  and  the  security  and  good 
government  of  his  dominions.  It  very  sooa 
appeared  that  the  last  proceedings  of  the 
ministry  in  the  regency  business  were  high- 
ly agreeable  to  the  sovereign.  A  number  of 
persons  holding  posts  under  the  government, 
who  had  concurred  in  the  measures  of  op- 
position, were  unceremoniously  dismissed 
from  their  offices. 

SHOP  TAX  REPEALED.— TEST  AND  COR- 
PORATION ACTS. 

One  of  the  earliest  topics  that  engaged 
the  attention  of  parliament  was  the  unpopu- 
lar shop-tax.  Fox  renewed  his  annual  mo- 
tion for  its  repeal,  to  which  Pitt  did  not 
choose  any  longer  to  withhold  his  assent, 
though  at  the  same  time  he  affirmed  he  had 
heard  nothing  in  the  shape  of  argument 
which  induced  him  to  change  his  original 
opinion.  Encouraged  by  the  success  of  this 
application,  Dempster  immediately  moved 
for  the  repeal  of  the  hawkers  and  pedlar^ 
tax.  This,  however,  could  not  be  obtained  ; 
but  a  bill  passed  to  explain  and  amend  tht 
act,  by  which  the  more  oppressive  clauses 
were  mitigated,  and  that  friendless  and  in- 
jured class  of  persons  restored  in  some  mea- 
sure to  their  civil  and  commercial  rights. 

On  the  eighth  of  May,  Beaufoy  introduc- 
ed the  motion  which  he  had  two  years  be- 
fore submitted  to  the  house,  for  the  repeal 
of  the  corporation  and  test  acts.  Fox  suj> 
ported  the  motion  with  uncommon  force  of 
argument.  He  laid  it  down  as  a  primary 
axiom  of  policy,  "that  no  human  govern- 
ment had  jurisdiction  over  opinions  as  such, 
and  more  particularly  over  religious  opin- 
ions. It  had  no  right  to  presume  that  it 
knew  them,  and  much  less  to  act  upon  that 
presumption.  When  opinions  were  produc- 
tive of  acts  injurious  to  society,  the  law- 
knew  how  and  where  to  apply  the  remedy. 
If  the  reverse  of  this  doctrine  were  adopt- 
ed, if  the  actions  of  men  were  to  be  pre- 
judged from  their  opinions,  it  would  sow 
the  seeds  of  everlasting  jealousy  and  dis- 
trust ;  it  would  give  the  most  unlimited 
scope  to  the  malignant  passions ;  it  would 
incite  each  man  to  divine  the  opinions  of 
his  neighbor,  to  deduce  mischievous  conse- 
quences from  them,  and  then  to  prove  that 
he  ought  to  incur  disabilities,  to  be  fettered 
with  restrictions,  to  be  harassed  with  pent^ 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


335 


ties.  From  this  intolerant  principle  had 
flowed  every  species  of  party  zeal,  every 
gystem  of  political  persecution,  every  ex- 
travagance of  religious  hate.  There  were 
many  men  not  of  the  establishment,  to  whose 
services  their  country  had  a  claim.  Surely 
a  citizen  of  this  description  might  be  per- 
mitted without  danger  or  absurdity  to  say — 
though  I  dissent  from  the  church,  I  am  a 
friend  to  the  constitution ;  and  on  religious 
subjects  I  am  entitled  to  think  and  act  as  I 
please.  Ought  the  country  to  be  deprived 
of  the  benefit  she  might  derive  from  the 
talents  of  such  men,  and  his  majesty  be  pre- 
vented from  dispensing  the  favors  of  the 
crown  except  to  one  description  of  his  sub- 
jects ]  The  test  and  corporation  acts  had 
subsisted,  it  was  contended,  for  more  than  a 
century.  True ;  but  how  had  they  subsist- 
ed 1  by  repeated  suspensions.  For  the  in 
denmity-bills  were,  literally  speaking,  annu 
al  acts.  Where  then  would  be  the  impro- 
priety of  suspending  tliem  for  ever  by  an 
act  of  perpetual  operation  1  Let  not  Great 
Britain  be  the  last  to  avail  herself  of  the 
general  improvement  of  the  human  under- 
standing. Indulgence  to  other  sects,  a  can- 
did respect  for  their  opinions,  a  desire  to 
promote  charity  and  good  will,  were  the  best 
proofs  that  any  religion  could  give  of  its  di- 
vine origin."  Pitt,  in  an  artificial  harangue 
delivered  with  a  great  external  show  of 
oandor,  and  decorated  with  a  speciousness 


of  language,  opposed  the  motion.  On  a  di- 
vision this  important  question  was  lost  by  a 
majority  of  only  twenty  voices. 

MOTION  FOR  THE  ABOLITION  OF  THE 
SLAVE  TRADE. 
WiLBERFORCE,  at  an  advanced  period  of 
the  session,  brought  forward  his  long  ex- 
pected motion,  relating  to  the  abolition  of 
the  Afi*ican  slave  trade,  which  was  now  be- 
come the  theme  of  public  execration.  Lord 
Penryn  asserted,  in  the  course  of  this  de- 
bate, "that  to  his  knowledge,  the  planters 
were  now  willing  to  assent  to  any  regula- 
tion of  the  trade,  short  of  its  abolition."  In 
reply  to  this  remark.  Fox,  with  great  anima- 
tion, declared,  "  that  he  knew  of  no  such 
thing,  as  a  *  regulation  of  robbery,  and  re- 
striction of  murder.'  There  was  no  medi- 
um :  the  legislature  must  either  abolish  the 
trade,  or  plead  guilty  to  all  the  iniquity  with 
which  it  was  attended.  This  was  a  traffic 
which  no  government  could  authorize,  with- 
out participation  in  the  infamy."  Evidence 
being  heard  at  the  bar  of  the  house  for  sev- 
eral successive  weeks,  it  was  at  length,  on 
the  twenty-third  of  June,  moved  by  alder- 
man Newnham,  "  that  the  farther  consider- 
ation of  the  subject  be  deferred  to  the  next 
session,"  which  was  accordmgly  carried. 

The  session  was  terminated  August  the 
eleventh  1789,  by  a  speech  from  the  lord 
chancellor  in  the  name  of  the  sovereign. 


836 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Meeting  of  Parliament — Burke's  first  Philippic  against  France — The  Sentiments 
of  Fox  and  Sheridan  on  the  same  Subject — Opposition  to  the  Motion  for  Repeal  of 
the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts — A  Reform  in  Parliament  moved  by  Mr.  Flood — and 
withdrawn — State  of  Settlements  in  India — Royal  Message  announces  a  Rupture 
with  Spain — The  Dispute  settled,  and  a  Convention  signed — War  commenced  in 
India — To  defray  the  Expenses  of  the  Spanish  Armament,  the  Minister  proposes 
seizing  the  unclaimed  Dividends  in  the  Bank —  Violently  opposed — Compromised — 
Question  whether  Impeachments  abate  or  not  by  a  Dissolution  of  Parliament — Bill 
in  Favor  of  the  Catholics  passed — Bill  for  settling  the  Rights  of  Juries  in  Cases 
of  Libel — The  Slave  Trade — The  Establishment  of  the  Sierra  Leona  Company — 
Bill  for  the  better  Government  of  Canada — Burke's  Invective  against  the  French 
Revolution — Answered  by  Fox —  Terminates  in  a  Breach  of  Friendship — Rupture 
with  Russia — Grounds  of  the  Quarrel — The  French  Revolution  divides  the  Nation 
into  Parties — Birmingham  thrown  into  a  Ferment  by  an  inflammatory  and  seditious 
Hand-Bill — Dr.  Priestley'' s  House,  <^c.  destroyed. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— BURKE'S 
PHILIPPIC  AGAINST  FRANCE. 

While  the  summer  of  the  year  1789 
passed  away  in  England  without  producing 
any  memorable  transaction,  it  proved  a 
period  fruitful  of  commotion  on  the  conti 
nent,  and  will  be  distinguished  to  the  latest 
posterity  as  the  epoch  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion. 

1790.— The  parliament  elected  in  1784, 
met  for  its  last  session  on  the  twenty-first 
of  January  1790.  In  the  speech  from  the 
throne,  his  majesty  slightly  glanced  at  the 
affairs  of  France,  by  observing,  that  "  the 
internal  situation  of  the  different  parts  of 
Europe  had  been  productive  of  events  which 
had  engaged  his  most  serious  attention." 
Lord  Valletort,  in  moving  the  address,  took 
occasion  to  contrast  the  tranquil  and  pros- 
perous situation  of  England  with  the  anar- 
chy and  licentiousness  of  France,  and  to 
stigmatize  the  revolution  in  that  country  as 
an  event  the  most  disastrous  and  fatal  to 
the  interests  of  the  French  which  had  ever 
taken  place  since  the  foundation  of  their 
monarchy.  This  language  was  highly  ap- 
plauded by  the  old  prerogative  phalanx,  and 
was  a  tolerable  indication  of  the  light  in 
which  the  recent  transactions  in  France 
were  viewed  by  the  British  court.  The  sub- 
ject was  resumed  upon  the  debate  which 
took  place  on  February  the  ninth  relative  to 
the  army  estimates.  Mr.  Burke  observed, 
"  that  on  a  review  of  all  Europe,  he  did  not 
find  that  politically  we  stood  in  the  smallest 
degree  of  danger  from  any  one  state  or  king- 
dom it  contained,  nor  that  any  foreign  powers, 
but  our  own  allies,  were  likely  to  gain  a 
preponderance  in  the  scale.  The  French 
had  shown  themselves  the  ablest  architects 
of  ruin  that  had  hitherto  appeared  in  the 
world.    In  one  short  summer  they  had  com- 


pletely pulled  down  their  monarchy,  their 
church,  their  nobility,  their  law,  their  army, 
and  their  revenue.  Were  we  absolute  con- 
querors, and  France, to  lie  prostrate  at  our 
feet,  we  should  blush  to  impose  upon  them 
terms  so  destructive  to  all  their  consequence 
as  a  nation,  as  the  durance  they  had  imposed 
upon  themselves.  Our  present  danger,  from 
the  example  of  a  people  whose  character 
knows  no  medium,  is,  with  regard  to  gov- 
ernment, a  danger  from  licentious  violence 
— a  dano-er  of  being  led  from  admiration 
to  imitation  of  the  excesses  of  an  unprin- 
cipled, plundering,  ferocious,  bloody,  and  ty- 
rannical democracy — of  a  people  whose  gov- 
ernment is  anarchy,  and  whose  religion  is 
atheism.  He  declared  he  felt  great  concern 
that  this  strange  thing,  called  a  revolution 
in  France,  should  be  compared  with  the 
glorious  event  commonly  called' the  revolu- 
tion in  England.  In  truth,  the  circumstances 
of  our  revolution,  as  it  is  called,  and  that  of 
France,  are  just  the  reverse  of  each  other  in 
almost  every  particular,  and  in  the  whole 
spirit  of  the  transaction.  What  we  did  was, 
in  truth  and  substance,  not  a  revolution 
made,  but  prevented.  We  took  solid  securi- 
ties ;  we  settled  doubtful  questions ;  we  cor- 
rected anomalies  in  our  law.  In  the  stable 
fundamental  parts  of  our  constitution  v/e 
made  no  revolution ; — no,  nor  any  alteration 
at  all.  We  did  not  impair  the  monarchy. 
The  nation  kept  the  same  ranks,  the  same 
subordinations,  the  same  franchises;  the 
same  order  in  the  law,  the  revenue,  and  the 
magistracy ;  the  same  lords,  the  same  com- 
mons, the  same  corporations,  the  same  elec- 
tors. The  church  was  not  impaired.  Her 
estates,  her  majesty,  her  splendor,  her  or- 
ders and  gradations  continued  the  same.  She 
was  preserved  in  her  full  efficiency,  and 
cleared  only  of  that  intolerance  which  v/as 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


337 


her  weakness  and  disgrace.  Was  little  done 
then,  because  a  revolution  was  not  made  in 
her  constitution!  No— everything  was  done; 
because  we  commenced  with  reparation,  not 
with  ruin.  The  state  flourished;  Great 
Britain  rose  above  the  standard  of  her  for- 
mer self.  All  the  energies  of  the  country 
were  awakened,  and  a  new  era  of  prosperity 
commenced,  which  still  continues,  not  only 
unimpaired,  but  receiving  growth  and  im- 
provement under  the  wasting  hand  of  time." 

SENTIMENTS  OF  FOX  AND  SHERIDAN. 
Mr.  Fox,  notwithstanding  his  personal  re- 
gard and  friendship  for  Burke,  thought  it 
necessary,  in  justice  to  the  rectitude  and 
dignity  of  his  own  character,  to  declare  "his 
total  dissent  from  opinions  so  hostile  to  the 
general  principles  of  liberty  ;  and  which  he 
was  grieved  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  a  man 
whom  he  loved  and  revered — by  whose  pre- 
cepts he  had  been  taught,  by  whose  example 
he  had  been  animated  to  engage  in  their  de- 
fence. He  vindicated  the  conduct  of  the 
French  army,  in  refusing  to  act  against 
tlieir  fellow-citizens  from  the  aspersions  of 
Burke,  who  had  charged  them  with  abetting 
an  abominable  sedition  by  mutiny  and  deser- 
tion; declaring,  that  if  he  could  view  a 
standing  military  force  with  less  constitu- 
tional jealousy  than  before,  it  was  owing  to 
the  noble  spirit  manifested  by  the  French 
urmy;  who,  on  becoming  soldiers,  had  proved 
that  they  did  not  forfeit  their  character  as 
citizens,  and  would  not  act  as  the  mere  in- 
struments of  a  despot.  The  scenes  of  blood- 
shed and  cruelty  that  had  been  acted  in 
France,  no  man,"  said  Fox,  "  could  hear  of 
without  lamenting.  But  when  the  grievous 
tyranny  that  the  people  had  so  long  groaned 
under  was  considered,  the  excesses  they  had 
committed  in  their  efforts  to  shake  off  the 
yoke  could  not  excite  our  astonishment  so 
much  as  our  regret.  And  as  to  the  contrast 
Burke  had  exhibited,  respecting  the  mode 
in  which  the  two  revolutions  of  England 
and  France  were  conducted,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, that  the  situation  of  the  two 
kingdoms  was  totally  different.  In  France, 
a  new  constitution  was  to  be  created.  In 
England,  it  wanted  only  to  be  secured.  If 
the  fabric  of  government  in  England  suffer- 
ed less  alteration,  it  was  because  it  required 
less  alteration.  If  a  general  destruction  of 
the  ancient  constitution  had  taken  place  in 
France,  it  was  because  the  whole  system 
was  radically  hostile  to  liberty,  and  that  every 
part  of  it  breathed  the  direful  spirit  of  des- 
potism." Sheridan,  with  still  less  reserve 
and  attention  to  personal  respect,  reprobated 
the  political  sentiments  which  had  been  ad- 
vanced by  Burke.  "  The  people  of  France," 
said  Sheridan,  "  it  is  true,  have  committed 
acts  of  barbcrity  and  bloodshed  which  have 
Vol.  TV.  29 


justly  excited  indignation  and  abhorrence. 
He  was  as  ready  as  Burke  to  detest  the 
cruelties  that  had  been  committed ;  but 
what  was  the  striking  lesson,  the  awfiil 
moral,  that  these  outrages  taught  ?  A  deeper 
abhorrence  of  that  system  of  despotic  gov- 
ernment, which  had  so  deformed  and  cor- 
rupted human  nature ;  of  a  species  of  govern- 
ment, that  trampled  upon  the  property,  the 
liberty,  and  lives  of  its  subjects ;  that  dealt 
in  extortions,  dungeons,  and  torture;  and 
that  prepared  beforehand  a  day  of  sanguina- 
ry vengeance,  when  the  irritated  populace 
should  possess  tliemselves  of  power.  The 
people,  unhappily  misguided,  as  they  doubt- 
less were,  in  particular  instances,  had  how- 
ever acted  rightly  in  their  great  object 
They  had  placed  the  supreme  authority  of 
the  community  in  those  hands  by  whom 
alone  it  could  be  justly  exercised,  and  had 
reduced  their  sovereign  to  the  rank  which 
properly  belonged  to  kings — that  of  admin- 
istrator of  the  laws  established  by  the  free 
consent  of  the  community." 

This  being  the  first  time  that  the  French 
revolution  became  a  subject  of  parliamentary 
investigation,  the  house  appeared,  during  a 
long  and  most  interesting  discussion,  greatly 
agitated  by  the  shock  and  conflict  of  clash- 
ing opinions :  but  Pitt  preserved  a  cautious 
and  politic  silence  as  to  the  merits  of  tlie 
revolution,  contenting  himself  for  tlie  present 
with  lavishly  applauding  Burke  for  the  zeal- 
ous and  seasonable  attachment  he  had  dis- 
played to  the  principles  of  the  British  con- 
stitution. 

OPPOSITION  TO  A  REPEAL  OF  THE  TE^T 
AND  CORPORATION  ACTS. 
The  spirit,  however,  by  which  the  gor- 
ernment  was  now  actuated,  appeared  with 
less  reserve  in  their  conduct  towards  tlie 
dissenters.  Smce  the  very  favorable  and  flat- 
tering decision  of  the  last  session,  relative 
to  the  repeal  of  the  test  and  corporation  acts, 
the  dissenters  had  made  the  most  strenuous 
and  unremitting  efforts  to  increase  their  par- 
liamentary friends.  They  had  held  provin- 
cial meetings  in  every  part  of  the  kingdon^i, 
and  in  their  public  resolutions,  not  only  gave 
the  most  unequivocal  proofs  of  their  joy  at 
the  late  events  in  France,  but,  in  contempla- 
tion of  the  approaching  general  election, 
recommended  a  preference  in  favor  of  such 
members  as  had  shown  themselves  friends 
and  advocates  of  equal  and  universal  liberty. 
In  tlie  stead  of  Beaufoy,  a  friend  and  partisan 
of  the  minister.  Fox  was  now  solicited  to 
move  the  repeal  of  the  acts  in  question,  to 
whicli  he  gave  a  ready  and  generous  assent 
On  the  other  hand,  the  clergy  of  the  church 
of  England  were  not  idle.  Jealous  of  every 
appearance  of  encroachment  on  their  ex- 
clusive privileges,  and  alarmed  at  the  pre- 
cipitate downfall  of  the   GtJlican  churcli. 


338 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


they  revived  with  incredible  success  the  ob- 
solete and  senseless  clamor,  that  the  church 
was  in  danger.  Counter-meetings  of  the 
friends  of  the  church  were  also  everywhere 
convened,  in  which  the  repeal  of  the  test 
was  deprecated  as  fatal  to  its  security  and 
existence.  Such  were  the  steps  taken  by  the 
adverse  parties,  to  impress  the  nation  at 
large  with  an  idea  of  the  magnitude  and 
importance  of  a  question,  which  they  had 
hitherto  regarded  with  cool  indifference. 

On  the  second  of  March,  Fox  brought  for- 
ward his  motion  of  repeal,  which  he  sup- 
ported with  a  wonderful  display  of  ability. 

Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  opposed  the  former 
applications  with  temper  and  moderation, 
now  indulged  some  expressions  of  asperity. 
"  Neither  the  merits  nor  demerits  of  indi- 
viduals ought,"  he  said,  "to  have  any  in- 
fluence in  the  discussion  of  the  present  ques- 
tion ;  yet  was  the  conduct  of  the  dissenters 
liable  to  just  reprehension,  who,  at  the  very 
moment  they  were  reprobating  the  test 
laws,  discovered  an  intention  of  forming  as- 
sociations through  the  country  for  the  pur- 
pose of  imposing  a  test  upon  the  members 
of  that  house,  and  judging  of  their  fitness 
to  discharge  their  parliamentary  duty  from 
their  votes  upon  this  single  occasion.  To 
toleration  the  dissenters  were  undoubtedly 
entitled.  They  had  a  right  to  enjoy  their 
liberty  and  their  property,  to  entertain  their 
own  speculative  opinions,  and  to  educate 
their  offspring  in  such  religious  sentiments 
as  themselves  approved.  But  the  mdispen- 
sable  necessity  of  a  permanent  church  estab- 
lishment for  the  good  of  the  state,  required 
that  toleration  should  not  be  extended  to 
equality ;  if  it  were,  there  would  be  an  end 
for  ever  to  the  wise  policy  of  prevention 
and  a  door  would  be  opened  to  the  absolute 
ruin  of  the  constitution."  Burke  seconded 
the  minister  in  a  speech  of  far  more  viru- 
lence, and  in  present  circumstances  there- 
fore of  far  more  efficacy.  He  astonished 
and  alarmed  the  house  with  reading  several 
passages  from  the  writings  of  dissenting  di- 
vines on  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishments, expressed  with  the  usual  acrimony 
and  violence  of  theological  polemics.  From 
these  testimonies  Burke  inferred  the  mvet- 
erate  enmity  of  the  dissenters  to  the  church, 
and  he  adjured  the  house  to  suffer  the 
fatal  incidents  which  had  taken  place  in 
France,  and  the  sudden  ruin  of  the  Gallican 
church,  to  awaken  their  zeal  for  the  preser- 
vation of  our  present  happy  and  excellent 
establishment."  On  the  division  the  num- 
bers were,  ayes  one  hundred  and  five,  noes 
two  hundred  and  ninety-ibur:  so  that  the 
majority  against  the  repeal  had  increased 
since  the  last  session  from  twenty  to  one 
}]undred  and  eighty-nine  voicetf. 


MOTION  BY  MR.  FLOOD  FOR  PARLIA- 
MENTARY REFORM. 

Two  days  after  the  decision  of  the  house 
upon  this  business.  Flood,  so  long  celebrated 
as  a  patriot  and  orator  in  the  Irish  house  of 
commons,  and  who  had  sat  some  years  al- 
most undistinguished  in  the  British  senate, 
moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  upon  the 
subject  of  a  more  equal  representation  of 
the  people  in  parliament.  Mr.  Flood's  propo- 
sition was,  that  one  hundred  members  should 
be  added  to  the  present  house  of  commons, 
in  a  proportional  ratio  to  the  population  of 
each  county,  by  the  election  of  the  resident 
householders  only.  This  was  a  simple  and 
eligible  plan  of  reform,  and  it  was  supported 
by  the  mover  in  a  very  able  and  eloquent 
speech.  He  observed,  "  that  he  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  state  a  bold  truth,  which,  but  from  a 
confidence  in  the  virtue  of  tlie  house,"  as  he 
said,  "he  should  not  have  dared  to  have 
uttered — that  they  were  not  the  adequate 
representatives  of  the  people.  That  they 
were  the  legal  representatives  he  freely  ad- 
mitted ;  nay,  he  would  go  farther,  and  say, 
that  they  were  a  highly  useful  and  honora- 
ble council :  a  council  which,  in  any  other 
government  of  Europe,  would  be  a  great 
acquisition.  But,  to  the  honor  of  our  coun- 
try be  it  spoken,  the  British  constitution  en- 
titled us  to  somethiag  better.  Representa- 
tion," Flood  said,  "  was  the  great  arcanum 
and  wise  mystery  of  our  government,  by 
which  it  excelled  all  the  states  of  antiquity. 
Now,  in  what  did  representation  consist? 
In  this,  that  as  by  the  general  law  of  politi- 
cal society  the  majority  was  to  decide  for 
the  whole,  the  representative  must  be  chosen 
by  a  body  of  constituents  who  were  them- 
selves a  clear  majority  of  the  people.  He 
admitted,  that  property  to  a  certain  degree 
was  a  necessary  requisite  to  the  elective 
power :  that  is  to  say,  that  franchise  ought 
not  to  go  beyond  property,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  ought  to  be  extended  farther  than  at 
present.  By  the  existing  system  these  prin- 
ciples were  grossly  violated.  Th6  free- 
holders, who  originally  included  the  whole 
property  of  the  kingdom,  now  constituted 
only  a  small  part  of  it.  What  was  worse, 
the  majority  of  the  representatives,  who  de- 
cided for  the  whole,  and  acted  for  eight 
millions  of  people,  were  chosen  by  a  num--^ 
her  of  electors  not  exceeding  six  or  eight 
thousand.  A  new  body  of  constituents  was 
therefore  wanting,  and  in  their  appointment 
two  things  were  to  be  considered ;  one,  that 
they  should  be  numerous  enough,  because 
numbers  were  necessary  to  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty: the  other,  that  they  should  liave  a 
competent  share  of  property,  because  prop- 
erty was  conducive  to  the  spirit  of  order. 
But  be  was  told  this  was  not  the  tinie  for  a 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


339 


reform.  And  why  1  because  there  were  dis- 
turbances in  France.  It  was  for  want  of  a 
timely  and  temperate  reform  that  these  evils 
had  fallen  on  France.  Mr.  Flood  was  no 
friend  to  revolutions,  because  they  were  an 
evil ;  he  was  a  friend  to  timely  reform,  which 
rendered  revolutions  unnecessary.  Those 
who  opposed  such  a  reform,  might  be  ene- 
mies to  revolution  in  their  hearts,  but  were 
friends  to  it  by  their  folly.  Let  the  repre- 
sentative be  chosen  as  he  ought  to  be  by  the 
people,  and  continue  to  walk  worthy  of  that 
choice,  and  Britain  would  have  nothing  to 
dread  from  the  example  of  France." 

This  motion  was  vehemently  opposed  by 
Windham,  the  disciple  of  Burke.  "  At  the 
close  of  the  American  war,"  Windham  said 
"  a  deluge  of  opinions  had  been  let  loose,  a 
clamor  had  been  raised,  and  a  parliamentary 
reform  demanded,  as  a  remedy  for  the  evils 
we  felt  from  it.  Happily  those  wild  notions 
had  long  since  subsided ;  the  danger,  how- 
ever, was  now  breaking  out  afresh ;  and 
were  he  otherwise  a  friend  to  the  proposi- 
tion, he  should  have  objected  to  it  on  ac- 
count of  the  time  at  which  it  was  intro- 
duced. Where  was  the  man  who  would  be 
mad  enough  to  advise  them  to  repair  their 
house  in  the  hurricane  season."  Pitt  en 
tirely  coincided  in  these  reasonings  of  Wind 
ham,  and  declared,  "  that  were  the  motion 
before  them  the  precise  proposition  he  him- 
self had  formerly  offered,  he  should  now 
vote  against  it  from  a  complete  conviction 
of  its  actual  impropriety.  But  at  a  more 
seasonable  opportunity  he  would  most  cer- 
tainly again  submit  his  ideas  upon  the  sub- 
ject to  the  consideration  of  the  house."  Fox 
declared  he  saw  no  reason  why  we  should 
be  struck  with  a  panic  on  account  of  the 
situation  of  affairs  in  France  ;  and,  in  allu- 
sion, to  Windham's  metaphorical  argument, 
he  affirmed,  that  no  season  could  be  more 
proper  to  begin  a  repair  than  when  a  hurri- 
cane was  near,  and  ready  to  burst  forth. 
Flood,  perceiving  the  general  sense  of  the 
house,  even  of  those  members  who  had  for- 
merly favored  the  idea  of  a  parliamentary 
reform,  to  be  adverse  to  his  motion,  at  length 
assented  to  withdraw  it. 

STATE  OF  INDIA. 

DuNDAS,  on  the  thirty-first  of  March  1790, 
brought  forward  his  annual  statement  of  the 
debts  and  revenues  of  the  East  India  com- 
pany. He  described,  as  usual,  their  situa- 
tion to  be  in  the  highest  degree  prosperous 
and  flourishing,  and  offered  to  the  house  a 
new  proof  of  the  truth  of  his  assertions,  by 
concluding  his  eulogium,  without  asking  a 
loan  to  enable  them  to  avoid  the  horrors  of 
insolvency.  Through  the  wise  and  equita- 
ble administration  of  lord  Cornwallis,  the 
revenues  of  Bengal  had  been  advanced  du- 
ring the  last  year,  without  the  aid  of  any 


new  imposition,  from  one  million  ei^ht  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds,  to  two  millions  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds.  One  of 
the  first  and  most  important  measures  of  the 
new  governor-general,  was  to  lease  the  lands 
in  perpetuity,  at  an  equal  valuation,  to  the 
actual  occupants;  and,  in  alluding  to  this 
part  of  his  conduct,  his  lordship  thus  forci- 
bly expresses  himself  to  the  directors.  "  The 
security  of  property,  and  the  certainty  which 
each  individual  will  now  feel,  of  being  al- 
lowed to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labors,  must 
operate  uniformly  as  incitements  to  labor 
and  industry." 

RUPTURE  WITH  SPAIN. 
On  the  nineteenth  of  April,  Pitt  present- 
ed to  the  house  his  annual  statement  of  the 
national  revenue  and  expenditure.  He  ex- 
pressed a  peculiar  degree  of  pleasure  in  be- 
ing able  to  announce,  that  the  receipt  of  ttie 
exchequer  had  surpassed  that  of  the  year 
preceding,  in  the  sum  of  half  a  million;  and 
he  rejoiced,  that,  from  the  prospect  of  an 
uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of 
peace,  still  greater  accessions  might  reason- 
ably be  hoped.  Before,  however,  the  public 
had  time  to  partake  of  the  minister's  joy, 
from  the  consolatory  intimations  of  national 
peace  and  prosperity,  he  was  commissioned 
to  deliver  to  the  house.  May  the  fiflh,  a  royal 
message  of  a  very  different  import,  and 
which  excited  inexpressible  astonishment, 
by  announcing  a  state  of  things  which  bore 
the  aspect  of  war.  To  elucidate  this  mat- 
ter, it  is  necessary  to  mention,  that  the  cele- 
brated circumnavigator  Cook,  in  his  last 
voyage  of  discovery,  touching  at  different 
ports  on  the  western  coast  of  North  America, 
purchased  from  the  natives  a  number  of  val- 
uable furs,  bearing  a  high  price  in  the  Chi- 
nese market.  In  consequence  of  its  being 
likely  to  prove  a  lucrative  branch  of  com- 
merce, a  small  association  of  British  mer- 
chants, resident  in  the  East  Indies,  formed 
the  project  of  opening  a  trade  to  this  part 
of  the  world,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
the  Chinese  with  furs.  Accordingly,  in  the 
year  1788,  a  spot  of  ground  was  procured 
from  the  Indians,  and  a  regular  settlement, 
defended  by  a  slight  fortification,  established 
at  Nootka  Sound,  situated  about  the  fiftieth 
degree  of  latitude.  This  being  regarded  by 
the  Spaniards  as  a  flagrant  encroachment  on 
their  exclusive  rights  of  sovereignty,  the 
Princessa,  a  Spanish  frigate  of  twenty-six 
guns,  was  dispatched  by  the  viceroy  of 
Mexico,  and  in  May  1789  seized  upon  the 
fort,  and  captured  the  Iphigenia,  and  Argo- 
naut, two  English  vessels  then  trading  on 
the  coast.  At  tlie  same  time,  tlie  Spanish 
commandant,  hoisting  the  national  standard, 
declared  that  the  whole  line  of  coast,  from 
Cape  Horn  to  the  sixtieth  degree  of  latitude, 
belonged  to  the  king  of  Spain.    Afler  some 


340 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


delay,  and  considerable  loss  to  the  proprie- 
tors, the  captured  vessels  were  restored  by 
order  of  the  viceroy,  on  the  supposition,  as 
he  stated,  "  that  nothing  but  ignorance  of 
the  rights  of  Spain  could  have  induced  the 
merchants  in  question  to  attempt  an  estab- 
lishment on  that  coast."  This  transaction 
was  notified  to  the  court  of  London  so  long 
since  as  the  tenth  of  February,  by  the  Span- 
ish ambassador;  and  his  excellency  at  the 
same  time  requested,  "  that  measures  might 
be  taken  for  preventing  his  Britannic  majes- 
ty's subjects  from  frequenting  those  coasts, 
and  from  carrying  on  their  fisheries  in  the 
seas  contiguous  to  the  Spanish  continent,  as 
derogatory  to  the  mcontestable  rights  of  the 
crown  of  Spain." 

The  English  minister  did  not  receive  this 
communication  in  a  manner  that  indicated 
any  disposition  to  comply  with  the  terms  it 
contained.  On  the  contrary,  a  demand  was 
immediately  advanced  on  their  part,  that  the 
vessels  seized  should  be  restored,  and  ade- 
quate satisfaction  granted,  previous  to  any 
other  discussion.  The  claims  of  Spain,  in 
relation  to  her  rights  of  dominion  and  sove- 
reignty in  America,  vv^ere  doubtless  in  the 
highest  degree  chimerical;  and  could  per- 
haps only  be  equalled  in  extravagance  by 
the  claims  of  Great  Britain.  By  the  treaty 
of  1763,  the  'river  Mississippi,  flowing  in  a 
direct  course  of  fifteen  hundred  miles,  was 
made  the  perpetual  boundary  of  the  two 
empires,  and  the  whole  country  to  the  west 
of  that  vast  river  belono-ing  to  his  Catholic 
majesty,  by  just  as  valid  a  tenure  a?  the 
country  eastward  of  the  river  to  the  king 
of  England.  Exclusive  of  this  recent  and 
decisive  line  of  demarkation,  by  which  the 
relative  and  political  rights  of  both  nations 
were  clearly  ascertained,  the  Spanish  court 
referred  to  ancient  treaties,  by  which  the 
rights  of  the  crown  of  Spain  were  acknow- 
ledged in  their  full  extent  by  Great  Britain. 
Charles  the  third,  king  of  Spain,  died  De- 
cember 1788,  and  his  son,  Charles  the  fourth, 
confiding  in  the  justice  of  his  claims,  offered, 
with  dignified  candor,  to  submit  the  decision 
of  this  question  to  any  of  the  kings  of  Eu- 
rope, leaving  the  choice  wholly  to  his  Britan- 
nic majesty. 

The  royal  message  presented  a  statement 
of  the  facts  relative  to  this  business,  and  the 
house  unanimously  joined  in  an  address  to 
the  king,  assuring  his  majesty  of  "  the  de- 
termination of  his  faithful  commons  to  afford 
his  majesty  the  most  zealous  and  affectionate 
support,  in  such  measures  as  may  become 
requisite  for  mamtaining  the  dignity  of  his 
majesty's  crown,  and  the  essential  interests 
of  his  dominions."  A  vote  of  credit  passed 
the  house  for  the  sum  of  one  million,  and 
vigorous  military  and  naval  preparations 
were  made  in  both  kingdoms,  in  the  con- 


templation of  an  immediate  declaration  of 
war. — It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the 
hostile  procedure  of  Spain  had  reduced  'the 
English  ministry  to  a  difficult  dilemma.  But 
in  consequence  of  the  rash  step  taken  by 
Spain,  the  national  honor  was  now  at  stake. 
Grey,  in  moving  for  papers  relative  to  this 
transaction,  justly  observed,  "  that  national 
honor  was  not,  as  some  represented  it,  a 
visionary  thing ;  a  nation  without  honor,  was 
a  nation  without  power.  In  losing  this  in- 
estimable attribute,  it  inevitably  lost  tJie 
genuine  spring  of  its  spirit,  energy,  and  ac- 
tion." Burke,  however,  whose  antipathies 
extended  not  to  Spain,  was  on  this  occasion 
particularly  anxious  for  the  preservation  of 
peace.  "  He  hoped,"  he  said,  "  that  the  na- 
tional honor  would  not  be  found  incompati- 
ble with  the  means  of  amicable  accommoda- 
tion. As  we  never  ought  to  go  to  war  for 
a  profitable  wrong,  so  we  ought  never  to  go 
to  war  for  an  unprofitable  right.  He  there- 
fore trusted  that  the  intended  armament 
would  be  considered,  not  as  a  measure  cal- 
culated to  terminate  the  war  happily,  but 
carry  on  the  negotiation  vigorousl3^  Ho 
wished  the  war  might  be  avoided.  He  had 
seen  three  wars,  and  we  were  gainers  by 
none  of  them.  Our  abilities  and  resources 
were  doubtless  great ;  but  then  did  a  coun- 
try prove  its  magnanimity  most  clearly, 
when  she  manifested  her  moderation  to  be 
proportionate  to  her  power." 

On  the  tenth  of  June  1790,  the  king  ter- 
minated the  so-P'i,i!,  and  in  his  speech  signi- 
fied the  prol  ib'Iih/  of  a  speedy  disEolution 
of  the  present  parhaKient,  assuring  them  in 
the  warmest  terms  of  "  the  deep  and  grate- 
fill  sense  which  he  entertained  of  that  afi'ec- 
tionate  and  unshaken  loyalty,  that  uniform 
and  zealous  regard  for  the  true  principles  of 
the  constitution,  that  unremitted  attention 
to  the  public  happiness  and  prosperity,  which 
had  invariably  directed  all  their  proceed- 
ings:" and  on  the  day  following  the  parlia- 
ment was  dissolved  by  proclamation. 

Spain,  sensible  of  her  inability  to  contend 
alone  with  England,  had,  in  an  early  stage 
of  the  negotiation,  applied  to  the  court  of 
France,  to  know  how  far  she  could  depend 
upon  the  fulfilment  of  the  conditions  of  the 
family  compact,  in  case  of  a  rupture  with 
Great  Britain.  The  Spanish  memorial  upon 
this  subject  was,  by  order  of  the  king,  laid 
before  the  national  assembly,  and  gave  rise 
to  a  very  interesting  report  from  the  diplo- 
matic committee,  presented  by  the  count  de 
Mirabeau.  After  paying  high  compliments 
to  the  English  nation,  the  report  comes  to 
the  conclusion,  "  that  it  would  not  be  just  or 
honorable  to  annul  the  solemn  engagements 
subsisting  between  France  and  Spain,  at  an 
instant  when  Spain  is  threatened  with  the 
same   dangers  which  she  had  repeatedly 


GEORGE  III.   1700—1820. 


341 


warded  off  from  them."  An  ardent  wish 
for  the  establishment  of  permanent  peace 
and  cordial  amity  with  England  is  notwith- 
standing the  predominant  sentiment  in  this 
celebrated  report.  "  Perhaps,"  say  they, 
"  the  moment  is  fast  approachino-,  when 
Liberty,  triumphant  m  both  hemispheres, 
shall  accomplish  the  wish  of  philosophy,  by 
delivering  the  human  species  from  the  ne- 
cessity of  war." 

THE  DISPUTE  SETTLED. 

Although  the  national  assembly  voted  an 
immediate  augmentation  of  the  naval  force, 
the  court  of  Madrid  plainly  perceived  the 
reluctance  of  the  French  nation  to  engage 
in  a  war  with  England,  and  yielding  there- 
fore to  necessity,  complied  first  with  the 
harsh  demand  of  previous  restitution  and 
indemnification,  and  at  length,  on  the  second 
of  October  1790,  a  convention  was  signed 
at  the  Escurial,  by  which  every  point  in  dis- 
pute was  conceded  by  Spain.  By  this  con- 
vention the  restoration  of  the  buildings  and 
vessels,  and  the  reparation  of  the  losses  sus- 
tained by  British  subjects,  were  secured; 
the  right  of  navigation  and  fishery  was 
equally  conceded  to  both  nations;  illicit 
commerce  with  the  Spanish  settlements  pro- 
hibited ;  and  the  British  fishing  vessels  and 
others  were  restricted  to  ten  leagues'  dis- 
tance from  the  Spanish  coast,  unaccompanied 
however  by  any  formal  renunciation  of 
sovereignty  on  the  part  of  Spain.  And  the 
two  powers  were,  on  the  other  hand,  equally 
restrained  from  attempting  any  settlement 
nearer  to  Cape  Horn  than  the  most  south- 
erly of  the  settlements  actually  formed  by 
Spain.  Thus  ended  a  dispute,  frivolous  in- 
deed in  its  origin,  but  which  seemed  in  its 
progress  to  threaten  very  serious  consequen- 
ces, and  which  cost  Great  Britain  the  sum 
of  three  millions  in  warlike  preparations ; 
though  this  expense  might  have  been,  with 
great  advantage  to  the  interests  of  England, 
avoided,  by  submitting  the  whole  of  the  dis- 
pute, in  the  mode  proposed  by  Spain,  to  ami- 
cable arbitration. 

WAR  IN  INDIA. 

But  though  Great  Britain  was  thus  hap- 
pily rescued  from  the  horrors  of  war  in  this 
quarter  of  the  globe,  accident  or  ambition 
had  at  the  same  time  involved  our  Indian 
possessions  in  a  state  of  hostility  and  blood. 
— The  usurpation,  by  Hyder  Ally,  of  the 
sovereignty  of  Mysore,  and  the  military 
prowess  of  his  son  and  successor  Tippoo 
Sultan,  are  facts  already  too  fully  stated  to 
require  any  repetition.  Of  all  the  native 
princes  of  India,  Tippoo  was  the  most  for- 
midable to  the  British  government,  and  the 
most  active  to  disturb  its  authority,  and 
counteract  its  interest.  The  peace  of  Man- 
galore  in  1784  had,  it  was  supposed,  secured 
his  fidelity  by  very  feeble  ties;  and  the 
29* 


splendid  embassy  which  soon  after  that  event 
he  dispatched  to  France,  aflTorded  just  reason 
to  suspect  that  some  plan  was  concerted  be- 
tween the  old  French  government  and  the 
tyrant  of  Mysore,  for  the  annoyance  of  the 
British  settlements  in  India :  but  this  plan 
was  happily  defeated  by  the  same  cause 
which  prevented  a  war  with  Spain — the 
French  revolution.  The  increasing  power 
of  Tippoo  was  not  less  formidable  to  the 
Dutch  than  to  the  English  ;  and  the  vicinity 
of  Cochin,  their  most  flourishing  settlement 
on  the  continent  of  India,  to  the  territories 
of  that  restless  despot,  filled  them  with  alarm- 
ing apprehensions  for  its  safety.  But  the 
Dutch,  fully  sensible  of  the  perilous  situa- 
tion of  Cochin,  had  got  possession  of  two 
other  forts,  situated  between  that  place  and 
Mysore,  to  protect  their  favorite  settlement. 
The  forts  of  Cranganore  and  Acottah  were 
however  still  objects  of  Tippoo's  ambition  ; 
and  notwithstanding  his  father  had  ceded 
the  former  by  "agreement  to  the  Dutcli,  he 
marched  a  formidable  force,  in  June  1789, 
towards  Cranganore,  with  an  avowed  design 
of  dispossessing  the  Dutch,  and  asserting  a 
claim  of  right  founded  on  the  transactions 
just  related.  Unable  to  retain  the  forts,  and 
apprehensive  for  the  fate  of  Cochin  itself, 
the  Dutch  readily  entered  into  a  negotiation 
with  the  rajah  of  Travancore  for  the  pur- 
chase of  them.  Tippoo,  on  being  informed 
of  this  circumstance,  offered  a  larger  sum 
than  the  rajah ;  but  as  the  latter  was  the 
ally  of  Great  Britain,  who  was  consequently 
bound  by  treaty  to  assist  him,  the  Dutch 
plainly  perceived,  that  by  placing  them  in 
his  hands,  they  erected  a  most  powerful  bar- 
rier against  the  encroachments  of  a  turbu- 
lent and  ambitious  neighbor.  The  impru- 
dence of  the  rajah  in  entering  upon  such  a 
purchase  while  the  title  was  disputed,  drew 
down  upon  him  the  heaviest  censures  from 
the  government  of  Madras ;  and  he  was  re- 
peatedly cautioned  by  Sir  Archibald  Camp- 
bell and  Mr.  Holland  his  successor,  not  to 
proceed  in  the  negotiation.  Such  however 
was  the  ardor  and  temerity  of  the  rajah  in 
making  this  acquisition,  that  he  not  only  con- 
cluded the  purchase  with  the  Dutch,  but 
even  treated  with  the  rajah  of  Cochin,  with- 
out the  privity  of  Tippoo,  to  whom  the  latter 
was  an  acknowledged  tributary.  The  bargain 
was  concluded  in  July  1789,  though  it  was 
not  till  the  fourth  of  August  that  the  rajah 
informed  the  Madras  government,  through 
their  resident  Mr.  Powney,  that  he  "  was  on 
the  point  of  making  the  purchase."  It  was 
not  to  be  expected  that  Tippoo  would  re- 
main an  idle  spectator  of  these  transactions. 
— He  insisted  on  the  claim  which  he  re- 
tained over  these  forts,  on  the  ground  of 
their  being  conquered  by  his  father,  and  in 
consequence  of  the  subsequent  compromise, 


342 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


he  asserted,  and  with  some  plausibility,  that 
in  virtue  of  the  feudal  lav/s,  no  transfer  of 
them  could  be  made  without  his  consent  as 
sovereign  of  Mysore ;  and  he  also  alleged, 
as  a  further  cause  of  complaint  against  the 
rajah,  that  he  had  given  protection  to  a  num- 
ber of  his  rebel  subjects.  Accordingly,  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  I3ecember,  Tippoomade 
a  direct  attack  upon  the  lines  of  Travancore ; 
but  receiving  a  remonstrance  from  the  Brit- 
ish government  of  Fort  St.  George,  he  de- 
sisted from  farther  hostilities,  and  even  apolo- 
gized for  his  recent  conduct,  by  affirming, 
"  that  the  attack  was  occasioned  by  the  ra- 
jah's people  having  first  fired  on  his  troops ; 
that  notwithstanding  this,  he  immediately 
ordered  his  troops  to  discontinue  the  attack, 
and  sent  back  the  people  whom  they  had 
captured."  From  the  twenty-ninth  of  De- 
cember to  the  first  of  March  1790,  Tippoo 
Sultan  remained  perfectly  quiet,  still  how- 
ever asserting  his  claims  to  the  feudal  sove- 
reignty of  the  forts,  but  at  the  same  time 
offering  to  submit  the  object  in  dispute  to  the 
decision  of  any  impartial  arbitration.  The 
rajah,  who  appears  all  along  confident  of  be- 
ing supported  by  the  British  arms,  ventured 
on  the  first  of  March  to  make  an  offensive 
attack  on  Tippoo's  lines.  For  this  extraor- 
dinary step,  the  rajah  alleged  in  excuse  the 
hostile  preparations  of  Tippoo  in  the  erec- 
tion of  batteries,  &c.  &c.  An  engagement 
took  place  ;  and  war  being  thus  commenced, 
the  British  government  conceived  them- 
selves bound  to  take  an  active  part  in  favor 
of  the  rajah  their  all  v.  Though  the  justice 
of  the  war  may  be  tairly  questioned,  yet  as 
the  favorite  object  of  the  English  had  long 
been  the  humbling  of  Tippoo,  it  must  be 
confessed  there  was  at  least  much  policy  in 
selecting  the  present  period  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  such  a  purpose. — With  all  the 
other  native  powers  of  India  we  were  not 
only  at  peace,  but  treaties  of  alliance  ex- 
isted between  Great  Britain  and  the  two 
most  powerful  states  in  that  quarter,  the 
Nizam  and  the  Mahrattas,  both  of  whom  de- 
clared themselves  in  perfect  readiness  to  ex- 
ert their  utmost  force  to  crush  the  rising 
power  of  Mysore.  Unfortunately  for  Tip- 
poo, while  he  was  thus  exposed  to  the  ven- 
geance of  a  powerful  confederacy,  the  dis- 
tracted state  of  France  cut  off  all  hopes  of 
assistance  from  his  once  great  and  formida- 
ble ally.  Such  was  the  situation  of  affairs 
in  the  east,  previous  to  the  meeting  of  par- 
liament, which  appeared  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  induce  the  ministry  of  Great 
Britain  to  involve  the  nation  in  the  expenses 
and  calamities  of  war. 

The  new  parliament  assembled  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  November  1790.  In  the 
speech  from  the  throne  his  majesty  signified 
"hia  satisfaction  tliat  the  differences  with 


Spain  were  brought  to  an  amicable  termi- 
nation." He  observed,  "that  since  the  la>rt 
session  of  parliament  a  foundation  had  been 
laid  for  a  pacification  between  Austria  and 
the  Porte— that  a  separate  peace  had  actu- 
ally taken  place  between  Russia  and  Swe- 
den ;  but  that  the  war  between  Russia  and 
the  Porte  still  continued.  The  principles 
on  which  I  have  hitherto  acted,"  said  his 
majesty,  "  will  make  me  always  desirous  of 
employing  the  weight  and  influence  of  this 
country  in  contributing  to  the  restoration  of 
general  tranquillity.  He  observed  with  con- 
cern the  war  m  India,  occasioned,"  he  said, 
"  by  an  uprovoked  attack  on  an  ally  of  the 
British  nation  ;  but  which,  from  the  state  of 
our  forces  in  India,  and  the  confidence  which 
the  native  powers  had  in  the  British  name, 
there  was  a  favorable  prospect  of  bringing 
to  a  speedy  and  successful  conclusion." 

On  the  third  of  December  the  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  presented  to  the  house,  a 
copy  of  the  convention  with  Spain,  the 
terms  of  which  were  ratified  by  both  houses, 
but  not  unanimously :  for  the  documents  re- 
lative to  the  negotiation  being  partially  with- 
held, Grey  moved  for  the  production  of  such 
papers  as  contained  the  requisitions  made 
by  ministers  to  the  court  of  Spain  ;  declar- 
ing, "that  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  de- 
cide upon  the  policy  of  the  late  measures 
without  sufficient  documents,  as  the  house 
could  not  at  present  determine,  whether  we 
might  not  have  gained  all  the  boasted  ad- 
vantages of  the  convention  at  a  much  less 
expense  than  had  been  incurred ;  or,  whe- 
ther the  late  disputes  were  owing  to  the  rest- 
less ambition  and  unjust  claims  of  Spain,  or 
to  the  rashness,  presumption,  and  ignorance 
of  his  majesty's  ministers."  Fox  affirmed, 
"that  by  this  convention  our  rights  were 
greatly  curtailed."  Thus  it  was  evident  that 
the  treaty  was  a  treaty  of  concessions  in- 
stead of  acquisitions ;  and  we  had  given  up 
what  was  of  infinite  value  to  Spain,  and  re- 
tained what  could  never  be  of  much  to  our- 
selves. 

In  the  house  of  lords,  the  convention  was 
reprobated  by  the  marquis  of  Lansdowne, 
in  a  speech  replete  with  diplomatic  informa- 
tion. His  lordship  took  an  extensive  review 
of  the  politics  of  Europe  from  the  peace  of 
1782.  He  said,  "  the  basis  of  our  politics  at 
that  period  was  a  permanent  pacific  system 
for  Europe.  This  principle  we  had  pursued 
with  respect  to  France,  in  extinguishing  all 
false  ideas  of  rivalship,  in  leaving  nothing 
undefined,  nothing  to  commissaries,  nothing 
to  foreign  interference.  With  respect  to 
Spain,  the  view  was  to  give  the  most  of 
what  was  conceded  to  the  weakest  power ; 
and  this  was  done  with  the  more  propriety, 
as  American  possessions  were  no  longer  the 
same  object  with  England  as  formerly.    As 


GEORGE- III.  1760-1620. 


843 


to  Holland,  the  design  was  to  stipulate  in  fa- 
vor of  the  general  freedom  and  extension  of 
trade,  and  lo  counteract  the  spirit  of  com- 
mercial monopoly  which  had  long  distin- 
guished that  power.  In  pursuance  of  this 
system  of  politics,  the  commercial  treaty 
with  France  had  been  concluded,  as  well  as 
the  convention  with  Spain  respecting  the 
Spanish  American  main  in  1786.  At  this 
period  the  king  of  Prussia  died,  and  then 
commenced  an  entire  new  system  of  Eng- 
lish politics.  We  had  neither  secured  France 
nor  Spain,  nor  any  other  power.  By  the 
convention,  the  fishery  was  defined  to  our 
disadvantage,  bemg  limited  to  ten  leagiies 
from  the  shore.  As  to  the  right  of  tradmg, 
that  was  asserted  even  in  the  time  of  Eliza- 
beth, by  the  treaty  of  1670,  and  afterwards 
acknowledged  in  1749.  But  this  proceeding 
at  Nootka  endangered  the  whole  advantages 
of  our  commercial  treaty  with  Spam.  We 
were  doing  the  work  of  other  nations,  and 
North  America  in  particular.  He  should 
vote,"  liis  lordship  said,  "for  the  previous 
question :  first,  to  show  the  Spaniards  the 
true  temper  of  the  nation,  that  we  were  not 
restless  or  insolent,  as  our  enemies  repre- 
sent us :  secondly,  to  preserve  our  reputa- 
tion in  Europe  :  and  thirdly,  to  deter  future 
ministers  from  a  similar  proceeding." 

PROPOSAL  TO  SEIZE  UNCLAIMED  DIVI- 
DENDS, TO  DEFRAY  THE  COST  OF  THE 
SPANISH  ARMAMENT. 

Whatever  truth  there  may  be  in  the  ob- 
servation of  the  marquis  of  Lansdowne,  re- 
lative to  other  nations  enjoying  the  exclu- 
sive benefits  of  the  late  armament,  it  is  most 
certain  that  England  was  called  upon  to  de- 
fray its  expense,  amounting  to  three  mil- 
lions. That  expense  Pitt  proposed  to  meet 
by  temporary  taxes,  with  the  assistance  of 
five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  which  he  had 
it  in  contemplation  to  take  from  the  un- 
claimed dividends  lying  in  the  bank  of  Eng- 
land, the  amount  of  which  he  estimated  at 
six  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds.  This 
latter  proposition  excited  a  just  alarm  in  all 
the  great  chartered  companies,  and  in  the 
commercial  and  mercantile  world  in  gene- 
ral. It  was  urged,  "  that  agreeably  to  the 
terms  of  the  original  contract  between  the 
government  and  the  public  creditors,  the  di- 
rectors of  the  bank  are  constituted  trustees 
for  the  public.  When  the  money  is  once 
paid  into  the  bank,  it  ceases  to  be  public 
money,  and  is  instantly  converted  into  pri- 
vate property,  which  must  tliere  remain  a 
sacred  deposit  till  it  is  claimed  by  the  pri- 
vate individuals  to  whom  it  appertains.  Un- 
der the  term  unclaimed  dividends,  is  indeed 
veiled  a  gross  fallacy.  Exclusive  of  the 
dividends  of  the  last  three  years,  which  are 
not  properly  unclaimed  but  merely  unre- 
ceived     dividends,    the    balance    amounts 


scarcely  to  a  fifth  part  of  the  sum  which 
the  minister  proposes  to  seize."  This  wa.9 
a  bold  and  daring  attempt  of  the  minister, 
but  he  soon  found  that  it  was  one  of  those 
measures  to  which  the  usual  complaisance 
of  the  house  would  not  be  extended,  and 
therefore  he  consented,  by  way  of  compro- 
mise, to  accept  of  a  loan  of  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds  from  the  bank,  without  in- 
terest, so  long  as  a  floating  balance  to  that 
amount  should  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
cashier. 

WHETHER  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  PAR- 
LIAMENT AFFECTS  IMPEACHMENTS. 
A  SUBJECT  of  considerable  importance 
came  next  under  the  cognizance  of  parlia- 
ment. The  question  in  debate  was,  in  sub- 
stance, whether  a  prosecution  by  impeach- 
ment of  the  commons,  does,  or  does  not, 
abate  by  the  dissolution  of  parliament  ? 
Burke  introduced  the  discussion  on  the  sev- 
enteenth of  December,  by  moving,  "  that  the 
house  do  resolve  itself  into  a  committee,  to 
take  into  consideration  the  state  of  the  im- 
peachment of- Warren  Hastmgs,  Esq."  This, 
after  some  opposition,  being  carried,  he 
made  a  second  motion,  "  that  an  impeach- 
ment by  this  house  in  the  name  of  the  com- 
mons of  Great  Britain,  against  Warren 
Hastings,  Esq.  for  high  crimes  and  misde- 
meanors, is  still  pending."  The  negative  of 
this  proposition  was  supported  by  the  entire 
corps  of  lawyers  in  the  house  almost  with- 
out an  exception.  Upon  this  great  question, 
in  the  decision  of  which  the  honor,  the  dig- 
nity, and  the  authority  of  the  house  were  so 
deeply  involved,  the  speaker  with  peculiar 
propriety  rose  and  delivered  his  opinion. 
"  If,"  said  he,  "  the  maxim  laid  down  by  the 
lawyers  were  admitted  to  be  just,  the  conse- 
quence was  obvious.  The  impeachment  of 
a  profligate  or  corrupt  minister  might,  by 
the  insidious  intervention  of  the  preroga- 
tive, at  any  time  be  rendered  nugatory  and 
abortive.  In  the  view  of  the  constitution, 
and  even  by  the  forms  of  parliament,  the 
impeachment  is  preferred  not  by  the  house 
of  commons  merely,  but  by  all  the  commons 
of  England;  and  the. house  can  be  consid- 
ered, m  relation  to  the  prosecution,  as  no 
more  than  the  agents  and  attorneys  of  the 
people  at  large.  A  second  house  of  con)- 
mons  therefore,  though  certamly  possessing 
a  discretionary  power  of  dropping  the  pros- 
ecution, if  upon  due  consideration  they  are 
of  opinion  it  does  not  rest  upon  a  just  foun- 
dation, are  as  certainly  at  full  liberty  to  pro- 
ceed in  it,  if  in  their  judgment  conducive  to 
the  safety  or  interests  of  the  state.  In  an 
impeachment  of  the  nature  of  the  present, 
it  would  scarcely  be  imagined  that  twenty^ 
two  complex  articles  could  by  any  mode  of 
investigation  be  decided  upon  in  a  single 
seasion.   If  then,  agreeably  to  the  genius  of 


344 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  ancient  constitution,  parliaments  them- 
selves were  to  be  made  annual,  the  labor 
would  be  truly  Sysiphean,  as  such  a  trial 
never  could  arrive  at  a  legal  termination. 
Such  were  the  plain  dictates  of  common 
sense ;  but  in  resorting  to  rules  of  law,  and 
precedents  of  parliament,  doubts  and  difficul- 
ties presented  themselves."  Upon  a  general 
review  of  facts  and  precedents,  the  speaker 
gave  it  as  his  deliberate  and  decided  judg- 
ment, that  the  impeachment  was  still  legally 
pending.  In  this  opinion  Pitt,  Fox,  and  the 
most  eminent  parliamentary  authorities  on 
both  sides,  concurred ;  and  the  motion  was 
put  and  carried  without  a  division. 

1791. — This  great  question,  which  involv- 
ed the  most  important  right  of  the  commons, 
being  thus  disposed  of  by  the  house,  Burke 
on  the  fourteenth  of  February  brought  for- 
ward a  motion  for  the  purpose  of  shorten- 
ing the  trial  of  Mr.  Hastings.  "  He  ac- 
knowledged," he  said,  "  that  a  trial  of  three 
years  was  a  hardship  upon  an  individual,  but 
it  was  upon  an  individual  largely  salaried  to 
bear  the  responsibility  annexed  to  a  high 
situation.  Even  this  hardship  might  be  salu- 
tary, as  it  might  teach  persons  in  office  not 
only  to  shun  guilt,  but  suspicion.  In  the 
fixed  and  unalterable  course  of  human  af- 
fairs, it  has  pleased  God  to  decree  that  injus- 
tice should  be  rapid,  and  justice  slow :  yet 
he  was  determined  to  the  utmost  of  his  pow- 
er to  remove  every  just  cause  of  complaint 
in  the  future  prosecution  of  the  impeach- 
ment." He  therefore  moved,  "that  the 
managers  be  instructed  to  proceed  to  no 
other  parts  of  the  impeachment,  excepting 
such  as  relate  to  contracts,  pensions,  and  al- 
lowances ;"  which  was  carried  with  trivial 
opposition. 

The  resolution  of  the  commons  of  the 
twenty-third  of  December,  which  decided 
that  an  impeachment  did  not  abate  by  a  dis- 
solution of  parliament,  was  strongly  con- 
tested in  the  house  of  lords.  On  a  message 
from  the  commons,  that  they  were  ready  to 
proceed  in  their  evidence,  their  lordships 
appointed  a  committee  to  search  into  prece- 
dents, which  occasioned  a  suspension  of  the 
business  till  nearly  the  conclusion  of  the 
session.  At  length  the  report  being  made, 
lord  Porchester  moved.  May  the  sixteenth, 
"that  their  lordships  now  proceed  in  the 
trial."  On  the  division  the  motion  of  lord 
Porchester  was  carried  by  a  great  and  deci- 
sive majority.  Thus  was  this  interesting 
question  finally  settled  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  public;  and  their  lordships  acquainted 
the  house  of  commons  by  message,  that  they 
were  now  ready  to  proceed  in  the  trial.  But 
very  little  progress  was  made  in  it  during 
the  short  remamder  of  the  session. 

BILL  IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  CATHOLICS. 

The  boundaries   of  religious    toleration 


were  this  year  extended.  It  is  a  truth  not 
very  flattering  to  national  liberality,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  boasted  radical  freedom 
of  our  constitution,  no  country  in  Europe  has 
been  more  jealous  of  their  church  establish- 
ment. Scarcely  have  the  Roman  Catholic 
states  themselves  loaded  with  a  more  oppres- 
sive weight  of  civil  penalties  those  who  dis- 
sented in  religious  opinion.  A  reform  in 
the  penal  statutes  was  at  this  time  peculiar- 
ly called  for,  since  in  the  year  1790  a  large 
body  of  Catholic  dissenters  had  formally 
protested  against  the  temporal  power  of  the 
pope,  against  his  assumed  authority  of  re- 
leasing men  from  their  civil  obligations,  or 
dispensing  with  the  sacredness  of  oaths.  I 
was  upon  this  principle  that  Mitford  moved 
on  the  twenty-first  of  February  for  a  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  house,  to  enable  him 
"  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  relieve,  upon  conditions 
and  under  restrictions,  persons  called  Pro- 
testant Catholic  dissenters,  from  certain 
penalties  to  which  Papists  are  by  law  sub- 
ject." When  the  bill  was  presented  Fox 
objected  to  it,  not  for  what  it  did,  but  for 
what  it  did  not  contain.  He  contended  for 
the  bill  being  made  general.  "Let  the 
statute-book,"  said  this  great  statesman,  "  be 
revised,  and  strike  out  all  those  laws  which 
attach  penalties  to  mere  opinions.  He  re- 
probated the  absurdity  and  iniquity  of  those 
statutes  which  condemn  every  man  who 
worships  God  in  his  own  way,  as  guilty  of 
treason  against  the  state."  This  liberal 
amendment  not  proving  satisfactory  to  the 
house,  the  bill  passed  in  its  original  shape, 

RIGHTS  OF  JURIES  IN  LIBEL  CASES. 

The  cause  of  liberty  was  less  successful 
in  another  instance.  The  rights  of  juries 
had  long  been  in  an  indefinite  and  indeter- 
minate state,  particularly  in  the  case  of  li- 
bels; and  disputes  disgraceful  in  themselves, 
and  injurious  to  the  administration  of  justice, 
had  frequently  arisen  between  the  court  and 
the  jury,  between  the  judges  and  the  coun- 
sel. Fox,  ever  active  in  the  defence  of 
popular  rights,  moved  for  a  bill  to  ascertain 
the  authority  of  juries  in  the  matter  of  libel. 
With  respect  to  the  pretended  distinction 
between  law  and  fact.  Fox  observed,  that 
when  a  man  was  accused  of  murder,  a  crime 
consisting  of  law  and  fact,  the  jury  every 
day  found  a  verdict  of  guilty  :  and  this  was 
also  the  case  in  felony  and  every  other  crimi- 
nal indictment.  Libels  were  the  only  ex- 
ception, the  single  anomaly.  He  contended, 
that  if  the  jury  had  no  jurisdiction  over  li- 
bels, the  counsel  who  addressed  them  on 
either  side,  as  to  the  criminality  of  the  pub- 
lication, were  guilty  of  a  gross  and  insolent 
sarcasm.  Fox  put  this  matter  in  a  strong 
point  of  view,  by  adverting  to  the  law  of 
treason.  It  was  admitted  on  all  hands,  that 
a  writing  might  be  an  overt  act  of  treason. 


GEORGE  IIL  1760—1820. 


345 


In  this  case,  if  the  court  of  king's-bench 
were  to  say  to  the  jury,  'consider  only 
whether  the  criminal  published  the  paper — 
do  not  consider  the  nature  of  it — do  not 
consider  whether  it  correspond  to  the  defi- 
nition of  treason  or  not' — would  Englishmen 
endure  that  death  should  be  inflicted  with- 
out a  jury  having  had  an  opportunity  of  de- 
livering their  sentiments  whether  the  indi- 
vidual was  or  was  not  guilty  of  the  crime 
with  which  he  was  charged?  Having 
shown  that  the  law  of  libels  was  contrary 
to  the  original  principles  of  law,  Fox  said, 
that  if  the  committee  were  clear  as  to  this 
point,  their  wisest  and  most  proper  measure 
would  be  to  enact  a  declaratory  law  respect- 
ing it :  but  if  they  were  of  opinion  that  high 
authorities  on  the  other  side  made  the  law 
doubtful,  they  might  settle  the  law  for  the 
future  without  any  reference  to  what  it  had 
been  in  times  past.  Pitt  agreed  with  the 
principles  stated  by  Fox,  but  instead  of  a 
committee  of  justice,  recommended  the 
bringing  in  a  bill  "  to  remove  all  doubts  re 
specting  the  rights  and  functions  of  juries 
in  criminal  cases,"  The  bill  was  accord 
ingly  introduced,  and  passed  the  commons, 
but  on  its  transmission  to  the  house  of  lords, 
it  was  opposed  on  the  second  reading  by  the 
lord  chancellor,  on  pretence  of  its  being  too 
late  in  the  session  to  discuss  a  measure  of 
such  importance.  The  principle  of  the  bill 
was  ably  defended  by  the  law  lords,  Camden 
and  Loughborough,  with  whom  lord  Gren- 
ville  concurred;  but  the  bill  was  finally 
postponed. 

THE  SLAVE  TRADE.— SETTLEMENT  AT 
SIERRA  LEONA. 

The  evidence  on  the  slave  trade  bemg  at 
length  closed,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  on  the  eigh 
teenth  of  April  1791,  brought  forward  his 
long  expected  motion  to  prevent  the  further 
importation  of  African  negroes  into  the 
British  colonies,  which  he  uitroduced  witli  a 
copious  and  convincmg  display  of  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  that  measure,  grounded 
upon  the  obvious  principles  of  justice,  hu- 
manity, and  Christianity.  But  his  motion 
was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  seventy-five 
voices ;  however,  the  advocates  for  amelio- 
rating the  condition  of  that  unhappy  race, 
completed  at  this  time  the  establishment  of 
the  Sierra  Leona  Company,  by  which  they 
proposed  to  introduce  free  labor  and  the 
Christian  religion  into  Afi-ica. 

GOVERNMENT  OF  CANADA. 

Upon  the  fourth  of  March,  Pitt  brought 
in  a  bill  for  regulating  the  government  of 
Canada,  by  which  that  territory  would  be 
divided  into  two  districts  or  provinces,  with 
a  separate  legislature  ;  to  consist  of  a  coun- 
cil and  house  of  assembly  for  each  province ; 
the  assembly  to  be  chosen  by  freeholders  and 
occupiers  of  houses  of  a  certain  value,  and 


the  conncil  to  hold  their  seats  for  life,  with 
a  power  in  the  crown  to  annex  to  certain 
honors  an  hereditary  right  of  sitting  in  the 
council ;  besides  other  salutary  provisions 
for  personal  liberty,  for  the  Protestant  clergy, 
for  the  administration  of  justice,  and  for 
limiting  taxation  to  those  duties  necessary 
for  regulating  trade  and  commerce. 

Fox  opposed  the  bill,  contending  that  the 
people  should  be  fully  and  fairly  represent- 
ed ;  but  that,  in  limiting  the  assembly  of 
one  province  to  sixteen,  and  the  other  to 
thirty  persons,  parliament  would  delude  the 
Canadians  by  a  mockery  of  representation. 
He  also  reprobated  the  election  of  the  repre- 
sentatives for  seven  years,  contending  that 
in  Canada  there  could  be  no  solid  objection 
to  annual,  or,  at  most,  triennial  elections. 
He  objected  that  the  councils  were  to  be 
unlimited  as  to  members,  by  any  restriction 
but  the  pleasure  of  the  king ;  and  as  to  he- 
reditary honors,  he  did  not  think  it  wise  to 
destroy  them  where  they  existed;  but  to 
create  them  where  they  did  not  exist,  he 
thought  very  unwise.  He  could  not  account 
for  it,  unless  it  was  intended  to  revive  in  the 
west  that  spirit  of  chivalry  which  had  fallen 
into  disgrace  in  a  neighboring  country. 

BURKE'S  SECOND  INVECTIVE  ON  THE 
FRENCH  REVOLUTION— BREACH  OF  HIS 
FRIENDSHIP  WITH  FOX. 

Burke  took  occasion,  on  the  recommit- 
ment of  the  bill,  to  consider  the  competency 
of  the  house  to  pass  it,  with  reference  to  the 
Rights  of  Man,  lately  imported  from  that 
neighboring  kingdom.  If  this  code  were 
admitted,  the  house  should  call  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Canada  together,  to  choose  a  consti- 
tution for  themselves.  The  practical  effects 
of  that  system  might  be  seen  in  St.  Domingo, 
where  hell  itself  seemed  to  yawn,  and  every 
demon  of  mischief  to  overspresid  the  coun- 
try. Fox  defended  his  former  opinions  upon 
the  French  revolution,  as  being  upon  the 
whole  one  of  the  most  glorious  events  in 
the  history  of  mankind.  He  spoke  of  the 
revolution,  not  of  the  constitution,  which 
still  remained  to  be  improved  by  experience. 
The  rights  of  man  were  the  basis  of  the 
British  constitution.  Our  statute-book  re- 
cognizes the  inherent  rights  of  the  people 
as  men.  These  had  once  been  the  princi- 
ples of  his  right  honorable  friend,  from  whom 
he  had  learned  them.  Having  been  taught 
by  him,  that  no  revolt  of  a  nation  was  caus- 
ed without  provocation,  he  rejoiced  at  the 
success  of  a  revolution  resting  on  the  same 
basis  with  our  own — the  rights  of  man. 
Burke  said,  "  that  he  had  differed  on  many 
occasions  from  Fox,  and  there  had  been  no 
loss  of  friendship  between  them.  But  there 
was  something  in  the  accursed  French  con- 
stitution that  envenomed  everything."  Fox, 
on  hearing  this,  interrupted  him,  saying 


346 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


''  there  was  no  loss  of  friendship."  Burke 
replied,  "  there  was :  he  knew  the  price  of 
his  conduct ;  he  had  done  his  duty,  and  their 
friendship  was  at  an  end."  Fox,  on  whom 
the  attention  of  the  house  was  now  eagerly 
fixed,  rose  to  reply ;  but  his  feelings  were 
too  powerful  for  utterance.  All  the  ideas  so 
long  cherished,  of  gratitude,  esteem,  and 
affection,  rushed  upon  his  generous  and  sus- 
ceptible mind ;  and  involuntary  tears  were 
observed  to  steal  down  his  cheek.  A  pro- 
found and  expressive  silence  pervaded  the 
house.  At  length  Fox,  recovering  himself, 
said,  "  that  however  events  might  have  al- 
tered the  mind  of  his  right  honorable  friend, 
for  such  he  must  still  call  him,  he  could  not 
easily  consent  to  relinquish  and  dissolve  that 
intimate  connexion  which  had  for  twenty- 
five  years  subsisted  between  them.  He  hoped 
that  Burke  would  think  on  past  times,  and 
whatever  expressions  of  his  had  caused  the 
offence,  that  he  would  at  least  believe  such 
was  not  his  intention."  The  concessions  of 
Fox  made  no  visible  impression  on  the 
haughty  and  unbending  temper  of  Burke ; 
and  from  this  day  a  schism  took  place  in  the 
politics  of  the  opposition  party,  which  has 
been  productive  of  very  important  conse- 
quences. 

RUPTURE  WITH  RUSSIA. 
The  only  remaining  transaction  which 
fell  under  the  notice  of  parliament  this  ses- 
sion, was  the  business  of  our  interference 
between  the  Porte  and  Russia,  in  favor  of 
the  former  power.  The  just  grounds  of  the 
quarrel  can  only  be  understood  by  adverting 
to  the  actual  situation  of  affairs  on  the  con 
tinent.  Leopold,  king  of  Hungary,  had  no 
sooner  assumed  the  Austrian  sceptre,  than 
he  resolved  on  terminating  the  war  with 
Turkey ;  and  under  the  powerful  mediation 
of  England  and  Prussia,  a  convention  was 
concluded,  August  1790,  at  Reichenbach, 
after  a  negotiation  of  some  months,  protract- 
ed in  the  unavailing  hope  of  retaining  pos- 
session of  the  important  fortress  of  Belgrade, 
which,  fifty  years  before,  England  had  ex- 
erted her  utmost  influence  to  secure  to  the 
house  of  Austria.  But  now,  swayed  by 
Prussian  counsels,  and  eagerly  solicitous  to 
advance  the  interests  of  that  upstart  and  in- 
solent power,  in  contra-distinction  to  those 
of  Austria,  the  ancient  and  genuine  ally  of 
Britain,  she  harshly  and  peremptorily  insist- 
ed on  its  restitution,  in  common  with  all  the 
other  Austrian  conquests,  to  the  Ottoman 
Porte.  In  return,  the  Austrian  Netherlands 
were  guarantied  to  the  house  of  Austria, 
and  the  possession  of  the  imperial  crown 
eventually  insured  to  his  Hungarian  majesty. 
The  Flemings  refusing,  notwithstanding 
their  distressful  condition,  to  return  to  the 
Austrian  dominion,  a  great  military  force 
was  sent  into  the  country  in  the  autumn  of 


1790,  under  the  command  of  marshal  Ben- 
der, which  quickly  effected  their  total  re- 
duction ;  and  on  the  first  of  January  1791, 
a  solemn  Te  Deum  was  sung  at  Brussels  in 
celebration  of  that  happy  event.  Sweden 
also,  disappointed  in  her  views  and  projects 
of  ambition,  thought  proper  to  sign  a  sepa- 
rate peace  with  Russia,  August  1790,  on  the 
basis  of  the  former  treaties  of  Abo  and  Ny- 
stadt.  The  courts  of  London  and  Berlin, 
elated  with  the  success  of  their  mediation  at 
Reichenbach,  now  in  high  and  arrogant  lan- 
guage signified  to  the  empress  of  Russia 
their  pleasure,  that  peace  should  be  restored 
between  the  Ottoman  and  Russian  empires, 
on  the  terms  of  a  general  restitution  of  con- 
quests. The  empress  replied,  with  equal 
haughtiness,  "  that  she  would  make  peace 
and  war  with  whom  she  pleased,  without 
the  intervention  of  any  foreign  power."  Not, 
however,  choosing  too  far  to  provoke  the  re- 
sentment of  these  formidable  and  self-cre- 
ated arbitrators,  she  secretly  intimated  her 
willingness  to  conclude  a  peace  with  Tur- 
key, on  the  condition  of  retaining  the  coun- 
try eastward  to  the  Niester,  as  a  reasonable 
indemnification  for  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
This  was  a  waste  and  desert  tract  of  terri- 
tory, valuable  only  for  the  security  it  afford- 
ed to  her  former  acquisitions,  and  for  in- 
cluding within  its  limits  the  strong  and  im- 
portant fortress  of  Oczakow.  This  being 
peremptorily  refused,  the  conference  broke 
off,-  and  the  empress  determined  to  support 
her  claims  by  the  sword. 

Pitt,  therefore,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of 
March,  delivered  a  message  to  the  house  of 
commons  from  his  majesty,  importing,  "  that 
the  endeavors  which  he  had  used  in  conjunc- 
tion with  his  allies  to  effect  a  pacification, 
not  having  proved  successful,  his  majesty 
judged  it  requisite,  in  order  to  add  weight 
to  his  representations,  to  make  some  further 
augmentation  of  his  naval  force."  This  mes- 
sage being  taken  into  consideration,  Pitt  en- 
larged much  on  the  necessity  of  attending 
to  the  preservation  of  the  balance  of  power 
in  Europe.  "  The  influence  of  the  Turkish 
empire,"  he  said,  "  was  of  great  effect  in 
the  general  scale.  Its  present  situation  was 
such  as  to  afford  just  cause  of  apprehension 
to  other  powers ;  and  to  Prussia  in  particu- 
lar it  must  be  highly  injurious,  to  suffer  the 
Turkish  empire  to  be  diminished  in  force 
and  consequence.  He  therefore  moved  an 
address,  assuring  his  majesty  that  his  faith- 
ful commons  would  make  good  such  ex- 
penses as  may  be  found  necessary." 

SECOND  DISCUSSION  OF  QUARREL  WITH 

RUSSIA. MINISTER  COMPELLED  TO 

GIVE  IN. 

The  prospect  of  a  war  with  Russia,  on 
these  frivolous  grounds,  astonished  every 
thinking  individual,  alarmed  the  public,  and 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


347 


was  opposed  in  the  house  with  the  whole 
strength  and  talents  of  opposition.  Fox  said, 
"  the  right  honorable  mover  of  the  address 
had  enveloped  himself  in  mystery  and  im- 
portance, but  explained  nothing.  When  the 
balance  of  power  was  mentioned  as  a  rea- 
son for  arming,  it  ought  to  be  shown  how  it 
was  endangered.  We  had  no  quarrel  with 
the  empress  of  Russia :  we  had  no  alliance 
with  Turkey.  But  by  the  absurd  pride  of 
interfering  in  the  affairs  of  every  sovereign 
state,  we  involved  ourselves  in  continual  ex- 
pense, and  were  exposed  to  the  perpetual 
hazard  of  war.  It  was  to  second  the  ambi- 
tious policy  of  Prussia,  and  not  for  any  in- 
terests of  our  own,  that  we  were  now  called 
upon  to  arm.  The  czarina,  it  was  well 
known,  had  offered  to  give  up  all  her  con- 
quests but  a  barren  district,  unprofitable  and 
worthless,  except  for  a  single  place  contain- 
ed in  it,  which  place  was  Oczakow.  But 
would  any  one  seriously  pretend  that  the 
balance  of  Europe  depended  on  the  trivial 
circumstance,  whether  Oczakow  should  in 
future  belong  to  the  empire  of  Russia  or  of 
Turkey?  That  this  was  even  with  minis- 
ters themselves  a  novel  idea,  was  plain ;  for 
Oczakow  had  been  taken  in  1788,  and  in 
1789  his  majesty  had  assured  the  parliament 
and  the  nation,  that  the  situation  of  affairs 
was  such  as  promised  us  a  continuance  of 
peace."  The  question  was  however  carried 
in  favor  of  tlie  address  by  two  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five. 
It  has  been  said,  and  with  great  truth, 
tliat  this  decision  of  itself  was  sufficient  to 
demonstrate  the  necessity  of  a  parliamentary 
reform :  for  when  the  representatives  voted 
for  a  Russian  war,  they  were  so  far  from 
speaking  the  sentiments  of  the  nation,  that 
the  people  everywhere  execrated  the  mea- 
sure. Sensible  that  this  was  the  prevailing 
opinion  of  the  country,  Grey,  on  the  twelfth 
of  April,  brought  the  business  once  more  be- 
fore the  house,  by  moving  a  series  of  resolu 
tions  expressive  of  the  impolicy,  inexpedi- 
ency, and  folly  of  the  measure.  On  the 
part  of  the  ministry  nothing  satisfactory  was 
offered.  The  importance  of  Oczakow  was 
magnified  to  a  most  ridiculous  excess.  The 
success  of  the  ministry  in  former  negotia- 
tions-was triumphantly  dwelt  upon,  and  the 
confidence  of  the  house  challenged  in  terms 
unusually  strong  and  pointed.  Sheridan,  with 
sarcastic  keenness,  asked  the  minister  "  on 
what  basis  this  confidence  was  to  rest?  Did 
he  recollect  the  different  prospect  to  which 
we  had  been  directed  to  turn  our  eyes  in 


this 


year 


Did  he  recollect  that  this  was 


the  promised  millennium,  that  halcyon  year 
in  which  we  had  been  flattered,  instead  of 
fresh  burdens,  with  a  reduction  of  expense, 
and  a  clear  surplus  for  the  extinction  of  the 
national  debt '?  The  system  we  had  adopted 


in  concert  with  Prussia,  was,"  he  said,  "  a 
system  of  ambition,  of  vain-glory  and  in- 
trigue, and  it  fastened  upon  us  a  concern  of 
all  others  the  most  pernicious — that  of  Eng- 
lish interference  with  German  politics.  As 
to  the  doctrine  of  confidence  in  ministers, 
he  totally  abjured  it.  The  more  constitu- 
tional doctrine  was  that  of  suspicion  and 
watchfulness.  The  minister  had  indeed 
risen  wonderfully  in  his  demands.  He  re- 
collected the  time  when  he  had  contented 
himself  with  asking  only  for  a  guarded  and 
rational  confidence ;  and  it  was  at  last  grown 
into  a  blind  and  implicit  confidence.  It  ap- 
peared that  the  degree  of  confidence  re- 
quired, rose  in  an  exact  ratio  to  the  absurd- 
ity of  the  measure  to  be  adopted."  On  the 
division,  the  opposition  appeared  greatly  in- 
creased, the  numbers  being,  ayes  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-nine,  noes  two  hundred 
and  fifly-nine. 

To  enter  into  a  war  in  the  face  of  such  a 
minority,  and  in  defiance  of  the  opinion  of 
the  public,  was  an  undertaking  which  tlie 
minister,  with  all  his  acknowledged  courage, 
did,  not  choose  to  attempt;  and  therefore, 
after  all  the  bustling,  threatening,  and  dread- 
ful preparation,  the  point  in  dispute  was  sud- 
denly and  wisely  given  up,  and  Oczakow 
remained  in  the  possession  of  Russia.  The 
session  of  parliament  terminated  June  the 
tenth,  1791.  His  majesty  expressed  his  per- 
fect satisfaction  at  the  zeal  with  which  the 
two  houses  had  applied  themselves  to  the 
consideration  of  the  different  objects  which 
he  had  recommended  to  their  attention. 
DISGRACEFUL  RIOTS  AT  BIRMINGHAM. 

Soon  after  the  rising  of  parliament  the 
nation  was  disgraced  by  a  wanton  and  un- 
provoked series  of  tumults  and  outrages, 
which,  for  the  space  of  four  days,  spread 
terror  and  alarm  through  the  populous  town 
of  Birmingham  and  the  adjacent  country. 
It  has  been  already  seen  that  a  difference  of 
sentiment  on  the  character  of  the  French 
revolution  gave  rise  to  a  heated  and  violent 
discussion  in  parliament, — ill  according  with 
the  dignity  of  a  legislative  assembly.  But 
this  cause  of  discord  was  not  confined  to  the 
higher  orders  of  society :  it  also  pervaded 
the  inferior  classes ;  and  considerable  pains 
were  taken  by  ministerial  journalists  to  in- 
flame the  passions  of  the  populace  against 
the  asserters  of  Gallic  liberty.  On  the  other 
hand  the  whig  party  and  the  friends  of  free- 
dom in  Great  Britain  rejoiced  in  the  eman- 
cipation of  a  neighboring  nation,  and  flatter- 
ed themselves  that  they  saw  in  the  success 
of  the  French  revolution  not  only  the  anni- 
hilation of  despotism  in  that  country,  but  the 
commencement  of  a  new  system  of  politics 
in  Europe,  the  basis  of  which  was  peace, 
happiness,  and  mutual  concord. 

In  most  of  the  larger  towns  of  Great 


348 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Britain,  associations  were  formed  for  the 
cielebration  of  the  French  revolution  on  the 
fourteenth  of  July :  but  the  opposite  party 
were  not  indifferent  spectators  of  these  pro- 
ceedings: the  most  scandalous  and  inflam- 
matory msinuations  were  conveyed  in  news- 
papers and  pamphlets,  stigmatizing  the 
triends  of  freedom  as  determined  republi- 
cans, and  representing  the  act  of  joining  in 
a  convivial  meeting  on  the  odious  fourteenth 
of  July,  as  an  attempt  to  .overturn  the  Brit- 
ish constitution  in  church  and  state. 

A  few  days  previous  to  the  meeting  in 
commemoration  of  the  French  revolution  at 
Birmingham,  six  copies  of  the  most  inflam- 
i-natory  and  seditious  hand-bill,  proposing  the 
French  revolution  as  a  model  to  the  English, 
und  exciting  them  to  rebellion,  were  left  in 
a  public  house  by  some  person  unknown.  As 
the  contents  of  this  hand-bill  found  a  quick 
and  general  circulation,  they  occasioned  a 
ferment  in  the  town.  The  magistrates  offer- 
ed a  reward  of  one  hundred  guineas  for  dis- 
covering the  author,  printer,  or  publisher  of 
the  obnoxious  paper ;  and  the  friends  of  the 
nieeting  intended  for  the  fourteenth  publish' 
od  at  the  same  time  an  advertisement  ex- 
plicitly  denying  the  sentiments  and  doc- 
trines  of  the  seditious  hand-bill,  and  disa- 
vowing all  connexion  with  its  author  or  pub- 
lisher. 

The  views  and  intentions  of  the  meeting 
having,  however,  been  grossly  misrepre- 
sented, and  the  gentlemen  concerned  sus- 
pecting the  seditious  hand-bill  to  be  an 
artifice  projected  by  their  adversaries 
thought  it  most  advisable  to  relinquish  the 
scheme ;  and  accordingly  notice  was  given 
to  that  effect :  but,  at  the  pressing  instance 
of  several  persons  dissatisfied  with  this  de- 
termination, the  intention  was  revived,  and 
the  company  met  at  the  appointed  time  to 


the  number  of  between  eighty  and  ninety 
The  ingenious  Keir,  well  known  for  his  great 
attainments  in  chemistry  and  other  branches 
of  philosophy,  and  a  member  of  the  estab- 
lished church,  was  placed  in  the  chair.  The 
gentlemen  had  scarcely  met,  before  the 
house  was  surrounded  by  a  tumultuous 
crowd,  who  testified  their  disapprobation  by 
hisses  and  groans,  and  by  the  shout  of  Church 
and  King,  which  became  the  watch- word 
on  this  occasion.  At  five  o'clock  the  com- 
pany dispersed,  and  soon  afterwards  the  win- 
dows in  front  of  the  hotel  were  demolished, 
and  the  house  otherwise  injured ;  and  not- 
withstanding the  appearance  of  the  magis- 
trates, the  mob  forcibly  entered  and  search 
ed  the  house  in  quest  of  the  guests,  but  for- 
tunately found  none  of  them  remaining. 

The  mob  immediately  after  set  on  fire  and 
destroyed  two  meeting-houses  of  the  dis- 
senters, and  from  thence  proceeded  to  the 
house  of  Dr.  Priestley,  a  dissenting  minister, 
which,  with  his  library  and  valuable  philoso- 
phical apparatus,  manuscripts,  and  papers, 
the  mob  entirely  destroyed ;  and  in  like  man- 
ner they  continued  for  three  ensuing  days 
to  burn  the  houses  and  valuable  effects  of 
many  others  of  the  dissenters  who  resided 
near  Birmmgham.  It  was  in  vain  that  the 
magistrates  swore  in  an  additional  number 
of  constables,  as  the  mob  baffled  all  attempts 
to  disperse  them,  and  compelled  the  consta- 
bles to  retire,  many  of  whom  were  wound- 
ed. On  the  evening  of  the  third  and  morn- 
ing of  the  fourth  day,  however,  several 
troops  of  dragoons  arrived  and  restored  tran- 
quillity. Of  these  infatuated  rioters  seven- 
teen were  tried  and  five  were  found  guilty ; 
one  of  whom  was  reprieved  and  four  exe- 
cuted :  thus  terminated  a  scene  that  dishon- 
ored the  national  history. 


GEORGE  lU.   1760—1820. 


349 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Meeting  of  Parliament — Flattering  Picture  of  the  Finances  of  the  Country — Mar- 
riage of  the  Duke  of  York — Motion  for  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade — Gradual 
Abolition  carried  in  the  House  of  Commons — Opposed  and  delayed  in  the  House  of 
Lords — Westminster  Police  Bill  passes — Neiv  Forest  Bill,  introduced  by  the  Minis- 
try, rejected — Mr.  Rose,  charged  with  Malpractices  in  Office,  acquitted — Ldbel  BiU 
passes — Bill  in  Favor  of  the  Scottish  Episcopalians,  passes — The  London  Corre- 
sponding Society,  and  the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People,  instituted,  to  obtain 
a  Parliamentary  Reform — Notice  of  a  Motion  for  a  Reform  in  the  Representation, 
alarms  Ministers — Royal  Proclamation  against  Seditious  Writings — Statement  of 
the  Revenues  of  India — Indian  War  against  Tippoo  Saib — Sues  for  Peace — Granted 
—  Terms. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— FLATTER- 
ING STATE  OF  FINANCES. 

1792. — The  latter  months  of  the  year 
1791  passed  over  in  gloomy  silence.  The 
parliament  was  not  convened  till  the  thirty- 
first  of  January  1792.  The  king  announced 
in  his  speech  "  the  marriage  of  his  son  the 
duke  of  York  with  the  princess  Frederica, 
daughter  of  his  good  brother  and  ally  the 
king  of  Prussia.  He  informed  the  two 
houses  that  a  treaty  had  been  concluded, 
under  his  mediation  and  that  of  his  allies,  be- 
tween the  emperor  and  the  Ottoman  Porte, 
and  that  in  consequence  of  their  interven- 
tion, preliminaries  had  been  agreed  upon  be- 
tween the  latter  of  those  powers  and  Russia. 
The  general  state  of  affairs  in  Europe  prom- 
ised a  continuance  of  peace,  and  he  was 
induced  to  hope  for  an  immediate  reduction 
of  the  naval  and  military  establishments." 
The  address  of  thanks  moved  by  Charles 
Yorke,  and  seconded  by  Sir  James  Murray, 
excited  some  severe  animadversions  from 
Fox,  who,  in  allusion  to  the  cession  of  Oc- 
zakow  to  Russia,  observed,  "  that  it  required 
no  moderate  share  of  assurance  for  ministers 
to  say  to  gentlemen  who  had  supported  their 
measures  as  wise  and  necessary, '  That  which 
you  last  session  contended  for  as  of  the  ut- 
most importance,  we  have  now  abandoned 
as  of  none.  Will  you  have  the  goodness 
to  move  an  address  approving  of  what  we 
have  done  V  "  Fox  thought  it  extraordinary 
that,  in  mentioning  the  inestimable  blessings 
of  peace  and  order,  no  notice  was  taken  of 
the  violent  interruption  of  order  which  had 
occurred  in  the  course  of  the  summer.  At 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  we  had 
seen  the  revival  of  the  spirit  and  practice 
of  the  darkest  ages.  It  would  have  been 
well  if  his  majesty  had  spoken  of  those  riots 
in  the  terms  they  merited.  They  were  not 
riots  for  bread — they  were  not  riots  in  the 
cause  of  liberty,  which,  however  highly  to 
be  reprobated,  had  yet  some  excuse  in  their 
principle ;  they  were  riots  of  men  neitlier 

Vou  IV.  30 


aggrieved  nor  complaining — of  men  who 
had  set  on  foot  an  indiscriminate  persecution 
of  an  entire  description  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens, including  persons  as  eminent  for  their 
ability  as  blameless  in  their  conduct,  and  as 
faithful  in  their  allegiance  as  this  or  any 
country  could  boast." 

Pitt  deprecated  with  warmth  the  invidi- 
ous revival  of  a  subject  so  unpleasant  and 
unprofitable,  and  wished  rather  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  house  to  the  flourishing  con- 
dition of  the  commerce  and  finances  of  the 
nation^  of  which  in  a  short  time  he  proposed 
submitting  to  the  house  a  correct  statement. 
Accordingly,  in  a  few  days  after,  the  minis- 
ter brought  this  subject  regularly  forward ; 
and  in  the  course  of  an  eloquent  and  ani- 
mated speech,  delineated  a  picture  of  na- 
tional prosperity  more  flattering  than  even 
the  most  glowing  imagination  had  ventured 
to  suggest.  "  The  amount  of  the  permanent 
revenue,  with  the  land  and  malt  duties  an- 
nexed, from  January  1791  to  January  1792, 
he  estimated  at  sixteen  millions,  seven  hun- 
dred and  thirty  thousand  pounds,  being 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds  more  than 
the  aggregate  of  the  preceding  year.  The 
permanent  expenditure,  including  the  in- 
terest of  the  debt,  the  annual  million  ap- 
plied towards  its  extinction,  the  civil-list, 
and  the  military  and  naval  establishments, 
he  calculated  at  fifteen  millions,  eight  hun- 
dred and  ten  thousand  pounds,  leaving  a 
clear  surplus  of  more  than  nine  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  In  this  state  of  things  he 
thought  himself  authorized  to  propose  a  re- 
peal of  a  part  of  the  more  burdensome  taxes, 
to  the  amount  of  about  two  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  per  annum :  and  at  the  same 
time  apply  the  sum  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  to  the  reduction  of  the  national 
debt,  in  aid  of  the  annual  million  appropri- 
ated by  parliament.  In  consequence  of  tlie 
general  improvement  of  credit,  the  three 
per  cents  would  soon  rise  so  high  as  to  ena- 
ble parliament  to  efiect  a  reduction  of  the 


360 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


four,  and,  as  soon  as  by  law  redeemable,  of 
the  five  per  cents,  which  would  add  the  sum 
of  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds,  or  little 
less,  to  the  sinking  fund.  The  indefinite 
additions  which  might  be  expected  from  the 
increasing  produce  of  the  existing  taxes, 
the  result  of  our  rapidly  increasing  com- 
merce, must  mock  all  calculation.  Our  ex- 
ports had  risen  one  third  in  value  since  the 
year  1783,  and  our  internal  trade  had  in- 
creased in  at  least  an  equal  proportion.  On 
the  continuance  of  our  present  prosperity  it 
is  indeed  impossible  to  count  with  certainty; 
but  unquestionably  there  never  was  a  time 
when,  from  the  situation  of  Europe,  we 
might  more  reasonably  expect  a  durable 
peace  than  at  the  present  moment  "  From 
the  result  of  the  whole,  I  trust  I  am  entitled 
to  infer,  that  the  scene  which  we  are  now 
contemplating  is  not  the  transient  efl^ect  of 
accident,  not  the  short-lived  prosperity  of  a 
day,  but  the  genuine  and  natural  result  of 
regular  and  permanent  causes.  We  may  yet 
indeed  be  subject  to  those  fluctuations  which 
often  happen  in  the  affairs  of  a  great  nation, 
and  which  it  is  impossible  to  calculate  or 
foresee ;  but  as  far  as  there  can  be  reliance 
on  human  speculations,  we  have  the  best 
ground  from  the  experience  of  the  past  to 
look  with  satisfaction  to  the  present,  and 
with  confidence  to  the  future."  Such  were 
the  brilliant  hopes  which  in  this  moment  of 
ministerial  exultation  the  people  were  taught 
to  indulge,  and  with  such  dazzling  but  de- 
ceptive splendor  rose  the  morn  of  a  year 
destined  to  set  in  darkness,  calamity,  and 
blood. 

MARRIAGE  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  YORK. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  February,  Pitt  pre- 
sented a  copy  of  the  treaty  between  his  ma- 
jesty and  the  king  of  Prussia  on  the  mar- 
riage of  his  royal  highness  the  duke  of  York 
with  the  princess  Frederica  Charlotte  Ul- 
rique  Catherine  of  Prussia. 

On  the  seventh  of  March  the  house  of 
commons  resolved  itself  into  a  committee, 
to  take  into  consideration  an  establishment 
for  their  royal  higlmesses  the  duke  and 
dutchess  of  York.  Sir  James  Johnstone 
mentioned  Osnaburgh,  "  which  from  the  best 
information  he  had  obtained,  produced,"  he 
said,  "thirty-five  thousand  pounds  per  an- 
num; he  wished  therefore  to  know  from 
authority  exactly  how  much  it  was  worth  ]" 
He  was  answered,  "  that  such  a  question 
was  totally  unparliamentary,  as  that  house 
never  considered  anything  belonging  to 
princes  out  of  the  kingdom.  Not  a  word 
was  ever  said  of  his  majesty's  revenue  from 
Hanover;  it  was  not  even  thought  of  in  the 
discussion  of  his  majesty's  revenue,  on  his 
diflferent  applications  to  parliament  for  sup- 
port." Mr.  Burden  had  no  hesitation  hi  say- 
ing, though  it  would  no  doubt  have  been  ex- 


tremely unparliamentary  to  mention  it,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  an  alliance  of  this  sort 
with  the  Prussian  monarch's  family  was  not 
considered  as  an  event  very  auspicious  to 
the  peace  and  prosperity  of  Great  Britain. 
After  much  desultory  conversation,  the  reso- 
lutions passed  the  house;  by  which  these 
kingdoms  stand  pledged  to  grant  an  allow- 
ance of  thirty  thousand  pounds  per  annum 
to  their  royal  highnesses. 

THE  SLAVE  TRADE— ITS  GRADUAL  AB- 
OLITION CARRIED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF 
COMMONS. 

On  the  second  of  April,  the  house  resolv- 
ed itself  into  a  committee  to  consider  of  the 
state  of  the  African  slave  trade.  From  the 
decision  on  Wilberforce's  motion  last  session, 
it  appeared  that  the  enthusiasm  of  parlia- 
ment for  the  abolition  had  greatly  abated ; 
while  on  the  other  hand  that  of  the  public  in 
general  had  increased.  The  table  of  the 
house  of  commons  was  now  covered  with 
petitions  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  im- 
ploring in  earnest  language  the  abolition  of 
that  infamous  and  inhuman  traffic.  Wilber- 
force  declared,  "  that  from  his  exertions  in 
this  cause  he  had  found  happiness,  though 
not  hitherto  success.  It  enlivened  his  wa- 
king and  soothed  his  evening  hours,  and  he 
could  not  recollect  without  singular  satisfac- 
tion, that  he  had  demanded  justice  for  mil- 
lions who  could  not  ask  it  for  themselves." 
He  concluded  an  able  and  eloquent  speech, 
by  moving  the  question  of  abolition.  Wil- 
berforce  was  powerfully  supported  by  many 
of  the  most  respectable  members  of  the 
house ;  amongst  whom  Mr.  Whitebread  par- 
ticularly distinguished  himself  by  the  ener- 
gy and  animation  of  his  remarks.  He  ob- 
served, "  that  a  fatality  attended  the  argu- 
ments of  those  who  defended  this  detestable 
and  shocking  trade.  In  an  account  of  sell- 
ing the  stock  of  a  plantation,  one  of  the 
evidences  in  favor  of  the  slave-merchants 
said,  '  that  the  slaves  fetched  less  than  the 
common  price,  because  they  were  damaged.' 
Damaged  !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Whitebread, 
"  what  is  this,  but  an  acknowledgment  that 
they  were  worn  down  by  labor,  sickness,  by 
every  species  of  ill  treatment.  A  trade  at- 
tended with  such  dreadful  evils  ought  not  to 
be  thought  of— cannot  be  mentioned  without 
horror,  nor  continued  without  violating  every 
moral  and  religious  obligation." 

In  consequence  of  the  ardor  displayed  by 
the  nation  at  large  in  this  business,  it  was 
at  length  determined  to  concede,  what  it 
was  now  become  difficult,  perhaps  danger- 
ous, to  withhold.  Dundas,  advanced  to  the 
dignity  of  secretary  of  state  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  duke  of  Leeds,  and  the  organ  of 
the  interior  cabinet  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, now  recommended  to  the  house  the 
adoption  of  a  middle  and  moderate  plan. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


351 


such  as  would  reconcile  the  interests  of  the 
West  India  islands  with  the  eventual  aboli- 
tion of  the  trade ;  and  concluded  by  moving 
*♦  that  the  word  gradual  might  be  inserted 
before  abolition."  Pitt  declared  his  decided 
disapprobation  of  the  amendment;  and  in  a 
speech  fraught  with  argument  and  elo- 
quence, conjured  the  house  not  to  postpone 
even  for  an  hour  the  great  and  necessary 
work  of  abolition.  "  Reflect,"  said  Pitt,  "  on 
the  eighty  thousand  persons  annually  torn 
from  their  native  land !  on  the  connexions 
which  are  broken !  on  the  friendships,  at- 
tachments, and  relationships  that  are  b-jrst 
asunder !  There  is  something  in  the  horror 
of  it  that  surpasses  all  the  bounds  of  imagi- 
nation. How  shall  we  repair  the  mischiefs 
we  have  brought  upon  that  continent?  If, 
knowing  the  miseries  we  have  caused,  we 
refuse  even  now  to  put  a  stop  to  them,  how 
greatly  aggravated  will  be  the  guilt  of  Brit- 
ain !  Shall  we  not  rather  count  the  days 
and  hours  that  are  suffered  to  intervene, 
than  to  delay  the  accomplishment  of  such  a 
work."  Fox  supp0rted  the  same  side,  with 
a  force  of  argument  and  energy  of  expres- 
sion, equally  impressive  and  convincing. 
"  The  honorable  gentleman  who  had  propos- 
ed the  amendment  called  himself,"  Fox  said, 
"  a  moderate  man ;  but  he  neither  felt,  nor 
wished  to  feel,  anything  like  moderation  on 
the  subject  The  question  before  the  house 
was  simply  this;  whetiier  they  should  au- 
thorize by  law  the  commission  of  crimes  in 
Africa,  which  in  this  country  would  incur 
the  severest  penalties,  and  even  an  ignomin- 
ious death  1  Regulations,  in  this  case,  would 
he  as  disgraceful  as  they  would  be  impotent. 
One  gentleman  had  proposed  a  premium  for 
tlie  transportation  of  females.  "What!" 
exclaimed  Fox,  "  is  the  kidnapper  then  to 
be  encouraged  by  the  British  legislature  to 
lay  a  snare  for  the  harmless  maid — to  snatch 
her  from  the  arms  of  her  lover  or  her  pa 
rents — or  to  separate  the  wife  from  her  hus- 
band and  children '?  He  should  like,"  he 
said,  "  to  see  the  clause  by  which  this  inhu 
man  measure  was  to  be  presented  to  the 
parliament  of  England ;  he  should  like  to 
see  the  man  capable  of  conceiving  words  to 
frame  such  a  clause — was  there  a  gentleman 
in  the  house  bold  enough  to  support  itl' 
The  amendment  proposed  by  Dundas  was 
nevertheless  carried  on  the  division  by  a 
majority  of  sixty-eight  voices.  Accordingly 
he  afterwards  moved  "  that  the  importation 
of  negroes  into  the  British  colonies  should 
cease  on  the  first  of  January  1800."  Thig, 
on  the  motion  of  lord  Mornington,  was  aftei 
great  difficulty  and  debate  altered  to  .Tanua 
ry  the  first  1790.  A  series  of  resolutions 
founded  on  this  basis  were  tlien  agreed  to, 
and  sent  up  to  the  lords  for  their  concur- 
rence. 


DELAYED  BY  THE  LORDS. 

In  the  upper  house  these  resolutions  were 
fated  to  meet  a  very  cold  reception;  and 
from  a  large  proportion  of  their  lordships  a 
most  determined  opposition.  As  this  was  a 
favorite  measure  with  the  nation,  and  had 
indeed  been  supported  in  a  peculiar  manner 
by  the  voice  of  the  people,  they  were  high- 
ly offended  to  see  the  duke  of  Clarence, 
third  son  of  the  king,  commence  his  public 
career  with  a  violent  declamation  against 
the  abolition,  and  invective  against  its  advo- 
cates ;  whom  he  declared  to  be  actuated  by 
the  spirit  of  political  and  religious  fanati- 
cism. With  a  view  to  protract,  and  if  pos- 
sible to  dismiss  the  business,  the  lord  chan- 
cellor moved,  "  that  evidence  be  heard,  not 
before  a  select  committee,  according  to  the 
proposition  of  lord  Grenville,  but  at  the  bar 
of  the  house."  This  was  seconded  by  lord 
Hawkesbury,  the  well-known  and  inveterate 
enemy  of  the  abolition.  The  motion  being 
carried,  the  business  lay  over  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  session. 
WESTMINSTER  POLICE  BILL  PASSED. 
The  next  affair  of  importance  that  came 
under  the  consideration  of  parliament,  was 
the  establishment  of  a  new  police  for  the 
city  and  liberty  of  Westminster.  The  out- 
line of  the  plan  was,  to  establish  five  prin- 
cipal offices,  to  be  always  open  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  that  branch  of  justice  which 
falls  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  justices 
of  the  peace.  To  each  office  three  justices 
were  to  be  appointed,  with  a  salary  of  three 
hundred  pounds  each  per  annum.  The  fees 
paid  into  all  the  offices  were  to  be  consoli- 
dated into  one  fund,  which  was  to  be  applied 
towards  the  discharge  of  the  salaries ;  and 
in  order  completely  to  annihilate  the  odious 
name  and  functions  of  a  trading  justice,  no 
person  in  the  commission  of  the  peace  was 
to  be  permitted  to  receive  fees.  To  unite 
personal  security  with  general  liberty;  to 
preserve  inviolate  the  rights  of  property; 
to  repress  the  efforts  of  violence  without  es- 
tablishing a  system  of  tyrannical  coercion, 
is  among  the  most  arduous  labors  of  govern- 
ment and  legislation.  That  the  established 
system  required  some  alteration,  no  person 
acquainted  with  the  shameful  prostitution 
of  justice  which  prevailed,  could  possibly 
doubt:  yet  the  friends  of  freedom  saw  in 
the  new  system  of  regulation,  principles 
deeply  hostile  to  the  general  liberties  of  the 
nation:  and  they  saw  in  one  particular 
clause,  a  deviation  from  that  rule  of  justice, 
which  for  centuries  had  been  esteemed  the 
palladium  of  our  constitution.  By  this 
clause,  the  constables  were  empowered  to 
apprehend  such  persons  as  could  not  give  a 
good  account  of  themselves,  and  the  magis- 
trate to  commit  them  as  incorrigible  rogues 
and  vagabonds.     As  the  professed  design  of 


352 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAm. 


this  clause  was  to  facilitate  the  discovery  of 
a  new  species  of  criminals  called  reputed 
thieves,  it  was  pointedly  asked,  what  was 
the  definition  of  a  reputed  thief]  To  pun- 
ish men  for  acts  which  they  had  not  com- 
mitted, but  for  crimes  which  they  intended 
to  commit,  was  a  new  and  dangerous  prin- 
ciple in  English  law.  Such  a  system  was 
only  calculated  to  protect  the  rich — to  pro- 
cure ease  to  their  pleasures,  and  to  guard 
the  entrance  to  opera  and  play-houses.  Be- 
sides this,  the  bill  referred  to  another  act,  as 
the  rule  of  punishment :  the  vagrant  act  was 
the  statute  alluded  to,  a  statute  sufficiently 
objectionable,  both  on  account  of  its  unde- 
fined extent,  and  the  extreme  severity  of 
the  punishments  it  inflicts.  It  was  true 
there  was  an  appeal  allowed  by  this  act  to 
the  quarter  sessions,  and  the  persons  appre- 
hended under  the  present  clause  might 
there  be  acquitted.  But  still  the  punish- 
ment they  had  suffered  in  the  first  instance 
could  not  be  done  away,  nor  the  evils  that 
resulted  from  their  imprisonment  remedied. 
The  general  principle  of  the  bill  was  also 
arraigned  in  strong  terms.  It  was  said,  that 
the  system  of  our  constitution  required,  that 
justice  should  be  administered  throughout 
the  kingdom  gratuitously ;  that  the  discre- 
tionary powers  granted  to  justices  of  the 
peace  were  in  many  cases  exorbitant,  and 
were  only  endured  in  consideration  of  the 
persons  on  whom  they  were  conferred. — 
Was  it  fit  then  to  grant  not  only  all  these, 
but  additional  powers,  to  a  new  description 
of  magistrates  appointed  by  and  receiving 
salaries  from  the  crown  1  In  a  word,  instead 
of  a  system  of  police,  the  present  measure 
was  considered  as  a  system  of  influence : 
but  it  finally  passed  into  a  law. 

NEW  FOREST  BILL  REJECTED. 

A  BILL  was  about  this  period  introduced 
into  parliament  for  inclosing  certain  parts 
of  the  New  Forest,  under  pretence  of  pro- 
moting the  growth  of  timber.  In  the  house 
of  lords,  this  scheme  met  with  unqualified 
censure  from  both  parties.  The  lord  chan- 
cellor condemned  it  in  the  strongest  terms : 
he  said,  "  his  majesty  had  been  imposed  on 
in  the  business ;  and  that  it  was  a  precedent 
deeply  affecting  the  constitutional  situation 
of  the  crown."  The  ministry  grounded  their 
defence  on  a  report  of  the  commissioners  of 
the  land  revenue,  who  had  recommended  an 
attention  to  the  growth  of  timber  in  the 
kingdom.  The  bill  was  however  withdrawn, 
though  lord  Grenville  intimated  that  some- 
thing of  the  kind  would  be  introduced  in 
the  succeeding  session. 

MR.  ROSE  TRIED  AND  ACQUITTED. 

In  the  course  of  the  last  summer  a  trial 
at  bar  had  taken  place  between  a  publican 
of  the  name  of  Smith,  and  Rose,  the  secre- 
tprv  of  the  treasury.  The  facts  and  circum- 


stances ascertained  by  the  evidence  given 
on  that  trial  were  so  daringly  unconstitu- 
tional, that  Thompson,  on  the  thirteenth  of 
March,  brought  the  business  regularly  be- 
fore the  house  of  commons.  The  substance 
of  the  evidence  on  the  trial  went  to  charge 
Rose  with  having  interfered  in  the  West- 
minster election  in  an  unwarrantable  man- 
ner. It  appeared  that  Smith  had  some  time 
before  been  convicted  in  a  penalty  of  fifty 
pounds,  for  an  oflence  against  the  excise 
laws ;  and  that  afterwards,  in  consequence 
of  services  performed  by  Smith  in  the  course 
of  the  election,  at  the  request  of  Rose,  a 
part  of  the  fine  was  remitted  to  him.  "  There 
could  not  possibly  exist  a  doubt  about  Rose 
having  employed  Smith  in  the  election,  as 
the  jury  had  given  a  verdict  in  favor  of  the 
latter  for  the  full  amount  of  his  bill."  Thomp- 
son pressed  the  object  of  his  motion  upon 
the  feelings  of  the  house ;  and  conjured 
them  to  reflect  on  the  consequences  of  per- 
mitting a  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  em- 
ploy the  money  of  the  public  m  supporting 
the  election  of  a  member  of  that  house  ;  and 
on  the  probable  effects  of  suffering  the  peo- 
ple to  understand  that  their  money  was  cor- 
ruptly expended  in  procuring  seats  for  the 
friends  of  the  minister ;  and  concluded  by 
moving  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  abuses  complained  of. 
Lambton  seconded  the  motion,  and  in  sup- 
port of  the  inquiry  stated  aiiothor  fiC.,  of  a 
similar  nature  with  that  mentioned  by  the 
mover.  "  In  the  year  1788,"  he  said,  "  one 
Hoskins  being  at  that  time  in  prison,  at  the 
suit  of  the  solicitor  to  the  lottery,  for  certain 
penalties  incurred  by  offences  against  the 
lottery  act,  wrote  to  the  solicitor  informing 
him  that  he  could  procure  fifty  or  sixty  votes 
for  lord  Hood  at  the  Westminster  election, 
provided  he  could  be  admitted  to  bail,  and 
that  such  bail  as  he  could  offer  would  not  be 
objected  to.  The  solicitor  said,  he  could  not 
do  this  on  his  own  accord,  but  must  have 
authority  from  a  higher  quarter.  The  man 
was  afterwards  admitted  to  bail,  and  his  bail 
were  the  most  miserabl-e  wretches  that  ever 
offered  to  commit  a  perjury ;  indeed,  so 
wretched  were  they,  that  when  they  came 
to  take  the  necessary  oaths  before  the  judge 
at  his  chambers,  though  they  brought  a  note 
from  the  solicitor  signifying  his  consent, 
they  were  actually  refused.  The  fact,  how- 
ever, in  conclusion  was,  that  their  bail  was 
taken,  and  Hoskins,  agreeable  to  his  en-, 
gagement,  polled  sixty  votes  for  lord  Hood  ; 
since  when,  neither  he  nor  his  bail  had  ever 
been  heard  of.  Lambton  having  stated  this 
fact,  observed,  "  that  the  public  had  paid  sev- 
en hundred  pounds  out  of  their  pockets  to 
procure  votes  for  lord  Hood  ;  and  if  minis- 
ters could,  as  it  suited  their  own  conve- 
nience, suspend  the  operation  of  some  laws. 


GEORGE  m.    1760—1820. 


353 


and  remit  the  consequences  of  others,  the 
freedom  of  the  country  was  a  shadow  and 
not  a  substance."  Rose,  in  his  defence,  stat- 
ed, "  that  the  penalty  in  which  Smith  had 
been  convicted  was  for  brewing  beer  at 
home,  and  it  appeared  that  this  beer  was 
small-beer  for  the  use  of  his  own  family. 
That  one  third  of  the  penalty  went  to  the 
poor  of  St.  Martin's  parish  ;  the  rest  to  the 
king :  that  the  vestry  of  that  parish  had  de- 
clared their  willingness  to  remit  their  part 
of  the  penalty ;  that  he  had  only  referred 
Smith's  petition  to  the  board  of  excise  to 
whose  cognizance  it  properly  belonged." 
He  confessed,  that  during  the  time  of  the 
last  general  election.  Smith  came  to  him, 
and  made  a  proposition  for  opening  his  house, 
and  declared  he  could  detect  a  number  of 
bad  votes  which  had  been  given  for  lord 
John  Townshend  ;  when  he  answered — "  do 
so  if  you  can,  it  will  be  doing  a  good  thing." 
Smith  found  the  bad  votes  he  had  promised, 
and  at  length  applied  to  him  to  be  paid.  His 
answer  was,  "  go  to  lord  Hood's  committee, 
they  will  pay  you."  Smith,  however,  again 
demanded  payment,  commenced  an  action, 
and  obtained  a  verdict.  With  regard  to  the 
other  charge  respecting  the  admission  of 
Hoskins  to  bail,  by  sham  bail ;  Rose  protest- 
ed, "  he  had  never  before  that  day  heard  of 
the  man's  name."  Grey  contended,  that 
there  was  ample  ground  for  inquiry,  not- 
withstanding the  right  honorable  gentle- 
man's defence.  Rose  had  declared  that  he 
only  transmitted  Smith's  petition  to  the 
board  of  excise,  and  protested  he  had  no 
otherwise  interfered.  On  the  contrary,  a 
letter  from  Rose  to  Smith  was  produced,  in- 
viting him  to  meet  Vivian  the  solicitor  to 
the  excise,  on  this  business,  at  his  own 
house.  With  respect  to  Hoskins,  whatever 
the  right  honorable  gentleman  might  pro- 
test, the  following  facts  were  unquestiona- 
bly established  : — 1.  That  Hoskins  was  un- 
der arrest  for  penalties  incurred  under  the 
lottery  act  to  the  amount  of  seven  hundred 
pounds,  and  that  during  the  election  he  of- 
fered to  bring  sixty  votes,  provided  he  was 
suffered  to  escape  : — 2.  That  the  solicitor  to 
the  lottery,  who  was  also  agent  for  lord 
Hood,  said  he  must  consult  higher  authori- 
ty:— 3.  That  Hoskins  was  suffered  to  es- 
cape by  two  bails  being  accepted,  who  were 
not  worth  a  shilling  : — and  4.  That  lord 
Hood  had  since  paid  his  agent's  bill,  in  which 
there  is  this  curious  charge,  "  to  the  expense 
of  finding  bail  for  the  action  against  Hos- 
kms,  who  engaged  to  bring  up  sixty  votes, 
three  pounds  three  shillings."  Never,  per- 
haps, were  the  present  ministry  reduced  to 
a  more  perplexing  dilemma  than  on  this  oc- 
fflon.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  they  granted  the 
inquiry,  it  would  lead  to  the  discovery  of 
scenes  disgraceful  to  their  reputation ;  and 
30* 


must  have  terminated  in  the  conviction  of 
Rose  :  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  refuse  an 
inquiry  in  the  face  of  facts  so  completely 
substantiated,  would  amount  to  a  tacit  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  indefensibility  of  their 
cause.  Perceiving,  therefore,  that  the  pow- 
ers of  eloquence  would  weigh  little  against 
the  argument  of  facts,  Pitt  contented  hinoj 
self  with  saying,  that  he  should  oppose  the 
inquiry  "  because  there  was  no  one  public 
officer  against  whom  in  this  business  a  di- 
rect charge  could  be  fixed,"  and,  to  the  as- 
tonishment of  the  whole  nation,  the  mmis- 
ter,  by  resorting  to  the  unanswerable  logic 
of  numbers,  was  able,  in  a  full  house,  to  dis- 
miss the  motion  by  a  division  of  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  against  eighty-four 
voices. 

The  ease  with  which  the  minister  was 
able  to  command  so  large  a  majority,  in  a 
case  which  the  public  deemed  completely 
desperate,  proved  to  a  demonstration,  that 
an  influence  existed  somewhere,  totally  in- 
compatible with  the  purity  of  representa- 
tion, and  that  called  loudly  for  a  reform  in 
the  commons  house  of  parliament. 
LIBEL  BILL  PASSES. 

The  libel  bill,  introduced  m  the  last  ses- 
sion by  Fox,  and  which  was  lost  in  the 
house  of  lords,  was  this  session  triumph- 
antly carried  through  both  houses,  and  pass- 
ed into  a  law,  notwithstanding  the  violent 
opposition  of  the  law-lords,  Thurlow,  Ken- 
yon,  and  Batlmrt.  The  marquis  of  Lans- 
downe  said,  "that  the  act  which  declared 
the  judges  independent  of  the  crown,  would, 
in  fact,  be  found  to  render  them  totally  in- 
dependent of  the  people,  and  more  than  ever 
dependent  on  the  crown.  Before  the  revo- 
lution, the  judges  took  no  part  in  politics,  or 
in  the  debates  of  that  house ;  now  they  were 
of  great  weight  in  every  discussion,  and  oc- 
cupied so  much  of  the  time,  that  noble  lords 
could  hardly  obtain  an  opportunity  of  speak- 
ing. For  what  they  knew,  they  might  have 
a  chief-justice  at  the  head  of  a  party  in  that 
house,  going  down,  reeking  with  party  rage, 
to  preside  on  a  trial  for  a  libel,  published 
against  himself,  by  some  political  adversary. 
For  his  own  part,  his  lordship  declared,  he 
could  not  frame  to  his  mind  a  case  in  which 
juries  did  not  appear  as  fully  competent  to 
decide  conscientiously  on  the  law  and  the 
fact  blended,  as  the  twelve  judges."  The 
law-lords  joined  in  a  protest  against  the  bill, 
which  will  remain  as  a  perpetual  monument 
of  the  triumph  of  equity  and  common  sense, 
over  professional  subtilty. 

BILL  IN  FAVOR  OF  SCOTTISH  EPISCa 

PAUANS. 

Another  point  was  also  gained  during 

this  session  in  fevor  of  the  general  system 

of  freedom,  by  a  bill  introduced  into  the 

house  of  peers  by  lord  Elgin,  to  relieve  the 


354 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Scottish  Episcopalians  from  the  heavy  pen- 
alties to  which  they  had  been  long  subject. 
Their  warm  attachment  to  the  Stuart  family 
rendered  them  notoriously  disaffected  to  the 
revolution  settlement:  but  now,  that  the 
pretender  was  dead,  they  found  no  more 
difficulty  than  other  high-flying  jacobitical 
tories  of  excelling  even  the  loyal  in  loyalty. 
An  objection,  however,  was  started  by  the 
lord  chancellor,  whether,  according  to  a 
clause  in  the  present  bill,  specifying  the  de- 
scription of  persons  to  be  relieved,  the  state 
could  with  propriety  recognize  the  validity 
of  ordination  by  bishops  exercising  their 
functions  independent  of  the  state.  And  in 
his  profound  knowledge  in  ecclesiastical  an- 
tiquity, his  lordship  ventured  even  to  inti- 
mate his  doubts,  whether  bishops  could  ex- 
ist in  any  Christian  country  not  authorized 
by  the  state.  But  his  lordship  being  assured 
by  the  bishop  of  St.  David's,  who  spoke  in 
favor  of  this  "  afflicted  part  of  the  church 
of  Christ,"  that  Christian  bishops  existed 
three  hundred  years  before  the  happy  alli- 
ance between  church  and  state  took  place, 
under  the  emperor  Constantine  the  Great, 
his  lordship  was  pleased  to  declare  himself 
satisfied,  and  the  bill  passed  without  any  far- 
ther opposition. 

IX)NDON  CORRESPONDING  SOCIETY,  AND 
FRIENDS  9F  THE  PEOPLE. 
Though  the  various  attempts  made  in  the 
house  of  commons  to  obtain  a  parliamentary 
reform,  had  uniformly  proved  unsuccessful, 
they  were  yet  far  from  being  unproductive 
of  effects,  as  they  provoked  discussions  tend- 
ii^  to  make  those  very  evils  more  apparent, 
which  the  legislature  peremptorily  refused 
to  remedy.  From  this  source,  and  from  the 
knowledge  conveyed  through  a  number  of 
popular  tracts  on  the  subject,  the  public 
mind  was  at  this  period  completely  informed 
of  the  effects  of  our  representative  system. 
In  consequence  of  this  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  a  number  of  political  societies 
Avere  formed  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  a 
reform  in  parliament.  One  of  these  socie- 
ties, composed  chiefly  of  tradesmen,  assumed 
the  title  of  the  London  Corresponding  So- 
ciety, and  adopted  in  its  full  extent  the  cele- 
brated system  of  reform,  recommended  by 
the  duke  of  Richmond,  resting  on  the  basis 
of  universal  suffrage  and  annual  parliaments. 
But  though  the  fate  of  this  society  is  des- 
tined to  occupy  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  England,  there  was 
another  formed  at  this  time,  which,  of  all 
others,  attracted  most  the  attention  both  of 
government  and  the  nation.  The  society 
alluded  to,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Friends 
of  the  People,  adopted  those  principles  of 
reform  which  Pitt  had  once  supported,  and 
which  liad  been  sanctioned  by  the  approba- 
bation  of  the  most  distinguished  advocates 


for  constitutional  liberty.  About  thirty  mem- 
bers of  parliament  entered  their  names  as 
members  of  this  association,  which  also 
comprehended  many  of  the  most  eminent 
characters  in  the  kingdom,  whether  in  re- 
spect of  political  or  literary  ability.  After 
publishing  a  manly  declaration  of  their  sen- 
timents, the  society  came  to  the  resolution, 
that  early  in  the  next  session  a  motion  of 
reform  should  be  brought  forward  in  parlia- 
ment, and  that  the  conduct  of  the  business 
in  the  house  of  commons  should  be  commit- 
ted to  Grey  and  Erskine,  both  of  whom  were 
members. 

MOTION  FOR  REFORM  IN  PARLIAMENT. 
In  conformity  with  the  views  of  this  so- 
ciety. Grey,  on  the  thirtieth  of  April,  gave 
notice  of  his  intention  to  move,  in  the  course 
of  the  ensuing  session,  for  an  inquiry  into  the 
state  of  the  representation.  He  had  scarcely 
concluded  this  intimation,  when  Pitt  rose 
with  unusual  vehemence,  to  reprobate  the 
measure.  "  Nothing  could,"  he  said,  "  be 
whispered  on  this  subject  which  did  not  in- 
volve questions  of  the  most  extensive,  the 
most  serious,  the  most  lasting  importance  to 
the  people  of  this  country,  to  the  very  being 
of  the  state.  He  would  confess,  that,  in  one 
respect,  he  had  changed  his  opinion  upon 
this  subject,  and  he  was  not  ashamed  to  own 
it.  He  retained  his  opinion  of  the  propriety 
of  a  parliamentary  reform,  if  it  could  be  ob- 
tained by  a  general  concurrence,  pointing 
harmlessly  at  its  object.  But  he  was  afraid, 
at  this  moment,  that  if  agreed  to  by  that 
house,  the  security  of  all  the  blessings  we 
enjoyed  would  be  shaken  to  the  foundation. 
The  present,  he  asserted,  was  not  a  time  to 
make  hazardous  experiments.  Could  we 
forget  what  lessons  had  been  given  to  the 
world  within  a  few  years  1  Could  it  be  sup- 
posed that  men  felt  the  situation  of  this  coun- 
try, as  contrasted  with  that  of  others,  to  be 
deplorable  1  He  then  noticed  the  association 
of  the  Friends  of  the  People,  and  its  adver- 
tisements, inviting  the  public  to  join  the 
standard  of  reform.  He  saw  with  concern 
the  gentlemen  to  whom  he  alluded  united 
with  others,  who  professed  not  reform  only, 
but  direct  hostility  to  the  very  form  of  our 
government,  who  threatened  the  extinction 
of  monarchy,  hereditary  succession,  and 
everything  which  promoted  order  and  sub- 
ordination in  a  state.  To  his  last  hour  he 
would  resist  every  attempt  of  this  nature, 
and  if  he  was  called  upon  either  to  hazard 
this,  or  for  ever  abandon  all  hopes  of  reform, 
he  would  say  he  had  no  hesitation  in  prefer- 
ring the  latter  alternative."  The  modera- 
tion of  Fox's  language  on  this  occasion,  af- 
forded a  striking  contrast  to  the  vehemence 
of  the  minister.  He  reminded  the  house, 
"  that  he  had  never  professed  to  be  so  san- 
guine on  this  subject  as  the  right  honorable 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


356 


gentleman ;  but  although  less  sanguine,  he 
happened  to  be  a  little  more  consistent — for 
he  had  early  in  public  life  formed  an  opin- 
ion of  the  necessity  of  a  parliamentary  re- 
form, and  remained  to  this  hour  convinced 
of  that  necessity,  and  the  obvious  reason 
was,  that  the  proceedings  of  the  house  were 
sometimes  at  variance  with  the  opinion  of 
the  public.  Of  the  truth  and  justice  of  this 
sentiment,  he  said,  it  was  only  necessary  to 
refer  to  a  recent  instance,  the  Russian  arma- 
ment The  declaration  of  that  house  was, 
that  we  should  proceed  to  hostilities.  The 
declaration  of  the  people  was,  that  we  should 
not :  and  so  strong  was  that  declaration,  that 
it  silenced  and  awed  the  minister  with  his 
triumphant  majority.  What  was  the  conse- 
quence 3  That  the  people  of  England  were 
at  this  moment  paying  the  expense  of  an 
armament  for  which  they  never  gave  their 
consent ;  and  as  far  as  that  goes,  they  pay 
their  money  for  not  being  represented,  and 
because  their  sentiments  were  not  spoken 
withm  the  walls  of  that  house.  It  was  the 
doctrine  of  implicit  confidence  ui  the  minis- 
ter, that  disgusted  the  people ;  a  confidence 
not  given  to  hun  Irom  the  experience  of  his 
probity  and  talents,  but  merely  because  he 
was  minister :  and  whatever  calamities  he 
may  bring  upon  the  country,  no  inquiry  into 
his  conduct  will  be  granted."  Sheridan 
among  other  arguments  in  favor  of  reform, 
observed,  "that  sixty  or  seventy  peerages 
had  been  created  under  the  present  admin- 
istration, for  no  distinguished  abilities,  for 
no  public  services,  but  merely  for  their  in- 
terest in  returning  members  to  parliament. 
Here  peerages  had  been  bartered  for  elec- 
tion interest ;  in  the  sister  kingdom  they  had 
been  all  but  proved  to  have  been  put  up  to 
auction  for  money.  The  minister  failing  in 
his  proposition  of  adding  one  hundred  mem- 
bers to  the  house  of  commons,  had  almost 
added  as  many  to  the  house  of  peers."  Sher- 
idan remarked,  "  that  an  honorable  gentle- 
man (Powis)  had  called  upon  all  who  thought 
as  he  did,  to  protest  against  the  measure. 
In  this  he  had  done  wisely ;  for  to  protest 
was  easier  than  to  argue." 

ROYAL  PROCLAMATION  AGAINST  SEDI- 
TIOUS WRITINGS. 
The  consternation  of  the  ministers  evi- 
dently appeared  by  a  royal  proclamation  al- 
most immediately  issued  against  the  public 
dispersion  of  all  seditious  writings,  and 
igainst  all  illegal  correspondencies,  exhort- 
ing the  magistrates  to  vigilance,  and  the 
people  to  submission  and  obedience.  This 
proclamation  being  laid  before  the  house. 
May  the  twenty-fifth,  and  an  address  moved 
of  approbation  and  support,  it  was  warmly 
opposed  by  Grey,  and  the  proclamation  itself 
condemned  in  severe  terms,  as  an  insidious 
and    pernicious    measure.     Grey   declared 


"  that  he  scarcely  knew  how  to  express  him- 
self upon  it ;  because  he  hardly  could  dis- 
tinguish whether  the  sentiments  which  gave 
birth  to  it  were  more  impotent  or  malicioua 
He  mentioned  the  association  of  the  Friends 
of  the  People,  and  complained  that  the  min- 
ister, apprehensive  of  its  effects,  had  con- 
certed this  measure,  with  an  insidious  view 
of  separating  those  who  had  been  long  con- 
nected. No  man  was  ever  more  delighted 
with  these  sinister  practices  than  the  right 
honorable  gentleman — he,  whose  whole  po- 
litical life  was  a  constant  tissue  of  inconsis- 
tency, of  assertion  and  retraction — he,  who 
never  proposed  a  measure  without  intending 
to  delude  his  hearer ;  who  promised  every- 
thing and  performed  nothing;  who  never 
kept  his  word  with  the  public  ;  who  studied 
all  the  parts  of  captivating  popularity,  with- 
out even  intending  to  deserve  it ;  and  who, 
from  the  first  step  of  his  political  life,  was  a 
complete  public  apostate."  He  remarked,  as 
one  of  the  objects  of  this  proclamation,  "  that 
the  king's  officers,  his  commissioners  of  the 
peace,  and  his  magistrates  were  to  make 
diligent  inquiry  in  order  to  discover  the  au- 
thors and  publishers  of  wicked  and  seditious 
writings.  In  other  words,  a  system  of  espi- 
onage was  to  take  place  by  order  of  the 
crown.  The  very  idea  was  surprising  as 
well  as  odious,  that  a  proclamation  should 
issue  from  the  sovereign  of  a  fi-ee  people, 
commanding  such  a  system  to  be  supported 
by  spies  and  informers." 

Pitt  expressed  his  respect  for  many  of  the 
members  of  the  association  in  question,  de- 
claring, "  that  he  difiered  from  them  only  in 
regard  to  the  time  and  mode  which  they 
had  adopted  for  the  attainment  of  their  ob- 
ject. The  association  of  the  friends  of  the 
people,"  he  said,  "  did  not  come  within  the 
scope  and  purview  of  the  proclamation, 
which  was  levelled  against  the  daring  and 
seditious  prmciples  which  had  been  so  in- 
sidiously propagated  amongst  the  people, 
under  the  plausible  and  delusive  appellation 
of  the  rights  of  man."  The  address  was 
finally  carried  without  a  division,  and  receiv- 
ing the  concurrence  of  the  upper  house,  was 
presented  in  form  to  the  king.  It  was  fol- 
lowed by  addresses  from  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom ;  and  the  ministry,  finding  their 
strength,  commenced  prosecutions  against  a 
vast  number  of  offenders,  amongst  whom 
Thomas  Paine  stood  most  conspicuous,  and 
was  found  guilty  of  the  charge ;  but  fore- 
seeing the  probability  of  this  event,  he  had 
previously  absconded  to  France. 

STATEMENT  OF  THE  REVENUES  OF 
INDIA. 

On  the  fifth  of  June,  Dundas  brought  for- 
ward his  statement  of  the  revenue  and 
finances  of  India ;  and  by  an  intricate  de- 
duction of  figures,  he  attempted  to  prove 


356 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  surplus  of  the  Bengal  revenue  for  the 
preceding  year  to  be  no  less  than  eleven 
hundred  thousand  pounds.  The  flourishing 
state  of  the  revenue  was,  however,  remark- 
ed by  Francis  to  be  not  precisely  the  same 
thing  with  the  flourishing  state  of  the  coun- 
try, which  might  be  ill  able  to  bear  the 
weight  of  these  impositions.  The  seizures 
for  non-payment  of  the  land  revenue  were, 
he  said,  most  alarmingly  notorious :  and  he 
held  in  his  hand,  at  that  moment,  two  Ben- 
gal advertisements,  the  one  announcing  the 
sale  of  seventeen  villages,  the  other  of  for- 
ty-two. The  rest  of  the  debate  consisted 
chiefly  in  desultory  conversation  concerning 
the  Indian  war.  As  that  subject,  however, 
soon  afterwards  assumed  a  new  aspect,  by 
the  fortunate  termination  effected  by  lord 
Cornwallis,  a  detail  of  the  principal  events 
of  the  war,  from  its  commencement  to  the 
peace  concluded  in  March  1792,  has  there- 
tore  a  strong  claim  on  attention. 

WAR  WITH  TIPPOO  SAIB. 

The  actual  commencement  of  hostilities 
may  be  dated  from  the  engagement  between 
the  troops  of  the  rajah  of  Travancore,  sta- 
tioned at  Cranganore  for  the  defence  of  that 
fortress,  with  those  of  Tippoo  Sultan,  on  the 
first  of  May  1790.  This  event,  which  was 
expected  by  our  government,  and  probably 
concerted  with  them,  was  the  signal  for  a 
most  vigorous  preparation  for  war  on  the 
part  of  tlie  British.  The  grand  Carnatic 
army  assembled  immediately  in  the  south- 
ern provinces.  The  general  plan  of  the 
campaign  was  to  reduce  the  Coimbettore 
country,  and  all  the  adjacent  territory  which 
lay  below  the  Gauts,  or  narrow  passes  be- 
tween the  mountains,  and  to  advance  by  the 
Gujelhetty  Pass  to  the  siege  of  Seringapa- 
tam,  the  metropolis  of  Mysore.  While  such 
were  to  be  the  operations  of  the  grand  army 
under  general  Meadows,  the  Bombay  army, 
under  general  Abercrombie,  was  to  under- 
take the  reduction  of  the  country  lying  to 
the  west  of  the  Gauts,  and  afterwards  to  co- 
operate with  the  main  army,  as  circum- 
stances might  direct.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
safety  of  the  Carnatic  was  secured  by  a 
force  under  colonel  Kelly,  and  styled,  from 
its  position,  the  centre  army,  being  stationed 
in  the  line  between  Madras  and  the  passes 
leading  to  Mysore.  The  Poonah  Mahrattas 
and  the  Nizam,  were  respectively  to  pene- 
trate the  enemy's  territory  in  the  quarter 
liordering  upon  theirs ;  and  Seringapatam 
was  established  as  the  common  centre, 
wh'^re  the  whole  force  was  to  appear  in  a 
collective  body. 

The  reduction  of  Cannanore  was  general 
Abercrombie's  first  object ;  and  that  having 
been  effected,  he  entered  the  kingdom  of 
Mysore — which,  notwithstanding  the  pre- 
tended oppression  of  the  government,  exhib- 


ited everywhere  marks  of  the  highest  cul- 
tivation and  prosperity.  The  sultan  defend- 
ing himself  with  great  resolution,  and  no 
mean  display  of  military  skill,  general  Mea- 
dows found  himself  under  the  necessity  of 
retreating  to  the  vicinity  of  Madras ;  where, 
in  the  month  of  December  1790,  lord  Corn- 
wallis assumed  the  command  of  the  army 
in  person. 

The  plan  of  the  war  was  now  considera- 
bly changed,  and  a  grand  efll)rt  resolved  on, 
to  force  a  passage  to  Seringapatam  through 
the  country  lying  directly  westward  of  Ma- 
dras. On  the  twenty-second  of  February,  the 
army  had  marched  beyond  the  Pass  of  Mug- 
lee  without  interruption  ;  and  on  the  twen- 
ty-fourth, lord  Cornwallis  proceeded  to  Ban- 
galore. After  three  days'  march,  some  par- 
ties of  the  enemy's  horse  were  discovered, 
which  increased  as  the  army  advanced  ;  and 
before  the  British  reached  within  eighteen 
miles  of  Bangalore,  they  burnt  all  the  adja- 
cent villages,  and  destroyed  the  forage. 
When  advanced  within  ten  miles,  the  sul- 
tan's army  appeared  in  excellent  order,  and 
having  taken  possession  of  the  heights,  can- 
nonaded the  British  rear,  while  his  cavalry 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on  the  bag- 
gage. The  British  general  encamped  before 
Bangalore  on  the  fifth  of  March.  On  the 
same  day  colonel  Floyd,  being  dispatched 
with  part  of  the  cavalry  to  reconnoitre,  was 
tempted  to  attack  Tippoo's  rear,  which  at 
first  appeared  to  give  way,  but  being  quick- 
ly reinforced,  the  enemy  soon  rallied,  and 
compelled  the  colonel  to  retreat.  On  the 
following  day,  the  Petta,  or  town,  was  storm- 
ed and  taken,  with  the  loss  of  one  hundred 
men.  On  the  twelfth,  three  batteries  were 
opened  on  the  fort,  but  they  were  too  distant 
to  effect  a  breach :  on  the  sixteenth,  there- 
fore, a  new  battery  of  nine  guns  was  open- 
ed at  five  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the 
works.  On  the  twenty-first  the  fort  was 
stormed  and  taken,  with  little  loss  to  the 
British,  but  with  a  dreadful  carnage  of  the 
unresisting  garrison :  not  less  than  one  thou- 
sand were  massacred  with  the  bayonet,  and 
three  hundred,  mostly  wounded,  were  taken 
prisoners. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  May,  the  army,  by 
extraordinary  exertions,  arrived  in  view  cf 
the  superb  capital  of  Mysore,  defended  by 
the  sultan  in  person :  such  were  the  rapid 
movements  of  lord  Cornwallis,  that  Tippoo 
had  only  reached  the  place  four  days  be- 
fore his  lordship  came  in  sight.  On  the 
next  day  an  action  took  place,  in  which  Tip- 
poo was  said  to  be  defeated  ;  though  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  sustained  any  very  con- 
siderable loss.  The  swelling  of  the  river 
Cavery,  which  surrounds  Seringapatam,  to- 
gether with  the  want  of  provisions,  com- 
pelled lord  Cornwallis  to  begin  his  retreat 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


357 


to  Bangalore,  almost  before  his  victory  could 
be  announced.  General  Abercrombie,  who 
had  advanced  through  the  Gauts  on  the  op- 
posite side,  with  a  view  to  form  a  junction 
with  lord  Cornwallis,  was  now  also  obliged 
to  lead  back  his  army,  fatigued,  harassed, 
and  disappointed,  over  the  mountains  they 
had  so  lately,  and  with  such  difficulty,  passed. 
During  these  transactions,  the  troops  of  the 
Nizam  and  the  Mahrattas  kept  distinctly 
aloof,  leaving  the  burden  of  the  war  almost 
entirely  to  the  British.  While  the  army 
lay  encamped  near  Seringapatam,  a  present 
of  fruit  was  sent  from  Tippoo  to  lord  Corn- 
wallis, and  some  overtures  for  a  separate 
peace :  the  present  was  however  returned, 
with  an  assurance  to  the  sultan,  that  no  peace 
could  be  accepted  that  did  not  include  the 
allies.  Notwithstanding  this  disappointment, 
so  solicitous  was  Tippoo  for  peace,  that  lord 
Cornwallis  had  scarcely  reached  Bangalore, 
when  a  vakeel  arrived  with  full  powers  to 
treat ;  but  owing,  it  is  said,  to  some  infor- 
mality in  point  of  etiquette,  rather  than  to 
any  dislike  of  the  object  of  his  mission,  all 
negotiation  W£is  suspended. 

Though  this  campaign  was  not  attended 
with  the  success  expected,  the  next,  for 
which  lord  Cornwallis  made  unremitting 
preparations,  opened  under  more  favorable 
auspices.  Early  in  February  1792,  the  east- 
ern and  western  armies,  resuming  their 
former  plan  of  operations,  effected  a  junc- 
tion under  the  walls  of  Seringapatam:  the 
forces  of  the  Peishwa  and  of  the  Nizam  en- 
camping also  at  a  small  distance,  and  fur- 
nishing to  the  British  army  a  plentiful  sup- 
ply of  stores  and  provisions.  The  sultan 
was  strongly  posted  to  receive  them :  his 
front  line,  or  fortified  camp,  which  was 
situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  Cavery, 
behind  a  strong  bound  hedge,  was  defended 
by  heavy  cannon  in  the  redoubts,  and  by  his 
field  train  and  army  stationed  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. In  the  front  there  appeared  at 
least  a  hundred  pieces  of  cannon,  and  in  the 
\  fort  and  island,  which  formed  his  second 
line,  there  were  three  times  that  number. 

The  British  commander  did  not  suffer  his 
troops  to  enjoy  a  long  repose  in  this  station ; 
for,  on  the  sixth  of  February,  general  orders 
were  issued,  directing  an  attack  upon  the 
enemy's  camp  and  lines  that  evening  at 
seven  o'clock.  The  right  division,  consist- 
mg  of  three  thousand  three  hundred  infantry, 
was  commanded  by  general  Meadows ;  the 
centre,  consisting  of  three  thousand  seven 
hundred,  by  lord  Cornwallis  in  person ;  and 
the  left,  which  only  amounted  to  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred,  by  lieutenant-colonel 
Maxwell.  At  eight  o'clock  the  whole  body 
was  under  arms;  the  evening  was  calm  and 
serene ;  and  the  troops  moved  on  by  the 
light  of  the  moon  in  awful  silence.    Between 


the  hours  of  ten  and  eleven  at  night,  the 
centre  column,  within  a  mile  of  the  bound 
hedge,  met  the  enemy's  grand  guard,  or  body 
of  cavalry,  who  were  coming  with  rockets, 
&c.  to  disturb  the  British  camp.  Perceiv- 
ing themselves  now  completely  discovered, 
the  column  advanced  with  uncommon  ra- 
pidity, and  entered  the  lines  in  less  than  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  intelligence 
could  have  reached  the  enemy.  The  right 
column  met  with  greater  obstructions ;  for 
being  led  to  a  more  distant  point  than  wa8 
intended  by  lord  Cornwallis,  it  was  consider- 
ably later  in  reaching  the  hedge  than  the 
centre  column.  The  battle,  however,  be- 
came general  throughout  the  enemy's  lines 
about  eleven,  and  continued  till  daybreak, 
when  the  British  had  completely  disconcerted 
the  sultan's  position,  and  obtained  other  sig- 
nal advantages.  The  battle  was  continued 
in  different  parts  during  the  whole  of  the 
seventh.  The  most  desperate  conflict  took 
place  at  the  sultan's  redoubt,  which  was  de- 
fended by  a  small  party  of  British  under 
major  Kelly,  against  three  vigorous  attacks, 
seconded  by  a  heavy  cannonading  from  the 
forts.  The  enemy  havmg  quitted  every  post 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  the  camp  was 
advanced  on  the  succeeding  days  as  near  to 
the  bound  hedge  as  the  guns  of  the  fort 
would  permit,  and  a  chain  of  connecting 
posts  along  the  northern  and  eastern  sides 
of  the  fort  was  formed,  and  thus  the  capital 
of  Mysore  was  completely  invested  on  its 
two  principal  points. 

TIPPOO  SUES  FOR  PEACE.— GRANTED.— 
TERMS. 

Thus  pressed  in  every  quarter — his  pal- 
ace and  beautiful  gardens  in  possession  of 
the  enemy — ^his  whole  power  reduced  with- 
in the  narrow  limits  of  a  citadel,  the  defence 
of  which  was  even  doubtful — the  hitherto 
unsubdued  spirit  of  the  sultan  seems  to  have 
given  way  with  his  tottering  fortunes,  and 
peace,  upon  almost  any  terms,  was  become  a 
desirable  object.  As  a  preliminary  step  to- 
wardsan  accommodation,  he  released  lieuten- 
ants Chalmers  and  Nash,  who  had  been  taken 
prisoners,  and  on  their  departure  presented 
them  with  two  shawls  and  five  hundred  ru- 
pees. Soon  after  he  dispatched  a  vakeel  to 
the  camp  of  lord  Cornwallis  to  sue  for  peace ; 
which  the  British  general  at  last  granted 
upon  the  severe  terms,  1.  Of  his  ceding  one 
half  of  his  dominions  to  the  allied  powers : 
2.  Of  paying  three  crores  and  thirty  lacks 
of  rupees,  as  an  indemnification  for  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war.  3.  The  release  of  all 
prisoners :  and  4  The  delivery  of  two  of 
his  sons  as  hostages  for  the  due  performance 
of  the  treaty. 

On  the  twenty-sixth  of  February  the  two 
princes,  each  mounted  on  an  elephant,  richly 
caparisoned,  proceeded  from  tlie  fort  to  lord 


358 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Corn  wallis's  camp,  where  they  were  received 
by  his  lordship  with  his  staff.  The  eldest, 
Abul  Kalik,  was  about  ten,  the  youngest, 
Mooza-ud-Deen,  about  eight  years  of  age. 
The  princes  were  attired  in  white  muslin 
robes,  with  red  turbans  richly  adorned  with 
pearls.  Educated  from  infancy  with  the 
utmost  care,  the  spectators  were  astonished 
to  behold  in  these  children  all  the  reserve, 
the  politeness,  and  attention  of  maturer 
years.  The  kindness  with  which  they  were 
received  by  the  British  commander,  appeared 
to  afford  them  the  highest  satisfaction.  Some 
presents  were  exchanged  on  both  sides,  and 
the  whole  transaction  exhibited  a  scene  at 
once  peculiarly  novel,  pleasing,  and  interest- 
ing. On  the  nineteenth  of  March  1792,  the 
definitive  treaty,  signed  by  the  sultan,  was 
delivered  by  the  young  princes,  with  great 
solemnity,  into  the  hands  of  lord  Cornwallis ; 
but  the  sums  specified  in  the  second  article 
not  being  actually  paid,  the  princes  remained 
for  some  time  longer  under  the  safeguard 
and  custody  of  his  lordship. 

Thus,  fortunately  for  Britain,  terminated 
a  war,  which,  perhaps,  had  neither  solid 
justice  for  its  foundation,  nor  sound  policy 


for  its  object.  The  benefits  we  may  yet 
communicate  to  the  natives  of  India,  remain 
for  time  to  discover ;  but  certain  it  is,  the 
past  history  of  that  country  but  too  fully 
proves,  that  in  those  regions  the  British 
name  has  been  too  often  dishonored,  and  our 
footsteps  too  often  marked  with  blood.  If 
an  influx  of  wealth  is  the  sole  advantage  to 
be  reaped  from  the  extent  and  security  of 
our  eastern  dominions,  the  views  of  the 
statesman  will  be  probably  answered.  If 
our  power  is  made  subservient  to  the  civili- 
zation and  intellectual  improvement  of  the 
natives,  the  philosopher  will  exult  in  our 
conquests.  If  a  renovation  in  the  moral  and 
religious  condition  of  the  people  is  produced, 
even  the  Christian  will  rejoice  in  our  victo- 
ries. Let  us  then  hope  that  a  system  of  In- 
dian politics,  founded  on  justice  and  equity, 
will  be  adopted  and  pursued,  till  science  has 
illumined  the  inhabitants  of  those  delightful 
climates ;  till  freedom  has  erected  her  stand- 
ard on  the  ruins  of  despotism  ;  and  till  the 
affection  of  the  people  for  the  British  name 
supersedes  the  use  of  arms,  and  the  havoc, 
ruin,  and  calamities  of  war. 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


359 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


Dr.  Price's  Sermon  on  the  Love  of  our  Country,  before  the  Revolution  Society — Ad- 
dress of  Congratulation  to  the  National  Assembly  of  France  from  the  Society — 
Burke's  celebrated  Pamphlet  well  received  by  the  Tory  Faction — Answered  by 
Thomas  Paine — Effects  produced  by  the  publication  of  the  Rights  of  Man — Official 
Complaint  by  the  French  Ambassador — The  King  of  the  French  solicits  tJie  friendly 
Offices  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  to  preserve  tJie  Peace  of  Europe — Declined  by  the 
British  Cabinet — Manifestoes  against  France — Deposition  of  the  King  of  the  French 
— The  British  Ambassador  leaves  Paris — Multitudes  of  French  Priests  arrive  in 
England — National  Convention  of  France  constituted— Dr.  Priestley  and  Thomas 
Paine  chosen  Members — Addresses  of  the  English  Society  at  Paris  to  the  National 
Convention — The  Convention  pass  the  famous  Decree  of  Fraternization — The  Eng- 
lish Government  offers  Assistance  to  Holland — Refused — Artifices  used  to  inflame 
the  Passions  of  the  People  against  the  French — Proclamations  for  calling  out  the 
Miiitiay  and  for  assembling  Parliament. 


DR.  PRICE'S  SERMON  ON  THE  LOVE  OF 
OUR  COUNTRY. 

As  we  are  now  approaching  a  calamitous 
period,  when  England  was  destined  to  in- 
terfere in  the  affairs  of  France ;  and  from 
an  honorable  and  prosperous  neutrality,  to 
become  the  principal  in  a  war  which  has 
deluged  the  continent  in  blood ;  this  is  per- 
haps the  most  proper  place  to  review  the 
causes  which  eventually  involved  this  na- 
tion in  the  contest. 

In  order  to  trace  to  their  source  the  trou- 
bles and  dissensions  which  convulsed  this 
country  in  the  latter  months  of  1792,  it  is 
necessary  to  revert  to  the  anniversary  meet- 
ing of  the  revolution  society  held  in  the 
metropolis  on  the  fifth  of  November  1789. 
On  that  day,  a  sermon  was  preached  before 
the  members  by  Dr.  Price,  on  "  the  love  of 
our  country."  In  this  discourse,  the  primary 
principles  of  government  were  stated  in  a 
mode  which  the  sanction  of  a  century  had 
rendered  familiar  to  Englishmen;  and  the 
great  doctrines  of  liberty  inculcated.  "  The 
improvement  of  the  world  depended,"  as  the 
preacher  affirmed,  "  on  the  attention  given 
by  men  to  this  topic.  Nor  will  mankind  be 
ever  as  virtuous  and  happy  as  they  are  ca- 
pable of  being,  till  the  attention  to  it  be- 
comes universal  and  efficacious.  If  we  for- 
get it,  we  shall  be  in  danger  of  an  idolatry 
as  gross  and  stupid  as  that  of  the  ancient 
heathens,  who,  after  fabricating  blocks  of 
wood  or  stone,  fell  down  and  worshipped 
them."  At  the  conclusion  of  this  discourse, 
in  expatiating  on  the  friendly  aspect  of  the 
present  times  to  all  exertions  in  the  cause 
of  liberty,  he  broke  out  into  the  following 
eloquent  exclamation.  "  What  an  eventful 
period  is  tliisi  I  am  thankful  that  I  have 
lived  to  it :  and  I  could  almost  say,  '  Lord ! 
now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace, 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation.'     I 


have  lived  to  see  a  diffiision  of  knowledge 
which  has  undermined  superstition  and 
error :  I  have  lived  to  see  the  rights  of  men 
better  understood  than  ever,  and  nations 
panting  for  liberty  which  seemed  to  have 
lost  the  idea  of  it.  I  have  lived  to  see  thirty 
millions  of  people  indignantly  and  resolutely 
spurning  at  slavery,  and  demanding  liberty 
with  an  irresistible  voice ;  their  kmg  led  in 
triumph,  and  an  arbitrary  monarch  surren- 
dering himself  to  his  subjects.  After  sharing 
in  the  benefits  of  one  revolution,  I  have 
been  spared  to  be  a  witness  to  two  other 
revolutions,  both  glorious;  and  now  me- 
thinks  I  see  the  ardor  for  liberty  catching 
and  spreading,  and  a  general  amendment 
beginning  in  human  affairs — the  dominion 
of  kings  changed  for  the  dominion  of  laws, 
and  the  dominion  of  priests  giving  way  to 
the  dominion  of  reason  and  conscience.  Be 
encouraged,  all  ye  friends  of  freedom,  and 
writers  in  its  defence  !  The  times  are  aus- 
picious. Your  labors  have  not  been  in  vain. 
Behold  kingdoms,  admonished  by  you,  start- 
ing from  sleep,  breaking  their  fetters,  and 
claiming  justice  from  their  oppressors !  Be- 
hold the  light  you  have  struck  out,  after 
setting  America  free,  reflected  to  France, 
and  there  kindled  uito  a  blaze,  that  lays  des- 
potism in  ashes,  and  warms  and  illuminates 
Europe !" 

ADDRESS  OF  CONGRATULATION  TO  THE 

NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY. 

Impressed  with  these  sentiments,    the 

society,  whose  numbers  on  this  occasion  far 

exceeded  those  of  any  former  anniversary, 

unanimously  resolved,  on  the  motion  of  Dr. 

Price,  to  offer,  in  a  formal  address,  "  their 

congratulations  to  the  national  assembly,  on 

the  event  of  the  late  glorious  revolution  ir 

France."    This  being  transmitted  by  their 

chairman,  lord  Stanhope,  to  the  duke  de  la 

1  Rochefocault,  and  laid  by  that  distinguished 


360 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


nobleman  before  the  assembly,  was  received 
with  loud  acclamations.  "  It  belonged," 
said  the  duke  de  la  Rochefocault,  in  his  re- 
ply, "  to  Dr.  Price,  the  apostle  of  liberty,  to 
propose  a  motion  tending  to  pay  to  liberty 
the  fairest  homage — that  of  national  preju- 
dices. In  that  address  is  seen  the  dawn  of 
a  glorious  day,  in  which  two  adverse  nations 
shall  contract  an  intimate  union,  founded  on 
the  similarity  of  their  opinions,  and  their 
common  enthusiasm  for  liberty."  Also  the 
archbishop  of  Aix,  president  of  the  national 
assembly,  transmitted  to  lord  Stanhope,  in  a 
manner  the  most  polite  and  flattering,  the 
vote  of  the  assembly,  relative  to  the  address, 
stating  "  that  the  assembly  was  deeply  affect- 
ed with  this  extraordinary  proof  of  esteem, 
and  directing  the  president  to  express  to  the 
revolution  society,  the  lively  sensibility  with 
which  the  national  assembly  had  received 
an  address,  breathing  those  sentiments  of 
humanity  and  universal  benevolence,  that 
ought  to  unite  together  in  all  countries  of 
the  world  the  true  friends  of  liberty,  and 
the  happiness  of  mankind." 

BURKE'S  CELEBRATED  PAMPHLET. 

In  the  month  of  February  following, 
Burke  uttered  his  first  furious  invective 
against  the  French  revolution  in  the  house 
of  commons,  and,  transported  with  rage 
and  rancor  at  the  high  degree  of  prosperity 
it  had  now  attained,  published,  a  few  months 
after  this  memorable  speech,  a  book  entitled 
"Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution," 
written  with  great  force  of  eloquence  and 
energy  of  declamation.  The  object  of  this 
elaborate  treatise  was  two-fold : — 1.  To  ex- 
pose to  the  public  resentment  and  indigna- 
tion, those  persons  who  had  in  this  country 
manifested  their  approbation  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  France :  and,  2.  To  place  that  revo- 
lution itself  in  an  odious  and  execrable  light, 
as  an  event  to  be  deplored,  detested,  and  de- 
precated. With  the  most  atrocious  and  un- 
exampled malignity,  he  invites  and  exhorts 
all  Christian  princes  (in  the  appendix  to  this 
work)  to  make,  what  he  styles,  "  a  common 
cause  with  a  just  prince,  dethroned  by  rebels 
and  traitors."  The  deluded  people  of  France, 
to  be  rescued  from  the  evils  they  had  brought 
upon  themselves,  must,  as  he  affirmed,  be 
subdued :  and  he  intimates  that  this  war,  or 
crusade,  is  to  be  conducted  on  principles 
different  from  any  former  one.  "  The  mode 
of  civilized  war,"  says  he,  "will  not  be 
practised;  they  must  look  for  no  modified 
hostility;  all  which  is  not  battle  will  be 
military  execution."  The  members  of  the 
revolution  society,  and  the  other  commem- 
orators  of  the  French  revolution,  he  inveighs 
against  in  terms  of  the  most  unqualified 
abuse;  and  he  charges  Dr.  Price,  in  par- 
ticular, with  having  fulminated  in  his  revo- 
/Vtion  sermon,  principles  little  short  of  trea- 


son and  rebellion.  "His  doctrines,"  says 
Burke,  "  affect  our  constitution  in  its  vital 
parts.  Nothing  can  be  more  untrue,  than 
that  the  crown  of  this  realm  is  held  by  his 
majesty  by  the  choice  of  the  people.  Whilst 
the  legal  conditions  of  the  compact  of  sove- 
reignty are  performed,  he  holds  his  crown 
in  contempt  of  their  choice."  According  to 
this  novel  and  extraordinary  mode  of  reason- 
ing, in  conforming  his  conduct  to  the  condi- 
tions of  the  national  choice,  he  reigns  in  ac- 
tual contempt  of  their  choice. 

From  the  date  of  the  fatal  publication  of 
Burke,  who  seemed  ambitious  to  signalize 
himself  by  setting  not  merely  a  kingdom, 
but  the  world  itself  on  fire,  the  nation  was 
divided  into  two  violent  and  openly  hostile 
parties.  The  tory  faction,  which  had  hith- 
erto scarcely  dared  to  whisper  their  dislike, 
now,  under  the  sanction  of  Burke's  authority, 
became  bold  and  clamorous  in  their  Tocife- 
rations.  The  principles  advanced  by  Burke, 
ever  grateful  to  the  ear  of  princes,  at  once 
obliterated  all  his  past  offences,  and  placed 
him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  favorites  and 
courtiers.  It  is  true,  that  the  approbation 
of  the  minister  and  his  intimate  adherents, 
was  at  first  cautiously  bestowed  on  Burke's 
novel  and  daring  doctrines ;  but  as  the  crisis 
approached,  when  the  public  mind  was  bet- 
ter prepared  for  the  declaration  of  theii  sen- 
timents, they  were  more  open  and  unequivo- 
cal in  this  encouragement  of  the  anti^alli- 
can  orator. 

ANSWERED  BY  THOMAS  PAINE-EFFECTS 
PRODUCED  BY  HIS  RIGHTS  OF  MAN. 
This  extraordinary  production  gave  rise 
to  numberless  replies,  of  which  by  far  the 
most  memorable  was  that  written  by  Thomas 
Paine,  the  author  of  the  famous  pamphlet 
styled  Common  Sense,  which,  by  its  effect 
on  the  minds  of  the  people  of  America,  at 
a  most  important  crisis,  prepared  the  way 
for  the  declaration  of  independency.  His 
present  work,  Rights  of  Man,  was  written 
with  no  less  power  of  intellect  and  force  of 
language.  Not  content  with  pointing  out 
and  exposing  the  absurdities,  paradoxes,  and 
misrepresentations  of  Burke — not  content 
with  painting,  in  striking  colors,  the  abuses 
and  corruptions  of  the  existing  government ; 
he,  with  daring  and  unhallowed  hand,  at- 
tacked the  principles  of  the  constitution  it- 
self— describing  it  as  radically  vicious  and 
tyrannical ;  and  reprobating  the  introduction 
of  aristocracy  or  monarchy,  under  whatever 
modifications,  into  any  form  of  government, 
as  a  flagrant  usurpation  and  invasion  of  the 
unalienable  rights  of  man.  "  When  we  sur- 
vey," says  this  writer,  "  the  wretched  con- 
dition of  man  under  the  monarchical  and 
hereditary  systems  of  government,  dragged 
from  his  home  by  one  power,  or  driven  by 
another,  and  impoverished  by  taxes  more 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


361 


than  by  enemies;  it  becomes  evident  that 
those  systems  are  bad,  and  that  a  general 
revolution  in  the  principle  and  construction 
of  governments  is  necessary."  Paine  shortly 
after  produced  a  second  part,  combining 
principle  and  practice,  in  which  the  vices, 
defects,  and  imperfections  of  the  British 
government  are  examined  with  a  still  more 
critical  severity,  and  the  constitution  attack- 
ed and  ridiculed  with  redoubled  virulence. 

These  works  unfortunately  appearing  at 
a  time,  when  a  large  proportion  of  the  com- 
munity, and  those  too  the  most  zealously 
attached  to  liberty,  were,  from  causes  al- 
ready specified,  in  a  state  of  great  irritation 
and  discontent ;  and  the  books,  notwithstand- 
ing their  absurd  and  mischievous  political 
positions,  being  written  in  a  style  and  man- 
ner which  "  came  home  to  men's  business 
and  bosoms,"  innumerable  converts  were 
made  to  their  general  system ;  and  such 
were  the  pains  taken  to  circulate  them 
amongst  the  body  of  the  people,  that  fifty 
thousand  copies  were  in  a  short  time  sold. 
Political  associations  were  also  instituted  in 
every  part  of  the  kingdom,  professing  to 
have  in  view  the  reform  of  the  constitution, 
many  of  which  were,  not  without  reason, 
suspected  of  carrying  their  views  much  far- 
ther. Such  were  the  lamentable  conse- 
quences resulting  from  the  rashness  and 
folly  of  Burke,  whose  boasted  panacea  ope- 
rated upon  the  body  politic  as  a  most  deadly 
poison;  and  served  to  prove  that  learning 
and  eloquence  may  subsist  in  the  highest 
perfection,  without  being  accompanied  with 
a  single  particle  of  wisdom. 

Though  the  immense  circulation  of  Paine's 
books  was  a  matter  of  public  notoriety,  yet, 
such  was  the  inattention  of  government, 
that  for  upwards  of  a  year  not  a  single  pro- 
cess haxi  been  instituted  against  publisher, 
printer,  or  seller  of  these  alarming  and  li- 
bellous doctrines.  At  length,  however,  when 
they  had  operated  their  full  mischief,  and 
the  fervor  of  the  first  proselytism  had  abated, 
the  attorney-general  filed  an  information 
against  Thomas  Paine  in  the  Easter  term 
of  1792. 

OFFICIAL  COMPLAINT  BY  THE  FRENCH 
AMBASSADOR. 

The  proclamation  against  the  publication 
and  sale  of  seditious  writings,  having  inti- 
mated a  belief,  that  "  correspondencies  had 
been  entered  into  with  sundry  persons  in 
foreign  parts,"  obviously  alluding  to  France ; 
Chauvelin,  who  had  but  a  few  weeks  before 
arrived  here  in  the  capacity  of  French  am 
bassador,  presented  immediately  an  official 
declaration  to  lord  Grenville,  in  which  he 
complained  that  certain  expressions  in  the 
proclamation  appeared  to  give  credit  to  the 
erroneous  opinions  propagated  by  the  ene- 
mies of  France,  both  as  to  the  hostile  inten- 

VoL.  IV.  31 


tions  of  Great  Britain  towards  France,  and 
the  treacherous  designs  of  France  to  pro- 
mote sedition  and  confusion  in  the  kingdom 
of  Great  Britain :  it  was  expressive  of  the 
most  pacific  and  honorable  dispositions  of 
France  towards  this  country,  and  produced 
an  answer  from  lord  Grenville,  that  breathed 
the  strongest  sentiments  of  peace  and  amity, 
with  an  unequivocal  engagement  from  our 
king,  directly  and  positively  to  maintain  the 
treaty  of  navigation  and  commerce  existing 
between  the  two  nations.  As  it  was  gene- 
rally suspected  in  France,  that  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  had  entered  into  the  league 
of  Pilnitz,  and  was  in  secret  alliance  with 
the  courts  of  Vienna  and  Berlin,  the  answer 
of  lord  Grenville,  when  read  in  the  national 
assembly,  was  received  with  boundless  ap- 
plause, as  a  seasonable  pledge  of  peace,  at 
a  time  when  strong  fears  were  entertained 
of  the  hostile  intentions  of  our  court. 

FRANCE  SOLICITS  THE  OFFICES  OF  BRIT- 
AIN IN  THE  PRESERVATION  OF  PEACE. 
—DECLINED. 

France  had,  on  every  occasion,  since  the 
commencement  of  her  revolution  up  to  this 
period,  expressed  a  constant  and  anxious  so- 
licitude to  preserve  a  good  understanding 
with  this  country.  Nothing  can  be  more 
emphatically  expressive  of  these  sentiments, 
than  the  note  which  M.  de  Chauvelin  pre- 
sented upon  this  subject  to  lord  Grenville, 
in  which,  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace 
of  Europe,  the  king  of  the  French  urges  his 
Britannic  majesty  zealously  to  employ  his 
good  offices  with  his  allies,  to  prevent  them 
from  granting  to  the  enemies  of  France,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  any  assistance. 

The  evasive  answer  of  lord  Grenville  to 
this  official  note,  sufficiently  bespoke  the  ap- 
probation with  which  the  English  govern- 
ment viewed  the  measures  of  its  allies 
against  France.  The  answer  states,  "  That 
the  same  sentiments  which  engaged  his 
Britannic  majesty  not  to  interfere  with  the 
internal  affairs  of  France,  equally  tended  to 
induce  him  to  respect  the  rights  and  inde- 
pendence of  other  sovereigns^  and  particu- 
larly those  of  his  allies."  The  slightest  ol>- 
server  will  perceive  an  obvious  and  import- 
ant diflference  between  the  interference  with 
the  internal  affairs  of  an  independent  state, 
and  the  intermediation  of  a  third  power  to 
conciliate  a  quarrel,  or  prevent  a  rupture 
between  contending  sovereigns.  The  for- 
mer encroaches  upon  the  rights  and  inde- 
pendence of  other  powers, — the  latter  ad- 
mits and  recognizes  both.  If  any  doubts 
should  remain  of  the  truth  of  this  observa- 
tion, it  will  be  completely  removed  by  the 
subsequent  conduct  of  the  British  court. 
MANIFESTOES  AGALNST  FRANCE- 

The  emperor  Leopold  finished  his  phort 
reign  by  a  sudden  death  on  the  first  of  Mq-f  ch 


362 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


1792.  This  event  happened  at  a  most  criti- 
cal moment  Strong  suspicions  were  en- 
tertained of  French  poison,  which  were  soon 
removed  by  the  publication  of  an  authentic 
narrative  of  his  case.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Francis  I.  who  was  proclaimed  em- 
peror at  Frankfort  on  the  fifth  of  July.  The 
tirst  act  of  his  reign  was  to  declare  his  cor- 
dial accession  to  the  treaty  of  Pilnitz ;  and 
from  henceforth  the  courts  of  Vienna  and 
Berlin  joined  in  public  hostilities  against 
France.  The  court  of  Vienna  published  a 
declaration  or  manifesto  of  the  reasons  which 
induced  her  to  take  up  arms  against  France : 
— That  it  depended  on  those  who  reign  at 
present  over  France  to  make  this  concert 
cease  immediately,  by  respecting  the  tran- 
quillity and  rights  of  other  powers,  and  to 
guaranty  the  essential  basis  of  the  French 
monarchical  form  of  government  against  the 
infringements  of  violence  and  anarchy. 

The  king  of  Prussia  published  a  similar 
declaration.  His  manifesto^  however,  was 
more  diffuse  than  that  of  Austria.  These 
manifestoes  of  the  allied  powers  produced  a 
violent  fermentation  at  Paris.  The  country 
was  publicly  declared  to  be  in  danger,  and 
the  most  vigorous  measures  were  immedi- 
ately adopted  to  recruit  the  army  and 
strengthen  the  frontiers,  A  royal  proclama- 
tion was  published,  setting  forth  in  a  strong 
light  the  dangers  to  which  France  was  ex- 
posed. In  consequence  of  this  and  other 
steps  taken  by  the  French  government,  a 
profusion  of  volunteers  of  all  ages  immedi- 
ately poured  down  upon  the  frontiers  with 
the  ardor  of  the  most  frantic  enthusiasm. 

Coblentz  was  at  this  time  the  general 
rendezvous  of  the  French  emigrants.  Here 
they  had  assembled  to  the  number  of  near 
twenty  thousand  ;  and  the  king  of  Prussia, 
on  his  arrival,  was  received  as  the  illustrious 
chief,  under  whose  auspices  they  expected 
tlie  complete  restoration  of  the  ancient  order 
of  things.  The  reigning  duke  of  Brunswick 
had  the  command  of  the  combined  armies 
which  were  destined  for  the  great  enter- 
prise of  invading  France.  But  before  he 
began  his  march  from  Coblentz,  in  order  that 
the  whole  world  might  fully  know  the  views 
and  spirit  of  his  glorious  mission,  he  pub- 
lished a  manifesto  in  his  own  name,  in  which, 
to  a  general  recapitulation  of  the  reasons 
assigned  by  the  emperor  and  the  king  of 
Prussia,  for  combining  their  forces  against 
France,  he  subjoins ;  "  To  these  high  inter- 
ests, is  added  another  important  object,  and 
v;hich  both  sovereigns  have  most  cordially 
in  view,  which  is  to  put  an  end  to  that  anar- 
chy which  prevails  m  the  interior  parts  of 
France  ;  to  put  a  stop  to  the  attacks  made  on 
the  throne  and  the  altar,  and  restore  to  the 
king  his  legitimate  power,"  &c.  Then,  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  two  armies,  he 


disavows  any  pretence  to  enrich  themselves 
by  conquest ;  and  disclaims  any  intention  to 
meddle  with  the  internal  government  of 
France.  But  in  case  of  their  making  any 
resistance  when  summoned  to  surrender,  or 
when  attacked ;  or  of  their  not  preventing 
conflagrations,  murders,  and  pillage ;  or  of 
their  removing  the  king  and  royal  family 
from  Paris ;  or  of  their  attempting  to  force 
or  insult  the  palace  of  the  Thuilleries ;  or  of 
their  offering  the  least  violence  or  outrage 
to  their  majesties  or  the  royal  family :  then 
does  he  fulminate  his  maledictions  upon  the 
devoted  land ;  he  denounces  instant  death  to 
the  rebels  taken  in  arms ;  decapitation  and 
confiscation  to  the  members  of  the  depart- 
ments, districts,  and  municipalities ;  military 
execution  to  the  members  of  the  national 
assembly,  magistrates,  and  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Paris ;  and  total  destruction  to  their 
guilty  city.  Though  this  thundering  men- 
ace seemed  to  threaten  vengeance  awfully 
compendious,  yet  the  duke  of  Brunswick 
was  still  reproached  with  some  afflicting 
qualms  of  lenity ;  and,  in  less  than  forty- 
eight  hours,  he  sent  forth  a  second  manifesto, 
to  confirm  and  heighten  the  terror  of  the 
first,  declaring,  "  that  if,  contrary  to  all  ex- 
pectation, by  the  perfidy  or  baseness  of  some 
inhabitants  of  Paris,  the  king,  the  queen,  or 
any  other  person  of  the  royal  family  should 
be  carried  off'  from  that  city,  all  the  places 
and  towns  whatsoever  which  shall  not  have 
opposed  their  passage,  and  shall  not  have 
stopped  their  proceedings,  shall  incur  the 
same  punishments  as  those  infficted  on  the 
inhabitants  of  Paris,  and  their  route  shall  be 
marked  with  a  series  of  exemplary  punish- 
ments justly  due  to  the  authors  and  abettors 
of  crimes  for  which  there  is  no  remission." 

However  carefully  the  different  parties  to 
the  convention  of  Pilnitz  concealed  their 
secret  stipulations  from  the  eyes  of  curiosity 
and  of  interest ;  yet,  the  faithful  historian 
will  not  lose  sight  of  the  principles  upon 
which  they  professed  to  have  entered  into 
the  confederacy,  and  upon  which  they  suc- 
ceeded in  engaging  this  country,  as  well  as 
most  other  powers  of  Europe,  in  the  fatal  al- 
liance. All  parties  disavowed  the  right, 
and  disclaimed  the  intention  of  interfering 
with  the  internal  government  of  France ; 
and  in  the  same  breath  they  insisted  upon 
the  abolition  of  that  change  in  their  internal 
government  which  the  nation  had  called  for, 
and  which  the  king  himself  had  accepted 
and  confirmed  by  oath. 

The  fatal  folly  of  the  combined  powers, 
who  in  their  proclamations  had  asserted,  that 
the  king  was  not  sincere  in  his  acceptance 
of  the  constitution,  sufficed  for  the  Jacobins, 
to  hold  him  out  to  the  nation  as  combining 
with  foreign  powers  to  reduce  France  by 
force  of  arms,  either  to  a  strange  yoke,  or  to 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


363 


a  worse  than  their  ancient  slavery.  What- 
ever party  in  France  might  have  still  wished 
for  the  re-establishment  of  the  ancient  un- 
qualified power  of  the  crown,  could  not 
avow  tliemselves  abettors  of  the  cause  of 
enemies,  who  were  marching  into  the  king- 
dom in  open  war.  All  those  who  had  sworn 
to  support  the  constitution,  were  by  their 
oath  committed  to  defend  it,  against  those 
who  were  by  force  attempting  to  destroy  it. 
Thus,  by  this  ill-judged  and  fatal  declaration, 
the  real  cause  of  royalty  in  France  was  irre- 
trievably deprived  of  the  possibility  of  any 
open  or  efficient  support. 

DEPOSITION  OF  THE  FRENCH  KING.— THE 
BRITISH  AMBASSADOR  LEAVES  PARIS. 
The  grand  and  fatal  question  of  deposition 
or  forfeiture  stood  for  the  ninth  of  August : 
but  the  extreme  agitation  of  the  public  mind 
would  not  permit  the  subject  to  be  fairly  dis- 
cussed in  the  assembly.  A  detail  of  the  aw- 
ful and  terrific  scenes  of  the  tenth  is  foreign 
from  the  design  of  English  history,  and 
therefore,  it  is  only  necessary  to  state,  that 
in  consequence  of  the  dread  transactions  of 
that  memorable  day,  and  the  virtual  deposi- 
tion of  the  French  monarch,  lord  Gower,  the 
English  ambassador  at  Paris,  received  orders 
from  the  court  of  London  to  quit  the  king- 
dom immediately,  on  the  slight  and  frivolous 
pretext,  that  the  functions  of  royalty  being 
suspended,  his  mission  was  at  an  end.  This 
recall  was  considered  by  the  leading  men  in 
France  as  an  ominous  and  certain  indication 
of  the  enmity  of  the  British  court :  never- 
theless, as  a  demonstration  of  their  modera- 
tion, and  solicitude  for  peace,  Chauvelin  the 
French  ambassador  still  remained  in  London, 
though  from  this  period  unacknowledged  in 
any  public  or  authorized  capacity.  The  re- 
call of  the  English  ambassador  at  this  criti- 
cal moment,  on  the  ground  stated  by  the 
English  court,  seemed  to  imply  that  appoint- 
ments of  this  nature  are  a  mere  matter  of 
form  and  compliment  between  sovereigns; 
but  if  ambassadors  are  considered  in  a  high- 
er and  juster  light,  as  the  necessary  means 
of  intercourse  between  nation  and  nation, 
never  could  the  recall  of  an  ambassador  take 
place  at  a  period  when  his  presence  and 
services  were  more  indispensable. 

MULTITUDES  OF  FRENCH  PRIESTS  AR- 
RIVE  IN  ENGLAND. 
The  execution  of  the  decree  for  banishing 
all  the  nonjuring  clergymen  to  Guiana,  who 
should  not  have  quitted  the  kingdom  in  four- 
teen days  from  its  passing,  poured  thousands 
of  these  unfortunate  exiles  from  Normandy, 
Picardy,  and  Brittany,  upon  our  coasts  of 
Kent  and  Sussex,  Misery  and  distress  are 
at  all  times  a  sufficient  passport  to  English 
humanity ;  and  this  amiable  characteristic 
of  our  countrymen  was  on  this  occasion  most 
eminently  displayed.     Wherever  these  suf- 


ferers appeared,  they  were  welcomed,  rer 
lieved,  and  comforted.  The  old  rivalry  of 
the  two  nations  was  forgotten,  and  our  dif- 
ference from  that  very  religion  for  which 
they  were  persecuted,  was  swallowed  up  in 
a  generous  feeling  for  their  unfortunate  and 
hapless  condition.  Never  was  an  opportu- 
nity of  exercising  heroic  charity  more  eager- 
ly embraced,  nor  benevolence  conferred  with 
more  glowing  sensibility. 

NATIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  FRANCE 
CONSTITUTED.— DR.  PRIESTLEY  AND 
THOMAS  PAINE  DECLARED  MEMBERS. 
On  the  twenty-first  of  September  1792, 
the  national  convention  was  formally  declar- 
ed to  be  constituted,  and  the  second  national 
assembly  was  of  course  dissolved.  "  Thus 
ended,"  says  Brissot,  "  after  a  year's  exist- 
ence, that  stormy  legislature  under  which 
the  public  spirit  made  such  a  rapid  progress, 
and  the  French  nation  marched  with  giant 
strides  towards  a  republic."  From  this  pe- 
riod commenced  what  the  French  term  the 
reign  of  liberty  and  equality ;  but  what  their 
enemies,  in  derision,  call  that  of  anarchy 
and  tyranny.  It  has  been  the  boast  of  the 
French,  to  have  collected  from  every  region 
into  the  national  convention,  whatever  talent 
and  spirit  could  be  found  to  enlighten  the 
intellects,  establish  the  freedom,  and  insure 
the  happiness  of  mankind.  From  this  coun- 
try, they  selected  Dr.  Priestley  and  Thomas 
Paine:  the  former  declined,  the  latter  ac- 
cepted the  nomination.  If  Paine  had  been 
thought  guilty  of  seditious  or  treasonable 
practices  against  the  state ;  and  if  govern- 
ment had  been  desirous  of  checking  the 
progress  of  those  evils,  of  which  they  so 
loudly  complained  in  their  late  proclama- 
tion ;  they  might  certainly  with  ease  have 
prevented  the  avowed  fomenter  of  the  mis- 
chief from  quitting  the  kingdom.  His  elec- 
tion for  the  department  of  Calais,  was  so 
well  known  in  England,  that  the  custom- 
house officers  had  received  early  informa- 
tion of  his  departure  for  France,  and  exam- 
ined his  baggage,  with  that  of  Frost,  for  pro- 
hibited articles,  immediately  on  their  arrival 
at  Dover.  This  ceremony  was  performed 
by  the  collectors  in  a  manner  totally  un- 
known before  in  this  country.  They  exam- 
ined all  their  papers,  sealed  and  unsealed ; 
and  upon  their  urgmg  the  illegality  of  cus- 
tom-house officers  seizing  private  papers, 
which  were  not  things  under  their  cosTii- 
zance — they  replied,  that  they  were  author- 
ized to  do  it  by  the  late  proclamation. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  SOCIETY  AT 
PARIS  TO  THE  CONVENTION. 
If  the  French  were  opposed  by  numerous 
and  powerful  enemies,  they  had  the  consola- 
tion to  know  that  the  friends  of  liberty  in 
every  quarter  of  the  world  rejoiced  in  the 
success  of  their  revolution.    Englishmen  in 


364 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


particular,  ever  alive  to  the  blessings  of  free- 
dom themselves,  took  a  distinguished  and 
sympathetic  part  in  the  struggles  of  France. 
There  had  long  existed  in  Paris  a  society  of 
British  subjects,  Mrho,  upon  receiving  the 
news  of  the  conquest  of  Brabant,  celebrated 
the  joyful  event  in  a  general  and  magnifi- 
cent festival,  and  afterwards  addressed  the 
convention  upon  the  subject.  Some  other 
addresses  from  our  countrymen  were  pre- 
sented to  the  convention  in  congratulation 
of  their  successes.  One  from  the  constitu- 
tional society  of  London,  was  presented  by 
their  deputies,  Joel  Barlow  and  John  Frost, 
who  at  the  same  time  entreated  their  accept- 
ance of  one  thousand  pair  of  shoes,  as  a  pa- 
triotic offering  to  the  brave  soldiers  of  liber- 
ty. As  the  high-flown  terms  of  applause 
and  admiration  contained  in  this  last  address, 
will  be  repeatedly  referred  to  in  the  sequel, 
the  insertion  of  it  in  this  place,  will  as- 
sist the  reader  in  forming  a  just  opinion 
of  a  subsequent  and  important  transaction. 
"  Whilst  foreign  plunderers  ravage  your 
territories,"  say  these  English  addressers, 
"  an  oppressed  part  of  mankind,  forgettmg 
their  own  evils,  are  sensible  only  of  yours, 
and  address  their  fervent  prayers  to  the  God 
of  the  universe,  that  he  may  be  favorable  to 
your  cause,  with  which  their's  is  so  inti- 
mately connected.  Degraded  by  an  oppres- 
sive system  of  inquisition,  the  insensible,  but 
continual  encroachments  of  which  quickly 
deprived  this  nation  of  its  liberty,  and  re- 
duced it  almost  to  that  abject  state  of  slave- 
ry from  which  you  have  so  gloriously  eman- 
cipated yourselves,  five  thousand  English 
citizens,  fired  with  indignation,  have  the 
courage  to  step  forward  to  rescue  their  coun- 
try from  that  opprobrium,  which  has  been 
thrown  on  it  by  the  base  conduct  of  those 
who  are  invested  with  power.  We  see 
with  concern  that  the  elector  of  Hanover 
unites  his  troops  to  those  of  traitors  and  rob- 
bers :  but  the  king  of  England  will  do  well 
to  remember  that  England  is  not  Hanover. 
Should  he  forget  this,  we  will  not  forget  it." 
The  president  of  the  convention,  in  answer 
to  this  address,  used  expressions  full  of  re- 
spect and  complacency.  "  The  sentiments 
of  five  thousand  Britons,"  said  he,  "  devoted 
openly  to  the  cause  of  mankind,  exist  with- 
out doubt,  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  freemen 
in  England."  Copies  of  the  address  were 
ordered  to  be  sent  to  all  the  armies  and  de- 
partments of  the  republic. 

DECREE  OF  FRATERNIZATION. 
The  national  convention  was  now  so  ela- 
ted with  the  amazing  progress  of  their  arms, 
and  so  confident  of  the  propriety  and  recti- 
tude of  every  measure  proposed  for  their 
adoption,  that  they  seem  to  have  thought 
deliberation  a  drudgery,  and  reflection  su- 
perfluous.    In  this  spirit  a  decree  was  pass- 


ed by  acclamation  m  the  assembly,  Novem- 
ber the  nineteenth  1792,  hi  the  following 
terms : — "  The  national  convention  declare, 
in  the  name  of  the  French  nation,  that  they 
will  grant  fraternity  and  assistance  to  all 
those  people  who  wish  to  procure  liberty. 
And  they  charge  the  executive  power  to 
send  orders  to  the  generals  to  give  assist- 
ance to  such  people,  and  to  defend  citizens 
who  have  suffered  and  are  now  suffering  in 
the  cause  of  liberty."  This  famous  decree, 
which  deserved  to  be  considered  in  no  other 
light  than  as  a  magnificent  and  empty  vaunt, 
was  productive  of  very  serious  and  import- 
ant consequences.  Two  other  decrees  of 
the  assembly  also  demand  a  specific  notice : 
the  one  erecting  the  dutchy  of  Savoy  into 
an  eighty-fourth  department  of  the  French 
republic,  contrary  to  a  fundamental  article 
of  the  constitution,  by  which  she  renounced 
all  foreign  conquest ;  the  other,  on"  the  cap- 
ture of  Antwerp,  declaratory  of  the  freedom 
of  navigation  on  the  river  Scheld. 

THE  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  OFFERS  AS- 
SISTANCE TO  HOLLAND— REFUSED. 
It  was  now  that  the  English  government 
began  to  discover  their  alarm  at  the  rapidity 
and  extent  of  the  French  conquests.  Bra- 
bant, Flanders,  and  Liege  had  been  subdued, 
and  seemed  perfectly  disposed  to  fraternize 
with  their  conquerors.  It  was  well  know^n 
that  in  Holland  a  very  considerable  party  of 
malcontents  sought  an  opportunity  oi'  de- 
claring themselves  openly  against  the  prince 
of  Orange.  Lord  Auckland,  the  English 
ambassador,  was  therefore  directed  to  assure 
their  high  mightinesses,  "  that  as  the  theatre 
of  war  was  brought  so  near  to  the  confines 
of  their  republic,  his  Britannic  majesty  was 
both  ready  and  determined  to  execute  with 
the  utmost  good  faith  the  treaty  of  1788." 
The  states,  in  their  answer  to  this  declara- 
tion, professed  the  strongest  belief,  "  that  no 
hostile  intentions  were  conceived  by  any  of 
the  belligerent  powers  against  them."  The 
native  phlegm  of  the  Hollander  begat,  in 
the  more  peaceful  and  steady,  an  aversion 
to  bustle  and  activity :  and  a  rooted  hatred 
of  the  court  party  induced  numbers  to  dis- 
semble the  expectation  of  what  they  most 
ardently  wished.  Hence  the  frequent  and 
jusj,  observation,  that  we  had  officially  forced 
their  high  mightinesses  even  into  a  war 
of  defence,  against  their  obvious  interest  or 
inclination. 

ARTIFICES  OF  MINISTERS  TO  INFLAME 
THE  PEOPLE  AGAINST  THE  FRENCH. 
The  period  was  now  arrived,  when  our 
cabinet  was  determined  to  suppress  no  long- 
er their  approbation  of  the  principles  of  the 
grand  confederacy.  But  it  was  first  requi- 
site to  dispose  the  nation  to  a  proper  acqui- 
escence in  their  measures.  The  multitude 
in  all  countries  act  more  from  feeling  than 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


365 


judgment  Whom  they  hate  or  fear,  they 
eagerly  persecute,  and  are  seldom  delicate 
in  the  means,  when  they  find  the  opportuni- 
ty of  satiating  their  vengeance.  A  supreme 
abhorrence  of  the  French  government  had 
been  two  years  since,  by  Burke,  wickedly, 
but  successfully,  excited  in  this  country. 
The  causes  of  the  deposition  of  the  French 
monarch,  and  the  nature  of  the  provocations 
and  injuries  which  preceded  and  produced 
that  event,  not  being  sufficiently  understood 
in  England,  contributed  also  to  make  an  im- 
pression very  unfavorable  on  the  minds  of 
the  generality  of  the  people :  and  the  horrid 
massacres  of  September  completely  aliena- 
ted their  minds  from  the  revolution,  although 
these  shocking  enormities  could  not  in  any 
rational  sense  be  said  to  originate  in  the  rev 
olution,  but  merely  and  solely  in  the  opposi' 
tion  made  to  its  establishment.  Artful  ad- 
vantage was  taken  of  this  disposition ;  every 
wish,  every  word,  and  every  action,  that  was 
disagreeable  to  ministers,  was  construed  into 
a  dislike  of  the  British  constitution,  and  held 
to  bo  an  almost  unequivocal  proof  of  repub- 
lican and  revolutionary  sentiments.  The 
press  teemed  with  inflammatory  productions, 
and  the  pulpit  rung  with  anathemas  against 
republicans  and  levellers.  Every  measure 
directed  against  the  French,  or  their  admi- 
rers, however  oppressive  and  illegal,  now  be- 
came sanctioned  in  the  object  of  its  direc- 
tion. The  nation  was  on  a  sudden  struck 
with  terror  at  the  idea  of  political  innova- 
tion of  any  kind,  and  the  very  name  of  re- 
form became  the  subject  of  violent  and  in- 
discriminate reprobation.  Under  the  impres- 
sion of  this  furious  prejudice,  an  association 
openly  countenanced  by  government  was 
formed  in  London  for  the  protection  of  lib- 
erty and  property  against  republicans  and 
levellers ;  and  an  innumerable  multitude  of 
pamphlets,  in  the  popular  form  of  letters,  di- 
alogues, and  narratives,  admirably  fitted  to 
inflame  the  passions,  were  by  this  means  cir- 
culated throughout  the  kingdom,  inculcating 
an  unreserved  submission  to  government,  on 
the  old  exploded  principles  of  toryism  and 
high  churchism.  In  one  of  the  most  notori- 
ous of  these  tracts,  it  was  urged,  in  favor  of 
monarchy,  "that  the  king  is  in  scripture 
called  the  Lord's  anointed,  but  who  (say 
these  profound  politicians)  ever  heard  of  an 
anointed  republic  1"  The  rage  of  associa- 
ting spread  rapidly  through  the  kingdom ; 
and  in  every  county,  and  almost  every  town, 
resolutions  were  subscribed  strongly  expres- 
sive of  loyalty  and  attachment  to  the  king 
and  constitution,  and  abhorrence  of  all  lev- 
elling and  republican  doctrines.  The  popu- 
lace entering  with  violence  into  these  senti- 
ments, and  their  passions  being,  by  the 
metJiods  now  put  in  practice,  dangerously 
excited,  the  cry  of  church  and  king  was  vo- 
31* 


ciferated  with  tremendous  clamors  from  the 
Tamar  to  the  Tweed ;  from  the  cliffs  of  Do- 
ver to  the  hills  of  Cheviot 

After  the  British  cabinet  had  made  such 
recent  and  repeated  avowals  of  the  right  of 
France  to  form,  alter,  and  model  its  internal 
government  without  foreign  interference — 
after  such  unequivocal  declarations — of  con- 
tinued neutrality,  and  the  warmest  profes- 
sions of  amity  and  good  understanding — it 
was  undoubtedly  a  task  of  no  small  inge- 
nuity to  give  a  plausible  color  to  their  rash 
and  sudden  accession  to  the  armed  combina- 
tion of  despots.  Such  a  war  was  not  to  be 
undertaken  upon  open  principle:  it  could 
not  be  supported  by  reason,  but  what  was 
wanting  in  solid  argument,  was  abundantly 
supplied  by  stratagem  and  artifice.  At  this 
gloomy  period,  appeals  were  only  made  to 
the  passions — the  understanding  was  never 
consulted.  The  pathetic  case  of  an  unfor- 
tunate monarch,  contrasted  with  the  fero- 
cious cruelties  of  a  licentious  and  frantic 
populace,  had  successfully  seized  the  feel- 
ings of  a  great  portion  of  the  British  public : 
and  where  the  mind  is  preoccupied  by  ani- 
mated passion,  the  voice  of  cool  and  sober 
reason  sounds  in  vain.  This  disposition  is 
in  nature,  and  the  nation  was  prepared  for 
it  by  the  eloquence  and  example  of  Burke. 
"  We  are  so  made,"  says  he,  "  as  to  be  af^ 
fected  at  such  spectacles  with  melancholy 
sentiments  upon  the  unstable  condition  of 
mortal  prosperity,  and  the  tremendous  un- 
certainty of  human  greatness :  because  in 
those  natural  feelings  we  learn  great  les- 
sons ;  because  in  events  like  these  our  pas- 
sions instruct  our  reason;  when  kings  are 
hurled  from  their  thrones  by  the  supreme 
director  of  this  great  drama,  and  become  the 
objects  of  insult  to  the  base,  and  pity  to  the 
good."  The  prejudices  of  the  people  being 
thus  excited,  and  "  their  reason  subjected  to 
the  instruction  of  their  passions,"  the  nation 
was  brought  to  concur  in  a  destructive  war. 

THE  MILITIA  CALLED  OUT,  AND  PAR- 
LIAMENT ASSEMBLED. 
As  the  war,  however,  could  not  be  sup- 
ported upon  any  political  justice,  as  it  held 
out  no  prospect  of  interest,  nor  could  be  un- 
dertaken without  at  least  the  appearance  of 
violating  our  solemn  engagements;  it  be- 
came necessary  to  devise  some  domestic 
urgency  to  render  tlie  intended  measures  of 
government  completely  palatable  to  the  na- 
tion. His  majesty  was  accordingly  advised 
to  issue  another  proclamation,  December  the 
first,  1792,  announcmg  the  alarming  intelli- 
gence, "  that  notwithstanding  the  late  pro- 
clamation of  the  twenty-first  of  May,  the 
utmost  industry  was  still  employed  by  evil- 
disposed  persons  within  this  kingdom,  acting 
in  concert  with  persons  in  foreign  parts,  with 
a  view  to  subvert  the  laws  and  established 


366 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


constitution  of  this  realm ;  and  to  destroy 
all  order  and  government  therein ;  and  that 
a  spirit  of  tumult  and  disorder  thereby  ex- 
cited had  lately  shown  itself  in  acts  of  riot 
and  insurrection. — And  that,  these  causes 
moving  him  thereto,  his  majesty  had  resolved 
forthwith  to  embody  part  of  the  militia  of 
the  kingdom."  On  the  same  day,  another 
proclamation  was  issued  for  convening  the 
parliament  (which  stood  prorogued  to  the 
third  of  January)  on  the  thirteenth  of  De- 
cember ;  the  law  requiring,  that  if  the  mili- 
tia be  drawn  out  during  the  recess  of  parlia- 
ment, and  this  it  can  only  be  in  case  of  in- 
vasion or  actual  insurrection,  parliament 
shall  be  assembled  in  the  space  of  fourteen 
days.  If  credit  be  given  to  the  language 
of  these  proclamations,  the  political  state  of 
the  kingdom,  which  depended  upon  the  wis- 
dom, vigilance,  and  energy  of  government, 
was  at  this  time  in  the  convulsed  agonies 
of  a  mortal  disease.  Without  any  external 
hostilities  either  to  make  or  resist — without 
the  conviction  or  even  accusation  of  one  in 
dividual,  for  attempting  to  excite  sedition  or 
insurrection — without  the  example  of  one 
pain,  penalty  or  punishment  having  been  in- 


flicted upon  a  person  guilty  of  turbulence  or 
rebellion — his  majesty's  ministers  thought 
themselves  warranted  to  take  these  bold  and 
daring  measures.  Bounties  were  now  of- 
fered to  landsmen  and  seamen ;  naval  anna- 
ments  were  put  into  preparation  in  all  the 
dock-yards;  the  army  was  drawn  into  a 
focus  near  the  metropolis;  and  the  tower 
was  put  into  a  posture  of  defence.  The 
public  alarm  caused  by  these  proceedings 
was  inexpressible.  Those  who  were  con- 
vinced of  the  existence  of  a  plot,  thought  it 
so  much  the  more  terrible,  from  its  being 
invisible  and  incomprehensible.  At  this  pe- 
riod of  infatuation  and  terror,  the  nation  was 
convulsed  from  the  extremities  to  the  centre. 
Every  man  looked  on  his  neighbor  witli  an 
eye  of  sullen  suspicion.  Jealousy  sat  on 
every  countenance,  and  banished  from  the 
cheerful  and  domestic  circles  of  life,  all  the 
pleasures  of  social  and  friendly  intercourse. 
In  a  word,  the  timid  were  agitated  with  fear- 
ful apprehensions — the  licentious  and  disor- 
derly exulted  in  the  prospect  of  approach- 
ing commotions — but  the  reflectii^  few  saw 
through  the  artifice,  and  sighed  in  solitude 
over  Sie  misfortunes  of  their  country. 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


367 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


Meeting  of  Parliament — Fox  in  Opposition  to  the  Address — Burke  fcrr  it — Oppo- 
sition reduced  by  Desertion — Motions  for  adjusting  Differences  with  France  by 
Negotiation^  and  for  sending  a  Minister  to  Paris — The  French  Ambassador's  Me- 
morial on  the  relative  Situation  of  France  and  England — Answered  by  Lord  Gren- 
vUle — Memorial  of  the  Executive  Council  of  France — Lord  GrenvUle's  Reply — 
French  Ambassador  ordered  to  leave  the  Kingdom — Message  from  his  Majesty  to 
the  Commons  on  French  Affairs — Pitt''s  Speech  on  moving  the  Address — Opposed 
by  Lord  Wycombe — by  Whitbread — and  by  Fox —  The  French  declare  War  against 
England  and  Holland. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 
On  the  meeting  of  parliament,  which 
took  place  on  the  thirteenth  of  December 
1792,  the  expressions  of  the  first  proclama- 
tion were  repeated  in  his  majesty's  speech ; 
towards  the  conclusion  of  which  the  real 
views  of  the  court  became  sufficiently  mani- 
fest It  was  intimated  in  the  speech,  "  that 
his  majesty  had  judged  it  necessary  to  em- 
body a  part  of  the  militia,  and  to  call  the 
parliament  together  within  the  time  limited 
for  that  purpose."  It  stated,  as  the  grounds 
of  these  strong  measures,  tlie  seditious  prac- 
tices which  had  been  discovered,  and  the 
spirit  of  tumult  and  disorder  shown  in  acts 
of  riot  and  insurrection,  which  required  the 
interposition  of  a  military  force  in  support 
of  the  civil  magistrate.  "  The  industry,"  it 
asserted  "  employed  to  excite  discontent  on 
various  pretexts,  and  in  different  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  appeared  to  proceed  from  a 
design  to  attempt  the  destruction  of  our 
happy  constitution,  and  the  subversion  of  all 
order  and  government ;  and  that  this  design 
had  evidently  been  pursued  in  connexion 
and  concert  with  persons  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. I  have,"  said  his  majesty,  "  carefully 
observed  a  strict  neutrality  in  the  present 
war  on  the  contment,  and  have  uniformly 
abstained  from  any  interference  with  re- 
spect to  the  internal  government  of  France ; 
but  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  see  without 
the  most  serious  uneasiness  the  strong  and 
increasing  indications  which  have  appeared 
there,  of  an  intention  to  excite  disturbances 
in  other  countries,  to  disregard  the  rights  of 
neutral  nations,  and  to  pursue  views  of  con- 
quest and  aggrandizement,  as  well  as  to 
adopt  towards  my  allies,  the  States-General, 
measures  which  are  neither  conformable  to 
the  law  of  nations,  nor  to  the  positive  stipu- 
lations of  existing  treaties.  Under  these 
circumstances  his  majesty  thought  it  right 
to  have  recourse  to  those  means  of  preven- 
tion and  internal  defence  with  which  he 
was  intrusted  by  law,  and  to  make  some 
augmentation  of  his  naval  and  military 
force." 


FOX  IN  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  ADDRESS. 

On  moving  the  address,  in  answer  to  the 
speech,  a  memorable  debate  arose.  Never 
did  the  strength  and  superiority  of  Fox's 
genius  appear  perhaps  so  conspicuous  as  in 
this  moment  of  national  infatuation.  He 
began  by  observing,  "that  his  majesty's 
speech  contains  a  variety  of  assertions  of 
the  most  extraordinary  nature.  It  was  the 
duty  of  that  house  to  inquire  into  the  truth 
of  these  assertions,  and  in  discharging  this 
part  of  his  duty,  he  should  consider  the 
speech  from  the  throne  as  the  speech  of  the 
minister,  which  his  majesty's  confidential 
servants  had  advised  him  to  deliver ;  and  as 
they  were  responsible  for  that  advice,  to 
them  every  observation  of  his  should  be  ad- 
dressed. I  state  it,  therefore,"  said  Fox, 
"  to  be  my  firm  opinion  and  belief,  that  there 
is  not  one  fact  asserted  m  his  majesty's 
speech  which  is  not  false — ^not  one  asser- 
tion or  insinuation  which  is  not  unfounded. 
Nay,  I  cannot  be  so  uncandid  as  to  believe, 
that  ministers  themselves  think  them  true. 
The  leading  and  prominent  feature  o^  the 
speech  is  a  wanton  and  base  calumny  on  the 
people  of  Great  Britain ;  an  insinuation  of 
so  black  a  nature  that  it  demands  the  most 
rigorous  inquiry,  and  the  most  severe  pun- 
ishment. The  next  assertion  is,  that  there 
exists  at  this  moment  an  insurrection  in  this 
kingdom.  An  insurrection ! — where  is  it  ? 
where  has  it  reared  its  head  1  Good  God ! 
an  insurrection  in  Great  Britain !  The  speech 
goes  on  in  the  same  strain  of  falsehocd  and 
calumny,  and  says,  '  the  industry  employed 
to  excite  discontent  on  various  pretexts,  and 
in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  has  ap- 
peared to  proceed  fi-om  a  design  to  attempt 
the  destruction  of  our  happy  constitution, 
and  the  subversion  of  all  order  and  govern- 
ment.' I  desire  gentlemen  to  consider  tliese 
words,  and  I  demand  of  their  honor  and 
truth  if  they  believe  this  assertion  to  be 
founded  in  fiict  There  have  been,  as  I  un- 
derstand, and  as  every  one  must  have  heard, 
some  slight  riots  in  different  parts.  I  have' 
heard  of  a  tumult  at  Shields ;  of  another  at 


368 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Leith ;  of  some  riot  at  Yarmouth,  and  of 
something  of  the  same  nature  at  Perth  and 
Dundee.  I  ask  gentlemen  if  they  believe 
that  in  each  of  tliese  places  the  avowed  ob- 
ject of  the  complaints  of  the  people  was  not 
the  real  one — that  the  sailors  at  Shields, 
Yarmouth,  &c.  did  not  really  want  some  in- 
crease of  their  wages,  but  were  actuated  by 
a  design  of  overthrowing  the  constitution  1 
Is  there  a  man  in  England  who  believes  this 
insinuation  to  be  true  ?"  Fox  next  adverting 
to  an  expression  of  Wallace,  who,  in  sec- 
onding the  motion  of  address,  adduced  as  a 
proof  that  there  existed  in  this  country  a 
dangerous  spirit,  '  the  drooping  and  dejected 
aspect  of  many  persons,  when  the  tidings 
of  Dumourier's  surrender  arrived  in  Eng- 
land,' said — "  Admitting  the  fact  in  its  ut- 
most extent,  could  any  man  who  loves  the 
constitution  of  England,  who  feels  its  prin- 
ciples in  his  heart,  wish  success  to  the  duke 
of  Brunswick,  after  reading  a  manifesto 
which  violated  every  doctrme  that  English- 
men hold  sacred^  which  trampled  under 
foot  every  principle  of  justice,  humanity,  and 
true  government  ]  It  is  rather  extraordinary, 
that  they  should  think  it  right  to  abuse  re- 
publics, at  the  very  moment  we  are  called 
upon  to  protect  the  republic  of  Holland  ;  to 
spread  the  doctrine  that  kings  only  have 
divine  right,  may  indispose  your  allies  to  re- 
ceive your  proposed  succor.  They  may  not 
choose  to  receive  into  their  country  your  ad- 
mirals and  generals,  who,  being  appointed 
by  this  king,  in  divine  right,  must  partake 
of  the  same  anger,  and  be  sworn  enemies  to 
all  forms  of  government  not  so  sanctified. — 
Surely,  independent  of  the  falsehood  and 
the  danger  at  home  of  such  doctrines,  it  is 
the  height  of  impolicy  at  this  time  to  hold 
them  in  regard  even  to  our  neighbors.  His 
majesty,  in  the  next  passage  of  his  speech," 
continued  Fox,  "  brings  us  to  the  apprehen- 
sion of  a  war.  I  shall  refrain  at  this  time 
from  saying  all  that  occurs  to  me  on  this 
subject,  because  I  wish  to  keep  precisely  to 
the  immediate  subject :  but  never  surely  had 
this  country  so  much  reason  to  wish  for 
peace ;  never  was  a  period  so  little  favora- 
ble to  a  rupture  with  France,  or  with  any 
power.  I  am  not  ready  to  subscribe  exactly 
to  the  propriety  of  a  resolution  never  to  go 
to  war  unless  we  are  attacked ;  but  I  wish 
that  a  motion  was  proposed  by  some  person 
to  express  our  disapprobation  of  entering 
upon  any  war,  if  we  can  by  any  honorable 
Hieans  avoid  it.  Let  no  man  be  deterred  by 
the  dread  of  being  in  a  minority.  A  mi- 
nority saved  this  country  from  a  war  against 
Russia.  And  surely  it  is  our  duty,  as  it  is 
true  policy,  to  exert  every  means  to  avert 
that  greatest  of  national  calamities.  In 
1789  we  all  must  remember  that  Spain  pro- 
voked this  country  by  an  insult,  which  is  a 


real  aggression ;  we  were  all  agreed  on  tlie 
necessity  of  the  case,  but  did  we  go  head- 
long to  war  1  No,  we  determined  with  be- 
coming fortitude  on  an  armed  negotiation. 
We  did  negotiate,  and  we  avoided  a  war. 
But  now  we  disdain  to  negotiate.  Why! 
Because  we  have  no  minister  at  Paris.  Why 
have  we  no  minister  there  1  Because  France 
is  a  republic !  And  so  we  are  to  pay  in  the 
blood  and  treasure  of  the  people  for  a  punc- 
tilio !  If  there  are  discontents  in  the  king- 
dom, sir,  this  is  the  way  to  inflame  them. 
It  is  of  no  consequence  to  any  people  what 
is  the  form  of  government  with  which  they 
may  have  to  treat.  It  is  with  the  governors, 
whatever  may  be  the  form,  that  in  common 
sense  and  policy  they  can  have  to  do,  and 
if  they  should  change  their  form  and  change 
their  governors,  their  course  would  remain 
the  same.  Having  no  legitimate  concern 
with  the  internal  state  of  any  independent 
people,  the  road  of  common  sense  is  simple 
and  direct.  That  of  pride  and  punctilio  is 
as  tangled  as  it  is  serpentine.  Is  the  pre- 
text the  opening  of  the  Scheld  ?  I  cannot 
believe  that  such  an  object  can  be  the  real 
cause.  I  doubt,  even  if  a  war  on  this  pre- 
text would  be  undertaken  with  the  approba- 
tion of  the  Dutch.  What  was  the  conduct 
of  the  French  themselves  under  their  de- 
praved old  system,  when  the  good  of  the 
people  never  entered  into  the  contemplation 
of  the  cabinet  1  The  emperor  threatened  to 
open  the  Scheld  in  1786.  Did  the  French 
go  to  war  with  him  instantly  to  prevent  it  1 
No, "they  opened  a  negotiation,  and  prevent- 
ed it  by  interfering  with  their  good  offices. 
Why  have  not  we  so  interfered  1  Because, 
forsooth,  France  is  an  unanointed  republic  ! 
Oh !  miserable,  infatuated  Frenchmen !  Oh ! 
lame  and  inconsiderate  politicians!  Why, 
instead  of  breaking  the  holy  vial  of  Rheims, 
why  did  you  not  pour  some  of  the  sacred  oil 
on  the  heads  of  your  executive  council,  tiiat 
the  pride  of  states  might  not  be  forced  to 
plunge  themselves  and  you  into  the  horrors 
of  war,  rather  than  be  contaminated  by  your 
acquaintance !  The  people  mmII  not  be  cheat- 
ed. They  will  look  round,  and  demand 
where  this  danger  is  to  be  seen.  Is  it  in 
England  1  they  see  it  overflowing  in  expres- 
sions of  loyalty,  and  yet  they  libel  it  with 
imputations  of  insurrection.  In  Ireland  you 
know  there  is  danger,  and  dare  not  own  it ; 
though  you  know  that  there  a  most  respecta- 
ble and  formidable  convention  (I  call  it  for- 
midable, because  I  know  nothing  so  formi- 
dable as  reason,  truth,  and  justice)  will 
oblige  you  by  the  most  cogent  reasons  to 
give  way  to  demands  which  the  magnanimity 
of  the  nation  ought  to  have  anticipated — in 
justice  to  subjects  as  attached  to  their  king, 
as  abundantly  endowed  with  every  manly- 
virtue,  as  any  part  of  the  united  kingdom. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


369 


And  while  the  claims  of  generous  and  ill- 
treated  millions  are  thus  protracted,  there 
is  a  miserable  mockery  held  out  of  alarms 
in  England  which  have  no  existence,  but 
which  are  made  the  pretext  of  assembling 
the  parliament  in  an  extraordinary  way,  in 
order  in  reality  to  engage  you  in  a  foreign 
contest  What  must  be  the  fatal  conse- 
quence, when  a  well-judging  people  shall 
decide,  what  I  sincerely  believe,  that  the 
whole  of  this  business  is  a  ministerial  manoeu- 
vre 1  A  noble  lord  says  he  will  move  for  a 
suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act.  I  hope 
not.  I  have  a  high  respect  for  the  noble 
lord  ;  but  no  motive  of  personal  respect  shall 
make  me  inattentive  to  my  duty.  Come 
from  whom  it  may,  I  shall,  with  my  most 
determined  powers,  oppose  so  dreeidful  a 
measure.  What,  it  may  be  asked,  would  I 
propose  to  do  in  hours  of  agitation  like  the 
present]  I  will  answer  openly.  If  there  is 
a  tendency  in  the  dissenters  to  discontent, 
because  they  conceive  themselves  unjustly 
suspected  and  cruelly  calumniated,  what 
should  I  do"?  I  would  instantly  repeal  the 
test  and  corporation  acts,  and  take  from  them 
thereby  all  cause  of  complaint.  If  there 
were  any  persons  tinctured  with  a  republi- 
can spirit,  because  they  thought  that  the  re- 
presentative government  was  more  perfect 
in  a  republic,  I  would  endeavor  to  amend 
the  representation  of  the  commons,  and  to 
prove  that  the  house  of  commons,  though 
not  chosen  by  all,  should  have  no  other  in- 
terest than  to  prove  itself  the  representative 
of  all.  If  there  were  men  dissatisfied  in 
Scotland,  or  Ireland,  or  elsewhere,  on  ac- 
count of  disabilities  and  exemptions,  of  un- 
just prejudices,  and  of  cruel  restrictions,  I 
would  repeal  the  penal  statutes,  which  are 
a  disgrace  to  our  law-book.  If  there  were 
other  complaints  of  grievances,  I  would  re- 
dress them  where  they  were  really  proved ; 
but  above  all,  I  would  constantly,  cheerfully, 
patiently  listen — I  would  make  it  known, 
that  if  any  man  felt,  or  thought  he  felt,  a 
grievance,  he  might  come  freely  to  the  bar 
of  this  house  and  bring  his  proofs.  And  it 
should  be  made  manifest  to  all  the  world, 
that  where  they  did  exist  they  should  be  re- 
dressed ;  where  they  did  not,  that  it  should 
be  made  manifest.  If  I  were  to  issue  a  pro- 
clamation, this  should  be  my  proclamation — 
*  If  any  man  has  a  grievance,  let  him  bring 
it  to  the  bar  of  the  commons'  house  of  par- 
liament, with  the  firm  persuasion  of  having 
it  honestly  investigated.'  These  are  the  sub- 
sidies that  I  would  grant  to  government. 
What  instead  of  this  is  done  1  Suppress  the 
complaint — check  the  circulation  of  know- 
ledge— command  that  no  man  shall  read — 
or,  that  as  no  man  under  one  hundred  pounds 
a-year  can  kill  a  partridge,  that  no  man  un- 
der twenty  pounds,  or  thirty  pounds,  shall 


dare  to  read  or  think !  I  love  the  constitu- 
tion," said  Fox,  "  as  it  is  established  :  it  has 
grown  up  with  me  as  a  prejudice  and  as  a 
habit,  as  well  as  from  conviction.  I  know 
that  it  is  calculated  for  the  happiness  of  man, 
and  that  its  constituent  branches  of  king, 
lords,  and  commons,  could  not  be  altered  or 
unpaired,  without  entailing  on  this  country 
the  most  dreadful  miseries.  It  is  the  best 
adapted  to  England,  because,  as  the  noble 
earl  truly  said,  the  people  of  England  think 
it  the  best ;  and  the  safest  course  is  to  con- 
sult the  judgment  and  gratify  the  predilec- 
tions of  a  country.  Heartily  convinced  as 
I  am,  however,  that  to  secure  the  peace, 
strength,  and  happiness  of  the  country,  we 
must  maintain  the  constitution  against  all 
innovation,  yet  I  do  not  think  so  highly  and 
superstitiously  of  any  human  institution  as 
to  believe  it  is  incapable  of  being  perverted ; 
on  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  it  requires  an 
increasing  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  peo- 
ple to  prevent  the  decay  and  dilapidations  to 
which  every  edifice  is  subject  I  think  too 
that  we  may  be  laid  asleep  to  our  real  dan- 
ger by  these  perpetual  alarms  to  loyalty, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  are  daily  sapping  the 
constitution.  Under  the  pretext  of  guard- 
ing it  from  the  assaults  of  republicans  and 
levellers,  we  run  the  hazard  of  leaving  it 
open  on  the  other  and  more  feeble  side.  We 
are  led  insensibly  to  the  opposite  danger, 
that  of  increasing  the  power  of  the  crown, 
and  of  degrading  the  influence  of  the  house 
of  commons.  Let  us  only  look  back  to  the 
whole  course  of  the  present  administration, 
and  we  shall  see  that  from  their  outset  to 
the  present  day,  it  has  been  their  invariable 
object  to  degrade  the  house  of  commons  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  to  diminish  its 
power  and  influence  in  every  possible  way. 
It  was  not  merely  in  the  outset  of  then-  ca- 
reer, when  they  stood  up  against  the  de- 
clared voice  of  the  house  of  commons,  that 
this  spirit  was  manifested,  but  uniformly, 
progressively  through  their  whole  ministry, 
the  same  disposition  has  been  shown,  until 
at  last  it  came  to  its  full  undisguised  de- 
monstration on  the  question  of  the  Russian 
war,  when  the  house  of  commons  was  de- 
graded to  the  lowest  state  of  insignificance 
and  contempt,  in  being  made  to  retract  its 
own  words,  and  to  acknowledge  that  it  was 
of  no  consequence  or  avail  what  were  its 
sentiments  on  any  one  measure.  The  min- 
ister has  regularly  acted  upon  this  sort  of 
principle,  to  the  vilification  of  the  }X)pular 
branch  of  the  constitution.  What  is  this 
but  to  make  it  appear  that  the  house  of  com- 
mons is  in  reality  what  Thomas  Paine,  and 
writers  like  him,  say  it  is,  namely,  that  it  is 
not  the  true  representative  and  organ  of  the 
people.  Is  it  not  wonderful,  that  all  the 
true  constitutional  watchfulness  of  England 


370 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


should  be  dead  to  the  only  true  danger  that 
the  day  exhibits,  and  that  they  should  be 
roused  only  by  the  idiotic  clamor  of  repub- 
lican frenzy  and  of  popular  insurrection, 
which  do  not  exist?  Sir,"  concluded  Fox, 
"  I  have  done  my  duty.  I  have,  with  the 
certainty  of  opposing  myself  to  the  furor  of 
the  day,  delivered  my  opinion  at  more  length 
than  I  intended,  and  perhaps  I  have  intruded 
too  long  on  the  indulgence  of  the  house.  I 
have  endeavored  to  persuade  you  against  the 
indecent  haste  of  committing  yourselves  to 
these  assertions  of  an  existing  insurrection, 
until  you  shall  make  a  rigorous  inquiry  where 
it  is  to  be  found — to  avoid  involving  the  peo- 
ple in  the  calamity  of  a  war,  without  at  least 
ascertaining  the  internal  state  of  the  king- 
dom, and  prevent  us  from  falling  into  the 
disgrace  of  being,  as  heretofore,  obliged  per- 
haps in  a  week  to  retract  every  syllable  that 
we  are  now  called  upon  to  say."  To  carry 
this  into  effect,  he  concluded  with  moving 
an  amendment,  simply  pledging  the  house, 
*'  that  inquiry  should  be  made  into  the  facts 
stated  in  his  majesty's  speech." 

BURKE  IN  FAVOR  OF  IT. 

Burke  said,  "  that  this  was  indeed  a  day 
of  trial  of  the  constitution.  He  agreed  with 
an  honorable  gentleman  in  regarding  the 
present  as  a  most  momentous  crisis,  but  for 
different  reasons  from  those  which  he  had 
assigned.  He  was  sensible  how  closely 
liberty  and  monarchy  were  connected  in  this 
country ;  that  they  were  never  to  be  found 
asunder ;  that  they  had  flourished  together 
a  thousand  years;  and  from  this  union  re- 
sulted the  glory  and  prosperity  of  the  nation. 
What  he  dreaded,  should  French  principles 
be  introduced  into  this  country,  was  the  de- 
struction of  the  whole  order  of  civil  life.  He 
would  affirm,  that  there  was  a  faction  in  this 
country,  who  wished  to  submit  it  to  France, 
in  order  that  our  government  might  be  re- 
formed upon  the  French  system.  He  would 
likewise  affirm,  that  the  French  cherished 
views  upon  this  country  ;  that  they  encour- 
aged this  faction,  and  were  disposed  to  aid 
them  in  their  views  of  overturning  our  con- 
stitution. As  a  proof  of  this,  he  should 
translate  from  their  own  gazette  the  follow- 
ing account  of  their  proceedings. 

"  The  president. — '  You  decreed,  yester- 
day, that  two  deputies  of  Englishmen  should 
be  admitted  to  the  bar.  I  am  going  to  order 
it  to  be  opened  for  them.' — The  first  deputa- 
tion being  admitted,  the  spokesman  addressed 
the  convention.  The  president  answered 
the  deputation  as  republicans. — He  said, 
*  royalty  in  Europe  was  in  the  agonies  of 
death ;  that  the  declaration  of  right,  now 
placed  by  the  side  of  thrones,  was  a  fire 
which  in  the  end  would  consume  them  ;  and 
he  even  hoped  that  the  time  was  not  far  dis- 
tant when  France,  England,  Scotland,  and 


Ireland — all  Europe  !  all  mankind  !  would 
form  but  one  peaceful  family.' — These  pro- 
ceedings," he  said,  "  had  taken  place  on  the 
same  day  in  which  there  had  been  a  discus- 
sion in  the  convention  respecting  the  union 
of  Savoy  to  France.  On  that  occasion  the 
president  had  observed,  that '  nature  pointed 
out  this  union ;  that  France  and  Savoy  were 
already  connected  by  physical  and  moral 
ties.'  This  gentle  people,  in  adding  the 
country  of  their  neighbors  to  their  own  do- 
minions, only  follow  the  mild  laws  of  na- 
ture ;  whenever  they  have  a  mind  to  make 
an  acquisition  of  territory,  they  discover 
their  claim  to  it  to  be  established  by  physi- 
cal and  moral  ties :  no  doubt  they  will  soon 
find  out  this  physical  and  moral  connexion 
subsisting  between  them  and  this  country, 
though  we  unfortunately  have  been  separat- 
ed from  them  by  a  violent  convulsion.  If 
Englishmen,"  he  remarked,  "  had  applied  to 
Louis  XVI.  to  reform  our  government,  and 
had  been  favorably  received  by  him,  would 
not  this  have  been  considered  as  an  aggres- 
sion by  this  country  1  It  was  indeed  a  por- 
tent and  prodigy  that  Englishmen  should 
not  be  able  to  find  liberty  at  home,  and  should 
be  obliged  to  seek  it  elsewhere.  What  ren- 
dered the  factious  of  this  country  particular- 
ly dangerous,  was  their  connexion  with  the 
band  of  French  robbers  and  assassins.  The 
French  had  declared  war  against  all  kings, 
and  of  consequence  against  this  country,  if 
it  had  a  khig. — The  question  now  was  not 
whether  we  should  make  an  address  to  the 
throne,  but  whether  we  should  have  a  throne 
at  ain  He  concluded  with  recommending 
the  unanimity  so  desirable  upon  this  occa- 
sion, and  with  representing  the  danger  which 
might  arise  from  the  progress  of  the  French 
arms,  if  not  speedily  resisted  ;  their  power 
had  already  become  formidable  to  the  whole 
of  Europe,  and  if  we  would  not  have  Europe 
gone  from  us,  it  was  necessary  that  we  should 
interpose  by  the  most  effectual  means  to  stop 
their  further  career."  After  a  debate  of 
many  hours,  the  house  divided,  for  the 
amendment  fifty,  against  it  two  hundred  and 
ninety ! 

OPPOSITION  REDUCED  BY  DESERTION. 
In  the  house  of  lords  the  address  was 
carried  without  a  division,  but  not  without 
a  powerful  opposition  from  the  duke  of  Nor- 
folk, and  the  lords  Lansdowne,  Rawdon,  and 
Stanhope.  In  consequence  of  the  late  alarms 
created  by  the  dreadful  apprehension  of  plots 
and  insurrections,  the  opposition  or  whig 
party  had,  as  it  now  appeared,  suffered  a 
great  and  melancholy  defection.  At  the 
head  of  the  seceders  in  the  upper  house, 
were  the  prince  of  Wales,  the  duke  of  Port- 
land, lords  Fitzwilliam,  Spencer,  Mansfield, 
and  Loughborough,  the  last  of  whom,  on  the 
resignation  of  lord  Thurlow,  at  this  period 


GEORGE  HL    1760—1820. 


371 


was  advanced  to  the  chancellorship.  And 
in  the  lower  house,  Burke,  Windham,  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot,  Anstruther,  &c.  who  acquired 
by  this  means  the  popular  appellation  of 
Alarmists. 

MOTIONS  FOR  A  NEGOTIATION  WITH 
FRANCE— AND  FOR  SENDING  A  MIN- 
ISTER TO  PARIS. 

On  the  bringing  up  the  report,  on  the  suc- 
ceedmg  day,  in  the  house  of  commons,  the 
debate  was  resumed  with  fresh  vehemence. 
Fox  most  severely  censured  the  ministers 
for  not  having  interposed  the  mediation  of 
Great  Britain,  in  order  to  preserve  the  peace 
of  Europe.  Had  we  protested  against  the 
project  concerted  at  Pilnitz,  and  armed  to 
prevent  the  execution  of  it,  England  must 
have  acquired  such  an  ascendency  in  the 
councils  of  France  as  would  have  completely 
obviated  all  the  subsequent  causes  of  dissat- 
isfaction. "  If,"  said  Fox,  "  there  exists  a 
discontented  or  disaffected  party  in  the  king- 
dom, what  can  so  much  add  to  their  num- 
bers, or  their  influence,  as  a  war,  which,  by 
increasing  the  public  burdens  till  they  be- 
come intolerable,  will  give  proportionable 
weight  to  their  complaints]  He  wished, 
therefore,  that  war  should  be  avoided,  if  pos- 
sible— that  negotiation  should  precede  hos- 
tility. He  was  fully  aware  of  the  arrogant 
notions  of  ministers,  who  perhaps  would  not 
condescend  to  receive  a  minister  from  the 
French  republic.  If  this  were  the  case,  let 
ministers  fairly  avow  it — that  the  people  of 
England  might  know  how  far  the  essential 
interests  of  the  nation  were  sacrificed  to  a 
punctilio.  Gentlemen  should  recollect  that 
it  was  once  fashionable  to  talk  of '  a  vagrant 
congress,'  of  '  one  Hancock,'  and  '  one 
Adams,'  and  '  their  crew.'  But  surely  the 
folly  of  this  language  had  been  sufficiently 
proved."  He  then  moved  an  amendment, 
"  beseeching  his  majesty  to  employ  every 
means  of  honorable  negotiation,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preventing  a  war  with  France." 
The  motion  was  opposed  by  Burke  in  a  fran- 
tic speech,  in  which  he  affirmed,  "  that  to 
send  an  ambassador  to  France  would  be  the 
prelude  to  the  murder  of  our  sovereign." 
Pitt  was  at  this  time  not  a  member  of  the 
house,  having  vacated  his  seat  by  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  lucrative  sinecure  of  the 
Cinque  ports,  void  by  the  death  of  the  earl 
of  Guildford,  once  so  famous  under  the  title 
of  lord  North,  In  the  absence  of  the  minis- 
ter, secretary  Dundas  entered  into  a  long 
and  elaborate  vindication  of  the  measures  of 
administration;  and  he  concluded  with  a 
confident  prediction,  that "  if  we  were  forced 
into  a  war,  it  must  prove  successful  and 
glorious."  The  amendment  was  negatived 
without  a  division. 

Not  discouraged  at  the  ill  success  of  these 
attempts.  Fox,  on  the  fifteenth  of  December, 
moved,  at  the  close  of  a  speech  which  only 


served  to  demonstrate  how  incompetent  are 
the  utmost  eflbrts  of  human  wisdom  to  work 
^nviction  on  mmds  distempered  by  preju- 
OTDe  and  passion,  "  that  a  minister  be  sent  to 
Paris  to  treat  with  those  persons  who  exer- 
cise provisionally  the  executive  government 
of  France."  "  This,"  he  said,  "  implied 
neither  approbation  nor  disapprobation  of  the 
conduct  of  the  existing  French  government. 
It  was  the  policy  and  practice  of  every  na- 
tion to  treat  with  the  existing  government 
of  every  other  nation  with  which  it  had  rela- 
tive interests,  without  inquiring  how  that 
government  was  constituted,  or  by  what 
means  it  acquired  possession  of  power.  Was 
the  existing  government  of  Morocco  more 
respectable  than  that  of  France  1  Yet  we 
had  more  than  once  sent  embassies  thither, 
to  men  reeking  from  the  blood  through  which 
they  had  waded  to  their  thrones.  We  had 
ministers  at  the  German  courts  at  the  time 
of  the  infamous  partition  of  Poland.  We 
had  a  minister  at  Versailles  when  Corsica 
was  bought  and  enslaved. — But  in  none  of 
these  instances  was  any  sanction  given  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  by  Great  Britain  to  these 
nefarious  transactions." 

In  answer  to  the  absurd  and  puerile  ob- 
jection, that  if  we  agreed  to  a  negotiation, 
we  should  not  know  with  whom  to  negoti- 
ate, Whitbread  asked,  with  energetic  ani- 
mation, "  if  we  knew  with  whom  we  w'ere 
going  to  war  1  If  there  was  no  difficulty 
in  deciding  upon  that  point,  how  could  we 
pretend  to  be  at  a  loss  to  know  with  whom 
we  were  to  make  peace  1  Doubtless  with 
that  assembly,  truly  described  by  his  majes- 
ty as  exercising  the  powers  of  government 
in  France." 

Windham  had  laid  it  down  as  an  axiom 
of  policy,  "  that  to  be  justified  in  negotiat- 
ing with  France,  it  should  be  a  matter  of 
necessity,  not  of  choice."  "  Happy,  digni- 
fied opportunity  to  treat ! "  exclaimed  Sher- 
idan, "  when  necessity — a  necessity  arising 
from  defeat  and  discomfiture,  from  shame 
and  disgrace — shall  compel  us  to  negotiate 
on  terms  which  would  leave  us  completely 
at  their  mercy !  How  consolatory,  to  be  able 
to  boast  that  we  are  at  the  same  time  jus- 
tified and  undone !  But  we  are  told,"  contin- 
ued Sheridan,  "that  to  treat  with  France 
would  give  offence  to  the  allied  powers, 
with  whom  we  are  eventually  to  co-operate. 
Are  we  then  prepared  to  make  a  common 
cause  on  the  principles  and  for  the  purposes 
for  which  those  despots  have  associated? 
Are  the  freemen  of  England  ready  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  manifesto  of  the  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick ] — that  detestable  outrage  on  the  rights 
and  feelings  of  humanity! — that  impotent 
and  wretched  tissue  of  pride,  folly,  and  cru- 
elty, which  had  steeled  the  heart  and  mad- 
dened the  brain  of  all  France !  The  ques- 
tion is  not  merely  whether  we  shall  go  to 


372 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


war  or  nof?  but  on  what  principle  should  it 
be  conducted,  and  to  what  end  directed? 
To  restore  the  ancient  despotism  of  France  ? 
Impossible !  Disputes  and  causes  of  com- 
plaint existing,  how  were  they  to  be  termi- 
nated but  by  some  sort  of  negotiation  ]  But 
we  were  told  that  the  dignity  of  the  nation 
forbade  a  public  and  avowed  communication 
with  the  present  ruling  powers  in  France. 
Was  the  dignity  of  the  nation  better  con- 
sulted by  the  mean  subterfuge  of  an  indirect 
and  underhand  intercourse  ]  Was  it  sacri- 
ficed by  a  magnanimous  frankness,  and  sus- 
tained only  by  dark  and  insidious  disguise  1 
Far  from  recalling  the  ambassador  of  Eng- 
land from  Paris  at  the  late  perilous  crisis,  a 
statesman-like  administration  would  have 
regarded  the  post  of  minister  at  Paris  as  the 
situation  which  demanded  the  first  and  ablest 
talents  of  the  country.  It  was  a  situation 
which  afforded  scope  and  interest  for  the  no- 
blest mind  that  ever  warmed  a  human  bo- 
som. The  French  had  been  uniformly  par- 
tial, and  even  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the 
English.  What  manly  sense  and  generous 
feeling,  and  above  all,  what  fair  truth  and 
plain  dealing  might  have  effected,  it  was 
difficult  to  calculate.  But  the  policy  which 
discarded  these,  and  which  substituted  in 
their  stead  a  hollow  neutrality,  was  an  error, 
fatal  in  its  consequences,  and  for  ever  to  be 
lamented."  The  motion  was  in  the  end  neg- 
atived without  a  division. 

The  desertion  of  the  friends  of  opposition, 
far  from  dispiriting  the  faithful  few  that  re- 
mained, seemed  to  animate  them  to  still 
higher  and  more  ardent  exertions  of  patri- 
otic zeal.  The  popular  odium  incurred  at 
this  time  by  the  leaders  of  opposition,  par- 
ticularly by  Fox,  in  consequence  of  their 
generous  endeavors  to  rescue  their  country 
from  the  gulf  of  ruin,  into  which  it  was 
with  such  blind  and  rash  precipitancy  about 
to  plunge,  will  appear  to  posterity  scarcely 
credible.  Neither  professing  a  contempt  for 
the  public  judgment,  nor  on  the  other  hand 
yielding  for  a  moment  to  the  tide  of  popular 
opinion.  Fox  published  at  this  period  a  very 
animated  and  dignified  address  to  his  consti- 
tuents, the  electors  of  Westminster ;  stat- 
ing, with  admirable  force  and  perspicuity  of 
argument,  his  reasons  for  his  late  parlia- 
mentary conduct.  The  conclusion  of  this 
celebrated  address  is  peculiarly  striking. 
"  Let  us  not,"  says  he,  "  attempt  to  deceive 
ourselves.     Whatever  possibility,   or  even 

firobability  there  may  be  of  a  counter-revo- 
ution  from  internal  agitation  and  discord, 
the  means  of  producing  such  an  event  by 
external  force  can  be  no  other  than  the  con- 
quest of  France. — The  conquest  of  France ! 
O  calumniated  crusaders,  how  rational  and 
,  moderate  were  your  objects !  O  much  in- 
'  jured  Louis  XI V^  upon  what  slight  grounds 


have  you  been  accused  of  restless  and  im- 
moderate ambition!  O  tame  and  feeble 
Cervantes,  with  what  a  timid  pencil  and 
faint  colors  have  you  painted  the  portrait  of 
a  disordered  imagination!" — And  yet  this 
irrational  and  romantic  conquest  has  been 
since  effected. 

THE  FRENCH  AMBASSADOR'S  MEMORI- 
AL ON  THE  SITUATIONS  OF  ENGLAND 
AND  FRANCE. 

Although  the  determination  of  the  Brit- 
ish court  was  from  the  first  sufficiently  man- 
ifest, the  government  of  France  left  no 
means  unessayed  to  accomplish  an  accom- 
modation. On  the  seventeenth  of  Decem- 
ber, a  memorial  was  presented  by  Chauvelin 
to  lord  Grenville,  in  which  he  informs  his 
lordship  that  the  executive  council  of  the 
French  republic,  thinking  it  a  duty  which 
they  owe  to  the  French  nation,  not  to  leave 
it  in  the  state  of  suspense  into  which  it  has 
been  thrown  by  the  late  measures  of  the 
British  government,  have  authorized  him  to 
demand  with  openness  whether  France 
ought  to  consider  England  as  a  neutral  or 
hostile  power ;  at  the  same  time  being  so- 
licitous, that  not  the  smallest  doubt  should 
exist  respectmg  the  disposition  of  France 
towards  England,  and  of  its  desire  to  remain 
in  peace.  In  allusion  to  the  decree  of  the 
nineteenth  of  November,  Chauvelin  says, 
"that  the  French  nation  absolutely  reject 
that  false  interpretation,  by  which  it  might 
be  supposed  that  the  French  republic  should 
favor  insurrections,  or  excite  disturbance  in 
any  neutral  or  friendly  country  whatever. 
In  particular,  they  declare  in  the  most  sol- 
emn manner,  that  France  will  not  attack 
Holland  so  long  as  that  power  adheres  to 
the  principles  of  her  neutrality."  As  to  the 
navigation  of  the  Scheld,  Chauvelin  affirms 
it  to  be  a  question  of  too  little  importance  to 
be  made  the  sole  cause  of  a  war ;  and  that 
it  could  only  be  used  as  a  pretext  for  a  pre- 
meditated aggression.  "  On  this  fatal  sup- 
position," he  says,  "  the  French  nation  will 
accept  war :  but  such  a  war  would  be  the 
war  not  of  the  British  nation,  but  of  the 
British  ministry  against  the  French  repub- 
lic ;  and  of  this  he  conjures  them  well  to 
consider  the  terrible  responsibility." 
ANSWERED  BY  LORD  GRENVILLE. 

To  this  commimication  lord  Grenville  re- 
turned a  most  arrogant  and  provoking  an- 
swer. His  lordship  acknowledged  the  re- 
ceipt of  a  note  fi*om  Chauvelin,  styling  him- 
self mmisteT  plenipotentiary  of  France.  He 
reminds  him  that  the  king,  since  the  unhap- 
py events  of  the  tenth  of  August,  had  sus- 
pended all  official  communication  with 
France ;  and  informs  him  that  he  cannot  he 
treated  with,  in  the  quality  and  under  the 
form  stated  in  his  note.  Nevertheless,  "  un- 
der a  form  neither  regular  nor  official,"  his 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


373 


lordship  condescends  to  reply,  but  iu  a  mode 
which  could  only  tend  to  inflame  the  differ- 
ences subsisting  between  the  two  nations, 
and  which,  far  from  accepting  the  conces- 
sions and  explanations  made  by  France, 
sought  only  to  discover  new  pretences  of 
cavil  and  quarrel.  In  a  tone  of  the  most 
decided  and  lofty  superiority,  his  lordship 
says,  "  If  France  is  really  desirous  of  main- 
taining friendship  and  peace  with  England, 
she  must  show  herself  disposed  to  renounce 
her  views  of  aggression  and  aggrandize- 
ment, and  to  confine  herself  within  her  own 
territory,  without  insulting  other  govern- 
ments, without  disturbing  their  tranquillity, 
without  violating  their  rights."  The  relin- 
quishment of  her  recent  conquests  being 
thus  haughtily  demanded  of  France  as  a 
preliminary  of  peace,  it  might  be  well  sup- 
jX)sod  that  negotiation  was  at  an  end.  But 
the  government  of  France,  in  the  midst  of 
their  triumphs,  discovered  a  degree  of  tem- 
per and  moderation  in  their  intercourse  with 
England  as  surprising  as  it  was  laudable. 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE  COUN- 
CIL OF  FRANCE. 

1793. — In  answer  to  the  letter  of  lord 
Grenville,  a  memorial  was  transmitted  from 
Le  Brun,  minister  of  foreign  aflTairs,  in  the 
name  of  the  executive  council,  dated  Janu- 
ary the  fourth  1793,  framed  in  terms  of  sin- 
gular wisdom  and  ability,  and  forming  a 
striking  contrast  to  tlie  pride,  petulance,  and 
folly  displayed  in  the  communication  of  the 
English  minister.  They  begin  with  repeat- 
ing "  the  assurances  of  theu*  sincere  desire 
to  maintain  peace  and  harmony  between 
France  and  England.  It  is  with  great  re- 
luctance," say  they,  "  that  the  republic  would 
see  itself  forced  to  a  rupture  much  more 
contrary  to  its  inclination  than  its  interest." 
In  reference  to  lord  Grenville's  refusal  to 
acknowledge  Chauvelin  in  his  diplomatic 
capacity,  the  council  remark,  "  that  in  the 
negotiations  now  carrying  on  at  Madrid,  the 
principal  minister  of  his  catholic  majesty 
did  not  hesitate  to  address  M,  Burgoign,  the 
ambassador  of  the  republic  at  that  court,  by 
the  title  of  minister  plenipotentiary  of 
France.  But  that  a  defect  in  point  of  form 
might  not  impede  a  negotiation,  on  the  suc- 
cess of  which  depended  the  tranquillity  of 
two  great  nations,  they  had  sent  credential 
letters  to  Chauvelin,  to  enable  him  to  treat 
according  to  the  severity  of  diplomatic  forms. 
The  council  repeat,  that  the  decree  of  the 
nineteenth  of  November  had  been  misun- 
derstooii,  and  that  it  was  far  from  being  in- 
tended to  favor  sedition,  being  merely  appli- 
cable to  the  single  case  wliere  the  general 
will  of  a  nation,  clearly  and  unequivocally 
expressed,  should  call  for  the  assistance  and 
fraternity  of  the  French  nation.  Sedition 
can  never  exist  in  the  expression  of  the  gen- 

Vol.  IV.  32 


eral  will.  The  Dutch  were  certainly  not 
seditious  when  they  formed  the  generou* 
resolution  of  throwing  off"  the  Spanish  yoke; 
nor  was  it  accounted  as  a  crime  to  Henry 
IV.  or  to  queen  Elizabeth,  that  they  listened 
to  their  solicitations  for  assistance.  As  to 
the  right  of  navigation  on  the  Scheld,  the 
council  affirm,  that  it  is  a  question  of  abso- 
lute indifference  to  England,  little  interest- 
ing even  to  Holland,  but  of  great  importance 
to  the  Belgians,  who  were  not  parties  to  the 
treaty  of  Westphalia,  by  which  they  were 
divested  of  that  right ;  but  when  that  nation 
shall  find  itself  in  full  possession  of  its  lib- 
erty, and  from  any  motive  whatever  shall 
consent  to  deprive  themselves  of  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Scheld,  France  will  not  oppose 
it.  With  respect  to  the  charge  of  aggran- 
dizement, France,  they  say,  has  renounced 
and  still  renounces  all  conquest ;  and  its  oc- 
cupying the  Netherlands  will  continue  no 
longer  than  the  war. — If  these  explanations 
appear  insufficient,  afi;er  having  done  every 
thing  in  our  power  to  mamtain  peace,  we 
will  prepare  for  war.  We  shall  combat  with 
regret  the  English,  whom  we  esteem,  but 
we  shall  combat  them  without  fear." 
LORD  GRENVILLE'S  REPLY. 
The  reply  of  lord  Grenville  to  this  memo- 
rial was  couched  in  terms  still  more  extra- 
ordinary and  irritating  than  the  first  His 
lordship  declares,  "that  he  finds  nothing 
satisfactory  in  the  result  of  it  Instead  of 
reparation  and  retraction,  his  lordship  com- 
plains, that  nothing  more  is  oflfered  than  an 
illusory  negotiation," — as  if  England  had  a 
right  to  expect  that  France  would  give  up 
every  point  in  dispute  previous  to  any  nego- 
tiation ;  or  as  if  the  offer  of  evacuating  the 
Netherlands  at  the  termination  of  the  war, 
and  of  leaving  the  Belgians  to  settle  the 
question  relative  to  the  Scheld,  together  with 
the  positive  disavowal  of  the  offensive  mean- 
ing ascribed  to  the  decree  of  November  the 
nineteenth,  did  not  form  a  proper  and  suf- 
ficient basis  of  negotiation.  In-  fact,  by  these 
great  concessions,  every  rational  object  of 
negotiation  was  accomplished;  nevertheless, 
lord  Grenville  goes  on  to  say,  "  that  these 
explanations  are  not  considered  sufficient, 
and  that  all  the  motives  which  gave  rise  to 
the  preparations  still  continue.  If  however, 
under  this  extra-official  form  you  have  any 
farther  explanations  to  offer,"  says  his  lord- 
ship, "  I  shall  willingly  attend  to  them."  In 
a  separate  note  his  lordship  informs  Chau- 
velin, that  his  majesty  is  not  disposed  to  re- 
ceive his  new  letters  of  credence  fi-om  tlie 
French  republic.  Chauvelin  then  requested 
a  personal  interview  with  his  lordship,  which 
was  also  refiised. 

FRENCH  AAfBASSADOR  ORDERED  TO 

LEAVE  THE  KINGDOM. 
At  length  this  extraordinary  busin€«  was 


374 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


brought  to  a  crisis,  by  a  letter  from  lord 
Grenville,  dated  January  the  twenty-fourth, 
1793,  in  which  his  lordship  sa3's,  "I  am 
charged  to  notify  to  you,  Sir,  that  the  char- 
acter with  which  you  had  been  invested  at 
this  court,  and  the  functions  of  which  have 
been  so  long  suspended,  being  now  entirely 
terminated  by  the  fatal  death  of  his  most 
christian  majesty,  you  have  no  longer  any 
public  character  here ;  and  his  majesty  has 
thought  fit  to  order  that  you  should  retire 
from  this  kingdom  within  the  term  of  eight 
days."  At  this  very  time,  Maret,  a  confi- 
dential agent  of  Le  Brun,  was  on  his  way  to 
England  with  fresh  dispatches  from  the  ex- 
ecutive council,  and  as  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  fresh  concessions  of  the  highest 
importance.  But  on  his  arrival  in  London, 
being  informed  of  the  compulsive  dismission 
of  Chauvelin,  he  did  not  think  himself  au- 
thorized to  open  his  commission.  He  there- 
fore merely  announced  his  arrival  to  lord 
Grenville,  but  no  advances  were  made  to 
liim  on  the  part  of  the  English. 

The  death  of  the  French  monarch  was 
indeed  a  disastrous  and  mournful  event.  It 
was  well  known  that  the  executive  council, 
and  a  great  majority  of  the  national  conven- 
tion, were  eagerly  desirous  to  avert  this 
fatal  catastrophe ;  but  the  violence  of  the 
Jacobin  fact 'on,  and  the  savage  rage  of  the 
populace,  rendered  it  impossible.  "We 
may,"  said  Le  Brun  to  a  confidential  friend, 
"sacrifice  ourselves,  without  being  able  to 
save  the  life  of  the  king."  It  was  not  that 
the  moderate  party  entertained  any  doubt 
of  the  veracity  of  the  leading  charges 
brought  against  the  king ;  for,  on  this  point, 
there  was  never  any  difference  of  opinion  in 
France;  but  they  discerned  innumerable 
circumstances  of  palliation,  which  formed  an 
irresistible  claim  to  compassion  and  mercy. 
In  England  no  one  attempted  to  justify  the 
deed;  "nor,"  says  an  animated  writer  of 
that  time,  "  is  it  the  season  for  extenuation 
now  that  the  stream  of  prejudice  flows 
stron.^,  and  the  phantasm  of  a  murdered  king 
stalka  before  our  affrighted  imagination." 

KING'S  MESSAGE  TO  THE  COMMONS  ON 
FRENCH  AFFAIRS. 
Ow  Monday  the  twenty-eighth  of  January, 
four  days  after  Chauvelin  had  been  ordered 
to  leave  the  kingdom,  the  king  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  the  house,  importing,  that,  "  his  ma- 
jesty had  given  directions  for  laying  before 
the  house  of  commons,  copies  of  several  pa- 
pers which  have  been  received  from  Chau- 
velin, late  minister  plenipotentiary  from  the 
most  christian  king,  by  his  majesty's  secre- 
tary of  state  for  foreign  affairs,  and  of  the 
answers  returned  thereto ;  and  likewise  a 
copy  of  an  order  made  by  his  Tnajesty  in  | 
council,  and  transmitted  by  his  majesty's! 
comrjaimd  to  tlie  paid  Caauvelin,  in  conse- ; 


quence  of  the  accounts  of  the  atrocious  act, 
recently  perpetrated  at  Paris.  In  the  pres- 
ent situation  of  affairs,  his  majesty  thinks  it 
indispensably  necessary  to  make  a  further 
augmentation  of  his  forces  by  sea  and  land ; 
and  he  relies  on  the  known  affection  and  zeal 
of  the  house  of  commons  to  enable  his  ma- 
jesty to  take  the  most  effectual  measures,  in 
the  present  important  conjuncture,  for  main- 
taining the  security  and  rights  of  his  own 
dominions,  for  supporting  his  allies,  and  for 
opposing  views  of  aggrandizement  and  am- 
bition on  the  part  of  France,  which  would 
be  at  all  times  dangerous  to  the  general  in- 
terests of  Europe,  but  are  peculiarly  so  when 
connected  with  the  propagation  of  principles 
which  lead  to  the  violation  of  the  most  sacred 
duties,  and  are  utterly  subversive  of  the 
peace  and  order  of  all  civil  society." 

PITT'S  SPEECH  ON  MOVING  THE  AD- 
DRESS. 
On  the  first  of  February,  his  majesty's 
message  was  taken  into  consideration,  when 
an  animated  and  interesting  debate  arose, 
the  result  of  which  precluded  every  hope  of 
amicable  accommodation  between  England 
and  France.  It  was  opened  by  Mr.  Pitt, 
who  began  by  saying,  "  that  amidst  the  many 
important  objects  arising  from  the  message 
of  his  majesty,  which  now  came  to  be  con- 
sidered, there  was  one  which  particularly 
called  for  their  attention.  That  attention, 
indeed,  could  not  fail  to  be  separately  direct- 
ed to  that  calamitous  event,  that  act  of  out- 
rage to  every  principle  of  religion,  justice 
and  humanity ;  an  act  which  in  this  country, 
and  the  whole  of  Europe,  had  excited  but 
one  general  sentiment  of  indignation  and 
abhorrence,  and  could  not  fail  to  excite  the 
same  sentiments  in  every  civilized  nation. 
He  should,  indeed,  better  consult  his  own 
feelings  and  those  of  the  house,  could  he 
draw  a  veil  over  this  melancholy  event.  It 
was  in  all  its  circumstances  so  fiill  of  grief 
and  horror,  that  it  must  be  a  wish,  in  which 
all  united,  to  tear  it,  if  possible,  from  their 
memories,  to  expunge  it  from  the  page  of 
history,  and  remove  it  for  ever  from  the  ob- 
servation or  comments  of  mankind. 

Excidat  ille  dies  a;vo,  neu  postera  credant 
Secula  ?  nos  cnrU  taceamus,  et  obruta  muUa 
Nocte  tegi  nostra;  patiamur  crimina  gentis. 

Such,"  he  continued,  "  were  the  words  ap- 
plied by  an  author  of  their  own,  to  an  occa- 
sion (the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew) 
which  had  always  been  deemed  the  stand- 
ing reproach  of  the  French  nation,  aind  the 
horrors  and  cruelties  of  which  had  only  been 
equalled  by  those  atrocious  and  sanguinary 
proceedings  whiclj  had  been  witnessed  in 
some  late  instances.  But  whatever  might 
be  their  feelings  of  indignation  and  abhor- 
rence with  respect  to  that  dreadful  and  in- 
huiciUi  event  to  which  he  had  set  out  witii 


GEORGE  ni.    1760—1820. 


375 


calling  their  attention,  that  event  now  was 
past ;  it  was  impossible  that  the  present  age 
should  not  now  be  contaminated  with  the 
guilt  and  ignominy  of  having  witnessed  it, 
or  that  the  breath  of  tradition  should  be  pre- 
vented from  handing  it  down  to  posterity. 
They  could  only  now  enter  their  solemn 
protestation  against  that  event,  as  contrary 
to  every  sentiment  of  justice  and  humanity, 
as  violating  the  most  sacred  authority  of 
laws,  and  the  strongest  principles  of  natural 
feeling.  Hence,  however,  they  might  de- 
rive a  useful  theme  of  reflection — a  lesson 
of  salutary  warning :  for,  in  this  dreadful 
transaction,  they  saw  concentrated  the  effect 
of  those  principles  pushed  to  their  utmost 
extent,  which  set  out  with  dissolving  all  the 
bonds  of  legislation  by  which  society  were 
held  together,  which  were  established  in  op- 
position to  every  law,  divine  and  human, 
and  presumptuously  relying  on  the  authority 
of  wild  and  delusive  theories,  rejected  all 
the  advantages  of  the  wisdom  and  experi- 
ence of  former  ages,  and  even  the  sacred 
instructions  of  revelation.  While  therefore 
he  directed  their  attention  to  this  transac- 
tion, he  paid  not  only  a  tribute  to  humanity, 
but  he  suggested  to  them  a  subject  of  much 
useful  reflection :  for,  by  considering  the 
consequences  of  these  principles,  they  might 
be  duly  warned  of  their  mischievous  tenden- 
cy, and  taught  to  guard  against  their  pro- 
gress. Indeed  he  wished  that  this  subject 
might  on  the  present  occasion  be  considered 
rather  as  matter  of  reason  and  reflection, 
than  of  sentiment.  Sentiment  was  now  un- 
availing ;  but  reason  and  reflection  might 
be  attended  with  the  most  beneficial  effects ; 
and  while  they  pointed  out  the  horrid  evils 
which  had  disgraced  and  ruined  another 
country,  might  preserve  our  own  from  ex 
hibiting  a  scene  of  similar  calamity  and 
guilt.  No  consideration  indeed  could  be 
more  connected  with  a  country  like  this,  or 
of  greater  importance,  than  what  tended  to 
avert  such  transactions  as  had  taken  place 
in  that  neighboring  state.  Here,  where  a 
monarch  formed  an  essential  part  of  the  gov- 
ernment, clothed  with  that  inviolability 
which  was  essential  to  the  exercise  of  the 
sovereign  power ;  where  the  legislature  was 
composed  of  a  mixture  of  democracy  and 
Aristocracy ;  and  where,  by  the  benefits  of 
this  system,  we  had  been  exempted  from 
those  mischiefs  which  in  former  ages  had 
been  produced  by  despotism,  and  which  were 
only  to  be  exceeded  by  those  still  more  hor- 
rid evils  which  in  the  present  time  had  been 
found  to  be  the  fruits  of  licentiousness  and 
anarchy.  The  situation  of  this  country,  he 
must,  indeed,  compare  to  the  temperate 
zone,  which  was  the  situation  in  every  re- 
spect best  fitted  for  health  and  enjoyment ; 
and  where,  enjoying  a  mild,  beneficial,  regu- 


lated influence,  the  inhabitants  were  equally 
protected  from  the  scorching  heats  of  the 
torrid,  and  the  rigorous  frosts  of  the  frigid 
zones.  Compared  with  this  country,  where 
equal  protection  was  extended  to  all,  and 
there  existed  so  high  a  sum  of  national  fe- 
licity, dreadful  indeed  was  the  contrast  af- 
forded in  the  present  situation  of  France, 
where  there  prevailed  a  system  of  the  ut- 
most licentiousness  and  disorder,  and  anar- 
chy through  a  thousand  organs  operated  to 
produce  unnumbered  mischiefs.  Such  a  sys- 
tem could  surely  never  find  its  way  into  this 
happy  country,  unless  industriously  import- 
ed ;  and  to  guard  against  the  introduction 
of  such  a  system  was  their  first  duty  and 
their  most  important  care.  His  majesty  had 
declined  taking  any  part  in  the  internal  gov- 
ernment of  France,  and  had  made  a  positive 
declaration  to  that  eflTect.  When  he  took 
that  wise,  generous,  and  disinterested  reso- 
lution, he  had  reason  to  expect  that  the 
French  would  m  return  have  respected  the 
rights  of  himself  and  his  allies,  and  most  of 
all,  that  they  would  not  have  attempted  any 
internal  interference  in  this  country.  A  pa- 
per oh  the  table  contained  on  their  part  a 
positive  contract  to  abstain  from  any  of  those 
acts  by  which  they  had  provoked  the  indig- 
nation of  this  country.  In  this  paper  the^ 
disclaimed  all  views  of  aggrandizement ; 
they  gave  assurances  of  their  good  conduct 
to  neutral  nations;  they  protested  against 
their  entertaming  an  idea  of  interfering  in 
the  government  of  the  country  or  making 
any  attempts  to  excite  insurrection,  upon 
the  express  ground  that  such  interference 
and  such  attempts  would  be  a  violation  of 
the  law  of  nations.  They  had  themselves, 
by  anticipation,  passed  sentence  upon  their 
own  conduct ;  and  the  event  of  this  even- 
ing's discussion  would  decide,  whether  that 
sentence  would  be  confirmed  by  those  who 
had  actually  been  injured.  Durmg  the 
whole  summer,  while  France  had  been  en- 
gaged in  the  war  with  Austria  and  Prussia, 
his  majesty  had  in  no  shape  departed  from 
the  neutrality  which  he  had  engaged  to  ob- 
serve, nor  did  he,  by  the  smallest  act,  give 
any  reason  to  suspect  his  adherence  to  that 
system.  But  what,  he  would  ask,  was  the 
conduct  of  the  French  1  Had  they  also  faith- 
fully observed  their  part  of  the  agreement, 
and  adhered  to  the  assurances  which,  on  the 
ground  of  his  majesty's  neutrality,  they  had 
given,  to  reject  all  views  of  aggrandize- 
ment, not  to  interfere  with  neutral  nations, 
and  to  respect  the  rights  of  his  majesty  and 
his  allies?  What  had  been  their  conduct 
would  very  soon  appear  from  the  statement 
of  facts.  They  had  immediately  showed 
how  little  sincere  they  were  in  their  first 
assurances,  by  discovering  intentions  to  pur- 
sue a  system  of  the  most  unlimited  aggran- 


376 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN, 


dizement,  if  they  were  not  opposed  and 
checked  in  their  career.  The  first  instance 
of  their  success  in  Savoy  had  been  sufficient 
to  unfold  the  plan  of  their  ambition.  They 
had  immediately  adopted  the  course  to  an- 
nex it  for  ever  to  their  own  dominions,  and 
had  displayed  a  resolution  to  do  the  same, 
wherever  they  should  carry  their  arms. 
That  they  might  not  leave  any  doubt  of 
their  intentions,  by  a  formal  decree  they  had 
stated  their  plan  of  overturning  every  gov- 
ernment, and  substituting  their  own ;  they 
threatened  destruction  to  all  who  should  not 
be  inclined  to  adopt  their  system  of  free- 
dom, and,  by  a  horrid  mockery,  offered  fra- 
ternization, where,  if  it  was  refused,  they 
were  determined  to  employ  force,  and  to 
propagate  their  principles,  where  they 
should  fail  to  gain  assent,  by  the  mouths  of 
cannon.  They  established,  in  the  instruc- 
tions to  the  commissioners  whom  they  ap- 
pointed to  enforce  the  decree  with  respect 
to  the  countries  entered  by  tlieir  armies,  a 
standing  revolutionary  order ;  they  institut- 
ed a  system  of  organizing  disorganization. 
And  what  was  the  reason  they  assigned  for 
all  this  ?  '  The  period  of  freedom,'  said  they, 
'  must  soon  come  :  we  must  then  endeavor, 
by  all  means  in  our  power,  to  accomplish  it 
now,  for  should  this  freedom  be  accomplish- 
ed by  other  nations,  what  then  will  become 
of  us  1  Shall  we  then  be  safe  V  It  is  a 
question  indeed  which  they  might  well  put, 
'  What  will  become  of  us  V  for  justly  might 
they  entertain  doubts  of  their  safety.  They 
had  rendered  the  Netherlands  a  province,  in 
substance  as  well  as  name,  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  France.  That  system,  pursued  by 
the  jacobin  societies,  in  concert  with  their 
correspondents,  had  given  a  more  fatal  blow 
to  liberty  than  any  which  it  had  ever  suffer- 
ed from  the  boldest  attempts  of  the  most  as- 
piring monarch.  What  had  been  the  cir- 
cumstances which  had  attended  the  tri- 
umphal entry  of  general  Dumourier  1  De- 
monstrations of  joy  inspired  by  terror,  illu- 
minations imperiously  demanded  by  an  arm- 
ed force.  And  when  the  primary  assembly 
met  to  deliberate,  in  what  circumstances  did 
they  assemble  1  With  the  tree  of  liberty 
planted  amidst  them,  and  surrounded  by  a 
hollow  square  of  French  soldiers,  a  situation 
surely  equally  conducive  to  the  ease  of  their 
own  thoughts,  and  the  freedom  of  their  pub- 
lic deliberations.  And  what  had  happened 
even  since  the  French  had  professed  their 
intention  of  evacuating  the  territories  which 
they  had  entered,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
war  1  A  deputation  had  been  received  from 
Hainault,  requesting  that  it  might  be  added 
as  an  eighty-fifth  department.  And  how  had 
this  deputation  been  received  ]  Had  the  re- 
quest been  rejected  1  No,  it  had  only  been 
postponed  till  a  committee  should  be  able  to 


prepare  instructions,  how  those  nations,  who 
should  be  desirous  of  the  same  union,  should 
be  able  to  incorporate  themselves  with 
France  in  a  regular  and  formal  manner,  till 
the  preliminaries  should  be  settled  by  which 
it  should  subject  to  its  government,  and  add 
to  its  territories,  every  country  which  should 
be  so  unfortunate  as  to  experience  the  force 
of  its  arms,  and  give  to  its  wild  and  destruc- 
tive ambition,  only  the  same  limits  with 
those  of  its  power.  It  was  matter  of  serious 
consideration,  how  far  such  a  conduct  not 
only  ought  to  rouse  the  indignation,  but 
might  tend  to  affect  the  interests  of  this 
country.  To  show  how  the  French  had  be- 
haved with  respect  to  neutral  nations,  he 
need  only  refer  to  their  decree  of  the  nine- 
teenth of  November,  which  had  already 
been  so  often  mentioned  and  so  amply  dis- 
cussed. He  should  read  an  extract  from  this 
decree.  He  then  read  that  passage  in  which 
the  French  granted  fraternity  to  all  tlio&e 
people  who  should  be  desirous  to  gain  their 
freedom,  and  offer  them  assistance  for  that 
purpose.  And  that  none  might  be  at  a  loss 
to  know  to  whom  the  French  nation  were 
disposed  to  grant  this  relationship  of  younger 
brothers,  they  had  ordered  the  decree  to  be 
printed  in  all  languages,  by  which  it  might 
be  perceived  that  they  intended  the  favor  to 
all  nations  who  chose  to  accept  of  it.  Some 
pretended  explanations  had  indeed  been  giv- 
en of  this  decree,  but  of  all  these  explana- 
tions he  should  say  nothing  but  what  had 
already  been  stated  by  the  noble  secretary 
of  state,  that  they  contained  only  an  avowal 
and  a  repetition  of  the  offence.  The  whole 
of  their  language,  institutions,  and  conduct, 
had  been  directed  to  the  total  subversion  of 
every  government.  To  monarchy  particu- 
larly they  had  testified  the  most  decided 
aversion,  and  so  violent  was  their  enmity, 
that  they  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  than  its  entire  extermination.  The 
bloody  sentence,  which  the  hand  of  the  as- 
sassin had  lately  carried  into  execution 
against  their  own  monarch,  was  passed 
against  the  sovereigns  of  all  countries. 
Were  not  these  principles  intended  to  be 
applied  in  their  effects  to  this  government  1 
No  society  in  this  country,  however  small 
in  number,  however  contemptible,  however 
even  questionable  in  existence,  had  sent  ad- 
dresses to  their  assembly,  in  which  they  had 
expressed  sentiments  of  sedition  and  trea- 
son, which  had  not  been  received  with  a  de- 
gree even  of  theatrical  extravagance,  and 
cherished  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  conge- 
nial feeling.  Need  he  then  ask  if  England 
was  not  aimed  at  in  this  conduct,  and  if  it 
alone  was  to  be  exempted  from  the  conse- 
quences of  a  system,  the  profession  of  which 
was  anarchy,  and  which  seemed  to  aspire  to 
establish  universal  dominion  upon  the  ruin 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


377 


of  every  government  1  On  the  subject  of 
the  violation  of  the  rights  of  his  majesty  and 
his  allies,  he  had  already  on  a  former  occa- 
sion spoken  at  some  length.  He  had  stated, 
that  the  only  claim  which  the  French  could 
have  to  interfere  in  the  navigation  of  the 
Scheld,  must  either  be  in  the  assumed  char- 
acter of  sovereign  of  the  Low  Countries,  or 
as  taking  to  themselves  the  office  of  the  ar- 
biters of  Europe.  There  were  the  most  sol- 
emn engagements  of  treaties  to  protect  the 
Dutch  in  Sieir  exclusive  right  of  navigating 
the  Scheld.  An  infringement  of  treaties 
more  notorious  and  more  flagrant  perhaps 
never  had  occurred,  than  that  which  now 
appeared  in  the  instance  of  their  conduct 
with  respect  to  the  Scheld.  For  this  in- 
fringement they  had  advanced  some  pre- 
tences, alleging  that  the  exclusive  privilege 
of  navigating  the  Scheld  was  contrary  to 
certain  principles  with  respect  to  the  rights 
of  rivers.  Capricious  and  wild  in  their  the- 
ory, and  in  entire  contradiction  to  whatever 
had  been  sanctioned  by  established  practice, 
they  likewise  pretend,  that  the  treaty,  on 
which  was  founded  the  exclusive  right  of 
navigating  the  Scheld,  was  antiquated  and 
obsolete,  and  had  become  no  longer  binding, 
though  they  had  themselves,  upon  receiving 
the  assurances  of  his  majesty's  intentions  of 
neutrality,  pledged  themselves  to  an  observ- 
ance of  all  the  subsisting  treaties.  The  pre- 
tences which  they  alleged  upon  this  occa- 
sion were  indeed  such  as  equally  went  to 
weaken  the  force  of  every  treaty,  to  remove 
every  obligation,  and  destroy  all  confidence 
between  nations.  From  what  had  passed  in 
a  former  part  of  the  evening,  he  understood 
that  it  would  be  urged,  that  the  Dutch  had 
made  no  formal  requisition  for  the  support 
of  this  country,  in  order  to  resist  the  open- 
ing of  the  Scheld  by  the  French,  and  to  en- 
able them  to  maintain  their  right  to  the  ex- 
clusive navigation  of  that  river.  He  grant- 
ed that  no  such  formal  requisition  had  been 
made.  But  might  there  not  be  prudential 
reasons  for  not  making  this  requisition  on 
their  part,  very  different  from  those  which 
should  induce  this  country  to  withhold  its 
support  1  When  the  French  opened  the 
Scheld,  the  Dutch  entered  their  solemn  pro- 
test against  that  invasion  of  their  rights, 
which  left  them  at  liberty,  at  any  time,  to 
take  it  up  as  an  act  of  hostility.  If,  from 
the  sudden  progress  of  the  French  arms,  and 
the  circumstances  of  their  forces  being  at 
their  very  door,  they  either  from  prudence 
or  fear  did  not  think  proper  to  take  it  up  as 
an  immediate  commencement  of  hostilities ; 
because  they  had  been  timid,  would  England 
think  itself  entitled  to  leave  its  allies,  al 
ready  involved  in  a  situation  of  imminent 
danger,  to  that  certain  ruin  to  which  they 
were  exposed,  in  consequence  of  a  system, 
32* 


the  principles  of  which  threatened  also  de- 
struction to  England,  to  Europe,  and  to  the 
whole  of  mankind  1  Thus,  in  all  those  three 
assurances  which  they  had  given  of  their 
intention  to  reject  any  system  of  aggran- 
dizement, to  atetain  from  interfering  in  the 
government  of  any  neutral  country,  and  to 
respect  the  rights  of  his  majesty  and  of  his 
allies,  they  haS  entirely  failed,  and  in  every 
respect  completely  reversed  that  line  of  con- 
duct which  they  had  so  solemnly  pledged 
themselves  to  adopt.  Whatever  they  had 
oflfered  under  the  name  of  explanations  con- 
tained nothing  that  either  afforded  any  com- 
pensation for  the  past,  or  was  at  all  satisfac- 
tory with  respect  to  the  future.  They  had 
stated,  that  they  would  evacuate  the  Nether- 
lands at  the  conclusion  of  the  war — upon  a 
promise  so  illusory  there  could  not  be  the 
smallest  grounds  of  dependence.  With  re- 
spect to  the  decree  of  the  nineteenth  of  No- 
vember, they  had  made  no  apology  for  the 
manner  in  which  they  had  received  sedi- 
tious addresses  from  this  country.  They 
stated  indeed,  that  it  was  injurious  to  them 
to  suppose  that  they  would  interfere  in  any 
government  without  a  previous  express  de- 
claration of  the  national  will :  but  they  had 
left  themselves  to  judge  what  was  sufficient 
to  constitute  that  declaration  of  the  national 
will,  and  thus  allowed  this  decree,  which  in 
fact  was  nothmg  else  tlian  an  advertisement 
for  sedition  in  every  country,  to  remain  in 
full  force  ;  and  what  in  their  opinion  was  to 
constitute  a  declaration  of  the  national  will, 
we  could  only  judge  of  from  the  manner  in 
which  they  had  received  seditious  addresses 
from  a  minority  in  this  country,  so  small, 
that  those  who  were  disposed  to  put  the  con- 
duct of  the  French  in  the  most  favorable 
point  of  view,  held  them  out  as  too  con- 
temptible for  notice :  these  addresses  they 
received  as  expressive  of  the  sentiments  of 
the  people  of  Great  Britain,  the  great  ma- 
jority of  whom  he  was,  however,  happy  to 
say,  detested  their  principles — principles 
which,  if  once  adopted,  would  involve  in 
them  the  ruin  of  our  happy  constitution,  and 
the  destruction  of  our  country,  and  intro- 
duce anarchy  and  all  those  scenes  of  horror 
with  which  the  country  which  had  broached 
them  was  now  afflicted  :  but  the  patience 
of  the  house  and  his  strength  would  fail  him 
should  he  proceed  to  state  all  the  facts  con- 
nected with  the  propositions  which  he  now 
meant  to  lay  before  them.  On  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  December,  M.  Chauvelin,  on  the 
part  of  the  executive  council,  had  presented 
the  note  complaining  of  the  injurious  con- 
struction of  the  decree  of  the  nineteenth  of 
November.  On  the  thirty-first  of  Decem- 
ber, a  member  of  that  executive  council 
(minister  of  the  marine)  addressed  a  letter 
to  all  the  friends  of  liberty  in  the  sea-ports; 


378 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


from  which  he  would  now  read  some  pas- 
sages. 'The  government  of  England  is 
arming,  and  the  king  of  Spain,  encouraged 
by  this,  is  preparing  to  attack  us.  These 
two  tyrannical  powers,  after  persecuting  the 
patriots  on  their  own  territories,  think,  no 
doubt,  that  they  shall  be  able  to  influence 
the  judgment  to  be  pronounced  on  the  ty- 
rant Louis.  They  hope  to  frighten  us  :  but 
no — a  people  who  have  made  themselves 
free — a  people  who  have  driven  out  of  the 
bosom  of  France,  and  as  far  as  the  distant 
borders  of  the  Rhine,  the  terrible  army  of 
the  Prussians  and  Austrians — the  people  of 
France  will  not  suffer  laws  to  be  dictated 
to  them  by  a  tyrant.  The  king  and  his  par- 
liament mean  to  make  war  against  us.  Will 
the  English  republicans  suffer  it  1  Already 
these  free  men  show  their  discontent,  and 
the  repugnance  which  they  have  to  bear 
arms  against  their  brothers  the  French — 
Well !  we  will  fly  to  their  succor  ! — we  will 
make  a  descent  on  the  island — we  will 
lodge  there  fifty  thousand  caps  of  liberty — 
we  will  plant  there  the  sacred  tree,  and  we 
will  stretch  out  our  arms  to  our  republican 
brethren — the  tyranny  of  their  government 
will  soon  be  destroyed.'  He  called  the  at- 
tention of  the  house  to  this  declaration, 
which  distinguished  the  English  people  from 
the  king  and  the  parliament,  and  to  the  na- 
ture of  that  present  which  was  meant  to  be 
made  them.  While  such  declarations  were 
made,  what  could  be  thought  of  any  expla- 
nations which  were  pretended  to  be  given, 
or  what  credit  was  due  to  the  assertions, 
that  they  entertained  no  intentions  hostile 
to  the  government  of  this  country  ?  From 
all  these  circumstances  he  concluded,  that 
the  conduct  and  pretensions  of  the  French 
were  such  as  were  neither  consistent  with 
the  existence  or  safety  of  this  country,  such 
as  that  house  could  not,  and  he  was  con- 
fident, never  would,  acquiesce  in.  Their 
explanations  had  only  been  renewed  insults, 
and  instead  of  reverting  to  those  assurances 
with  which  they  had  originally  set  out,  they 
now  showed  themselves  determined  to  main- 
tain the  ground,  such  as  it  was,  upon  which 
they  stood  witli  respect  to  this  country.  In 
the  last  paper  wliich  had  been  delivered, 
they  had  given  in  an  ultimatum,  stating 
that,  unless  you  accept  such  satisfaction  as 
they  have  thought  proper  to  give,  they  will 
prepare  for  war.  Unless  you  then  recede 
from  your  principles,  or  they  withdraw  it, 
a  war  must  be  the  consequence — as  to  the 
time,  the  precise  moment,  he  should  not  pre- 
tend to  fix  it — it  would  be  left  open  to  the 
last  for  any  satisfactory  explanation,  but  he 
should  deceive  them  if  he  should  say,  that 
he  thought  any  such  explanation  would  be 
given,  or  that  it  was  probable  that  a  war 
could  be  avoided :  rather  than  recede  from 
our  principles,  war  was    preferable  to  a 


peace,  which  could  neither  be  consistent 
with  the  internal  tranquillity  nor  external 
safety  of  this  country."  He  then  moved  an 
address  of  thanks  to  his  majesty. 

OPPOSED  BY  LORD  WYCOMB,  WHIT- 
BREAD,  AND  FOX. 

Earl  Wycomb  said,  "  that  he  conceived 
it  to  be  his  most  indispensable  duty  to  use 
every  argument  in  his  power  to  avert  from 
his  country  so  grievous  a  calamity  as  that 
of  entering  into  a  war ;  a  calamity  of  such 
a  nature,  as  to  leave  only  a  doubt  as  to  the 
extent  of  ills  which  might  probably  result 
from  it ;  and  he  conjured  the  house  not  to 
agree  to  the  proposed  address,  till  they  had 
well  considered  the  consequence.  This 
country,  his  lordship  said,  was  in  no  danger 
whatever,  being  equally  secured  by  its  in- 
sular situation,  its  internal  resources,  and 
the  strong  attachment  of  the  people  to  the 
constitution:  he  conceived,  therefore,  that 
we  had  no  ground  for  alarm  on  the  first 
point  mentioned  in  the  message  from  his 
majesty.  As  to  the  second  point,  the  security 
of  our  allies,  his  lordship  said  it  was  impos- 
sible we  could  be  told  that  Prussia  had  been 
attacked  by  France,  and  of  course  this  part 
of  the  message  must  relate  to  Holland.  If 
the  navigation  of  the  Scheld  was  the  sub- 
ject of  dispute,  it  appeared  to  be  a  matter 
of  indiflference  to  this  country ;  except  that 
in  one  view  it  would  be  of  great  advantage 
to  our  commerce  and  manufactures,  by 
opening  a  new  channel  in  the  best  and  most 
convenient  situation  for  sending  our  manu- 
factures into  all  the  continent  of  Europe. 
From  several  circumstances  it  would  be  idle 
and  impolitic  in  the  Dutch  themselves  to 
meditate  war,  and  they  seem  by  no  means 
disposed  to  do  so :  shall  we  then  urge  them 
to  resistance,  and  menace  France  with  war] 
With  regard  to  the  new  point  in  his  ma- 
jesty's message,  the  propagation  of  French 
principles,  he  thought  it  by  no  means  safe  to 
go  to  war  against  principles.  If  the  prin- 
ciples alluded  to  were  levelling  principles, 
they  should  be  met  with  contempt :  but  he 
by  no  means  reprobated  all  the  French  prin- 
ciples.— Great  stress  had  been  laid  on  the 
cruelties  perpetrated  in  France;  but  he 
could  not  think  they  were  a  proper  cause  of 
war :  in  his  opinion  these  cruelties  had  all 
originated  in  the  famous  expedition  of  the 
duke  of  Brunswick,  which  might  be  called 
a  fraternity  of  kings  for  the  purpose  of  im- 
posing despotism  on  all  Europe.  Another 
ground  taken  by  ministers,  he  said,  was  the 
necessity  of  preserving  the  balance  of  power 
in  Europe — or,  the  system  of  Europe :  but 
he  could  not  see  why  the  country  should  be 
ready,  upon  all  occasions,  to  go  to  war  for 
the  benefit  of  other  nations.  This  system 
he  looked  upon  to  be  no  more  than  a  politi- 
cal fiction,  a  cover  for  any  interference  that 
caprice  might  dictate.    The  next  thing  to 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


379 


which  he  wished  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
house  was  the  means  of  carrying  on  the 
war.  When  the  present  supposed  accumu- 
lation, of  which  ministers  boasted,  was  ex- 
hausted, they  must  have  recourse  to  new 
taxes ;  and  if  there  was  no  absolute  neces- 
sity for  war,  why  burden  the  people  to  main- 
tain a  war,  of  the  issue  of  which  no  judg- 
ment could  be  formed;  and  the  relative 
situation  of  France  to  this  country  was  such, 
that  the  connexion  of  this  country  with 
lier  should  not,  he  thought,  be  put  to  un- 
necessary hazard.  The  war  might  be  car- 
ried on  for  some  time  without  any  additional 
duties;  but  when  our  resources  were  ex- 
liausted,  taxes  must  follow,  accompanied  by 
the  murmurs,  if  not  execrations,  of  the 
people;  and  he  hoped  we  would  not  fall 
into  an  error  with  respect  to  the  finances  of 
France,  for  it  had  undoubtedly  resources 
which  would  be  sufficient  at  least  for  some 
time.  The  death  of  the  king  of  France 
had  been  pathetically  lamented  by  ministers ; 
but  they  never  attempted  to  interfere,  and 
while  they  professed  peace,  used  every 
haughty  irritating  provocation  to  war.  Upon 
the  whole,  he  could  view  the  war  in  no 
other  light  than  as  a  revival  of  the  system 
of  extirpation  that  was  the  basis  of  the  late 
American  war.  He  should  therefore  give 
Jiis  negative  to  the  motion  for  the  address." 
Whitbread,  junr.  said,  "  The  house  was 
then  to  consider  whether  war  was  justifiable 
upon  any  grounds  stated  in  the  papers  upon 
the  table,  and  whether  ministers  had  done 
their  utmost  to  avert  that  calamity.  To 
both  these  he  gave  a  decided  negative ;  and 
before  he  adverted  to  the  grounds  stated  in 
the  papers,  he  should  say  something  as  to 
the  real  cause  of  the  war,  as  he  conceived 
it  would  at  length  appear  to  be,  if  war  were 
undertaken.  This  was  no  less  than  the 
total  overthrow  of  the  new  system  of  gov- 
ernment existing  in  France:  for  no  other 
reason  could  ministers  have  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge the  republic.  They  had  admitted 
of  non-official  communications :  this  was  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  power  residing  in 
those  persons  with  whom  they  thus  commu- 
nicated; but  they  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  right  of  those  persons  to  the  exercise  of 
the  power  with  which  they  were  invested. 
This  was  securing  the  possibility  of  joining 
with  the  combined  powers,  whenever  a  con- 
venient opportunity  might  offer,  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  new  system.  He  deprecated 
such  an  attempt  as  contrary  to  the  rights  of 
nations.  No  country  had  a  right  to  inter- 
fere with  the  internal  arrangements  adopted 
by  another.  The  national  will  was  supreme 
in  every  country ;  and  tbat  alone  could  con- 
stitute, alter,  or  modify  forms  of  government 
Could  any  man  doubt  that  the  nation  willed 
a  republic  in  France  1  If  we  attempted  to 
interfere  with  the  disposition  of  the  national 


will,  let  us  recollect  upon  what  grounds  the 
title  of  the  king  of  England  stood, — upon 
the  will  of  the  nation ;  and  one  of  the  most 
despotic  sovereigns  in  Europe,  the  empress 
of  Russia,  owed  her  elevation  to  the  supposed 
expression  of  the  national  will,  at  the  revo- 
lution in  1762.  She  possessed  the  throne 
upon  no  other  footing;  and  what  form  of 
government  soever  any  nation  willed  for  it- 
self, such  it  had  the  right  to  adopt.  He  now 
came  to  the  first  stated  ground  of  complaint 
of  this  country  agamst  France, — the  decree 
of  November  the  nineteenth ;  which  decree 
he  did  not  in  itself  defend ;  but  he  contend- 
ed that  the  explanation  which  the  French 
had  been  disposed  to  give  of  that  decree, 
was  such  as  to  take  away  all  well-grounded 
apprehensions  of  any  injury  designed  to  this 
country,  and  certainly  would  not  justify  us 
in  going  to  war.  The  next  object  stated 
was  the  aggrandizement  of  France,  which 
was  likely  to  endanger  the  balance  of  Eu- 
rope. Upon  the  subject  of  the  balance  of 
Europe,  which  now  appeared  to  be  a  matter 
of  such  signal  importance,  he  begged  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  house,  and  to  the  general 
conduct  of  his  majesty's  ministers  in  their 
endeavors  to  maintain  that  balance.  At  the 
time  the  despotic  powers  had  formed  a  combi- 
nation against  France,  which  it  was  not  con- 
ceivable that  she  could  resist — when  it  ap- 
peared that  the  country  was  to  be  overrun, 
and  to  become  an  easy  prey  to  the  duke  of 
Brunswick,  no  apprehensions  were  enter- 
tained on  account  of  the  balance  of  power ; 
the  same  supineness  had  been  visible  when 
the  empress  of  Russia,  in  the  course  of  the 
last  summer,  had  taken  possession  of  Poland : 
but  now  that  the  French  were  victorious, 
and  had  defeated  their  enemies,  combined 
to  crush  them,  the  balance  of  power  was  in 
danger !  But  the  aggrandizement  of  France 
was  dangerous  as  connected  with  the  prin- 
ciples she  propagated :  he  begged  to  knovv- 
whether  this  apprehension  was  not  equally 
well  founded,  when  applied  to  the  case  of 
Russia]  he  conceived  the  principles  of  des- 
potism propagated  by  the  sword  of  the  one, 
as  dangerous  to  the  general  security  of  Eu- 
rope, as  the  licentiousness  propagated  by 
the  sword  of  the  other.  With  regard  to  the 
request  urged  by  the  British  government, 
that  the  French  should  withdraw  their  troops 
within  their  own  territory,  m  order  to  pave 
the  way  to  any  negotiation  with  us,  he 
thought  such  a  demand  the  height  of  inso- 
lence. France  had  been  attacked ;  she  had 
successfully  repelled  that  attack,  and  gained 
possession  of  the  territory  of  her  adversar}-, 
and  had  a  right  to  maintain  that  possession, 
at  least  till  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  to  en- 
able her  to  make  advantageous  terms  for 
herself  We  had  forced  her  to  an  anticipa- 
tion of  her  designs  on  the  subject  of  Brabant 
She  had  declared  her  intentions  not  to  add 


380 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  low  countries  to  her  own  territories ;  but 
to  suiFer  the  Belgians  to  erect  themselves 
into  an  independent  sovereignty.  A  hard 
necessity,  indeed,  he  should  conceive  it  for 
Great  Britain,  to  be  forced  to  go  to  war,  to 
maintain  to  the  Dutch  the  exclusive  naviga- 
tion of  the  Scheld ;  but  he  had  nev^er  said 
that  he  was  against  supporting  the  faith  of 
treaties,  where  the  casus  fcRderis  was  clearly 
defined.  But  was  it,  in  this  instance,  a  new 
and  unexercised  right  of  nature  for  which  it 
was  contended?  certainly  not.  Antwerp 
was  a  monument  of  the  exercise  of  that 
right  by  her  inhabitants ;  and  he  was  free  to 
say,  that  it  would  give  him  joy  to  see  the 
commerce  of  that  once  flourishing  city  re- 
stored ;  for  the  exclusive  navigation  of  the 
Scheld  had  been  '  established  by  force,  and 
consented  to  by  weakness.'  But  a  neces- 
spry  preliminary  to  these  investigations, 
would  have  been  some  precise  requisition  of 
the  Dutch  for  the  stipulated  assistance  of 
her  ally.  The  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
had  avowed  that  no  such  demand  had  been 
made;  and  if  the  house  were  to  judge  of  the 
dispositions  of  the  States-General  by  their 
own  declarations,  he  believed  it  would  be 
found  that  they  did  not  think  it  worth  their 
while  to  go  to  war  for  the  maintenance  of 
this  right.  He  alluded  to  the  proclamation 
for  a  general  fast  put  forth  by  the  States- 
General  on  January  the  tenth,  in  which  they 
declare  that  they  are  then  at  peace,  and 
that  the  strict  neutrality  they  observed  had 
hitherto  protected  them  from  aggression. 
A  manifest  token  that  they  did  not  consider 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Scheld,  as  assert- 
ed by  the  French,  a  reason  for  going  to  war. 
If  then  we  did  go  to  war  on  that  ground, 
we  should  force  our  allies  into  it,  and  not 
ourselves  be  involved  in  it  by  the  terms  of 
our  alliance."  Whitbread  said,  "  that  having 
gone  through  the  matter  contained  in  the 
papers,  as  far  as  they  related  to  the  proba- 
bility of  war,  he  could  find  no  justification 
of  the  conduct  of  administration.  He  thought 
the  maintenance  of  peace,  consistently  with 
the  dignity,  honor,  and  interests  of  this 
country,  was  perfectly  in  the  power  of  min- 
isters :  but  their  conduct  and  words  denoted 
war." 

Fox  said,  "  that  although  some  words  had 
fallen  from  the  right  honorable  gentleman 
(Pitt),  which  might  lead  him  to  thmk,  that 
war  was  not  absolutely  determined  upon, 
yet  the  general  tenor  and  impression  of  his 
speech  was  such  as  to  induce  him  to  enter 
somewhat  at  large  into  the  subject.  The 
crimes,  the  murders,  and  the  massacres,  that 
had  been  committed  in  France,  he  did  not 
view  with  less  horror,  he  did  not  consider  as 
less  atrocious,  than  those  who  made  them 
the  perpetual  theme  of  their  declamation, 
although  he  put  them  entirely  out  of  the 
question  in  the  present  debate.    The  con- 


demnation and  execution  of  the  king,  he 
pronounced  an  act  as  disgraceful  as  any  that 
history  recorded ;  and  whatever  opinion  he 
might  at  any  time  have  expressed  in  private 
conversation,  he  had  expressed  none  cer- 
tainly in  that  house,  on  the  justice  of  bring- 
ing kings  to  trial,  revenge  being  unjustifia- 
ble, and  punishment  useless,  where  it  could 
not  operate  either  by  way  of  prevention  or 
example.     He   saw  neither  propriety  nor 
wisdom  in  that  house  passing  judgment  on 
any  act  committed  in  another  nation,  which 
had  no  direct  reference  to  us.    The  general 
maxim  of  policy  always  was,  that  the  crimes 
perpetrated  in  one  independent  state  were 
not  cognizable  by  another.    Need  he  remind 
the  house  of  our  former  conduct  in  this  re- 
spect] Had  we  not  treated,  had  we  not 
formed  alliances  with   Portugal   and   with 
Spain,  at  the  very  time  when  these  king- 
doms were  disgraced  and  polluted  by  the 
most  shocking  and  barbarous  acts  of  super- 
stition and  cruelty,  of  racks,  torture,  and 
bummg,  under  the  abominable  tyranny  of 
the  inquisition?  Did  we  ever  make  these 
outrages  against  reason  and  humanity  a  pre- 
text for  war  ?  Did  we  ever  inquire  how  the 
princes  with  whom  we  had  relative  interests 
either  obtained  or  exercised  their  power? 
Why  then  were  the  enormities  of  the  French 
in  their  own  country  held  up  as  a  cause  of 
war  ?  Much  of  these  enormities  had   been 
attributed  to  the   attack  of  the   combined 
powers ;  but  this  he  neither  considered  as  an 
excuse,  nor  would  argue  as  a  palliation.    If 
they  had  dreaded,  or  had  felt  an  attack,  to 
retaliate  on   their  fellow-citizens,  however 
much  suspected,  was  a  proceeding  which 
justice   disclaimed;   and   he   had   flattered 
himself,  that  when  men  were  disclaiming 
old,  and  professing  to  adopt  new  principles, 
those  of  persecution  and  revenge  would  be 
the  first  that  they  would  discard.  He  should 
now  show,  that  all  the  topics  to  which  Pitt 
had  adverted,  were  introduced  into  the  de 
bate  to  blind  the  judgment,  by  rousing  the 
passions,  and  were  none  of  them  the  just 
grounds  of  war.    These  grounds  were  three ; 
the  danger  of  Holland ;  the  decree  of  the 
French  convention  of  November  the  nine- 
teenth ;  and  the  general  danger  to  Europe, 
from  the  progress  of  the  French  arms.  With 
respect  to  Holland,  the  conduct  of  ministers 
afforded  a  fresh  proof  of  their  disingenuous- 
ness.    They  could  not  state,  that  the  Dutch 
had  called  upon  us  to  fulfil  the  terms  of  our 
alliance.     They  were  obliged   to  confess, 
that  no  such  requisition  had  been  made  ;  but 
added,  that  they  knew  the  Dutch  were  very 
much  disposed  to  make  it    Whatever  might 
be  the  words  of  the  treaty,  we  were  bound 
in  honor,  by  virtue  of  that  treaty,  to  protect 
the  Dutch,  if  they  called  upon  us  to  do  so, 
but  neither  by  honor  nor  the  treaty  till  then. 
The  conduct  of  the  Dutch  was  very  unfor- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


381 


tunate  upon  this  occasion.  In  the  order  for 
a  general  fast  by  the  states,  it  was  expressly 
said,  '  That  their  neutrality  seemed  to  put 
them  into  security  amidst  surrounding 
armies,  and  hitherto  effectually  protected 
them  from  molestation.'  This  he  by  no 
means  construed  into  givmg  up  the  opening 
of  the  Scheld  on  their  part ;  but  it  pretty 
clearly  showed,  that  they  were  not  disposed 
to  make  it  the  cause  of  a  war,  unless  forced 
to  do  so  by  us.  But  France  had  broke  faith 
with  the  Dutch ;  was  this  a  cause  for  us  to 
go  to  war  ?  How  long  was  it  since  we  con- 
sidered a  circumstance  tending  to  diminish 
the  good  understanding  between  France  and 
Holland,  as  a  misfortune  to  this  country  *? 
The  plain  state  of  the  matter  was,  that  we 
were  bound  to  save  Holland  from  war,  or  by 
war  if  called  upon ;  and  that  to  force  the 
Dutch  into  a  war  at  so  much  peril  to  them, 
which  they  saw  and  dreaded,  was  not  to  ful- 
fil, but  to  abuse  the  treaty.  Hence  he  com- 
plained of  the  disingenuous  conduct  of  min- 
isters, in  imputing  that  to  the  Dutch,  which 
the  Dutch  wished  to  avoid.  The  decree  of 
the  nineteenth  of  November,  he  considered 
as  an  insult ;  and  the  explanation  of  the 
executive  council  as  no  adequate  satisfac- 
tion; but  the  explanation  showed  that  the 
French  were  not  disposed  to  insist  upon  that 
decree,  and  that  they  were  inclined  to  peace ; 
and  then  our  ministers,  with  haughtiness  un- 
exampled, told  them  they  had  insulted  us, 
but  refused  to  tell  them  the  nature  of  the 
satisfaction  that  we  required.  It  was  said, 
we  must  have  security ;  and  he  was  ready 
to  admit  that  neither  a  disavowal  by  the 
executive  council  of  France,  iior  a  tacit  re- 
peal by  the  convention,  on  the  intimation 
of  an  unacknowledged  agent,  of  a  decree, 
which  they  might  renew  the  day  afler  they 
repealed  it,  would  be  a  sufficient  security. 
But  at  least  we  ought  to  tell  them  what  we 
meant  by  security,  for  it  was  the  extreme  of 
arrogance  to  complain  of  insult  without 
deigning  to  explain  what  reparation  we  re- 
quired :  and  he  feared  an  indefinite  term  was 
here  employed,  not  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing, but  of  precluding  satisfaction.  Next  it 
was  said,  they  must  withdraw  their  troops 
from  the  Austrian  Netherlands,  before  we 
could  be  satisfied.  Were  we  then  come  to 
that  pitch  of  insolence,  as  to  say  to  France, 
'  You  have  conquered  part  of  an  enemy's 
territory,  who  made  war  upon  you ;  we  will 
not  interfere  to  make  peace,  but  we  require 
you  to  abandon  the  advantages  you  have 
gained,  while  he  is  preparing  to  attack  you 
anew.'  Was  this  the  neutrality  we  meant 
to  hold  out  to  France  1  ♦  If  you  are  invaded 
and  beaten,  we  will  be  quiet  spectators ;  but 
if  you  hurt  your  enemy,  if  you  enter  his 
territory,  we  declare  war  against  you.'  If 
the  invasion  of  the  Netherlands  was  what 
now  alarmed  us,  and  that  it  ought  to  alarm 


us  if  the  result  was  to  make  the  country  an 
appendage  to  France,  there  could  be  no  doubt, 
we  ought  to  have  interposed  to  prevent  it  in 
the  very  first  instance  ;  for  it  was  the  natu- 
ral consequence  which  every  man  foresaw 
of  a  war  between  France  and  Austria.  The 
French  now  said,  they  would  evacuate  the 
country  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  and 
when  its  liberties  were  established.  Was 
this  sufficient  1  By  no  means :  but  we  ought 
to  tell  what  we  would  deem  sufficient,  in- 
stead of  saying  to  them,  as  we  were  now . 
saying,  'this  is  an  aggravation,  this  is  no- 
thing, and  this  is  insufficient.'  That  war 
was  unjust  which  told  not  an  enemy  the 
ground  of  provocation,  and  the  measure  of 
atonement ;  it  was  as  impolitic  as  unjust ; 
for  without  the  object  of  contest,  clearly  and 
definitely  stated,  what  opening  could  there 
be  for  treating  of  peace  1  Before  going  to 
war  with  France,  surely  the  people,  who 
must  pay  and  suffer,  ought  to  be  informed 
on  what  object  they  were  to  fix  their  hopes 
for  its  honorable  termination.  After  five  or 
six  years'  war,  the  French  might  agree  to 
evacuate  the  Netherlands  as  the  price  of 
peace ;  wslb  it  clear  that  they  would  not  do 
so  now,  if  we  would  condescend  to  propose 
it  in  intelligible  terms  1  Surely  in  such  an 
alternative,  the  experiment  was  worth  try- 
ing: but  then  we  had  no  security  against 
the  French  principles. — What  security 
would  they  be  able  to  give  us,  afler  a  war 
which  they  could  not  give  now  1  With  re- 
spect to  the  general  danger  of  Europe,  the 
same  arguments  applied,  and  to  the  same 
ext.pnt.  To  the  general  situation  and  secu- 
rity of  Europe,  we  had  been  so  scandalously 
inattentive ;  we  had  seen  the  entire  con- 
quest of  Poland,  and  the  invasion  of  France, 
with  such  marked  indifference,  that  it  would 
be  difficult  now  to  take  it  up  with  the  grace 
of  sincerity  ;  but  even  this  would  be  better 
provided  for,  by  proposing  terms  before  go- 
ing to  war.  He  had  thus  shown  that  none 
of  the  professed  causes  were  grounds  for 
going  to  war.  What  then  remained  but  the 
internal  government  of  France,  always  dis- 
avowed, but  ever  kept  in  mind,  and  con- 
stantly mentioned  ?  The  destruction  of  that 
government  was  the  avowed  object  of  the 
combined  powers  whom  it  was  hoped  we 
were  to  join ;  and  we  could  not  join  them 
heartily  if  our  object  were  one  thing  while 
theirs  was  another ;  for  in  that  case  the 
party  whose  object  was  first  obtained  might 
naturally  be  expected  to  make  separate 
terms,  and  there  could  be  no  cordiality  nor 
confidence.  To  this  then  we  came  at  last, 
that  we  were  ashamed  to  own  engaging  to 
aid  the  restoration  of  despotism,  and  collu- 
sively  sought  pretexts  in  the  Scheld  and  the 
Netherlands.  Such  would  be  the  real  cause 
of  the  war,  if  war  we  were  to  have — a  war, 
which  he  trusted  he  should  soon  see  as  gen- 


382 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


erally  execrated  as  it  was  now  thought  to 
be  popular.  In  all  decisions  on  peace  or  war, 
it  was  important  to  consider  what  we  might 
lose,  and  what  we  could  gain.  On  the  one 
hand,  extension  of  territory  was  neither  ex- 
pected nor  eligible.  On  the  other,  although 
he  feared  not  the  threat  of  the  French  ma- 
rine minister,  would  any  man  say  that  our 
ally  might  not  suffer  ;  that  the  events  of  war 
might  not  produce  a  change  in  the  internal 
state  of  Holland,  and  m  the  situation  of  the 
stadtholder,  too  afflictmg  for  him  to  antici- 
pate. In  weighing  the  probable  danger, 
every  consideration  ought  to  be  put  into  the 
scale.  Was  the  state  of  Ireland  such  as  to 
make  war  desirable?  Tliat  was  a  subject 
which  had  been  said  by  some  honorable  gen 
tlemen  to  be  too  delicate  to  be  touched  upon ; 
but  he  approved  not  of  that  delicacy  which 
taught  men  to  shut  their  eyes  to  danger. 
The  state  of  Ireland  he  was  not  afraid  to 
mention.  He  thought  it  both  promising  and 
alarming;  promising,  because  the  govern- 
ment of  this  country  had  forced  the  govern 
ment  of  that  to  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
undoubted  rights  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
people  of  Ireland,  after  having,  in  a  former 
session,  treated  their  humble  petition  with 
contempt,  and  in  the  summer  endeavored  to 
stir  up  the  Protestants  against  the  Catholics ; 
alarming,  because  the  gross  misconduct  of 
administration  had  brought  the  government 
and  the  legislature  into  contempt  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people.  If  there  were  any  danger 
from  French  principles,  to  go  to  wa"  without 
necessity  was  to  fight  for  their  propagation. 
On  these  principles,  as  reprobated  in  the 
proposed  address,  he  would  freely  give  his 
opinion.  It  was  not  the  principles  that  were 
bad  and  to  be  reprobated,  but  the  abuse  of 
them.  From  the  abuse,  not  the  principles, 
had  flowed  all  the  evils  that  afflicted  France. 
The  use  of  the  word  equality  by  the  French 
was  deemed  highly  objectionable.  When 
taken  as  they  meant  it,  nothing  was  more  in- 
nocent ;  for  what  did  they  say  7  '  all  men  are 
equal  in  respect  of  their  rights.'  To  this  he 
assented ;  all  men  had  equal  rights ;  equal 
rights  to  unequal  things ;  one  man  to  a  shil- 
ling, another  to  a  thousand  pounds ;  one  man 
to  a  cottage,  another  to  a  palace ;  but  the 
right  in  both  was  the  same  ;  an  equal  right 
of  enjoying,  an  equal  right  of  inheriting  or 
acquiring ;  and  of  possessing  inheritance  or 
acquisition. — The  effect  of  the  proposed  ad- 
dress was  to  condemn,  not  the  abuse  of 
those  principles,  (and  the  French  had  much 
abused  them,)  but  the  principles  themselves. 
To  this  he  could  not  assent,  for  they  were 
the  principles  on  which  all  just  and  equitable 
government  was  founded.  He  had  already 
differed  sufficiently  with  a  right  honorable 
gentleman  (Burke)  on  this  subject,  not  to 
wish  to  provoke  any  fresh  difference ;  but 


even  against  so  great  an  authority  he  must 
say,  that  tlie  people  are  the  sovereigns  in 
every  state ;  that  they  have  a  right  to  change 
the  form  of  their  government,  and  a  right  to 
cashier  their  governors  for  misconduct,  as 
the  people  of  this  country  cashiered  James 
II.  not  by  parliament,  or  any  regular  form 
known  to  the  constitution,  but  by  a  conven- 
tion speaking  the  sense  of  the  people ;  that 
convention  produced  a  parliament  and  a  king. 
They  elected  William  to  a  vacant  throne, 
not  only  setting  aside  James,  whom  they  had 
justly  cashiered  for  misconduct,  but  his  inno- 
cent son.  Again  they  elected  the  house  of 
Brunswick,  not  individually,  but  by  dynasty ; 
and  that  dynasty  to  continue  while  the  terms 
and  conditions  on  which  it  was  elected  are 
fulfilled,  and  no  longer.  He  could  not  ad- 
mit the  right  of  doing  all  this  but  by  ac- 
knowledgmg  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
as  paramount  to  all  other  laws.  But  it  was 
said,  that  although  we  had  once  exercised 
this  power,  we  had  in  the  very  act  of  exer- 
cising it,  renounced  it  for  ever. — We  had 
neither  renounced  it,  nor,  if  we  had  been  so 
disposed,  was  such  a  renunciation  in  our 
power.  We  elected  first  an  individual,  then 
a  dynasty,  and  lastly,  passed  an  act  of  parlia- 
ment in  the  reign  of  queen  Anne,  declaring 
it  to  be  the  right  of  the  people  of  this  realm 
to  do  so  again  without  even  assigning  a  rea- 
son. If  there  were  any  persons  among  us 
who  doubted  the  superior  wisdom  of  our 
monarchical  form  of  government,  their  error 
was  owing  to  those  who  changed  its  strong 
and  irrefragable  foundation  in  the  right  and 
choice  of  the  people,  to  a  more  flimsy  ground 
of  title.  Those  who  proposed  repelling 
opinions  by  force,  the  example  of  the  French 
in  the  Netherlands  might  teach  the  impo- 
tence of  power  to  repel  or  introduce.  But 
how  was  a  war  to  operate  in  keeping  opin- 
ions supposed  dangerous  out  of  this  country  ? 
It  was  not  surely  meant  to  beat  the  French 
out  of  their  own  opinions;  and  opinions 
were  not  like  commodities,  the  importation 
of  which  from  France  war  would  prevent 
War,  it  was  to  be  lamented,  was  a  passion 
inherent  in  the  nature  of  man  ;  and  it  was 
curious  to  observe  what  at  various  periods 
had  been  the  various  pretexts.  In  ancient 
times  wars  were  made  for  conquest.  To 
these  succeeded  wars  for  religion  ;  and  the 
opinions  of  Luther  and  Calvin  were  attacked 
with  all  the  fury  of  superstition  and  of 
power.  The  next  pretext  was  commerce ; 
and  it  would  probably  be  allowed  that  no 
nation  that  made  war  for  commerce  ever 
found  the  object  accomplished,  on  concluding 
peace.  Now  we  were  to  make  war  about 
opinions  :  what  was  this  but  recurring  again 
to  an  exploded  cause ;  for  a  war  about  prin- 
cij)les  in  religion  was  as  much  a  war  about 
opinions,  as  a  war  about  principles  in  poli- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


363 


tics.  The  justifiable  grounds  of  war  were 
insult,  injury,  or  danger.  For  the  first,  satis- 
faction ;  for  the  second,  reparation ;  for  the 
third,  security  was  the  object.  Each  of 
these,  too,  was  the  proper  object  of  negotia- 
tion, which  ought  ever  to  precede  war,  ex- 
cept in  case  of  an  attack  actually  commenced. 
How  had  we  negotiated  1  Not  in  any  pub- 
lic or  sufficient  form,  a  mode  which  he  sus- 
pected, and  lamented,  by  his  proposing  it  had 
been  prevented.  When  the  triple  league 
was  formed  to  check  the  ambition  of  Louis 
the  fourteenth,  the  contracting  parties  did 
not  deal  so  rigorously  by  him,  as  we  were 
now  told  it  was  essential  to  the  peace  of 
Europe  tliat  we  should  deal  by  the  French. 
They  never  told  LouiiJ  that  he  must  renounce 
all  his  conquests,  in  order  to  obtain  peace 
But  then  it  was  said  to  be  our  duty  to  hate 
the  French  for  the  part  they  took  in  the 
American  war.  He  hed  heard  of  a  duty  to 
love,  but  a  duty  to  hate  was  new  to  him. 
That  duty,  however,  ought  to  direct  our 
hatred  to  the  old  government  of  France,  not 
to  the  new,  which  had  no  hand  in  the  provo- 
cation. Unfortunately  the  new  French  gov- 
ernment was  admitted  to  be  the  successor  of 
the  old  in  nothing  but  its  faults  and  its  of- 
fences. It  was  a  successor  to  be  hated  and 
to  war  against ;  but  it  was  not  a  successor 
to  be  negotiated  with.  He  feared,  however, 
that  war  would  be  the  result,  and  from  war 
apprehending  greater  evils  than  he  durst 
name,  he  should  have  shrunk  from  his  duty 
if  he  had  not  endeavored  to  obtain  an  expo- 
sition of  the  distinct  causes  :  of  all  wars  he 
dreaded  that  the  most  which  had  no  definite 
object,  because  of  such  a  war  it  was  impos- 
sible to  see  the  end.  Our  war  with  Ameri- 
ca had  a  definite  object,  an  unjust  one  indeed, 
but  still  definite ;  and  after  wading  through 
years  on  years  of  expense  and  blooJ,  after 
exhausting  invectives  and  terms  of  contempt 
on  the  vagrant  congress,  one  Adams,  one 
Washington,  &c.  &c.  we  were  compelled  at 
last  to  treat  with  this  very  congress,  and 
those  very  men.  The  Americans,  to  the 
honor  of  their  character,  committed  no  such 
horrid  acts  as  had  disgraced  the  French ;  but 
v.'e  were  as  liberal  of  our  obloquy  to  the 
former  then,  as  to  the  latter  now.  If  we 
did  but  know  for  what  we  were  to  fight,  we 
might  look  forward  with  confidence,  and 
exert  ourselves  with  unanimity ;  but  while 
kept  thus  in  the  dark,  how  many  might  there 
be  who  would  believe  that  we  were  fighting 
the  battles  of  despotism.  To  undeceive  those 
who  might  fall  into  this  unhappy  delusion, 
it  would  be  no  derogation  from  the  dignity 
of  office  to  grant  an  explanation.  If  the 
right  honorable  gentleman  (Pitt)  would  but 
yet  consider — if  he  would  but  cave  the 
country  from  a  war — above  all,  a  war  of! 
opinion,  however  inconsistent  with  hie  for- 1 


mer  declarations  his  measures  might  be,  he 
would  gladly  consent  to  give  him  a  general 
indemnity  for  the  whole,  and  even  a  vote 
of  thanks.  Let  not  the  fatal  opinion  go 
abroad  that  kings  had  an  interest  different 
from  that  of  their  subjects ;  that  between 
those  who  had  property  and  those  who  had 
none  there  was  not  a  common  cause  and 
common  feeling."  The  question  being  put 
on  the  motion,  the  address  was  carried  with- 
out a  division. 

THE  FRENCH  DECLARE  WAR  AGAINST 
BRITAIN  AND  HOLLAND. 
These  debates  are  perhaps  sufficient  to 
convince  the  most  incredulous  that  the  Brit- 
ish ministry  were  determined  on  war — that 
they  were  more  solicitous  to  color  the  pre- 
text for  hostilities  against  France,  than  to 
obtain  satisfaction  for  the  acts  of  aggression 
complained  of,  as  appears  from  the  tenor  of 
their  proceedings.  If  in  support  of  these 
charges  any  additional  proof  is  wanting,  we 
shall  find  it  amply  supplied  by  a  letter  from 
lord  Auckland,  the  English  ambassador  at 
the  Hague,  dated  January  the  twenty- 
fifth,  1793,  and  presented  to  the  States- 
General  immediately  on  the  departure  of 
Chauvelin.  In  this  letter,  his  lordship  af- 
firms to  their  high  mightinesses,  in  language 
which  sets  all  ideas  of  decency  and  decorum 
at  defiance,  that  "  not  four  years  ago  some 
wretches,  assuming  the  title  of  philosophers, 
had  the  presumption  to  think  themselves 
capable  of  establishing  a  new  system  of 
civil  society.  In  order  to  realize  that  dream 
of  their  vanity,  they  found  it  necessary  to 
overthrow  and  destroy  all  received  notions 
of  subordination,  manners,  and  religion, 
which  have  hitherto  formed  all  the  security, 
happiness,  and  consolation  of  the  human 
race.  Their  destructive  projects  have  but 
too  well  succeeded.  But  the  effects  of  the 
new  system  which  they  endeavored  to  intro- 
duce served  only  to  show  the  imbecility  and 
villany  of  its  authors.  The  events  which 
so  rapidly  followed  each  other  smce  that 
epoch,  surpass  in  atrocity  all  which  had  ever 
polluted  the  pages  of  history.  Property, 
liberty,  security,  even  life  itself,  have  been 
deemed  pla)rthings  in  the  hands  of  infamous 
men,  who  are  the,  slaves  of  the  most  licen- 
tious passions  of  rapine,  enmity,  and  ambi- 
tion." From  the  conduct  of  the  English 
government  at  home,  and  the  very  high  lan- 
guage and  sentiments  conveyed  through 
their  diplomatic  organs  abroad,  the  French 
now  saw  that  every  hope  of  peace  was 
vanished.  The  convention  therefore  came 
to  a  resolution  of  anticipating  the  designs 
of  the  English  and  the  Dutch,  and,  by  a  de- 
cree unanimously  passed  on  the  first  of  Feb- 
ruary 1793,  declared  the  republic  of  France 
at  war  with  the  kinjr  of  Great  Britain,  aiid 
the  etadthaMer  of  Holland. 


384 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Motion  to  ascertain  the  precise  grounds  of  War — Motion  for  Peace — Barracks — Mo- 
tion for  an  Inquiry  respecting  Sedition — Message  on  German  Auxiliaries — Ways 
and  Means — Traitorous  Correspondence  Bill — The  French  propose  to  treat  for 
Peace,  but  receive  no  Reply — Subsidy  to  Sardinia — Numerous  Bankruptcies,  and 
Aid  given  for  relief  of  Commerce — Motions  of  Censure  on  Lord  Auckland — Pro- 
ceedings of  British  Parliament — Hastings^  Trial — Parliament  prorogued — Pro- 
ceedings of  Irish  Parliament — Military  Transactions  on  the  Continent — Capture 
of  Pondicherry  and  Tobago — Insurrection  of  the  Royalists  in  Brittany  and  Poitou 
— The  French  Convention  declares  War  against  Spain — Proceedings  of  the  two 
leading  Parties  in  France — Death  of  Marat. 


fOX'S  MOTION  TO  ASCERTAIN  THE  PRE- 
CISE GROUNDS  OF  WAR.— MOTION  FOR 
PEACE.— BARRACKS,  &c. 

As  the  prevailing  opinion  of  the  British 
public  appeared  to  be  for  war,  but  chiefly 
because  the  friends  of  peace  feared  to  be 
deemed  abettors  of  revolutionary  principles, 
Fox,  on  the  eighteenth  of  February,  moved 
a  series  of  resolutions,  stating  that  war  with 
France,  on  the  grounds  alleged,  was  neither 
for  the  honor  nor  the  interest  of  this  coun- 
try; that  ministers,  in  their  late  negotia- 
tions with  the  French  government,  had  not 
taken  the  proper  means  for  procuring  an 
amicable  redress  of  the  grievances  com- 
plained of;  and  that  it  was  their  duty  to  ad- 
vise his  majesty  against  entering  into  en- 
gagements which  might  prevent  a  separate 
peace.  He  alleged  that  his  object  in  making 
these  motions  was  to  procure  a  declaration 
of  the  precise  grounds  of  the  war,  he  being 
persuaded  that  the  real  objects  of  our  minis- 
ters in  going  to  war  were  those  which  they 
disclaimed ;  and  that  those  which  they  avow- 
ed were  only  pretexts.  But  the  resolutions 
so  proposed,  and  a  motion  by  Grey  for  an 
address  to  his  majesty,  expressing  the  opin- 
ion that  the  differences  between  this  country 
and  France  might  have  been  adjusted  by  ne- 
gotiation, and  requesting  his  majesty  to  em- 
brace the  first  opportunity  of  restoring 
peace ; — and  also  a  motion  by  Taylor,  in  the 
same  month,  "that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this 
house  that  the  uniform  and  persevering  op- 
position of  our  ancestors,  from  time  to  time, 
to  the  erecting  barracks  in  this  country,  was 
founded  upon  a  just  sense  of  the  true  prin- 
ciples of  our  most  excellent  constitution : 
and  that  the  soldiers  should  live  intermixed  j 
with  the  people,  in  order  that  they  might  be  I 
connected  v.^'ith  them ;  and  that  no  separate  I 
camp,  no  barracks,  no  inland  fortresses,! 
should  be  allowed ;" — with  a  motion  by 
Sheridan,  on  the  fourth  of  March,  that  the 
house  should  resolve  itself  into  a  committee, 
to  consider  of  the  seditious  practices  refer- 
red to  in  his  majesty's  speech,  were  succes- 
sively rejected  or  negatived :  so  decided  a 
preponderance  had  the  advocates  for  a  war, 


the  course  and  issue  of  which  it  was  in  vain 
to  conjecture. 

GERMAN    AUXILIARIES. WAYS     AND 

MEANS. — ^TRAITOROUS    CORRESPOND- 
ENCE  BILL. 

A  MESSAGE  from  the  king  was  presented 
to  parliament,  on  the  sixth  of  March,  stating 
that  he  had  engaged  a  body  of  his  electored 
troops  in  the  service  of  Great  Britain,  for 
the  purpose  of  assisting  his  allies,  the  States- 
general,  and  that  he  had  directed  an  esti- 
mate! of  the  charge  to  be  laid  before  the 
house.  In  a  committee  of  supply,  on  the 
eleventh,  Pitt  brought  forward  his  budget 
for  the  current  year,  estimating  the  total  of 
the  expenses  at  eleven  million  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two  thousand  two  hundred  and 
thirteen  pounds,  and  of  the  ways  and  means 
at  eight  million  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety-six 
pounds.  The  deficiency  he  proposed  to  raise 
by  loan,  and  to  defray  the  interest  by  making 
permanent  the  temporary  taxes  imposed 
upon  occasion  of  the  Spanish  armament. 
He  made  some  remarks  which  show  how 
little  he  then  contemplated  the  excessive  in- 
crease of  the  national  debt,  and  of  the  taxa- 
tion consequent  thereon,  which  has  since 
taken  place.  "I  do  not  think  it  useless," 
said  he,  "  to  suggest  some  observations  with 
respect  to  this  war  in  which  we  are  en- 
gaged." He  said,  that  the  excess  of  the 
permanent  revenue  was  then  nine  hundred 
thousand  pounds  above  the  peace  establish- 
ment; which,  even  if  destroyed  by  war, 
would  leave  the  country  in  possession  of  all 
its  ordinary  revenue.  This  nine  hundred 
thousand  pounds  he  was  desirous  to  leave  as 
a  security  against  those  contingencies  to 
which  war  is  liable.  The  sum  borrowed  was 
four  million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds ; 
and  the  terms  were,  that  for  every  seventy- 
two  pounds  advanced  to  the  public,  the  lend- 
er should  be  entitled  to  one  hundred  pounds 
stock,  bearing  three  per  cent.  He  said,  that 
he  expected  to  have  made  better  terms  foj* 
the  loan,  but  he  had  not  received  two  oflers 
on  the  occasion.  Among  other  resources, 
the  sum  of  six  hundred  and  seventy-five 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


385 


thousand  pounds  was  agreed  to  be  raised  by 
lottery;  but  several  regulations  were  laid 
down  to  diminish  the  practice  of  insurance 
— a  species  of  gambling  upon  chances 
which  had  been  very  injurious  to  the  lower 
classes. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  March,  the  attorney- 
general,  Sir  John  Scott,  introduced  a  bill 
denominated  the  "Traitorous  Correspond- 
ence Bill,"  by  which  it  was  declared  to  be 
high  treason  to  supply  the  existing  govern- 
ment of  France  with  military  stores,  to  pur- 
chase lands  of  inheritance  in  France,  to  in- 
vest money  in  any  of  the  French  funds,  to 
underwrite  insurances  upon  ships  and  goods 
bound  from  France  to  any  part  of  the  world, 
or  to  go  from  this  country  to  France,  with- 
out a  license  under  the  privy-seal.  It  like- 
wise prohibited  the  return  of  such  British 
subjects  as  were  already  there,  unless  on 
giving  security  to  the  government.  This 
bill  met  with  much  opposition,  and  several 
of  its  more  obnoxious  clauses  were  modified 
in  the  course  of  its  progress.  In  the  lords 
it  received  several  modifications,  which  were 
agreed  to  by  the  commons,  and  the  bill  pass- 
ed into  a  law. 

FRENCH  PROPOSE  TO  TREAT  FOR  PEACE. 
—SUBSIDY  TO  SARDINIA— BANKRUPT- 
CIES—AID  TO  COMMERCE— CENSURE 
ON  LORD  AUCKLAND. 

Early  in  April,  Le  Brun,  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs  in  France,  addressed  a  letter  to 
lord  Grenville,  stating  that  the  French  re- 
public was  desirous  to  terminate  all  its  dif- 
ferences with  Great  Britain,  and  to  end  a 
war  dreadful  to  humanity,  and  requesting  a 
passport  for  a  person  vested  with  full  powers 
for  that  purpose  to  the  court  of  London,  and 
he  named  Maret  as  the  proposed  plenipoten- 
tiary of  France ;  but  the  British  government 
did  not  take  any  notice  of  the  application ; 
and  about  this  time  a  treaty  was  concluded 
with  the  king  of  Sardinia,  by  which  England 
bound  herself  to  furnish  to  his  Sardinian 
majesty  a  subsidy  of  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds  per  annum,  to  be  paid  three  months 
in  advance,  and  not  to  conclude  a  peace  with 
the  enemy,  without  comprehending  in  it  the 
entire  restitution  of  all  the  dominions  be- 
longing to  this  monarch  at  the  time  he  en- 
gaged in  the  war. 

The  unusual  number  and  extent  of  the 
bankruptcies  which  had  occurred  since  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  having  engaged 
the  notice  of  the  house  of  commons,  a  select 
committee  was  appointed  to  consider  of  a 
remedy  for  this  evil,  and  they  recommended 
an  issue  of  exchequer-bills,  to  the  amount 
of  five  million  pounds,  to  commissioners  to 
be  nominated  for  the  purpose  of  lending  the 
same  in  portions  to  such  mercantile  persons 
as  were  in  temporary  distress,  upon  proper 
security  for  the  sums  advanced,  with  inter- 

VoL.  rv.  38 


est — which  operation  speedUy  restored  com- 
mercial credit. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  April,  Sheridan 
moved  the  house  of  commons  to  address  his 
majesty,  expressive  of  the  displeasure  of  tlie 
house  at  the  memorial  lately  presented  by 
lord  Auckland  to  the  States-General,  and 
stating,  that  the  minister  who  presented  it 
had  departed  fi-om  the  principles  on  which 
the  house  had  concurred  in  the  measures  for 
the  support  of  the  war.  Pitt  maintained  the 
right  of  Britain  to  repel  the  unjust  attacks 
of  France — to  chastise  and  punish  her — and 
to  obtain  indemnification  for  the  past,  and 
security  for  the  future.  The  motion  was 
rejected.  Lord  Stanhope  made  a  similar 
motion  in  the  house  of  peers ;  but  lord  Gren- 
ville moved  an  amendment,  declaring  that 
the  memorial  was  conformable  to  the  senti- 
ments of  his  majesty,  and  consonant  to  those 
principles  of  justice  and  policy  which  it  be- 
came the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  nation 
to  express;  which  was  carried  without  a 
division. 

HASTINGS'  TRIAL— PA RUAMENT  PRa 
ROGUED. 

Oh  the  sixth  of  May,  Grey  brought  before 
the  house  the  question  of  a  reform  in  the  re- 
presentation. But  though  the  debate  occu- 
pied two  days,  the  motion  was  negatived  by 
282  against  41,  so  decidedly  averse  to  change 
was  the  temper  of  tlie  house. 

Dundas  brought  in  a  bill  to  renew  the 
charter  of  the  East  India  company  for  twenty 
years,  which,  with  a  bill  to  relieve  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  of  Scotland  from  certain  pen- 
alties and  disabilities,  imposed  upon  them  by 
acts  which  incapacitated  them  from  holding 
or  transmitting  landed  property,  were  pass- 
ed without  opposition ;  and  three  thousand 
pounds  per  annum  was  voted  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  board  of  agriculture. 

During  the  session  the  counsel  for  Hast- 
ings completed  his  defence  on  the  three  last 
articles,  viz.  Begums,  presents,  and  con- 
tracts ;  after  which,  Hastings  addressed  the 
court,  praying  that  their  lordships  would  or- 
der the  trial  to  continue  to  its  final  conclu- 
sion during  the  present  session ;  but  the  fur- 
ther proceedings  were  adjourned  till  the 
ensuing  session. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  June  the  parliament 
was  prorogued  by  his  majesty. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  IRISH  PARLIA- 
MENT 
The  parliament  of  Ireland  met  on  the 
tenth  of  January,  and  the  earl  of  Westmore- 
land, the  lord-lieutenant,  thus  expressed  him- 
self:— "I  have  it  in  particular  command 
fi-om  his  majesty  to  recommend  it  to  you  to 
apply  yourselves  to  the  consideration  of  such 
measures  as  may  be  tlie  most  likely  to 
strengthen  and  cement  a  general  union  of 
sentiment,  among  all  classes  and  descrii>> 


386 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


tions  of  his  majesty's  Catholic  subjects,  in 
support  of  the  establislied  constitution.  With 
this  view  his  majesty  trusts  that  the  situation 
of  his  Catholic  subjects  will  engage  your 
serious  attention,  and  in  the  consideration 
of  this  subject  he  relies  on  the  wisdom  and 
liberality  of  his  parliament."  Early  in 
March  the  bill  of  relief  was  brought  into  the 
house  of  commons  by  secretary  Hobart.  Its 
cliief  enacting  clause  enabled  the  Catholics 
to  exercise  and  enjoy  all  civil  and  military 
oiiices,  and  places  of  trust  or  profit  under 
the  crown,  and  also  the  elective  franchise, 
under  certaui  restrictions,  viz.  that  it  should 
not  be  construed  to  extend  to  enable  any 
Roman  Catholic  to  sit  or  vote  ui  either  house 
of  parliament,  or  to  fill  the  office  of  lord- 
lieutenant  or  lord-chancellor,  or  judge  in 
either  of  the  three  courts  of  record  or  ad- 
miralty, or  keeper  of  the  privy-seal,  secre- 
tary of  state,  lieutenant  or  custos  rotulorum 
of  counties,  or  privy-counsellor,  or  master  in 
cliancery,  or  a  general  on  the  staff,  or  sheriff 
or  sub-sheriff  of  any  county,  &c.  The  bill 
passed  with  few  dissenting  voices;  and, 
though  it  stopped  short  of  full  emancipation, 
it  was  supposed  to  be  all  that  the  executive 
government  could,  at  that  time,  without  too 
violent  an  exertion,  effect;  and  upon  this 
account  it  was  received  with  gratitude  and 
satisfaction.  As  a  further  concession  to  Ire- 
land, a  libel  bill,  similar  to  that  of  England, 
was  passed ;  the  power  of  the  crown  to  grant 
pensions  on  the  Irish  establishment  was  lim- 
ited to  the  sum  of  eighty  thousand  pounds ; 
and  certain  descriptions  of  placemen  and 
pensioners  were  excluded  from  the  privilege 
of  sitting  in  the  house  of  commons.  Also, 
the  king  declared  his  acceptance  of  a  limited 
sum,  fixed  at  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
tliousand  pounds,  for  the  expenses  of  his  civil- 
list,  m  lieu  of  the  hereditary  revenues  of 
the  crown.  Alien  and  traitorous  correspond- 
ence bills,  analagous  to  those  of  England, 
were  likewise  passed ;  as  was  a  bill  "  to  pre- 
vent the  election  or  appointment  of  assem- 
blies, purporting  to  represent  the  people,  or 
any  description  or  number  of  the  people,  un- 
der pretence  of  preparing  or  presentmg  pe- 
titions, &c.  to  the  king,  or  either  house  of 
parliament,  for  alteration  of  matters  estab- 
lished by  law,  or  redress  of  alleged  griev- 
ances in  church  or  state." 

MILITARY  EVENTS  ON  THE  CONTl 
NENT— PONDICHERRY  AND  TOBAGO 
TAKEN. 

Military  operations  upon  an  extensive 
scale  were  carried  on  in  Brabant  and  Hol- 
ia,nd,  during  the  winter  of  1792,  and  the 
early  part  of  the  ensuing  spring,  in  which 
the  French  army  at  first  acted  offensively 
under  Dumouriez,  general  Miranda,  and 
others;  but  the  allies,  under  Clairfait,  the 
archduke  Charles,  and  the  prince  of  Saxe 
Cobourg,  gained  several  signal  advantages, 


which  compelled  the  enemy  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Maestricht,  and  retire  precipitately 
to  Antwerp.  On  the  eighteenth  of  March 
a  general  engagement  took  place  on  the 
plains  of  Neerwinden,  which  continued  from 
morning  till  evening,  when  the  French  were 
totally  routed,  with  considerable  loss ;  and, 
on  the  twenty-first,  general  Dumouriez  was 
posted  near  Louvain.  Here  a  suspension  of 
hostilities  took  place,  and  the  French  army 
were  allowed  to  march  back  to  their  own 
frontier,  without  molestation,  on  condition 
of  evacuating  Brussels,  and  all  the  other 
towns  of  Brabant,  &c.  in  their  possession. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  March  general 
Dumouriez  held  a  conference  with  colonel 
Mack,  an  Austrian  officer,  to  whom  he  inti- 
mated his  design  of  marching  against  Paris, 
with  a  view  of  re-establishing  the  constitu- 
tional monarchy  of  1791 ;  and  it  was  agreed 
that  the  Imperialists  should  concur  in  the 
accomplishment  of  this  plan ;  not  advancing, 
except  in  case  of  necessity,  beyond  the  fron- 
tier of  France.  The  designs  of  Dumouriez 
were,  however,  suspected  at  Paris,  and  three 
commissioners  from  the  executive  power 
were  dispatched  to  Flanders,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  conferring  with  the  general  con- 
cerning the  affairs  of  Belgium.  In  this  in- 
terview Dumouriez  expressed  himself  with 
great  violence  against  the  Jacobins.  "  They 
would  ruin  France,"  said  he ;  "  but  I  will 
save  it,  though  they  should  call  me  a  Caesar, 
a  Cromwell,  or  a  Monk."  He  styled  the 
convention  a  horde  of  ruffians ;  and  declared 
that  this  assembly  would  not  exist  three 
weeks  longer;  that  France  must  have  a 
king ;  adding  that,  since  the  battle  of  Gem- 
appe,  he  had  wept  over  his  success  in  so  bad 
a  cause."  On  the  return  of  the  commission- 
ers to  Paris,  Dumouriez  was  summoned  to 
appear  at  the  bar  of  the  convention,  and 
Bournonville  was  appointed  to  supersede 
him.  Four  new  commissioners  also  were 
deputed  to  the  army  of  the  north,  with  pow- 
ers to  suspend  and  arrest  all  officers  who 
should  fall  under  their  suspicion.  On  their 
arrival  at  Lisle,  March  the  twenty-eighth, 
the  commissioners  transmitted  their  orders 
to  general  Dumouriez,  to  appear  before  them, 
and  answers  the  charges  against  him :  the 
general,  however,  answered,  that,  in  the 
present  circumstances,  he  could  not  leave 
the  army  for  a  moment ;  that,  when  he  did 
enter  Lisle,  it  would  be  in  order  to  purge  it 
of  traitors ;  and  that  he  valued  his  head  too 
much  to  submit  it  to  an  arbitrary  tribunal. 
The  commissioners  resolved  to  proceed  to 
the  camp.  On  the  first  of  April  they  arriv- 
ed, in  company  with  Bournonville,  at  St. 
Amand,  the  head-quarters  of  Dumouriez, 
and  explained  to  him  the  object  of  their  mis- 
sion. The  general,  finding  them  inflexible 
in  their  purpose,  gave  tlie  signal  for  a  body 
of  soldiers,  who  were  m  waiting,  and  order- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


387 


ed  Bournonville  and  the  four  commissioners, 
immediately  to  be  conveyed  to  general  Clair- 
fait's  head-qaarters  at  Tournay,  as  hostages 
for  the  safety  of  the  royal  tamily  of  France. 
On  the  morning  of  tlie  tliird,  Dumouriez 
repaired  to  the  camp  of  Maulde,  and  ad- 
dressed the  troops,  amidst  the  murmurs  of 
many  of  the  battalions.  On  the  next  day 
he  departed  with  his  suite  for  Conde,  which 
fortress,  with  Valenciennes,  he  had  engaged 
to  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Austrians ;  but 
on  the  road  he  received  intelligence  that  it 
would  not  be  safe  for  him  to  enter  the  place ; 
and,  in  making  his  retreat,  he  fell  in  with  a 
column  of  volunteer  guards,  who  called  to 
him  to  surrender ;  but,  trusting  to  the  swift- 
ness of  his  horse,  he  escaped,  with  great 
difficulty,  to  the  quarters  of  general  Mack. 
His  example  was  followed  by  general  Lamor- 
liere,  the  duke  de  Chartres,  son  of  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  and  some  hundreds  of  private 
soldiers.  On  the  following  day  appeared  a 
proclamation  from  general  Dumouriez,  con- 
tainmg  a  recapitulation  of  his  services  to  the 
French  republic,  an  animated  picture  of  the 
outrages  of  the  Jacobins,  and  of  the  mis- 
chiefs to  be  apprehended  from  a  continua- 
tion of  anarchy  in  France,  concluding  with 
an  exhortation  to  the  French  to  restore  the 
constitution  of  1791,  and  a  declaration  on 
oath  that  he  bore  arms  only  for  that  purpose. 
This  proclamation  was  accompanied  by  a 
manifesto  on  the  part  of  the  prince  of  Co- 
bourg,  now  commander-in-cliief  of  the  ar- 
mies of  Austria,  announcing  that  the  allied 
powers  were  no  longer  to  be  considered  as 
principals,  but  merely  as  auxiliaries,  m  the 
war ;  that  they  had  no  other  object  than  to 
co-operate  with  the  general,  in  giving  to 
France  her  constitutional  king,  and  the  con- 
stitution she  formed  for  herself  By  this 
time,  however,  Antwerp,  Breda,  and  the 
other  conquests  of  France  on  the  Dutch 
frontier,  were  evacuated ;  and  a  considera- 
ble change  had  taken  place  in  the  aspect  of 
affairs.  On  the  eightli  of  April,  a  council 
was  held  at  Antwerp,  at  which  were  pres- 
ent the  prince  of  Orange,  accompanied  by 
the  grand  pensionary,  Vander  Spiegel,  the 
prince  of  Cobourg,  counts  Metternich,  Stah- 
remberg,  &-c.  also  the  Prussian,  Spanish,  and 
Neapolitan  ambassadors.  The  whole  plan 
of  operations  was  now  changed.  About  the 
same  time  a  memorial  was  presented  by  lord 
Auckland  to  the  States-General,  in  which 
his  lordship  stated,  in  allusion  to  the  capture 
of  the  conventional  commissioners,  "  That 
the  divine  vengeance  seemed  not  to  have 
been  tardy.  Some  of  tlicse  detestable  regi- 
cides are  now  in  such  a  situation,  tlmt  they 
can  be  subjectefl  to  the  sword  of  the  law ; 
the  rest  are  still  in  the  midst  of  a  people 
whom  they  have  plunged  into  an  abyss  of 
jevils,  and  for  whom  famine,  anarchy,  and 
j  civil  war,  are  about  to  prepare  new  calami- 


ties. Everything  that  we  see  happen,  in- 
duces us  to  consider  as  not  far  distant  the 
end  of  these  wretches,  whose  madness  and 
atrocities  have  filled  with  terror  and  indig- 
nation all  those  who  respect  the  principles 
of  religion,  morality,  and  humanity.  The 
undersigned,  therefore,  submits  to  the  en- 
lightened judgment  and  wisdom  of  your 
high  mightinesses,  whether  it  would  not  be 
proper  to  employ  all  the  means  in  your 
power  to  prohibit  from  entering  your  states 
in  Europe,  or  your  colonies,  all  those  mem- 
bers of  the  pretended  national  convention, 
or  of  the  pretended  executive  council,  who 
have  directly  or  indirectly  participated  in 
the  said  crime ;  and  if  they  should  be  dis- 
covered and  arrested,  to  deliver  them  up  to 
justice,  that  they  may  serve  as  a  lesson  and 
example  to  mankind."  To  this  memorial 
the  Dutch  government  declined  any  reply. 

General  Dampierre,  an  officer  distinguish- 
ed by  his  conduct  and  valor,  was  now  pro- 
visionally appointed  to  the  chief  command, 
and  in  a  short  time  he  was  enabled  to  lead 
his  troops  with  confidence  into  action.  A 
variety  of  partial,  though  sharp  and  bloody 
engagements,  took  place  between  the  two 
armies,  in  which  no  decisive  advantage  was 
gained.  On  the  eighth  of  May,  general 
Dampierre  advanced  in  person  to  dislodge 
a  large  body  of  the  enemy,  posted  near  the 
wood  of  Vicoigne ;  but,  exposing  himself  to 
the  enemy's  fire,  his  thigh  was  carried  off 
by  a  cannon-ball,  and  he  died  the  following 
day.  In  this  action,  the  English  troops  were 
engaged  in  the  field  for  the  first  time  in  this 
war,  and  behaved  with  intrepidity ;  but,  by 
the  inexperience  of  the  duke  of  York,  their 
commander,  being  ordered  to  the  attack  of 
a  strong  post  in  the  wood,  where  they  were 
exposed  to  the  fire  of  some  masked  batte- 
ries, they  suffered  much.  The  siege  of  Va- 
lenciennes being  contemplated,  it  was  de- 
termined by  the  allies  to  attempt  an  attack 
upon  the  fortified  camp  of  Famars,  which 
protected  and  covered  that  important  for- 
tress, Conde  being  already  invested.  At  day- 
break, on  the  twenty-third  of  May,  the  Brit- 
ish and  Hanoverians  under  then-  royal  com- 
mander, and  the  Austrians  and  German 
auxiliaries,  under  the  prince  of  Cobourg  and 
general  Clairfait,  made  a  joint  assault  upon 
the  advanced  posts  of  the  French.  The 
French  were  worsted,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  night  they  abandoned  their  camp,  re- 
treating towards  Bouchain  and  Cambray. 
This  success  enabled  the  allies  to  lay  siege 
to  Valenciennes.  On  the  first  of  June  gene- 
ral Custine  arrived  to  take  the  command  of 
the  armies  of  the  North  and  the  Ardennes; 
but  he  was  not  able  to  render  efioctual  re- 
lief to  that  fortress.  The  trenches  were 
opened  on  tlie  foiirteeHth  of  that  month,  and 
about  the  beeinninir  of  July,  the  besiegers 
had  brought  two  hundred  pieces  of  heavy 


388 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


artillery  to  play  upon  it.  Mines  and  counter- 
mines innumerable  were  formed  also  in  the 
course  of  this  siege,  both  by  the  assailants 
and  the  garrison ;  and  many  fierce  subter- 
ranean conflicts  were  carried  on  with  vari- 
ous success.  On  the  night  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  July,  however,  those  under  the  glacis 
and  horn-work  of  the  fortress  were  sprung 
on  the  part  of  the  besiegers,  with  complete 
success,  and  the  English  and  Austrians  seiz- 
ed the  favorable  moment  for  attacking  the 
covered-way,  of  which  they  made  them- 
selves masters.  On  the  next  day  the  place 
surrendered,  and  the  duke  of  York  took  pos- 
session of  it,  in  behalf  of  the  emperor  of 
Germany.  Nearly  at  the  same  time  the 
garrison  of  Conde  yielded  themselves  pris- 
oners of  war,  after  enduring  all  the  rigors 
of  famine;  and  Mentz  submitted,  after  a 
long  and  resolute  resistance,  to  the  arms  of 
Prussia. 

On  the  eighth  of  August,  the  French  were 
driven  from  the  strong  position  known  by 
the  name  of  Caesar's  Camp,  near  the  Scheld ; 
after  which  a  council  of  war  was  held, 
wherein  it  was  determined  that  the  British, 
Hanoverians,  Dutch,  and  Hessians,  should 
form  a  distinct  army,  not  dependent  upon 
the  co-operation  of  the  Austrians.  This  was 
strongly  opposed  by  the  prince  of  Cobourg 
and  general  Clairfait :  the  British  army, 
however,  conducted  by  the  duke  of  York, 
immediately  decamped,  and  on  the  eigh- 
teenth of  August,  arrived  in  the  vicinity  of 
Menin,  where  some  severe  contests  took 
place,  and  the  post  of  Lincelles,  lost  by  the 
Dutch,  was  recovered  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  with  a  signal  display  of  spirit  and 
intrepidity,  by  the  English,  though  very  in- 
ferior in  force,  led  on  by  general  Sir  John 
J^ke.  His  royal  highness  then  moved  to- 
wards Dunkirk,  and  opened  trenches  before 
that  fortress  on  the  twenty-fourth.  Having 
entertained  a  secret  correspondence  with 
the  governor,  O'Moran,  the  duke  flattered 
himself  with  obtaining  speedy  possession  of 
the  place :  that  officer,  however,  had  been 
removed,  and  the  duke  lost  so  much  time, 
from  the  delay  in  the  arrival  of  the  heavy 
artillery,  and  the  want  of  the  early  co-ope- 
ration of  a  naval  force,  that  the  French  were 
enabled  to  make  great  preparations  for  the 
defence,  before  any  progress  had  been  made ; 
and  the  duke  found  himself  obliged  to  raise 
the  siege,  leaving  behind  him  his  battering 
cannon,  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition. 
On  the  other  side,  general  Clairfait  invested 
the  town  of  Quesnoy ;  and  the  prince  of 
Cobourg,  who  commanded  the  covering  army, 
having  defeated  a  body  of  troops  which  had 
been  sent  to  its  relief,  the  place  surrendered 
on  the  eleventh  of  September.  The  Aus- 
trians then  laid  siege  to  Maubeuge ;  but  the 
French,  under  general  Jourdan,  attacked 
them  in  their  trenches  on  the  fifteenth  of 


October,  and,  after  sustaining  a  great  losg, 
forced  them  to  raise  the  siege.  Various  in- 
cursions were  afterwards  made  by  the  French 
into  Maritime  Flanders,  but,  unable  to  estab- 
lish a  footing  there,  they  were  compelled, 
once  more,  to  retire  within  their  own  fron- 
tier. In  the  course  of  the  year,  Pondicherry, 
and  all  the  French  settlements  in  the  east, 
were  reduced  by  the  British  arms ;  and  the 
island  of  Tobago,  in  the  West  Indies,  be- 
sides some  other  possessions  of  less  import- 
ance, were  also  taken  from  the  enemy. 

INSURRECTION  OF  ROYALISTS  IN  BRIT- 
TANY AND  POITOU. 
To  effect  the  subversion  of  the  republican 
government  in  France,  it  was  proposed  to 
excite,  by  a  bold  and  simultaneous  effort,  the 
royalist  party,  who  lay  concealed  in  diflTerent 
parts  of  the  country,  but  chieffy  in  the  an- 
cient provinces  of  Brittany  and  Poitou,  now 
termed  La  Vendee  and  La  Loire.  Notwith- 
standing the  severe  decrees  of  the  conven- 
tion, immense  numbers  of  emigrants  had 
secretly  repaired  thither  in  the  winter  of 
1792,  and  the  vicinity  of  these  departments 
to  the  sea  afforded  every  facility  for  receiv- 
ing supplies  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  mo- 
ney, from  Great  Britain.  The  disturbances 
in  these  departments  were  at  first  consider- 
ed, by  the  convention,  as  arising  from  the 
dislike  of  the  populace  to  the  new  mode 
which  had  been  adopted  for  recruitins"  the 
army;  but  before  the  end  of  Ivlnicli  the  in- 
surgents were  formidable,  and  appeared  to 
be  organized  by  previous  arrangement 
They  professed  to  act  by  the  authority  of 
Monsieur,  the  brother  of  the  king,  who  had 
assumed  the  title  of  regent.  On  the  twenty- 
third  of  March  the  convention  was  informed 
that  the  insurgents  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  the  districts  of  Cholet,  Montaigne, 
and  Clisson,  and  had  defeated  general  Marce, 
who  had  been  sent  to  quell  them.  The  city 
of  Nantes  was  besieged  by  them,  and  the 
number  of  royalists  encamped  before  the 
city  was  estimated  at  not  less  than  forty 
thousand.  In  the  beginning  of  April,  gen- 
eral Berruyere  was  appointed  to  command 
against  the  insurgents ;  but,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  exertions  which  the  French  rev- 
olutionary government  could  make,  they  had 
possessed  themselves,  before  the  end  of 
April,  of  more  than  fifty  leagues  of  the  coun- 
try, had  defeated  the  republicans  in  two  en- 
gagements, and  taken  a  great  number  of 
prisoners,  with  an  immense  quantity  of  ar- 
tillery and  military  stores. 

THE  CONVENTION  DECLARES  WAR  WITH 
SPAIN— PARTIES  IN  FRANCE— DEATH 
OF  MARAT. 

On  the  seventh  of  March  the  convention 
passed  a  decree  of  war  against  his  majesty 
the  king  of  Spain,  one  cause  of  which  wat< 
stated  to  be  the  zeal  of  that  court  in  behalf 
of  Louis.     Ever  since  the  deposition  of  that 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


389 


ill-fated  monarch,  two  powerful  parties,  the 
Gironde  and  the  Mountain,  had  divided  the 
convention.    Brissot,  Petion,  Vergniaux,  and 
their  associates,  almost  all  distinguished  by 
their  talents,  formed  the  party  of  the  Gironde. 
Republicans  in  principle,  they  had  contrib- 
uted to  weaken   the  constitutional  throne, 
but  they  had   taken  no  active  part  in  its 
overthrow.     The  revolutionists  of  the  tenth 
of  August,   Danton,    Robespierre,   Chabot, 
Barbaroux,  Fabre  d'Eglantine,  Couthon,  and 
Collot  d'Herbois,  assumed  the  name  of  the 
Mountain,  and  aspired  to  govern  the  repub- 
lic that  had  been  founded  on  the  ruins  of  the 
throne.     In  the  month  of  March  the  revo- 
lutionary tribunal  was  established,  to  take 
cognizance  of  all  offences  against  the  safety 
of  the  state,  and  to  be  fixed  in  Paris :  the 
judges  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  convention, 
and  the  jury  from  the  commune  of  Paris : 
i.t§  sentences  against  persons  absent  were  to 
have  the  same  effect  as  if  they  were  pres- 
ent, and  from  its  decision  there  was  no  ap- 
peal.    On  the  seventh  of  April  a  committee 
of  public  safety  was  instituted  by  the  con- 
vention, invested  wath  almost  unlimited  pow- 
er— a  power  which  was  soon  abused  to  the 
worst  of  purposes,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  tyraimy  the  most  sanguinary  and  atro- 
cious the  world  had  ever  witnessed.     The 
defection  of  Dumouriez  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  overthrow  of  the  Gironde 
party,  and  the  destruction  of  the  members 
of  the  Bourbon  family  remaining  in  the  pow- 
er of  the  republicans.     On  the  seventh  of 
April  it  was  decreed  by  the  convention  that 
all  the  members  of  that  family  should  be  de- 
tained as  hostages  for  the  safety  of  the  ar- 
rested deputies,  and  that  such  of  them  as 
were  not  already  in  the  Temple  should  be 
removed  to  Marseilles :  the  ci-devant  duke 
of  Orleans,  though  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion, was  included  in  this  decree.   A  consid- 
erable part  of  the  month  of  April  was  spent 
in  discussing  and  digesting  the  declaration 
of  rights,  which  was  to  serve  as  a  preface 
to  the  new  constitution.     On  tlie  tenth  of 
May  the  convention  decreed  the  first  article 
of  the  new  constitution ;  viz.  "  the  French 
republic   is  one  and   indivisible."     In  the 
mean  time,  the  divisions  which  had  so  long 
subsisted    between   these   two   parties  ap- 
proached rapidly  to  open  and  avowed  hostil- 
ity.    The  Mountain  party  had  secured  the 
attachment  of  the  populace  of  Paris ;  and 
the  Jacobin  club,  of  which  Marat  was  pres- 
ident, had  become  devoted  to  this  fection. 
Even  the  virtues  of  the  Girondists  tended  to 
accelerate  their  ruin ;  their  humane  attempt 
to  save  the  life  of  the  devoted  Louis  being 
urged    against    them  as  an   unpardonable 
crime,  and  as  manifesting  a  culpable  indif- 
ference to  the  cause  of  freedom.     On  tlie 
fifteenth  of  April  a  petition  was  presented 
33* 


by  the  communes  of  the  forty-eight  sections 
of  Paris,  at  the  bar  of  the  convention,  de- 
manding that  twenty-two  of  the  deputies  of 
the  Gironde  party  should  be  impeached. 
This  party,  however,  continued  to  have  a 
preponderance  in  the  convention ;  and  Ma- 
rat, a  furious  leader  of  the  Mountain  party, 
having  put  his  signature  to  a  paper  of  thft 
most  sanguinary  tendency,  was  accused  by 
the  convention,  and  committed  to  the  Abbey 
prison ;  but  such  was  his  influence  over  the 
people,  whose  passions  were  continually  ex- 
cited by  his  inflammatory  publications,  that 
in  a  few  days  he  was  acquitted  by  a  jury, 
and  returned  to  the  hall  of  the  convention 
in  triumph.  At  length,  on  the  morning  of 
the  thirty-first  of  May,  the  commotion  every- 
where visible  throughout  the  capital  denoted 
an  approaching  crisis:  Henriot,  the  com- 
mander of  the  national  guard,  a  man  entire- 
ly devoted  to  Robespierre,  instead  of  takiiig 
the  proper  measures  for  the  protection  of 
the  convention,  was  a  party  in  the  plot 
against  it,  and  many  of  the  representatives 
were  alarmed  for  their  own  safety.  After 
the  tumult  had  continued  a  considerable 
time,  a  deputation  from  the  revolutionary 
committees  appeared  at  the  bar,  and  de- 
manded the  immediate  suppression  of  the 
commission  of  twelve,  which  had  been  nom- 
inated on  purpose  to  restrain  anarchy ;  a 
revolutionary  army  of  sans-culottes ;  a  de- 
cree of  accusation  agamst  twenty-two  Gi- 
ronde deputies;  and  a  diminution  in  the 
price  of  bread.  They  also  insisted  that  cer- 
tain deputies  should  be  dispatched  to  the 
south,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  counter-revolu- 
tion that  prevailed  there :  and  they  at  the 
same  time  suggested  the  arrest  of  Claviere, 
the  minister  of  public  contributions,  and  of 
Le  Brun,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs ;  but 
the  convention  still  refused  to  sacrifice  the 
victims  demanded  by  the  conspirators.  This, 
however,  was  the  last  effort ;  for,  two  days 
afterwards,  the  legislature,  finding  itself  be- 
sieged and  imprisoned  in  its  own  hall,  was 
at  length  intimidated  into  compliance,  and 
not  only  decreed  the  arrest  of  all  the  obnox- 
ious deputies,  thirty-six  in  number,  but  pro- 
scribed tlwse  who  endeavored  to  avoid  death 
by  flight.  The  vanquished  party  had  wish- 
ed for  a  republican  form  of  government, 
founded  on  the  immutable  basis  of  virtue : 
the  triumphant  faction,  on  the  contrary,  con- 
ceding to  popular  opinions,  still  maintained 
all  the  forms  of  a  commonwealth,  but,  under 
the  veil  of  liberty,  introduced  the  most 
terrible  despotism ;  and,  although  they  im- 
mediately drew  up  a  new  and  seductive 
constitution,  they  contrived  to  euepend  all 
its  benefits. 

These  outrages  against  the  deputir* 
alarmed  several  departments.  The  city  of 
Caen  resolved  not  to  acknowledge  the  con- 


390 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


vention,  or  receive  any  of  its  decrees,  until 
the  imprisoned  members  were  restored  to 
their  functions.  The  departments  of  Cal- 
vados, the  Rhone,  and  the  Loire,  also  avowed 
their  determination  to  disown  the  conven- 
tion ;  and  the  first  of  these  actually  impris- 
oned three  of  the  Jacobin  deputies,  who  had 
been  sent  thither  with  a  view  of  propagating 
tiieir  tenets,  and  supporting  their  cause.  At 
this  critical  moment,  too,  a  complete  counter- 
revolution took  place  at  Lyons ;  Marseilles 
was  threatened  with  commotions;  Toulon 
exhibited  manifest  symptoms  of  disaffection ; 
and  the  cause  of  the  Mountain  for  a  moment 
appeared  desperate.  Several  of  the  pro- 
scribed deputies,  having  escaped  from  their 
confinement,  now  sought  an  asylum  at 
Nantes,  Rennes,  Bourdeaux,  Caen,  and  Ev- 
reux.  Others,  abandoning  an  assembly  in 
which  cruelty  and  injustice  preponderated, 
fled  from  Paris  and  joined  them,  and  a  gen- 
eral insurrection  of  the  provinces  against 
the  capital  was  immediately  agreed  upon. 
Many  of  the  cities  nominated  commission- 
ers for  the  purpose  of  concerting  with  the 
dBputies  from  the  districts,  relative  to  the 
tneasures  which  the  present  critical  state  of 
affairs  seemed  to  render  necessary.  Suc- 
cors of  men  and  of  money  were  promised 
by  all ;  and  the  archives  of  the  capital  of  the 
Gironde,  in  which  the  most  zealous  of  their 
partisans  resided,  are  said  to  have  contained 
decrees  of  adhesion  and  support  on  the  part 
of  seventy-two  departments ;  but  after  the 
passions  of  the  people  had  subsided,  few 
could  be  prevailed  upon  to  embark  m  so  des- 
perate a  cause ;  and  a  civil  war  soon  began 
to  appear  odious  and  impolitic. 

Wimpffen,  the  gallant  defender  of  Thion- 
ville,  haxi  been  chosen  as  their  leader,  and 
De  Puisaye  was  appointed  adjutant-general. 
Conscious  that  the  success  of  their  plan  de- 
pended chiefly  on  the  celerity  of  their  mo- 
tions, the  Girondists  wished  the  troops  to 
begin  their  march  immediately,  and  even 
proposed  to  advance  to  the  capital,  where 
they  knew  that  their  friends  were  both  nu- 
merous and  formidable,  at  the  head  of  the 
Britons  and  Normans  alone ;  but  the  general, 
insisting  on  the  advantages  likely  to  ensue 
from  a  delay  that  would  enable  him  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  their  partisans,  con- 
tented himself  with  dispersing  proclama- 
tions ;  and,  on  being  summoned  to  give  an 
account  of  his  conduct  by  the  faction  that 
li&d  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  he  re- 
plied, that  he  would  disclose  his  motives  and 
intentions  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men. 

On  being  pressed  to  advance  directly  to 
Paris,  without  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the 
departmental  forces,  WimpflTen  at  lengtli 
marched  towards  Vernon,  at  the  head  of  a 
small  body  of  troops.     The  Jacobins,  who 


had  assembled  some  forces  in  that  town,  im- 
mediately sallied  forth,  and  received  them 
with  a  discharge  of  artillery.  The  whole 
of  the  insurgents  betook  themselves  to  flight, 
except  a  single  battalion  of  four  hundred 
men  from  Finisterre,  which,  on  seeing  itself 
abandoned,  retired  in  good  order  to  Evreux, 
where  the  fugitives  at  length  rallied. 
WimpflTen  and  De  Puisaye  concealed  them- 
selves; the  proscribed  representatives  be- 
took themselves  to  flight ;  some  perished  by 
the  guillotine,  others  by  fetigue  and  famine; 
while  the  victorious  party  stained  their  tri- 
umph by  a  series  of  cruelty,  injustice,  and 
bloodshed. 

An  insurrection  broke  out  at  Lyons,  and  a 
congress  of  the  department  was  convoked 
at  that  city,  in  which  it  was  resolved  to 
march  a  force  for  the  reduction  of  Paris ; 
the  Mountain  party  was  declared  to  be  out- 
lawed ;  and  the  provisions  destined  for  the 
armies  were  intercepted.  The  cities  of 
Marseilles  and  Toulon  followed  the  example 
of  Lyons,  and  entered  into  that  famous  con- 
federacy for  dissolving  the  convention,  which 
has  since  been  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  Federalism.  On  the  twelfth  of  July  the 
Marseillois  issued  a  manifesto  to  the  Frencli 
nation,  in  which  they  declared  that  the  sit- 
uation of  Paris  was  equivalent  to  the  decla- 
ration of  war  against  the  whole  republic ; 
and  they  urged  the  people  to  join  their 
standard,  and  assist  in  reducing  the  faction 
which  had  usurped  the  powers  of  the  re- 
public. On  the  eighth  of  July  the  commit- 
tee of  public  safety  produced  its  report  con- 
cerning the  imprisoned  deputies  of  the  con- 
vention: it  charged  Brissot,  Petion,  and 
some  others,  with  being  the  constant  favor- 
ers of  royalty ;  it  alleged  that  they  had  con- 
spired to  place  a  new  monarch  on  the  throne, 
some  of  them  in  the  person  of  Louis  Capet, 
and  others  in  that  of  the  duke  of  York ; 
Petion  was  accused  of  having  signed  the 
order,  on  the  tenth  of  August,  to  fire  on  the 
people  from  the  Thuilleries;  and  Roland 
was  accused  in  general  terms  of  persecut- 
ing the  republicans.  On  these  charges  the 
convention  declared  those  who  had  fled  from 
the  decree  of  arrest  traitors  to  their  coun- 
try, and  they  were  put  out  of  the  protection 
of  the  law.  These  outrageous  proceedinj?r, 
on  the  part  of  the  Mountain  junto,  produced 
a  reaction,  which,  in  one  memorable  in- 
stance, was  fatal  to  one  of  the  most  violent 
of  these  incendiaries.  A  female,  of  the 
name  of  Charlotte  Corde,  enthusiastically 
attached  to  the  Gironde  party,  proceeded 
from  Caen,  in  Normandy,  to  assassinate  Ma- 
rat,— which  she  effected  at  the  expense  of 
her  own  life.  Marat  was  proclaimed  a  mar- 
tjrr,  and  his  death  ordered  to  be  lamented  ae 
an  irreparable  loss  to  the  republic. 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


891 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Reform  Societies  in  Great  Britain — Edinburgh  Convention — Transportation  of  the 
Secretary  and  two  Delegates — French  Affairs — Trial  and  Execution  of  Queen 
Marie  Antoinette — The  Port  and  Fleet  of  Toulon  surrender  to  the  English — Evacu- 
ation of  Toulon — French  Calendar — Extraordinary  Efforts  to  Recruit  the  French 
Armies — Operations  on  the  Frontiers  of  France — Meeting  of  Parliament — Aug- 
mentation of  the  Army  and  Navy — Motion  against  the  War — Message  respecting 
Democratic  Societies,  and  Suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus — State  Trials — 
Foreign  Troops  landed  in  the  Isle  of  Wight — Augmentation  of  the  Forces — 
Voluntary  Contributions  in  aid  of  the  War — Enlistment  of  French  Emigrants — 
Supply — M.  la  Fayette — Subsidy  to  Prussia — Prorogation  of  Parliament — Changes 
in  the  Ministry — Military  Operations  on  the  Continent — Corsica  annexed  to  the 
British  Crown — Lord  Howe's  Victory — Other  Naval  Achievements — Capture  of 
Martinique,  St.  Lucia,  and  Guadahupe — Loss  of  the  latter — Acquisitions  in  St. 
Domingo. 


REFORM  SOCIETIES  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. 
—  EDINBURGH  CONVENTION.— SECRE- 
TARY AND  TWO  MEMBERS  TRANS- 
PORTED. 

Societies  for  promoting  a  reform  in  the 
house  of  commons  were,  at  this  period,  ex- 
tremely active  throughout  the  kingdom.  In 
Scotland  a  party  zealous  for  reform  had 
projected  what  they  termed  a  National  Con- 
vention; and  in  October  1793,  a  meeting 
was  held  in  Edinburgh,  which  was  attended 
by  delegates  from  the  London  Correspond- 
ing Society,  and  from  other  societies  of  the 
same  description  in  different  parts  of  Eng- 
land and  Ireland.  The  London  Correspond- 
ing Society  restricted  its  delegates  to  the 
obtaining,  by  lawful  means,  imiversal  suf- 
frage and  armual  parliaments ;  but  it  instruct- 
ed them,  at  the  same  time,  to  enforce  tlie  duty 
of  the  people  to  resist  any  act  of  the  legis- 
lature repugnant  to  the  original  principles 
of  the  constitution.  The  Edmburgh  Con- 
vention foolishly  adopted  all  the  forms,  names, 
and  proceedings  of  the  French  Jacobin  Clubs, 
with  such  difference  and  omissions  only  as 
their  peculiar  circumstances  rendered  neces- 
sary. The  members  hailed  each  other  by 
the  republican  denomination  of  Citizen;  they 
divided  themselves  into  sections ;  appointed 
committees  of  organization,  of  instruction, 
of  finance,  of  secrecy,  and  of  emergency ; 
called  their  meetings,  sittings;  granted 
honors  of  sittings ;  and  dated  their  proceed- 
ings in  the  first  year  of  the  British  Conven- 
tion, one  and  indivisible.  They  at  first  as- 
sumed the  distinctive  appellation  of  the 
'  General  Convention  of  the  Friends  of  the 
People,'  but  they  aflerwards  took  the  name 
of  the  '  British  Convention  of  the  Delegates 
of  the  People,'  associated  to  obtain  universal 
suffrage  and  annual  parliaments;  they  adopt- 
ed means  for  assembling  the  delegates,  at 
any  time  when  it  should  be  deemed  neces- 


sary for  the  societies  to  act,  in  consequence 
of  any  measures  of  precaution  or  coercion 
which  the  government  might  adopt;  and 
they  were  fully  prepared  to  carry  their  doc- 
trine of  resistance  into  effect.  When  they 
were  thus  emboldened,  by  their  mcreased 
numbers,  openly  to  avow  tfieir  designs,  the 
government  thought  it  time  to  interrupt 
their  proceedings.  On  the  fiflh  and  sixth 
of  December  the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh 
repaired  to  two  of  the  places  of  meeting, 
where  they  seized  the  papers,  and  took  the 
secretary  and  some  of  the  leading  members 
into  custody.  Three  of  these  were  after- 
wards brought  to  trial,  William  Skirving, 
the  secretary,  and  two  of  the  delegates  from 
the  London  Corresponding  Society,  Maurice 
Margaret,  and  Joseph  Gerald,  before  the 
High  Court  of  Justiciary  in  Scotland,  and, 
being  all  found  guilty,  they  were  sentenced 
to  be  transported  for  fourteen  years. 

FRENCH  AFFAIRS.— TRIAL  AND  EXECU- 
TION OF  THE  QUEEN. 

The  Mountain  party  were  now  become 
the  sole  rulers  of  France.  This  dreadful 
despotism  was  composed  of  two  councils, 
one  of  which  was  denominated  the  '  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,'  the  other  the  '  Com- 
mittee of  General  Safety.'  The  members 
ought  to  have  been  renewed  every  month ; 
but  the  convention  had  intrusted  these  com- 
mittees with  the  power  of  imprisoning  and 
judging  its  members,  and  therefore  no 
deputy  was  hardy  enough  to  propose  a  re- 
newal of  these  committees. 

The  prevailing  faction  now  proceeded  to 
atrocities  of  which  no  former  despotism  af- 
forded an  example:  its  object  appeared  to 
be  the  extermination  of  all  that  was  great 
and  valuable  in  society :  it  attempted  to  re- 
duce the  community  to  one  level — to  degrade, 
that  it  might  the  more  severely  tyrannize 
over,  its  victims :  even  moderation  itself  be- 


392 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


came  a  crime  to  be  expiated  only  by  death, 
and  virtue  received  the  reward  due  to  atro- 
cious crimes.  If  the  father  afforded  any 
support  to  his  exiled  son,  if  the  daughter 
vi^rote  to  her  mother  from  her  dungeon,  the 
revolutionary  tribunal  doomed  them  to  the 
scaffold.  The  external  profession  of  the 
Christian  religion  was  abolished  by  public 
decree,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  substi- 
tute for  Christianity  a  sort  of  metaphysical 
paganism.  Those  ecclesiastics  who  had 
seats  in  the  convention  publicly  abjured  their 
creed,  and  were  not  ashamed  to  declare 
that  they  had  hitherto  deceived  the  world : 
the  archbishop  and  clergy  of  Paris  renounc- 
ed the  Christian  religion,  declaring  that  they 
owned  no  temple  but  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Jaws,  no  God  but  Liberty,  no  gospel  but  the 
constitution :  the  revolutionary  tribunal  con- 
demned, without  distinction  and  without  in- 
quiry, all  the  victims  whom  the  tyrants 
marked  out  for  destruction:  proscriptions 
daily  increased,  and  France  was  filled  with 
accusers,  prisons,  and  executioners.  The 
number  of  persons  who  perished,  during  this 
reign  of  terror,  cannot  be  ascertained  by 
any  authentic  documents;  but  the  prisons 
were  filled  and  emptied  with  a  horrid  ra- 
pidity, and  the  scaffolds  flowed  daily  with 
blood.  The  most  distinguished  victim  was 
the  ill-fated  queen  Marie  Antoinette.  On 
the  first  of  August  she  was  suddenly  re- 
moved to  the  prison  of  the  Conciergerie, 
where  she  was  treated  as  the  meanest 
criminal ;  and,  on  the  fifteenth  of  October, 
she  appeared  before  the  tribunal  to  take  her 
trial,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  to  hear 
her  doom  pronounced.  The  act  of  accusa- 
tion consisted  of  several  charges,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which  stated  that  she  had  directed 
her  views  to  a  counter-revolution.  One  of 
the  most  singular  of  them  was,  that,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Gironde  faction,  she  in- 
duced the  king  and  the  assembly  to  declare 
war  against  Austria,  contrary  to  every  prin- 
ciple of  sound  policy  and  the  public  welfare; 
but  the  last  charge  was  the  most  infamous, 
and  the  most  incredible,  viz.  that,  like  Ag- 
rippina,  she  had  held  an  incestuous  com- 
merce with  her  own  son.  The  unfortunate 
Marie  Antoinette  heard  the  accusation 
with  calmness,  and,  as  she  continued  silent, 
the  president  called  upon  her  for  a  reply, 
when  with  great  dignity  she  answered,  "  I 
held  my  peace  because  Nature  forbids  a 
mother  to  reply  to  such  a  charge ;  but,  since 
I  am  compelled  to  it,  I  appeal  to  all  the 
mothers  who  hear  me  whether  it  be  possi- 
ble." Not  one  of  the  charges  was  proved  ; 
but,  after  consultinfr  for  about  an  hour,  the 
jury  found  her  guilty  of  the  whole.  Witli 
an  unchanged  countenance  phe  heard  the 
sentence  of  death  pronounced,  and  left  the 
hall  without  utterins:  a  single  word — with- 


out addressing  herself  either  to  her  judgea 
or  the  audience.  On  the  succeedmg  day, 
the  16th,  at  about  eleven  o'clock,  she  was 
taken  to  execution  in  the  same  manner  aa 
the  other  victims  of  this  dreadful  tribunal : 
she  ascended  the  scaffold  with  a  firm  and 
unhesitating  step,  and  her  behavior  at  the  7 
awful  moment  of  dissolution  was  decent  and 
composed.  Her  body  was  interred  like  that 
of  her  husband,  in  a  grave  filled  with  quick- 
lime. 

PORT  AND  FLEET  OF  TOULON  SURREN- 
DER TO  THE  BRITISH. 
The  people  of  Toulon,  and  the  French 
vice-admiral  Trugoff,  entered  into  a  nego- 
tiation with  the  British  admiral,  lord  Hood, 
who  then  commanded  in  the  Mediterranean, 
for  the  delivery  of  the  port  and  fleet  into  the 
hands  of  the  English,  in  trust  for  Louis  the 
seventeenth — a  negotiation  was  completed, 
and  on  the  twenty-third  of  August  a  body 
of  men  were  landed  from  the  English  fleet, 
who  immediately  took  possession  of  Fort 
Malgue,  by  means  of  a  detachment  under 
captain  Elphinstone,  as  well  as  of  the  bat- 
teries at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  TJie 
French  ships  were  warped  into  the  inner 
road,  as  stipulated ;  and,  the  Spanish  admi- 
ral having  joined  the  British,  the  combined 
squadrons  anchored  in  the  outer  road ;  after 
which  one  thousand  Spaniards  were  sent  on 
shore  to  augment  the  English  garrison ;  rear- 
admiral  Goodall  was  declared  governor,  and 
rear-admiral  Gravina  commandant  of  tlie 
troops.  The  condition  on  which  this  valua- 
ble arsenal  was  put  into  the  hands  of  a  Brit- 
ish admiral  was,  that  it  was  only  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  deposit  to  be  preserved  for  the 
use  of  the  French  king,  Louis  the  seven- 
teenth, the  inhabitants  of  Toulon  declaring 
their  intention  of  rejecting  the  constitution  ' 
proposed  by  the  convention,  and  of  adhering 
to  that  decreed  by  the  constituent  assembly 
of  1789.  It  was  further  stipulated,  that, 
when  peace  should  be  re-established  in 
France,  the  ships  and  forts  which  should  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  should  be 
restored  to  the  French  nation  in  the  same 
state  as  when  they  were  delivered.  The 
English  immediately  placed  Toulon  in  a 
state  of  defence:  the  adjacent  hills  were 
crowned  witli  redoubts ;  a  new  fort  was  con- 
structed at  Malbousquet ;  encampments  were 
formed  at  St.  Roch,  at  Equillete,  and  at 
Balaguier,  the  last  of  which  was  termed 
Little  Gibraltar  by  the  French.  A  detach- 
ment from  the  Spanish  army  in  the  Rouis- 
sillon,  two  thousand  Sicilian  troops,  under 
brigadier-general  Pignatelli,  and  a  detach- 
ment from  the  army  of  the  king  of  Sardinia, 
were  sent  to  reinforce  the  garrison. 
TOULON  EVACUATED. 
In  November,  general  Dagobert  was  ap- 
pointed conmiander-in-chief  of  the  besieg- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


393 


ing  army ;  and  Napoleon  Buonaparte,  a  na- 
tive of  Corsica,  then  a  subaltern  in  the 
artillery,  by  his  able  conduct  in  the  siege, 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  military  fame  and 
power,  which  afterwards  intimidated  and 
oppressed  the  greater  part  of  continental 
Europe.  About  this  period,  lieutenant-gen- 
eral O'Hara  arrived  at  Toulon,  as  governor 
and  commander-in-chief  He  determined  to 
destroy  the  new  works,  termed  the  Conven 
tion  Battery,  and  to  bring  off  the  artillery 
and  accordingly  sent  a  detachment  under 
the  command  of  major-general  David  Dun- 
das,  who,  notwithstanding  considerable  dif- 
ficulties, surprised  the  redoubt,  and  fully  ef- 
fected all  the  objects  of  the  sally ;  but  the 
troops,  flushed  with  victory,  rushed  forward, 
and  descended  the  hill  after  the  enemy,  but 
were  obliged  in  their  turn  to  retire  with 
precipitation.  General  O'Hara,  on  this  oc- 
casion, received  a  wound  in  the  arm,  and 
was  taken  prisoner,  with  several  other  offi- 
cers, who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy — 
whose  force  amounted  to  nearly  forty  thou- 
sand men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  allied 
troops,  composed  of  five  different  nations 
and  languages,  never  exceeded  twelve  thou- 
sand rank  and  file.  With  these,  now  greatly 
diminished  by  death  and  disease,  a  circum- 
ference of  fifteen  miles,  for  the  defence  of 
the  town  and  harbor,  was  to  be  occupied  and 
defended  by  means  of  eight  principal  and 
several  intermediate  posts,  which  alone  re- 
quired nearly  nine  thousand  men.  The 
French  opened  two  new  batteries  on  Fort 
Mulgrave,  and  stormed  the  fortification  by 
tliat  side  which  was  defended  by  the  Span- 
iards. Another  attack  took  place  on  all  the 
posts  of  Mount  Faron,  that  overlooks  Tou- 
lon, which  they  occupied. 

As  the  enemy  now  commanded  the  town, 
as  well  as  some  of  the  ships,  by  their  shot 
and  shells,  it  became  necessary  that  a  re- 
treat should  take  place  as  speedily  as  possi- 
ble. Lord  Hood  accordingly  gave  orders 
for  the  boats'  of  the  fleet  to  assemble  by 
eleven  o'clock  near  Fort  Malgue  for  that 
purpose.  He  had  also  settled  a  plan  for  de- 
stroying all  the  French  men-of-war  and  the 
arsenal.  That  service  was  intrusted  to  Sir 
Sidney  Smith,  who,  on  entering  the  dock- 
yard, found  that  the  artificers  had  already 
substituted  the  three-colored  cockade  for  the 
white  one,  and  that  about  six  hundred  gal- 
ley-slaves, who  had  broken  their  fetters, 
would  have  made  a  determined  resistance, 
had  he  not  pointed  the  guns  of  two  vessels, 
to  keep  them  in  awe.  After  tliis  he  set  fire 
to  ten  ships  of  the  line,  to  the  arsenal,  to  the 
mast-house,  to  the  great  store-house,  and 
other  buildings ;  but  the  calmness  of  the 
evening  prevented  much  of  the  effect  ex- 
pected from  the  conflagration.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  Spaniards,  instead  of  scuttling  and 


sinking,  set  fire  to  the  powder-ehips,  and 
they,  as  well  as  the  English,  were  foiled  in 
the  attempt  of  cutting  the  boom,  and  de- 
stroying the  men-of-war  in  the  basin,  in  con- 
sequence of  repeated  volleys  of  musketry 
from  the  flag-ship  and  the  wall  of  the  royal 
battery :  the  Hero  and  Tliemistocles  were, 
however,  set  on  fire,  and  the  party  left  for 
this  purpose,  after  a  most  desperate  service, 
effected  their  retreat.  By  daylight  next 
morning,  all  the  British,  Spanish,  and  Si 
cilian  ships,  crowded  with  the  unfortunate 
inhabitants,  were  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
enemy's  vengeance.  Admiral  Trugoff,  on 
board  the  Commerce  de  Marseilles,  with  the 
Puissant  and  Pom  pee,  two  other  ships  of 
the  line,  and  the  Pearl,  Arethusa,  and  To- 
paze  frigates,  with  several  corvettes,  joined 
the  English  fleet,  with  which  lord  Hood  pro- 
ceeded to  Hieres  Bay,  and  there  lie  landed 
the  men,  women,  and  children.  Of  thirty- 
one  ships  of  the  line  which  the  English  found 
at  Toulon,  thirteen  were  left  behind,  nine 
were  burnt  there,  one  at  Leghorn,  and  four 
lord  Hood  had  previously  sent  away  to  the 
French  ports  of  Brest  and  Rochfort,  with 
five  thousand  republican  seamen.  Britain, 
therefore,  obtained  only  three  ships  of  the 
line  and  five  frigates,  which  were  all  that 
the  admiral  was  able  to  take  ofT. 

Thus  Toulon  was  restored  to  France. 
Here,  as  well  as  at  Marseilles  and  Lyons, 
the  most  cruel  punishments  were  inflicted 
on  the  royalists ;  and  the  conquerors  sullied 
their  victory  by  a  terrible  and  indiscriminate 
carnage :  workmen  were  actually  invited 
fi-om  all  the  neighboring  departments  to  de- 
stroy the  principal  houses — the  population 
became  visibly  decreased  by  the  daily  butch- 
ery that  took  place — the  name  of  Port  de 
la  Montaigne  was  substituted  for  that  of 
Toulon — and  a  grand  festival  decreed  in 
honor  of  the  French  army. 

FRENCH  CALENDAR— EXTRAORDINARY 
EFFORTS  TO  RECRUIT  THE  ARMIES- 
OPERATIONS  ON  THE  FRONTIERS. 

The  faction  in  power  at  this  period,  be- 
ing desirous  of  effecting  the  abolition  of 
Christian  observances,  the  convention  de- 
creed a  new  calendar,  by  which  the  year 
was  divided  into  twelve  months,  of  thirty 
days  each,  with  five  intercalary  days,  which 
were  dedicated  to  national  festivities :  each 
month  was  divided  into  decades,  and  the  day 
of  rest  was  appointed  for  every  tenth  day, 
instead  of  every  seventh. 

All  Frenchmen  were  now  declared,  by  a 
solemn  decree  of  the  convention,  to  be  at 
the  service  of  their  country,  until  its  enemies 
should  be  chased  from  the  territories  of  the 
republic.  To  supply  the  wants  of  the  im- 
mense armies  now  about  to  be  collected  from 
all  quarters,  measures  of  a  new  and  extra- 
ordinary kind  were  adopted.  Assignats  were 


S94 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


not  only  fabricated  and  expended  in  im- 
mense quantities,  but  when  this  resource 
began  to  fail,  revolutionary  taxes  were  im- 
posed. The  system  of  requisition  was  at 
length  recurred  to,  and  all  the  necessaries 
of  life  appertaining  to  citizens  in  easy  cir- 
cumstances, were  seized  upon  in  the  name 
of  the  republic,  and  for  the  support  of  its 
troops ;  while  the  great  cities  were  crowded 
with  manufactures  of  saltpetre,  the  towns 
were  converted  into  foundries,  and  the  an- 
cient palaces  metamorphosed  into  arsenals. 
At  the  very  moment  that  the  idea  of  a  na- 
tion's rising  en  masse  was  ridiculed  through- 
out Europe,  the  convention,  on  the  proposi- 
tion of  the  committee  of  public  safety,  had 
either  augmented  or  created  eleven  distinct 
armies,  which  seemed  to  form  a  chain  round 
the  frontiers  of  France.  All  the  unmarried 
males,  from  eighteen  to  forty  years  of  age, 
were  put  in  permanent  requisition,  and  a 
draught  of  three  hundred  thousand  made  at 
one  time.  These  immense  resources  enabled 
them  to  strengthen  and  new-model  the  army 
of  the  north,  extending  from  Dunkrik  to 
Maubeuge ;  that  of  the  Ardennes,  reaching 
from  Maubeuge  to  Longwy;  that  of  the 
Moselle,  from  Longwy  to  Bitche ;  that  of 
the  Rhine,  from  Bitche  to  Porentrui ;  that 
of  the  Alps,  from  the  Aisne  to  the  borders 
of  the  Var ;  that  of  Italy,  from  the  Mari- 
time Alps  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone ;  the 
army  of  the  Oriental  Pyrenees,  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Rhone  to  the  Garonne ;  the 
army  of  the  Western  Pyrenees,  from  the 
department  of  the  Upper  Pyrenees  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Gironde ;  the  army  of  the  coast 
of  Rochelle,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Gironde 
to  that  of  the  Loire  ;  the  army  of  the  coasts 
of  Brest,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Loire  to  St. 
Maloes ;  and,  lastly,  that  of  the  coksts  of 
Cherbourg,  from  St.  Maloes  to  the  northern 
department. 

The  allies  under  the  duke  of  Brunswick 
and  general  Wurmser  were  for  some  time 
victorious  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  but  in 
November  the  French  had  become  so  much 
superior  in  number  that  they  were  always 
able  to  out-flank  their  opponents.  Wurmser, 
foiled  in  an  attempt  to  gain  possession  of 
Strasburg,  retired  to  Haguenau,  where  the 
French,  after  repeated  attacks,  obliged  the 
Austrians  to  retire  across  the  Rhine.  The 
Prussians  afterwards  relinquished  the  siege 
of  Landau,  and  the  duke  of  Brunswick  went 
into  winter-quarters  at  Mentz.  On  the 
Spanish  border  various  actions  took  place 
between  the  troops  of  Spain  and  France,  in 
which  the  former  were  successful ;  but  the 
war  in  this  quarter  was  of  very  subordinate 
importance.  In  Italy  the  county  of  Nice 
was  the  scene  of  some  actions  between  the 
Sardinian  and  French  troops,  which  were 
generally  favorable  to  the  former;  Genoa, 


which  had  manifested  a  disposition  to  take 
part  with  the  French,  was  overawed  by  the 
English  fleet;  and  the  duke  of  Tuscany 
was  induced,  by  the  representations  of  the 
British  minister,  to  declare  against  France. 
MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 
1794. — Parliament  assembled  on  the 
twenty-first  of  January,  1794.  The  king,  in 
his  speech,  having  mentioned  the  advan- 
tages obtained  by  the  arms  of  the  confed- 
erate powers,  added,  that  the  circumstances 
by  which  their  further  progress  had  been 
impeded  not  only  proved  the  necessity  of 
vigor  and  perseverance,  but  confirmed  the 
expectation  of  ultimate  success.  Their  ene- 
mies had  derived  the  means  of  temporary 
exertion  from  a  system  which  had  enabled 
them  to  dispose  arbitrarily  of  the  lives  and 
property  of  a  numerous  people ;  but  these 
eflTorts,  productive  as  they  had  been  of  in- 
ternal discontent  and  confusion,  tended  rap- 
idly to  exhaust  the  national  and  real  strength 
of  the  country.  He  regretted  the  necessity 
of  continuing  the  war ;  but  he  thought  he 
should  ill  consult  the  essential  interests  of 
his  people  if  he  desired  peace  on  any 
grounds  exclusive  of  a  due  provision  for 
their  permanent  safety,  and  for  the  inde- 
pendence and  security  of  Europe.  An 
amendment  to  the  address  was  moved  by 
the  earl  of  Guildford,  who  wished  for  a 
speedy  negotiation,  as  we  had  rushed  into 
war  without  necessity;  but  the  duke  of 
Portland  justified  the  war  as  strictly  defen- 
sive, and  as  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  the  Christian  religion,  political  and  civil 
liberty,  law,  and  order.  On  a  division,  the 
address  was  carried  by  ninety-seven  agamst 
twelve.  In  the  commons  the  address  wag 
moved  by  lord  Clifden,  to  which  Fox  pro- 
posed an  amendment,  recommending  to  his 
majesty  to  treat  for  a  peace  with  France 
upon  safe  and  honorable  terms,  without  any 
reference  to  its  existing  form  of  govern- 
ment. After  a  warm  debate,  which  was  pro- 
tracted to  a  late  hour,  the  address  was  car- 
ried by  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
against  fifty-nine. 

AUGMENTATION  OF  THE  ARMY  AND 
NAVY.— DEMOCRATIC  SOCIETIES— SUS- 
PENSION  OF  HABEAS  CORPUS  ACT. 

Lord  Arden  moved  for  a  supply  of  eighty- 
five  thousand  seamen,  including  twelve  thou- 
sand on^  hundred  and  fifteen  marines,  for 
the  service  of  the  present  year,  and,  on  the 
third  of  the  following  month,  he  further 
moved  that  the  land  forces  should  consist  of 
sixty  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-four 
men,  including  three  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two  invalids,  both  of  which 
motions  were  carried. 

On  the  twelfth  of  May  a  message  was  de^ 
livered  from  his  majesty  to  the  two  house* 
of  parliament,    referring   to  the  seditious 


GEORGE  ni.    1760—1820. 


395 


practices  of  democratic  societies,  and  inti- 
mating the  necessity  of  taking  measures  for 
baffling  their  dangerous  designs.  The  pa- 
pers belonging  to  these  clubs  were  exam- 
ined by  a  committee  of  the  commons ;  and, 
in  a  report  subsequently  presented  by  Pitt, 
it  was  affirmed,  as  the  result  of  the  inquiry, 
that  the  Society  for  Constitutional  Informa- 
tion and  the  London  Corresponding  Society, 
under  the  pretence  of  reform,  aimed  at  the 
subversion  of  the  government;  that  other 
associations,  in  different  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, pursued  the  same  object;  that  they 
had  endeavored  to  promote  a  general  con- 
vention of  the  people ;  that  they  had  pro- 
vided arms  for  the  more  effectual  prosecu- 
tion of  their  nefarious  purposes  ;  that  meet- 
ings of  popular  delegates  took  place  at  Ed- 
inburgh in  1792,  and  the  following  year ; 
that  their  proceedings  were  regulated  on 
tlie  French  model ;  and  that,  after  the  dis- 
persion of  this  convention,  the  two  leading 
societies  exerted  their  efforts  to  procure  a 
similar  meeting  in  England,  which  should 
supersede  the  authority  of  parliament.  The 
minister,  in  consequence,  proposed  that  the 
habeas  corpus  act  should  be  suspended  in 
cases  of  treason  and  sedition.  Fox  was  of 
opinion  that  this  stretch  of  power  was  not 
justified  by  the  evidence  which  had  been 
adduced  against  the  associations  ;  and  Sher- 
idan deprecated,  as  unconstitutional  and 
dangerous,  the  grant  of  an  arbitrary  power 
of  imprisonment.  Burke,  however,  felt  con- 
vinced that  the  power  in  question  would  not 
be  abused,  and  that  it  would  be  attended 
with  salutary  effects  ;  and  Windham  ad- 
vised the  strongest  measures  of  coercion. 
The  bill  of  suspension  was  rapidly  enacted  ; 
and,  after  spirited  debates,  an  address  was 
voted,  promising  the  strenuous  co-operation 
of  the  two  houses  with  the  executive  pow- 
er, for  the  suppression  of  all  seditious  at- 
tempts, treasonable  conspiracies,  &c. 
STATE  TRIALS. 
The  state  trials  pending  at  this  crisis 
heightened  the  alarm  which  universally  pre- 
vailed. At  the  Lancaster  spring  assizes  this 
year,  Thomas  Walker  of  Manchester,  a 
strenuous  advocate  for  parliamentary  re- 
form, at  whose  house  meetings  for  political 
purposes  were  occasionally  held,  was  indict- 
ed for  conspiring,  with  nine  other  persons, 
to  overturn  the  constitution  by  force  of  arms, 
and  to  assist  the  French  in  case  of  invasion. 
To  establish  this  charge,  involving,  in  its 
consequences,  not  only  the  character,  but 
the  life  of  the  accused ;  the  principal  evi- 
dence adduced  was  a  person  of  the  name  of 
Dunn,  whose  testimony  was  so  contradicto- 
ry and  absurd,  that  the  prosecution  was 
abandoned  by  the  counsel  for  the  crown ; 
and  Walker  was  honorably  acquitted,  with- 
out being  put  upon  his  defence,  while  his 


accuser  was  committed  to  prison  to  take  hi» 
trial  for  perjury. 

At  Edinburgh,  on  the  third  of  September, 
Robert  Watt,  a  government  spy,  was  tried 
and  convicted  of  high  treason.  It  appeared 
that  he  had  formed  a  romantic  project  for 
seizing,  by  force,  upon  the  castle  of  Edin- 
burgh, as  well  as  upon  the  persons  of  the 
principal  judicial  and  municipal  officers  of 
that  city,  together  with  the  bank  and  the 
excise  office.  This  intention  he  bad  com-  - 
municated  to  several  j^rsons,  who  all  refus- 
ed to  come  into  his  plans,  except  David 
Downie,  an  illiterate  mechanic.  That  Watt 
had  conspired  to  levy  war  against  the  king 
there  could  be  no  doubt ;  but,  as  he  had  not 
actually  levied  it,  it  was  contended  that  his 
offence  did  not  come  withift  the  legal  con- 
struction of  the  statute  of  Edward  the  Third. 
The  prisoner,  in  his  defence,  asserted,  and 
produced  letters  in  court  from  secretary 
Dundas  in  support  of  that  assertion,  that  he 
had  been  retained  as  a  spy  in  the  service  of 
government,  and  had  received  money  from 
them  for  his  services.  The  prisoner's  coun- 
sel, therefore,  contended  that  what  their  cli- 
ent had  done  was  with  no  other  view  than 
to  arrive  more  completely  at  the  knowledge  f 
of  the  secrets  of  those  persons  whose  con- 
duct he  was  to  observe,  and,  by  appearing 
zealous  in  the  same  cause,  to  cover  his  real 
intentions  of  betraying  these  counsels,  and 
bringing  to  punishment  the  enemies  of  their 
sovereign.  The  jury,  however,  pronounced 
the  prisoner  guilty;  the  judge  passed  the 
sentence  of  death  upon  him ;  and  he  was 
consequently  executed.  Downie  w^as  also 
convicted ;  but  the  jury  recommended  him 
to  mercy,  which  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
obtain. 

The  state  trials  of  certain  persons,  mem- 
bers of  the  London  Corresponding  Society, 
charged  with  high  treason,  took  place  in 
October,  November,  and  December  of  this 
year.  They  strongly  excited  popular  feel- 
ings at  the  time,  but  proved  abortive,  all 
those  persons  having  been  acquitted ;  and  • 
are  chiefly  remarkable  from  the  circum- 
stance of  Pitt,  the  prime  minister,  having 
been  examined  as  a  witness  on  the  trial  o? 
the  celebrated  John  Home  Tooke,  the  phi- 
lologist, to  prove  that  the  objects  of  the  Cor- 
responding Society  were  the  same  as  those 
of  the  meetings  for  reform,  which  Pitt  him- 
self had  promoted  and  attended  in  the  year 
1782,  but  pursued  by  different  means ; — on 
which  point  of  distinction  Pitt  was  in  a  cer- 
tain degree  contradicted  by  Sheridan,  who 
had  attended  meetings  of  that  nature  in 
1782,  and  was  also  examined  upon  the  trial 
of  Home  Tooke.  That  the  jury  acted  most 
conscientiously  in  acquitting  the  prisoners 
of  the  charge  of  high  treason,  there  can  be 
no  doubt ;  but  had  they  been  tried  for  a  mia- 


396 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


demeanor,  they  would  probably  have  been 
convicted.  Their  acquittal  raised  the  spirits 
of  the  disaffected,  who  openly  triumphed  in 
the  victory  they  had  obtained ;  and  when 
the  proceedings  against  persons  charged 
with  political  crimes  in  France  were  com- 
pared with  these  trials,  the  comparison  could 
not  fail  to  excite,  in  the  breast  of  every  hon- 
est Briton,  the  proudest  feelings  of  exulta- 
tion at  the  superiority  of  the  British  laws. 

The  trials  which  had  taken  place  in  Scot- 
land, particularly  those  of  Thomas  Muir  and 
the  reverend  Fysche  Palmer,  the  former  a 
Scotch  barrister,  and  the  latter  a  Unitarian 
preacher  at  Dundee,  who  had  been  convict- 
ed of  sedition  in  the  autumn  of  1793,  and 
sentenced  to  transportation,  excited  con- 
siderable alarm  among  their  friends  and  as- 
sociates in  England,  and  attracted  the  atten- 
tion even  of  some  members  of  the  British 
senate,  who  condemned  their  conduct  while 
they  deplored  their  fate.  Several  motions 
were  made  upon  the  subject  in  the  house  of 
commons,  by  Adam  a  barrister  of  some  emi- 
nence, implying  defects  in  the  Scotch  law 
of  sedition,  and  that  the  court  of  justiciary 
had  exceeded  their  power  in  substituting  the 
punishment  of  transportation  for  that  of  ban- 
ishment ;  but  all  these  motions  were  nega- 
tived, and  secretary  Dundas  contended  that 
the  Scottish  nation  was  very  happy  under 
its  own  laws — that  the  alterations  proposed 
would  be  a  violation  of  the  articles  of  the 
Union — and  that  the  reform  really  wanting 
was  to  assimilate  the  English  law  of  sedi- 
tion, in  a  certain  degree,  to  that  of  Scotland. 

FOREIGN  TROOPS  LANDED  ON  THE  ISLE 
OF  WIGHT— AUGMENTATION  OF  THE 
FORCES-VOLUNTARY  CONTRIBUTIONS 
—SUPPLY. 

With  a  view  to  co-operate  with  the  loyal- 
ists in  Brittany  and  the  neighboring  districts, 
a  body  of  Hessian  troops  in  the  pay  of  Eng- 
land, was  destined  for  this  service.  When 
these  troops  arrived  from  the  continent,  it 
was  deemed  proper  to  put  them  into  tempo- 
rary quarters  at  Portsmouth,  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  in  other  convenient  places  near 
the  coast.  This  circumstance  was  commu- 
nicated to  parliament,  in  a  message  from  his 
majesty,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  March. 
As  many  similar  cases  had  occurred  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  and  as  the  cause  and  neces- 
sity of  the  measure  were  so  perfectly  ob- 
vious, it  was  concluded  that  the  usual  com- 
munication of  the  fact  to  parliament  would 
be  satisfactory :  the  opposition,  however,  con- 
tended that  the  minister  ought  to  have  moved 
for  a  bill  of  indemnity  ;  and  he  was  charged 
with  having  violated  the  bill  of  rights  and 
tiie  act  of  settlement.  Grey,  on  the  tenth 
of  February,  moved,  as  a  resolution  of  the 
house,  "that  to  employ  foreigners  in  any 
situation  of  military  trust,  or  to  bring  foreign 


troops  into  the  kingdom,  without  the  con- 
sent of  parliament  first  had  and  obtained,  is 
contrary  to  law,"  which  motion  was  nega- 
tived ;  and  the  subject  was  afterwards  re- 
newed, in  both  houses,  by  propositions  for  a 
bill  of  indemnity,  but  with  no  better  success, 
ministers  contending  that  it  would  be  absurd 
to  pretend  to  indemnify  measures  which 
were  in  themselves  justifiable,  and  not  un- 
constitutional. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  February  a  mes- 
sage from  his  majesty  was  delivered  to  par- 
liament, purporting  that  the  avowed  inten- 
tions of  the  enemy  to  invade  this  country 
made  an  increase  of  the  land  forces  neces- 
sary ;  and  an  address  was  voted  by  the  house, 
assuring  his  majesty  of  their  zealous  con- 
currence in  every  exertion  which  became  a 
brave  and  loyal  people  in  the  prosecution  of 
this  just  and  necessary  war.  A  great  aug- 
mentation of  the  militia,  and  an  addition  of 
volunteer  fencible  corps,  were  accordingly 
voted ;  and  the  expedient  of  soliciting  volun- 
tary contributions,  by  a  formal  letter  written 
by  the  secretary  of  state  to  the  lords-lieu- 
tenant of  the  several  counties,  was  success- 
fully resorted  to,  though  strongly  opposed  as 
highly  illegal,  and  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
the  British  constitution  ;  and  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  March,  Sheridan  moved,  that  it 
was  dangerous  and  unconstitutional  for  the 
people  of  this  country  to  make  any  loan,  &c. 
to  the  crown,  to  be  used  for  any  public  pur- 
pose, without  the  previous  consent  of  par- 
liament. The  question  was  considered  as 
one  which  could  be  neither  universally  af- 
firmed nor  universally  denied,  and  the  mo- 
tion was  negatived  by  a  considerable  majori- 
ty, as  was  a  similar  one  by  lord  Lauderdale 
in  the  house  of  peers.  Very  considerable 
discussion  also  arose  on  a  bill  introduced  by 
Pitt,  on  the  first  of  April,  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  those  who  should  voluntarily  enrol 
themselves  for  the  general  defence  of  the 
kingdom  during  the  war ;  and  on  another, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  enable  French- 
men to  enlist  in  his  majesty's  service  on  the 
continent,  or,  in  other  words,  for  employing 
the  French  emigrants  in  a  military  capacity. 
The  requisite  supply  for  the  present  year 
amounted  to  nearly  twenty  million  pounds, 
and  the  ways  and  means  included  some  new 
taxes,  and  a  loan  of  eleven  million  pounds. 
Persons  professing  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion were  exempted  from  the  customary 
charge  of  double  land-tax. 
M.  LA  FA YETPE.— SUBSIDY  TO  PRUSSIA. 

General  Fitzpatrick  moved  in  the  house 
of  commons,  on  the  seventeenth  of  March, 
for  an  address  to  the  throne,  beseeching  his 
majesty  to  intercede  with  the  court  of  JBer- 
lin  in  favor  of  general  La  Fayette  and  his 
companions.  It  appeared  that  the  king  of 
Prussia,  being  applied  to  for  the  release  of 


geouge  m.  1760-1820. 


397 


La  Fayette,  had  answered,  that  he  was  not 
his  prisoner  alone,  but  that  of  the  confede- 
rate powers  jointly,  and  that  he  could  be  set 
at  liberty  only  by  the  consent  of  all.  Pitt 
denied  that  La  Fayette's  conduct  had  ever 
been  friendly  to  the  genuine  cause  of  liber- 
ty ;  he  affirmed  that  the  interference  re- 
quired would  be  setting-  up  ourselves  as 
guardians  of  the  consciences  of  foreign 
states ;  and  the  motion  was  negatived  by  a 
large  majority. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  Dundas 
delivered  a  message  from  the  king,  announc- 
ing a  treaty  of  subsidy  with  the  king  of 
Prussia,  and  a  convention  with  the  States- 
(jrenerai.  Pitt  stated  that  his  Prussian  ma- 
jesty had  agreed  to  furnish  sixty-two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  troops,  for  which  his  Brit- 
annic majesty  had  agreed  to  pay  him  fifty 
thousand  pounds  per  month,  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  per  month  for  forage,  four 
hundred  thousand  pounds  to  put  the  army  in 
motion,  and  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  on 
their  return;  of  the  aggregate  of  which 
sams  tlie  States-General  were  to  pay  four 
hundred  thousand  pounds  as  their  proportion. 
— Over  the  troops  subsidized  at  this  expense 
the  direction  and  command  were  still  vested 
in  the  king  of  Prussia.  The  motion  of  Pitt 
lor  the  sum  of  two  million  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  to  be  raised  by  way  of  loan 
on  exchequer-bills,  in  addition  to  the  suy)- 
plies  of  the  current  year,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  good  this  engagement,  after  being 
warmly  opposed  in  every  stage,  ultimately 
[massed  by  a  great  majority. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  eleventh 
of  July  by  a  speech  from  the  throne,  in  which 
the  king  urged  the  two  houses  to  persevere 
with  increased  vigor  and  exertion  in  the 
present  arduous  contest  against  a  power  ir- 
reconcilably hostile  in  its  principles  and 
spirit  to  all  regular  and  established  govern- 
m(  nts. 

Various  alterations  were  made  in  the  ad- 
ministration about  this  time.  Earl  Fitzwil- 
liam  was  declared  president  of  the  council, 
in  the  room  of  earl  Camden ;  earl  Spencer 
was  appointed  lord  privy-seal ;  the  duke  of 
Portland  was  made  third  secretary  of  state ; 
and  Windham  secretary  at  war.  Before  the 
close  of  the  year,  lord  Fitzwilliara  was  pro- 
moted to  the  vice-royalty  of  Ireland,  in  the 
room  of  lord  Westmoreland  ;  and  the  earl 
of  Mansfield,  late  lord  Stormont,  and  nephew 
to  the  celebrated  chief-justice  Mansfield, 
lately  deceased,  succeeded  to  tlie  presidency 
of  the  council.  Lord  Spencer  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  admiralty;  and  lord  Chat- 
ham, brother  to  the  premier,  who  had  for 
some  years  occupied  that  important  depart- 
ment, was  made  lord  privy-seal.  Ten  new 
peers  were  also  created ;  and  the  duke  of 
Portland's  services  were  still  further  re- 

VoL.  IV.  3^1 


warded  with  a  blue  riband,  and  the  office  of 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 

MILITARY  OPERATIONS  ON  THE  CON- 
TINENT. 
The  rulers  of  France  having  at  this  time 
acquired  an  absolute  dominion  over  tlie  per- 
sons of  its  inhabitants,  and  over  everything 
which  it  contained,  by  a  system  of  terror, 
her  rulers  resolved  to  extend  their  sway 
over  the  neighboring  countries,  to  enlarge 
their  own  boundaries;  and  to  obtain,  by 
plunder,  the  means  of  supporting  those  gi- 
gantic efforts  which  they  were  thus  enabled 
to  make,  they  had  armed,  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1793,  nearly  a  million  of  men,  three 
hundred  thousand  of  whom  were  employed 
on  the  northern  frontier  of  the  republic.  To 
these  the  allies  had  not  more  than  one  hun^ 
dred  and  forty  thousand  men  to  oppose.  Be- 
sides the  superiority  of  numbers,  the  French 
army  had  the  advantage  of  being  subject  to 
a  unity  of  command ;  while  the  allies,  com- 
posed of  different  nations,  were  commanded 
by  various  leaders,  w^ho  were  very  far  from 
acting  with  that  cordial  spirit  of  co-opera- 
tion which  was  so  essentially  necessary,  not 
merely  to  insure  success,  but  to  prevent  de- 
feat. The  rivalry  between  Austria  and 
Prussia,  and  the  jealousy  which  each  had 
conceived  of  the  other,  were  so  visible,  that 
on  the  sixth  of  January,  the  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick addressed  a  letter  to  the  king  of  Prus- 
sia, in  which  he  announced  the  resignation 
of  his  command,  stating,  as  his  motive,  "  the 
unhappy  experience  that  want  of  connexion, 
distrust,  egotism,  and  a  spirit  of  cabal,  had 
disconcerted  the  measures  adopted  during 
the  two  last  campaigns ;"  and  that  "  when, 
instead  of  the  prevalence  of  an  imanimous 
sentiment  and  tiie  same  principle,  each  army 
acts  separate  and  alone,  of  its  own  accord, 
without  any  fixed  plan,  without  unanimity, 
and  without  principles,  the  consequences 
are  such  as  we  have  seen  at  Dunkirk,  at 
Maubeuge,  and  Landau.  Heaven  preserve 
your  majesty  from  great  misfortunes ! "  The 
resignation  of  the  duke  was  soon  followed 
by  a  complaint  from  the  Prussian  monarch, 
of  the  great  expense  of  the  war,  and  a  pn> 
posal  that  the  states  of  the  empire  should 
provide  for  the  subsistence  of  his  troops ; — a 
request  to  which  that  body  did  not  accede. 
When  the  emperor  desired  that  the  Diet 
would  order  the  people  in  the  frontier  cir- 
cles to  rise  in  a  mass,  the  court  of  Berlin 
strongly  opposed  the  measure,  as  fruitleas 
and  dangerous;  the  general  levy  did  not 
take  place ;  and  the  contingents  of  the  Ger- 
man princes  were  deficient 

The  king  of  Prussia,  from  the  disappoint- 
ment of  various  kinds  which  he  had  experi- 
enced, had  already  determined  to  withdraw 
himself  from  the  confederacy.  In  the  month 
of  February  certain  commisBioners  from  the 


398 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


French  republic  arrived  at  Frankfort,  under 
the  pretext  of  negotiating  for  an  exchange 
of  prisoners;  but  the  marked  distinction 
with  which  they  were  treated  indicated 
somewhat  of  different  import,  and  of  higher 
moment.  Field-marshal  Muliendorf  suc- 
ceeded the  duke  of  Brunswick  in  the  com- 
mand of  the  Prussian  army  ;  and  an  intima- 
tion to  the  prince  of  Cobourg,  that  he  had 
received  orders  from  his  court  to  march  to- 
wards Cologne,  was  followed,  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  March,  by  a  proclamation  address- 
ed to  the  German  empire,  announcmg  his 
Prussian  majesty's  actual  secession  from  the 
grand  confederacy.  This  ruse  ^etat  ap- 
pears to  have  fully  answered  its  intended 
purpose ;  as  it  was  almost  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  the  treaty  of  subsidy  already  men- 
tioned, conformably  to  which,  the  sum  of 
nearly  two  million  pounds  was  to  be  paid  to 
the  court  of  Berlin,  for  the  service  of  an  ar- 
my of  sixty-two  thousand  men,  to  be  com- 
manded by  an  officer  of  his  Prussian  majes- 
ty's own  appointment. 

A  general  council  of  war  was  convened 
at  Atli,  when  the  projected  arrangements  of 
the  campaign,  on  the  part  of  the  court  of 
Vienna,  were  brought  forward  by  general 
Haddick.  A  main  article  of  this  plan  was, 
that  general  Ciairfait,  an  officer  of  great 
ability  and  experience,  s?iould  be  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  auxiliary  forces,  and 
that  the  duke  of  York  should  act  under  his 
orders,  the  prince  of  Cobourg  continuing  at 
the  head  of  the  grand  imperial  army.  This 
his  royal  highness  refused  with  disdain ;  and 
the  dispute  was  only  settled  by  the  determi- 
nation that  the  emperor  himself  sliould  talie 
the  field  in  person,  and  that  in  him  should 
be  vested  the  supreme  command.  On  the 
ninth  of  April  his  imperial  majesty  arrived 
at  Brussels,  where  he  was  solemnly  inaugu- 
rated duke  of  Brabant,  and  thence  proceed- 
ed to  Valenciennes,  where  his  presence  dif- 
fused great  joy.  The  whole  army  was  re- 
viewed by  him  on  the  heights  above  Cateau, 
on  the  sixteenth,  and  on  the  following  day 
they  marched  in  eight  columns  to  invest 
Landreci.  The  French  assembled  in  force 
at  the  camp  of  Csesar,  near  Cambray,  from 
which  they  were  driven  by  the  confederates 
on  tlie  twenty-third,  and  the  investment  of 
Landreci  immediately  took  place.  The  next 
day  the  French  made  a  general  assault  upon 
the  different  posts  of  the  allies  in  this  quar- 
ter, and  were  in  most  instances  repulsed ; 
but  the  post  of  Moucron,  v/here  Ciairfait 
commanded,  was  attacked  with  a  superior 
force  by  Pichegru  in  person,  and  carried, 
afler  a  brave  resistance.  Courtray  and  Me- 
nin  thus  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  republic- 
ans. In  return,  the  fortress  of  Landreci, 
which  had  repelled  the  utmost  ef!brt8  of 
prince  Eugene  m  1712,  fsU,  afler  a  short 


siege,  into  the  hands  of  the  prince  of  Co- 
bourg. 

In  the  month  of  June,  the  French,  under 
general  Jourdan,  who  commanded  on  the 
side  of  the  Moselle,  passed  the  Sambre,  for 
the  third  time  in  the  space  of  fourteen  days, 
and,  after  being  twice  repulsed,  laid  siege  to 
the  town  of  Charleroi.  The  prince  of  Cobourg 
determuied  to  make  a  grand  effort  for  its  re- 
lief. On  the  twenty-first  he  reached  Ath, 
and  on  the  twenty-fourth  effiscted  a  junction 
with  the  hereditary  prince  of  Orange  and 
general  Beaulieu,  who  commanded  in  that 
quarter.  The  main  body  of  the  French  ar- 
my under  general  Jourdan  was  strongly  post- 
ed, at  this  time,  in  the  vicinity  of  Fleurus, 
to  cover  the  siege  of  Charleroi.  On  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-sixth  the  prince  of 
Cobourg  hazarded  a  general  attack  on  this 
force.  The  battle  continued  with  unabated 
fiiry  till  near  the  close  of  the  day,  by  which 
time  the  allied  army  was  defeated  in  every 
part,  and  forced,  with  immense  loss,  to  re- 
treat to  Halle,  thirty  miles  from  the  scene 
of  action.  This  was  a  great  and  decisive 
victory.  Charleroi,  to  save  which  this  bloody 
action  was  fought,  had  surrendered  on  the 
evening  of  the  twenty-fifth;  and  Brussels 
fell,  without  further  resistance,  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  General  Ciairfait  was  equal- 
ly unfortunate  on  the  opposite  side.  Ypres, 
the  key  of  western  Flanders,  was  besieged 
by  fifty  thousand  men,  commanded  by  gen- 
eral Moreau.  After  a  series  of  engagemente, 
in  which  the  French  were  almost  uniformly 
victorious,  tlie  Austrians  were  compelled  to 
fall  back  upon  Ghent,  and  Ypres  surrender- 
ed on  the  seventeenth  of  June.  The  em- 
peror, with  his  favorite,  general  Mack,  in 
utter  despair  of  success,  left  the  army,  after 
having  in  vain  issued  proclamation  after 
proclamation,  calling  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  the  low  countries  to  rise  in  a  mass  in  or- 
der to  repel  the  invaders. 

The  duke  of  York,  who  had  a  separate 
command  at  Tournay,  was  attacked,  on  the 
tenth  of  May,  by  a  French  force,  consisting 
of  thirty  thousand  men,  which  he  drove  back 
with  great  loss.  The  emperor  immediately 
determined  to  march  to  his  assistance,  and  a 
grand  attack  was  concerted,  in  which  the 
army  of  general  Ciairfait  was  ordered  to  co- 
operate; but  the  movements  of  the  different 
columns  not  being  attended  with  equal  suc- 
cess, the  duke,  after  a  succession  of  severe 
conflicts,  was  obliged  to  fly,  and  narrowly 
escaped  being  mnde  prisoner.  In  company 
with  only  an  Austrian  general  and  two  other 
gentlemen,  he  entered  a  village,  supposing 
it  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  allies,  but,  on 
turning  a  corner  in  full  gallop,  they  found  a 
column  of  the  enemy  facing  them,  which, 
supposin:?  the  (luke  to  be  at  tlie  head  of  a 
body  cftrocpf!,  ;it  flrirt  feci,  after  firing  a  val- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


399 


ley,  which  killed  the  Austrian  general  at  his 
side.  Recovering,  however,  from  their  error, 
they  pursued  the  duke  and  his  two  compan- 
ions so  closely,  that  they  arrived  with  great 
difficulty  at  Tournay,  a  position  which  be- 
came at  length  wholly  untenable,  and  was 
therefore  evacuated,  the  duke  retreating  in 
the  direction  of  Antwerp.  Just  as  the  fate 
of  the  Netherlands  had  been  thus  decided, 
lord  Moira  arrived  from  England  with  a  re- 
inforcement of  ten  thousand  men,  at  Ostend, 
the  gallant  remains  of  that  army  which  had 
been  destined  to  re-establish  royalty  in  Brit- 
tany. His  situation  was  critical,  the  French 
being  in  possession  of  the  country  on  all  sides 
of  him,  and  it  was  deemed  necessary  imme- 
diately to  evacuate  the  town,  and  endeavor 
to  force  his  way,  without  tents  or  baggage, 
through  the  enemy,  to  join  the  army  of  the 
allies,  which,  by  great  and  skilful  exertion, 
he  accomplished  on  the  eighth  of  July :  the 
shipping  in  the  harbor,  amounting  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  sail,  with  the  ammunition, 
stores,  &c.  on  board,  took  their  departure  for 
Flushing.  Thus  Ostend,  and,  nearly  at  the 
same  time,  Tournay  and  Ghent,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  French.  In  the  respective  en- 
gagements which  had  taken  place  between 
Pichegru  and  the  prince  of  Cobourg,  since 
the  battle  of  Fleurus,  the  former  had  great 
ly  the  advantage :  Mons,  Oudenarde,  Brus- 
sels, and  Nieuporl,  places  widely  distant, 
and  soon  after  Mechlin,  surrendered  to  the 
republican  arms,  and  Antwerp  itself  was  no 
longer  considered  as  a  safe  retreat.  The 
stadtholder  consequently  solicited  the  States- 
General  to  make  an  extraordinary  levy 
throughout  the  provinces,  but  without  ef- 
fect; a  revolution  in  the  government  was 
apprehended. 

About  the  middle  of  July  general  Kleber 
took  possession  of  Louvain,  after  defeating 
general  Clairfait,  who  had  possession  of  the 
famous  camp  of  the  Montagne-de-Fer.  The 
last  hope  of  the  allies,  that  of  forming  a  line 
of  defence  from  Antwerp  to  Namur,  was 
now  relinquished,  Namur  being,  on  the  night 
of  the  sixteenth,  abandoned  by  general  Beau 
lieu  ;  and,  on  the  twenty-fourth,  the  French 
took  quiet  possession  of  Antwerp,  the  allies 
having  previously  set  fire  to  the  immense 
magazines  there  deposited.  Sluys  made  a 
brave  resistance,  but  surrendered  after  a 
siege  of  six  weeks,  the  garrison  marching 
out  with  the  honors  of  war.  The  strong 
towns  still  occupied  by  the  allies,  Landreci, 
Quesnoy,  Conde,  and  Valenciennes,  being 
now  completely  insulated,  successively  re 
verted,  almost  without  resistance,  to  the 
French. 

The  army  under  the  duke  of  York  was 
stationed  at  Breda,  whence,  for  greater  se- 
curity, it  retreated  towards  Bois-le-Duc. 
The  French  forces,  under  Pichegru,  advanc- 


ing rapidly  upon  them,  to  the  number  of 
eighty  thousand  men,  about  the  middle  of 
September,  the  duke  crossed  the  Maese,  and 
took  a  fresh  position  near  Grave  ;  and,  at  the 
beginning  of  October,  he  encamped  under 
the  walls  of  Nimeguen.  The  French,  cross- 
ing the  Maese,  made  an  attack  on  the  Brit- 
ish posts  in  front  of  that  town,  and  having 
obliged  them  to  change  their  position,  invest- 
ed the  place.  Towards  the  end  of  the  month 
his  royal  highness  passed  the  Waal,  leaving 
general  Walmoden  with  a  corps  to  cover  the 
town  of  Nimeguen,  which  was  evacuated 
in  great  confusion,  and  with  much  loss,  on 
the  seventh  of  November.  Bois-le-Duc, 
Breda,  and  Grave,  were  also  successively 
reduced.  Whilst  Pichegru  was  in  Dutch 
Flanders,  the  Austrian  general.  La  Tour, 
was  totally  defeated  by  general  Jourdan  near 
Liege,  which  city,  and  those  of  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle  and  Juliers,  were  occupied  by  the 
French.  The  prince  of  Cobourg  was  at  this 
period  suddenly  dismissed  from  his  high  com- 
mand ;  and  his  successor,  general  Clairfait, 
was  compelled,  early  in  October,  to  repass 
the  Rhme  at  Cologne.  The  French  pur- 
sued, the  imperial  troops  to  the  very  margin 
of  the  river ;  and,  as  the  rear  of  the  Aus- 
trian army  embarked,  the  question  was  loud- 
ly and  insultingly  asked,  if  that  was  the  road 
to  Paris  ]  About  the  end  of  September  the 
siege  of  Maestricht  was  formally  com- 
menced, and  lasted  forty  days,  during  which 
interval  the  attack  and  defence  were  con- 
ducted with  heroic  bravery.  The  atmosphere 
seemed  filled  with  balls,  bombs,  and  shells, 
and  scarcely  was  a  place  of  safety  left  in  the 
whole  circuit  of  the  city.  Two  thousand 
buildings,  public  and  private,  were  said  to 
be  destroyed  ;  and  a  general  storm  was  in- 
tended on  the  fourth  of  November,  when  the 
governor,  moved  by  the  situation  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  the  entreaties  of  the  magis- 
trates, consented  to  articles  of  capitulation 
with  general  Kleber,  who  entered  the  place 
on  the  same  day. 

The  Prussians  did  not  act  with  much 
vigor  m  this  campaign,  nor  were  they  wholly 
inactive.  Being  obliged  to  make  some  show 
of  co-operation  with  the  Austrians,  they  sur- 
prised the  French  in  their  intrenchments  at 
Keyserslautem,  and  defeated  them  with  con- 
siderable loss.  In  July  they  were  attacked 
by  general  Desaix,  who  carried  the  import- 
ant posts  occupied  by  prince  Hohenloe  on 
the  Platoberg,  a  high  mountain  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Deux-Ponts ;  and,  soon  afterwards, 
the  whole  chain  of  posts  from  Neustadt  to 
the  Rhine  being  assailed  with  success,  both 
Austrians  and  Prussians  were  obliged  to  re- 
treat with  precipitation.  The  imperial  army 
recrossed  the  Rhine,  and  the  Prussians  re- 
tired towards  Guntersbloom  and  Mentz.  The 
recent  acquisition  of  Keyserslautem  was 


400 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


abandoned  to  the  republicans,  who  again  oc- 1 
cupied  the  cities  of  Worms,  Spire,  and 
Treves.  In  Spain  and  Italy  also  the  armies  j 
of  the  republic  were  successful.  In  Novem- 
ber 1793,  they  penetrated  into  the  province 
of  Catalonia;  and,  in  the  beginning  of  Feb- 
ruary followmg  a  battle  was  fought  near  St 
Jean  de  Luz,  in  which  the  French  t^were 
conquerors.  In  May  another  victory  was 
gained  near  Ceret ;  and  soon  afterwards  a 
third,  of  more  importance  than  the  former 
two,  over  the  principal  Spanish  army,  posted 
in  the  vicinity  of  Collioure.  On  the  west- 
ern side  the  towns  of  Fontarabia  and  St. 
Sebastian  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French. 
In  Italy  the  Piedmontese  had,  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  Sardinian  monarch,  risen  in  a 
mass  ;  but,  being  destitute  of  the  enthusiasm 
of  liberty,  they  constituted  a  body  without 
a  soul.  The  French  forced  the  famous  pass 
of  Mount  Cenis,  took  possession  of  the  city 
and  territory  of  Oneglia,  and  made  them- 
selves masters  of  a  great  part  of  the  open 
country  of  that  district. 

CORSICA  ANNEXED  TO  THE  BRITISH 
CROWN. 

In  the  Mediterranean  the  progress  of  the 
English  arms,  subsequently  to  the  evacua- 
tion of  Toulon,  was  very  flattering.  Early 
in  February  1794,  lord  Hood  proceeded  for 
Corsica,  which  was  in  a  state  of  revolt 
against  the  convention,  the  insurgents  hav- 
ing been  excited  to  this  resistance  by  the 
English  influence,  under  the  conduct  of  their 
ancient  and  popular  chief.  Paschal  Paoli,  who 
had  been  some  years  since  restored  to  his 
country  with  honor  by  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly. Mortella,  Tornelli,  and  St.  Fioren- 
za,  being  successively  surrendered  or  evacu- 
ated, the  Corsicans  who  adhered  to  the 
French  interest  retreated  to  Bastia,  which 
resisted  the  united  efforts  of  the  Anglo-Cor- 
sicans  and  English  till  the  twenty-fourth  of 
May,  when  it  capitulated  on  honorable  terms; 
and  the  whole  island,  excepting  Calvi,  which 
held  out  till  August,  submitted  to  the  Eng- 
lish. Letters  of  convocation  were  immedi- 
ately issued  for  the  assembly  of  the  general 
Consulta,  to  be  held  at  Corte,  the  ancient 
capital  of  Corsica,  on  Sunday,  the  eighth  of 
June :  general  Paoli  was  elected  president. 
The  representatives  of  the  Corsican  nation 
immediately  voted  the  union  of  Corsica  with 
the  British  crown  ;  a  constitutional  act  was 
framed  accordingly  ;  and  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot, 
representative  of  his  Britannic  majesty,  form- 
ally accepted  this  act  on  his  part,  and  imme- 
diately assumed  the  title  of  viceroy. 

The  Channel  fleet  put  to  sea  in  the  spring 
in  search  of  an  enemy  which  had  hitherto 
eluded  pursuit.  Lord  Howe  was  particular- 
ly solicitous  to  vindicate  the  honor  of  his 
country,  as  well  as  to  rescue  his  own  char- 
acter frcMa  unmerited  reproach;  and  the 


powerful  armament  now  under  his  command 
left  no  doubt  relative  to  the  result  of  a  con- 
test On  reaching  the  Lizard  a  signal  was 
made  for  the  East-Indiamen  to  proceed  on 
their  voyage,  under  convoy  of  six  sail  of  the 
line  and  a  frigate,  which  were  not  to  sepa- 
rate from  them  until  their  arrival  off"  Cape 
Finisterre.  Having  received  information  on 
the  nineteenth  of  May  that  the  Brest  fleet 
was  at  sea,  lord  Howe  deemed  it  proper  to 
effect  a  jimction  with  the  squadron  lately 
detached  under  rear-admiral  Montague  to 
refit  and  water ;  but  on  hearing,  two  days 
after,  that  the  enemy  had  been  seen  a  few 
leagues  further  to  the  westward,  he  imme- 
diately altered  his  course  and  steered  to- 
wards them. 

LORD  HOWE'S  VICTORY. 

JjEAN  BoN  St.  Andre,  who  had  been  em- 
ployed at  Brest  to  infuse  a  spirit  of  democ- 
racy into  the  seamen,  acted  on  this  occasion 
as  a  national  commissioner,  having  embark- 
ed on  board  the  flag-ship,  carrying  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  guns,  and  designated  Iji 
Montague,  after  the  ruling  party  in  the  Con- 
vention. On  the  twenty-eighth  of  May,  at 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  north  lati- 
tude 47°  33',  W.  Long.  14°  10',  the  rival 
fleets  descried  each  other  exactly  at  the 
same  time ;  the  wind  blew  strong  from  the 
south-west,  accompanied  by  a  very  rough 
sea,  and  the  French  possessed  the  weather- 
gage.  After  the  advanced  frigates  had 
given  intimation  of  this  event,  earl  Howe 
continued  his  course,  v.^hile  the  French  ad- 
miral endeavored  as  nuich  as  possible  to  as- 
sume a  regular  order  of  battle  upon  the  star- 
board tack,  a  circumstance  which  greatly 
facilitated  the  approach  of  the  English.  As 
the  conduct  of  the  enemy,  who  had  now 
hauled  their  wind,  indicated  an  intention  to 
avoid  a  close  fight,  the  British  commander 
displayed  the  signal  for  a  general  chase,  and, 
to  prevent  their  escape,  he  soon  after  de- 
tached rear-admiral  Pasley,  with  a  flying 
squadron,  to  make  an  impression  on  their 
rear :  that  officer  accordingly,  near  the  close 
of  the  day,  attacked  the  Revolutionnaire,  a 
three-decked  ship  of  one  hundred  and  ten 
guns,  which  happened  to  be  the  sternmost 
in  the  line,  but  without  any  decisive  suc- 
cess on  either  side.  The  rival  fleets,  con- 
sisting of  twenty-six  sail  of  the  line  on  the 
part  of  the  French,  and  twenty-five  on  that 
of  the  British,  remained  within  sight  of  each 
other  during  the  whole  night,  on  the  star- 
board tack,  and  in  a  parallel  direction,  with 
the  French  still  to  windward ;  but  next 
morning,  the  twenty-ninth,  admiral  Villaret- 
Joyeuse,  flushed  with  the  hopes  of  a  victory, 
wore  from  van  to  rear,  and  instead  of  flinch- 
ing from  the  action,  edged  down  in  a  line 
ahead  to  engage  the  van  of  the  British  fleet. 

Taking  advantage  of  so  favorable  an  op» 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


401 


portunity,  lord  Howe  renewed  the  signal  for 
passing  the  enemy's  line,  and  succeeded  with 
some  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  weather- 
gage,  while  the  enemy  were  repulsed  by 
the  Barfleur,  and  two  other  three-deckers, 
in  an  attempt  to  cut  off  the  Queen  and 
Royal  George.  At  length  Villaret  tacked 
again  by  signal ;  and,  after  a  distant  can- 
nonade, stood  away  in  order  of  battle  on  the 
larboard  tack,  followed  by  the  whole  of  the 
British  fleet.  The  second  day's  action  proved 
equally  indecisive  as  the  former,  and  a  thick 
fog,  that  intervened  during  this  night  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  succeeding  day,  pre- 
vented the  renewal  of  the  engagement.  In 
the  mean  time,  rear-admiral  Neilly  joined 
the  French  commander-in-chief  with  a  re- 
inforcement of  three  sail  of  the  line  and  two 
frigates :  this  accession  of  strength  enabled 
him  to  detach  his  crippled  ships;  and  the 
dawn  of  the  successive  day  exhibited  the 
two  fleets  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle,  and 
prepared  to  renew  the  contest.  The  British 
admiral,  perceiving  that  there  was  time  suf- 
ficient for  the  various  ships'  companies  to 
take  refreshment,  made  a  signal  for  break- 
fast, which,  by  procrastinating  the  action 
induced  the  enemy  to  believe  that  their  an- 
tagonists wished  to  decline  the  engagement : 
but  they  were  greatly  disappointed ;  for  in 
about  half  an  hour  lord  Howe  gave  orders 
for  steering  the  Royal  Charlotte  alongside 
the  French  admiral,  which  was  effected  at 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning;  and,  while 
some  of  the  English  commanders  penetrated 
the  line  of  battle,  and  engaged  to  leeward, 
others  occupied  such  stations  as  allowed 
them  to  combat  with  their  antagonists  to 
windward.  So  close  and  severe  was  the 
contest,  that  the  fate  of  this  day  depended 
but  little  on  the  exertion  of  nautical  skill : 
all  was  hard  fighting.  In  about  fifty  min- 
utes after  the  action  had  commenced  in  the 
centre,  admiral  Villaret-Joyeuse  determined 
to  relinquish  the  contest :  for  he  now  per- 
ceived several  of  his  ships  dismasted,  and 
one  of  seventy-four  guns  about  to  sink ;  he 
at  the  same  time  found  that  six  were  cap- 
tured: a  great  slaughter  had  also  taken 
place  on  board  his  own  vessel,  in  which  his 
captain  and  many  of  the  crew  were  killed, 
while  the  national  commissioner,  with  most 
of  his  officers,  were  wounded :  he  accord- 
ingly crowded  off*  with  all  the  canvas  he 
could  spread,  and  was  immediately  followed 
by  most  of  the  ships  in  his  van  that  were 
not  completely  crippled:  two  or  three  of 
these,  although  dismantled,  also  got  away 
soon  after,  under  a  temporary  sail  hoisted  on 
the  occasion ;  for  the  enemy  had,  as  usual, 
chiefly  aimed  at  the  rigging,  and  the  victors 
were  by  this  time  disabled  from  pursuing 
the  vanquished:  the  Queen  Charlotte,  in 
particular,  was  at  this  period  nearly  unman- 
34* 


ageable,  having  lost  her  forctopmast  in  the 
action ;  this  was  soon  after  followed  by  the 
maintopmast,  which  fell  over  the  side; 
while  the  Brunswick,  which  had  lost  her 
mizenmast,  and  the  Queen,  also  disabled, 
drifted  to  leeward,  and  were  exposed  to  con- 
siderable danger  from  the  retreating  fleet. 
Two  eighty,  and  five  seventy-four  gun  ships, 
however,  still  remained  in  possession  of  the 
victors ;  but  one  of  the  latter.  La  Vengeur, 
went  down  soon  after  she  was  taken  posses- 
sion of,  and,  though  many  of  the  French 
were  saved  on  this  occasion  by  the  humanity 
of  their  adversaries,  above  three  hundred 
went  to  the  bottom.  The  slaughter  on  board 
the  French  fleet  was  so  great,  that  in  the 
captured  ships  alone  it  amounted  to  one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy.  The 
British  total  loss  was  nine  hundred  and  four. 

Admiral  Montague,  who  had  repaired  to 
England,  was  immediately  dispatched  to  join 
earl  Howe,  and  sailed  for  Brest,  partly  with 
a  view  to  fall  in  with  the  commander-in- 
chief,  and  partly  to  pick  up  any  crippled 
ships,  which,  in  case  of  an  action,  might 
take  shelter  in  that  port :  he  accordingly  en- 
countered some  of  the  retreating  squadron, 
and  chased  them  into  the  outer  road.  On 
the  succeeding  day  he  descried  the  main 
body  under  Villaret-Joyeuse ;  but,  notwith- 
standing the  late  fatal  conflict,  that  com- 
mander formed  an  admirable  line  of  battle, 
and  gave  chase ;  while  the  fleet  from  Amer- 
ica, consisting  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  sail 
of  merchantmen,  supposed  to  be  worth  sev- 
eral millions  sterling,  but  invaluable  on  ac- 
count of  the  distressed  state  of  France,  ar- 
rived in  safety  on  the  twelfth  of  June. 

The  victory  of  the  first  of  June  confer- 
red great  glory  on  the  admiral,  and  was  re- 
ceived at  home  with  uncommon  rejoicing. 
Large  sums  of  money  were  subscribed  for 
the  benefit  of  the  widows  and  children  of 
those  killed  in  action.  Rear-admirals  Bow- 
yer  and  Pasley  were  created  baronets,  and 
received  a  pension  of  one  thousand  pounds 
each  per  annum.  Admirals  Graves  and  Sir 
Alexander  Hood  had  the  honors  of  the  peer- 
age conferred  on  them.  Earl  Howe  was  pre- 
sented with  a  diamond-hilted  sword  of  great 
value,  by  the  king  in  person,  on  board  the 
Queen  Charlotte,  at  Spithead ;  and  also  with 
a  golden  chain,  to  which  was  suspended  a 
medal,  with  Victory  crowning  Britannia  on 
the  obverse,  and  on  the  reverse  a  wreath  of 
oak  and  laurel,  encircling  his  lordship's 
name,  and  the  date  of  the  action.  In  De- 
cember 1796,  his  majesty  was  also  pleased 
to  transmit  gold  chains  and  medals  to  the 
flag-officers  and  captains,  who  were  reported 
by  Lord  Howe  to  have  signalized  them- 
selves during  the  battle  with  the  French 
fleet 

On  the  twenty-third  of  April,  Sir  John 


402 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Borlase  Warren  captured  two  French  frig-- 
ates  off  Guernsey,  atler  two  hours'  fighting. 
In  August  he  pursued  five  other  French 
ships  of  war  off  Scilly,  and,  driving  two  of 
them  under  the  batteries  of  the  Gamelle 
roeks,  would  have  proceeded  to  burn  them ; 
but,  with  a  generosity  worthy  of  his  cour- 
age, abstained  from  the  last  rigors  of  war 
against  an  unfortunate  enemy,  whose  wound- 
ed must  have  perished  had  he  set  their  ves- 
sels on  fire. 

CAPTURE  OF  MARTINIQUE,  &c. 
The  British  government  prepared  a  for- 
midable armament  to  act  against  the  colo- 
nies of  France  in  the  West  Indies.  On  the 
third  of  November,  1793,  this  expedition 
sailed  ;  the  land  forces  consisted  of  about 
six  thousand  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Sir  Charles  Grey ;  and  the  naval  armament, 
consisting  of  four  ships  of  war,  nine  frigates, 
a  bomb-ketch,  a  few  gun-boats,  and  several 
store-ships,  under  Sir  John  Jervis.  Having 
rendezvoused  in  Carlisle  Bay,  Barbadoes, 
they  sailed  on  the  third  of  February,  1794, 
to  the  attack  of  Martinico,  which  surrender- 
ed, after  a  resolute  resistance  of  seven 
weeks.  Fort  Royal  was  carried  by  escalade, 
with  extraordinary  exertions  of  valor,  par- 
ticularly on  the  part  of  captain  Faulknor,  of 
the  Zebra,  who  entered  the  harbor  through 
the  fire  of  all  the  batteries,  and  laid  his  sloop 
alongside  the  walls,  which  he  scaled  in  de- 
fiance of  repeated  volleys  of  grape-shot.  As 
soon  as  the  reduction  of  Martinico  had  been 
effected,  the  troops  were  reimbarked,  and 
landed  on  the  island  of  St.  Lucia,  which  ca- 
pitulated on  the  fourth  of  April ;  and  upon 
the  eleventh  of  tlie  same  month  the  fleet 
and  army  arrived  off  Guadaloupe,  which,  af- 
ter a  short  but  brave  defence,  surrendered, 
with  its  dependencies,  on  the  twentieth. 
After  these  glorious  successes  Sir  Charles 
Grey  returned  to  Martinico,  leaving  general 
Dundas  to  command  at  Guadaloupe.  About 
this  time  a  French  squadron  appeared  off 
the  island,  from  which  a  body  of  troops  land- 
ing under  the  command  of  a  most  daring 
and  skilful  leader,  Victor  Hugues,  attacked 
Fort  Fleur  d'Epee,  which  they  carried  by 
storm  ;  and  the  English  retreated  with  con- 
siderable loss  to  Fort  Louis :  this  was  also 
soon  evacuated,  and  the  troops,  shattered 
and  disheartened,  t(X)k  refuge  in  Basseterre. 
Sir  Charles  Grey,  on  the  first  intelligence 
of  this  attempt,  sailed  from  St.  Kitt's  with 
all  the  force  he  could  collect,  and,  landing 
on  the  island  of  Guadaloupe,  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  June,  made  an  attempt  on  the  post 
of  Point-a-Petre  on  the  second  of  July. 
After  great  efforts  of  valor,  however,  he  was 
repulsed,  with  the  loss  of  six  hundred  men. 
Upon  this  the  forces  were  reimbarked,  and 
Basseterre,  after  a  long  and  vigorous  resist- 
ance, with  the  whole  island  and  its  depend- 


encies, reverted  to  its  former  possessors. 
Not  long  after  the  loss  of  the  island,  the 
brave  captain  Faulknor,  who  had  so  emi- 
nently contributed  to  tlie  reduction  of  Mar- 
tinico, lost  his  life  in  an  engagement  with  a 
frigate  near  Marie-Galente.  More  than  sev- 
enty men  are  said  to  have  been  killed  in 
the  French  vessel,  and  above  one  hundred 
wounded ;  while  only  twenty-nine  suffered 
in  the  victorious  ship. 

ACQUISITIONS  IN  ST.  DOMINGO. 

St.  Domingo,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  had 
suffered  the  mischievous  effects  of  the 
French  revolution.  When  the  people  in  the 
mother  country  asserted  their  right  to  free- 
dom, the  claims  of  the  colonial  subjects  of 
France  were  also  recognized ;  and  a  society, 
called  Les  Amis  des  Noirs,  (Friends  of  the 
Negroes,)  warmly  supported  the  pretensions 
of  the  slaves  to  emancipation,  and  of  the 
mulattoes  to  all  the  privileges  enjoyed  by 
the  white  inhabitants.  The  declaration  of 
rights  promulgated  by  the  National  Assem- 
bly increased  the  ferment  which  the  first  in- 
tellioence  of  the  revolution  had  produced  in 
the  islands ;  and  violent  disturbances  and 
contests  were  apprehended.  Deputies  from 
the  different  districts  of  the  French  part  of 
St.  Domingo  met,  by  the  king's  order,  to 
prevent  tumults  and  reform  abuses;  but 
their  endeavors  were  opposed  by  the  parti- 
sans of  the  old  regime,  and  the  governor 
dissolved  the  Assembly.  Many  of  the  repre- 
sentatives sailed  to  France  to  justify  their 
conduct ;  and,  during  their  absence,  Oge, 
an  enterprising  mulatto,  found  means  to  ex- 
cite an  insurrection  ;  but  it  was  quickly  sup- 
pressed, and  his  life  was  sacrificed  to  public 
justice.  The  claims  of  his  brethren,  how- 
ever, were  confirmed  by  a  decree  of  the 
ruling  assembly  of  the  parent  state,  which 
admitted  them  to  all  the  privileges  of  French 
citizens,  on  the  fifteenth  of  May,  1791. 
When  a  new  colonial  assembly  deliberated 
on  the  conduct  which  prudence  required  at 
this  crisis,  the  slaves  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Cape  Francois  attacked  the  whites,  murder- 
ed a  great  number  of  them,  and  destroyed 
the  plantations.  The  insurrection  soon 
spread  to  other  districts ;  and  though  many 
hundreds  of  the  negroes  and  their  confed- 
erates were  slain  in  battle  or  perished  by 
famine,  they  seemed  to  multiply  like  the 
heads  of  the  hydra.  Commissioners  were 
sent  fi*om  France  to  heal  the  disorders  of 
the  colony ;  but  they  produced,  by  their  mis- 
conduct, a  civil  war  among  the  whites,  and 
invited  to  their  aid  a  body  of  rebel  negroes, 
who  perpetrated  a  horrible  series  of  massa- 
cres at  Cape  Fran9ois,  and  in  June,  1793, 
burnt  the  greater  part  of  the  town. 

The  convulsions  of  the  colony  induced 
many  of  the  planters  to  solicit  succor  frora 
the  British  government ;  and  raajor-general 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


403 


Williamson  was  ordered  to  detach  an  arma- 
ment from  Jamaica,  to  take  possession  of 
those  settlements  which  the  people  might 
be  disposed  to  surrender.  Lieutenant-colo- 
nel Whitelocke  sailed  in  consequence  to 
Jeremie,  and  received  the  submission  of  the 
inhabitants ;  the  town  and  harbor  of  St.  Nic- 
olas were  also  given  up  to  the  English ;  and 
to  these  possessions  Leogane,  and  other 
towns  and  districts,  were  soon  added.  An 
expedition  was  undertaken  for  the  reduction 
of  Cape  Tiburon ;  and  a  bribe  was  offered 
to  general  Lavaux  for  the  surrender  of  Port 
de  Paix.  The  enterprise  succeeded,  and  the 
town  was  taken  on  the  second  of  February, 


1794.  The  fort  of  Acul  was  Btormed  by  the 
English ;  but  at  Bombard  they  were  repelled 
with  loss.  They  defended  Cape  Tiburon 
against  an  army  of  blacks  and  mulattoes, 
who  were  routed  with  considerable  slaugh- 
ter. The  arrival  of  a  reinforcement  from 
Great  Britain,  under  brigadier-general 
Whyte,  elevated  the  hopes  of  the  English, 
and  preparations  were  made  for  the  con- 
quest of  Port-au-Prince.  Fort  Bizotton  waa 
taken  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The  un- 
healthmess  of  the  climate  now  occasioned  a 
great  mortality  among  tlie  troops,  and  check- 
ed the  extension  of  their  conquests :  they 
soon  after  lost  Leogane  and  Tiburon. 


404 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

State  of  the  French  Government — Sanguinary  Proceedings — Progress  of  the  French 
in  Holland — Escape  of  the  Stadtholder — Embassy  to  China — Sweden  and  Denmark 
' — Disputes  with  America — Meeting  of  Parliament — Proceedings — Earl  Fitzwil- 
liam,  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  recalled,  and  consequent  discontents  of  the  Catholics 
— Marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Wales — Arrangement  respecting  his  Debts — Ac- 
quittal of  Warren  Hastings — Prorogation  of  Parliament — Naval  Affairs — Occur- 
rences in  the  West  Indies — The  French  Government  concludes  Peace  with  Prussia, 
Spain,  Hanover,  Hesse,  <Sfc. — Operations  in  La  Vendee,  and  unsuccessful  result  of 
an  Expedition  to  Quiberon  Bay — Insurrection  in  Paris — Death  of  the  Dauphin — 
New  French  Constitution — Return  of  the  English  Army  from  the  Continent — Hostile 
Operations  on  the  Rhine — War  between  England  and  Holland — Capture  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  other  Dutch  Settlements — Unpopularity  of  the  War — Outrage 
against  the  King — Address  in  consequence — Speech  from  the  Throne — Address — 
Bills  against  Treason  and  Sedition — Scarcity  of  Corn — Supplies — Birth  of  Princess 
Charlotte — Dissolution  of  Parliament. 


STATE  OF  FRENCH  GOVERNMENT- 
SANGUINARY  PROCEEDINGS. 

In  France  a  faction  arose  denominated 
the  Cordeliers,  at  the  head  of  which  were 
Hebert,  Ronsin,  Anacharsis  Clootz,  and 
others,  who,  to  conciliate  the  populace, 
adopted  the  wildest  theories,  decried  all  re- 
ligion, preached  equality  in  the  absurdest  ex- 
tent, and  recommended  publicly  an  Agra- 
rian law.  In  the  beginning  of  March,  the 
table  of  the  rights  of  man,  in  the  hall  of 
the  Cordeliers,  was  covered  with  black 
crape ;  and  Hebert,  from  the  tribune  of  the 
society,  affirmed  that  t5Tanny  existed  in  the 
republic.  This  was  sufficient  to  arouse  the 
jealousy  of  Robespierre.  Virtue  and  ferocity 
were  declared  in  the  convention,  by  Couthon, 
to  be  the  requisite  order  of  the  day.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  of  March,  Hebert,  Danton,  and 
nineteen  others,  were,  on  a  charge  of  con- 
spiracy against  the  constitution,  brought  be- 
fore the  revolutionary  tribunal,  and,  of  course, 
condemned  to  the  guillotine.  These  exe- 
cutions were  followed  by  those  of  Fabre 
d'Eglantine,  and  other  popular  deputies  of 
the  Convention,  on  pretence  of  their  having 
engaged  in  counter-revolutionary  projects. 
It  deserves  notice  that  St.  Just,  in  the  re- 
port presented  on  this  occasion,  makes  the 
profession  of  atheism  a  principal  charge 
against  Fabre  d'Eglantine.  The  execution  of 
Danton  and  his  fellow-sufferers,  who  fell 
under  the  fatal  ax  of  the  guillotine  on  the 
second  of  April,  was  followed  by  that  of 
general  Arthur  Dillon,  who  had  formerly 
commanded  that  division  of  the  French  ar- 
my which,  in  the  campaign  of  1792,  had  so 
gallantly  repulsed  the  Prussians.  The  prin- 
cess Elizabeth,  sister  to  Louis  XVI.  was 
charged  with  having  conspired  to  restore 
royalty :  not  a  witness  was  produced,  nor  a 
single  attempt  made  to  substantiate  any  one 


feet  alleged  against  her;  she  was,  never- 
theless, condemned  to  death,  with  twenty- 
four  of  her  reputed  accomplices. 

Barrere  brought  forward  the  infamous  de- 
cree for  allowing  no  quarter  to  the  English 
or  Hanoverian  troops ;  but  the  French  offi- 
cers and  soldiery  refused  to  execute  this 
abominable  mandate,  and  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  British  forces  declined  to  re- 
taliate the  threatened  cruelty. 

Bourdon  de  L'Oise,  a  member  of  the  con- 
ventional assembly,  demanded  that  the  de- 
cree which  affirmed  the  inviolability  of  the 
national  representatives  should  be  again  es- 
tablished, and  that  no  member  should  be 
brought  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal 
but  in  consequence  of  a  decree  of  accusa- 
tion passed  by  the  assembly  itself,  instead 
of  an  order  from  the  committee  of  safety, 
where  Robespierre,  and  the  vile  instruments 
of  his  tyranny,  Couthon  and  St.  Just,  were 
absolute.  This  was  accordingly  decreed, 
and  from  this  time  the  party  formed  against 
Robespierre  rapidly  increased;  even  his 
celebrated  colleague,  Barrere,  took  a  secret, 
though  efficient  part,  in  plotting  his  over- 
throw. Robespierre  was  not  suffered  to 
speak  in  his  own  defence ;  and  Tallien  moved 
that  Robespierre  and  his  creatures  be  im- 
mediately arrested:  they  were  soon  after 
outlawed  by  the  convention.  These  mo- 
tions were  passed  amidst  tumults  of  ap- 
plause ;  and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
July  twenty-eighth,  the  proscribed  individ- 
uals, to  the  number  of  twenty-one,  were  exe- 
cuted in  the  Place  de  Revolution :  Robes- 
pierre appeared  to  be  petrified  with  horror. 

After  his  fall  the  Jacobin  club  was  en- 
tirely demolished ;  the  remains  of  the  Girond- 
ist party  were  restored  to  their  seats  in  the 
convention;  and  Dumas  president  of  the 
revolutionary  tribunal,    Fouquier  Tinville, 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


405 


the  public  accuser,  Carriere,  conventional 
commissioner,  the  destroyer  of  La  Vendee ; 
and  various  others  of  the  same  description, 
were  brought  to  the  scaffold.  Hundreds 
were  released  from  prison,  who,  but  for  the 
death  of  Robespierre,  would  probably  have 
fallen  victims  to  the  reign  of  terror ;  and 
the  infamous  decree  of  the  convention,  for 
refusing  quarter  to  the  English  and  Han- 
overian soldiery,  was  annulled. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  HOLLAND. 

—ESCAPE  OF  THE  STADTHOLDER. 

PicHEGRU  waited  till  the  frost  should  set 
in,  in  order  to  commence  a  wmter  campaign 
on  the  frontiers  of  Holland.  The  duke  of 
York  endeavored  in  vam  to  rouse  the  Dutch 
to  resistance,  and  his  royal  highness,  there- 
fore, returned  to  England. 

In  the  course  of  a  week,  the  Maese  and 
the  Waal  bemg  frozen  over,  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  a  strong  column  of  French  crossed 
the  former  of  those  rivers,  while  another 
corps  made  themselves  masters  of  the  Bom- 
mel.  Pichegru  did  not  make  his  grand 
movement  till  the  tenth  of  January,  1795, 
when  the  main  body  of  his  forces  crossed 
the  Waal  at  different  points,  and  made  a 
general  attack  upon  the  lines  of  the  allies, 
extending  between  Nimeguen  and  Arnheim, 
under  the  command  of  general  Walmoden. 
The  allies  were  defeated  in  every  quarter, 
and  a  precipitate  retreat  was  ordered  to- 
wards Amersfort  and  Deventer.  Utrecht, 
Rotterdam,  and  Dort,  surrendered  to  the 
French  without  resistance ;  the  Stadtholder 
escaped  from  Scheveling :  general  Pichegru 
made  his  public  entry  into  Amsterdam ;  and, 
by  order  of  the  States-General,  every  other 
fortress  in  the  republic  opened  its  gates  to 
the  French.  On  the  twenty-seventh  of 
January  the  provisional  representatives  of 
the  people  of  Holland  assembled,  and  a  de- 
cree passed  for  the  total  abolition  of  the 
stadtholderate,  and  for  the  establishment, 
under  the  protection  of  the  republic  of 
France,  of  a  new  provisional  government 
for  the  united  provinces,  which  were  now 
denominated  the  Batavian  republic. 
EMBASSY  TO  CHINA. 

The  prevailing  desire  of  commercial  ad- 
vantage in  Great  Britain,  concurring  with  a 
wish  to  secure  the  friendship  of  a  potentate 
whose  influence  extended  to  territories  bor- 
dering on  those  of  the  English  East  India 
Company,  induced  the  king  to  send  an  am- 
bassador to  treat  with  the  Chinese  court; 
and  earl  Macartney,  who  had  acquired  repu- 
tation as  governor  of  Madras,  with  a  suite 
comprising  several  men  of  science  and  skil- 
ful artists,  sailed  under  the  conduct  of  Sir 
Erasmus  Gower.  He  reached  the  Yellow 
Sea  in  safety,  passed  up  the  White  River  to 
Tong-Choo-Foo,  and  thence  proceeded  by 
land  to  the  metropolis  of  China.     Tchien- 


Lung,  the  aged  emperor,  who  had  already 
governed  that  vast  empire  with  uninterrupt- 
ed success  and  reputation  more  than  half  a 
century,  was  then  at  the  palace  of  Zhe-hol, 
beyond  the  celebrated  wall  which  had  been 
erected  as  a  barrier  against  the  incursions 
of  the  Tartars.  There  the  ambassador  de- 
livered a  letter  from  the  British  sovereiom, 
in  a  box  of  gold,  adorned  with  jewels,  which 
was  graciously  received;  but  a  spirit  of 
jealousy  disinclined  the  emperor  to  a  trea- 
ty, and,  afler  the  exchange  of  mutual  pres- 
ents, it  was  hinted  that  the  departure  of  the 
strangers  would  be  agreeable.  On  the  ninth 
of  October,  1793,  his  excellency  and  suite 
lefl  Pekin,  and  proceeded  to  Tong-Tchew, 
whence  they  were  conveyed  by  a  variety  of 
rivers  and  canals  from  the  northern  to  the 
southern  extremity  of  China,  reaching  Can- 
ton in  safety,  after  a  variety  of  amusing  ad- 
ventures, on  the  eighteenth  of  December ; 
and  in  January  following  they  embarked  at 
Macao  for  England. 

SWEDEN  AND  DENMARK.— DISPUTES 
WITH  AMERICA. 

Sweden  and  Denmark  stDl  persevered  in 
their  determination  of  observing  a  perfect 
impartiality  during  the  present  war  ;  and  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  March,  a  convention 
was  concluded  between  them,  by  which  they 
agreed  to  protect  the  freedom  of  commerce 
in  the  Baltic,  on  the  principles  of  the  armed 
neutrality  of  1780,  equipping  jointly  a  fleet 
of  sixteen  ships  of  the  line  for  that  service  ; 
and,  by  the  tenth  article,  the  Baltic  was  de- 
clared to  be  a  neutral  sea,  absolutely  and 
altogether  inaccessible  to  the  armed  ships  of 
the  different  and  distant  belligerent  powers. 

Jay,  chief  justice  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  arrived  about  this  period  in  Eng- 
land, as  minister  plenipotentiary,  to  adjust 
the  existing  differences  between  that  repub- 
lic and  the  British  government.  Soon  after 
the  commencement  of  the  war,  orders  were 
given  for  stopping  all  American  vessels  car- 
rying corn  to  France,  and  detaining  their 
cargoes,  paying  for  them  and  the  freights. 
This  proceeding,  which  was  resented  by 
the  Americans  as  an  infraction  of  their  in- 
dependence, was  followed  by  an  order  for 
seizmg  all  American  ships  carrying  provi- 
sions and  stores  to  the  French  colonies,  and 
also  for  obliging  American  ships  sailing  from 
the  British  islands,  to  give  security  to  land 
their  cargoes  in  British  or  neutral  ports. 
This  order  having  occasioned  the  seizure  of 
six  hundred  American  vessels  within  five 
months,  that  government  showed  its  resent- 
ment by  an  embargo  of  thirty  days  on  the 
British  shippmg.  In  addition  to  these  griev- 
ances the  memorial  delivered  by  Jay  to  the 
British  court  complained  of  the  severity  used 
to  American  seamen,  and  of  their  being 
compelled  to  serve  on  board  Englisli  mea- 


406 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of-war.  Although  these  differences  were 
finally  attended  with  very  serious  effects, 
they  were  for  the  present  compromised,  both 
parties  being  pacifically  disposed,  and  a  trea- 
ty of  amity  and  commerce  between  the  two 
countries  was  signed  in  November. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT— PROCEED- 
INGS. 

1795. — The  parliament  assembled  on  the 
thirtieth  of  December ;  and  in  the  speech 
from  the  throne,  while  the  disasters  of  the 
late  campaign  were  admitted,  the  necessity 
of  persisting  in  the  war  was  strongly  urged, 
as  additional  vigor  and  additional  efforts 
were  the  only  possible  means  of  producing 
a  successful  result.  Amendments  were 
moved  in  both  houses  to  the  address.  On 
the  fifteenth  of  January  the  attorney-gene- 
ral brought  in  a  bill  to  continue  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  habeas  corpus  act  for  a  limited 
time.  This  measure  being  carried  in  the 
commons  by  a  considerable  majority,  the  bill 
was  transmitted  to  the  lords,  and  passed  that 
assembly  also,  but  not  without  a  protest 
against  it,  signed  by  the  dukes  of  Norfolk 
and  Bedford,  and  the  earls  of  Lauderdale 
and  Guilford. 

Pitt  delivered  to  the  house  of  commons  a 
message  from  his  majesty,  intimating  that  a 
loan  to  the  amount  of  four  million  six  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  would  be  wanted  to 
aid  the  exertions  of  the  emperor  of  Germany 
during  the  next  campaign,  on  the  credit  of 
his  hereditary  dominions,  which  would  prob- 
ably require  the  guarantee  of  the  British 
government.  On  the  question  that  the  na- 
tional faith  be  pledged  for  the  sum  required, 
considerable  discussion  arose,  in  the  course 
of  which  Fox  said  that  the  recent  defalca- 
tion of  the  king  of  Prussia,  immediately  af- 
ter pocketing  the  English  gold,  ought  to  op- 
erate as  a  caution  against  all  advances  of 
money  to  German  princes ;  and  he  had  no 
confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  the  proposed 
loan ;  Sir  William  Pulteney  entertained  a 
high  opinion  of  its  probable  utility;  lord 
Grenville  had  so  much  reliance  on  the 
promised  exertions  of  his  imperial  majesty, 
that  he  would  rather  consent  to  make  a 
present  of  the  desired  sum  than  lose  the 
chance  of  expected  benefit ;  the  marquis  of 
Lansdowne  disapproved  all  connexions  with 
German  princes ;  but  the  proposition  was 
agreed  to  by  large  majorities,  and  the  loan 
was  shipped  to  the  continent  in  sterling  gold. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  February  the  min- 
ister submitted  his  annual  statement  of  the 
supplies  and  ways  and  means  to  the  consid- 
eration of  the  house.  The  number  of  men 
voted  for  the  service  of  the  year  was,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  landmen,  includ- 
ing militia;  eighty-five  thousand  seamen, 
and  fifteen  thousand  marines ;  the  expendi- 
ture amounted  to  twenty-seven  million  five 


hundred  and  forty  thousand  pounds ;  and  the 
loan  proposed  was  eighteen  million  pounds, 
being  the  largest  sum  ever  voted  by  parlia- 
ment up  to  that  period.  New  taxes  were 
imposed  on  wine,  spirits,  tea,  coffee,  insu- 
rances, hair-powder,  &c.  which,  with  an 
abridgement  of  the  privilege  of  franking, 
were  estimated  to  produce  one  million  six 
hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  pounds,  of 
which  three  hundred  and  fifty-seven  thou- 
sand pounds  were  to  be  applied  to  the  pro- 
gressive redemption  of  the  debt.  As  a  coun- 
terpoise for  these  additional  burdens,  the 
minister  mentioned  the  extraordinary  in- 
crease of  commerce,  which,  in  the  preceding 
year,  had  exceeded  that  of  the  most  flour- 
ishing period  of  peace. 

EARL  FITZWILLIAM  RECALLED  FROM 
IRELAND.— DISCONTENT  OF  THE  CATH- 
OLICS. 

The  affairs  of  Ireland  formed  one  of  the 
most  important  subjects  that  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  present  parliament.  Some 
malcontents  had  entered  into  secret  con- 
nexions with  the  French  revolutionists,  and 
a  plan  for  separating  the  island  from  the 
British  dominions  was  strongly  suspected, 
when  earl  Fitzwilliam,  a  nobleman  distin- 
guished for  his  mild  and  conciliatory  con- 
duct, was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  govern- 
ment— an  appointment  peculiarly  acceptable 
to  the  Irish  nation.  The  Irish  parliament 
assembled  on  the  twenty-second  of  January, 
1795,  and,  after  voting  to  the  new  viceroy 
an  address  expressive  of  the  general  satis- 
faction, agreed,  without  hesitation,  to  the 
most  ample  supplies  ever  granted  in  that 
kingdom.  The  lord-lieutenant,  finding  it  im- 
practicable to  defer  deciding  on  the  demands 
of  the  Catholics  for  the  removal  of  the  re- 
maining disabilities  under  which  they  still 
continued  to  labor,  employed  in  his  transac- 
tions with  the  leading  members  of  that  body 
the  celebrated  Grattan,  in  whom  the  Catho- 
lics universally  confided.  A  bill  for  their 
further  relief  was  consequently  introduced 
into  the  Irish  parliament,  and  the  utmost  joy 
was  difJiised  through  the  country,  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  this  enlarged  toleration,  when 
intelligence  arrived  in  Dublin  tliat  the  Brit- 
ish ministry  avowed  themselves  adverse  to 
the  measure.  The  lord-lieutenant,  after  hold- 
ing the  government  only  three  months,  was 
displaced,  and  lord  Camden  appointed  in  his 
stead. 

The  recall  of  earl  Fitzwilliam  cast  a  deep 
gloom  over  Ireland ;  and  the  arrival  of  his 
successor  in  the  capital,  on  the  thirty-first 
of  March,  was  accompanied  by  so  marked 
an  ebullition  of  popular  discontent,  that  thp 
intervention  of  the  military  was  found  ne- 
cessary. On  the  thirteenth  of  April  tlie 
Irish  parliament  assembled.  On  the  twenty- 
fourth  Grattan  presented  his  memorable  bill 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


407 


for  Catholic  emancipation;  but  it  was  re- 
jected, and  from  this  period  the  political 
association,  styled  the  Society  of  United 
Irishmen,  rapidly  extended  itself  over  the 
whole  country.  All  the  Catholics,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  Protestants  of  the 
kingdom,  joined  this  community;  and  the 
leaders  began  to  entertam  dangerous  de- 
signs. Agents  were  sent  to  negotiate  with 
the  national  convention ;  acts  of  sedition, 
rapine,  and  murder,  were  perpetrated  by  the 
most  desperate  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  violent  supporters  of  the  system  of  ex- 
clusion confederated  together  under  the 
name  of  Orangemen.  Mutual  injuries  soon 
engendered  a  most  inveterate  hatred  be- 
tween these  two  descriptions  of  men,  one  of 
which  was  beyond  comparison  superior  in 
number,  and  the  other  in  property,  in  legal 
authority,  and  military  force  ;  and  these  dis- 
sensions rapidly  increased,  till  the  whole 
land  exhibited  a  scene  of  terror,  consterna- 
tion, and  blood. 

MARRIAGE  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES— 
HIS  DEBTS  ARRANGED. 

An  event,  auspicious  in  its  commence- 
ment, though  unfortunate  in  its  results,  as  it 
affected  both  the  illustrious  parties,  occurred 
on  the  eighth  of  April,  in  the  marriage  of 
the  prince  of  Wales  with  the  princess  Caro- 
line, daughter  of  the  duke  of  Brunswick, 
and  the  dutchess  Augusta  of  England,  and 
niece  to  his  majesty.  Lord  Malmsbury  was 
employed  to  conduct  the  royal  bride  from  her 
father's  court.  On  her  arrival  in  England 
she  was  received  with  every  mark  of  dis- 
tinction due  to  her  royal  birth  and  illustrious 
alliance,  and  the  nuptials  were  celebrated 
with  great  magnificence.  It  was  generally 
understood,  that  in  forming  this  connexion 
his  royal  highness  was  influenced  by  the 
promise  of  an  ample  provision  for  the  dis- 
charge of  his  debts,  which  had  increased  to 
a  vast  amount ;  and  this  is  the  more  proba^ 
ble  from  his  known  attachment  at  the  time 
to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  with  whom  it  was  even 
stated  that  the  marriage  ceremony,  though 
invalid  by  law,  had  taken  place. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  April,  a  mes- 
sage from  his  majesty  to  the  commons  an 
nounced  the  royal  marriage,  and  expressed 
the  king's  conviction  that  a  suitable  provi- 
sion would  be  made  for  the  establishment  of 
the  prince  and  princess.  The  message  pro- 
ceeded to  state  that  his  royal  highness  was 
under  pecuniary  encumbrances,  and  recom 
mended  to  parliament  the  gradual  extinction 
of  his  debts,  by  applying  to  that  purpose  a 
|>art  of  his  income,  and  the  revenues  of  the 
dutchy  of  Cornwall.  After  some  discussion, 
the  house,  on  the  suggestion  of  the  chancel- 
lor of  the  exchequer,  determined  that  one 
hundi^  and  twenty-five  thousand  pounds, 
together  with  the  rents  of  tlie  dutchy  of 


Cornwall,  estimated  at  thirteen  thousand 
pounds,  should  be  settled  upon  the  prince, 
of  which,  seventy-eight  thousand  punde 
should  be  applied  annually  to  the  liquidation 
of  his  debts,  amounting,  at  this  period,  to 
upwards  of  six  hundred  thousand  pounds ; 
and  that  a  law  should  be  passed  to  prevent 
the  heir  apparent  in  future  from  being  in- 
volved in  similar  difficulties.  These  propo- 
sitions met  the  concurrence  of  the  house, 
and  a  jointure  of  fifty  thousand  pounds  per 
annum  was  settled  upon  the  princess  of 
Wales,  in  tlie  event  of  her  surviving  his 
royal  highness. 

WARREN  HASTINGS   ACQUITTED.— PAR- 
LIAMENT PROROGUED. 

The  trial  of  Hastings,  which  had  leisted 
seven  years,  was  now  brought  to  a  conclu- 
sion. After  some  debates  on  the  mode  of 
proceeding,  it  was  resolved  that  the  question 
should  be  separately  put  on  sixteen  points. 
The  greatest  number  of  peers  who  voted  the 
defendant  guilty  in  any  one  respect,  did  not 
exceed  six :  the  votes  of  innocence,  in  some 
of  the  charges,  were  twenty-six  ;  in  others, 
twenty-three ;  in  one,  nineteen.  The  chan- 
cellor intimated  the  decision  of  the  court  to 
Hastings  on  the  twenty-third  of  April,  who 
received  it  in  silence,  bowed,  and  retired 
from  the  bar. 

The  public  in  general  seemed  to  be  pleased 
with  the  acquittal  of  one  who  had  suflTered 
so  long  an  arraignment,  yet  had  conducted 
the  afi:airs  of  his  government  with  spirit  and 
success ;  and  who,  though  he  had  not  al- 
ways regarded  the  duties  of  morality,  the 
dictates  of  virtuous  policy,  and  the  senti- 
ments of  humanity  and  moderation,  had  pro- 
moted the  interests  of  his  employers,  secured 
their  authority,  and  established  their  domin- 
ion. The  East  India  company  paid  Hastings 
the  costs  of  his  trial,  amounting  to  upwards 
of  seventy  thousand  pounds,  and  likewise 
conferred  upon  him  a  pecuniary  donation. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  June  by  a  speech  from  the  throne, 
which  breathed  the  air  of  pacification,  and 
declared  it  impossible  to  contemplate  the  in- 
ternal situation  of  the  enemy  witli  whom 
we  were  contending  without  indulging  a 
hope  that  the  present  circumstances  of 
France  might,  in  their  efi*ects,  hasten  the  re- 
turn of  such  a  state  of  order  and  regular 
government  as  might  be  capable  of  main- 
taining the  accustomed  relations  of  peace 
and  amity. 

NAVAL  AFFAIRS.— WEST  INDIES. 

In  March  an  engagement  took  place  in 
the  Mediterranean,  between  two  squadrons, 
nearly  equal  in  force  ;  the  English  command- 
ed by  admiral  Hotham,  and  the  French  by 
Richery,  the  latter  of  which  was  conveying 
a  large  body  of  troops  to  Corsica,  for  the  re- 
capture of  that  island.     The  Ca  Ira,  of 


408 


mSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


eighty,  and  the  Censeur,  of  seventy-four 
guns,  struck  to  the  English  flag:  on  the 
other  hand,  the  French  captured  the  Ber- 
wick, of  seventy-four  guns,  going  out  singly 
to  join  the  fleet ;  and  the  Illustrious  of  the 
same  rate,  being  much  damaged  in  the  fight, 
was  driven  on  shore,  and  lost  near  Avenza. 
Soon  after  this  another  partial  action  took 
place  near  St.  Fiorenzo;  and  the  Alcide,  a 
French  ship  of  the  line,  struck  her  colors ; 
but,  from  some  fatal  accident,  blew  up  before 
she  could  be  taken  possession  of  by  the  Eng- 
lish. The  skilful  retreat  of  admiral  Corn- 
wallis,  with  a  small  squadron  of  five  ships  of 
the  line,  from  a  far  superior  force,  is  entitled 
to  be  mentioned.  On  the  sixteenth  of  June, 
near  the  Penmarks,  the  Phaeton  frigate  made 
a  signal  for  an  enemy's  fleet,  consisting  of 
thirteen  line-of-battle  ships.  At  nine  the 
next  morning  the  French  began  the  attack, 
which  was  vigorously  repelled  by  the  Eng- 
lish, who  kept  up  a  running  fight  the  whole 
day,  without  suffering  the  enemy  to  gain  the 
least  advantage*.  At  length,  by  throwing 
out  signals  as  if  to  another  British  fleet  in 
sight,  tlie  assailants  were  induced  to  sheer 
off.  On  the  twenty-third,  however,  off"  Port 
L'Orient,  the  same  French  squadron  actually 
fell  in  with  another  fleet,  under  lord  Brid- 
port,  which  captured  three  of  the^ii,  the  rest 
of  the  squadron  only  escaping  into  L'Orient 
by  keeping  close  in  shore.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  French  made,  in  the  month  of  Oc- 
tober, a  capture  of  thirty  merchantmen  from 
the  Mediterranean  and  Levant,  with  a  ship 
of  the  line,  constituting  part  of  the  convoy. 
They  also  made  prize  of  part  of  a  Jamaica 
fleet ;  and,  indeed,  both  in  this  and  the  pre- 
ceding year,  the  British  trade  suffered  im- 
mensely from  their  attacks,  while  their  own 
declining  commerce  presented  few  objects 
of  reprisal  for  our  cruisers  and  privateers. 

Notwithstanding  their  disparity  of  naval 
force,  the  French,  after  recovering  the  whole 
of  Guadaloupe,  attacked,  with  success,  the 
fort  of  Tiburon,  in  St.  Domingo,  and  made 
thenriselves  masters  of  St.  Eustatius.  St. 
Lucia,  after  a  violent  and  bloody  conflict, 
was  reluctantly  evacuated  by  the  governor- 
general,  Stewart ;  and  Grenada,  Dominico, 
and  St.  Vmcent's,  were  preserved  with  great 
difficulty.  In  Jamaica  a  strife  long  subsisted 
with  the  Maroons,  a  tribe  which  on  the  sur- 
render of  the  island  by  the  Spaniards  to  the 
English,  refused  to  submit  to  the  latter,  and 
had  since  occupied  the  mountainous  part  of 
the  country.  After  many  conflicts  in  which 
they  were  nearly  exterminated,  those  who 
remained  consented  to  be  removed  to  Cana- 
da, where  a  portion  of  land  was  allotted  to 
them. 

FRENCH  MAKE  PEACE  WITH   PRUSSIA, 
SPAIN,  <tc. 
On  the  continent  the  French  courted  the 


king  of  Prussia  into  forbearance,  and  per 
suaded  him  that  his  safety  and  interest  re- 
quired peace.  Having  annexed  two  great 
commercial  cities,  Dantzic  and  Thorn,  to- 
gether with  some  of  the  most  fertile  prov- 
inces of  Poland,  to  his  dominions,  and  de- 
spairmg  of  the  subversion  of  the  French  re- 
public, that  prince  seceded  from  the  confede- 
racy, and  concluded  a  treaty  on  the  fifth  of 
April,  by  which  he  relinquished  his  posses- 
sions on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  By 
another  agreement  he  secured  the  neutrality, 
and  provided  for  the  peace  of  the  north  of 
Germany.  The  king  of  Spain  was  also  in- 
duced to  agree  to  a  pacification  with  the  vic- 
torious republic.  In  the  former  part  of  the 
year  the  French  met  with  great  success  over 
the  troops  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  and 
threatened  him  not  only  with  the  loss  of  con- 
siderable provinces,  but  with  the  propagation 
of  revolutionary  doctrines  among  his  people. 
To  avert  these  dangers,  the  king  of  Spain 
purchased  peace  by  the  resignation  of  that 
part  of  the  island  of  St.  Domingo  which  the 
Spaniards  had  possessed  ever  since  the  time 
of  Columbus.  Even  the  elector  of  Hanover, 
though  he  remained  the  most  active  member 
of  the  confederacy  in  his  capacity  of  king 
of  Great  Britam,  nevertheless  ordered  a 
treaty  of  peace  to  be  signed  with  the  French, 
as  far  as  related  to  the  electorate;  as  did 
also  the  landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel.  The 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  brother  of  the  em- 
peror, and  the  first  of  ail  the  potentates  who 
had  joined  the  coalition,  was  likewise  in- 
duced to  recognize  the  French  republic ;  and 
through  the  intervention  of  his  minister, 
count  Carletti,  he  concluded  at  Paris  a  sepa- 
rate treaty  of  peace  with  the  convention, 
and  resumed  openly  his  original  system  of 
neutrality.  The  regent  of  Sweden,  follow- 
ing the  pacific  policy  of  the  grand  duke, 
sent  the  baron  de  Stael  to  Paris,  to  assure 
the  French  nation  of  the  friendship  enter- 
tained for  them  by  tlie  court  of  Stockholm. 

OPERATIONS  IN  LA  VENDEE.— UNSUC- 
CESSFUL EXPEDITION  TO  QUIBERON 
BAY. 

An  entire  change  took  place  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  civil  war  in  La  Vendee.  After 
some  preliminary  negotiations  in  the  begin- 
ning of  February,  Charette,  and  the  princi- 
pal chiefs  of  his  army,  on  behalf  of  the  Ven- 
deans,  and  general  Comartin  on  the  part  of 
the  Chouans,  publicly  signified  their  inten- 
tion to  deliver  up  their  arms  and  magazines, 
and  to  live  for  the  future  in  subjection  to  the 
existing  government.  Conferences  were 
opened  at  a  farm-house  near  Nantes  be- 
tween the  insurgent  chiefs  and  the  deputies 
fi-om  the  convention ;  and  on  the  seventh  of 
March  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded, 
signed,  and  ratified,  at  Nantes.  The  hope;-, 
however,  that  this  peace  would  be  perma- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


409 


nent,  were  soon  proved  to  be  delusive.  The 
republican  government,  on  the  plea  of  bad 
feith,  refused  to  advance  the  sums  stipulated 
by  the  treaty  of  the  seventh  of  March ;  and 
several  of  the  chiefs  having  been  arrested 
for  holding  a  traitorous  correspondence  with 
the  English  government,  the  country  was 
again  in  arms  early  in  June,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Charette  and  Stofflet.  The  British 
government,  however,  appeared  unwilling 
to  adopt  any  decisive  plan  of  operations  on 
the  French  coast,  and  determined  to  let  the 
royalists  act  for  themselves,  with  such  assist- 
ance of  arms  and  money  as  England  could 
afford.  Agreeably  to  this  decision,  a  small 
armament  was  prepared  in  the  month  of 
June :  it  consisted  of  all  the  emigrant  nobil- 
ity then  in  England,  who  had  enlisted  in 
their  service,  with  more  zeal  than  prudence ; 
a  number  of  French  prisoners  of  war,  who 
were  republicans  in  heart,  and  who  only 
wanted  an  opportunity  to  return  to  their  na- 
tive country.  The  whole  formed  a  body  of 
about  three  thousand  men,  who  were  landed 
on  a  peninsula  in  the  Bay  of  Quiberon,  on 
tlie  southern  coast  of  Brittany,  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  June.  Here  they  attacked  a  fort 
defended  by  three  thousand  republicans, 
which  they  speedily  reduced ;  and  were,  in 
a  few  days,  joined  by  a  body  of  Chouans, 
who  increased  their  numbers  to  twelve  thou- 
sand. In  order  to  confine  the  royalists  to 
the  contracted  space  of  the  peninsula  which 
they  occupied,  their  opponents  erected  three 
forts  at  the  neck  of  it.  These  the  former 
attacked  on  the  night  of  the  fifteenth  of 
July,  and  carried  two  of  them ;  but  being 
excessively  galled  by  a  masked  battery,  on 
their  approach  to  the  third,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  retreat;  and  were  indebted  for 
their  safety  to  the  seasonable  fire  from  the 
British  ships.  The  failure  of  this  attempt 
produced  dissensions  among  the  royalists, 
which  were  reported,  with  great  exaggera- 
tions, no  doubt,  to  the  republican  general, 
Hoche,  by  those  French  prisoners  who  had 
been  enlisted  in  England,  and  who  now  de- 
serted. Through  the  treachery  of  these  mis- 
creants Hoche  obtain^  the  watch-word  of 
the  royalists,  whose  camp  he  surprised  in 
the  night  of  the  twentieth  of  July,  and  took 
or  slew  the  greater  part  of  them.  The 
young  count  de  Sombreuil,  however,  at  the 
head  of  a  gallant  body  of  emigrants,  con- 
tinued to  make  such  a  desperate  resistance, 
that  Hoche  was  induced  to  enter  into  a  ca- 
pitulation with  them,  by  which  they  were  to 
be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  their 
personal  safety  insured.  All  the  stores,  am- 
munition, and  baggage,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  Thus  ended  this  abortive  at- 
tempt, in  which  some  of  the  best  blood  of 
ancient  France  was  shed.  Sombreuil  and 
his  gallant  associates  were,  by  a  most  scan- 
VoL.  ly.  35 


dalous  breach  of  faith,  tried,  condemned,  and 
executed  as  traitors:  on,e  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  royalists,  including  the  bisliop  of  Dol, 
and  several  of  his  clergy,  who  had  accom- 
panied the  expedition,  were  murdered  in 
cold  bloofl  on  this  occasion.  The  British 
stiuadron  hovered  on  the  coast  for  some  time, 
and,  having  failed  in  the  attempt  to  take  the 
island  of  Noirmoutier,  succeeded  in  gaining 
possession  of  Isle  Dieu. 

INSURRECTION  IN  PARIS.— DEATH  OF 
THE  DAUPHIN. 

The  two  parties  who  had  combined  to 
overthrow  the  tyranny  of  Robespierre  soon 
showed  that  they  could  not  exist  together ; 
and  on  the  second  of  March  a  report  was 
presented  to  the  convention,  in  which  Bar- 
rere,  Collot  d'Herbois,  and  Billaud  Varennes, 
were  accused  of  having  participated  in  the 
enormities  of  Robespierre,  and,  after  under- 
going the  usual  form  of  trial,  it  was  decreed 
that  they  should  be  transported  to  Guiana. 
The  proceedings  against  these  deputies, 
united  with  the  pressure  of  famine,  which 
at  that  moment  was  felt  with  peculiar  se- 
verity,, occasioned  an  insurrection  in  Paris, 
which  broke  out  on  the  first  of  April,  and 
was  not  suppressed  till  the  following  day. 
Another  insurrection  took  place  in  Paris  on 
the  twentieth  of  May,  when  the  rallying  ex- 
clamation was,  "  Bread,  and  the  constitution 
of  1793 !"  This  was  followed  by  insuiTections 
in  the  departments,  but  they  were  all  at  length 
suppressed. 

On  the  ninth  of  June,  the  only  son  of  the 
late  unfortunate  Louis  the  sixteenth,  termi- 
nated his  sufferings  in  the  prison  of  the  Tem- 
ple, where  he  had  been  confined  from  tlie 
fatal  autumn  of  1792.  On  this  event  the 
committee  of  public  safety  proposed  the  ex- 
change of  his  sister,  who  remained  a  pris- 
oner in  the  Temple,  for  the  deputies  Sem- 
onville  and  Maret,  who  had  been  delivered 
up  to  Austria  by  Dumouriez,  which  was, 
after  some  delay,  acceded  to.  The  count  de 
Provence,  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne 
of  the  Bourbons,  was  now  styled  Louis  the 
eighteenth. 

NEW  FRENCH  CONSTITUTION. 

The  plan  of  a  new  constitution  was  drawn 
up  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  on  the  twenty-third  of  i\ugust  de- 
clared complete.  The  legislative  power  was 
vested  m  two  councils,  the  one  consisting 
of  five  hundred,  and  the  other  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  members ;  to  the  former  of 
which,  styled  the  Legislative  Council,  be- 
longed the  proposing,  and  to  tlie  latter,  the 
Senate,  or  Council  of  Elders,  the  confirming 
of  laws.  The  executive  power  was  dele- 
gated to  a  directory  of  five  persons.  On 
this  constitution  two  decrees  were  ingrafted, 
which,  in  their  consequences,  plunged  the 
metropolis  of  France  into  another  of  those 


410 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


scenes  of  horror  that  had  so  often  heen  ex- 
hibited during  the  revolution:  by  the  first 
of  these  decrees,  passed  on  the  fifth  Fructi- 
dor  (August  the  twenty-second),  it  was  en- 
acted that  the  elective  bodies  should,  in  ap- 
pointing the  deputies  to  the  legislative  body, 
choose  two-thirds  from  among  the  members 
of  the  present  convention  ;  and,  by  the  sec- 
ond, that,  in  default  of  such  election,  the 
convention  should  fill  up  the  vacancies  them- 
selves. The  forty-eight  sections  of  Paris 
while  they  unanimously  accepted  the  con 
stitutional  act,  firmly  rejected  the  law  for  the 
re-election  of  the  two-thirds,  and  proceeded 
to  acts  of  open  hostility.  On  the  fourth  of 
October,  the  sections,  having  drawn  out  their 
forces,  marched  them  to  the  hall  of  the  con 
vention,  and  a  sanguinary  battle  took  place 
in  the  streets.  The  command  of  the  troops 
was  confided  to  Barras  by  the  convention 
and  on  this  occasion  Napoleon  Buonaparte 
first  distinguished  himself,  as  a  commander, 
on  that  stage  on  which  he  afterwards  became 
so  prominent  an  actor.  The  different  ave- 
nues of  the  Thuilleries  being  planted  with 
cannon,  great  slaughter  was  made  among 
the  insurgents,  who  were  driven  from  all 
their  posts,  with  the  loss  of  about  eight  hun- 
dred men ;  and  the  convention,  now  triumph 
ant,  declared  the  majority  of  votes  in  the 
departments  m  favor  of  the  law  of  the  fifth 
of  Fructidor.  On  the  thirtieth  of  Septem 
ber  the  convention  solemnly  decreed  the 
incorporation  with  the  republic  of  France 
of  all  the  countries  which  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria, previously  to  the  war,  had  possessed  on 
the  French  side  of  the  Rhine  :  on  the  twen 
ty-seventh  of  October  it  was  decreed  that 
the  punishment  of  death  should  be  abolished 
at  the  peace,  and  a  general  amnesty  grant- 
ed; and  the  president,  then  rising,  said, 
"  The  convention  is  dissolved !"  The  mem- 
bers of  the  new  legislature  proceeded  to  the 
choice  of  the  directory,  and  the  election  fell 
upon  men  not  distinguished  as  favorites  of 
the  people,  but  most  of  whom  bore  charac- 
ters free  from  reproach.  At  the  head  of  the 
list  stood  Reveillere  Lepaux,  a  lawyer  by 
profession,  and  of  the  Gironde  party:  the 
next  was  Reubel,  a  moderate  man,  also  an 
attorney  :  Letourneur  de  la  Marche,  an  offi 
cer  of  engineers,  and  rather  more  attached 
to  the  Mountain  party,  was  the  third  :  the 
fourth  was  Barras,  formerly  a  viscount,  a  sol- 
dier by  profession,  and  a  man  of  pleasure  in 
habits  :  Sieyes,  the  subtle  statesman,  was  at 
first  nominated  as  the  fifth,  but  he  declmed 
the  office;  and  Carnot,  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  safety  under  Robespierre,  but 
who  had  attended  almost  exclusively  to  the 
business  of  the  military  department,  and 
of  whom  it  was  said,  "  that  he  organized 
Victory,  and  rendered  her  permanent,"  filled 
up  the  number.     Thus  constituted,  the  new 


government,  in  all  its  departments,  entered 
upon  the  active  exercise  of  its  functions, 
and  the  palace  of  the  Luxembourg  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  residence  of  the  executive 
power. 

RETURN  OF  THE  ENGLISH  ARMY  FROM 
THE  CONTINENT. — OPERATIONS  ON 
THE  RHINE. 

The  English  army,  under  the  command 
of  general  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie,  pursued 
by  a  far  superior  force,  moved  towards  the 
German  frontier ;  and  on  the  twelfth  of  Feb- 
ruary they  crossed  the  Ems  at  Rheine,  much 
harassed  by  the  advanced  parties  of  the  en- 
emy. At  Groningen  the  division  command- 
ed by  lord  Cathcart  was  refused  admission ; 
but,  after  a  long  series  of  disasters,  the  shat- 
tered remains  of  this  fine  body  of  troops, 
supposed,  at  their  departure  from  England, 
to  amount  to  thirty-five  thousand  men,  now 
reduced  to  about  a  fifth  part  of  that  number, 
reached  the  city  of  Bremen  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  and  twenty-eighth  of  March,  ana 
soon  afterwards  embarked  on  board  the 
transports  lying  ready  to  receive  them  in  the 
Elbe  for  England. 

The  allied  powers  were  not  in  a  situation 
to  take  the  field  till  the  month  of  May ;  and 
it  was  not  till  the  seventh  of  June  that  the 
fortress  of  Luxembourg  was  attacked  by  the 
French  troops.  After  its  surrender,  nothing- 
seemed  wanting  to  complete  the  glory  of 
the  French  arms,  and  to  secure  their  recent 
acquisitions,  but  the  subjection  of  Mentz, 
which  had  then  been  fruitlessly  besieged  for 
several  months, — the  Austrians,  commanded 
by  generals  Clairfait  and  Wurmser,  main- 
taining an  uninterrupted  intercourse  with 
the  garrison  from  Cassel,  on  the  opposite 
bank.  It  being  at  length  perceived  that  the 
city  could  not  be  reduced  until  a  perfect  in- 
vestment was  formed,  a  large  body  of  the 
French  troops,  under  Jourdan,  passed  the 
Rhine  at  Dusseldorf,  which  surrendered 
without  resistance,  the  Austrians  retiring  to 
a  strong  position  on  the  Lahn.  Another 
body,  commanded  by  Pichegru,  effected  the 
passage  of  the  river  at  Manheim,  of  which 
city  they  took  immediate  possession,  on 
terms  very  favorabfe  to  the  inhabitants. 
The  investment  of  Mentz  was  thus  at  last 
accomplished,  and  a  confident  hope  was  en- 
tertained of  its  speedy  capitulation ;  but  a 
division  of  Pichegru's  army,  being  ordered 
to  the  attqick  of  a  post  necessary  to  prevent 
the  junction  of  the  forces  of  Clairfait  and 
Wurmser,  now  marching  to  the  relief  of 
Mentz,  was  overpowered,  and  compelled  to 
retreat  with  precipitation  to  Manheim ;  and 
Jourdan,  thus  deprived  of  the  expected  co- 
operation of  Pichegru,  found  his  position  no 
longer  tenable.  The  Austrians  also  had 
taken  part  of  his  heavy  artillery :  .Tourdan 
was  therefore  obliged  to  raise  the  siege,  and 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


411 


he  repassed  the  Rhine  at  Dusseldorf,  much 
harassed  by  Clairfait  in  his  retreat.  The 
Austrians  even  pursued  the  enemy  across 
the  river,  and  beat  up  the  quarters  of  the 
French,  spreading-  terror  over  the  country 
as  far  as  Luxembourg.  General  Wurmser, 
on  the  other  side,  proceeded  to  the  attack 
of  Manheim.  He  immediately  began  a 
bombardment,  which  in  a  short  time  de- 
stroyed the  principal  buildings  of  that  beau- 
tiful city,  reducing  it  to  a  scene  of  desola- 
tion; and  the  garrison  surrendered  them- 
selves prisoners  of  war.  The  campaign 
was  at  length  terminated  by  an  armistice  of 
three  months. 

WAR  WITH  HOLLAND—CAPTURE  OF 
THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE,  &c. 
France  having  entered  into  an  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance  with  Holland,  a  proc- 
lamation was  issued  by  the  British  govern- 
ment, on  the  nineteenth  of  January,  con- 
taining peremptory  orders  to  seize  whatever 
Dutch  vessels  were  found  in  the  ports  of 
Great  Britain ;  in  consequence  of  which  five 
ships  of  war  were  secured,  lying  in  Ply- 
mouth Sound,  nine  East-lndiamen,  and  about 
sixty  sail  of  other  vessels.  On  the  ninth  of 
February  a  third  proclamation  was  publish- 
ed, authorizmg  the  capture  of  all  Dutch  ships 
and  property ;  and  letters  of  marque  and  re- 
prisal were  also,  after  an  interval  of  some 
months,  granted ;  so  that  war  against  Hol- 
land was  virtuKJly  declared;  and  before  the 
end  of  the  summer,  the  famous  settlement 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  surrendered  with 
little  resistance.  The  conduct  of  the  expe- 
dition was  intrusted  to  vice-admiral  Sir 
George  Keith  Elphinstone  and  general  Sir 
Alured  Clarke.  On  the  fourteenth  of  July 
a  landing  was  effected  at  Simons-Town,  and 
possession  obtained  of  that  place,  which  had 
been  previously  evacuated,  with  the  suppos- 
ed intention  of  being  burnt.  The  troops, 
advancing  towards  the  Cape-Town,  carried 
the  strong  post  of  Muysenberg,  where  gen- 
eral Craig  waited  for  a  reinforcement  from 
St.  Salvador.  After  some  weeks  of  inaction, 
an  attempt  to  surprise  the  most  considerable 
of  the  out-posts  failed ;  and,  though  .the  Eng- 
lish repelled  a  fierce  attack,  their  efforts  did 
not  deter  their  adversaries  from  preparing 
for  a  general  engagement.  At  this  crisis, 
the  appearance  of  the  expected  reinforce- 
•ment  checked  the  eagerness  of  the  enemy : 
the  government  proposed  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tiiitie?!,  and  terms  of  capitulation  were  ad- 
justed on  the  sixteenth  of  September,  by 
which  it  was  agreed  that  the  troops  in  gar- 
rison should  be  prisoners  of  war,  and  that 
the  property  of  the  Dutch  East  India  com- 
pany should  be  delivered  up  to  the  captors 
of  the  settlement;  but  private  possessions 
and  civil  rights  were  left;  inviolate.  In  the 
course  of  the  year,  Trincomalo,  Columbo,  and 


other  Dutch  settlements  in  Ceylon ,  Malac- 
ca, situated  on  the  peninsula  of  tliat  name  ; 
Chinsura,  in  tlie  Bay  of  Bengal,  and  Cochin, 
on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  were  taken  by  the 
British  forces. 

Early  in  1795,  lord  Amherst  retiring  from 
public  life,  the  duke  of  York  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  and  field-marshal  gen- 
eral of  the  forces  of  Great  Britain ;  the  duke 
of  Richmond  was  removed  from  his  post  of 
master  of  the  ordnance,  in  which  he  was 
succeeded  by  earl,  recently  created  marquis 
Cornwallis;  and  Sir  William  Howe  was 
nominated,  in  the  place  of  the  latter  noble- 
man, governor  and  lieutenant  of  the  tower 
of  London. 

UNPOPULARITY  OF  THE  WAR.— OUTRAGE 
AGAINST  THE  KING— ADDRESS. 

A  SPIRIT  of  discontent  pervaded  the  coun- 
try at  this  period,  and  petitions  for  peace 
from  London,  York,  Norwich,  Hull,  Man- 
chester, &c.  were  presented ;  but  they  were 
not  sufficiently  general  to  produce  any  ma- 
terial impression,  and  their  influence  was 
counteracted  by  other  petitions,  expressive 
of  a  reliance  in  the  wisdom  of  government, 
and  in  their  readiness  to  enter  upon  negotia- 
tions for  peace  whenever  the  proper  period 
should  arrive.  In  the  autumn  great  appre- 
hensions were  excited  by  large  assemblages 
of  the  populace,  convened  by  the  Corres- 
ponding Secretary,  which  still  continued  its 
meetings ;  and  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Octo- 
ber not  less  than  forty  thousand  persons  as- 
sembled in  a  field  near  Copenhagen  house, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  metropolis,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  voting  a  number  of  resolutions  ex- 
pressive of  their  views  of  the  measures  of 
government ;  and  a  petition,  praying  that  the 
bill  recently  introduced  into  the  house  for 
the  restriction,  or  rather  the  utter  preven- 
tion of  popular  assemblies,  for  the  purpose 
of  political  investigation,  might  be  dismiss- 
ed with  that  marked  disapprobation  it  so 
justly  deserved.  To  increase  the  agitations 
produced  by  the  conflicts  of  parties,  a  scar- 
city, arising  almost  to  famine,  prevailed 
throughout  the  kingdom.  This  scarcity  was 
occasioned  (in  part,  at  least)  by  an  alarming 
deficiency  in  the  year's  crop,  which  had  suf- 
fered extremely  by  incessant  rains.  The 
state  of  the  nation  from  these  circumstances 
appeared  so  critical,  that  it  was  judged  ex- 
pedient to  assemble  parliament  at  an  earlier 
period  than  usual. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  October,  the  day 
fixed  for  tlie  meeting,  an  unusual  concourse 
of  people  assembled  in  the  Park ;  and,  as  his 
majesty  passed  to  the  house,  violent  excla- 
mations were  heard  of  "Peace !  Bread !  No 
Pitt!  No  war!"  The  clamor  iiicreasing, 
stones  were  thrown  at  the  royal  carriage  as 
it  proceeded  through  the  streets  of  West- 
minster ;  and  from  a  house  near  the  Abbey 


412 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


a  bullet  was  supposed  to  be  discharged  from 
an  air-gun,  as  no  noise  was  heard,  though 
something  passed  through  the  glass  of  the 
coach  with  great  force  and  velocity.  On 
entering  the  house  of  peers  his  majesty,  in 
some  perturbation,  addressing  the  lord  chan 
cellor,  said,  "  My  lord,  I  have  been  shot  at." 
The  rage  of  the  misguided  populace  was 
not  yet  exhausted ;  for,  on  his  return  from 
the  house,  the  king  was  again  assailed  in  the 
Park ;  and  to  such  a  pitch  did  the  mob  carry 
their  resentment,  that  one  party  of  them  at 
tacked  and  nearly  demolished  the  state  car 
riage  as  it  returned  empty  from  St.  James's ; 
while  another  attempted  to  stop  the  private 
carriage  of  the  king,  in  which  he  had  seat 
ed  himself  for  the  purpose  of  joining  his 
family  at  the  queen's  house,  and  even  to 
force  open  the  carriage  doors.  At  this  crit 
ical  moment  the  arrival  of  a  party  of  the 
life-guards  dispersed  the  populace,  and  the 
king,  with  great  difficulty,  reached  the 
(jueen's  house.  So  gross  an  outrage  as  this 
liad  never  been  offered  to  any  other  monarch 
of  Great  Britain  since  the  days  of  Charles 
the  first.  A  reward  of  one  thousand  pounds 
was  immediately  offered,  to  be  paid  on  con 
viction  of  any  person  concerned  in  this  da 
ring  and  criminal  assault ;  but  no  one  who 
had  been  guilty  of  any  actual  violence  was 
ever  discovered.  The  only  person  brought 
to  punishment  was  Kidd  Wake,  a  journey- 
man printer,  who  was  found  to  have  been 
among  the  hissers  and  disturbers  of  the 
king's  peace,  of  which  crime  he  was  con- 
victed, and  sentenced  to  five  years'  solitary 
confinement  in  the  penitentiary-house  at 
Gloucester,  and  to  stand  in  the  pillory. 

The  outrage  committed  upon  the  sover- 
eign excited  great  consternation  in  the  house 
oC  lords ;  and,  as  soon  as  the  king  withdrew 
the  ministers  had  a  short  consultation  as  to 
the  proper  mode  of  proceeding  on  so  extraor- 
dinary an  occasion.  It  was  at  length  determin- 
ed to  postpone  the  consideration  of  the  speech 
from  the  throne  to  the  following  day,  and  im- 
mediately to  form  the  house  into  a  commit- 
tee of  privileges.  This  being  done,  lord  Gren- 
ville  apprized  the  peers  of  the  attack  whicli 
the  king  had  sustained  on  his  way  to  the 
house.  Some  witnesses  were  next  exam- 
ined, who  proved  that,  after  the  royal  car- 
riage had  passed  the  gate-way  at  the  horse- 
guards,  there  were  frequent  exclamations 
of  "  Down  with  George !  No  King !"  and 
many  stones  were  thrown  at  the  coach  by 
the  mob.  When  all  the  facts  had  been  es- 
tablished, a  conference  was  proposed  with 
the  commons,  and  a  joint  address  was  pre- 
sented to  the  king,  in  v/hich  the  two  houses 
avowed  their  indignation  and  abhorrence  at 
the  daring  outrage  offered  to  his  majesty, 
and  requested  that  he  would  bo  pleased  to 
direct  the  most  effectual   measures  to  be 


taken,  without  delay,  for  discovering  the 
authors  and  abettors  of  crimes  so  atrocious. 

KING'S  SPEECH.— BILLS  AGAINST  TREA- 
SON. 

In  the  speech  from  the  throne  the  king 
expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  improved 
state  of  public  affairs,  arising  from  the  mea- 
sures which  had  been  adopted  for  prevent- 
ing the  invasion  of  Italy  and  Germany  by 
the  French ;  the  crisis  brought  about  by  the 
prevalence  of  anarchy  at  Paris  was  repre- 
sented as  likely  to  produce  consequences 
highly  important  to  the  interests  of  Europe ; 
and,  should  that  crisis  terminate  in  any  order 
of  things  affording  a  reasonable  expectation 
of  security  and  permanence  in  any  treaty 
which  might  be  concluded,  the  appearance 
of  a  wish  to  negotiate  for  a  general  peace 
on  just  and  suitable  terms  would  not  fail  to 
be  met  by  the  king  with  an  earnest  desire  to 
give  it  the  fullest  and  speediest  effect.  The 
speech  notified  that  treaties  of  defensive  al- 
liance had  been  concluded  with  the  two  im- 
perial courts,  and  that  a  commercial  treaty 
had  been  ratified  with  America.  The  ad- 
dress having  been  proposed  by  lord  Dalkeith, 
Fox  moved  an  amendment  asserting  the  abil- 
ity of  the  French  government  to  maintain 
the  accustomed  relations  of  peace  and  amity 
with  other  nations,  and  praying  his  majesty 
to  give  directions  to  his  ministers  to  offer 
such  terms  to  the  French  republic  as  ,would 
be  consistent  with  the  honor  of  i?.Ih  crown, 
end  v/ith  the  security  and  interests  of  his 
people.  But  the  amendment  was  negatived 
by  a  large  majority.  "\ 

Two  bills  were  brought  into  parliament, 
one  "  for  the  safety  and  preservation  of  his 
majesty's  government  .against  treasonable 
and  seditious  practices  and  attempts,"  and 
the  other  "  for  the  more  effectually  prevent- 
ing seditious  meetings  and  assemblies." 
These  bills  had  for  their  object  the  restric- 
tion of  the  right  hitherto  possessed  by  the 
people  of  assembling  for  the  purposes  of  pe- 
titioning the  crown  and  legislature,  and  of 
discussing  political  subjects :  they  materially 
extended  the  law  of  high  treason,  and  ag- 
gravated the  punishment  of  sedition ;  and 
were  warmly  opposed  in  each  step  of  their 
passage  through  both  houses,  as  violent  and 
unnecessary  encroachments  on  the  privileges 
granted  by  the  constitution ;  but  were  car- 
ried by  more  than  the  usual  majority,  such 
was  the  impression  made  by  the  intemper- 
ate proceeding  which  had  taken  place. 
Their  duration,  however,  was  limited  to 
three  years. 

SCARCITY  OF  CORN.— SUPPLIES— BIRTH 
OF  PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE. 
Parliament  was  not  unmindful  of  the 
critical  state  of  the  country,  owing  to  the 
scarcity  of  corn.  It  appeared,  from  the  in- 
formation laid  before  a  committee  of  the 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


413 


house  appointed  to  inquire  into  this  subject, 
that  the  principal  failure  in  the  late  harvest 
had  been  the  crop  of  wheat,  and  a  bounty 
of  twenty  shillings  per  quarter  was  in  con- 
sequence ordered  to  be  paid  on  the  importa- 
tion of  wheat  from  the  Mediterranean ;  fif- 
teen shillings  per  quarter  on  that  from 
America ;  and  five  shillings  per  quarter  on 
Indian  corn.  Bills  were  also  passed  for  pro- 
hibiting the  manufacture  ojf  starch  from 
wheat;  for  prohibiting  the  distillation  of 
spirits  from  grain ;  and  for  facilitating  the 
cultivation  of  waste  lands;  and  a  considera- 
ble number  of  inclosure  bills  passed  the 
house  in  the  course  of  this  session  of  parlia- 
ment. 

On  the  fourth  of  November  lord  Arden 
moved  that  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
seamen,  including  eighteen  thousand  ma- 
rines, should  be  voted  for  the  service  of  the 
year  1796 ;  and  Windham,  on  the  same  oc- 
casion, proposed  that  two  hundred  and  seven 
thousand  men  should  be  employed  in  the 
land  service.  These  motions  being  carried, 
Pitt  brought  forward,  on  the  seventh  of  De- 
cember, a  proposal  to  negotiate  a  loan  of 
eighteen  million  pounds,  and  stated  the  sum 
of  twenty-seven  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  to  be  the  estimated  expenses 
of  the  approaching  year. 

A  message  was  delivered  to  the  house  of 
commons  by  Pitt,  on  the  eighth  of  Decem- 
ber, announcing  the  establishment  of  such 
a  form  of  government  in  France  as  appeared 
capable  of  maintaining  the  relations  of  peace 
and  amity,  and  expressive  of  a  readiness  on 
the  part  of  the  British  government  to  meet 
any  proposal  for  negotiation,  on  the  part  of 
the  enemy,  with  a  desire  to  give  it  the 
speediest  eflfect  in  producing  a  peace.  On 
the  following  day  Pitt  moved  an  address  of 
thanks  to  his  majesty.  This  address  gave 
rise  to  a  debate,  in  which  Sheridan  proposed 
an  amendment,  disclaiming  the  idea  of  con- 
sidering any  change  of  government  in 
France  as  affecting  the  principle  of  negotia- 
tion, and  praying  that  a  treaty  might  imme- 
diately be  entered  upon.  This  amendment 
was  said  to  be  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
spirit  of  the  message,  which  admitted  that 
Great  Britain  might  now  safely  treat :  where 


then  could  be  the  objection  to  declaring  that 
she  would  treat  with  France  1  To  this  rea- 
soning ministers  observed,  that  it  was  highly 
proper  and  expedient  that  the  executive 
government  should  be  left  unfettered,  and 
the  amendment  was  negatived  without  a  di- 
vision. 

1796. — The  only  child  of  the  prince  and 
princess  of  Wales,  was  born  on  the  seventh 
of  January,  and  baptized  Charlotte,  in  com- 
pliment to  her  august  grandmother,  the 
queen  of  England. 

PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED. 

On  the  tenth  of  May  an  address  to  the 
king  was  moved,  in  the  upper  house,  by  the 
earl  of  Guildford,  and  in  the  lower  house  by 
Fox,  declaring  that  the  duty  incumbent  on 
parliament  no  longer  permitted  them  to  dis- 
semble their  deliberate  opinion,  that  the  dis- 
tress, difficulty,  and  peril,  to  which  this 
country  was  then  subjected,  had  arisen  from 
the  misconduct  of  the  king's  ministers,  and 
was  likely  to  exist  and  increase  as  long  as 
the  same  principles  which  had  hitherto 
guided  these  ministers  should  continue  to 
prevail  in  the  councils  of  Great  Britain. 
Fox  eiilarged  much  on  "  that  most  fatal  of 
all  the  innumerable  errors  of  ministers," 
their  rushing  into  a  ruinous  and  unnecessary 
war,  instead  of  mediating  between  France 
and  the  allied  powers.  Had  they,  said  he, 
counselled  his  majesty  to  accept  the  grate- 
ful office  of  mediator,  it  would  have  added 
lustre  to  the  national  character,  and  placed 
Britain  in  the  exalted  situation  of  arbitress 
of  the  world.  Pitt  insisted  that  his  majesty 
could  not  have  interposed  his  mediation 
without  incurring  the  hazard  of  involving 
himself  in  a  war  with  that  power  which 
should  have  refused  his  terms.  The  mo- 
tions of  both  Fox  and  lord  Guildford  were 
lost  by  immense  majorities.  The  public 
business  being  now  concluded,  his  majesty 
terminated  the  session  of  parliament,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  May,  with  a  speech  from  the 
throne,  expressive  of  the  highest  approba- 
tion of  the  uniform  wisdom,  temper,  and 
firmness,  which  had  appeared  in  all  their 
proceedings  since  their  first  meeting  in  that 
place ;  and  on  the  following  day  the  parlia- 
ment was  dissolved  by  proclamation. 


414 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


Hostile  Operations  in  Italy  and  Germany — Disturbances  in  La  Vendee  terminated — 
Stbccess  of  the  British  in  the  West  Indies — Capture  of  a  Dutch  Squadron  in  Sal- 
danha  Bay — Evacuation  of  Corsica  by  the  British — Invasion  of  Ireland  attempted 
by  the  French — Naval  Operations — Differences  between  France  and  America — Spain 
and  Holland  declare  War  against  Great  Brtiain — State  of  France — Measures 
against  British  Commerce — Opening  of  the  New  Parliament — Negotiations  for 
Peace —  Unsuccessful  result — Increase  of  the  National  Force — Financial  Measures 
— Suspension  of  Cash  Payments  by  the  Bank — Alarming  Mutiny  in  the  Navy — 
Discontents  in  Ireland — Naval  Operations — Admiral  Jervis^s  Victory  off  Cape  St. 
Vincent — Admiral  Duncan's  Victory  off  Cajnperdown — Bombardment  of  Cadiz — Cap- 
ture of  Trinidad — Failure  at  Porto  Rico — Unsuccessful  Attempt  on  Teneriffe — 
French  Troops  land  in  Wales — Surrender  of  Mantua,  and  Expulsion  of  the  Aus- 
trians  from  Italy — The  French  advance  into  the  hereditary  dominions,  and  compel 
the  Emperor  to  make  Peace — Treaty  ofCampo  Formio — Internal  Affairs  of  France. 


OPERATIONS  IN  ITALY  AND  GERMANY. 
The  French  government  determined  to 
make  a  powerful  diversion  in  Italy,  under 
the  command  of  Buonaparte.  In  the  month 
of  April  he  entered  the  territory  of  the 
Genoese  republic,  and  quickly  evinced,  on 
different  occasions,  those  extraordinary  tal- 
ents for  war  which  afterwards  elevated  him 
to  the  summit  of  power  and  fame.  In  the 
space  of  five  days,  Buonaparte,  with  the  aid 
of  Berthier  and  Massena,  gained  three  vic- 
tories ;  Mondovi  and  other  towns  were  re- 
duced ;  and  the  king  of  Sardinia  was  so  dis- 
couraged, that  to  procure  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities, he  delivered  up  some  of  his  principal 
fortresses  to  the  victorious  army.  A  peace 
was  soon  concluded  between  him  and  the 
French,  to  whom  he  ceded  the  dutchy  of 
Savoy  and  county  of  Nice  for  ever.  Ad- 
vancing to  Lodi,  on  the  tenth  of  May,  the 
French  encountered  general  Beaulieu  ;  but 
they  were  opposed  by  such  strenuous  efforts, 
and  so  tremendous  a  fire,  that  victory  seem- 
ed to  promise  itself  to  the  Austrian  battal- 
ions. At  length,  however,  after  a  most  san- 
guinary conflict,  the  bridge  was  forced,  and 
the  republican  army  bore  down  all  before  it. 
The  success  of  this  action,  commenced  in 
opposition  to  all  the  rules  of  tactics,  by  no 
means  justified  the  attempt.  When  the  first 
column  had  advanced  half-way  across  the 
bridge,  a  single  discharge  of  the  Austrian 
artillery  mowed  down  seven  hundred  men ; 
and  the  darkness  in  which  the  smoke  en- 
veloped the  French,  alone  enabled  them  to 
gain  the  opposite  extremity.  It  is  the  un- 
doubted duty  of  a  commander  to  expose  his 
troops  to  the  least  possible  danger ;  and  the 
necessity  of  crossing  the  Adda  at  Lodi, 
when  it  might  have  been  effected  at  some 
other  point,  does  not  appear  sufficiently  im- 
perative to  rescue  Buonaparte  from  the  im- 
putation of  having  wantonly  sacrificed  the 


lives  of  his  men.  By  this  victory  he  gained 
possession  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Milan- 
ese ;  and,  after  having  quelled  an  insurrec- 
tion of  the  new  subjects  of  France  at  Pavia, 
he  entered  the  ecclesiastical  states,  and  took 
possession  of  Bologna,  Urbino,  and  Ferrara*. 
Alarmed  in  the  highest  degree  at  the  ad- 
vance of  an  enemy,  now  become  formidable 
to  all  Italy,  both  the  pope  and  the  king  of 
Naples  sued  for  an  armistice,  which  wa,s 
granted  to  his  Sicilian  majesty  on  the  easy 
condition  of  withdrawing  all  assistance  from 
the  allied  army ;  but  the  pope  was  obliged 
not  merely  to  cede  to  the  French  the  towns 
already  in  their  possession,  but  to  add  to 
their  number  the  city  and  fortress  of  Ancona, 
on  the  Adriatic,  together  with  a  contribu- 
tion of  twenty-one  million  francs  by  instal- 
ments, and  a  present  of  one  hundred  pic- 
tures, statues,  busts,  and  vases,  to  be  selected 
by  competent  judges  of  the  arts,  from  the 
galleries  at  Rome,  to  adorn  the  museums  of 
France.  Similar  terms  were  also  exacted 
from  the  dukes  of  Parma  and  Modena.  On 
the  twenty-eighth  of  June  a  detachment  of 
French  troops  took  possession  of  Leghorn, 
though  belonging  to  a  neutral  power,  on  pre- 
text of  dislodging  the  English,  the  whole  of 
whose  property  found  in  that  city  was  con- 
fiscated to  the  use  of  the  republic :  the  fac- 
tory, however,  had  removed  the  greater  part 
of  their  effects  to  the  Isle  of  Elba.  The 
Austrians  being  pursued  by  the  French  into 
the  Venetian  territory,  the  senate,  whose 
policy  it  had  always  been  to  pay  the  great- 
est deference  to  power,  after  manifesting  a 
partiality  to  the  cause  of  the  allies,  found  it 
necessary  to  bend  before  the  genius  of  the 
Gallic  democracy,  and  the  count  de  Prov- 
ence (Louis  the  XVIII.),  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  their  territory,  was  desired  to  with- 
draw. 

The  command  of  the  Austrian  army  in 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


415 


Italy,  was  conferred  on  field-marshal  Wurm- 
ser,  a  warrior,  who,  in  his  eightieth  year, 
combined  all  the  energy  and  ardor  of  youth 
with  the  experience  of  age.  Having  col- 
lected the  shattered  remains  of  Beaulieu's 
army,  and  strengthened  them  with  large  re- 
inforcements, he  crossed  the  Adige  towards 
the  end  of  July,  and  obliged  the  French  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Mantua.  On  tlie  fifth  of 
August  the  two  armies  came  in  conflict,  and 
the  battle  was  continued  for  several  succes- 
sive days  ;  but  victory  at  length  declared  in 
favor  of  the  J'rench  general,  and  Wurmser 
was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Mantua.  The 
emperor  immediately  assembled  another 
army,  at  the  head  of  which  was  placed  Al- 
vinzi,  a  member  of  the  Aulic  council,  who 
commenced  his  operations  with  some  suc- 
cess at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand  men,  ex- 
pecting to  be  able  to  form  a  junction  with 
the  army  of  the  Tyrol,  and  raise  the  block- 
ade of  Mantua;  but  his  progress  was  inter 
cepted  by  Buonaparte,  who,  crossing  the 
Adige  on  the  fourteenth  of  November,  ad 
vanced  to  the  village  of  Arcole,  a  position 
equally  strengthened  by  nature  and  art 
and,  after  a  most  obstinate  and  bloody  con^ 
flict,  which  lasted  three  days,  was  at  length 
successful,  through  the  stratagem  before 
practised,  of  taking  the  enemy  in  the  rear. 
In  the  mean  time  the  left  wing  of  the  French 
army  had  been  forced  by  general  Davido- 
v/ich,  who  advanced  within  eight  leagues 
of  Mantua :  but  Buonaparte,  taking  advan- 
tage of  his  late  victory,  ordered  general 
Massena  to  repass  the  Adige,  and  attack 
the  successful  division,  which  was  forced  to 
retire  behind  the  Arisio,  on  the  twenty-sec- 
ond of  November,  while  Alvinzi  took  refuge 
on  tHI  other  side  of  the  Brenta,  after  losing 
six  thousand  men  in  killed  and  wounded, 
eighteen  pieces  of  cannon,  and  four  stand- 
ards. Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  memo- 
rable campaigns  recorded  in  history. 

The  French  armies  on  the  Rhine  were 
under  the  command  of  Jourdan  and  Moreau. 
Three  battles  won  successively  at  Renchen, 
Rastadt,  and  Etlingen,  not  only  enabled  the 
invaders  to  gain  possession  of  the  passes  of 
the  Black  Forest,  but  to  invest  Mentz,  Man- 
lieim,  Philipsburg,  and  Ehrenbreitstein,  at 
the  same  time.  The  engagement  at  Etlin 
gen,  where  the  archduke  Charles,  brother 
of  the  emperor,  a  gallant  and  popular  prmce 
now  at  the  head  of  the  Austrian  army,  con- 
tended against  Moreau  in  person,  was  long 
and  obstinate ;  and,  when  at  length  the  Aus- 
trians  were  forced  to  retire,  it  was  rather 
before  the  enthusiasm  than  the  superior  skill 
of  their  adversaries.  In  this  victorious  ca- 
reer, Moreau  forced  the  elector  of  Bavaria, 
the  duke  of  Wurtemburg,  and  the  margrave 
of  Baden,  to  sue  for  peace ;  while  Jourdan, 
seizing    on    Nuremberg,  Ingoldstadt,   and 


x\mberg,  menaced  Austria  on  his  right,  as 
well  as  Bohemia  in  his  front  The  retreat 
of  the  imperial  forces  in  Germany  was  con- 
temporary with  the  dreadful  losses  whick 
they  were  sustaining  from  Buonaparte  in 
Italy ;  but  their  strength,  though  overpow- 
ered, was  not  broken.  The  archduke  Charles, 
having  received  considerable  supplies,  de- 
termined to  throw  himself  between  the  in- 
vaders and  Ratisbon  ;  but  before  his  arrival 
the  army  of  Wartensleben  had  fought  a  suc- 
cessful battle,  and  driven  the  French  from 
the  heights  before  Amberg,  The  archduke 
arrived  in  person,  and,  after  defeatmg  the 
enemy  under  Bernadotte,  drove  them  back 
to  Newmark.  Jourdan,  finding  his  left 
wing  and  rear  thus  exposed  to  a  superior 
force,  was  driven  as  far  as  Wurtzburg, 
where  they  were  again  overtaken,  and, 
being  once  more  defeated,  they  were  seized 
with  a  panic,  and  immediately  disbanded. 

The  conquests  of  Moreau  were  now  be- 
come useless,  in  consequence  of  the  defeat 
of  Jourdan.  The  former,  after  conducting 
his  victorious  troops  from  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine  to  those  of  the  Danube  and  the  Isere, 
and  proving  successful  in  five  pitched  bat- 
tles, was  now  obhged  to  commence  his  cel- 
ebrated retreat,  which  he  executed  with 
great  skill  and  extraordmary  judgment. 
Having  completely  deceived  the  Austrians 
relative  to  the  route  he  intended  to  take,  he 
crossed  the  Lech,  on  the  eleventh  of  Sep- 
tember, and  retired  in  an  ordmary  manner, 
defeathig  all  the  Austrian  corps  which  at- 
tempted to  oppose  him.  Having  at  length 
forced  the  passes  of  the  Black  Forest,  and 
penetrated  through  a  defile  called  the  Val- 
ley of  Hell,  the  name  of  which  sufficiently 
expresses  the  nature  of  the  country,  Moreau, 
at  the  head  of  an  army  fatigued  by  the 
length  of  its  march  through  a  hostile  coun- 
try of  more  than  three  hundred  miles  in 
extent,  destitute  of  shoes,  and  rendered 
sickly  by  contmual  rains,  passed  the  Rhine 
at  Huningen  without  molestation,  and  re- 
turned to  Strasburg,  the  point  whence  he 
set  out,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  October, 
leaving  a  strong  garrison  in  Kehl,  which, 
after  a  brave  resistance,  surrendered  to  the 
archduke. 

DISTURBANCES  IN  LA  VENDEE  TER- 
MINATED. 

In  La  Vendee,  Stofliet,  the  insurgent  lead- 
er, who  in  the  course  of  two  years  had  de- 
feated his  opponents  in  more  than  a  hundred 
actions,  was  surprised  and  taken  W  two  re- 
publican officers  in  the  village  of  Langre- 
niere,  and  executed  at  Angers  on  the  twen- 
ty-third of  February.  The  Vendeans  and 
Chouans  still,  however,  remaining  attached 
to  the  cause  of  royalty,  Charette  continued 
to  embrace  every  opportunity  of  annoyance, 
until,  at  length,  being  totally  defeated,  and 


416 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


his  follower3  completely  dispersed,  after  wan- 
dering some  time  in  the  disguise  of  a  peas- 
ant, he  was  discovered  and  taken,  and,  on 
the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  executed  at 
Nantes.  On  the  fall  of  these  chiefs,  all  the 
insurgent  departments  readily  submitted ; 
and  Hoche,  who  at  Quiberon  had  acquired 
some  distinction  as  a  warrior,  was  empower- 
ed by  the  directory  to  adopt  lenient  methods 
for  bringing  over  the  remaining  malcon- 
tents, and  hailed  as  the  pacificator  of  La 
Vendee. 

BRITISH  SUCCESSES  IN  THE  WEST  IN- 
DIES.—DUTCH  SQUADRON  CAPTURED. 
The  conquests  of  the  French  in  Europe 
did  not  prevent  the  English  from  persevering 
in  their  intention  to  capture  all  their  remain- 
ing colonies,  as  well  as  those  of  their  allies, 
between  the  tropics ;  and  they  were  now 
enabled,  by  their  strength,  to  obtain  success- 
es in  that  quarter  unknown  in  any  former 
period  of  the  war.  Demerara,  Issequibo, 
and  Berbice,  surrendered  to  the  British  com- 
manders. A  debarkation  was  effected  on 
St.  Lucia ;  and  the  enemy  retired  to  Morne 
Chabot,  one  of  the  strongest  positions  of  the 
island,  which  was  carried  by  the  gallantry 
of  a  small  body  under  the  orders  of  Sir  Ralph 
Abercrombie.  Morne  Fortune  was  next  in- 
vested and  taken ;  two  thousand  French  sol- 
diers were  made  prisoners,  the  insurgent 
negroes  disarmed,  and  the  island  ceded  to 
Britain.  An  expedition  under  general  Knox, 
to  St.  Vincent's,  undertaken  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  May,  was  no  less  successful,  where 
the  French  surrendered  to  the  number  of 
seven  hundred:  the  dispersion  of  the  Ca- 
ribbs  immediately  followed.  An  attack  was 
afterwards  made  on  Grenada,  which  succeed- 
ed, with  little  bloodshed.  A  body  of  seven 
thousand  troops  arrived  early  in  the  spring 
at  the  Mole  in  St.  Domingo ;  but  the  mor- 
tality of  the  yellow  fever  was  so  great,  and 
the  numbers  of  the  free  blacks  and  mulat- 
toes  so  formidable,  that  the  war  was  waged 
with  few  advantages  on  our  side.  Toussaint 
with  his  negro  army,  and  Regaud  at  the 
head  of  the  mulattoes,  maintained  a  fierce, 
though  desultory,  warfare ;  and  the  British 
with  difficulty  retained  their  extensive  chain 
of  posts,  occupying  a  coast  three  hundred 
miles  in  extent. 

The  Dutch  government,  determined  not 
to  suffer  the  loss  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
without  a  struggle  to  regain  so  important  a 
settlement,  fitted  out  an  expedition,  consist- 
ing of  two  sail  of  the  line,  three  smaller 
ships  of  war,  and  three  armed  vessels,  which 
anchored  on  the  second  of  August  in  the 
Bay  of  Saldanha.  Just  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment when  general  Craig,  with  his  small 
army,  was  marching  down  to  the  coast  to  I 
meet  the  invaders,  they  perceived  a  British 
fleet  of  two  seventy-fours,  five  sixty-fours,  a  I 


fifty-gun  ship,  and  six  other  vessels,  advanc- 
ing with  a  fair  wind  to  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bor. The  English  admiral,  aware  of  his  su- 
periority, anchored  within  cannon-shot  of  the 
Dutch  vessels,  and  sent  a  written  summons 
to  their  commander  to  surrender.  Rear- 
admiral  Engelbartus  Lucas,  knowing  that 
resistance  must  be  unavailing,  obeyed  the 
summons,  and  on  the  seventeenth  of  August 
he  surrendered  his  whole  fleet  without  firing 
a  gun. 

THE  BRITISH  EVACUATE  CORSICA.— THE 
FRENCH  ATTEMPT  TO  INVADE  IRELAND. 

The  turbulent  spirit  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Corsica,  and  the  arrival  of  a  body  of 
French  under  general  Gazette,  to  co-operate 
with  internal  revolt,  rendered  the  possession 
of  that  island  no  longer  possible  to  the  Brit- 
ish. Seizing  on  the  heights  above  Bastia, 
the  invaders  captured  the  city:  Fiorenzo, 
Bonifacio,  and  the  tower  of  Mortella,  were 
retaken  on  the  twentieth  of  October,  and 
considerable  spoils  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors  on  the  retreat  of  the  English  fleet 
from  the  adjoining  bay,  and  on  the  final  evac- 
uation of  the  island.  The  island  of  Elba, 
however,  which  had  been  seized  some 
months  before,  was  still  retained,  and  form- 
ed a  useful  arsenal  and  a  convenient  station. 

The  state  of  Ireland  encouraged  the 
French  government  to  strike  a  blow  of  no 
common  importance.  On  the  twentieth  of 
December,  fifteen  thousand  chosen  troops, 
under  the  command  of  Hoche,  were  embark- 
ed at  Brest,  intended  to  act,  on  their  arrival, 
with  a  body  of  the  disaffected  Irish,  who 
were  known  to  be  considerable  in  numbers, 
and  organized  for  insurrection.  Admiral 
Villaret  Xpygjise  sailed  from  Brest  witl^eigh- 
teen  ships  of  the  line,  besides  frigates  and 
transports :  the  wind  at  first  was  favorable, 
but  scarcely  had  the  expedition  left  the  out- 
er harbor,  when  a  storm  arose,  which  dis- 
persed the  fleet,  and  separating  the  frigate 
which  carried  Hoche,  obliged  him  to  escape 
into  the  harbor  of  Rochelle,  after  being 
chased  by  two  British  vessels.  Of  the  whole 
fleet  only  eight  two-deckers  reached  the 
coast  of  Ireland,  under  admiral  Bouvet,  who 
appeared  off  Bantry  Bay,  but  was  forced 
from  that  station  in  a  few  days  by  tempestu- 
ous weather,  and  obliged  to  return  to  France 
without  effecting  a  landing.  In  this  expe- 
dition the  French  lost  three  ships  of  the 
line  and  three  frigates,  by  stress  of  weather ; 
but  they  had  the  singular  good  fortune  to 
escape  lord  Bridport  and  admiral  Colpoys, 
the  former  of  whom,  with  a  British  fleet 
under  his  command,  arrived  in  Bantry  Bay 
immediately  after  tlie  departure  of  the  en- 
emy. 

Such  was  the  determined  courage  of  Brit- 
ish seamen  at  this  period,  that  scarcely  any 
inferiority  of  force  could  deter  them  from  a 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


417 


contest  at  sea ;  and  even  in  port  the  enemy's 
vessels  were  frequently  boarded  and  cut  out, 
under  the  incessant  fire  of  the  batteries, 
and  discharges  of  musketry.  One  of  the 
most  gallant  actions  during  the  war  was 
fought  by  captain  Trollope,  in  the  Glatton, 
of  fifty-four  guns,  on  the  sixteenth  of  July, 
with  six  French  frigates,  which  he  beat  off, 
though  surrounded  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
be  attacked  at  the  same  time  on  the  lee- 
quarter,  the  weather-bow,  and  the  stern.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  French  made  a  success- 
ful expedition  to  Newfoundland,  where  ship- 
ping and  merchandise  to  a  large  amount 
were  captured  or  destroyed  in  August,  by 
a  squadron  under  admiral  Richery,  who  re- 
turned to  France  without  the  loss  of  a  sin- 
gle vessel. 

DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND 
AMERICA— SPAIN  AND  HOLLAND  DE- 
CLARE WAR  AGAINST  BRITAIN. 

Scarcely  had  the  new  government  of 
France,  under  the  directory,  commenced 
its  operations,  when  a  difference  arose  be- 
tween that  country  and  America,  originating 
in  the  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  re- 
cently executed  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  This  treaty  was  said  to 
discover  a  disposition  altogether  inimical  to 
France,  and  its  provisions  to  be  wholly  in- 
compatible with  the  idea  of  neutrality.  By 
the  treaty  of  1778,  still  in  force,  the  United 
States  guarantied  to  France  the  possession 
of  their  West  India  colonies;  but  by  the 
treaty  of  1795  they  consented  that  even  sup- 
plies of  provisions  sent  to  those  islands  from 
America  should  be  treated  as  illegal  com- 
merce. The  directory,  regarding  the  Ameri- 
cans in  the  light  of  secret  enemies,  made 
such  depredations  on  their  trade,  under 
various  pretences,  as  almost  amounted  to 
a  commercial  war ;  and  an  arret  was  isv^aed 
on  the  third  of  July,  enjoining  French  ships 
of  war  to  observe  the  same  conduct  towards 
the  vessels  of  the  neutral  nations  as  they 
had  hitherto  suffered  with  impunity  from  the 
English.  Thus  began  that  oppressive  sys- 
tem, by  which  neutral  nations  were  doomed 
to  be  persecuted  in  the  future  progress  of 
the  war,  under  the  designation  of  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees,  and  British  orders  in  council. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  summer,  Monroe, 
the  American  ambassador  at  Paris,  was  re- 
called from  his  embassy,  to  the  great  dissat- 
isfaction of  the  French  government,  who 
refused  to  receive  his  successor,  Pinckney,  in 
the  same  capacity :  and  M.  Adet,  the  French 
resident  in  Philadelphia,  notified  to  the 
American  government,  on  the  twenty-third 
of  November,  that  the  directory  had  sus- 
pended him  from  the  exercise  of  his  func- 
tions. Such  was  the  situation  of  the  foreign 
relations  of  the  United  States,  when  general 
Washington  resigned  his  government,  and 


again  retired  to  his  paternal  estate  on  the 
banks  of  the  Potowmac. 

When  French  influence,  aided  by  the  feara 
of  the  Spanish  monarch,  had  produced  a 
peace  between  those  nations,  there  was  rea- 
son to  apprehend  that  the  artful  republicans 
would  lead  that  passive  prince  into  a  close 
alliance,  and  endeavor  to  render  his  arms 
subservient  to  the  views  of  France ;  but  the 
Spaniards  were  not  very  eager  to  commence 
hostilities  against  their  late  allies ;  a  treaty 
of  confederacy,  however,  was  at  length  con- 
cluded, and  on  the  fifth  of  October  his  Cath- 
olic majesty  declared  war  against  Great 
Britain,  on  frivolous  and  absurd  pretences. 
In  Holland,  a  national  convention  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  United  Provinces  met  at 
the  Hague  on  the  first  of  March,  and  forai- 
ed  a  constitution  on  the  model  of  the  French 
republic.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new 
government  was  to  declare  war  against  Eng- 
land. 

STATE  OF  FRANCE-MEASURES  AGAINST 
BRITISH  COMMERCE. 
At  Paris  the  Jacobins,  who  had  hitherto 
filled  the  principal  places  under  government, 
enraged  at  witnessmg  the  return  of  mode- 
rate principles,  manifested  their  hostility  by 
exercising  their  power,  where  they  still  re- 
mained in  office,  in  the  most  cruel  and  op- 
pressive manner ;  and  insurrections  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country  took  place,  but  they 
were  all  quickly  suppressed.  The  directory 
next  determined  to  submit  to  the  operation 
of  the  law  the  sanguinary  perpetrators  of 
the  massacres  of  September,  1792 ;  and,  of 
a  great  number  brought  to  trial,  some 
were  executed,  and  others  imprisoned,  but  a 
large  majority  were  acquitted.  The  direc- 
tory then  turned  their  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject of  finance,  the  rapid  decline  of  the 
credit  of  the  assignats  having  rendered 
that  species  of  paper  altogether  useless ; 
and  as  gold  and  silver  had  disappeared,  it 
was  judged  expedient  to  employ  some  other 
means  to  replace  the  debased  currency.  A 
law  was  accordingly  passed  to  sell  the  re- 
mainder of  the  national  domains,  for  which 
the  nation  was  to  receive,  in  payment,  a  new 
paper  febrication,  under  the  name  of  man- 
dats,  to  be  issued  to  the  amount  of  four  hun- 
dred millions  of  livres;  but  in  a  very  few 
months  they  sunk  so  low  as  one  fifth  of  the 
price  affixed  by  the  national  treasury.  In 
the  midst  of  these  difficulties,  the  committee 
of  finance  presented  a  report,  containing  a 
general  statement  of  the  public  revenue, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  the  expenditure 
during  the  last  year  amounted  to  a  thousand 
millions  of  livres,  and  that  the  ordinary  an- 
nual revenue  was  barely  five  hundred  mil- 
lions. To  make  up  this  enormous  deficiency, 
various  rcpources  were  pointed  out;  but  the 
principal  expedient  was  to  be  found  in  the 


418 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sale  of  the  church  lands  in  the  newly  united 
provinces  of  the  Netherlands. 

Various  had  been  the  plans  of  annoyance 
against  this  country  projected  by  the  French 
government ;  but  all  had  hitherto  been  de- 
layed or  set  aside,  as  inadequate  and  imprac- 
ticable, till  it  was  suggested  that  the  most 
effectual  mode  of  opposing  England  with 
advantage  was  to  attack  her  commerce,  by 
shutting  out  her  manufactures  from  every 
port  in  Europe  subject  to  French  control,  or 
under  French  influence.  This  new  species 
of  hostility  was  carried  into  execution  with 
as  much  dispatch  as  the  jarring  interests  of 
the  continental  powers  would  allow ;  and 
British  manufactures  soon  found  no  legal 
entrance  into  any  port  on  the  continent, 
from  the  Elbe  to  the  Adriatic,  with  the  ex- 
ception only  of  the  ports  of  the  Hans  Towns, 
of  Portugal,  and  of  Russia. 

Catherine  the  second,  empress  of  Russia, 
died  on  the  evening  of  the  sixth  of  Novem- 
ber. Her  reign  will  always  rank  among 
tiie  most  splendid  periods  of  Russian  history : 
but  its  most  glorious  actions  were  blended 
with  injustice  and  stained  by  cruelty ;  and 
in  the  accomplishment  of  her  ends  she  never 
hesitated  with  respect  to  means.  She  was 
succeeded  by  her  son,  the  emperor  Paul, 
who,  having  the  most  despotic  notions  of 
kingly  right,  considered  the  Bourbon  family 
as  iniquitously  ejected  from  a  possession 
which  they  derived  from  heaven.  About 
the  same  time  also  died  Victor  Amadeus, 
king  of  Sardinia,  at  an  advanced  age,  and 
his  son,  the  prince  of  Piedmont,  succeeded 
to  his  throne. 

NEW  PARLIAMENT.  — NEGOTfATIONS 
FOR  PEACE— UNSUCCESSFUL. 
To  counteract  the  impression  that  the 
contest  was  as  interminable  in  its  duration 
as  it  was  indefinite  in  its  objects ;  his  ma- 
jesty, in  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the 
new  parliament,  on  the  sixth  of  October, 
1796,  declared  that  he  had  omitted  no  en- 
deavors for  restoring  peace  to  Europe;  in 
consequence  of  which,  a  way  was  now 
opened  to  an  immediate  negotiation,  which 
must  produce  an  honorable  peace  for  us  and 
our  allies,  or  prove  to  what  cause  alone  the 
prolongation  of  the  war  was  to  be  ascribed. 
For  this  purpose  his  majesty  said  he  would 
immediately  send  a  person  to  Paris,  with 
full  powers  to  treat  for  this  object,  and  it  was 
his  anxious  wish  that  the  negotiation  might 
lead  to  the  restoration  of  general  peace.  But 
it  was  evi-dent  that  nothing  could  so  much 
contribute  to  give  effect  to  the  negotiation 
as  a  manifestation  that  we  possessed  both  the 
determination  and  the  resources  to  oppose, 
with  increased  activity  and  energy,  an  ene- 
my who  had  openly  professed  a  design  to 
attempt  a  descent  upon  these  kingdoms.  On 
the  propriety  of  entering  upon  a  negotiation 


with  republican  France,  some  difference  of 
opinion  existed  between  ministers  and  their 
supporters;  some  of  whom  adhered  to  the 
published  opinion  of  Burke,  viz.  that  the 
restoration  of  monarchy  and  the  ancient  or- 
ders, under  certain  modifications,  ought  to 
be  the  sole  and  avowed  purpose  of  the  war ; 
that  no  peace  could  be  secure  until  that  ob- 
ject was  effected ;  and  that  we  must  either 
conquer  the  revolution,  or  the  revolution 
would  conquer  us.  In  conformity  to  these 
sentiments,  earl  Fitzwilliam  entered  on  the 
journals  of  the  house  of  lords  a  protest,  as- 
signing reasons  for  refusing  to  concur  in  an 
address  of  thanks  for  his  majesty's  speech. 

In  the  month  of  March,  Wickham,  the 
British  ambassador  to  the  Helvetic  States, 
was  directed  to  apply  to  Barthelemi,  diplo- 
matic agent  for  France  at  Basle,  to  inquire 
if  the  government  of  France  were  disposed 
to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  his  majesty 
and  his  allies,  Barthelemi  was  instructed 
to  answer,  that  the  government  of  France 
ardently  desired  to  procure  for  the  republic 
a  just,  honorable,  and  solid  peace;  but  an 
indispensable  condition  of  any  treaty  entered 
into  for  that  purpose  was  the  retention  of 
those  conquests  which  had  actually  been  an- 
nexed to  the  territory  of  the  republic.  This 
reply,  expressing  a  decided  resolution  not  to 
surrender  the  Austrian  Netherlands  to  the 
emperor  of  Germany,  displayed,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  British  ministry,  a  temper  so  re- 
mote from  any  disposition  for  peace,  that  the 
correspondence  between  the  two  ministers 
ceased,  and  both  parties  proceeded  to  open 
the  campaign.  In  September  lord  Grenville 
addressed  a  note  to  count  Wedel  Jarlsberg, 
the  Danish  ambassador  in  London,  request- 
ing that  he  w^ould  transmit,  through  the 
Danish  envoy  at  Paris,  a  declaration  expres- 
sive of  his  Britannic  majesty's  desire  to  con- 
clude a  peace  on  just  and  honorable  condi- 
tions, and  demanding  the  necessary  passports 
for  a  person  of  confidence,  whom  his  majes- 
ty would  send  to  Paris  with  a  commission 
to  discuss,  with  the  government  there,  all 
the  measures  most  proper  to  produce  so  de- 
sirable an  end.  The  directory  replied,  that 
the  executive  government  would  not  notice 
any  overture  from  the  enemies  of  the  French 
republic  transmitted  through  an  intermediate 
channel ;  but  that,  if  England  would  send 
persons  furnished  with  full  powers,  they 
might,  upon  the  frontiers,  demand  the  pass- 
ports necessary  for  proceeding  to  Paris. 
Passports  were  accordingly  obtained ;  and 
lord  Malmsbury,  being  nominated  plenipo- 
tentiary to  the  French  republic,  repaired  to 
Paris  on  the  twenty-second  of  October.  Tv/o 
days  afler  his  arrival  the  negotiations  were 
opened  by  a  memorial  from  his  lordship,  stat- 
ing that,  from  the  uninterrupted  success  of 
her  naval  war.  Great  Britain  found  herself 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


419 


in  a  situation  to  have  no  restitution  to  de- 
mand of  France ;  from  which,  on  the  con- 
trary, she  had  taken  establishments  and  colo- 
nies of  the  highest  importance,  and  of  value 
almost  incalculable ;  but  she  was  willing  to 
restore  her  own  conquests  in  lieu  of  the  ac- 
quisitions which  France  haxl  won  from  her 
allies,  as  a  basis  for  a  treaty,  and  therefore 
proposed  a  general  principle  of  reciprocal 
restitution.  The  executive  directory  re- 
plied, that  considering  the  British  ambassa- 
dor to  be  the  agent  of  Great  Britain  only, 
they  could  not  now  enter  into  the  concerns 
of  the  other  states,  which  could  tend  only  to 
multiply  the  combinations  and  increase  the 
difficulties  of  the  negotiation ;  Ijut  that,  as 
soon  as  he  should  procure  sufficient  powers 
from  those  allies,  they  would  hasten  to  give 
an  answer  to  the  specific  propositions  which 
should  be  submitted  to  them.  To  these  ob- 
servations they  thought  proper  to  add  an 
opinion,  that  the  British  government  was  in- 
sincere in  its  overture ;  that  its  object  was 
to  prevent,  by  general  propositions,  the  par- 
tial propositions  of  other  powers,  and  to  ob- 
tain from  the  people  of  England  the  means 
of  continuing  the  war,  by  throwing  the  odium 
of  a  refusal  to  negotiate  a  peace  upon  the 
republic.  The  British  minister,  disdaining 
to  reply  to  these  insinuations,  stated  that  he 
had  not  been  commissioned  to  enter  into  a 
separate  treaty,  but  that  Great  Britain  pro- 
posed to  make  common  cause  with  her  allies. 
The  directory  rejoined,  that,  in  a  question  of 
reciprocal  restitution,  the  chief  object  of  con- 
sideration was  the  relative  condition  of  the 
respective  parties ;  that,  of  the  original  con- 
federates, some  were  become  the  friends  of 
France,  and  others  observed  a  strict  neu- 
trality ;  that  the  remaining  allies  of  Great 
Britain  were  weakened  by  their  losses  and 
the  desertion  of  their  associates;  and  that 
France  could  not,  in  a  negotiation  for  terms, 
forget  the  circumstances  in  which  she  was 
placed.  Having  thus  admitted  the  principle 
of  compensation,  de  la  Croix,  the  French 
negotiator,  in  a  note  to  lord  Malmsbury, 
again  requested  him  to  point  out  expressly, 
and  without  delay,  the  objects  of  reciprocal 
compensations  which  he  had  to  propose 
His  lordship  was  now  obliged  to  consult  his 
court,  and  the  negotiation  was  suspended  till 
the  seventeenth  of  December,  on  which  day 
his  lordship  submitted,  in  two  formal  and 
confidential  memorials,  that  France  should 
restore  all  her  conquests  made  in  any  of  the 
dominions  of  the  emperor  of  Germany,  or  in 
Italy ;  and  that  Great  Britain  should  render 
back  all  her  acquisitions  gained  from  France 
in  the  East  and  West  Indies ;  that  Russia 
and  Portugal  should  be  included  in  the  treaty ; 
that  no  obstacle  would  be  interposed,  on  the 
part  of  his  Britannic  majesty,  against  Spain 
becoming  a  party  in  the  negotiation ;  and 


that  in  case  Holland  was  reinstated,  in  all 
respects,  in  the  same  political  situation  in 
which  she  stood  before  the  war,  the  colonial 
possessions  captured  by  Great  Britain  might 
be  restored,  and  the  status  ante  bellum,  with 
respect  to  territorial  possessions,  re-estab- 
lished in  her  favor ;  but  if,  on  the  contrary, 
Holland  should  remain  a  republic,  their 
Britannic  and  imperial  majesties  would  be 
obliged  to  seek,  in  territorial  acquisitions, 
those  compensations,  and  that  security,  which 
such  a  state  of  things  would  render  indis^ 
pensable.  At  the  time  that  these  memorials 
were  delivered,  a  long  and  animated  conver- 
sation took  place  between  the  negotiators,  in 
the  course  of  which  the  French  minister  in- 
quired, whether,  in  placing  the  memorials 
before  the  directory,  he  was  to  state  the  dis- 
uniting of  the  Belgium  from  France  as  a 
sine  qua  non,  from  which  his  majesty  would 
not  depart.  Lord  Malmsbury  replied  that 
it  most  certainly  was,  and  that  any  proposal 
which  would  leave  the  Netherlands  annexed 
to  France,  would  be  attended  with  much 
greater  benefit  to  that  power,  and  less  to  the 
allies,  than  the  present  relative  situation  of 
the  belligerent  powers  could  entitle  the 
French  government  to  expect.  In  the  course 
of  conversation,  de  la  Croix  repeatedly  said, 
that  this  difficulty  was  one  which  could  not 
be  overcome ;  and,  two  days  aft;er,  lord 
Malmsbury  received  a  letter,  requiring  him 
to  deliver,  within  twenty-four  hours,  his  ul- 
timatum, signed  by  himself  His  lordship 
replied,  that  to  demand  an  ultimatum,  in  so 
peremptory  a  manner,  before  the  two  powers 
had  comnmnicated  to  each  other  their  re- 
spective pretensions,  was  to  shut  the  door 
against  all  negotiation ;  but  he  repeated  that 
he  was  ready  to  enter  into  the  discussion  of 
the  proposals  of  his  court,  or  of  any  contre 
projet  which  might  be  delivered  to  him  on 
the  part  of  the  executive  directory.  The 
directory  rejoined,  in  a  note  of  the  nineteenth 
of  December,  that  they  would  listen  to  no 
proposal  contrary  to  the  constitution,  to  tlie 
laws,  and  to  the  treaties,  which  bound  the 
republic  ;  and  as  lord  Malmsbury  announced, 
at  every  communication,  that  he  was  in  want 
of  the  opinion  of  his  court  (from  which  it 
resulted  that  he  acted  a  part  merely  passive 
in  the  negotiation),  his  presence  at  Paris 
was  rendered  useless,  and  he  was  required 
to  depart  therefrom  within  two  days,  with 
all  the  persons  who  had  accompanied  and 
followed  him  ;  and  to  quit,  as  expeditiously 
as  possible,  the  territory  of  the  republic ; 
but  that,  if  the  British  cabinet  was  desirous 
of  peace,  the  executive  directory  was  ready 
to  follow  the  negotiations,  according  to  the 
basis  laid  down  in  the  present  note,  by  the 
reciprocal  channel  of  couriers.  Lord  Malms- 
bury replied,  that  he  was  preparing  to  quit 
Paris  on  the  morrow,  and  demanded  the  ne- 


420 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


cessary  passports  for  himself  and  suite  :  on 
the  twentieth,  he  quitted  the  French  capital, 
and  repaired  to  England. 

Thus  terminated  the  first  negotiation  for 
peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  repub- 
lic of  France.  The  British  ministry,  con- 
sidering its  abrupt  conclusion  as  arising  to- 
tally from  France,  published  a  manifesto,  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  December,  enlarging 
upon  the  pacific  dispositions  of  the  British 
government,  and  setting  forth  the  malignant 
hostility  of  the  enemy. 

This  manifesto  was  laid  before  parliament: 
Pitt  msisted  that  the  rupture  of  the  late  ne- 
gotiations was  wholly  imputable  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  France.  The  enemy  demanded, 
not  as  an  ultimatum,  but  as  a  preliminary, 
to  retam  all  those  territories  of  which  the 
chance  of  war  had  given  them  a  temporary 
possession,  and  respecting  which  they  thought 
proper,  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  to 
pass  a  constitutional  decree,  declaring  that 
these  should  not  be  alienated  from  the  re- 
public. But  this  perverse  and  monstrous 
claim,  in  virtue  of  which  territories  acquired 
by  force  of  arms  •  were  annexed  to  a  state 
during  the  continuance  of  the  war  m  which 
such  acquisitions  were  made,  could  never  be 
supposed  to  supersede  the  treaties  of  other 
powers  and  the  known  and  public  obligations 
of  the  several  nations  in  Europe.  Yet  this 
had  been  the  pretension  to  which  the  French 
government  laid  claim,  and  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  which  they  held  out  as  a  prelimi- 
nary of  negotiation  to  the  king  of  Great 
Britam  and  his  allies :  and,  not  content  with 
setting  up  this  claim  to  abrogate  treaties 
previously  concluded,  they  had  offered  a 
studied  insult  to  his  majesty,  by  ordering  his 
ambassador  to  quit  Paris,  and  proposing  that 
the  negotiation  should  be  carried  on  by  means 
of  couriers.  "  The  question  then  is  not  how 
much  will  you  give  for  peace ;  but  how  much 
disgrace  will  you  suffer  at  the  outset  1  how 
much  degradation  will  you  submit  to  as  a 
preliminary  1  In  these  circumstances,  then, 
are  we  to  persevere  in  the  war,  with  a  spirit 
and  energy  worthy  of  the  British  name,  and 
of  the  British  character  1  or  are  we,  by  send- 
ing couriers  to  Paris,  to  prostrate  ourselves 
at  the  feet  of  a  stubborn  and  supercilious 
government,  to  yield  to  what  they  may  re- 
quire, and  to  submit  to  whatever  they  may 
impose  !  I  hope  there  is  not  a  hand  in  his 
majesty's  councils  which  would  sign  the  pro- 
posal ;  that  there  is  not  a  heart  in  this  house 
that  would  sanction  the  measure  ;  and  that 
there  is  not  an  individual  in  the  British  do- 
minions who  would  act  as  the  courier." 
Fox,  in  reply,  maintained  that  the  whole 
amount  of  the  minister's  oration  was,  to  ad- 
mit that  we  had  been  four  years  engaged  in 
a  war,  unprecedented  in  expense,  both  in 
men  and  in  money,  and  that  we  had  done 


nothing;  that,  in  fact,  the  enemy,  instead 
of  being  humbled  and  ruined,  as  had  been 
so  often  and  so  confidently  foretold,  had  now 
become  more  unreasonable  and  dictatorial  in 
their  pretensions  than  ever.  Fox  then  moved 
an  address  to  the  throne,  recommending  that 
his  majesty's  faithful  commons  should  pro- 
ceed to  investigate  the  conduct  of  his  min- 
isters, who  had  involved  this  nation  in  her 
present  misfortunes,  and  produced  the  failure 
of  the  late  negotiations.  This  amendment 
was  negatived  by  a  great  majority ;  and  a 
similar  fate  attended  a  similar  motion  made 
by  the  earlof  Oxford  in  the  house  of  lords. 

INCREASE  OF  THE  NATIONAL  FORCE.— 
FINANCES. 

In  addition  to  the  naval  force  now  actually 
employed,  and  which  the  premier  declared 
to  be  more  formidable  than  had  ever  existed 
at  any  former  period  of  our  history,  the  min- 
ister proposed,  first,  a  levy  of  fifteen  thousand 
men  from  the  different  parishes  for  the  sea 
service,  and  for  recruiting  the  regular  regi- 
ments of  the  line :  his  second  proposal  was 
to  raise  a  supplementary  militia,  to  consist 
of  sixty  thousand  men,  not  to  be  immediately 
called  out,  but  to  be  enrolled,  officered,  and 
completely  trained,  so  as  to  be  ready  in  a 
moment  of  danger ;  and  his  third  military 
project  was  to  raise  a  force  of  twenty  thou- 
sand irregular  cavalry.  These  propositions 
were  passed  into  laws  early  in  the  session ; 
but  the  plan  for  raising  the  irregular  cavalry 
force  being  found  diflncult  of  application,  the 
measure  was  superseded,  in  a  great  degree, 
by  the  numerous  volunteer  corps  of  yeoman- 
ry cavalry  which  pressed  forward  in  the  ser- 
vice of  their  country.  During  this  session, 
also,  a  bill  was  introduced,  for  raising  and 
embodying  a  militia  force  in  Scotland,  which 
was  much  resisted  in  that  part  of  the  king- 
dom. One  hundred  and  ninety-five  thou- 
sand men  were  voted  for  the  land  service 
for  the  year  1797,  and,  soon  afterwards,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  seamen  and 
marines  for  the  navy. 

By  the  annual  financial  statement,  it  ap- 
peared that  eighteen  million  pounds  would 
be  wanted  by  way  of  loan,  exclusive  of  five 
million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  ex- 
chequer-bills, and  about  thirteen  million  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds  of  victualling, 
transport,  and  navy  bills,  which  he  proposed 
to  fund.  This  loan  was  followed  by  a  second 
during  the  same  session  of  parliament, 
amounting  also  to  eighteen  million  pounds, 
comprehending  a  great  variety  of  deficien- 
cies, and  including  a  vote  of  credit  for  three 
million  pounds,  to  be  remitted  to  the  empe- 
ror of  Germany.  The  terms  of  the  loan 
were  highly  advantageous  to  the  moneyed 
interest,  being  funded  at  less  than  the  price 
of  fifty  pounds  for  each  hundred  pounds,  of 
three  per  cents.     To  defray  the  interest  on 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


421 


these  loans,  permanent  taxes  were  imposed 
to  the  amount  of  three  million  four  hundred 
and  sixteen  thousand  pounds,  and  the  pres- 
sure of  the  war  was  now  severely  felt  by 
many  classes.  Pitt  having  admitted,  on 
moving  the  vote  of  credit,  that  one  million 
two  hundred  thousand  pounds  had  been  ad- 
vanced to  the  emperor  without  the  previous 
consent  of  parliament,  Fox  observed,  that  if 
the  measure  was  not  reprobated,  he  should 
think  that  man  a  hypocrite  who  pretended 
to  see  any  distinction  between  this  govern- 
ment and  an  absolute  monarchy ;  and  the  ma- 
jority in  favor  of  ministers,  on  the  motion 
for  a  vote  of  censure,  was  smaller  than  usual. 

SUSPENSION  OF  CASH  PAYMENTS  BY 
THE  BANK. 
1797. — The  rapid  and  enormous  mcrease 
of  the  national  debt  had  created  an  alarm 
among  many.of  tlie  proprietors  of  the  public 
funds,  and,  under  this  impression,  sums  to  a 
groat  amount  were  sold  out  of  the  stocks, 
and  vested  in  other  securities.  The  bank 
had,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  advanced  im- 
mense sums  to  the  government,  far  beyond 
its  usual  aid  to  the  public  treasury ;  and  as 
a  considerable  part  of  these  advances  con- 
sisted of  remittances  to  foreign  powers,  es- 
pecially to  the  emperor  of  Germany,  made 
in  coin,  the  gold  and  silver  in  the  bank  were 
greatly  diminished.  The  consequences  of 
this  had  been  long  foreseen  by  the  directors, 
and,  so  early  as  the  year  1795,  they  had  ex- 
pressed to  Pitt  their  expectations  that  he 
would  arrange  his  finances  for  the  year  in 
such  a  manner  as  not  to  depend  on  any  fur- 
ther assistance  from  them.  This  remon- 
strance they  repeated  in  October  of  the  same 
year,  and  again  in  1796,  but  they  still  con- 
tinued to  afR)rd  accommodation  to  the  trea- 
sury. In  the  beginning  of  1797  the  minister 
requested  still  further  advances,  and  intima- 
ted, at  the  same  time,  that  a  loan  amounting 
to  the  sum  of  one  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  beyond  the  accommodation  to 
the  English  treasury,  would  be  wanted  for 
Ireland.  On  the  ninth  of  February  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  bank  informed  Pitt  that,  under 
the  present  state  of  their  accommodation  to 
government  here,  to  agree  with  his  request 
of  making  a  further  advance  of  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  pounds  as  a  loan  to 
Ireland,  would  threaten  ruin  to  the  bank, 
and  most  probably  bring  the  directors  to  shut 
up  their  doors.  Another  cause  powerfully 
co-operated  to  produce  an  alarming  derange- 
ment in  the  affairs  of  the  national  bank. 
The  dread  of  invasion  had  induced  the  cap- 
italists, as  well  as  the  more  opulent  farmers 
and  traders,  at  a  distance  from  the  metropo- 
lis, to  withdraw  their  money  from  the  Iiands 
of  the  country  bankers,  with  whom  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  deposit  it ;  and  the  run 
upon  the  provincial  banking-houses  soon  ex- 

'  Vol.  IV.  36      ^ 


tended  to  the  capital.  On  the  twentieth  of 
February  an  unusual  demand  was  made  by 
the  holders  of  notes  upon  the  bank  of  Eng- 
land for  specie ;  and  this  run,  which  increas- 
ed on  the  twenty-first,  became  so  rapid  and 
urgent  on  the  four  following  days  as  to  ex- 
cite the  most  serious  alarm,  and  to  oblige 
the  directors  to  submit  their  situation  to  the 
consideration  of  the  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer. On  the  twenty-sixth  government 
found  it  necessary  to  interfere ;  and  on  that 
day  an  order  of  the  privy-council  was  issued, 
prohibiting  the  directors  of  the  bank  from 
issuing  any  cash  in  payment  till  the  sense 
of  parliament  should  be  taken.  The  con- 
sideration of  this  important  subject  was 
brought,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  be- 
fore the  two  houses  of  parliament,  and  the 
first  step  taken  was  to  appoint  two  secret 
committees  to  ascertain  the  assets  of  the 
bank.  The  public  apprehension  was  mate- 
rially allayed  by  their  reports,  delivered 
early  in  March,  from  which  it  appeared  that 
on  the  fifteenth  of  February,  the  last  day  of 
paying  gold  and  silver  at  the  bank,  the 
amount  of  the  demands  upon  the  company 
was  thirteen  million  seven  hundred  and  sev- 
enty thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety 
pounds ;  that  their  assets,  exclusive  of  the 
permanent  debt  due  from  government, 
amounted  to  the  sum  of  seventeen  million 
five  hundred  and  ninety-seven  thousand  two 
hundred  and  eighty  pounds,  so  that  there 
remained  a  surplus  of  three  million  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  ninety  pounds ;  to  which  must  be 
added  the  sum  of  eleven  million  six  hundred 
and  sixty-six  thousand  eight  hundred  pounds 
three  per  cent,  stock,  lent  at  different  times 
to  government  on  parliamentary  security, 
which  being  estimated  at  fitly  per  cent 
agreeably  to  the  actual  price  at  that  time  of 
the  three  per  cent,  consols,  the  whole  of  the 
capital  vested  in  the  corporation  of  the  bank, 
after  the  payment  of  all  demands,  amount- 
ed, at  its  then  current  value,  to  the  enor- 
mous sum  of  nine  million  six  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety 
pounds.  On  these  reports  Pitt  grounded  a 
bill,  enabling  tlie  bank  to  issue  notes  in  pay- 
ment of  demands  upon  them  instead  of  cash, 
agreeably  to  the  late  order  of  council  to  that 
effect ;  and  a  clause  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance was  introduced  into  the  act,  for  pre- 
venting any  person  from  being  held  to  bail 
who  ofiered  bank  of  England  notes  in  dis- 
charge of  a  debt;  though  this  law,  by  leav- 
ing the  creditor  the  option  of  demanding 
cash  in  payment  instead  of  notes,  did  not 
actually  constitute  them  a  legal  tender. 
From  this  time  the  circulation  of  gold  coi* 
in  a  great  measure  ceased;  and  notes,  firoa 
twenty  shillings  and  upwards,  became  the 
general  medium  of  circulation. 


422 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ALARMING  MUTINY  IN  THE  NAVY. 

The  alarm  caused  by  the  stoppage  of 
eash  payments  at  the  bank  was  not  much 
abated  when  a  spirit  of  mutmy  and  disaffec- 
tion broke  out  among  the  fleet  at  Spithead. 
Great  dissatisfaction  had  for  some  time  pre- 
vailed respecting  the  pay  and  provisions  of 
the  sailors;  and,  in  the  month  of  February, 
several  anonymous  letters  were  received  by 
lord  Howe  from  the  fleet,  praying  for  his 
lordship's  influence  towards  obtaining  an  in 
crease  of  the  seamen's  pay,  and  an  improve 
ment  in  the  quality  and  quantity  of  their 
provisions ;  at  the  same  time  a  correspond- 
ence was  going  on,  by  letter,  between  the 
crews  of  the  different  ships,  and  a  committee 
of  delegates  was  appointed  to  obtain  a  re- 
dress of  grievances.  These  proceedings 
were  conducted  with  so  much  secrecy,  that 
it  was  not  till  the  fifteenth  of  April,  when 
lord  Bridport  made  a  signal  to  prepare  for 
sea,  tliat  they  began  to  be  suspected  among 
the  superior  officers  of  the  fleet.  Instead 
of  weighing  anchor,  as  the  signal  imported, 
the  seamen  of  the  admiral's  ship  all  ran  up 
the  shrouds,  and  saluted  the  crews  of  the 
adjoining  ships  v/ith  three  cheers,  which  be- 
ing instantly  answered  in  the  same  manner, 
it  became  manifest  that  the  spirit  of  disobe- 
dience was  general.  The  delegates  then 
assembled  in  the  cabin  of  the  admiral's  ship, 
and  placed  the  officers  in  custody.  A  peti- 
tion to  the  admiral  was  drawn  up,  and  pre- 
sented on  the  spot,  accompanied  with  an  in- 
timation that,  till  the  prayer  of  the  petition 
for  an  increase  of  wages  and  a  regulation  in 
the  ratio  of  provisions  took  place,  they  should 
not  quit  their  present  station  "unless  the 
enemy  was  known  to  be  at  sea."  A  com- 
mittee of  the  admiralty,  with  earl  Spencer 
at  their  head,  immediately  repaired  to  Ports- 
mouth to  induce  the  refractory  seamen  to 
resume  tlieir  duty ;  and  the  admiral  return- 
ed to  his  ship,  when,  after  hoisting  his  flag, 
he  informed  the  crew  that  he  had  brought 
with  him  a  redress  of  all  their  grievances, 
accompanied  by  liis  majesty's  pardon  for  the 
offenders.  After  some  deliberation  these 
offers  were  cheerfully  accepted,  and  it  was 
now  supposed  that  all  cause  of  dissatisfaction 
was  removed ;  but  when  lord  Bridport  made 
the  signal  to  put  to  sea,  every  ship  at  St. 
Helen's  refused  to  obey.  This  second  mu- 
tiny arose,  it  appeared,  from  a  groundless 
apprehension  on  the  part  of  the  seamen  that 
government  did  not  mean  to  accede  to  their 
demands.  A  meeting  of  the  delegates  was 
again  convened,  to  be  held  on  board  the 
London;  but  vice-admiral  Colpoys,  having 
determined  to  prevent  the  illegal  assembly 
from  being  held  on  board  his  ship,  ordered 
the  marines  to  fire  upon  the  boats  as  they 
approached,  and  five  seamen  were  killed  in 
the  skirmish  which  ensued.     The  crew  of 


the  London,  irritatod  by  this  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  admiral,  now  turned  their 
guns  towards  the  stern,  and  threatened  to 
blow  all  aft  into  the  water,  unless  the  com- 
mander submitted ;  and  admiral  Colpoys  and 
captain  Griffiths  were  both  taken  into  custo- 
dy by  their  crew,  and  confined  for  several 
hours  in  separate  cabins.  In  this  state  of 
mutiny  the  sailors  at  Portsmouth  remained 
till  the  fourteenth  of  May,  when  lord  Howe 
arrived  from  the  admiralty  with  plenary 
powers  to  settle  all  differences ;  and  as  his 
lordship  was  the  bearer  of  an  act  of  parlia- 
ment which  had  passed  on  the  ninth,  grant- 
ing an  additional  allowance  of  pay  to  the 
seamen,  and  also  of  his  majesty's  proclama- 
tion of  pardon,  the  flag  of  insurrection  was 
struck,  and  the  fleet  prepared  to  put  to  sea 
to  encounter  the  enemy.  The  public  saw 
with  infinite  satisfaction  the  extinction  of 
this  dangerous  spirit  of  disaffection ;  but  a 
new  mutiny  in  another  quarter,  which  for 
boldness  and  extent  is  without  a  parallel  in 
the  naval  history  of  Britain,  soon  converted 
their  pleasure  into  alarm  and  consternation. 

The  concessions  made  to  the  seamen  were 
unfortunately  enforced,  not  granted,  and  the 
same  method  lay  open  for  obtaining  further 
claims.  The  north  sea  fleet,  as  well  as  the 
ships  lying  at  the  Nore,  imitating  the  dan- 
gerous conduct  of  the  crews  at  Spithead,  but 
greatly  exceeding  them  in  the  extent  of 
their  demands,  chose  delegates  from  every 
ship,  and  appointed  Richard  Parker,  a  bold 
and  enterprising  seaman,  as  their  president. 
The  demands  of  these  mutineers  compre- 
hended a  greater  freedom  of  absence  from 
ships  in  harbor,  a  more  punctual  discharge 
of  arrears  of  pay,  a  more  equal  distribution 
of  prize-money,  and  a  general  abatement  of 
the  rigors  of  discipline. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  May  the  flag  of 
admiral  Buckner  was  struck  on  board  the 
Sandwich,  and  the  red  flag,  the  symbol  of 
mutiny,  hoisted  in  its  stead.  Each  man-of- 
war  sent  two  delegates,  and  there  was  a 
committee  of  twelve  in  every  ship,  who  de- 
termined not  only  all  aflairs  relating  to  the 
internal  management  of  the  vessel,  but  in- 
structed their  delegates,  and  decided  upon 
their  merits.  The  delegates  went  on  shore 
daily,  and,  after  holding  their  meetings,  pa- 
raded the  streets  and  ramparts  with  music 
and  flags.  The  arrival  of  lord  Keith  and 
Sir  Charles  Grey  at  Sheerness  at  length  put 
an  end  to  these  audacious  processions.  The 
mutiny  had  then  risen  to  the  most  alarming 
height,  and  it  was  intimated  to  tlje  seamen 
that  no  further  concessions  than  what  had 
already  been  made  by  the  legislature  woiiJd 
be  granted.  Some  of  the  most  desperate  of 
their  number  suggested  the  idea  of  carrying 
the  ships  into  an  enemy's  port ;  but  the  ma- 
jority revolted  at  so  treacherous  a  proceed- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


423 


ing,  alleging  that  a  redress  of  grievances,  as 
it  was  their  primary,  so  it  should  be  their 
ultimate  object.  For  the  purpose  of  extort- 
ing compliance  with  their  demands,  they 
proceeded  to  block  up  the  Thames,  by  re- 
fusing a  passage  either  up  or  down  the  river 
to  the  London  trade ;  and,  to  supply  their 
present  wants,  they  took  from  a  vessel  three 
hundred  sacks  of  flour,  which  they  distribut- 
ed through  the  fleet. 

On  the  fourth  of  June  the  whole  fleet  at 
the  Nore  celebrated  his  majesty's  birth-day 
by  a  royal  salute;  and  on  the  sixth  they 
were  joined  by  four  men-of-war  and  a  sloop, 
which  had  deserted  from  the  fleet  of  admiral 
Duncan,  then  in  Yarmouth  roads.  This  ac 
cession  of  strength  swelled  the  mutinous 
fleet  to  twenty-four  sail,  consisting  of  eleven 
ships  of  the  line  and  thirteen  frigates.  The 
appearance  of  such  a  fleet  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  set  of  common  sailors,  in  a  state 
of  msubordination,  formed  a  singular  and 
awful  spectacle.  Government,  in  the  mean 
time,  were  not  inattentive  to  the  obligations 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  perilous  situation 
of  the  country,  and  a  proclamation  was  is- 
sued, offering  his  majesty's  pardon  to  all  such 
of  the  mutineers  as  should  immediately  re 
turn  to  their  duty.  This  was  speedily  fol 
lowed  by  two  acts  of  parliament,  the  former 
for  more  effectually  restraining  the  inter 
course  from  the  shore  with  the  ships  in  a 
state  of  mutiny,  and  the  latter  for  punishing 
with  the  utmost  severity  of  the  law  any  at- 
tempt to  seduce  seamen  or  soldiers  into  mu- 
t'nous  practices;  but  the  master-stroke  of 
policy  was  in  the  removal  of  all  the  buoys 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  and  the 
neighboring  coast,  by  which  any  large  ship 
that  should  attempt  to  sail  away  would  be 
exposed  to  the  most  imminent  danger  of  run- 
ning aground;  while  furnaces  and  red-hot 
balls  were  kept  in  readiness  at  Sheerness,  to 
repel  any  attack  that  might  be  made  on  that 
place  by  the  mutineers.  The  last  attempt 
at  reconciliation  by  treaty  was  made  through 
the  earl  of  Northesk,  who  commanded  the 
Monmouth,  to  whom  the  delegates  commu- 
nicated the  terms  on  which  alone  they  would 
give  up  the  ships,  and  requested  that  he 
would  submit  them  to  the  king,  and  return 
on  board  with  a  clear  and  positive  answer 
within  fifty-four  hours ;  intimating  that  the 
whole  must  be  complied  with,  or  they  would 
immediately  put  the  fleet  to  sea.  These 
terms,  which  were  submitted  the  next  day 
to  the  king  in  council,  were  rejected,  and 
the  intelligence  of  their  refusal  was  com- 
municated by  captain  Knight,  of  the  Inflexi- 
ble. All  hopes  of  accommodation  being  thus 
at  an  end,  preparations  were  making  to  en- 
force obedience  to  the  laws,  from  the  works 
at  Sheerness ;  but  the  defection  of  several 
of  the  ships,  on  the  ninth,  with  other  symp- 


toms of  disunion  amongst  the  mutineers, 
rendered  the  application  of  force  unneces- 
sary :  on  the  tenth  several  of  the  mutinous 
ships,  being  reduced  to  great  exigencies  for 
want  of  fresh  provisions  and  water,  struck  the 
red  flag :  on  the  twelfth  all  but  seven  of  the 
ships  hoisted  the  union  flag,  to  signify  their 
wish  to  return  to  obedience ;  and,  on  the 
following  morning,  five  out  of  the  seven  re- 
maining vessels  ran  away  from  the  mutinous 
ships,  and  sought  protection  under  the  guns 
of  the  fort  of  Sheerness.  All  further  re- 
sistance was  now  in  vain,  and,  after  a  fruit- 
less attempt  to  obtain  a  general  pardon,  the 
crew  of  the  Sandwich  steered  that  ship  on 
the  following  morning  into  Sheerness,  where 
Parker  was  arrested  by  a  picket  guard  of 
soldiers,  with  a  person  of  the  name  of  Davies, 
who  had  acted  as  captain  under  him,  and 
about  thirty  other  delegates.  One  of  the 
delegates,  of  the  name  of  Wallace,  more 
desperate  than  the  rest,  being  determined 
neither  to  outlive  his  power,  nor  to  submit 
to  the  ignominy  of  a  public  execution,  shot 
himself  dead  on  the  appearance  of  the  sol- 
diers.-^Thus  all  resistance  to  the  authority 
of  the  officers  ceased,  and  the  public  mind 
recovered  its  former  composure,  by  the  en- 
tire extinction  of  this  alarming  revolt. 

The  trial  of  Parker  commenced  on  the 
twenty-second  of  June  before  a  court-martial, 
of  which  Sir  Thomas  Pasley  was  president. 
The  prisoner  was  charged  with  various  acts 
of  mutiny,  committed  on  board  his  majesty's 
fleet  at  the  Nore;  of  disobedience  of  orders; 
and  of  contempt  of  the  authority  of  his  offi- 
cers. The  facts  being  clearly  established, 
the  courts  adjudged  him  to  death ;  on  which, 
with  astonishing  composure,  he  addressed 
them  as  follows :  "  I  bow  to  your  sentence 
with  all  due  submission,  being  convinced  I 
have  acted  under  the  dictates  of  a  good  con- 
science. God,  who  knows  the  hearts  of  all 
men,  will,  I  hope,  receive  me.  I  hope  that 
my  death  will  atone  to  the  country ;  and  that 
those  brave  men  who  have  acted  with  me 
will  receive  a  general  pardon :  I  am  satis- 
fied they  will  all  then  return  to  their  duty 
with  alacrity."  He  was  executed  on  board 
the  Sandwich,  and  met  his  fate  with  forti- 
tude. A  great  number  of  the  other  muti- 
neers received  sentence  of  death,  and  seve- 
ral of  the  ringleaders  were  executed;  but  a 
pardon  was  granted  to  the  far  greater  num- 
ber of  those  who  were  condemned.  The 
French,  whose  revolutionary  principles  had 
certainly  some  weight  in  producing  these 
commotions,  exulted  at  the  intelligence  of 
the  mutiny,  and,  while  they  lamented  its 
extinction,  conceived  hopes  of  the  eruption 
of  future  discontent  in  the  same  branch  of 
the  service,  or  in  the  military  department ; 
but  the  true-hearted  seamen  resumed  their 
habits  of  order  and  submission,  and  the 


424 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


soldiers,  who  also  received  an  augmenta- 
tion of  pay,  preserved  their  loyalty  unim- 
paired. 

Ever  since  the  recall  of  earl  Fitzwilliam 
from  Ireland,  the  discontents  of  that  country 
had  continued  to  increase ;  and  several  par- 
ishes, baronies,  and  even  counties,  were  de- 
clared to  be  out  of  the  king's  peace,  and 
subject  to  martial  law.  The  earl  of  Moira, 
on  the  twenty-first  of  March,  moved  in  the 
house  of  lords  for  an  address  to  his  majesty, 
praying  that  he  would  be  graciously  pleased 
to  interpose  his  paternal  interference,  to  re- 
move the  discontents  which  prevailed  in 
Ireland,  and  created  the  most  serious  alarm 
for  that  country,  and  for  the  dearest  inter- 
ests of  Britain.  Lord  Grenville,  in  reply, 
insisted  that  the  present  motion  could  not 
be  adopted,  without  tearing  asunder  every 
bond  of  union,  and  breaking  the  solemn  con- 
tract subsisting  between  the  two  countries. 
Instead  of  remedying  discontents,  the  mo- 
tion now  submitted  to  the  house  would  in- 
crease them,  and  induce  the  Irish  to  imagine 
that  their  own  legislature  was  regardless  of 
their  welfare.  The  motion  was  negatived ; 
and  a  similar  one,  made  two  days  after- 
wards in  the  house  of  commons,  by  Fox, 
was  also  lost. 

On  the  twentieth  of  July,  parliament  was 
prorogued  by  a  speech  from  the  throne,  in 
which  his  majesty  intimated  that  he  was 
again  engaged  in  a  negotiation  for  peace 
which  nothing  should  be  wanting  on  his 
part  to  bring  to  a  successful  termination,  on 
such  conditions  as  were  consistent  with  the 
security,  honor,  and  essential  interests  of  his 
dominions. 
NAVAL  OPERATIONS.— JERVIS'S  VICTORY. 

The  French  republic,  having  at  her  dis- 
posal the  navy  of  Spain  as  well  as  that  of 
Holland,  proposed  to  her  confederates,  that 
the  greatest  part  of  the  Spanish  navy  should 
sail  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  to  Brest, 
where,  being  joined  by  the  French  ships  of 
war  in  that  port,  they  sliould  afterwards 
form  a  junction  witli  tlie  Dutch  fleet ;  and 
that  this  armada,  then  swelled  to  upwards 
of  seventy  sail  of  the  line,  should  bear  down 
upon  England,  and  having  humbled  the  lofty 
pretensions  of  her  naval  power,  should  lay 
the  foundation  for  her  future  subjugation. 
To  frustrate  this  design,  a  fleet  under,  Sir 
John  Jervis  was  appointed  to  blockade  tlie 
port  of  Cadiz,  and  admiral  Duncan  was  sta- 
tioned off  the  coast  of  Holland,  to  watch 
the  movements  of  the  Dutch  fleet  in  the 
Texel.  Sir  John  Jervis  having  received  in- 
telligence, that  the  fleet  under  admiral  Don 
Joseph  de  Cordova  was  at  sea,  immediately 
set  sail  in  quest  of  it.  At  the  dawn  of  the 
fourteenth  of  February,  the  enemy  was  de- 
scried off"  Cape  St.  Vincent,  but,  as  the 
weather  happened  to  be  extremely  hazy,  it 


was  not  until  ten  o'clock  that  a  signal  from 
a  British  frigate  announced  the  enemy's 
fleet  to  consist  of  twenty-seven  sail  of  the 
line.  The  British  commander,  though  liis 
squadron  comprised  no  more  than  fifteen 
ships,  resolved  to  bring  them  to  action,  and 
at  half  past  eleven  o'clock  formed  in  the 
most  complete  order  of  saiJing  in  two  lines. 
By  carrying  a  press  of  sail  the  British  came 
down  upon  the  enemy  before  they  had  time 
to  form  in  order  of  battle;  and,  notwitli- 
standing  their  immense  superiority,  the  ad- 
miral ordered  the  fleet  to  bear  directly 
through  them,  which  was  gallantly  perforni- 
ed.  They  then  tacked,  and,  by  this  bold  and 
skilful  manoeuvre,  separated  about  one  third 
of  the  Spanish  ships  from  the  main  body, 
whith,  by  a  partial  cannonade,  were  pre- 
vented from  a  rej unction,  and  obliged  to  fall 
to  leeward.  By  the  great  exertions  of  the 
ships  which  had  the  good  fortune  to  come 
up  with  the  main  body  of  the  enemy  on  tlie 
larboard  tack,  four  of  their  ships  of  the  line 
were  captured  by  the  British,  and  the  action 
ceased  about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
This  brilliant  victory  ranks  among  those 
which  have  most  conspicuously  illustrated 
the  superior  skill  and  courage  of  British 
seamen,  and  much  to  the  credit  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, to  whom  the  Salvador  del 
Mundo,  of  one  hundred  and  tv»'elve  guns, 
struck.  Only  a  few  English  ships  were  en- 
gaged in  the  contest.  Commodore  Nelson, 
in  the  Captain,  of  seventy-four  guns,  distin- 
guished himself-  t  really,  by  boarding  the 
San  Nicolas  vv/d  ir-an  Josef  in  succession, 
in  which  he  ciny  lost  one  officer,  twenty 
seamen,  and  three  marines;  and  although 
the  slain  and  wounded  in  the  Spanish  ships 
could  not  be  less  than  twelve  hundred,  more 
than  half  that  number  being  diminished  hi 
the  crews  of  the  captured  ships  only,  tiie 
loss  of  the  British  did  not  exceed  three  hun- 
dred. Great  rejoicings  look  place  through- 
out the  nation  on  the  intelligence  of  this 
well-timed  victory;  the  fleet  was  honored 
with  the  thanks  of  both  houses  of  parlia- 
ment ;  the  king  conferred  the  title  of  earl 
St.  Vincent,  with  a  pension  of  three  thou- 
sand pounds  a-year,  on  the  admiral-in-chief; 
vice-admiral  Thompson,  and  rear-admiral 
Parker,  were  created  baronets ;  commodore 
Nelson  was  invested  with  the  order  of  the 
Bath ;  captain  Robert  Calder  was  knighted ; 
and  gold  medals  and  chains  were  presented 
to  all  the  commanders. 

DUNCAN'S  VICTORY. 
The  French  directory  having  embarked 
a  body  of  troops  on  board  the  Dutch  fleet  in 
the  Texel,  a  powerful  squadron  was  sent  to 
the  North  Sea,  under  the  command  of  ad- 
miral Duncan,  to  intercept  the  enemy.  In 
October,  when  the  British  admiral  had  re- 
turned to  Yarmouth  to  refit,  the  Dutch  fleet 


GEORGE  III.   17G0— 1820. 


425 


put  to  sea,  on  which  the  English  commander 
suddenly  returned  to  his  station.  The  com- 
mand of  the  enemy's  fleet,  which  was  some- 
what inferior  in  weight  of  metal  to  that  of 
the  British,  was  confided  to  admiral  de  Win- 
ter, who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
army  under  general  Pichegru ;  and,  on  his 
receiving  orders  to  risk  an  engagement,  the 
troops  were  disembarked.  No  sooner  had 
De  Winter  quitted  the  Texel  than  Captain 
Trollope,  who  had  been  stationed  with  a 
light  squadron  of  observation  at  the  mouth 
of  that  river,  gave  notice  of  his  approach ; 
and,  on  the  eleventh  of  October,  admiral 
Duncan  gave  orders  for  a  general  chase 
and  the  Dutch  ships  were  soon  discovered 
drawn  up  in  a  line  of  battle  on  the  larboard 
tack,  between  Camperdown  and  Egmont, 
the  land  being  about  nine  miles  to  leeward 
Admiral  Duncan,  whose  fleet  consisted  of 
sixteen  sail  of  the  line,  exclusive  of  frigates, 
finding  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  made 
the  signal  to  bear  up,  break  the  enemy's 
line,  and  engage  them  to  leeward,  each  ship 
her  opponent,  by  which  the  British  squadron 
placed  itself  between  the  enemy  and  the 
land,  whither  they  were  fast  approaching. 
The  admiral's  signal  being  obeyed  with 
promptitude,  vice-admiral  Onslow,  in  the 
Monarch,  bore  down  on  the  enemy's  rear  in 
the  most  gallant  manner,  his  division  follow- 
ing his  example ;  and  the  action  commenced 
about  forty  minutes  past  twelve  o'clock. 
The  Venerable,  which  was  admiral  Dun- 
can's flag-ship,  soon  got  through  the  enemy's 
line,  and  a  close  action  was  begun  on  their 
van,  which  lasted  nearly  two  hours  and  a 
half,  when  all  the  masts  of  the  Dutch  ad- 
miral's ship  were  observed  to  go  by  the 
board :  she  was,  however,  defended  for  some 
time  longer  in  a  most  gallant  manner ;  but, 
being  overpowered  by  numbers,  her  colors 
were  at  length  struck,  and  admiral  de  Win- 
ter was  brought  on  board  the  Venerable; 
soon  aft;er  the  ship  bearing  the  vice-admiral's 
flag  was  also  dismasted,  and  surrendered  to 
vice-admiral  Onslow ;  and  these,  with  three 
of  sixty-eight  guns,  two  of  sixty-four,  two 
of  fifty-six,  and  two  frigates,  were  taken 
possession  of  by  the  English.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  action,  rear-admiral  Storey,  who 
commanded  the  centre  division  of  the  Dutch 
fleet,  fled  for  the  Texel,  in  the  States-Gene- 
ral, of  seventy-four  guns,  with  part  of  his 
division,  and  afterwards  made  a  merit  of 
having  saved  part  of  the  fleet  The  British 
squadron  suffered  much  in  their  masts,  yards, 
and  rigging,  and  many  of  the  ships  lost  a 
great  number  of  men,  but  in  no  proportion 
to  that  of  the  enemy :  the  carnage  on  board 
the  two  ships  that  bore  the  admirals'  flags 
was  beyond  all  description,  and  did  not 
amount  to  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men  killed  and  wounded  on  board  each  ship.  I 
36* 


The  total  loss  of  the  British  was  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-one  killed,  and  five  hundred 
and  sixty  wounded,  while  the  loss  of  the 
enemy  must  have  been  more  than  double. 
When  the  battle  ended,  the  English  fleet 
was  within  five  miles  of  the  shore,  from 
whence  thousands  of  Dutch  spectators  wit- 
nessed the  destruction  of  their  navy,  every 
manoeuvre  being  distinctly  seen.  The  votes 
of  both  houses  of  parliament  greeted  the  ar- 
rival of  the  gallant  sailors ;  many  of  the 
captains  were  gratified  by  medals ;  the  ven- 
erable admiral  was  rewarded  by  the  king 
with  the  dignity  of  viscount  Duncan,  of 
Camperdown,  and  a  pension  of  three  thou- 
sand pounds  per  annum;  vice-admiral  On- 
slow was  created  a  baronet,  and  captains 
Trollope  and  Fairfax  knights  banneret. 

Rear-admiral  Nelson  bombarded  Cadiz  on 
the  twenty-third  of  June,  and  on  the  fiftii 
of  July,  but  without  materially  advancing 
the  objects  of  the  war. 

CAPTURE  OF  TRINIDAD.— FAILURE  AT 
PORTO  RICO  AND  SANTA  CRUZ. 
The  Spanish  island  of  Trinidad  capitu- 
lated to  an  expedition  consisting  of  six  sail 
of  the  line,  and  a  number  of  troops  fitted 
out  at  Port  Royal,  in  Martinico,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  and  ad- 
miral Harvey.  On  the  approach  of  the  Eng- 
lish, the  Spaniards,  who  had  a  squadron  of 
four  ships  of  the  line  and  one  frigate  lymg 
at  anchor  in  the  gulf  of  Paria,  set  fire  to 
their  ships ;  and  one  line-of-battle  ship  only, 
escaping  the  conflagration,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  victors :  the  governor  and  the 
garrison  were  made  prisoners  of  war.  The 
same  commanders  made  an  attempt,  in  the 
month  of  April,  on  Porto  Rico;  but  this 
island  being  found  too  strong  to  be  carried 
by  a  coup-de-main,  the  enterprise  totally 
failed. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  July,  a  British  expe- 
dition arrived  before  the  port  of  Santa  Cruz, 
commanded  by  rear-admiral  Nelson,  and 
having  effected  a  landing,  took  possession  of 
the  town ;  but  they  learned,  when  too  late, 
that  the  force  under  their  command  was  ut- 
terly unequal  either  to  carry  the  fort  of 
Santa  Cruz,  or  to  contend  with  the  military 
force  of  the  island  now  assembled  to  oppose 
them.  They  prepared  for  a  retreat,  but  had 
the  misfortune  to  find  that  the  violence  of 
the  surge  on  the  beach  had  staved  their 
boats,  and  reduced  them  to  a  mere  wreck. 
In  this  situation  they  were  summoned  by  the 
Spanish  commander  to  surrender,  which  was 
disdainfully  refused  by  captain  Troubridge, 
who  commanded  on  shore  after  rear-admiral 
Nelson  had  been  severely  wounded ;  but  he 
added,  that  if  he  were  allowed  to  reimbark, 
the  squadron  before  the  towTi  would  not  in- 
jure it.  To  this  the  captain  received  a  po- 
lite answer,  stating  that,  for  the  purpose  of 


426 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sparin_5  the  cifusion  of  blood,  facilities  would ! 
be  aftbrded  to  himself  and  his  followers  to' 
return  to  their  ships.  The  loss  of  lives  inj 
this  attempt  was  equal  to  that  sustained  in  ] 
the  battle  off  Cape  St.  Vincent.  I 

FRENCH  LAND  IN  WALES. 
The  French  government  now  menaced 
the  territory  of  Britain  itself,  by  assembling 
troops  on  the  coasts  of  the  channel,  under 
the  designation  of  the  army  of  England; 
and  Buonaparte  was  appointed  to  its  com- 
mand. In  the  early  part  of  this  year,  an 
attempt,  of  a  nature  quite  incomprehensible, 
was  made  on  the  coast  of  Wales,  by  an  ex- 
pedition fitted  out  at  the  port  of  Brest.  On 
the  twenty-second  of  February,  an  enemy's 
force,  which  entered  the  small  port  of  Ilfra- 
combe,  in  Devonshire,  scuttled  some  mer- 
chant-vessels, and  made  an  unsuccessful  ef- 
fort to  destroy  all  the  ships  in  the  harbor. 
This  invading  squadron,  which  consisted  of 
two  frigates  and  two  sloops,  next  steered  its 
course  for  the  bay  of  Cardigan,  where,  on 
the  following  day,  they  disembarked  about 
fifteen  hundred  criminals,  attired  as  French 
troops,  and  provided  with  a  proportionable 
quantity  of  arms  and  ammunition,  but  v/ith- 
out  field-pieces.  On  receiving  information 
of  this  event,  the  Welsh  peasantry,  animated 
by  the  gentry  of  the  country,  seized  their 
scythes,  sickles  and  pitch-forks,  and  marched 
forth  to  meet  the  invaders.  Lord  Cawdor 
had  assembled,  in  the  course  of  a  single  day, 
a  local  force,  consisting  of  seven  hundred 
militia,  fencibles,  and  yeomanry  cavalry ; 
and  the  French  commander,  perceiving  his 
situation  to  be  desperate,  after  having  dis- 
patched a  letter  to  his  lordship,  proposing  a 
capitulation,  surrendered  himself  and  his 
followers  prisoners  of  war  on  the  twenty- 
sixth.  The  two  frigates  which  accompanied 
the  expedition  were  captured  on  their  return 
to  Brest,  and  the  whole  proved  as  unfortu- 
nate in  the  execution  as  it  was  unaccounta- 
ble in  its  plan. 

SURRENDER  OF  MANTUA— EXPULSION 
OF  THE  AUSTRIANS  FROM  ITALY. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  year,  the 
Austrian  general  Alvinzi,  at  the  head  of 
fifty  thousand  well-appointed  troops,  and  a 
formidable  train  of  artillery,  formed  the  de- 
termination to  raise  the  blockade  of  Mantua, 
and,  liaving  attacked  and  carried  the  French 
position,  suddenly  passed  the  Brenta,  stormed 
the  town  of  Cortona,  and  obliged  a  body  of 
troops  under  Joubert  to  fall  back  upon  Ri- 
voli.  Buonaparte,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  at  Bologna,  was  no  sooner  apprized  of 
this  irruption,  than  he  repaired  to  the  heights 
of  San  Marco,  and  made  such  judicious  dis- 
positions that  Alvinzi,  who  expected  an  easy 
conquest,  soon  found  himself  surprised  and 
defeated.  The  garrison  of  Mantua,  now 
despairing  of  succor,  capitulated,  after  a 


long  and  brave  resistance,  on  the  second  cf 
February  ;  and  on  the  fall  of  this  important 
fortress,  by  which  the  imperial  arms  were 
expelled  from  Italy,  Buonaparte  published  a 
proclamation  to  his  army,  in  which  he  stated 
that  they  had  proved  victorious  in  fourteen 
pitched  battles,  and  in  seventy  engagements ; 
that  they  had  taken  from  the  enemy  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  prisoners,  five 
hundred  field-pieces,  and  two  thousand  large 
cannon ;  that  the  contributions  raised  in  th-e 
countries  conquered  by  them  had  supported, 
maintained,  and  paid  the  army,  during  the 
whole  campaign;  while  thirty  million  of 
livres  had  been  sent  to  the  minister  of 
finance  for  the  increase  of  the  public  trea- 
sure ;  and,  after  glancing  at  their  achieve- 
ments against  the  kings  and  princes  of  Italy, 
he  declared  it  to  be  his  intention  to  carry 
the  war  into  the  hereditary  states  of  Austria, 
and  requested  them  to  recollect  that  it  was 
liberty  they  were  about  to  present  to  the 
Hungarians,  whose  sovereign  had  disgraced 
himself  by  submitting  to  be  in  the  pay  and 
at  the  disposal  of  England. 

The  pope  had  imprudently  resumed  hos- 
tilities against  the  French,  and  was  now 
menaced  with  sudden  ruin.  Buonaparte  pub- 
lished a  proclamation,  in  which,  after  re- 
proaching the  holy  father  with  subterfuge 
and  perfidy,  he  threatened  all  who  opposed 
the  progress  of  the  republican  columns  witli 
the  most  exemplary  vengeance.  General 
Victor  immediately  entered  Imola,  and  the 
pontifical  army,  abandoning  the  fertile  plain? 
of  Romagna,  took  refuge  on  the  summits  of 
the  Apennines,  towards  the  sources  of  the 
Arno  and  the  Tiber;  the  towns  of  Cesena, 
Forli,  Ravenna,  and  the  March  of  Ancona 
submitted.  When  the  French  general  ar- 
rived at  Tolentino,  and  began  to  establish  a 
republican  form  of  government,  his  holiness, 
apprehensive  lest  he  should  march  to  the 
capital,  at  length  determined  to  negotiate. 
He  was  consequently  obliged  to  renounce 
all  claim  to  Avignon  and  the  Venaissin ;  to 
relinquish  the  three  legations  of  Bologna, 
Ferrara,  and  Romagna  ;  to  furnish  the  stat- 
ues, pictures,  and  treasure  stipulated  in  the 
former  convention ;  and  to  pay  a  large  sum 
of  money  towards  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

THE  FRENCH  COMPEL  THE  EMPEROR 
TO  MAKE  PEACE.— TREATY  OF  CAMPO 
FORMIO. 

A  GREAT  and  last  effort  was,  however, 
made  by  the  emperor,  in  collectmg  a  power- 
ful body  of  troops  between  the  Tagliamento 
and  tlie  Paive ;  while  the  French,  who  oc- 
cupied the  right  bank  of  the  latter  river,  and 
the  left  border  of  the  Arisio,  were  prepared 
to  oppose  their  progress.  A  variety  of  move- 
ments and  minor  actions  having  taken  place, 
general  Joubert  penetrated  to  the  banks  of 
the  Arisio,  where  he  engaged  the  Austrians, 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


427 


and  after  a  long  and  bloody  action,  during 
which  he  took  four  thousand  prisoners,  ob- 
tained possession  of  the  bridge  of  Neumark : 
a  second  battle,  equally  unfortunate,  was 
fought  soon  after  at  Trames,  and  the  French 
now  rushed  into  the  hereditary  dominions 
of  the  emperor :  Massena  seized  the  fort  of 
Chiusa,  the  bridge  of  Carasola,  and  the  town 
of  Tarvis,  while  Bernadotte  took  possession 
of  Gradisca,  the  capital  of  the  Frioul,  the 
capture  of  which  rendered  the  French  mas- 
ters of  all  the  Austrian  possessions  from  the 
Alps  to  the  sea.  Goritz  submitted  without 
resistance ;  Trieste,  the  only  port  in  the 
Adriatic  appertaining  to  the  emperor,  fol- 
lowed its  example ;  and,  while  scaling  the 
Norick  Alps,  still  covered  with  snow,  Buona- 
parte endeavored  to  conciliate  the  minds  of 
the  inhabitants  by  proclamations,  in  which 
he  declared  that  the  French  armies  were 
fighting  for  peace,  and  that  they  would  not 
fail  to  extend  protection  to  the  peaceable 
Tyroleans.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  March 
the  Austrians  were  again  beaten,  and  on  the 
thirtieth  the  whole  of  the  French  army  ar- 
rived in  the  capital  of  the  dutchy  of  Carin- 
thia.  The  greatest  consternation  now  pre- 
vailed in  Vienna,  which  was  the  avowed  ob- 
joct  of  the  French  arms :  on  the  other  hand, 
tiiough  Buonaparte  had  beaten  the  Austrians 
in  six  different  engagements,  and  destroyed 
one-half  of  their  army,  during  a  campaign 
that  had  lasted  only  twenty-one  days,  his 
situation  was  highly  critical.  The  natives 
of  the  mountainous  districts  were  attached 
by  habit  to  the  dominion  of  the  house  of 
Austria  ;  and  the  offer  of  liberty,  which  ex- 
hibited so  many  charms  to  the  fascinated  in- 
liabitants  of  the  valleys,  possessed  but  few 
blandishments  for  a  people  whose  patriarchal 
manners  were  as  yet  unchanged.  The 
numerous  defiles  oi  those  dreary  regions ; 
the  marked  enmity  of  the  peasantry ;  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  supplies ;  the  danger 
of  being  surrounded  ; — all  operated  power- 
fully on  the  mind  of  the  conqueror,  and  he 
found  it  necessary  to  affect  the  language  of 
moderation.  He  accordingly,  on  the  thirty- 
first  of  March,  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
archduke,  making  overtures  of  peace,  to 
which  the  Austrian  commander  replied  that 
he  was  not  furnished  with  any  powers  to 
negotiate ;  he,  however,  immediately  trans- 
mitted Buonaparte's  letter  to  Vienna,  and  in 
a  few  days  received  full  powers  from  the 
emperor ;  a  suspension  of  arms  took  place  ; 
and  on  the  eighteenth  of  April  a  preliminary 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  the  castle  of 
Eckenwald,  in  Styria,  which  has  since  been 
known  by  the  appellation  of  the  treaty  of 
Jjeoben,  and  which  served  as  the  foundation 
of  the  definitive  treaty  of  Campo  Formio. 

The  intelligence  of  the  preliminaries  of 
peace  being  signed  put  a  stop  to  the  progress 


of  the  French  armies  on  the  Rhine,  where 
they  had  also  been  victorious.  After  this 
treaty,  Augereau,  at  the  head  of  twenty-five 
thousand  men,  marched  mto  Venice,  and, 
seizing  on  the  arsenal  and  forts,  demanded 
the  three  inquisitors,  and  ten  principal  mem- 
bers of  the  senate,  who  were  accused  of 
having  instigated  their  countrymen  to  an 
assassination  of  the  French  soldiery.  In  a 
few  days  a  democratical  municipality  was 
installed ;  and  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment, finding  neither  commiseration  nor  re- 
spect from  the  people,  were  happy  in  being 
allowed  to  retire  from  their  native  country. 
In  Genoa,  also,  the  nobles  were  friendly  to 
the  Austrian  cause,  but  the  people  were  de- 
sirous of  a  popular  government.  Buonaparte, 
in  consequence,  soon  after  the  revolution  of 
Venice,  established  a  democratical  govern- 
ment in  Genoa ;  but  as  the  nobles  had  never 
shown  an  active  hostility,  and  made  no  ma- 
terial resistance  to  the  change,  they  escaped 
exactions. 

By  the  definitive  treaty  the  emperor  re- 
nounced all  right  and  title  to  the  Austrian 
Netherlands ;  and  consented  that  the  French 
republic  should  possess  in  full  sovereignty 
the  ci-devant  Venetian  islands,  viz.  Corfu, 
Zante,  Cephalonia,  and  the  other  islands  de- 
pendent thereon,  togetJier  with  their  settle- 
ments in  Albania.  The  French  republic 
consented  that  the  emperor  should  possess 
in  full  sovereignty,  Istria,  Dalmatia,  the 
Venetian  islands  in  the  Adriatic,  the  mouths 
of  the  Cataro,  the  city  of  Venice,  the  Vene- 
tian canals,  and  the  countries  lying  between 
the  hereditary  estates  and  the  Adriatic  seas ; 
the  emperor  acknowledging  the  Cisalpine 
republic,  founded  on  the  union  of  the  Cispa- 
dane  and  Transpadane  commonwealths,  as 
an  independent  power,  which  republic  com- 
posed the  ci-devant  Austrian  Lombardy,  tlie 
Bergamesque,  the  Brescian,  the  Cremon- 
esque,  the  Venetian  states  to  the  east  and 
south  of  the  Legner,  the  Modenese,  the 
principalities  of  Massa  and  Carara,  and  the 
three  legations  of  Bologna,  Ferrara,  and 
Romagna.  This  treaty,  which  was  concluded 
with  the  emperor  only  els  king  of  Hungary 
and  Bohemia,  the  pacification  of  the  empire 
with  the  French  republic  bemg  referred  to 
a  congress,  to  be  held  at  Rastadt,  was  imme- 
diately promulgated,  but  fourteen  secret  ar- 
ticles, highly  important  in  their  nature,  were 
for  a  time  concealed.  By  one  of  these  it 
was  agreed,  on  the  part  of  the  emperor,  to 
use  his  influence  that  the  French  republic 
should,  by  the  peace  to  be  concluded  with 
the  German  empire,  retain  as  its  boundary 
the  bank  of  the  Rhme,  from  the  confines  of 
Switzerland,  below  Basle,  to  the  branching 
of  the  Nette,  above  Andernach,  including 
the  head  of  the  bridge  of  Manheim,  the 
town  and  fortress  of  Mentz,  and  both  banks 


428 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  the  Nette,  from  whence  that  river  falls 
into  the  Rhine,  to  its  source  near  Bruch. 
His  imperial  majesty  also  agreed  to  use  his 
g-ood  offices  to  obtain  for  France  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Rhine,  the  Moselle,  and 
the  Mouse :  w^hile,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
republic  was  to  endeavor  to  acquire  for  the 
house  of  Austria  the  archbishopric  of  Saltz- 
burg,  and  part  of  tlie  circle  of  Bavaria.  On 
the  injustice  of  the  contracting  parties,  in 
combining  to  appropriate  to  themselves  the 
territories  of  independent  states,  over  which 
they  possessed  no  other  right  or  power  than 
that  which  always  appertains  to  the  strong- 
est, no  censure  can  be  too  severe. 

INTERNAL  AFFAIRS  OF  FRANCE. 
Soon  after  the  appointment  of  the  direc- 
tory, the  two  councils  coalesced  for  a  time 
with  the  terrorists,  in  order  to  crush  their 
mutual  enemies,  the  men  of  moderate  prin- 
ciples ;  but  the  success  of  this  plan  was  de- 
feated by  the  still  greater  enmity  which  sub- 
sisted between  those  terrorists  who  adhered 
to  Robespierre  to  the  last,  and  those  who 
brought  him  to  the  scaiFold.  After  the  con- 
spiracy of  May  1796,  the  directors  were 
more  circumspect  in  their  conduct  and  lan- 
guage ;  and  no  difference  occurred  between 
them  and  the  councils  till  the  new  election, 
which  took  place  in  the  spring  of  1797, 
when,  notwithstanding  all  the  intrigues  of 
the  directory,  and  all  the  manceuvres  of  the 
Jacobins,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  new  depu- 
ties were  adverse  to  the  present  system.  At 
length  the  time  came  for  one  of  the  direc- 
tors also  to  go  out  by  lot ;  and,  by  dint  of 
management,  it  was  contrived  that  the  lot 
should  fall  upon  Letourneur,  one  of  the 
weakest  characters  amongst  them.  He  ac- 
cordingly received  a  large  sum  of  money, 
was  appointed  to  the  post  of  ambassador, 
and  Barthelemi  was  chosen  to  succeed  him 
in  the  directory.  From  this  time  there  was 
a  majority  in  the  two  councils  opposed  to  the 
directory,  and,  during  the  summer  of  1797, 
a  regular  warfare  was  carried  on  between 
them,  in  messages  and  in  speeches.  The 
majority  of  the  nation  sided  with  the  coun- 
cils, and,  if  their  energy  had  been  equal  to 
the  goodness  of  their  cause,  there  could  have 
been  little  doubt  that  they  would  have  suc- 
ceeded in  their  efforts  to  give  a  better  con- 
stitution to  France  and  peace  to  Europe: 
their  opponents,  however,  were  better  versed 
in  the  revolutionary  tactics,  and  were  mas- 
ters of  the  army,  and  of  the  executive  power 
of  the  state.  An  article  of  the  constitution 
expressly  prohibited  the  army  from  delibe- 
rating on  any  subject  whatever ;  but  in  con- 
sequence of  applications  from  the  directory, 
who  had  connived  at  all  their  plunder  and 
extortion,  they  loudly  declared  themselves 
in  their  favor.  Buonaparte  made  all  the  di- 
visions of  the  army  of  Italy  present  peti- 


tions, of  a  threatening  nature,  against  tlie 
councils :  Moreau  and  Hoche  did  the  same 
with  their  armies  on  the  Rhine,  and  the  lat- 
ter was  pitched  upon  by  the  directory  to 
command  a  body  of  troops,  which  they  had 
ordered  to  Paris  to  destroy  their  enemies  in 
the  councils.  Another  article  of  the  con- 
stitution prohibited  the  approach  of  troops  to 
within  a  certain  distance  from  the  place  at 
which  the  legislative  body  held  its  sittings ; 
but  this  article  was  disregarded  by  the  di- 
rectory. Hoche,  alarmed  at  the  state  in 
which  he  found  thO  public  mind  on  his  ap- 
proach to  the  capital,  was  induced  to  decline 
the  commission ;  and  Augereau,  who  was 
originally  a  private  soldier  in  the  Neapolitan 
army,  but  now  a  favorite  general  with  Buo- 
naparte, was  employed  in  his  stead.  Auge- 
reau had  no  sooner  taken  the  command  of 
the  troops,  than  he  moved  forward,  and  pass- 
ed the  limit  prescribed  by  the  constitution : 
had  the  councils  acted  with  firmness  and  de- 
cision, they  might  still  have  succeeded  ;  but 
while  they  wasted  time  in  ascertaining  with 
precision,  whether  the  troops  had  really 
passed  the  constitutional  limit,  the  hall  in 
which  they  sat  was  suddenly  surrounded, 
and  most  of  the  chiefs  of  the  party  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  directory,  together  with  the 
new  director,  Barthelemi,  were  arrested 
without  the  smallest  resistance  or  difficulty, 
and,  being  placed  in  carriages,  resembling 
iron  cages,  previously  prepared  for  the  pur- 
pose, were  sent  to  Rochefort,  where  a  frigate 
waited  to  transport  them  to  the  pestilential 
deserts  of  Guiana.  The  remains  of  the  two 
councils,  who  no  longer  constituted  a  legiti- 
mate body  of  representatives,  and  who  were 
not  competent  to  perform  any  one  act  of  legis- 
lation, now  assembled  at  the  Odeon,  and 
conferred  on  the  directory,  by  a  formal  deci- 
sion, that  absolute  power  which  they  had 
usurped  in  breach  of  the  constitution.  The 
immediate  consequence  of  this  event  was 
the  triumph  of  Jacobinism,  and  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  a  revolutionary  government. 

The  princess  royal  of  England,  Charlotte 
Augusta  Matilda,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
sovereign,  was  married  on  the  eighteenth  of 
May,  to  Frederic  William,  hereditary  prince 
of  Wirtemburgh,  on  which  occasion  a  por- 
tion of  eighty  thousand  pounds  was  voted 
by  parliament  for  the  royal  bride.  On  the 
eighth  of  July,  Burke,  whose  talents  as  a 
political  writer  and  parliamentary  orator 
were  of  the  first  order,  died  at  his  seat  at 
Beaconsfield,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his 
age :  and  on  the  tenth  of  November  also 
died,  after  a  reign  of  eleven  years,  Frederic 
William  the  Second,  king  of  Prussia,  in  his 
fifty-fourth  year.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Frederic  William  the  Third,  who,  on 
his  accession,  adopted  such  measures  of  jus- 
tice and  prudence,  as  inspired  confidence  in 
his  subjects,  and  augured  a  happy  reign. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


429 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Negotiations  for  Peace  renewed  and  broken  off— Meeting  of  Parliament — Address  on 
the  King^s  Speech — On  the  late  Negotiation — Finance — Triple  Assessment — Vol- 
untary Contributions — Redemption  of  the  Land  Tax — Plans  for  National  Defenaj 
— Duel  between  Pitt  and  Tierney — Second  Estimate  of  Supplies — Slave  Trade — 
Tender  of  extended  Service  by  the  Militia — Volunteer  Corps — Origin  and  Progress 
of  the  Rebellion  in  Ireland — Severe  Contests  between  the  Military  and  Insurgents — 
Suppression  of  the  Rebellion — Trials  and  Executions  for  Treason — Lord  Cornwal- 
lis  appointed  Viceroy — Act  of  Amnesty — Objects  of  the  Rebellion — French  land  at 
Killala,  and  surrender — Naval  Victory  of  Sir  J.  B.  Warren — Close  of  the  Insurrec- 
tion in  Ireland. 


NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE  RENEWED 
AND  BROKEN  OFF. 

By  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  Great 
Britain  was  left  alone  in  her  contest  with 
France  ;  and,  on  the  first  of  June,  an  official 
note  from  lord  Grenville  to  de  la  Croix,  the 
French  minister  for  foreign  aflfairs,  commu- 
nicated the  desire  of  the  British  govern- 
ment to  negotiate  preliminaries,  which 
might  be  definitely  arranged  at  a  future  con- 
gress. The  French  government  replied, 
that  the  directory  would  receive  with  eager- 
ness the  overtures  and  proposals  which 
should  be  made  to  it  by  the  court  of  Eng- 
land, but  required,  for  the  purpose  of  avoid- 
ing delay,  that  the  negotiations  should  be 
rather  for  a  definite  than  for  a  preliminary 
treaty.  The  British  government  rejoined, 
that  it  would  depend  upon  the  progress  and 
turn  of  the  negotiations,  whether  prelhnina- 
ry  or  definitive  articles  should  be  signed. 
The  directory,  in  three  days  after  the  date 
of  lord  Grenville's  last  note,  transmitted  the 
necessary  passports  for  a  minister,  furnished 
with  full  powers  from  his  Britannic  majesty, 
for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  and  conclud- 
ing a  definitive  and  separate  treaty  of  peace ; 
and  fixed  upon  the  city  of  Lisle  as  the  place 
"f  meeting  for  the  respective  plenipotentia- 
ries. On  the  seventeenth  of  June,  lord  Gren- 
ville informed  de  la  Croix,  by  letter,  that  his 
majesty  had  again  made  choice  of  lord 
Malmsbury  to  represent  him  ;  to  which  the 
French  minister  assented,  intimating,  how- 
ever, that  another  choice  would  have  ap- 
peared to  the  directory  more  favorable  for 
the  speedy  conclusion  of  peace.  On  his  ar- 
rival at  Lisle,  his  lordsliip  was  met  by  the 
French  plenipotentiaries — Letourneur,  late 
member  of  the  directorial  council,  Pleville 
le  Pelley,  and  Hugues  Maret,  when  he  open- 
ed the  business  by  submitting  the  plan  of 
pacification  which  he  had  received  from  the 
British  ministry.  This  projet  required  the 
cession  of  the  colony  of  Trinidad,  on  the 
part  of  Spain ;  and  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  Cochin,  in  the  East  Indies,  and  the 


Dutch  possessions  in  Ceylon,  on  the  part  of 
Holland  ;  in  return  for  which  it  was  propos- 
ed that  Great  Britain  should  cede  all  the 
other  settlements  taken  from  France  and 
her  allies  in  the  course  of  the  war :  our 
minister  fiirther  required  the  restoration  of 
his  personal  property  to  the  prince  of  Or- 
ange, or  an  equivalent  in  money ;  and  that 
France  should  engage  to  procure  for  him,  at 
the  restoration  of  peace,  an  indemnity  for 
the  loss  of  the  United  Provinces  ;  that  Por- 
tugal should  be  included  in  the  treaty,  and 
that  no  demand  should  be  made  upon  that 
country  by  France. 

To  these  proposals  the  French  answered, 
that,  previously  to  entering  on  the  main 
business,  it  was  necessary  that  tln*ee  con- 
cessions should  be  made :  first,  that  his  Brit- 
annic majesty  should  resign  the  title  of  king 
of  France ;  secondly,  that  the  ships  taken 
and  destroyed  at  Toulon  should  be  restored, 
or  restitution  made  for  them ;  and,  thirdly, 
that  any  mortgage  which  England  might 
have  upon  the  Low  Countries,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  money  lent  to  the  emperor  of 
Germany,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  tlie 
war  against  France,  should  be  given  up. 
On  the  first  of  these  points  lord  Malmsbury 
observed,  that  on  all  former  occasions  a  sep- 
arate article  had  been  agreed  to,  whicli  ap- 
peared to  answer  every  purpose  tliey  requir- 
ed, and  which  it  was  his  intention,  as  the 
treaty  advanced,  to  have  proposed  as  proper 
to  make  a  part  of  this :  on  the  second,  he 
replied,  that  the  claim  of  restoring  the  ships 
was  so  perfectly  unlooked  for,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  have  been  provided  for 
it  m  his  instructions :  and,  on  the  tliird,  that, 
if  the  French  republic  had  taken  the  Low 
Countries  as  they  stood,  charged  with  all 
their  encumbrances,  there  could  be  no  doubt 
what  tliese  words  meant,  and  that,  if  no  ex- 
ception was  stfited  in  the  first  instance,  none 
could  be  made  with  a  retro-active  effect 
These  were  the  observations  tliat  occurretl 
to  him  on  the  first  mention  of  the  subjects 
to  which  they  had  adverted,  but  he  would 


430 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


transmit  the  claims  to  his  government  for 
consideration.  On  the  fifteenth  of  July  the 
French  plenipotentiaries  addressed  a  note  to 
lord  Malmsbury,  in  which  it  was  stated  that 
the  French  government,  unable  to  detach 
itself  from  the  engagements  which  it  had 
contracted  with  its  allies,  Spain  and  the  Ba- 
tavian  republic,  established,  as  an  indispen- 
sable preliminary  of  the  negotiation  for  the 
peace  with  England,  the  consent  of  his  Brit- 
annic majesty  to  the  restitution  of  all  the 
possessions  which  he  occupied,  not  only  from 
the  French  republic,  but,  further  and  formal- 
ly, of  those  of  Spain  and  the  Batavian  re- 
public. Lord  Malmsbury  replied,  that  this 
was,  in  effect,  to  declare  the  intention  of 
France  to  put  an  abrupt  termination  to  the 
treaty,  as  it  proposed  cessions  on  one  side 
without  any  compensation  on  the  other :  if 
this  were  the  resolution  of  the  directory, 
the  negotiation  was  at  an  end ;  and  it  only 
remained  for  Great  Britain  to  persevere  in 
maintaining,  with  an  energy  and  spirit  pro- 
portioned to  the  exigency,  a  war  that  could 
not  be  ended  but  by  yielding  to  terms  at 
once  disgraceful  and  unjust. 

It  was  then,  however,  notorious  to  all  Eu- 
rope, that  the  members  of  the  directory 
were  at  this  period  tottering  in  their  seats ; 
and  that,  during  the  delay  of  the  negotia- 
tion, their  attentions  were  confined  to  their 
own  preservation.  During  this  crisis,  an- 
other revolution,  as  has  already  been  relat- 
ed, took  place  in  France,  which  expelled 
two  of  its  members,  Barthelemi  and  Carnot, 
from  the  office  of  directors.  These  events 
led  to  the  recall  of  the  French  ambassadors, 
then  at  Lisle,  and  to  the  appointment  of  cit- 
izens Treilhard  and  Bonneir  d'Alco,  as  their 
successors;  a  change  not  more  unpleasant 
to  the  feelings  of  lord  Malmsbury  than  in- 
auspicious to  the  progress  of  the  negotiation. 
Immediately  after  their  first  interview,  on 
the  thirteenth  of  September,  lord  Malmsbu- 
ry was  required  to  inform  them  whether  he 
was  empowered  to  concede,  as  a  prelimina- 
ry, that  England  should  surrender  all  the 
possessions  she  had  gained  from  France  and 
her  allies  since  the  beginning  of  the  war : 
and  his  lordship  was  further  required  to  re- 
turn an  explicit  answer  in  the  course  of  the 
day.  On  the  sixteenth  his  lordship  address- 
ed a  note  to  the  French  plenipotentiaries,  in 
which  he  intimated  that  he  neither  could  nor 
ought  to  treat  upon  any  other  principle  than 
that  of  reciprocal  compensation,  a  principle 
which  had  been  formally  recognized  as  a  ba- 
sis equally  just,  honorable,  and  advantageous 
to  the  two  powers.  On  the  same  day  the 
French  ministers  apprized  his  lordship  of  a 
decree  of  the  executive  directory,  purport- 
ing, that  in  case  lord  Malmsbury  should  de- 
clare himself  not  to  have  the  necessary  pow- 
ers for  agreeing  to  all  the  restitutions,  which 


the  laws  and  the  treaties  that  bind  the 
French  republic  make  indispensable,  he 
shall  return  in  four  and  twenty  hours  to  his 
court,  to  ask  for  sufficient  powers.  The  ob- 
vious answer  to  this  imperious  mandate  was 
returned  by  his  lordship  in  a  note,  demand- 
ing the  necessary  passports  :  previously  to 
his  departure,  however,  another  meeting 
took  place,  in  which  his  lordship  urged  every 
consideration  that  might  induce  the  French 
ministers  Xo  recall  their  late  unwarrantable 
proposals,  but  without  effect ;  he  therefore 
took  his  departure  from  Lisle  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  eighteenth  of  September. 
MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

On  the  second  of  November  parliament 
assembled,  and  his  majesty  expressed  his 
firm  conviction  that  the  papers  laid  before 
the  two  houses  would  prove  to  them,  and  to 
the  world,  that  in  the  late  negotiations  at 
Lisle  every  step  had  been  taken  on  his  part 
which  could  tend  to  accelerate  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace ;  and  that  he  still  retained  an 
ardent  desire  for  the  attainment  of  that 
blessing.  When  the  king's  speech  came  to 
be  taken  into  consideration  by  the  commons, 
the  house  presented  an  extraordinary  ap- 
pearance ;  the  benches  on  the  left  of  the 
speaker's  chair  no  longer  exhibited  their 
usual  occupants.  Finding  their  counsels  re- 
jected, and  their  opposition  unavailing,  the 
opponents  of  ministers,  with  some  few  ex- 
ceptions, had  determined  to  withdraw  for  a 
time  from  their  places  in  parliament,  and  to 
leave  the  members  of  administration  to  pur- 
sue their  own  system  of  policy  without  con- 
trol, alleging  that  they  were  wearied  with 
attending  merely  to  be  outvoted,  and  re- 
proached by  the  ministerial  hirelings  as 
enemies  of  their  country.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  address  on  the  king's 
speech  was  voted  in  both  houses  without  a 
division. 

An  address  passed  both  houses  by  an  al- 
most unanimous  vote,  highly  applauding  the 
conduct  of  government,  and  expressing  a 
firm  determination  to  support  his  majesty  to 
the  utmost,  and  to  stand  or  fall  with  our  re- 
ligion, laws,  and  liberties.  It  was  consider- 
ed by  the  nation  at  large  that  the  concessions 
oflTered  by  England  at  Lisle  were  as  great 
as  it  was  proper  to  make,  and  that  the  claims 
of  France  were  highly  unreasonable  and 
unjust ;  a  great  portion  of  the  people  conse- 
quently evinced  a  renewal  of  ardor  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  war ;  and  the  secession 
of  the  opposition  from  parliament  being  dis- 
approved of  by  many,  the  ministry  acquired 
some  increase  of  popularity. 

FINANCE— TRIPLE  ASSESSMENT— RE- 
DEMPTION OF  THE  LAND-TAX. 
The  existing  restrictions  on   cash   pay- 
ments by  the  bank  of  England,  were  con- 
tinued by  an  act  of  this  session,  and  on  the 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


431 


twenty-second  of  November  Pitt  brought 
forward  his  annual  statement  relating  to  the 
public  finances.  The  whole  expense  of  the 
year  amounted  to  twenty-five  million  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  and,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  furnishing  a  supply  equal  to  this  im- 
mense demand,  Pitt  declared  it  to  be  his  in- 
tention to  have  recourse  to  a  perfectly  new 
and  solid  system  of  finance.  Of  this  sum, 
six  million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds 
Vv'ould  arise  from  the  unappropriated  pro- 
duce of  the  sinking  fund,  exchequer-bills, 
and  unmortgaged  taxes.  Of  the  nineteen 
million  pounds  then  remaining  to  be  pro- 
vided for,  he  proposed  to  raise  seven  w^ithin 
the  year,  by  a  new  impost,  under  the  desig- 
nation of  a  triple  assessment,  which  should 
be  regulated  by  the  existing  assessed  taxes, 
in  a  triplicate  proportion  to  their  actual 
amount,  limited,  however,  to  the  tenth  of 
each  person's  income ;  and  from  the  appli- 
cation of  this  principle  of  taxation  arose,  at 
subsequent  periods,  the  income  and  property 
taxes.  Of  the  remaining  twelve  million 
pounds,  four  might  be  Iwrrowed  without 
creating  an  additional  debt,  the  produce  of 
the  sinking  fund,  old  and  new,  appropriated 
to  the  purpose  of  liquidating  the  national 
debt,  being  equal  to  that  amount;  the  re- 
maining eight  million  pounds  he  proposed  to 
pay  by  continuing  the  triple  assessment  till 
the  principal  and  interest  were  discharged, 
which  would  be  the  operation  of  little  more 
than  another  year.  This  plan,  he  said,  would 
greatly  damp  the  hopes  of  the  enemy,  and 
show  to  him,  and  to  all  Europe,  that  our  na- 
tional resources  rose  in  proportion  to  the 
exigencies  of  our  situation.  He  acquiesced 
in  what  had  been  so  often  said,  that  it  would 
have  been  fortunate  if  the  practice  of  fund- 
ing had  never  been  introduced,  and  affirmed 
that  the  period  had  arrived  when  an  abso- 
lute necessity  existed  for  some  changes  of 
system.  Fox,  at  the  request  of  his  constitu- 
ent?, now  again  appeared  in  parliament,  and 
made  the  severest  animadversions  on  the 
new  scheme  of  finance,  which  was  also  op- 
posed by  Tiemey,  Sheridan,  Curwen,  and 
others.  During  the  progress  of  this  bill,  a 
clause  was  introduced,  on  the  motion  of  the 
roeaker,  to  admit  of  voluntary  contributions 
tov/ards  the  general  defence  of  the  country, 
now  menaced  with  invasion  by  a  powerfiil 
and  enraged  enemy;  and  the  sum  thus  rais- 
ed, under  the  sanction  of  parliament,  amount- 
ed to  one  million  five  hundred  thousand 
}v)unds,  to  which  the  bank  of  England  con- 
tributed two  hundred  thousand  pounds,  the 
king  twenty  thousand  pounds,  and  the  queen 
live  thousand  pounds,  out  of  their  private 
purses. 

1798. — The  redemption  of  the  land-tax 
was  brought  forward  on  the  second  of  April. 
The  revenue  at  that  time  derived  from  the  i 


tax  amounted  to  two  million  pounds.  This 
Pitt  proposed  to  sell  at  twenty  years'  pur- 
chase, when  the  three  per  cent  consols  were 
at  fifty,  subject  to  a  rise  in  the  price  to  pur- 
chasers, according  to  the  rise  of  stocks. 
Forty  millions  sterling,  the  present  amount 
of  the  land-tax  at  twenty  years'  purchase, 
would  amount  to  eighty  million  pounds  three 
per  cent  stock,  affording  an  interest  of  two 
million  four  hundred  thousand  pounds,  and 
leaving,  by  this  operation,  a  clear  annual 
gain  to  the  public  revenue  of  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  The  person  who  purchased 
his  share  of  the  land-tax,  would  obtain  a 
landed  security  of  his  property,  and  at  a  rate 
so  favorable  as  to  render  it  a  very  desirable 
object.  What  was  of  much  more  conse- 
quence to  tlie  interests  of  the  state,  eighty 
million  pounds  of  capital  would  be  taken  out 
of  the  market  The  proprietor  of  the  land 
was  of  course  to  have  the  right  of  pre-emp- 
tion ;  and,  to  sunplify  the  operation,  the  pur- 
chase was  to  be  made  in  stock,  not  in  mo- 
ney. The  bill  further  provided,  that,  if  the 
owner  of  the  land  should  not  be  ab:e  to 
make  the  purchase  within  a  time  to  be  lim- 
ited, a  further  period  should  be  allowed.  In 
the  absence  of  the  leading  members  of  op- 
position, this  bill  passed  into  a  law,  without 
encountering  any  considerable  difficulties ; 
but,  from  the  radical  defects  of  the  plan,  not 
more  than  about  one-fourth  part  of  the  land- 
tax  was,  within  the  space  of  the  three  suc- 
ceeding years,  bought  up,  and  the  advan- 
tage to  the  public,  in  point  of  revenue,  did 
not  within  that  period  exceed  fifty  thousand 
pounds  a-year.  At  the  same  time  that  the 
land-tax  at  four  shillings  in  the  pound  was 
made  perpetual,  certain  duties  to  the  amount 
of  that  tax,  on  sugar  and  tobacco,  were  ren- 
dered annual,  in  order  that  the  control  which 
parliament  previously  possessed  over  the 
public  purse  might  suffer  no  diminution. 
DUEL  BETWEEN  PITT  AND  TIERNEY. 
DuNDAS  moved  for  the  introduction  of  a 
bill,  to  enable  his  majesty  to  call  out  a  por- 
tion of  the  supplementary  militia;  and  a 
second  bill  was  introduced  for  the  encour- 
agement of  voluntary  associations  in  de- 
fence of  the  country.  This  call  was  promptly 
obeyed;  and  no  period  in  the  history  of 
Great  Britain  was  ever  distinguished  by 
more  striking  manifestations  of  patriotic 
feeling  and  military  ardor.  A  third  bill  was 
brought  into  the  house  by  Dundas,  for  the 
revival  of  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  act,  which,  when  a  rebellion  was 
impending  in  one  kingdom,  and  another  was 
in  daily  expectation  of  an  invasion,  could 
not  with  propriety  experience  any  opposi- 
tion. The  alien  bill,  for  removing  all  sus- 
picious foreigners  out  of  the  realm,  was  also 
renewed ;  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  May, 
Pitt,  convinced  that  the  dangers  of  the  coun- 


432 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITALN. 


try  were  continually  increasing  from  the 
vast  preparations  accumulating  on  the  coast 
of  France,  moved  for  a  bill  for  more  effectu- 
ally manning  the  navy.  The  chief  object 
he  had  in  view  w^as  the  temporary  suspen- 
sion of  the  protections  of  seamen,  and  he 
expressed  an  earnest  wish  that  the  bill  should 
pass  that  day  through  its  different  stages, 
with  a  suitable  pause  at  each  if  required, 
and  that  it  should  be  sent  to  the  lords  for 
their  concurrence.  Tierney  expressed  his 
belief  that  the  augmentation  of  the  navy 
might  be  provided  for  in  the  usual  way. 
The  very  extraordinary  manner  in  which 
the  liouse  was  called  upon  to  adopt  this 
measure  could  not  tail,  he  said,  to  create 
^reat  and  unnecessary  alarm ;  and,  indeed, 
from  all  he  had  lately  seen,  he  must  view 
the  measures  of  ministers  as  hostile  to  the 
liberty  of  the  subject.  Pitt,  with  consider- 
able warmth,  said  that,  if  every  measure 
adopted  against  the  designs  of  France  was 
to  be  considered  as  hostile  to  the  liberties 
of  this  country,  his  idea  of  liberty  differed 
widely  from  that  of  the  honorable  gentle- 
man. As  a  notice  of  the  intended  measure 
v/ould  enable  those  on  whom  it  was  meant 
to  operate  to  elude  its  effects,  how,  he  asked, 
could  the  honorable  gentleman's  opposition 
be  accounted  for,  but  from  a  desire  to  ob- 
struct the  defence  of  the  country?  Tierney 
then  rose,  and  called  him  to  order ;  on  which 
the  speaker  observed,  that  whatever  had  a 
tendency  to  throw  suspicion  on  the  senti- 
ments of  a  member,  if  conveyed  in  a  lan- 
guage that  clearly  marked  that  intention, 
was  certainly  irregular :  of  this  the  house 
would  judge  from  the  right  honorable  gen- 
tleman's explanation.  Pitt  said  that,  if^  the 
house  waited  for  his  explanation,  he  feared 
it  would  wait  a  long  time.  He  knew  very 
well  that  it  was  not  parliamentary  to  state 
the  motives  that  actuated  the  opinions  of 
members ;  but  it  was  impossible  to  go  into 
arguments  in  favor  of  a  question,  without 
sometimes  hinting  at  the  motives  that  in- 
duced an  opposition.  He  submitted  to  the 
Judgment  of  the  house  the  propriety  of  what 
he  had  urged,  but  he  would  not  depart  from 
anything  he  had  advanced  by  either  retrac- 
tion or  explanation.  Tierney  immediately 
left  the  house,  and  the  next  morning  sent 
Pitt  a  challenge.  On  Sunday  afternoon,  the 
twenty-seventh,  at  three  o'clock,  the  parties 
met  on  Putney-Heath,  when  two  cases  of 
pistols  being  discharged  without  effect,  Pitt 
firing  his  second  pistol  in  the  air,  the  sec- 
onds interfered,  and  the  matter  was  accom- 
modated. 

SECOND  ESTIMATE  OF   SUPPLIES— VOL- 
UNTEERING. 
TiiE  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  found 
himself  obliged,  as  in  the  last  session,  to 
lay  before  the  house  a  second  estimate  of 


supplies,  when  he  took  occasion  to  state 
that  the  loan  must  be  fifteen  instead  of 
twelve  million  pounds ;  and  that  the  triple 
assessment,  which  was  calculated  at  seven 
million  pounds,  would,  it  was  apprehended, 
from  the  numerous  modifications  and  abate- 
ments, be  reduced  to  four  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds.  The  interest  of  the 
increased  loan  and  deficiencies  he  estimated 
at  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand 
pounds,  which  he  proposed  to  provide  for  by 
additional  duties  on  salt,  tea,  dogs,  horses  and 
carriages,  and  by  a  tax  on  armorial  bearings. 
The  various  duties  on  houses  and  windows 
were,  at  the  same  time,  consolidated  into  on 
table. 

A  bill  for  regulating  the  shipping  and  car- 
rying of  slaves  in  British  vessels  from  Afri- 
ca, passed  by  a  great  majority. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  June,  a  message 
from  the  king  announced  that  various  regi- 
ments of  militia  had  made  a  voluntary  ten- 
der of  their  services,  to  be  employed  in  aid 
of  the  regular  and  militia  forces  in  Ire- 
land, for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  un- 
happily existing  in  that  country.  In  both 
houses,  an  address,  empowering  his  majesty 
to  accept  any  such  offers,  was  carried  after 
animated  debates;  and  bills,  founded  upon 
the  message,  were  passed,  previously  to  the 
prorogation  of  parliament  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  June. 

England  being  thus  deprived  of  about 
twelve  thousand  of  its  constitutional  de- 
fenders, though  still  under  the  imminent 
apprehension  of  an  invasion,  a  spirit  of 
military  ardor,  equal  to  any  exigency,  at 
once  seized  and  pervaded  the  whole  king- 
dom ;  and  all  ranks  and  orders  of  men  eager- 
ly formed  themselves  into  volunteer  corps, 
commanded  by  officers  of  their  own  choice, 
acting  under  temporary  commissions  from 
the  king. 

ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  IRISH 
REBELLION. 
Before  the  rebellion  of  Ireland  broke  out 
into  a  flame,  it  had  been  some  time  evident 
that  a  dark  and  dangerous  connexion  was 
carrying  on  between  the  society  of  United 
Irishmen  and  the  French  government,  hav- 
ing for  its  aim  nothing  less  than  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  connexion  between  the  two  king- 
doms. In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
century,  the  changes  which  occurred  in  the 
royal  dynasty,  civil  government,  and  reli- 
gion of  England,  had  involved  Ireland, 
whicli  had  adhered  to  the  ancient  lineage 
and  authorities,  in  the  imputed  guilt  of  re- 
bellion, and  subjected  her  to  religious  pro- 
scription, and  the  estates  forfeited  on  the  sup- 
pression of  the.se  msurrections  were  granted 
to  English  settlers,  who  generally  difforinf^ 
in  religious  principles,  and  engrossing  politi- 
cal power,  W'Cre  always  regarded  by  the 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


433 


native  Irish  as  intruders  and  plunderers, 
from  whence  arose  a  jealousy  and  antipathy 
which  time  has  not  yet  been  able  to  eradi- 
cate. 

Tlie  British  government,  having  seen  the 
fatal  effects  of  coercive  measures  in  the 
case  of  America,  had  since  adopted  towards 
Ireland  a  more  liberal  and  enlightened  sys- 
tem of  policy.  The  penal  statutes  against 
the  Roman  Catholics  were  in  a  great  degree 
repealed ;  they  held  their  land  on  the  like 
terms  with  the  Protestants;  they  enjoyed, 
in  short,  every  right  and  franchise  in  com- 
mon with  tlio  former,  saving  the  offices  of 
state,  the  privilege  of  sitting  in  parliament, 
the  necessity  of  supporting  the  Protestant 
church  besides  their  own  clergy,  and  the 
partiality  with  which,  notwithstanding  the 
late  mitigation  of  the  penal  code,  the  gov- 
ernment of  Ireland  continued  to  be  admin- 
istered. The  society  of  United  Irishmen, 
projected  and  organized  by  Theobald  Wolfe 
Tone,  an  Irish  lawyer  of  distinguished  tal- 
ents, proposed  to  connect  the  whole  Irish 
nation  together,  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing a  general  melioration  of  their  condition, 
by  a  reform  of  parliament,  and  an  equaliza- 
tion of  Catholic  with  Protestant  privileges, 
without  any  exception,  civil  or  political. 
The  Protestants,  persuaded  that,  whatever 
their  real  purpose  might  be,  the  ferment 
they  were  agitating  must  be  inimical  to  the 
existing  establishments,  formed  counter  as- 
sociations, and  assumed  the  name  of  Orange- 
men, in  honor  of  king  William,  whom  they 
consider  as  the  vindicator  of  Protestant  se- 
curity, and  the  establisher  of  Protestant 
property  and  power  in  Ireland,  although  that 
monarch  was  more  liberal  and  tolerant  to 
tlie  Irish  Catholics,  than  his  ministers  and 
some  of  his  successors.  The  Orangemen 
proposing  to  disarm  the  Catholics,  bodies  of 
these  associated  to  resist  the  attempt,  and 
assumed  the  name  of  Defenders,  and  va- 
rious feuds  took  place,  accompanied  with 
irrevd  disorder  and  some  bloodshed.  The 
United  Irishmen  did  not  immediately  amal- 
^mate  with  tlie  Defenders,  who  were  rather 
violently  outrageous  than  systematically  de- 
signing; in  them,  however,  they  saw  will- 
ing instruments  when  their  own  deep-laid 
schemes  should  be  ripe  for  execution. 
Whether  the  designs  of  these  associates 
were  originally  to  effect  a  complete  separa- 
tion of  Ireland  from  Britain  has  not  been 
ascertained  as  a  fact,  but  that  in  the  pro- 
gress of  their  concert  they  had  formed  such 
n  project  is  beyond  all  doubt ;  and  in  justice 
to  tJhc  Catholics  it  must  be  observed,  that 
the  conspirators  were  not  exclusively,  or 
even  originally,  of  that  community :  the  so- 
ciety of  United  Irishmen  having  been  in- 
stituted chiefly  among  Protestaiite,  reform 
and    Catholic  eioancipation  were  uwd  bv 

Vol.  IV.  37 


the  leaders  of  the  malcontents  rather  to  en- 
trap the  unwary,  than  as  the  true  object  of 
those  under  whose  banners  the  great  mass 
of  the  disaffected  were  preparing  to  shed 
their  blood. 

In  the  year  1794,  the  French  government 
had  sent  an  agent,  named  Jackson,  a  cler- 
gyman of  the  established  church  of  England, 
and  a  native  of  Ireland,  into  these  king- 
doms, to  acquire  intelligence;  and  he  at 
first  took  up  his  residence  at  the  house  of 
a  merchant  of  the  name  of  Stone,  at  Old- 
ford,  near  London;  but  finding  that  the 
project  of  an  invasion  of  England  was  hope- 
less, he  repaired  to  Ireland,  whence  he  car- 
ried on  a  correspondence  with  his  friend, 
the  English  merchant.  They  were  both, 
however,  soon  aflerwards  apprehended  and 
tried  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  when 
Stone  was  pronounced  not  guilty,  but  Jack- 
son was  convicted ;  and  at  the  moment  when 
sentence  of  death  was  about  to  be  passed 
upon  him,  he  fell  down  suddenly,  and  ex- 
fpired  in  the  court.  On  this  conviction. 
Tone,  Hamilton  Rowan,  and  some  other  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  society  of  United 
Irishmen,  absconded  to  France ;  but,  soon 
after  the  departure  of  earl  Fitzwilliam  from 
Ireland  in  1795,  that  society  received  an 
important  accession  of  men  of  talents  and 
influence,  among  whom  were  Arthur  O'Con- 
nor, late  a  member  of  the  Irish  parliament, 
the  nephew  and  presumptive  heir  of  lord 
Longueville ;  Dr.  M'Niven,  chairman  of  the 
Catholic  committee  ;^  Oliver  Bond,  an  opu- 
lent Dublin  merchant ;  and  a  barrister  named 
Emmet — all  of  whom,  except  M'Niven, 
were  Protestants.  About  the  close  of  that 
year,  a  regular  communication  was  opened 
by  the  leaders  of  the  society  with  the 
PVench  directory,  through  the  medium  of 
Tone  and  other  Irish  refugees;  and  early 
in  the  following  year  a  proposition  was  re- 
ceived from  the  French  government,  and 
accepted  by  the  secret  committee  of  the 
society  of  United  Irishmen,  to  •  send  over  an 
army  to  Ireland,  to  assist  in  the  projected 
e^ort  to  subvert  the  monarchy,  and  to  sepa- 
rate Ireland  from  the  British  connexion. 
The  first  agents  of  the  insurgents  demand- 
ed from  France  any  number  of  troops,  not 
more  than  ten  or  less  than  five  thousand ; 
but  the  French  showed  a  decided  inclina- 
tion to  send  an  army  sufficient  to  conquer 
and  to  retain  possession  of  the  country — 
fifly  or  sixty  thousand  at  least.  Three  ar- 
maments, one  from  Spain,  a  second  from 
France,  and  a  third  from  Holland,  were 
destined  to  sail  for  the  coast  of  Ireland  in 
the  same  year ;  but  the  defeat  of  the  Span- 
ish fleet  by  earl  St  Vincent,  and  that  of  the 
Batavian  fleet  by  lord  Duncan,  entirely  dis- 
concerted this  plan  of  invasion.  These  dis- 
asters by  no  meane  discouraged  the  ineur- 


434 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


gents,  who  had  their  expectations  buoyed 
up  by  an  assurance,  on  the  part  of  the 
French  directory,  that  such  succors  as  cir- 
cumstances would  admit  should  arrive  in 
Ireland  from  France,  in  the  month  of  April 
or  May,  1798.  At  the  commencement  of 
this  year  a  grand  effort  was  resolved  upon : 
in  the  month  of  February,  a  military  com- 
mission was  appointed  by  the  executive 
council  of  the  insurgents,  and  nocturnal  as- 
semblies were  held  in  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  where  the  people  were  trained  to 
the  use  of  arras.  At  the  same  time,  Arthur 
O'Connor,  one  of  the  pretended  executive 
directory,  repaired  to  London  with  an  inten- 
tion of  proceeding  to  France,  in  comjKmy 
with  Binns,  a  very  active  member  of  the 
London  corresponding  society,  Coigley,  an 
Irish  priest,  and  two  attendants  of  the  names 
of  Alien  and  Leary.  Attempts  had  like- 
wise been  recently  made,  with  some  suc- 
cess, to  form  a  society  of  United  English- 
men on  the  model  of  the  United  Irish,  and 
Coigley  and  Binns  were  the  chief  promoters 
of  this  design,  which  also  extended  itself  to 
Scotland. 

O'Connor  and  his  associates  were  taken 
into  custody  at  Margate,  in  an  attempt  to  ob- 
tain a  passage  to  France,  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  February.  After  being  confined 
some  time  m  the  Tower,  they  were  remov- 
ed to  Maidstone,  where  they  were  tried  by 
a  special  commission  on  the  twenty-first  and 
twenty-second  of  May,  two  days  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  in  Ireland ;  and 
Coigley,  on  whose  person  was  found  a  paper, 
purporting  to  be  an  address  "  from  the  secret 
committee  of  England  to  the  executive  di- 
rectory of  France,"  was  capitally  convicted, 
and  died  with  heroic  fortitude  in  what  he 
considered  the  cause  of  his  country.  No 
evidence  appearing  against  Allen  and  Lea- 
ry, they  were  immediately  set  at  liberty ;  but 
O'Connor  and  Binns  were  detained  on  an- 
other charge  of  high  treason,  preferred 
against  them  by  the  British  government. 
On  the  twelfth  of  March,  thirteen  members 
of  the  provincial  committee  of  Leinster,  with 
otlier  principals  of  the  conspiracy,  were  ar- 
rested at  the  house  of  Oliver  Bond  in  Dublia 
This  arrest  was  grounded  on  the  information 
of  Thomas  Reynolds,  of  Kilkea  Castle,  in  the 
county  of  Kildare,  who  had  associated  with 
the  conspirators,  and  was  colonel  of  a  regi- 
ment of  United  Irishmen,  and  provincial 
delegate  for  Leinster.  In  these  arrests  were 
included  the  most  active  and  efficient  lead- 
ers of  the  union, — ^Emmet,  M'Niven,  and 
Bond,  being  among  the  number. 

A  warrant  was  issued  against  lord  Edward 
Fit2gera]d,  and  a  thousand  pounds  oflTtjred 
for  his  apprehension;  but  his  lordship  re- 
mained for  several  weeks  concealed  in  the 
city  of  Dublin:  however,  he  was  digcov  ered. 


on  the  nineteenth  of  May ;  and,  in  arresting 
him,  he  wounded  Justice  Swan  dangerously, 
and  captahi  Ryan  mortally ;  he  was  himself 
so  desperately  shot  in  the  shoulder,  that,  af- 
ter languishing  till  the  third  of  the  following 
month,  he  died  in  extreme  agony.  This 
young  nobleman,  who  was  brother  to  the 
duke  of  Leinster,  and  married  to  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  duke  of  Orleans,  was  emi- 
nently qualified  for  the  excitement  and  di- 
rection of  revolutionary  commotions,  being 
a  man  of  daring  courage,  a  most  active 
spirit,  considerable  powers  of  mind,  and  of 
a  family  highly  respected  for  its  ancient 
greatness  by  the  lower  classes  of  the  Irish. 
The  vacancies  created  in  the  directorial  and 
other  departments,  by  these  arrests,  were  sup- 
plied without  difficulty,  but  with  men  much 
less  fit  for  the  arduous  task  of  overturning  a 
settled  government.  Among  the  members 
of  the  new  directory  were  two  brothers,  bar- 
risters, of  the  name  of  Sheares,  to  whom 
captain  Armstrong,  a  government  agent, 
found  ready  access,  and,  by  a  show  of  great 
zeal  in  the  cause,  obtained  the  confidence 
of  the  leaders,  from  whom  he  learned  that 
a  general  rising  must  immediately  take 
place;  that  the  impatience  of  the  people, 
since  the  criminal  prosecutions,  could  no 
longer  be  restrained ;  and  that  it  was  be- 
come necessary  to  make  a  great  and  imme- 
diate national  effort,  without  waiting  for 
French  succors.  The  plan  proposed  was  to 
seize  the  camp  of  Loughlin's  town,  the  ar- 
tillery at  Chapel  izod,  and  the  castle  of  Dub- 
lin, all  on  the  night  of  the  twenty-third  of 
May :  and  it  was  further  determined,  that  a 
simultaneous  rising  should  take  place  at 
Cork :  on  the  twenty-first,  however,  the  two 
brothers,  John  and  Henry  Sheares,  with 
some  others  of  the  principal  conspirators, 
were  apprehended ;  the  city  and  county  of 
Dublin  were  declared,  by  the  lord-lieutenant 
and  council,  to  be  in  a  state  of  insurrection ; 
the  guards  at  the  castle,  and  at  all  the  great 
objects  of  attack,  were  trebled;  and  the 
whole  city  was,  in  fact,  converted  into  a 
garrison.  Amongst  the  precautions  taken 
on  this  occasion  by  government  was  the 
augmentation  of  the  several  corps  of  armed 
yeomanry, — a  species  of  force  that  was  first 
embodied  in  the  month  of  October  1796,  in 
a  kind  of  independent  companies.  These  ' 
yeomanry  corps  were  mostly  cavalry,  and 
were  generally  commanded  by  a  captain  and 
two  lieutenants ;  the  infantry  being  armed 
like  a  regular  army,  and  the  cavalry  furnish- 
ed with  a  pistol  and  sword  each,  to  which 
sometimes  a  carbine  was  added.  In  six 
months  from  their  first  establishment,  the 
numbers  increased  to  thirty-seven  thousand ; 
and,  during  the  rebellion,  the  yeomanry  force 
exceeded  fifty  thougand. 

Of  tJie  means  ac:-u.aiu]ated  bv  the  disaf- 


GEORGE  in.  1760—1820. 


435 


fected,  for  carrying  their  revolutionary  en- 
terprises into  effect,  some  estimate  may  be 
made  from  the  following  facts : — A  paper,  in 
his  own  hand-writing,  was  given  by  lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald  to  Reynolds,  the  inform- 
er, which  purported  to  be  a  return  made  by 
a  national  committee,  on  the  twenty-sixth 
of  February  1798,  from  which  it  appeared, 
that  the  number  of  armed  men  in  Ulster, 
Leinster,  and  Munster,  amounted  to  two 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  ninety-six,  and  that  the  sum  of 
one  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-five 
pounds  four  shillings  and  nine  pence,  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  treasurer.  Another  return 
made  by  a  meeting  of  colonels,  held  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  March  1798,  reported,  that 
their  adherents,  even  among  the  king's 
troops,  were  in  the  proportion  of  one  in  every 
three,  and  that  the  insurgents  were  in  suf- 
cient  force  to  disarm  all  the  military  within 
the  bounds  of  their  own  counties. 

Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  having  been  ap- 
pointed, on  the  twelfth  of  December  1797, 
commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  in  Ireland, 
his  first  step  in  the  discharge  of  his  public 
duty  was  to  make  a  tour  of  observation 
throughout  the  island.  The  excesses  com- 
mitted by  the  military  in  the  provinces,  call- 
ed down  severe  reprehension;  and  on  his 
return  to  the  capital  he  caused  it  to  be  noti- 
fied, in  general  orders,  "  that  the  irregular- 
ities of  the  troops  in  Ireland  had  too  unfor- 
tunately proved  the  army  to  be  in  a  state  of 
licentiousness,  which  must  render  it  formi- 
dable to  every  one  but  the  enemy."  The 
general,  after  the  publication  of  his  general 
orders,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  obser- 
vations he  had  made  in  his  recent  view  of 
the  country,  endeavored  to  impress  the  minds 
of  those  in  power  with  his  own  opinions, 
that  coercive  measures  to  the  extent  deter- 
mined upon  were  by  no  means  necessary  in 
Ireland.  But  not  having  succeeded  in  pro- 
ducing the  effect  he  intended  by  these  re- 
presentations, and  unwilling  to  tarnish  his 
military  fame,  or  to  risk  the  loss  of  his  hu- 
mane and  manly  character  by  leading  troops 
to  scenes  of  civil  desolation,  he  resigned  the 
chief  command  of  the  army  in  Ireland  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  April,  after  holding  that 
appointment  little  more  than  four  months, 
and  was  succeeded  by  general  Lake.  In 
the  month  of  March  orders  were  issued  to 
the  army  by  the  lord-lieutenant  to  proceed 
into  the  disturbed  counties ;  and  a  manifesto, 
dated  from  head-quarters  at  Kildare,  was  on 
the  third  of  the  ensuing  month  addressed  to 
the  inhabitants,  requiring  them  to  surrender 
their  arms  in  the  space  of  ten  days  from  the 
notice,  on  pain  of  large  bodies  of  troops  be- 
kig  distributed  among  them  to  live  at  free 
quarters ;  promising  at  the  same  time  to  re- 
ward such  as  would  give  information  of  con- 


cealed arms  or  ammunition,  but  denouncing 
exemplary  severities  if  the  country  should 
continue  in  a  disturbed  state.  On  the  ad- 
vance of  the  military  into  the  other  coun- 
ties, a  similar  notice  was  given  to  the  inhab- 
itants, and  the  troops  in  the  county  of  Kil- 
dare, and  part  of  those  in  the  counties  of 
Carlow  and  Wicklow,  were  quartered  in  the 
houses  of  the  disaffected  or  suspected,  in 
numbers  proportioned  to  the  supposed  guilt 
and  ability  of  the  owners.  Great  numbers 
of  houses  with  their  furniture  were  burnt, 
where  concealed  arms  were  found,  or  whose 
occupants  had  been  guilty  of  the  fabrication 
of  pikes,  or  other  illegal  practices  for  the 
promotion  of  the  conspiracy.  Many  irregu- 
larities were  of  course  committed  by  com- 
mon soldiers,  without  the  approbation  or 
knowledge  of  their  officers,  and  many  other 
acts  of  severity  by  persons  not  m  the  army ; 
some  from  an  unfeigned  zeal  for  the  service 
of  the  crown,  and  others  to  promote  sinister 
purposes,  or  to  gratify  a  spirit  of  personal 
animosity. 

The  rebel  chiefs  had  decided  on  open 
war,  and  the  twenty-third  of  May  was  the 
day  appointed  for  the  general  rising  of  the 
country. 

The  command  of  the  rebel  army  after  the 
arrest  of  lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  devolved 
upon  Samuel  Neilson,  who  meditated  an  at- 
tack upon  Newgate,  in  the  city  of  Dublin, 
for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  his  lordship. 
With  this  view  he  assembled  fifteen  of  the 
insurgent  colonels  on  the  night  of  the  twen- 
ty-second of  May,  and,  having  produced  a 
map  of  the  city,  he  assigned  to  each  of  them 
the  post  which  they  and  their  regiments 
were  to  occupy.  The  prison  and  the  vice- 
regal residence  were  marked  out  as  the  first 
objects  of  attack,  and  the  latter  edifice  was 
to  be  assailed  in  front  and  rear  by  different 
parties,  while  a  select  band  was  to  ascend 
by  ladders  into  the  apartments  of  the  prin- 
cipal members  of  government,  and  to  secure 
their  persons.  Nor  was  it  intended  that  the 
insurrection  should  be  confined  merely  to 
the  metropolis ;  the  plan  embraced  the  whole 
kingdom,  and  the  signal  for  the  general 
rising  was  to  be  the  stoppage  of  the  mail- 
coaches.  This  part  of  the  project  was  in- 
deed carried  into  eflfect,  for,  on  the  twenty- 
third,  the  Belfast  mail-coach  was  detained 
and  burnt  at  Santry,  the  Cork  mail  at  Naas, 
and  that  travelling  in  the  direction  of  Ath- 
lone  at  Lucan ;  but  the  rebels,  not  satisfied 
with  detaining  the  Limerick  mail,  barba- 
rously murdered  both  the  guard  and  coach- 
man near  the  Curragh  of  Kildare.  Early  in 
the  morning  of  the  twenty-third,  all  the  yeo- 
men in  the  city,  amounting  to  about  three 
thousand  five  hundred,  and  the  few  military 
in  the  garrison,  were  ordered  by  general 
Lake  to  repair  to  the  respective  alarm-posts, 


436 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


while  the  lord-mayor  placed  the  Cork  mili- 
tia, with  two  battalion  guns,  at  the  north 
side  of  St  Stephen's  green.  It  fortunately 
happened  that  the  royal  canal  and  the  grand 
canal,  each  fifty  feet  broad  and  eight  feet 
deep,  formed  a  complete  fortification  on  the 
north  and  south  sides  of  the  city ;  and  all 
the  bridges  being  occupied  by  military,  the 
conmiunication  with  the  disaflfected  from 
without  was  in  a  considerable  degree  cut  ofi^ 

CONTESTS  BETWEEN  THE  MILITARY 

AND  INSURGENTS 
This  operation  was  not,  however,  carried 
into  complete  effect,  as  nearly  three  thou- 
sand men  entered  the  city  to  the  north,  on 
the  evenm^  of  the  twenty-third,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  joining  the  insurgents.  A  large 
body  of  rebels,  armed  with  pikes  and  mus- 
kets, assembled  in  Eccles-street,  and  its  en- 
virons, as  well  as  in  various  other  parts  of 
the  city,  and  great  numbers  were  advancing 
towards  Dublin,  with  an  intention  of  rush- 
ing into  the  city,  as  soon  as  the  insurgents 
had  carried  the  castle.  At  this  crisis,  Neil - 
son,  the  rebel  chief,  was  apprehended  in  the 
streets,  by  one  Greig,  after  a  desperate 
struggle;  and  on  their  leader  being  com- 
mitted to  prison,  several  thousand  rebels, 
who  were  waiting  with  impatience  the  sig- 
nal of  attack,  dispersed  in  various  directions. 
The  plan  of  the  rebels  was,  it  appeared,  to 
assemble  by  beat  of  drum ;  and  it  is  well 
known,  observes  Sir  Richard  Musgrave,  in 
his  Memoirs  of  the  Rebellion,  that,  in  an- 
other hour,  the  fate  of  the  city  and  its  loyal 
inhabitants  would  have  been  decided ;  for 
the  mass  of  the  people,  armed  with  pikes 
and  other  weapons,  were  lurking  in  hues 
and  by-places,  ready  to  start  forth  on  the 
first  beat  of  their  drums,  and  would  have 
occupied  all  the  streets,  and  assassinated  the 
yeomen,  before  they  could  have  reached 
their  respective  stations.  On  the  night  of 
the  twenty-third,  and  during  the  following 
day,  several  skirmishes  were  fought  in  the 
counties  adjoining  the  seat  of  government, 
and  the  towns  of  Naas,  Clane,  Prosperous, 
Ballymore,  Eustace,  and  Kilcullen,  were  at- 
tacked by  the  insurgent  force  ;  and  Carlow, 
Hacketstown,  and  Monastereven,  had  to 
withstand  similar  assaults  on  the  two  follow- 
ing days.  These  feeble  and  unconnected  ef- 
forts were  not  countenanced  by  a  general 
rising ;  for  Ulster,  in  which  province  alone 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  United  Irish- 
men are  said  to  have  been  enrolled  and  mus- 
tered, declined  the  contest,  in  consequence 
of  the  unpromising  state  of  their  affairs ;  and 
the  progress  of  rebellion,  unsanctioned  even 
by  the  formality  of  a  manifesto,  had  hitherto 
rather  resembled  the  capricious  freaks  of  a 
discontented  mob,  than  the  united  efforts  of 
a  large  portion  of  the  nation.  War  being 
openly  commenced  by  the  conspirators,  the 


lord-lieutenant  issued  a  proclamation  on  the 
twenty-fourth,  giving  notice  that  orders 
were  conveyed  to  all  his  majesty's  general 
officers  in  Ireland,  to  punish  according  to 
martial  law,  by  death  or  otherwise,  all  per- 
sons aiding  the  rebellion ;  and  the  following 
day  presented  an  opportunity  for  carrying 
into  effect  these  heavy  denunciations.  On 
the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  an  unusually 
large  assemblage  of  the  insurgents  in  tlie 
neighborhood  of  Carlow,  forty  miles  south- 
west of  Dublin,  indicated  that  an  attack  on 
that  place  had  been  decided  upon,  and,  on 
the  day  following,  the  garrison,  consisting 
of  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  men,  under 
colonel  Mahon,  was  assailed  by  a  body  of 
one  thousand  or  one  thousand  five  hundred 
insurgents.  On  their  advance  into  the  town, 
they  received  so  destructive  a  fire  from  the 
garrison,  that  they  recoiled,  and  endeavored 
to  retreat,  but,  finding  their  flight  intercept- 
ed, numbers  took  refuge  in  the  houses,  which 
being  immediately  fired  by  the  soldiery,  they 
met  a  miserable  fate.  The  loss  of  the  rebels 
on  this  occasion  could  not  be  estimated  at 
less  than  five  hundred,  while  not  an  individ- 
ual on  the  side  of  the  loyalists  was  even 
wounded ;  and,  after  the  defeat,  about  two 
hundred  insurgents  were  hanged  or  shot 

On  the  night  of  the  twenty-sixth  of  May, 
the  standard  of  rebellion  was  hoisted  le- 
tween  Gorey  and  Wexford,  and  father  John 
Murphy,  a  Romish  priest,  of  Boulavogue, 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  insurgents, 
two  large  bodies  of  whom,  both  men  and 
women,  were  coHected  on  the  follovving  day, 
being  Whit-Suiiuuy,  one  on  the  hill  of  Ou- 
lart,  the  other  on  Kilthomas  hill,  the  latter 
of  which,  amounting  to  from  two  to  three 
thousand,  and  commanded  by  Michael  Mur- 
phy, another  Romish  priest,  were  attacked 
by  about  three  hundred  yeomen,  who  ad- 
vanced intrepidly  up  the  hill,  when  the  rebel 
force,  notwithstanding  their  superior  num- 
bers, retreated  in  disorder,  leaving  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  their  companions  dead  on 
the  field.  The  assailants,  not  satisfied  with 
a  victory  so  honorable  to  their  skill  and  cour- 
age, tarnished  the  laurels  of  the  day  by 
burning  two  Romish  chapels,  and  about  one 
hundred  cabins  and  farm-houses  belonging 
to  persons  of  that  community,  in  their  line 
of  march.  Very  different  from  the  battle  of 
Kilthomas  was  the  result  of  another  action 
fought  on  the  same  day,  on  the  hill  of  Ou- 
lart,  where  father  John  Murphy  commanded 
in  person.  The  insurgents,  finding  their  re- 
treat cut  off",  attacked  their  opponents  with 
an  impetuosity  that  overthrew  all  opposi- 
tion ;  and  so  successful  were  their  efforts, 
that  a  whole  picked  detachment  of  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  men,  from  the  north  Cork  mili- 
tia, was  slain,  with  the  exception  of  colonel 
Foote  and  four  of  his  men ;  while  the  losa 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


437 


of  the  rebels  waa  only  three  killed  and  six  i 
wounded.  Father  John,  flushed  with  victo- 
ry, advanced  to  Enniscorthy,  and  that  place 
was  attacked  on  the  twenty-eighth  by  a  reb- 
el force  amounting  to  seven  thousand,  of 
which  about  eight  hundred  were  armed  with 
muskets.  Victory,  which  fluctuated  for  three 
hours,  at  length  took  her  stand  in  the  rebel 
ranks,  and  the  military,  having  no  caimon  to 
support  them,  were  driven  to  the  necessity 
of  sounding  a  retreat. 

The  next  position  of  the  insurgents  was 
at  Vinegar-hill,  near  Enniscorthy.  While 
they  halted  at  this  place  on  the  twenty-ninth, 
John  Henry  Colclough,  of  Ballyteig,  and 
Edward  Fitzgerald,  of  Newpark,  who,  with 
Beauchamp  Bagnel  Harvey,  of  Bargycastle, 
had  previously  been  committed  by  the  loyal- 
ists to  the  prison  at  Wexford,  on  suspicion 
of  having  favored  the  rebel  cause,  were  dis- 
patched with  a  commission  to  endeavor  to 
prevail  on  them  to  disperse.  This  unprom- 
ising mission  entirely  failed ;  and  Colclough 
was  ordered  to  return  to  Wexford,  whSe 
Fitzgerald  was  detained.  So  prompt  were 
the  rebels  in  their  movements,  that  before 
the  evening  of  the  same  day  their  advanced 
guard  was  pushed  forward  to  Three  Rocks, 
withm  three  miles  of  Wexford,  and  that 
eminence  fixed  upon  as  one  of  their  future 
military  stations.  On  their  approach  the 
consternation  of  the  inhabitants  of  Wexford 
became  extreme;  suspicion  haunted  every 
bosom ;  and,  as  a  measure  of  precaution,  or- 
ders were  issued  to  extinguish  all  the  fires, 
even  those  of  the  bakers,  and  to  unroof  all 
the  thatched  houses  in  the  town,  to  prevent 
the  incendiary  operations  of  the  disaffected. 
In  this  extremity  multitudes  repaired  for 
refuge  on  board  the  ships  in  the  harbor ;  the 
shops  were  all  shut,  and  many  of  the  affright- 
ed inhabitants  sought  security  in  flight.  The 
military  force  at  this  time  in  Wexford 
amounted  to  about  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred men,  whilst  the  rebels  were  at  least 
fifteen  thousand.  It  was  announced  to  the 
garrison,  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  that 
general  Fawcett  was  marching  from  the  fort 
of  Duncannon,  and  that  his  arrival  with  a 
strong  reinforcement  might  be  hourly  ex- 
pected. The  general,  having  arrived  in  the 
night  at  Taghmon,  pushed  forward  a  small 
detachment,  which  was  unfortunately  inter- 
cepted on  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth,  near 
the  camp  at  Three  Rocks,  and  after  a  sharp 
engagement,  in  which  a  majority  of  their 
number  was  killed,  the  survivors  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  general,  on 
receiving  the  account  of  this  disaster,  re- 
treated precipitately  towards  Duncannon, 
with  which  the  troops  in  Wexford  were  un- 
acquainted for  several  hours;  and  colonel 
Maxwell,  acting  upon  the  supposition  that 
the  general  would  be  able  to  take  the  rebels 
37* 


in  the  rear,  while  he  attacked  them  in  front, 
sallied  forth  from  the  town  on  the  following 
morning,  taking  with  him  the  principal  part 
of  the  regular  force  at  that  time  in  the  gar- 
rison ;  but  this  operation  proved  altogether 
unsuccessfiil.  On  the  return  of  the  troops  a 
council  of  war  was  hastily  assembled,  when 
it  was  determined  to  evacuate  the  town,  into 
which  the  insurgents  poured  by  thousands, 
shouting,  and  exhibiting  every  mark  of  ex- 
travagant exultation.  Their  first  step  was 
to  proceed  to  the  prison,  whence  they  in- 
stantly liberated  Harvey,  and  insisted  that 
he  should  become  their  commander.  The 
inhabitants,  rendered  hospitable  by  their 
fears,  entertained  them  with  great  profusion, 
and,  after  various  scenes  of  disorder,  natu- 
rally attendant  on  such  an  occasion,  parties 
were  dispatched  in  boats  to  bring  on  shore 
all  the  men,  arms,  and  ammunition  they 
could  find  on  board  the  vessels  in  the  harbor ; 
and  those  who  were  recognized  as  having 
rendered  themselves  obnoxious  to  these  san- 
guinary wretches  were  pierced  with  pikes 
upon  the  beach. 

The  night  of  the  thirtieth  passed  in  com- 
parative tranquillity ;  but  early  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  thirty-first  the  streets  were  again 
crowded,  and  the  confusion  and  plunder  of 
the  preceding  day  recommenced.  After 
much  entreaty,  the  insurgent  force  was  in- 
duced to  move  out  of  the  town,  and  encamp 
on  WindmJll-hills,  where  they  divided  into 
two  bodies ;  there  remained,  however,  a  kind 
of  rebel  authority  in  the  place,  which  as- 
sumed the  office  of  supplying  the  camps,  and 
issuing  proclamations. 

By  this  time  the  insurrection  had  become 
general  throughout  the  county,  except  where 
the  people  were  kept  down  by  the  presence 
of  the  military  ;  all  the  forges,  both  in  town 
and  country,  were  in  consequence  continu- 
ally employed  in  fabricating  pike-blades; 
and  four  oyster-smacks  were  fitted  out  in  the 
harbor,  to  cruise  oflf  the  bay,  and  to  bring  in 
vessels  laden  with  provisions,  to  supply  the 
markets,  which  were  totally  deserted  by  the 
farmers.  All  specie  seemed  to  have  van- 
ished during  the  insurrection ;  and  bank 
notes  were  held  in  such  low  estimation,  that 
great  quantities  of  them  were  destroyed  in 
lighting  tobacco-pipes,  and  in  wadding  for 
firelocks.  So  much  indeed  was  the  value 
of  paper  money  depreciated,  and  of  specie 
advanced,  that  a  pound  of  beef  was  regularly 
sold  in  the  market  of  Wexford  for  one  penny 
in  cash,  when  a  bank  note  of  the  nominal 
value  of  twenty  shillings  would  not  purchase 
the  same  weight  of  that  commodity.  Whilst 
the  southern  part  of  the  county  of  Wexford 
was  in  this  horrible  state  of  commotion,  the 
northern  baronies  towards  Gorey  were  all 
frightfully  agitated.  On  the  morning  of  the 
first  of  Junes  the  garrison  of  Bunclody,  three 


438 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


miles  from  Enniscorthy,  consisting  of  five 
hundred  men,  was  attacked  by  a  detachment 
of  rebels,  from  the  camp  at  Vinegar-hill, 
amounting-  to  about  five  thousand,  and  com- 
manded by  father  Kern,  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary stature,  strength,  and  ferocity.  After 
a  sharp  engagement,  during  which  the  loyal- 
ists were  at  one  time  obliged  to  quit  the 
town,  the  assailants  were  at  length  defeated, 
with  the  loss  of  about  two  hundred  slain, 
while  that  of  the  victors  amounted  only  to 
two  privates.  This  victory  was  of  no  small 
importance,  as  a  different  result  would  have 
opened  a  way  for  the  Wexford  rebels  into 
the  county  of  Carlow,  the  rismg  of  whose 
inhabitants  to  co-operate  with  those  of  Wick 
low  and  Kildare,  already  in  arms,  must  have 
given  great  embarrassment  to  government, 

A  division  of  the  Wexford  rebels,  under 
Beauchamp  Bagnel  Harvey,  advanced  to  the 
south-west,  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  New 
Ross ;  but  the  capture  of  the  town  was  an 
object  of  considerable  difficulty,  as  the  gar- 
rison consisted  of  one  thousand  two  hundred 
effective  men,  exclusive  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yeomen,  who  had  been  for  some  time 
prepared  for  the  attack,  and  were  all  judi- 
ciously stationed.  About  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  fifth  of  June,  thirty  thousand 
insurgents,  about  one-fourth  armed  with 
muskets,  and  the  remainder  with  pikes, 
marched  up  to  the  place  with  great  bravery, 
drove  in  the  advanced  guard,  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  alarm  post.  The  first  onset 
was  furious,  but  they  were  repulsed  by  a  de- 
tachment of  the  fifth  dragoons  ;  they,  how- 
ever, instantly  rallied,  and  notwithstanding 
cannon  were  planted  at  the  cross  lanes,  so  as 
to  sweep  the  streets  as  they  advanced,  such 
were  the  weight  and  impetuosity  of  the  col- 
umn formed  by  the  assailants,  that  the  main 
body  of  the  garrison  fled  over  the  bridge 
with  great  precipitation.  The  commanding 
officer,  however,  having  reanimated  his  men, 
contrived  to  turn  the  rear  of  the  assailants, 
who  were  now  dispersed  and  overcome  ;  and, 
as  raw  troops  can  never  be  rallied,  they  re- 
treated with  the  utmost  speed,  after  a  con- 
test of  several  hours,  first  to  Corbet,  and 
then  to  Carrickbyrne-hills.  The  slaughter 
of  the  rebels  was  prodigious :  the  king's 
troops  lost  about  ninety  men  killed,  among 
whom  was  lord  Mountjoy,  colonel  of  the 
Dublin  militia,  and  the  wounded  and  missing 
amounted  to  about  one  hundred  and  thirty. 
Enraged  at  this  defeat,  some  dastardly  rebels 
turned  their  fiiry  against  objects  incapable 
of  resistance,  and  more  than  one  hundred 
Protestant  loyalists  were  wantonly  and  bar- 
barously massacred  in  cold  blood. 

The  army  under  father  Michael  Murphy, 
about  twenty  thousand  strong,  advanced 
against  Arklow  on  the  ninth  of  June.  The 
attack,  which  continued  for  upwards  of  two 


hours,  was  fierce  and  irregular ;  but  the  in- 
cessant fire  of  the  troops  rendered  all  their 
efforts  abortive,  and  they  were  never  able  to 
penetrate  into  the  place.  At  length  father 
Michael,  after  haranguing  his  followers,  ad- 
vanced with  a  standard  on  which  a  cross  had 
been  emblazoned  ;  but,  though  he  had  repre- 
sented himself  to  be  invulnerable,  he  was 
killed  by  a  cannon-shot,  on  which  his  troops 
instantly  retreated  in  disorder  towards  Cool- 
grency.  The  insurgent  army,  now  under 
the  command  of  general  Byrne,  next  medi- 
tated an  attack  on  Hacketstown ;  but  the 
approach  of  general  Lake  compelled  them 
to  abandon  that  design,  and  to  commence 
their  retreat,  on  the  twentieth,  for  Vinegar- 
hill.  The  division  of  the  army  under  gene- 
ral Needham  moved  from  Arklow  to  Gorey 
on  the  nineteenth,  and  from  thence  towards 
Enniscorthy  on  the  twentieth,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  co-operating  in  a  plan  formed  by 
general  Lake  for  surrounding  the  rebel  sta- 
tion at  Vinegar-hill.  For  this  purpose  dififer- 
ent  divisions  of  the  army  moved  at  the  same 
time  from  various  quarters — that  under  lieu- 
tenant-general Dundas  from  Baltinglass ;  an- 
other, under  majors-general  Sir  James  Duff 
and  Loftus,  from  Tullow ;  that  from  Arklow 
under  general  Needham ;  and  a  fourth  from 
Ross,  under  majors-general  Johnson  and  Eus- 
tace. On  the  march  of  the  army  fi-om  Ross, 
the  rebel  bands  under  father  Philip  Roche, 
on  Lacken-hill,  fled  in  the  utmost  confusion, 
and  separated  into  two  bodies,  one  of  which 
directed  its  march  to  Wexford,  and  the  other 
to  Vinegar-hill.  This  famous  eminence, 
with  the  town  of  Enniscorthy  at  its  foot, 
and  the  country  for  many  miles  in  circum- 
ference, had  been  in  the  possession  of  the 
rebels  ever  since  the  twenty-eighth  of 
May,  during  which  period  continual  appre- 
hension of  death  had  attended  the  hapless 
loyalists  who  had  not  succeeded  in  effecting 
their  escape.  The  army  commanded  to 
march  from  different  quarters  to  surround 
this  post  consisted,  in  the  whole,  of  about 
thirteen  thousand  effective  men,  with  a  for- 
midable train  of  artillery  ;  and  with  such  a 
strength,  judiciously  directed,  the  whole  in- 
surgent army,  estimated  at  twenty  thousand, 
miglit  have  been  taken  or  destroyed.  Tho 
troops,  being  divided  into  four  distinct  col 
umns,  advanced,  early  in  the  morning  of  the 
twenty-first,  against  the  insurgents;  while 
a  fifth,  under  general  Johnson,  having  car- 
ried the  town  of  Enniscorthy,  scaled  the 
heights  in  different  directions ;  but,  notwith- 
standing these  formidable  preparations,  the 
revolters  were  enabled,  from  the  strengtli 
of  their  position,  to  defend  the  line  during 
an  hour  and  a  half;  and  it  was  not  until 
they  were  outflanked,  and  nearly  surround- 
ed, that  they  gave  way,  leaving  behind  them 
thirteen  light  field-pieces.     The  slaughter 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


430 


was  immense,  for  no  quarter  seems  to  have 
been  given  upon  this  occasion;  and  those 
who  escaped  the  musket,  when  overtaken, 
perished  by  the  bayonet ;  whilst  the  king's 
troops  hacl  not  above  one  hundred  either 
killed  or  wounded.  The  action  was  less 
bloody  than  might  have  been  supposed,  as 
the  troops  under  general  Needham,  being 
imable  to  reach  the  position  assigned  them, 
left  an  opening  through  which  the  rebels  re- 
treated, and  which,  from  that  circumstance, 
was  ludicrously  called  Needham's  gap. 
Through  this  opening  an  immense  column 
retreated  by  the  east  side  of  the  Slaney, 
part  of  which  entered  Wexford  ;  while  an- 
other and  more  numerous  detachment,  head- 
ed by  the  chiefs.  Murphy  and  Roche,  reached 
the  Three  Rocks,  and,  having  held  a  hasty 
council  of  war,  marched  across  the  moun- 
tains to  the  county  of  Kilkenny.  Wexford 
was  relieved  on  the  same  day  as  Enniscor- 
thy  ;  brigadier-general  Moore,  whose  troops 
had,  on  the  preceding  day,  vanquished  a  rebel 
force  of  five  or  six  thousand  men  at  Goffs- 
bridge,  near  Hore-town,  having,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  twenty-first,  received  a  proposal 
from  the  inhabitants  to  surrender  the  town, 
and  to  return  to  their  allegiance,  provided  he 
would  guaranty  their  lives  and  property. 
Tills  proposal  general  Moore  felt  it  his  duty 
to  transmit  to  general  Lake,  and,  marching 
directly  for  Wexford,  he  stationed  his  army 
within  a  mile  of  that  place,  the  loyalists  of 
v/hich,  like  those  of  Enniscorthy,  had,  since 
it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents,  been 
in  a  state  of  incessant  apprehension  and  suf- 
fering. 

SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  REBELLION. 

The  Wexford  insurgents,  in  the  hope  that 
their  offer  of  surrender  would  be  acceded 
to  by  general  Lake,  and  conscious  that  it 
was  impossible  to  oppose  any  effectual  re- 
sistance to  the  overwhelming  force  brought 
against  them,  liberated  lord  Kingsborough, 
who  had  been  some  time  a  prisoner,  and  on 
tiie  twenty-first  surrendered  the  town  into 
his  hands.  Contrary  to  their  hopes,  general 
I^ake  insisted  upon  the  unconditional  sur- 
render of  the  place ;  and,  in  his  answer  to 
their  proposal,  informed  the  inliabitants  that 
no  terms  could  be  granted  to  rebels  in  arms 
against  their  sovereign.  On  the  evacuation 
of  the  town  by  the  main  body  of  insurgents, 
part  of  them,  under  Fitzgerald,  Perry,  and 
Edward  Roche,  passed  over  the  bridge  to 
the  eastern  side  of  the  river  Slaney,  and  the 
rest,  under  father  Philip  Roche,  in  an  oppo- 
site direction,  into  the  barony  of  Forth. 

The  body  of  rebels  which  had  retreated 
from  Vinegar-hill,  and  penetrated  into  the 
county  of  Kilkenny  by  the  Scullagh-gap, 
which  separates  the  counties  of  Carlow  and 
Wexford,  burned  tlie  village  of  Killedmond, 
and  proceeded  to  Goresbridge,   under  the 


command  of  father  John  Murphy,  of  Boula- 
vogue.  Having  advanced  in  column,  they 
were  opposed  by  lieutenant  Dixon,  who  in 
vain  endeavored  to  maintain  his  post  against 
their  overwhelming  disparity  of  force ;  but 
their  succese  was  of  short  duration,  for  they 
were  pursued  by  general  Dunn  and  Sir 
Charles  Asgill,  and  totally  defeated,  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  June,  at  Kilcomney-hill, 
with  a  loss  of  from  two  to  three  hundred 
slain,  and  ten  light  pieces  of  cannon  taken, 
with  seven  hundred  horses,  and  all  the  rest 
of  their  plunder.  Murphy,  the  commander- 
in-chief,  who  fled  from  the  field  of  battle, 
was  taken  soon  after,  and,  being  conducted 
to  the  head-quarters  of  general  Sir  James 
Duff,  at  Tullow,  was  hanged  the  same  day, 
and  his  head  placed  on  the  market-house. 

In  the  south  the  spirit  of  rebellion  was 
now  happily  approaching  to  its  termination ; 
and  in  the  north  the  disaffected  Protestants, 
shocked  at  the  enormities  perpetrated  and 
the  intolerance  displayed,  and  scandalized 
by  the  pretended  miracles  wrought  by  the 
blood-stained  priests,  Roche  and  Murphy,  de- 
termined to  resist  the  seduction.  They  in- 
deed found  means  to  keep  possession  of  An- 
trim for  a  few  days,  though,  on  being  attack- 
ed with  cannon  and  musketry  on  the  seventh 
of  June,  they  were  driven  out  of  the  town 
with  the  loss  of  about  two  hundred  slain, 
but  not  until  lord  O'Neill,  who  commanded 
a  regiment  of  Irish  militia,  had  been  mortal- 
ly wounded.  They  were  also  repulsed  in 
an  ill-concerted  attack  on  Carrickfergus ; 
and  at  Ballynahinch  they  received  a  total 
overthrow.  On  the  subsiding  of  this  minor 
rebellion  in  Ulster,  another  local  rising  took 
place  in  Munster,  which  was  easily  sup- 


After  the  signal  defeat  of  the  rebels  at 
Vinegar-hill,  and  their  consequent  expulsion 
from  Enniscorthy,  Wexford,  &c.,  a  consider- 
able number  dispersed,  and  returned  to  their 
usual  occupations.  The  more  desperate  re- 
tired to  the  mountainous  parts  of  Wexford 
and  Wicklow  counties,  where,  for  a  while, 
they  waged  a  desultory  warfare,  but  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks  were  completely  sub- 
dued ;  and  those  who  still  resisted  might 
rather  be  considered  as  small  companies  of 
banditti,  who  lurked  in  the  woods  and  moun- 
tains, and  committed  nocturnal  depredations, 
than  as  an  embodied  force.  At  length  the 
insurgent  chiefs,  Fitzgerald  and  Byrne,  sur- 
rendered to  generals  Dundas  and  Moore ; 
and  this  sanguinary  insurrection,  which 
broke  out  on  the  twenty-third  of  May,  and 
raged  with  intense  fury  till  the  twenty- 
second  of  the  following  month,  was  finally 
extinguished  on  the  twelfth  of  July. 
TRIALS  AND  EXECUTIONS  FOR  TREASON. 

Dublin,  having  escaped  the  horrors  of 
insurrection,  now  became  the  theatre  of  pub- 


440 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


lie  justice.  The  first  person  brought  to  trial 
was  a  rebel  chief  of  the  name  of  Bacon,  in 
an  extensive  line  of  business  in  the  metrop- 
olis, and  of  the  Protestant  persuasion,  who, 
being  found  guilty  of  high  treason,  was  ex- 
ecuted ;  Esmond,  a  Roman  Catholic,  of  good 
estate  and  respectably  connected,  who  was 
convicted  of  heading  the  rebel  forces,  also 
suffered  about  the  same  time;  Henry  and 
John  Sheares,  the  sons  of  a  banker  at  Cork, 
and  educated  for  the  bar,  were  condemned 
on  the  clearest  evidence,  and  executed  in 
the  front  of  Newgate.  The  trial  of  John 
M'Cann,  secretary  to  the  provincial  com- 
mittee of  Leinster,  followed  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  July,  and  he  suffered  with  Michael 
William  Byrne,  delegate  for  the  committee 
of  Wicklow.  Oliver  Bond,  a  man  of  con- 
siderable fortune,  and  one  of  the  principal 
conspirators,  at  whose  house  the  Leinster 
delegates  had  been  arrested  on  the  twelfth 
of  March,  was  arraigned  for  high  treason  on 
the  twenty-third  of  July,  and  his  trial  con- 
tinued till  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  twenty-fourth,  when  he  was  convicted. 
These  trials  were  all  by  jury ;  but  in  Wex- 
ford, and  other  parts  of  the  country,  the 
more  summary  tribunals  of  courts-martial 
were  resorted  to.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of 
June  Matthew  Keugh,  the  rebel  governor 
of  Wexford ;  the  Rev.  Philip  Roche,  the 
general ;  and  seven  others,  having  been  pre- 
viously convicted,  were  brought  to  the  bridge 
at  Wexford,  and  executed.  Among  the  per- 
sons who  suffered  for  high  treason  on  the 
same  bridge  were  Beauchamp  Bagnel  Har- 
vey, John  Henry  Colclough,  and  Cornelius 
Grogan.  The  two  former,  who  had  quitted 
the  rebel  army  soon  after  the  battle  of  Ross, 
disgusted,  as  they  declared  in  their  last  mo- 
ments, with  the  cruelties  and  oppression 
which  had  been  exercised  on  those  who  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  rebellious  mob,  were 
discovered  and  taken  in  a  cave  on  one  of  the 
Saltee  islands,  or  rather  rocks,  which  lie  in 
tlie  entrance  of  Wexford  harbor :  Grogan,  a 
penurious  old  gentleman,  died  possessed  of 
an  estate  of  eight  thousand  pounds  a-year. 
In  the  town  of  Wexford  alone,  not  fewer 
than  sixty-five  persons  were  executed  for 
the  crimes  of  rebellion  and  murder. 

LORD  CORN  WALLIS  APPOINTED  VICEROY 
—ACT  OF  AMNESTY.— OBJECTS  OF  THE 
REBELUON. 

The  marquis  Cornwallis  was  appointed  to 
succeed  earl  Camden,  and  made  his  entrance 
into  the  capital  on  the  twentieth  of  June. 
He  united  conciliation  with  firmness ;  and, 
whilst  displaying  a  system  of  moderation 
and  mercy  to  the  infatuated  rabble,  did  not 
fail  to  make  example  of  those  who  had  mis- 
led them.  On  the  third  of  July  a  procla- 
mation firom  the  new  viceroy  appeared  in 
the  Dublin  gazette,  authorizing  hia  majeaty*s 


generals  to  afibrd  protection  to  such  insur- 
gents as,  having  been  simply  guilty  of  re- 
bellion, should  surrender  their  arms,  abjure 
all  unlawful  engagements,  and  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance.  To  give  the  full  sanction 
of  law  to  this  measure,  a  message  was  de- 
livered from  his  excellency  to  the  Irish  par- 
liament, on  the  seventeenth,  on  which  was 
grounded  an  act  of  amnesty  to  all  who,  not 
being  leaders,  had  not  committed  man- 
slaughter, except  in  the  heat  of  battle,  and 
who  should  comply  with  the  conditions  of 
the  proclamation.  This  act  was  followed  by 
a  treaty  between  the  government  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  United  Irishmen,  negotiated 
by  Mr.  counsellor  Dobbs,  a  member  of  the 
house  of  commons,  bearmg  date  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  July,  and  expressed  in  the  follow- 
ing terms: — "That  the  undersigned  state 
prisoners,  in  the  three  prisons  of  Newgate, 
Kilmainham,  and  Bridewell,  engage  to  give 
every  information  in  their  power  of  the 
whole  of  the  internal  transactions  of  the 
United  Irishmen;  and  that  each  of  the 
prisoners  shall  give  detailed  information  of 
every  transaction  that  has  passed  between 
the  United  Irishmen  and  foreign  states ;  but 
that  the  prisoners  are  not,  by  naming  or  de- 
scribing, to  implicate  any  person  whatever  ; 
and  that  they  are  ready  to  emigrate  to  such 
country  as  shall  be  agreed  on  between  them 
and  government,  and  give  security  not  to 
return  to  this  country  without  the  permis- 
sion of  government,  and  not  to  pass  into  an 
enemy's  country,  if,  on  so  doing,  they  are  to 
be  freed  from  prosecution;  and  also  Mr. 
Oliver  Bond  (then  under  sentence  of  death) 
be  permitted  to  take  the  benefit  of  this  pro- 
posal. The  state  prisoners  also  hope  that 
the  benefit  of  this  proposal  may  be  extended 
to  such  persons  in  custody  as  may  choose  to 
benefit  by  it." 

Arthur  O'Connor,  Thomas  Eddis  Emmett, 
Dr.  M'Nevin,  Samuel  Neilson,  and  other 
principals  of  the  conspiracy,  gave  details  on 
oath,  in  their  examinations  before  the  se- 
cret committees  of  the  two  houses  of  par- 
liament, from  which  it  appeared  that  the  re- 
bellion originated  in  a  system  formed,  not 
with  a  view  of  obtaining  either  Catholic 
emancipation,  or  any  reform  compatible  with 
the  existence  of  the  constitution,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  subverting  the  government,  sep- 
arating Ireland  from  Great  Britain,  and  form- 
ing a  democratic  republic ;  that  the  means 
resorted  to  for  the  attainment  of  these  de- 
signs was  a  secret  systematic  combination, 
artfully  linked  and  connected  together,  with 
a  view  of  forming  the  mass  of  the  lower 
ranks  into  a  revolutionary  force,  acting  in 
concert,  and  moving  as  one  body ;  that,  for 
the  further  accomplishment  of  their  object, 
the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy  concluded  an 
alliance  with  tiie  French  directory  in  1796, 


GEORGE  in.   1760-1820. 


441 


by  which  it  was  stipulated  that  an  adequate 
force  should  be  sent  for  the  invasion  of  Ire- 
land, subsidiary  to  the  preparations  that  were 
making  for  a  general  insurrection ;  that  in 
pursuance  of  this  design,  measures  were 
adopted  by  the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy  for 
giving  to  their  societies  a  military  form; 
that,  for  arming  their  adherents,  they  had 
recourse  to  the  fabrication  of  pikes ;  that, 
from  the  vigorous  and  summary  expedients 
resorted  to  by  government,  and  the  conse- 
quent exertions  of  the  military,  the  leaders 
found  themselves  reduced  to  the  alternative 
of  immediate  insurrection,  or  of  being  de- 
prived of  the  means  on  which  they  relied 
for  effecting  their  purpose ;  and  that  to  this 
cause  was  to  be  attributed  the  premature 
breaking  out  of  the  rebellion,  and  probably 
its  ultimate  failure. 

The  principal  prisoners,  however,  being 
found  to  abuse  the  lenity  of  government,  by 
secretly  laboring  to  revive  the  expiring 
flame  of  rebellion,  were  not  liberated,  but 
sent  to  Fort  George,  in  the  north  of  Scot- 
land, where  they  continued  in  confinement 
till  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  They  were 
then  permitted  to  enjoy  their  liberty,  on  con- 
dition of  withdrawing  from  his  majesty's 
dominions.  Oliver  Bond  died,  by  a  stroke  of 
apoplexy,  in  prison. 

Robberies  and  assassinations  would  prob- 
ably have  ceased  on  the  granting  of  protec- 
tions, if  some  desperate  marauders,  rein- 
forced by  deserters  from  several  regiments 
of  Irish  militia,  had  not  remained  in  arms 
in  the  mountains  of  Wicklow,  and  the  dwarf 
woods  of  Killaughrim,  near  Enniscorthy. 
The  banditti  continued  for  many  months  to 
infest  these  parts  of  the  country ;  but,  after 
a  little  time,  the  woods,  being  scoured  by 
the  army,  were  cleared  of  their  predatory 
inhabitants,  who  had  ludicrously  styled  them- 
selves The  Babes  in  the  Wood.  The  party 
in  the  Wicklow  mountains  continued,  under 
two  chiefs  of  the  names  of  Holt  and  Hacket, 
to  annoy  the  country  for  a  longer  time,  and 
in  a  more  formidable  degree. 

FRENCH  LAND  AT  KILLALA,  AND  SUR- 
RENDER. 
Though  the  French  directory  had  con- 
templated the  progress  of  the  civil  war  in 
Ireland  with  tranquiilitj ;  yet  when  only  tl^ 
faint  sparks  of  expiring  rebellion  could  be 
perceived,  an  expedition  under  general 
Humbert,  consisting  of  about  eleven  hun- 
dred men,  embarked  from  Rochelle,  in  three 
frigates,  and  landing  on  the  twenty-second 
of  August,  in  the  bay  of  Killala,  in  the 
county  of  Mayo,  took  up  their  head-quarters 
at  the  bishop's  palace.  Although  a  green 
flag  was  erected,  accompanied  by  the  emblem 
of  a  harp,  encircled  with  the  motto  of  Erin 
go  Bragh^  (Ireland  for  ever,)  but  few  of  the 
peasantry  could  be  prevailed  on  to  join  the 


invaders.  Having  lefl;  a  email  garrison 
under  colonel  Charost  at  Killala,  to  keep  up 
the  communication,  and  receive  supplies, 
general  Humbert  clothed  and  armed  those 
who  repaired  to  his  standard,  and  immedi- 
ately marched  towards  Castlebar,  experi- 
encing no  obstacle  in  his  route.  The  army 
collected  there,  under  general  Lake,  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  forces  in  Connaught, 
consisted  of  from  two  to  three  thousand  reg- 
ulars ;  and  Humbert,  relying  chiefly  for  suc- 
cess on  his  own  troops,  contrived  to  post  his 
new  levies  on  the  flanks  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  protect  his  column  from  the  fire  of  the 
enemy.  The  field  of  battle,  to  which  he 
advanced  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
seventh,  consisted  of  a  hill,  at  the  north- 
west extremity  of  the  town,  where  the  Eng- 
lish forces  were  drawn  up  in  two  lines, 
which  crowned  its  summit :  a  small  reserve 
was  stationed  in  the  rear,  in  a  valley ;  and 
some  guns  posted  in  front,  commanded  a 
rising  ground,  over  which  the  enemy  must 
necessarily  pass.  By  an  unfortunate  pre- 
cipitancy, the  fire  of  the  English  lines,  in- 
stead of  being  reserved,  was  expended  be- 
fore it  could  be  available — a  mistake  of 
which  the  enemy  taking  advantage,  rush- 
ed forward  with  his  main  body;  and  the 
sharp-shooters  evincing  a  design  to  penetrate 
into  the  rear,  the  detachment  posted  for  the 
purpose  of  supporting  the  guns  abandoned 
their  charge  in  a  panic.  The  earls  of  Or- 
mond,  Longford,  and  Granard,  endeavored 
to  rally  their  men,  and  so  far  succeeded  as 
to  impede  the  progress  of  the  assailants,  but 
they  were  pursued  with  alacrity ;  and  the 
royal  Irish  artillery,  who  had  gallantly  de- 
fended the  bridge  by  means  of  a  single  gun, 
were  nearly  cut  off!  The  loss  of  the  enemy 
in  killed  and  wounded  exceeded  two  hun- 
dred, and  that  of  the  British  was  still  more 
considerable. 

Castlebar,  a  place  of  some  importance,  on 
account  of  its  situation,  now  became  the 
head-quarters  of  the  invaders.  Aware  of 
the  danger  that  might  arise  to  the  country 
from  the  presence  of  an  invading  army,  lord 
Cornwallis  determined  to  take  the  field  in 
person,  and,  quitting  Dublin  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  August,  arrived  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  at  Athlone,  where  he  received  the 
unwelcome  intelligence  of  the  defeat  of 
general  Lake;  and,  after  a  halt  of  two  days, 
proceeded  in  the  direction  of  Holly-mount, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  fourth  of  Septem- 
ber: but  on  finding  that  the  invader  had 
quitted  Castlebar,  his  lordship  repassed  the 
Shannon  at  Carrick ;  and  the  French  forces, 
being  surrounded  by  a  British  army  amount- 
ing to  twenty  thousand  men,  surrendered 
after  an  ineffectual  resisttmce.  The  rebel 
auxiliaries,  now  accumulated  to  about  fifteen 
hundred,  who  had  accompanied  the  French 


442 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


to  this  iatal  field,  being  excluded  from  quar- 
ter, fled  in  all  directions,  and  about  five  hun- 
dred of  their  number  were  slain  in  the  pur- 
suit, exclusive  of  about  one  hundred  taken 
prisoners;  among  whom  were  found  Teel- 
ing,  Blake,  and  Roach,  three  of  their  chiefs. 
The  number  of  French  troops  who  surren- 
dered on  this  occasion  amounted  to  ninety- 
six  officers,  and  seven  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates; 
having  sustained  a  loss  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  since  their  first  landing  at  Kil- 
lada. 

Previously  to  the  march  of  general  Hum- 
bert from  Castlebar,  on  the  fourth  of  Sep- 
tember, he  had  called  in  all  his  forces,  with 
the  exception  of  three  officers  left  at  Killala, 
and  one  at  Ballina,  in  command  of  the  rebel 
garrisons  at  those  places.  At  length,  on  the 
twenty-second  of  September,  the  king's 
forces  arrived  at  Ballina,  and  obliged  the 
garrison  to  retreat  to  Killala,  where  a  large 
body  of  troops  under  general  Trench  arrived 
on  the  following  day,  and  a  contest  ensued, 
in  which  about  four  hundred  of  the  rebel 
forces  were  slain.  The  courts-martial  as- 
sembled the  day  after  the  battle  of  Killala, 
and  were  not  dissolved  till  they  had  disposed 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  prisoners: 
among  others  general  Bellew,  of  an  ancient 
Irish  family,  who  had  served  eighteen  years 
in  Germany,  was  found  guilty  of  treason, 
and  executed.  The  French  officers  taken 
at  Killala  were  sent  to  Dublin,  and  thence  to 
London,  where  three  of  their  number,  Cha- 
rost,  Boudet,  and  Ponsen,  were,  on  the  fa- 
vorable report  of  Dr.  Stock,  the  bishop  of 
Killala,  set  at  liberty,  and  sent  home  with- 
out exchange.  In  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, also,  a  number  of  rebel  chiefs  and  infe- 
rior insurgents  were  tried  and  executed; 
among  whom  were  two  Irishmen  by  birth, 
who  had  been  in  the  military  service  of 
France  before  the  invasion,  and  had  come  to 
Ireland  in  the  French  fleet. 

The  little  army  landed  at  Killala  had  been 
intended,  it  appears,  only  as  a  van-guard  to 
a  much  more  formidable  force,  which  was 
in  a  short  time  to  follow:  providentially, 
however,  for  the  safety  of  the  British  em- 
pire, the  French  government  had  been  as 
tardy  in  seconding  the  operations  of  Hum- 
bert as  they  had  been  in  sending  succors  to 
the  support  of  the  rebel  force  in  the  south 
of  Ireland.  The  want  of  money  is  assigned 
as  the  cause  of  delay  in  the  equipment  of 
the  second  fleet,  and,  in  the  interim,  before 
its  appearance  on  the  Irish  coast,  the  Ana- 
creon  brig  from  France  arrived  at  the  little 
island  of  Rutland,  from  which  were  landed 
three  boats  full  of  men,  and  a  number  of  of- 
ficers, 'among  whom  was  James  Napper 
Tandy,  one  of  the  Irish  emissaries  to  the 
French  directory,  and  who  had  attained  to 


the  rank  of  general  of  brigade  in  the  French 
service.  This  brig  was  full  of  arms  and 
accoutrements,  and  contained  a  train  of  ar- 
tillery ;  but  when  the  adventurers  found  that 
the  people,  instead  of  joining  them,  fled  to 
the  mountains,  and  that  the  rebellion  in  Ire- 
land was  entirely  suppressed,  they  reimbark- 
ed,  after  distributmg  a  number  of  inflamma- 
tory papers.  Some  time  afterwards,  Napper 
Tandy,  and  two  other  Irish  rebels,  were  ap- 
prehended by  the  agents  of  Great  Britain 
at  Hamburgh,  and  conveyed  to  Ireland, 
where  Tandy  was  indicted  for  high  treason, 
in  the  year  1801,  when,  having  pleaded 
guilty,  by  previous  arrangement,  he  was  suf- 
fered to  leave  the  kingdom,  and  take  up  his 
residence  in  France. 

SIR  J.  B.  WARREN'S  NAVAL  VICTORY- 
CLOSE  OF  THE  INSURRECTION. 
Another  attempt  of  the  French  to  revive 
a  lost  cause  was  equally  unsuccessful.  A 
squadron  from  Brest,  consisting  of  one  ship 
of  the  line,  eight  fi-igates,  a  schooner,  and  a 
brig,  with  a  strong  reinforcement,  intended 
to  co-operate  with  the  force  under  general 
Humbert  in  Ireland,  was  fallen  in  with  on 
the  eleventh  of  October,  off  the  north-west- 
ern coast  of  that  island,  by  Sir  John  Borlase 
Warren,  who  was  cruising  with  seven  sail 
of  the  line  off"  Lough  Swilly.  The  British 
admiral  instantly  threw  out  the  signal  for  a 
general  chase,  and  gave  orders  to  form  in 
succession  as  each  ship  of  war  reached  her 
antagonist ;  but  it  was  found  impossible  to 
commence  the  action  before  the  next  morn- 
ing, at  which  time  it  was  discovered  that 
the  enemy's  large  ship  had  lost  her  main- 
top-mast. Still  confident  in  their  own 
strength,  the  French  squadron  bore  down, 
and  formed  a  line  of  battle  in  close  order ; 
on  which  an  action  of  three  hours  and  forty 
minutes  ensued,  when  the  enemy's  three- 
decker,  the  Hoche,  and  three  of  the  frigates, 
hauled  down  their  colors  after  a  gallant  re- 
sistance :  five  of  the  frigates,  the  schooner, 
and  the  brig,  escaped,  but  three  of  the  for- 
mer were  afterwards  captured.  The  whole 
squadron,  it  appeared,  was  entirely  new,  and 
full  of  troops,  stores,  and  every  other  equip- 
ment for  the  support  and  establishment  of 
the  invading  force  in  Ireland.  Amongst  the 
prisoners  taken  in  the  Hoche  was  Theobald 
Wolfe  Tone,  the  projector  of  the  society  of 
United  Irishmen,  long  considered  as  the 
most  active  and  able  negotiator  among  the 
Irish  fugitives  at  Paris,  and  as  the  great  ad- 
viser of  most  of  the  measures  pursued  by 
his  rebellious  countrymen.  He  was  no  sooner 
landed  in  Ireland  than  he  was  conveyed  to 
Dublin,  and  put  upon  his  trial  by  a  court- 
martial,  before  which  he  defended  himself 
with  considerable  ability  and  firmness,  not 
attempting  either  to  deny  or  to  palliate  his 
offence.     The  plea  on  which  he  rested  was 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


443 


that  of  being  a  denizen  of  France,  and  an 
officer  in  the  service  of  the  republic ;  but, 
when  he  found  that  this  defence  was  una* 
vailing,  he  requested  that  he  might  die  like 
a  soldier,  and  not  as  a  felon ;  and  be  shot, 
according  to  military  usage,  rather  than 
hanged.  The  court,  however,  did  not  judge 
it  proper  to  accede  to  his  request,  and  the 
unhappy  culprit  attempted  to  escape  the  ig- 
nominy that  awaited  him,  by  cutting  his 
throat  in  the  prison.  The  wound  was  at  first 
supposed  not  to  be  mortal,  but,  after  lan- 
guishing a  short  time,  it  terminated  his  ex- 
istence. Holt,  the  last  of  the  rebel  chiefs, 
obtained  the  boon  of  his  forfeited  life,  by 
exiling  himself  for  ever  from  his  native 
country. 

Thus  ended  the  insurrection  in  Ireland, 
in  which  it  is  estimated  that  not  less  than 
thirty  thousand  lives  were  sacrificed,  and 
property  was  destroyed  to  an  amount  of 
which  it  is  difficult  to  speak  with  accuracy ; 
but  some  idea  may  be  formed  from  the  con- 
flagrations that  took  place  in  different  towns, 


and  from  the  compensation  claimed  by  one 
class  of  sufferers.  The  towns  of  Carnew, 
Tinealy,  Hacketstown,  Donard,  Blessington, 
and  Killedmond,  were  all  destroyed  by  fire ; 
in  Roes  about  three  himdred  houses,  mostly 
those  of  the  laboring  classes,  were  consumed ; 
tlie  greater  part  of  Enniscorthy  was  laid  in 
ashes ;  and  in  the  open  country  a  vast  num- 
ber of  cabins,  farm-houses,  and  gentlemen's 
seats  were  destroyed.  By  a  message  deliv- 
ered to  the  house  of  commons  by  lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  on  the  seventeenth  of  July,  it  was 
proposed  to  afford  compensation  to  tJie  suf- 
fering loyalists,  on  their  claims  being  duly 
verified  before  commissioners;  and  an  act 
of  parliament  soon  after  passed,  under  which 
the  claims  of  the  loyalists  alone  amounted 
to  upwards  of  a  million  pounds — a  sum  of 
great  magnitude,  but,  it  is  supposed,  not 
equal  to  more  than  one-third  of  the  entire 
property  destroyed  by  a  rebellion,  in  sup- 
port of  which  it  is  believed  that  seventy 
thousand  men  were  at  one  time  in  arms. 


VBRSIT 


444 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


Hostile  Movements  of  the  French  against  Stcitzerland — Tliey  enter  Berne,  after  several 
Contests — New  Constitution — Revolution  at  Rome,  ana  Subversion  of  the  Papal 
Government — Grand  Expedition  to  Egypt  under  Buonaparte — Malta  taken — Alex- 
andria and  Rosetta  subdued — Severe  Engagements  with  the  Mamelukes — Cairo 
taken — Victory  of  the  Nile — New  Coalition  against  the  French- — Turkey,  Russia^ 
and  Naples,  severally  declare  War  against  France — The  Neapolitan  Troops,  after 
advancing  to  Rome,  signally  defeated,  and  Ferdinand  IV.  compelled  to  quit  the  Con- 
tinent— Expedition  against  Ostend — Capture  of  Minorca — Evacuation  of  St.  Do- 
mingo— Meeting  of  Parliament — Finance — Income  Tax  first  imposed —  Vnion  with 
Ireland  proposed — Proceedings  thereon. 


FRENCH  MOVE  AGAINST  SWITZERLAND 
—ENTER  BERNE. — NEW  CONSTITU 
TION— ST.  DOMINGO  EVACUATED. 

The  congress  of  Rastadt,  in  which  it  was 
proposed  to  discuss  and  settle  all  the  disputes 
between  the  French  republic  and  the  Ger- 
man empire,  assembled  at  this  period ;  the 
emperor,  as  the  head  of  the  Germanic  body, 
in  his  capacity  of  kmg  of  Hungary  and  Bo- 
hemia, had  acceded  to  the  demands  of  the 
directory,  to  render  the  Rhine  the  boundary 
of  the  commonwealth,  and  surrender  Ehren- 
breitstein  and  Mentz ;  and  it  was  imagined 
that  the  system  of  sacrifices  and  indemnities 
might  be  speedily  adjusted.  But,  whilst  the 
French  plenipotentiaries  were  giving  the 
most  solemn  assurances  that  their  govern- 
ment panted  for  tranquillity,  a  war  was  sud- 
denly declared  against  Switzerland,  which, 
after  a  peace  that  had  lasted  for  ages,  was 
now  condemned  to  experience  all  the  hor- 
rors of  hostility.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
year  1797,  certain  menacing  demands  had 
been  made  by  the  French  directory  on  the 
Swiss  cantons,  under  some  alleged  pretexts 
of  insults  or  injuries,  and  the  government  of 
Berne,  in  particular,  was  accused  of  having 
publicly  enrolled  emigrants,  and  given  shel- 
ter to  French  deserters.  The  Helvetic  diet, 
assembled  at  Aran,  showed  an  intention  of 
resistance,  by  ordering  a  levy  of  twenty-six 
thousand  men,  while  the  armed  force  of  two 
cantons,  under  the  command  of  colonel  de 
Weiss,  was  sent,  on  the  fourteenth  of  Jan- 
uary 1798,  into  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  to  sup- 
press a  popular  tumult,  which  had  for  its  ob- 
ject the  establishment  of  a  democratic  gov- 
ernment. As  soon  as  the  French  executive 
learned  that  Berne  and  Friburg  had  dispatch- 
ed a  body  of  soldiers  and  a  train  of  artillery 
into  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  a  division  of  French 
troops  just  returned  from  Italy  was  put  in 
motion,  and  general  Menard  appeared  upon 
the  Genevan  frontier.  The  Vaudois  in  the 
mean  time  adopted  a  democratical  form  of 
government,  and  assumed  the  appellation  of 


the  Republic  of  Leman:  the  cantons  of 
Basle,  Zurich,  and  Soleure,  followed  their 
example ;  but  the  senates  of  Berne  and  Fri- 
burg persisted  in  maintaining  their  ancient 
form  of  government. 

The  management  of  the  war  being  con- 
fided to  the  French  general  Brune,  he  enter- 
ed the  territories  of  Berne  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  January,  and  published  a  proclama- 
tion, containing  professions  which  appear  to 
have  been  made  only  to  be  violated.  Some 
unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  obtain 
a  truce  ;  but  a  body  of  the  invaders,  having 
advanced  against  the  castle  of  Dornach, 
seized  that  little  fortress,  while  thirteen 
thousand  troops  summoned  Soleure,  which 
immediately  opened  its  gates.  Friburg,  bet- 
ter prepared  for  resistance,  determined  to 
oppose  the  French ;  but  Brune,  having  ad- 
vanced at  the  head  of  a  column,  took  it  by 
assault,  and  on  the  fifth  of  March,  after  sev- 
eral well-contested  actions,  the  French  army 
entered  Berne.  The  ruling  families  were 
immediately  displaced,  the  nature  of  the 
government  was  changed,  the  most  respect- 
able of  the  senators  were  sent  into  exile, 
and,  although  the  French  professed  to  come 
in  the  character  of  protectors  and  deliver- 
ers, the  treasuries  of  the  state  were  confis- 
cated, and  large  military  contributions  ex- 
acted for  the  supply  of  the  invading  army. 
The  directory,  determined  on  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Switzerland,  resolved  to  change  the 
government  from  the  federal  into  an  united 
republic,  which,  by  means  of  a  close  and 
intimate  union  with  France,  might  be  kept 
in  continual  dependence.  After  some  op- 
position from  the  smaller  states  of  Uri, 
Schweitz,  Underwalden,  Glaris,  and  Appen- 
zel,  all  Switzerland  subscribed  to  tiie  new 
constitution ;  Lucerne  was  chosen  as  the  seat 
of  government ;  and  an  alliance,  offensive 
and  defensive,  entered  into  between  the 
French  and  Helvetic  republics :  the  French 
directory,  however,  still  continued  to  levy 
contributions  and  impose  exacticr.s  *o  pji 
enormous  extent. 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


445 


REVOLUTION  AT  ROME— PAPAL  AU- 
THORITY SUBVERTED. 

The  same  thirst  of  dominion  prompted 
the  French  to  erect  the  territories  of  the 
pope  into  a  commonwealth  dependent  on 
their  power.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  De- 
cember, 1797,  a  mob,  consisting  of  about  one 
hundred  persons,  assembled  at  the  palace  of 
the  French  ambassador,  Joseph  Buonaparte, 
and  demanded  the  assistance  of  France,  for 
the  purpose  of  overthrowing  what  they  term 
ed  the  papal  tyranny,  and  establishing  a  re- 
public in  its  stead.  The  ambassador  dis- 
patched general  Duphot  to  disperse  the  in- 
surgents, and  to  prevail  upon  the  papal  troops 
to  retire  from  the  precincts  of  his  court ;  but 
in  the  affray  he  was  shot  by  a  Roman  fusi 
leer,  and  Joseph  Buonaparte  retired  into 
Tuscany.  This  outrage,  for  which  every 
possible  satisfaction  was  offered,  afforded  a 
pretext  for  sending  general  Berthier  to  Rome 
with  a  large  body  of  troops;  and  on  the 
eleventh  of  February,  1798,  the  castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  containing  the  pope  and  the 
greater  part  of  his  cardinals,  surrendered  on 
the  first  summons.  The  inhabitants,  encour 
aged  by  the  presence  of  the  French  army, 
assembled  in  the  Campo  Vaccine,  the  ancient 
Roman  forum,  planted  the  tree  of  liberty  in 
the  front  of  the  capitol,  proclaimed  their  in 
dependence,  and  instituted  the  Roman  re^ 
public.  All  the  splendor  and  magnificence 
of  which  the  Catholic  worship  is  susceptible 
were  employed  to  celebrate  this  memorable 
victory  over  the  head  of  its  faith;  every 
church  in  Rome  resounded  with  thanks  to 
the  Supreme  Disposer  of  events  for  the  glo- 
rious revolution  that  had  taken  place ;  and, 
while  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  was  illumina- 
ted without,  fourteen  cardinals,  dressed  in 
the  gorgeous  apparel  appertaining  to  func- 
tions they  were  fated  soon  after  to  abdicate, 
presided  at  a  solemn  Te  Deum  within  the 
walls  of  that  superb  temple.  The  deposed 
pontiff  was  conveyed,  by  order  of  the  direc- 
tory, first  to  Briancon,  and  afterwards  to  Va- 
lence, in  France,  where  he  terminated  his 
existence,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  August, 
1799,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age, 
and  the  twenty-fourth  of  his  pontificate. 

EXPEDITION  TO  EGYPT  UNDER  BUONA- 
PARTE—MALTA  TAKEN,  AND  ALEX- 
ANDRIA. 

The  directory,  eager  to  find  employment 
for  armies  which  the  plunder  of  Piedmont 
and  Lombardy  had  sharpened  rather  than 
satiated,  and  for  a  general  in  whose  pres- 
ence and  by  whose  talents  and  popularity, 
all  their  power  seemed  to  be  eclipsed,  com- 
mitted to  general  Buonaparte  the  conduct 
of  a  vast  and  romantic  expedition,  to  attempt 
the  subversion  of  the  British  dominion  in 
Hindostan,  to  which  the  invasion  and  occu- 

VoL.  IV.  38 


pation  of  Egypt  was  deemed  necessary,  al- 
though the  Sublime  Porte  had  kept  its  faith 
with  the  French  republic  inviolate.  The 
ports  of  Marseilles  and  Toulon  were  busied 
m  refitting  and  launching  ships,  the  fabrica- 
tion of  cordage,  and  the  preparation  of  mil- 
itary stores  ;  and  while  all  Europe  was  con- 
templating the  extent  and  destination  of 
the  armament,  general  Buonaparte,  accom- 
panied by  a  few'  of  his  chief  ofiicers,  and  a 
multitude  of  artists  and  men  of  learning, 
hastened  from  Paris  to  the  borders  of  the 
Mediterranean. 

He  set  sail  from  Toulon  on  the  twentieth 
of  May,  with  a  formidable  veteran  army, 
and  an  immense  quantity  of  artillery  and 
military  stores,  and,  leaving  Sicily  on  the 
left,  was  joined  by  a  squadron  of  Venetian 
men-of-war ;  rear-admiral  Brueys  was  in- 
trusted with  the  command  of  the  fleet. 
This  armament,  consisting  of  about  three 
hundred  sail,  including  ships  of  the  line, 
frigates,  and  transports,  descried  Malta  on 
the  ninth  of  June,  and  at  breaK  of  day  the 
next  morning  commenced  a  general  landing 
of  troops  and  artillery  upon  the  coast,  with- 
out encountering  any  very  formidable  oppo- 
sition. At  the  dawn  of  the  succeeding 
morning  the  enemy  had  encircled  the  city 
of  Valetta,  and  on  the  twelfth  the  French 
entered  the  city,  and  became  masters  of  the 
whole  island,  this  almost  impregnable  place 
surrendering  with  so  little  resistance  as  to 
furnish  reason  to  suspect  a  previous  concert 
between  the  captors  and  the  Knights.  The 
grand  master,  Hompesch,  who  had  ranked 
as  a  sovereign  prince,  quitted  the  island, 
and  received  a  sum  of  money  at  his  depar- 
ture, with  an  engagement  for  a  pension  from 
the  French  treasury,  no  part  of  which  was 
ever  paid.  Thus  Buonaparte  contrived  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  island  of  Malta, 
containing  a  population  of  sixty  thousand 
souls,  and  affording  one  of  the  most  advan- 
tageous stations  in  the  Mediterranean  sea ; 
while  the  ancient  order  of  St.  John  of  Je- 
rusalem beheld  itself  bereaved  of  its  terri- 
tories, after  possessing  them  nearly  three 
centuries.  Having  appointed  a  provisional 
government,  and  mtrusted  the  care  of  his 
new  acquisition  to  general  Vaubois,  the  fleet 
again  put  to  sea,  and  in  the  evening  of  the 
thirtieth  of  June  anchored  in  the  roads  of 
Alexandria. 

As  soon  as  the  French  admiral  had  cast 
anchor  on  the  coast  of  Egypt,  Buonaparte 
disembarked  his  troops,  and  attacked  and  en- 
tered Alexandria  on  the  fifth  of  July.  Gene- 
ral Desaix  was  dispatched  towards  Cairo,  and 
Buonaparte,  in  the  mean  time,  issued  orders 
for  the  fleet  to  shelter  itself  from  the  enemy 
in  tlie  old  port  of  Alexandria ;  but  on  sound- 
ing the  channel,  it  was  found  that  there  was 


446 


HISTORY  OP  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


not  sufficient  depth  of  water  for  the  Orient, 
and  the  road  of  Aboukir  was  therefore  cho- 
sen as  the  fittest  anchorage. 

Buonaparte  having  defeated  the  Beys, 
Mamelukes,  and  Fellahs  in  several  actions, 
which  he  skilfully  exaggerated  into  heroic 
exploits,  basely  concihated  the  confidence 
of  tlie  sheiks  and  the  principal  inhabitants, 
by  proclamations  in  which  he  distinctly  pro- 
fessed himself  a  Mahometan,  asserting  that 
he  reverenced,  more  than  the  Mamelukes 
tliemselves,  God,  his  prophet  Mahomet,  and 
the  Koran ;  that  having  thrown  down  the 
cross  in  the  west,  he  was  come  to  establish 
the  true  religion ;  and  having  organized  a 
provisional  government,  Buonaparte  march- 
ed against  Murad  Bey,  whom  he  forced  to 
take  refuge  in  Upper  Egypt,  while  Ibrahim 
Bey,  taking  a  contrary  direction,  fled  towards 
Syria. 

VICTORY  OF  THE  NILE. 

The  object  of  Buonaparte's  expedition 
appears  to  have  been  altogether  unknown 
in  England  at  the  time  of  its  sailing ;  but 
instructions  were  in  consequence  sent  to 
earl  St.  Vincent,  then  stationed  off  Cadiz, 
to  select  a  sufficient  number  of  line-of-bat- 
tle  ships  to  defeat  his  armament,  whatever 
might  be  its  destination  ;  and  a  detachment 
of  ten  sail  of  the  line,  under  captain  Trou- 
bridge,  was  ordered  to  join  Sir  Horatio  Nel- 
son, who  had  been  dispatched  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean with  a  flying  squadron.  Rear-admiral 
Nelson,  thus  invested  with  the  command  of 
a  fleet  of  fourteen  ships,  thirteen  of  which 
carried  seventy-four,  and  one  fifl;y  guns, 
steered  his  course  towards  Malta,  and  ar- 
rived off  that  island  on  the  twenty-second 
of  June,  when  he  found  that  the  enemy  had 
quitted  that  place  five  days  before,  taking 
an  eastward  direction.  Conjecturing  that 
Egypt  must  be  the  place  of  their  destination 
lie  sailed  for  the  port  of  Alexandria,  where 
he  arrived  on  the  twenty-eighth;  but  as 
they  had  not  been  seen  on  that  coast,  he 
shaped  his  course  northward  for  Caramania 
and  thence  returned  to  Sicily.  After  ob- 
t-iining  supplies  in  the  bay  of  Syracuse,  he 
once  more  sailed  for  Alexandria,  and,  on 
the  first  of  August,  discovered  the  enemy's 
fleet,  moored  in  a  strong  and  compact  line, 
in  the  bay  of  Aboukir,  the  headmost  vessel 
being  close  to  the  shoals  on  the  north-west, 
and  the  rest  forming  a  kind  of  curve  along 
the  line  of  deep  water,  so  as  not  to  be  turned 
on  the  south-west.  The  advantage  of  num 
bers,  both  in  ships,  guns,  and  men,  was  in 
favor  of  the  French ;  they  had  thirteen  ships 
of  the  line,  and  four  frigates,  carrying  eleven 
hundred  and  ninety  guns,  and  ten  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  ten  men.  The  English 
had  the  same  number  of  ships  of  the  line, 
and  one  fifty-gun  ship,  carrying  in  all  ten 
hundred  and  twelve  guns,  and  eight  thou- 


sand and  sixty-eight  men.  The  English 
ships  of  the  line  were  all  seventy-fours  ;  the 
French  had  three  eighty-gun  ships,  and  one 
three-decker  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
guns ;  and  the  enemy's  squadron  was,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  French  commissary  of  the 
fleet,  moored  in  such  a  situation  as  to  bid 
defiance  to  double  their  force.  Nelson  de- 
cided for  an  immediate  attack,  and  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  first  of  August 
the  engagement  commenced. 

Captain  Foley,  who  led  the  British  van 
in  the  Goliath,  darted  ahead  of  the  enemy's 
foremost  ship,  Le  Guerrier,  doubled  her  lar- 
board side,  and,  having  poured  a  destructive 
fire  into  the  Frenchman,  moved  on  to  the 
Conquerant,  whom  he  charged  with  tre- 
mendous fury,  and  in  ten  minutes  shot  away 
her  masts ;  next  followed  the  Zealous,  cap- 
tain Hood,  which  attacked  the  Guerrier  on 
the  side  next  the  shore,  and  in  twelve  min- 
utes totally  disabled  her:  the  Orion,  Sir 
James  Saumarez,  took  her  station  between 
the  enemy's  fifth  and  sixth  ships  :  the  The- 
seus, captain  Miller,  following  the  same 
example,  encountered  the  third  ship  of  the 
enemy:  the  Audacious,  captain  Gould,  mov- 
ed round  to  the  fifth :  then  advanced  the 
Vanguard,  carrying  the  heroic  Nelson,  and 
his  no  less  heroic  captain,  Berry,  and  an- 
chored on  the  outside  of  the  enemy's  third 
ship,  with  six  colors  flying  in  his  rigging, 
lest  they  should  be  shot  away.  Having 
veered  half  a  cable,  he  instantly  opened  a 
tremendous  fire ;  under  cover  of  which  the 
other  four  ships  of  his  division,  the  Mino- 
taur, Bellerophon,  Defence,  and  Majestic, 
sailed  on  ahead  of  the  admiral.  In  a  few 
minutes  every  man  stationed  at  the  first  six 
guns,  in  the  forepart  of  the  Vanguard's  deck, 
was  killed  or  wounded  ;  and  three  times  in 
succession  did  the  destructive  fire  of  the 
enemy  sweep  away  the  seamen  that  served 
these  guns.  Captain  Louis,  in  the  Mino- 
taur, nobly  supported  his  commander,  and, 
anchoring  next  ahead  of  the  Vanguard,  took 
off  the  fire  of  the  Aquilon,  the  fourth  in 
the  French  line.  The  Defence,  captain 
Peyton,  took  her  station  ahead  of  the  Mino- 
taur, and  engaged  the  Franklin,  of  eighty 
guns,  the  sixth  ship  of  the  enemy,  which 
bore  the  flag  of  admiral  Blanquet  de  Che- 
lard,  the  second  in  command.  Thus,  by  the 
masterly  seamanship  of  the  British  com- 
manders, nine  of  our  ships  were  so  disposed 
as  to  bear  their  force  upon  six  of  the  enemy. 
The  seventh  of  the  French  line  was  the 
Orient,  the  admiral's  ship,  a  vessel  of  im- 
mense size,  bearing  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty guns :  this  stupendous  adversary  was  un- 
dertaken by  the  Bellerophon,  captain  Darby ; 
while  the  Majestic,  captain  Westcott,  who 
engaged  the  Heureux,  the  ninth  ship  on  the 
starboard  bow,  received  also  at  the  same 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


447 


time  the  fire  of  the  Tennant,  which  was  the  Nelson  ;  but  the  surgeon,  on  examining  the 


eighth  in  the  line.  The  other  four  ships  of 
the  British  squadron,  having  been  detached 
previously  to  the  discovery  of  the  French, 
were  at  a  considerable  distance  when  the  ac- 
tion commenced,  and  the  sliades  of  night  be- 
gan to  close  in  upon  them  before  they  reach- 
ed the  scene  of  action.  Captain  Troubridge, 
in  the  Culloden,  took  the  lead  of  these  ships ; 
but  the  increased  darkness  having  greatly 
augmented  the  difficulties  of  the  navigation, 
that  vessel  suddenly  grounded  on  a  shoal,  and 
could  not  be  got  off  in  time  to  share  in  the 
danger  and  the  glory  of  the  action.  It  was, 
however,  some  satisfaction  to  captain  Trou- 
bridge, that  his  ship  served  as  a  beacon  to 
the  Alexander  and  Swiftsure,  which  would 
otherwise  have  gone  considerably  further  in 
on  the  reef,  and  have  been  inevitably  lost. 
Tliese  ships  took  their  stations  in  a  manner 
that  commanded  general  admiration;  and 
at  this  juncture  the  Bellerophon,  overpow- 
ered by  the  huge  Orient,  her  lights  extin- 
guished, nearly  two  hundred  of  her  crew 
killed  or  wounded,  and  all  her  masts  and 
cables  shot  away,  was  drifting  out  of  the 
line  towards  the  lee  side  of  the  bay,  when 
the  Swiftsure,  which  at  first  mistook  her  for 
a  ship  of  the  enemy,  but  was  soon  unde- 
ceived, came  up,  and  taking  her  station, 
opened  a  steady  fire  on  the  quarter  of  the 
Franklin,  and  the  bows  of  the  French  admi- 
ral. At  the  same  instant,  captain  Ball,  with 
the  Alexander,  passed  under  the  stern  of 
the  Orient,  and,  anchoring  within-side  of 
his  larboard  quarter,  raked  him,  and  kept 
up  a  severe  fire  of  musketry  on  his  decks 
The  last  ship  which  arrived  to  complete  the 
destruction  of  the  enemy  was  the  Leander 
captain  Thompson,  who  took  his  station  in 
such  a  position  as  to  rake  both  the  Franklin 
and  the  Orient. 

The  conflict  was  now  carried  on  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  and  the  only  light  to 
guide  the  operations  of  the  fleets  was  deriv 
ed  from  the  flashes  of  their  cannon.  The 
two  first  ships  of  the  French  line  had  been 
dismasted  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  from 
the  commencement  of  the  action,  and  others 
had  suffered  so  severely  that  victory  was  al- 
ready certain — its  extent  was  the  only  re- 
maining question.  The  third,  fourth,  and 
fifth  ships  of  the  enemy,  were  taken  posses- 
sion of  at  half-past  eight.  While  the  battle 
raged  with  its  utmost  fury,  the  British  admi- 
ral received  a  wound  on  the  head  from  a 
piece  of  langrage  shot,  which  cut  a  large 
flap  of  the  skin  of  the  forehead  from  the 
bone,  and,  falling  over  his  only  remaining 
eye,  left  him  in  total  darkness.  The  great 
elusion  of  blood  occasioned  an  apprehension 
that  the  wound  would  be  mortal :  N'elson 
himself  thoutjht  so,  and  desired  his  chaplain 
to  deliver  his  dying  remembrances  to  lady 


wound,  pronounced  it  to  be  merely  sui)er- 
ficial.  The  French  admiral  Brueys,  who  sus- 
tained the  honor  of  his  flag  with  undimin- 
ished firmness,  and  had  been  three  times 
wourided  during  the  engagement  without 
quitting  his  station,  now  received  a  shot 
which  almost  cut  him  in  two.  Soon  atler 
nine  o'clock  the  Orient  struck  her  colors, 
and  appeared  in  flames,  which  spread  with 
astonishing  rapidity,  and  by  the  prodigious 
light  of  which  the  situation  of  the  two  fleets 
could  be  distinctly  seen  from  the  minarets 
of  Rosetta,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles.  About 
ten  o'clock  the  ship  blew  up  with  a  tremen- 
dous explosion,  which  was  succeeded  by  a 
silence  not  less  awful.  The  firing  instantly 
ceased  on  both  sides,  and  the  first  sound 
which  broke  the  portentous  stillness  was  the 
dash  of  shattered  masts  and  yards  falling 
into  the  water  from  the  vast  height  to  which 
they  had  been  cast  by  the  explosion.  Only 
about  seventy  of  the  crew  could  be  saved  by 
the  English  boats.  The  Orient  had  on  board 
money  to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds. 

After  a  lapse  of  about  ten  minutes  the  fire 
recommenced  with  the  ships  to  the  leeward 
of  the  centre,  and  continued  without  inter- 
mission till  three  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
It  then  grew  very  faint  till  about  five,  when 
it  was  resumed  with  redoubled  fury ;  but  it 
was,  on  the  enemy's  part,  the  resistance,  not 
of  hope,  but  of  despair.  At  daybreak,  the 
Guilliaume  Tell  and  the  Genereux,  the  two 
rear  ships  of  the  enemy,  were  the  only 
French  ships  of  the  line  that  had  their  colors 
flying,  and  in  the  forenoon  they  cut  their 
cables  and  stood  out  to  sea,  taking  along 
with  them  two  frigates.  The  Zealous,  worthy 
of  her  name,  instantly  commenced  the  pur- 
suit, but,  as  there  was  no  other  ship  in  a  con- 
dition to  support  captain  Hood,  he  was  re- 
called. The  firing  continued  in  the  bay 
with  some  intermission  till  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  when  it  entirely  ceased. 

Thus  ended  an  engagement  which  will 
ever  rank  amongst  the  most  distinguished 
achievements  in  naval  annals.  The  result 
was,  that,  out  of  a  fleet  of  thirteen  sail,  the 
admiral's  ship  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  guns, 
and  the  Timoleon  of  seventy-four,  were 
burnt ;  while  two  eighty-gun  ships,  and  sev- 
en seventy-fours,  were  captured  :  and  it  was 
the  firm  persuasion  of  the  British  admiral, 
that,  had  he  been  more  amply  provided  with 
frigates,  all  the  enemy's  'transports  and 
smaller  vessels  in  the  bay  would  have  shared 
the  fate  of  the  ships  of  the  line.  This  de- 
ficiency of  frigates  he  deeply  regretted.  ?n.l 
in  his  usual  forcible  way  of  expressing  him- 
self, said — "  Should  I  die  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, want  of  fr 'urates  would  be  found  writ- 
ten on  my  heart."     The  British  loss  in  kill- 


448 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ed  and  wounded  amounted  to  eight  hundred 
and  ninety-five.  Of  the  French,  three  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  five,  including  the 
wounded,  went  on  shore  by  cartel,  and  five 
thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  per- 
ished ! — constituting  a  loss,  during  that  glo- 
rious, but  fatal  night,  of  upwards  of  five 
hundred  human  beings  an  hour  !  One  Brit- 
ish officer  of  the  rank  of  captain  only  fell ; 
this  was  the  brave  captain  Westcott,  who 
was  killed  early  in  the  action. 

Throughout  England  the  victory  was  cel- 
ebrated with  every  mark  of  rejoicing.  His 
majesty  conferred  the  dignity  of  baron,  with 
a  pension  of  three  thousand  pounds  a-year, 
on  the  admiral,  who  was  called  to  the  house 
of  peers  by  the  style  and  dignity  of  Baron 
Nelson  of  the  Nile.  The  Grand  Seignior 
also  transmitted  a  superb  diamond  chelengk, 
or  plume  of  triumph,  taken  from  one  of  the 
imperial  turbans ;  and  the  king  of  Naples, 
at  a  later  period,  granted  the  title  of  duke 
of  Bronte,  with  an  estate  in  Sicily.  Cap- 
tains Berry  and  Thompson  received  the  hon- 
or of  knighthood,  and  the  other  commanders 
were  presented  with  gold  medals.  The 
Turkish  sultan  sent  a  purse  of  two  thousand 
sequins  to  be  distributed  among  the  wound- 
ed, and  the  English  nation  raised,  by  public 
subscription,  a  considerable  sum  for  the 
widows  and  children  of  those  who  fell  in 
the  action. 
J\EW  COALITION  AGAINST  THE  FRENCH. 

At  Rastadt  the  effect  of  this  victory  be- 
came evident.  The  deputation  of  the  em- 
pire had  already  agreed  to  a  plan  of  indem- 
nities, by  means  of  which  forty-four  of  the 
secular  and  ecclesiastical  states  were  to 
make  immense  sacrifices  to  obtain  peace ; 
but  the  attack  on  Switzerland  and  Rome, 
and  the  expedition  of  Buonaparte  into 
Egypt,  joined  to  the  opposition  he  had  there 
encountered,  and  the  recent  disaster  of  the 
French  navy,  encouraged  the  congress  to 
delay  the  negotiations,  and  evidently  ren- 
dered a  new  contest  unavoidable.  At  this 
juncture  too,  and  partly  from  the  same 
causes,  the  Turks  declared  war  against 
France ;  and  Russia  became  an  efficient 
member  of  the  new  coalition  preparing 
against  the  French  nation,  the  co-operation 
of  the  emperor  Paul  being  secured  by  a  sub- 
sidy, stipulated  in  a  treaty  concluded  in  De- 
cember between  him  and  the  king  of  Great 
Britain,  wherein  each  party  engaged  not  to 
make  a  peace  or  armistice  without  includ- 
ing the  other.  This  alliance  was  extended 
rather  than  strengthened  by  the  activity  of 
the  king  of  Naples,  who,  after  issuing  a  de- 
claration of  war  against  the  republic  on  the 
twenty-second  of  November,  put  his  army 
in  motion  against  the  French  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  that  month,  and  on  the  tv/enty- 
ninth  succeeded  in  making  himself  master 


of  the  Roman  capital.  This  success,  how- 
ever, was  of  short  duration ;  for  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  December  the  Neapolitan  troops 
suffered  a  signal  defeat  at  Civita  Castillana, 
and  this  disaster  was  followed  by  the  imme- 
diate evacuation  of  Rome.  After  a  series  of 
defeats,  during  a  continued  retreat,  Ferdi- 
nand IV.  was  obliged,  on  the  last  day  of  the 
year,  to  abdicate  all  his  continental  domin- 
ions, and  to  take  refuge  on  board  an  English 
man-of-war. 

EXPEDITION  AGAINST  OSTEND.— CAP- 
TURE OF  MINORCA. 

An  expedition  was  fitted  out  in  England 
against  Maritime  Flanders,  early  in  this  year, 
for  the  express  purpose  of  blowing  up  the 
basin,  gates,  and  sluices  of  the  Bruges  canal, 
as  well  as  destroying  the  internal  naviga- 
tion, by  means  of  which  transport-schuyts, 
instead  of  risking  a  sea  voyage,  were  ena- 
bled to  keep  an  internal  intercourse  between 
Holland,  France,  and  Flanders.  An  arma- 
ment accordingly  sailed  for  the  purpose  from 
Margate  Roads,  on  the  eighteenth  of  May, 
under  captain  Popham,  with  a  body  of  troops, 
consisting  of  twelve  hundred  men,  com- 
manded by  major-general  Coote.  Having 
landed  on  the  following  day  without  opposi- 
tion, they  proceeded  to  bum  several  boats, 
demolish  the  sluice-gates,  and  effect  a  grand 
explosion,  by  which  it  was  intended  to  de- 
stroy a  great  national  work,  which  bad  cost 
the  States  of  Bruges  an  iiiiuu  ii.-  M;-n  of 
riianey,  and  had  not  been  cotijpleted  with  a 
labor  of  five  years.  Thus  having,  as  was 
supposed,  rendered  the  Bruges  canal  unser- 
viceable, the  commander-in-chief  attempted 
about  noon  to  return  on  board  the  shipping, 
but  the  wind  was  so  high,  and  the  surf  so 
much  increased,  as  to  render  it  impractica- 
ble. Upon  this  it  was  deemed  proper  to  oc- 
cupy a  position  upon  the  sand-hills,  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  beach,  and,  by  way  of 
gaining  time,  the  governor  of  Ostend  was 
summoned  to  surrender ;  but  this  fate  was 
unhappily  reserved  for  the  invaders  them- 
selves, as  that  officer  found  means  in  the 
course  of  the  night  to  assemble  a  great 
force,  with  which  he  hemmed  in  the  Eng- 
lish early  in  the  morning ;  and,  all  resistance 
being  in  vain,  they  surrendered,  after  a  gal- 
lant defence,  in  the  course  of  which  the  ma- 
jor-general was  wounded.  Captain  Popham 
endeavored,  without  effect,  to  obtain  an  ex- 
change of  prisoners  ;  and  it  appears  at  first 
to  have  been  the  intention  of  the  French 
government  to  oblige  the  British  troops  to 
labor  at  the  reparation  of  the  works  they 
had  destroyed,  but  it  was  found  on  inspec- 
tion that  the  damage  was  but  trifling. 

A  small  armament  was  dispatched  against 
Minorca,  under  the  command  of  admiral 
Duckworth  and  general  Stuart,  and  a  de- 
scent was  made  near  the  creek  of  Addaya. 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


449 


As  the  invaders  had  few  of  the  requisites  of 
a  siege,  their  advei-saries  might,  with  a  small 
share  of  spirit,  have  made  a  considerable  re- 
sistance :  intimidated,  however,  by  the  move- 
ments of  the  troops,  and  the  appearance  of 
the  squadron,  the  garrison  capitulated  on 
the  fifteenth  of  November,  and  the  whole 
island  was  reduced  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  man.  About  the  same  time  the  isle 
of  Goza,  near  Malta,  capitulated  to  a  detach- 
ment of  admiral  Nelson's  squadron. 

In  St.  Domingo  disease  made  such  alarm- 
ing havoc  among  the  English  troops,  that  at 
length  major-general  Maitland  was  instruct- 
ed to  surrender  Port-au-Prince  and  St.  Marc 
to  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  a  negro  com- 
mander, who  had  nearly  annihilated  the 
dominion  of  the  French  in  the  island ;  and 
in  the  course  of  the  year  they  evacuated 
every  other  post.  Such  were  the  chequered 
scenes  of  the  campaign  of  1798 ;  but  the 
balance  of  victory,  of  disinterested  policy, 
and  of  success  in  arms,  (the  affairs  of  Egypt 
taken  into  the  scale,)  certainly  preponderat- 
ed in  favor  of  England. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT— INCOME 
TAX. 

On  the  twentieth  of  November  parliament 
assembled.  The  great  and  continually  in 
creasing  expense  of  the  war  had  induced  the 
minister,  in  the  course  of  the  last  session  of 
parliament,  to  bring  forward,  for  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  house,  a  new  system  of  finance, 
the  prmciple  of  which  was  to  raise  within 
the  year  a  large  proportion  of  the  necessary 
supplies,  which,  aided  by  the  operation  of 
the  sinking  fund,  should  prevent  any  mate- 
rial addition  being  made  to  the  public  debt. 
The  tax  proposed  for  this  purpose,  called  the 
triple  assessment  tax,  was,  however,  found 
so  inadequate  to  the  oljject,  that  the  minister 
determined  to  substitute  in  its  stead  a  tax 
on  income.  Accordingly,  on  the  third  of 
December,  the  house  having  formed  itself 
into  a  committee,  Pitt  stated  that  the  sup- 
plies which  would  be  necessary  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  present  year  amounted  to  about 
thirty  million  pounds,  towards  which  the 
usual  ways  and  means  would  produce  six 
million  one  hundred  thousand  pounds.  It 
remained  then  to  be  considered  m  what  way 
the  deficiency  should  be  raised.  Here  two 
leading  principles  occurred  for  the  guidance 
of  the  house — either  to  raise  the  whole  by 
loan  upon  the  old  funding  system,  or  to  raise 
a  considerable  part  of  the  supplies  within  the 
year  upon  the  principle  adopted  in  the  last 
session  of  parliament.  Pitt  then  proceeded 
to  state  his  new  plan  of  finance,  which  was 
a  tax  on  income.  The  commissioners,  who 
should  be  vested  with  the  power  of  deter- 
mining upon  the  rate  of  every  one's  income, 
should  be  persons  of  respectable  situations 
in  life,  removed  from  any  suspicion  of  par- 
38* 


tiality ;  and,  in  case  the  party  was  dissatis- 
fied with  their  decision,  another  body  of 
commissioners  should  be  formed,  to  whom 
an  appeal  might  be  carried.  The  next  point 
for  consideration  was  the  mode  of  contribu- 
tion that  should  be  adopted.  Under  this 
head  it  was  his  intention  to  propose  that  no 
income  under  sixty  pounds  a-year  should  be 
called  upon  to  contribute,  and  that  the  scale 
of  modification,  up  to  two  hundred  pounds  a- 
year,  as  in  the  assessed  taxes,  should  be  in- 
troduced with  restrictions.  The  quota  which 
should  then  be  called  for  should  amount  to 
a  full  tenth  of  the  contributor's  income.  The 
returns  to  be  made  by  the  person  assessed, 
subject  to  the  inspection  of  a  surveyor,  who 
should  lay  before  the  commissioners  such 
grounds  of  doubt  as  might  occur  to  him  on 
the  fairness  of  the  rate  at  which  a  party 
might  have  assessed  himself  The  party, 
however,  should  not  be  compelled  to  answer ; 
his  books  should  not  be  called  for,  nor  his 
confidential  clerks  or  agents  examined ;  but, 
if  he  declmed  to  submit  to  such  investiga- 
tion, it  should  be  competent  for  the  commis- 
sioners to  fix  the  assessment,  and  their  deci- 
sion should  be  final.  The  national  income, 
after  deducting  one-fifth  for  modifications, 
he  calculated  at  one  hundred  and  two  mil- 
lion pounds,  on  which  amount  a  tax  of  ten 
per  cent,  would  produce  ten  million  pounds 
a-year. 

The  unfairness  and  inequality  of  the  pro- 
posed assessment  having  been  ably  contend- 
ed by  several  members,  Pitt  observed  that 
an  honorable  gentleman  had  said,  that  if  two 
persons  had  each  five  hundred  pounds  per 
annum,  one  of  whom  derived  his  income 
fi-om  land,  and  the  other  from  industry,  they 
ought  not  both  to  be  taxed  equally  at  fifty 
pounds :  but  to  complain  of  this  inequality 
was  to  complain  of  the  distribution  of  prop- 
erty— it  was  to  complain  of  the  constitution 
of  society.  The  consequence  of  tliis  tax 
would  be  to  all  alike  ;  and  whoever  contrib- 
uted a  tenth  of  his  income,  under  the  bill, 
would  have  a  tenth  less  to  spend,  to  save,  or 
to  accumulate.  The  house  then  divided: 
for  the  further  consideration  of  the  report, 
one  hundred  and  eighty-three ;  against  it, 
seventeen ;  majority,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six.  After  undergoing  several  amendments, 
the  bill  was  passed  into  a  law,  on  the  eigh- 
teenth of  March  1799,  and  the  fifth  of  April 
was  fixed  as  the  time  for  making  the  re- 
turns. The  remaining  supplies  were  to  be 
made  up  from  the  new  imposts  on  sugar, 
coffee,  and  stamps,  aided  by  the  recently 
unposed  convoy-tax.  About  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  land  forces,  of  different 
descriptions,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  seamen  and  marines,  were  also 
voted.  A  bill  to  enlarge  the  time  prescribed 
by  an  act  of  the  last  session,  for  the  redemp- 


450 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


tion  of  the  land-tax,  and  to  make  certain 
regulations  respecting  ecclesiastical  prop- 
erty, and  the  property  devised  for  lives  and 
for  long  terms,  was  also  carried  into  a  lavi^. 

UNION  WITH  IRELAND  PROPOSED— 
PROCEEDINGS  THEREON. 

1799. — On  the  twenty-second  of  January 
the  following  important  message  was  de- 
livered by  secretary  Dundas :  "  His  majesty 
is  persuaded,  that  the  unremitting  industry 
with  which  our  enemies  persevere  in  their 
avowed  design  of  effecting  the  separation  of 
Ireland  from  this  kingdom,  cannot  fail  to 
engage  the  particular  attention  of  parlia- 
ment ;  and  his  majesty  recommends  it  to 
this  house  to  consider  of  the  most  effectual 
means  of  finally  defeating  this  design,  by 
disposing  the  parliaments  of  both  kingdoms 
to  provide,  in  a  manner  which  they  shall 
judge  most  expedient,  for  settling  such  a 
complete  and  final  adjustment  as  may  best 
tend  to  improve  and  perpetuate  a  connex- 
ion essentia]  to  their  common  security,  and 
consolidate  the  strength,  power,  and  re- 
sources of  the  British  empire."  This  mes- 
sage was  taken  into  discussion  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  when  Dundas  moved  an  address, 
importing  that  the  house  would  proceed, 
with  all  due  dispatch,  to  the  consideration 
of  the  several  interests  recommended  to 
their  serious  attention. 

The  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  contend- 
ed that  a  permanent  connexion  between 
Britain  and  Ireland  was  essential  to  the  true 
interests  of  both  countries,  and  that,  unless 
the  existing  connexion  should  be  improved, 
there  was,  he  had  strong  reason  to  believe, 
great  risk  of  a  separation. 

The  same  day  on  which  the  message  on 
the  Union  was  delivered  to  the  British 
senate,  the  session  of  the  Irish  parliament 
commenced  at  Dublin ;  and  a  speech  on  this 
occasion  was  made  by  the  lord-lieutenant, 
which  concluded  with  a  hope  that  the  par- 
liaments in  both  kingdoms  would  be  dis- 
posed to  provide  the  most  effectual  means 
of  maintaining  and  improving  a  connexion 
essential  to  their  common  security;  and 
of  consolidating,  as  far  as  possible,  into  one 
firm  and  lasting  fabric,  the  strength,  the 
power,  and  the  resources  of  the  British  em- 
pire. The  address  in  the  house  of  peers  was 
opposed  chiefly  by  the  lords  Powerscourt 
and  Bellamont,  who  severally  moved  amend- 
ments, expressive  of  their  disapprobation  of 
a  legislative  union  with  Great  Britain.  On 
the  first  division  the  numbers  were  forty-six 
to  nineteen,  and  on  the  last  thirty-five  to 
seventeen,  in  favor  of  the  court.  But  in  the 
house  of  commons,  afler  a  debate  of  twenty 
hours,  the  contest  was  so  close,  that  only  a 
majority  of  one  appeared  against  the  amend- 
ment ;  the  numbers  being,  on  the  division 


one  hundred  and  six  and  one  hundred  and 
five;  and,  when  the  question  was  put  for 
agreeing  to  the  ad'^ress,  the  ministry  had  in 
their  favor  only  one  hundred  and  seven 
against  one  hundred  and  five  voices.  The 
address  was  reported  two  days  afterwards, 
when  Sir  Lawrence  Parsons  strenuously  op- 
posed its  being  received,  and,  after  a  violent 
debate,  his  motion  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  one  hundred  and  eleven  to  one  hundred 
and  six  voices.  The  exultation  of  the  Irish 
metropolis  at  the  defeat  of  the  ministry  was 
unbounded  :  the  unionists  were  insulted  and 
calumniated  by  every  possible  mode  of  at- 
tack; and  the  chief  speaker  of  opposition 
acquired  a  sudden  and  extraordinary  increase 
of  popularity.  The  vehement  enthusiasm 
of  tiie  capital,  nevertheless,  did  not  extend 
to  the  nation  at  large ;  the  weight  of  the 
landed  interest  was  in  favor  of  the  measure ; 
and  Cork,  the  second  city  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  commercial  towns  in  general, 
though  greatly  agitated  and  divided,  were, 
upon  the  whole,  rather  friendly  than  hostile 
to  it. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  January  the  subject 
was  again  brought  under  consideration  by 
Pitt,  who  said  that,  when  he  proposed  to  the 
house  to  fix  that  day  for  the  further  con- 
sideration of  his  majesty's  message,  he  in- 
dulged a  hope  that  the  result  of  a  similar 
communication  to  the  parliament  of  Ireland 
would  have  opened  a  more  favorable  pros- 
pect than  at  present  existed  of  the  speedy 
accomplishment  of  the  measure  then  in  con- 
templation: he  had,  however,  been  disap- 
pointed by  the  proceedings  of  the  Irish 
house  of  commons.  He  admitted  that  the 
parliament  of  Ireland  possessed  the  power 
to  accept  or  reject  a  proposition  of  this  na- 
ture ;  a  power  which  he  by  no  means  meant 
to  dispute ;  but  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  express 
his  general  outline  of  the  plan,  which,  in  his 
estimation,  would  tend  to  insure  the  safety 
and  the  happiness  of  the  two  kingdoms. 
Should  parliament  be  of  opinion  that  it  was 
calculated  to  produce  mutual  advantages,  he 
should  propose  it,  in  order  to  its  being  re- 
corded on  the  journals,  leaving  the  rejection 
or  adoption  of  the  plan  to  the  future  consid 
oration  of  the  legislature  of  Ireland.  Pitt 
remarked  that  the  union  with  Scotland  was 
as  much  opposed,  and  by  nearly  the  same 
arguments,  prejudices,  and  misconceptions ; 
creating  the  same  alarms  as  had  recently 
taken  place  in  respect  to  Ireland :  yet,  could 
any  man  now  doubt  of  the  advantages  which 
Scotland  had  derived  from  it  1  One  of  the 
greatest  impediments  to  the  prosperity  of 
Ireland  was  the  want  of  industry  and  the 
want  of  capital,  which  were  only  to  be  sup- 
plied by  blending  more  closely  with  that 
country  the  industry  and  capital  of  this.   In 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


451 


the  present  state  of  things  also,  and  while 
Ireland  remained  a  separate  kingdom,  no 
reasonable  person  would  affirm  that  full  con- 
cessions could  be  made  to  the  Catholics 
without  endangering  the  state,  and  shaking 
the  constitution  of  Ireland  to  its  centre.  At 
the  conclusion  of  a  very  able  speech,  he 
proposed  a  series  of  resolutions,  and  moved 
that  the  house  resolve  itself  into  a  commit- 
tee to  discuss  the  same. 

The  plan  proposed  that  the  two  islands 
should  be  united  into  one  kingdom,  by  the 
name  of  "the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland ;"  that  the  succession 
to  the  crown  should  be  limited  and  settled 
as  at  present;  that  the  united  kingdom 
should  be  represented  in  one  and  the  same 
parliament,  and  that  such  a  number  of  lords 
and  commons  as  shall  be  hereafter  agreed 
upon  shall  sit  and  vote  on  the  part  of  Ire- 
land; that  the  churches  of  England  and 
Ireland  be  preserved  as  now  by  law  estab- 
lished; that  the  king's  subjects  in  Ireland 
be  entitled  to  the  same  privileges,  in  respect 
of  trade  and  navigation,  with  those  of  Great 
Britain,  subject  to  certain  regulations,  to  be 
agreed  upon  previously  to  the  union,  and 
regulated  from  time  to  time  by  the  united 
parliament;  that  the  charge  arising  from 
the  payment  of  the  interest,  or  sinking  fund 
for  the  reduction  of  the  prmcipal,  of  the 
debt  incurred  in  either  kingdom  before  the 
union,  shall  continue  to  be  separately  de- 
frayed by  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  re- 
spectively ;  that,  for  a  number  of  years  to 
be  limited,  the  future  ordinary  expenses  of 
the  united  kingdom  in  peace  or  war  should 
be  defrayed  by  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
jointly,  according  to  such  proportions  as 
shall  be  established  by  the  respective  par- 
liaments previously  to  the  union ;  and  that 
all  laws  in  force  at  the  time  of  the  union, 
and  all  the  courts  of  civil  or  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  within  the  respective  kingdoms, 
shall  remain  as  now  by  law  established 
within  the  same,  subject  only  to  such  alter- 
ations or  regulations,  from  time  to  time,  as 
circumstances  appear  to  the  parliament  of 
the  united  kingdom  to  require. 

Sheridan  avowed  his  utter  disapprobation 
of  the  measure,  and  stated  his  intention  of 
moving  two  resolutions,  declaring  that  no 
measures  could  have  a  tendency  to  improve 
and  perpetuate  the  ties  of  amity,  which  had 
not  for  their  basis  the  fair  and  free  approba- 
tion of  the  parliaments  of  the  two  countries ; 
and  that  whoever  should  endeavor  to  obtain 
such  approbation,  by  employing  the  influ- 
ence of  government,  was  an  enemy  to  his 
majesty  and  the  constitution.  The  house 
divided  on  the  question  of  the  speaker's 
leaving  the  chair;  ayes,  one  hundred  and 
forty,  noes  fifteen ;  and,  after  some  further 


debates  on  the  subject,  Pitt's  resolutions 
were  carried  by  large  majorities.  On  the 
fourteenth  of  February,  the  report  of  the 
committee  was  brought  up,  when  it  was  or- 
dered that  a  message  be  sent  to  the  lords, 
requestmg  a  conference  respecting  the  means 
of  perpetuating  and  improving  the  connexion 
between  the  two  kingdoms. 

The  subject  had  previously  been  intro- 
duced into  the  house  of  peers  by  a  message 
from  the  king,  delivered  by  lord  Grenville. 
The  address  in  answer  to  this  message  was 
voted  unanimously  by  the  house,  which  then 
adjourned.  From  this  period  the  business 
remained  dormant  in  the  upper  house  till 
the  eighteenth  of  February,  when  the  mes- 
sage from  the  commons  was  delivered  by 
earl  Temple.  A  conference  accordingly 
taking  place  in  the  painted  chamber,  the 
lords  deputed  on  this  occasion  soon  returned 
with  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  moved  by  the 
house  of  commons.  On  the  nineteenth  of 
March,  their  lordships  having  been  summon- 
ed, lord  Grenville  moved  that  the  house  do 
agree  with  the  same;  and  this  motion, 
though  strenuously  opposed,  was  agreed  to 
without  a  division. 

On  the  eleventh  of  April,  the  house  hav- 
ing been  again  summoned,  lord  Grenville 
moved  an  address  to  the  throne,  which  was 
also  carried  without  a  division ;  but  a  pro- 
test was  signed  against  it  by  the  lords  Hol- 
land, Thanet,  and  King.  A  committee  was 
then  named,  consisting  of  lord  Grenville, 
lord  Minto,  lord  Auckland,  and  the  bishop 
of  Llandaff,  to  draw  up  an  address  con- 
formable to  the  motion ;  which  having  been 
effected,  the  commons,  in  a  second  confer- 
ence on  the  following  day,  were  invited  to 
join  in  the  same,  and  to  agree  that  it  should 
be  presented  to  his  majesty  as  the  address 
of  both  houses  of  parliament,  which  was  ac- 
cordingly done  in  the  most  solemn  manner. 

In  Ireland  the  further  consideration  of 
the  bill  was  postponed  till  the  first  of  Au- 
gust It  was,  however,  manifest  tliat  the 
court  were  determined  to  persevere;  and 
the  lord-lieutenant,  on  the  termination  of 
the  session,  announced  that  a  joint  address 
of  the  two  houses  of  parliament  of  Great 
Britain  had  been  laid  before  his  majesty,  ac- 
companied by  resolutions  proposing  and  re- 
commending a  complete  and  entire  union 
between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland ;  and  he 
ftirther  declared  that  his  majesty,  as  the 
common  farther  of  his  people,  must  look 
forward  witli  earnest  anxiety  to  the  moment 
when,  in  conformity  to  the  sentiments, 
wishes,  and  real  interests  of  his  subjects  in 
both  kingdoms,  they  may  all  be  inseparably 
united  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  blessings 
of  a  free  constitution. 

Wilberforce's  annual  motion  for  the  abo- 


452 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


lition  of  the  slave  trade,  had  in  this  session 
to  encounter  an  additional  opposition,  arising 
from  the  existence  of  a  negro  army  in  St. 
Domingo,  and  the  efforts  made  to  propagate 
democratical  principles  through  the  West 
India  islands.  It  was  consequently  nega- 
tived hy  a  majority  of  eighty-four  to  fifty- 
four. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  twelfth 
of  July,  1799,  when  his  majesty  was  pleas- 
ed to  declare  that  the  decision  and  energy 
which  distinguished  the  councils  of  his  ally, 
the  emperor  of  Russia,  and  the  intimate 


union  and  concert  so  happily  established 
between  them,  would  enable  him  to  employ, 
to  the  greatest  advantage,  the  powerful 
means  intrusted  to  him  by  parliament,  for 
establishing,  on  permanent  grounds,  the 
security  and  honor  of  this  country,  and  the 
liberty  and  independence  of  Europe.  On 
this  occasion  he  also  expressed  his  satisfac- 
tion in  seeing  that  internal  tranquillity  was 
in  some  degree  restored  to  Ireland,  the  ul- 
timate security  of  which  could  alone  be  in- 
sured by  its  intimate  and  entire  union  with 
Great  Britain. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


45a 


CHAPTER  XXXI 


Affairs  of  Egypt— Capture  of  Jaffa— Siege  of  Acre— Gallant  Defence— The  French 
raise  the  Siege  and  return  from  Syria  to  Egypt — Tippoo  Saib^  at  the  instigation  of 
Buonaparte,  concerts  measures  against  the  India  Company,  who  declare  \oar  in  con- 
sequence— Seringapatam  taken  by  General  Harris ;  Death  of  Tippoo — Partition  of 
the  Mysore  Territory — Buonaparte  returns  to  France — Naples  proclaimed  a  Repub- 
lic— The  Austrian  and  French  Forces  take  the  Field — Encounters  on  the  Rhine — 
Campaign  in  Italy  and  Switzerland — Retreat  of  the  Russians  under  Suworow — 
Expedition  to  North  Holland — Capture  of  Surinam — Party  Contentions  in  France 
— The  Directory  overthrown,  and  Buonaparte  nominated  First  Consul — He  proposes 
a  Negotiation  for  Peace,  which  is  rejected  by  the  British  Government — Meeting  of 
Parliament — Debate  on  Buonaparte's  Pacific  Overture — Subsidiary  Treaties — 
Finance — Subsidy  to  the  Emperor — Union  loith  Ireland  completedr— Scarcity  of 
Corn — Attempt  on  the  King^s  Life. 


AFFAIRS  OF  EGYPT.— CAPTURE  OF 
JAFFA. 

Buonaparte,  being  separated  from  France, 
by  the  total  defeat  of  the  French  fleet  at 
Aboukir,  exerted  himself  to  secure  the  af- 
fection of  the  Egyptians  by  flattering  their 
religious  prejudices ;  by  recalling  their  an- 
cient greatness,  and  asserting  that  he  wish- 
ed to  restore  them  to  their  pristine  grandeur; 
by  professions  of  regard  for  his  ally,  the 
grand  seignior ;  and  by  pretending  that  the 
invasion  of  Egypt,  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
beys,  were  measures  which  merited  or  had 
obtained  his  assent  These  arts,  however, 
failed  to  produce  the  desired  effect,  and  his 
arms  alone  could  insure  the  obedience  which 
he  courted,  or  avert  the  danger  which  he 
dreaded.  An  insurrection  at  Cairo  had  near- 
ly proved  fatal  to  his  cause ;  and  some  hun- 
dreds of  the  French,  including  general  Du- 
puis,  their  commander,  were  killed  before  it 
could  be  suppressed :  a  much  larger  number 
of  the  insurgents  of  course  perished,  and 
not  a  few  afterwards  fell  by  the  hands  of  the 
executioner;  for  Buonaparte,  wherever  he 
went,  treated  all  who  opposed  him  as  traitors 
and  rebels.  Various  skirmishes  and  some 
sharp  actions  took  place  between  the  inva- 
ders and  the  Mamelukes,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  beys,  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  particularly  in  Upper  Egypt,  in  all 
of  which  the  superior  discipline  and  tactics 
of  the  French  baffled  the  rude  courage  and 
desultory  attacks  of  their  opponents.  It 
could  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the 
Porte  would  leave  them  in  quiet  possession 
of  a  portion  of  her  territory,  or  that  England 
would  make  no  effort  to  wrest  it  from  their 
hands :  Buonaparte  was  aware  that  if  an 
army  was  sent  from  Europe  to  attack  him 
on  one  side,  while  a  Turkish  force  from  Asia 
assailed  him  on  the  other,  he  might  not  be 
jible  to  extricate  liimself  from  the  difficulties 
with  which  he  would  be  surrounded,  and  he 


therefore  resolved  to  attack  the  Turks  in  the 
first  instance,  in  the  hopes  of  subduing  them 
before  they  could  receive  assistance  from 
\  other  quarters.  He  accordingly  made  pre- 
parations for  an  expedition  agamst  Acre,  and 
sent  his  train  of  artillery,  destined  for  the 
siege,  by  sea.  The  army,  in  tour  divisions, 
under  the  command  of  Kleber,  Bon,  Regnier, 
and  Lannes,  proceeded  to  El-Arisch,  where 
an  action  was  fought,  in  which  the  French 
were  successful.  They  then  moved  forward 
to  Jaffa,  anciently  called  Joppa,.  a  seaport 
town  on  the  coast  of  Palestine,  which  was 
carried  by  assault,  with  great  loss,  after  a 
vigorous  defence.  Numbers  of  the  garrison 
were  put  to  the  sword ;  but  the  greater  part 
having  taken  refuge  in  the  mosques,  and 
implored  mercy  from  the  French,  their  lives 
were  spared. 

Being  encumbered  with  nearly  four  thou- 
sand prisoners,  from  the  care  and  mainte- 
nance of  which,  it  is  said,  Buonaparte  found 
it  necessary  to  relieve  himself,  he  ordered 
them  to  be  marched  to  a  rising  ground  near 
Jaffa,  where  volleys  of  musketry  and  grape- 
shot  were  played  upon  them  by  a  division  of 
French  infantry,  and  such  of  the  Turks  as 
were  not  killed  by  the  shot  were  put  to  death 
by  the  bayonet  (1).  The  accumulation  of 
unburied  bodies  occasioned  the  visitation  of 
the  plague,  by  which  a  great  number  of  the 
French  soldiers  were  soon  infected,  the  hos- 
pitals crowded,  and  the  medical  staff*  embar- 
rassed. In  this  crisis  Buonaparte  found  an 
apothecary  who  consented  to  administer 
poison  to  the  sick.  A  sufficient  quantity  of 
opium  was  accordingly  mixed  with  pleasant 
food,  of  which  the  unsuspecting  victims 
freely  partook ;  and  in  a  few  hours  five  hun- 
dred and  eighty  soldiers,  who  had  suffered 
so  much  for  the  tyrants  of  their  country, 
thus  miserably  perisiied  (2). 
SIKGE  OF  ACRE.— GALLANT  DEFENCE. 
Buonaparte  then  marched  at  the  head  of 


454 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


his  troops  for  Acre,  which  at  this  moment 
contained  within  its  walls  two  men,  who, 
with  the  romantic  heroism  of  the  days  of 
chivalry,  united  all  the  knowledg-e  apper- 
taining- to  the  modern  art  of  war — Sir  W. 
Sidney  Smith,  a  British  naval  officer  of  dis- 
tmguished  enterprise,  and  colonel  Phillip- 
peaux,  an  emigrant  officer  of  engineers. 
After  rescuing  his  friend,  Sir  Sidney,  from 
bondage  in  the  Temple,  and  restoring  him  to 
liberty  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  Phillippeaux 
accompanied  him  in  a  small  squadron  to 
which  he  had  been  appomted,  and,  after 
cruising  with  him  in  the  Levant,  had  em- 
barked for  Syria  to  afford  assistance  to  the 
Pacha.  On  the  thirtieth  of  March,  1799, 
the  trenches  were  opened,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  fathoms  from  the  wall ;  and 
soon  after  the  enemy  advanced  to  storm  the 
fortress.  It  was  soon  discovered,  however, 
that  a  ditch  of  fifteen  feet  was  to  be  passed, 
while  the  counterscarp  was  almost  untouch- 
ed ;  and  the  breach,  which  was  not  large, 
had  been  effected  upwards  of  six  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  works.  Notwithstanding 
these  obstacles  a  body  of  grenadiers  descend- 
ed into  the  ditch,  and  attempted  to  scale  the 
wall ;  but  nothing  could  be  achieved.  The 
garrison  was  at  first  seized  with  terror,  and 
many  of  the  Turkish  soldiers  ran  towards 
the  harbor ;  but  no  sooner  did  they  discover 
that  the  opening  in  the  wall  was  several  feet 
above  the  rubbish,  than  they  returned  to  the 
charge,  and  showered  down  stones,  grenades, 
and  combustibles  upon  the  assailants,  who 
were  obliged  to  retire,  after  losing  two  adju- 
tants-general, and  a  great  number  of  men. 
This  event  afforded  so  much  encouragement 
to  the  troops  of  the  pacha,  that  they  made  a 
sally,  in  which  they  killed  several  of  the  be- 
siegers. In  the  interim  the  English  squadron 
discovered,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount 
Carmel,  a  corvette  and  nine  sail  of  gun- 
boats, laden  with  artillery  and  ammunition, 
intended  to  assist  in  the  reduction  of  Acre, 
seven  of  which,  containing  all  the  battering 
train,  were  captured ;  and  this  fortunate  in- 
cident contributed  greatly  to  save  the  city. 
At  this  period  of  the  siege  Ghezzar  Oglou, 
the  pacha,  dispersed  his  firmauns  among  the 
Naplouzians,  as  well  as  into  the  towns  in  the 
Said,  requesting  the  true  believers  to  rise 
and  overwhelm  the  infidels.  The  British 
squadron,  which  had  been  driven  from  the 
unsheltered  anchorage  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre  by 
the  equinoxial  gales,  had  no  sooner  resumed 
its  station  than  another  sortie  was  determin- 
ed upon,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  a 
mine  made  by  the  enemy  below  the  tower. 
In  this  operation,  the  British  marines  and 
seamen  were  to  force  their  way  into  the 
mine,  while  the  Turkish  troops  attacked  the 
enemy's  trenches  on  the  right  and  left.  The 
sally  took  place  just  before  daylight;  and 


lieutenant  Wright,  who  commanded  the 
seamen-pioneers,  notwithstanding  he  receiv- 
ed two  shots  in  his  right  arm  as  he  advanced, 
entered  the  mine  with  the  pike-men,  and 
proceeded  to  the  bottom  of  it,  where  he  veri- 
fied its  direction,  and  destroyed  all  that  could 
be  destroyed  in  its  present  state. 

The  Samaritan  Arabs  having  made  incur- 
sions even  into  the  French  camp,  Buona- 
parte proceeded  against  them  in  person; 
and  he  found  Kleber's  division,  consisting  of 
two  thousand  Frenchmen,  who  had  previ- 
ously been  detached  as  a  corps  of  observa- 
tion, fighting  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Tabor, 
and  nearly  encircled  by  a  large  body  of 
horse,  which  he  obliged  to  retire  behind  the 
mount,  where  a  great  number  were  drown- 
ed in  the  river  Jordan. 

Buonaparte  hastened  to  return  to  the  camp 
before  Acre,  and  the  invaders  at  length  com- 
pleted the  mine  destined  to  destroy  the  tower, 
which  had  so  long  withstood  all  their  efforts ; 
but,  although  one  of  the  angles  was  carried 
away,  the  breach  remained  as  difficult  of  ac- 
cess as  before.  About  this  period  the  gar- 
rison sustained  the  loss  of  Phillippeaux,  who 
died  of  a  fever,  contracted  by  want  of  rest, 
and  extraordinary  exertion.  On  the  first 
of  May,  after  many  hours'  heavy  cannonade 
from  thirty  pieces  of  artillery,  brought  by 
the  enemy  from  Jaffa,  a  fourth  attempt  was 
made ;  but  the  Tigre,  moored  on  one  side, 
and  the  Theseus  on  the  other,  flanked  the 
town  walls;  and  the  gun-boats,  launches, 
and  other  row-boats,  continued  to  flank  the 
enemy's  trenches  to  their  great  annoyance, 
till  at  length  they  were  obliged  to  desist 
from  the  attack.  Notwithstanding  their 
various  repulses  the  enemy  continued  to 
batter  in  breach  with  progressive  success, 
and  made  nine  several  attempts  to  storm, 
but  had  as  often  been  beaten  back.  The 
garrison  had  long  been  in  expectation  of  a 
reinforcement,  under  Hassan  Bey,  who  had 
originally  received  orders  to  advance  against 
Alexandria,  but  was  afterwards  directed  to 
proceed  to  the  relief  of  Acre :  it  was  not, 
however,  till  the  fifty-first  day  of  the  siege 
that  this  fleet  made  its  appearance.  The  ap- 
proach of  so  much  additional  strength  was 
the  signal  to  Buonaparte  for  a  vigorous  as- 
sault, in  hopes  to  get  possession  of  the  town 
before  the  reinforcement  could  disembark ; 
and  on  the  night  of  the  eighth  of  May  he 
succeeded  in  making  a  lodgment  in  the 
second  story  of  the  north-east  tower.  Day- 
light on  the  ninth  showed  the  French  stand- 
ard unfurled  on  the  outer  angle;  and  at 
this  most  critical  point  of  the  contest  Hassan 
Bey's  troops  v/ere  still  in  their  boats,  not 
having  advanced  more  than  half-way  to- 
wards the  shore.  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  whose 
energy  and  talents  gave  effect  to  every  ope- 
ration, landed  the  crews  of  the  gun-boats  on 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1620. 


455 


the  moxG,  and  marched  them  to  the  breach, 
each  man  being  armed  with  a  pike.  A  heap 
of  ruins  between  the  besieged  and  besiegers 
served  as  a  breast- work  for  both ;  the  muzzles 
of  the  muskets  touched,  and  the  spear-heads 
of  the  standards  locked.  Ghezzar  Pacha, 
hearing  that  the  English  were  on  the  breach, 
quitted  his  station,  where,  according  to  the 
ancient  Turkish  custom,  he  was  sitting  to 
reward  such  as  should  bring  him  the  heads 
of  the  enemy,  and  distributmg  cartridges 
with  his  own  hands.  This  energetic  old 
man,  coming  behind  his  British  allies,  pulled 
them  down  with  violence,  saying,  "  if  any 
narm  happen  to  our  English  friends,  all  will 
be  lost."  The  whole  of  the  reinforcements 
being  now  landed,  the  Pacha,  with  some 
difficulty,  so  far  subdued  his  jealousy  as  to 
admit  the  Chifflick  regiment  of  one  thou- 
sand men,  into  the  garden  of  his  seraglio, 
from  whence  a  vigorous  sally  was  made  with 
an  intention  to  obtain  possession  of  the  ene- 
my's third  parallel,  or  nearest  trench ;  but 
the  Turks,  unequal  to  such  a  movement, 
were  driven  back  into  the  tovm  with  loss ; 
and  although  the  sortie  did  not  succeed,  it 
had  the  effect  of  obliging  the  enemy  to  ex 
pose  themselves  above  their  parapets,  and 
the  flanking  fire  of  the  garrison,  aided  by  a 
few  hand-grenades,  dislodged  them  from  the 
tower.  Determined  to  persevere,  the  enemy 
effected  a  new  breach  by  an  incessant  fire 
directed  to  the  southward,  every  shot  knock 
ing  down  whole  sheets  of  a  wall,  much  less 
solid  than  that  of  the  tower,  on  which  they 
had  expended  so  much  time  and  ammunition. 
At  the  suggestion  of  the  Pacha  the  breach 
was  not  this  time  defended,  but  a  certain 
number  of  the  enemy  was  let  in,  and  then 
closed  upon  according  to  the  Turkish  mode 
of  war,  when  a  sabre  in  one  hand  and  a 
dagger  in  the  other,  proving  more  than  a 
match  for  the  bayonets,  the  survivors  has- 
tened to  sound  a  retreat.  Thus  ended  a  con- 
test, continued  with  little  intermission  for 
five-and-twenty  hours;  and  in  which  na- 
ture, sinking  under  the  exertion,  demanded 
repose. 

Chagrin  began  to  be  visible  in  the  con- 
duct of  Buonaparte,  who,  for  the  first  time 
in  his  life,  beheld  himself  foiled,  and  that 
too  by  a  town  scarcely  defensible  according 
to  the  rules  of  art ;  while  the  surrounding 
hills  were  crowded  with  spectators,  await- 
ing the  result  of  the  contest,  to  declare  for 
the  victor.  The  plague  also  found  its  way 
into  the  French  camp,  and  seven  hundred 
men  had  already  fallen  martyrs  to  that  ter- 
rible malady.  In  this  deplorable  situation 
the  French  commander-in-chief  determined 
to  make  a  last  effort,  and  general  Kleber's 
division  was  recalled  from  the  fords  of  Jor- 
dan, to  take  its  tarn  in  the  daily  efforts  to 
mount  the  breach  at  Acre,  in  which  every 


other  division  in  succession  had  failed,  with 
the  loss  of  their  bravest  men,  and  about 
three-fourths  of  their  officers.  Before  this 
reinforcement  could  commence  its  opera- 
tions, another  sally  was  made  on  the  night 
of  the  tenth  of  May  by  the  Turks,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  making  themselves  masters  of 
the  enemy's  third  parallel,  and  advanced  to 
the  second  trench;  but  after  a  conflict  of 
three  hours  they  were  driven  back,  leaving 
everything  in  statu  quo,  except  the  loss  of 
men,  which  was  considerable  on  both  sides. 

SIEGE  RAISED.— FRENCH  RETURN  FROM 
SYRIA  TO  EGYPT. 
Determined,  at  length,  to  raise  the  siege, 
Buonaparte  first  ordered  his  sick  and  wound- 
ed to  be  sent  away,  and,  to  keep  the  besieg- 
ed in  check,  increased  the  fire  of  his  cannon 
and  mortars.  Ghezzar,  remarking  these  dis- 
positions for  retreat,  made  frequent  sallies, 
which  were  repulsed  with  vigor.  The  as- 
pect of  the  field  of  carnage  was  horrible : 
the  ditches  and  the  reverses  of  the  parapets 
were  filled  with  the  slain ;  the  air  was  in- 
fected, and  the  proposition  for  a  suspension 
of  arms  to  bury  the  dead  remained  unan- 
swered. After  sixty  days'  continuance, 
Buonaparte,  in  a  proclamation,  announced 
to  his  army  the  raising  of  the  siege,  and 
resolved  to  return  to  Egypt,  to  defend  its 
approach  in  the  season  of  landing  against 
the  force  assembled  at  Rhodes.  On  the 
twentieth  of  May,  the  very  day  on  which 
the  army  began  its  march,  general  Le 
Grange  repulsed  two  sallies,  and  forced  the 
Turks  back  into  the  town.  General  Lannes' 
division  led  the  march ;  Regnier's  evacuated 
the  trenches ;  Kleber  formed  a  strong  rear- 
guard ;  whilst  Junot  covered  the  left  flank. 
Buonaparte  threw  into  the  sea  the  artiller}-, 
which  he  could  not  carry  back  through  the 
desert ;  and  his  battering  train,  amounting  to 
twenty-three  pieces,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  English.  After  blowing  up  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Jaffa  and  Gaza,  and  inflicting  a 
terrible  vengeance  on  those  who  had  defend- 
ed their  country  against  the  invaders,  tlie 
French  passed  over  the  desert,  and  were  re- 
ceived by  the  inhabitants  of  Cairo,  ignorant 
of  recent  events,  as  victors. 

TIPPOO  SAIB'S  HOSTILE  PREPARATIONS. 

—SERINGAPATAM  TAKEN,  AND  DEATH 

OF  TIPPOO. 

Buonaparte,  after  his  arrival  in  Egypt, 
apprized  Tippoo  Saib  of  his  arrival  on  the 
shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  requested  him 
to  send  some  confidential  person  with  whom 
he  might  confer  on  the  subject  of  their  mu- 
tual plans  for  expelling  the  English  from 
their  Indian  possessions.  This  sovereign 
had  negotiated  with  Zemaun  Shah,  a  native 
prince  of  great  power  and  influence,  in  or- 
der to  concert  such  a  formidable  attack  upon 
the  English,  as,  it  was  hoped,  they  would  be 


456 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


unable  to  resist:  bat  the  governor-general, 
the  earl  of  Mornington,  afterwards  marquis 
Wellesley,  having  assembled  an  adequate 
force,  communicated  to  Tippoo  the  know- 
ledge which  he  had  acquired  of  his  hostile 
designs,  and  offered,  if  he  would  forego 
those  projects,  to  send  an  officer  to  treat 
with  him  for  the  establishment  and  preser- 
vation of  a  friendly  intercourse  between 
him  and  the  British  government.  The  sul- 
tan sent  an  equivocal  answer  to  this  commu- 
nication, and  sought  to  elude  the  vigilance 
of  the  English  policy ;  but  lord  Mornington 
did  not  suffer  the  least  abatement  of  the 
spirit  of  naval  or  military  preparation,  and 
at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1799  he 
ordered  the  British  army  to  take  the  field 
It  was  commanded  in  chief  by  lieutenant- 
general  Harris,  who,  after  a  series  of  sue 
cessful  operations,  set  himself  down  before 
the  capital  of  Tippoo's  dominions  at  the  lat- 
ter end  of  April ;  and  on  the  fourth  of  May, 
a  practical  breach  having  been  effected,  Se- 
ringapatam  was  taken  by  assault.  Tippoo 
himself,  and  several  of  his  chiefs,  perished 
in  the  action. 

The  East  India  company  obtained  addi 
tional  territory  by  this  conquest ;  other  parts 
were  allotted  to  the  Nizam  and  the  Mahrat- 
tas,  and  the  remaining  portion  of  the  Mysore 
was  conferred  on  a  descendant  of  the  ancient 
Rajahs,  who  had  been  dispossessed  by  Hyder. 
The  British  dominion  in  the  east,  by  annihi- 
lating the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  native 
powers,  was  now  established  on  a  permanent 
foundation. 

BUONAPARTE  RETURNS  TO  FRANCE. 

Buonaparte,  ruminating  on  his  repulse 
at  Acre,  where  he  had,  for  the  first  time,  ex- 
perienced defeat  and  disgrace,  resolved  to 
repair  to  a  country  more  congenial  with  his 
disposition  and  pursuits.  This  resolution  to 
abandon  his  post,  and  to  desert  those  gallant 
men  who  had  braved  every  danger  at  his 
command,  was  only  equalled  by  the  mode  in 
which  it  was  accomplished.  Leaving  a 
sealed  packet  addressed  to  general  Kleber, 
nominating  that  officer  to  the  command  of 
the  army  in  Egypt  during  his  absence,  he 
embarked  suddenly,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
August,  with  generals  Berth ier,  Lannes, 
Murat,  and  Andreossi,  accompanied  by 
Monge,  Beutholet,  and  Amaud,  members  of 
the  Egyptian  Institute,  and  attended  by  sev- 
eral Mamelukes,  the  future  guards  of  his 
person.  He  communicated  his  design  to 
none  but  those  whom  he  mtended  to  accom- 
pany him ;  and  he  left  the  army  in  a  deplora- 
ble state.  He  was  a  deserter  too,  in  every 
sense  of  the  word ;  for  he  quitted  his  com- 
mand without  orders,  and  even  without  per- 
mission. That  singular  good  fortune,  how- 
ever, to  which  he  was  so  often  indebted,  at- 
tended him  on  this  occasion ;  for,  after  re- 


peatedly escaping  the  vigilance  of  the  Eng- 
lish cruisers,  he  landed,  first  at  Ajaccio,  and 
then  at  Frejus ;  and  on  his  arrival  at  Paris, 
on  the  sixteenth  of  October,  he  was  courted 
by  all  parties,  and  invited  by  the  directory 
to  a  grand  festival. 

NAPLES  MADE  A  REPUBLIC— ENGAGE- 
MENTS BETWEEN  THE  AUSTRIAN  AND 
FRENCH  ARMIES  ON  THE  RHINE. 

The  late  expedition  into  the  Roman  ter- 
ritory having  proved  eminently  disastrous  to 
the  king  of  Naples,  now  an  exile  from  his 
kingdom,  an  armistice  was  signed  by  prince 
Pignatelli,  on  behalf  of  the  Neapolitan  gov- 
ernment, on  the  seventh  of  January,  1799 
by  which  the  French  forces  under  Cham 
poinnet  obtained  possession  of  the  city  of 
Capua,  and  then  advanced  to  the  capital, 
which  they  entered  on  the  twenty-third,  af- 
ter a  gallant  but  unavailing  resistance.  Na- 
ples was  then  proclaimed  a  republic,  under 
the  designation  of  the  Parthenopean  com- 
monwealth ;  and  the  provisional  government 
was  confided  to  twenty-one  citizens,  chosen 
by  the  French  general  Championnet.  At 
the  same  time,  the  fortress  of  Ehrenbreit- 
stein,  in  front  of  Coblentz,  was  obliged,  after 
a  memorable  defence,  to  capitulate,  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  January,  to  the  French 
general  D'Allemagne. 

The  emperor  Paul,  of  Russia,  entered 
into  the  new  confederacy  against  the  French 
republic  with  all  zeal.  An  appearance  of 
negotiation  was  still  kept  up  at  Rastadt ;  but 
the  emperor  of  Germany,  dissatisfied  with 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  Campo  For- 
mio,  and  certain  of  powerful  co-operation  in 
the  event  of  a  renewal  of  the  contest,  no 
longer  concealed  his  sentiments.  The 
French,  by  their  unbounded  encroachments 
on  the  rights  of  other  nations,  gave  him  a 
plausible  pretence  for  re-arming;  and  in  a 
short  time  a  powerful  force  was  in  the  field. 
The  archduke  Charles  assembled  fifty-five 
thousand  men  between  the  Inn  and  the 
Lech ;  generals  vStarray  and  Hotze  headed 
about  twenty  thousand  more  in  the  Palati- 
nate and  the  country  of  the  Grisons ;  general 
Bellegarde  occupied  the  Tyrol  with  about 
twenty-five  thousand;  and  an  army  of  about 
sixty  thousand,  under  general  Kray,  prepar- 
ed to  enter  Italy,  and  reconquer  Lombardy, 
The  command  of  the  French  "  Army  of  the 
Danube"  was  confided  to  general  Jourdan, 
who,  on  the  first  of  March,  crossed  the  Rhine 
in  three  places ;  and,  whilst  general  Berna- 
dotte  blockaded  the  fortress  of  Philipsburg, 
Manheim  opened  its  gates  to  another  body 
of  French  troops :  on  the  twentieth,  how- 
ever, the  archduke  determined  to  give  them 
battle,  and  the  day  was  contested  with  great 
bravery  on  both  sides,  Jourdan  maintaining 
his  position  until  night  put  an  end  to  the  ac- 
tion, when,  under  cover  of  darkness,  he  re- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


457 


treated  to  a  station  near  Engen.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  a  second  battle  was  fought  on 
the  plain  of  Lieblingen,  in  the  midst  of 
woods ;  and  such  was  the  eagerness  on  both 
aides,  that  the  two  commanders-in-chief, 
after  reconnoitring  in  person,  instead  of  as- 
suming, as  usual,  a  centre  position  in  the 
rear,  fought  at  the  head  of  their  respective 
troops.  Night,  which  again  put  an  end  to 
the  combat,  left  the  victory  undecided ;  and 
on  the  ensuing  morning  the  invaders  renew- 
ed their  attack ;  being,  however,  once  more 
foiled,  general  Jourdan,  after  sustaining  a 
loss  of  about  four  thousand  men,  retreated 
before  the  archduke,  and  recrossed  the 
Rhine  at  Lauttemburg  and  Strasburg.  Mas- 
eena,  to  whom  the  command  of  the  army  of 
Switzerland  was  confided,  had  taken  the 
field  for  the  purpose  of  driving  the  Austri- 
ans  from  the  mountainous  regions  inhabited 
by  the  Grisons ;  but  the  defeat  of  the  grand 
army  in  Suabia  checked  his  career. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  ITALY  AND  SWITZER- 
LAND. 

General  Scherer,  to  whom  the  chief 
command  of  the  French  armies  in  Italy  had 
been  transferred,  directed  his  first  efforts 
against  Tuscany.  Having  obtained  posses- 
sion of  the  capital,  the  port  of  Leghorn  was 
at  the  same  time  seized  by  general  Miollis, 
and  all  the  property  appertaining  to  the  sub- 
jects of  Britain,  Portugal,  Austria,  Russia, 
the  Ottoman  Porte,  and  the  states  of  Barba- 
ry,  subjected  to  sequestration;  while  the 
grand  duke  and  his  family  were  furnished 
with  a  guard  of  honor,  and  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  German  capital.  Scherer  then 
marched  to  Mantua,  where  it  was  determin- 
ed to  attack  the  enemy  before  they  could  re- 
ceive any  reinforcements  from  Suabia,  or  ef- 
fect a  junction  with  the  Russians.  The 
Austrians,  under  general  Kray,  at  this  time 
occupied  Verona  and  its  vicinity.  On  the 
twenty-sixth  of  March  the  action  commenc- 
ed in  the  neighborhood  of  Castel  Nuovo, 
when,  after  a  most  severe  contest,  the 
French  were  driven  across  the  Adige. 
Three  days  after  this  sanguinary  conflict, 
Scherer  again  attacked  the  Austrian  posts, 
and  was  again  defeated. 

The  Russian  general  Suworow  arrived  at 
Verona  in  April,  and  took  upon  himself  the 
command  of  the  Austro-Russian  army,  now 
estimated  at  one  hundred  thousand  men. 
Scherer  resigned  to  Moreau  the  command 
of  his  reduced  and  dispersed  army  ;  and,  a 
retreat  having  become  absolutely  necessary, 
the  fortresses  of  Peschiera  and  Mantua  were 
abandoned  to  their  fate,  and  generals  Kray 
and  Klanau  blockaded  them  with  twenty- 
five  thousand  men.  Suworow  hastened  to 
avail  himself  of  the  advantages  he  enjoyed 
over  a  retreating  foe ;  the  town  and  citadel 

Vol.  IV.  39 


of  Brescia,  with  a  garrison  of  a  thousand 
men,  capitulated  to  the  troops  under  his  com- 
mand ;  and  an  engagement,  fought  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  April,  determined  the  fate 
of  the  Cisalpine  republic :  on  the  following 
day  the  conquerors  entered  the  city  of  Mil- 
an, and  about  the  same  time,  count  de  Belle- 
garde  obtained  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
successes  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  the 
Engadine ;  while  Hotze  dislodged  the  French 
troops  in  the  Grison  country  from  all  their 
positions  between  Luciensteig  and  Coire. 
In  Switzerland  several  partial  insurrections 
against  the  French  authorities  took  place; 
the  canton  of  Uri  was  in  arms ;  the  Valais 
had  risen  in  mass ;  and  a  great  part  of  the 
Valteline  was  in  possession  of  the  imperial- 
ists. Peschiera  also  surrendered,  after  a 
short  siege,  to  count  St,  Julien ;  and  Moreau, 
yielding  to  superior  numbers,  was  obliged  to 
abandon  his  strong  position  between  the  Po 
and  Tenaro,  after  defeating  general  Vukas- 
sowich  on  the  banks  of  the  Bormida.  The 
disasters  of  the  French  in  Italy  were  pro- 
ductive of  extraordinary  changes  in  the 
southern  part  of  that  peninsula,  and  subject- 
ed those  who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolu- 
tions in  Naples  and  Rome  to  the  most  terri- 
ble responsibility. 

In  Calabria,  cardinal  Ruflib,  on  receiving 
information  that  the  French  troops  had  re- 
treated from  Naples,  raised  a  number  of  new 
levies  round  the  royal  standard,  collected 
the  wreck  of  general  Mack's  army,  and,  be- 
ing joined  by  a  body  of  English  and  Rus- 
sians, marched  against  the  capital,  when  the 
executive  directory,  and  all  those  who  had 
countenanced  the  Parthenopean  republic, 
were  obliged  to  take  shelter  within  the  for- 
tresses, which  fell  in  succession  into  the 
hands  of  the  royal  forces ;  and,  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  July,  fort  St.  Elmo,  the  strongest  of 
them,  was  obliged  to  capitulate  to  the  allies,  as- 
sisted by  a  body  of  British  seamen  under  cap- 
tain Troubridge.  In  Tuscany,  forty  thousand 
of  the  inhabitants,  on  learning  the  disasters  of 
Moreau  and  Macdonald,  attacked  the  repub- 
licans on  every  side ;  the  garrison  of  Florence 
abandoned  the  capital ;  and  the  ancient  magis- 
trates resumed  their  functions.  A  few  days 
after,  a  column  of  Austrians  obliged  the  in- 
vaders to  abandon  Lucca ;  and  Leghorn  was 
evacuated  by  capitulation  :  Rome,  however, 
remained  unconquered,  but  the  most  vigor- 
ous measures  were  now  taken  to  subdue 
that  city ;  and,  while  a  body  of  Tuscan  and 
Neapolitan  troops  invested  the  ancient  cap- 
ital of  the  world,  captain  Troubridge,  who 
had  appeared  oflT  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber, 
summoned  general  Grenier,  the  commander 
of  the  garrison,  to  surrender.  On  the  twen- 
tieth of  September  a  convention  was  con- 
cluded, by  which  it  was  agreed  to  evacuate 


458 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Rome,  Civita  Vecchia,  and  the  posts  adja- 
cent, on  condition  that  the  troops  should  be 
sent  to  France. 

General  Macdonald,  having  reached  Flor- 
ence, collected  the  scattered  French  forces 
throughout  Tuscany;  and,  finding  himself 
at  the  head  of  thirty-eight  thousand  troops, 
he  determined  immediately  to  act  on  the 
offensive.  After  forcing  the  allies  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Fort  Urbino,  he  dispatched 
Olivier  against  Modena,  of  which  he  obtain- 
ed possession  on  the  twelfth  of  June,  and 
drove  the  Austrians  beyond  the  Po ;  while 
general  Kray,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  the 
enemy,  drew  off  his  heavy  artillery  from  be- 
fore Mantua,  and  posted  himself  in  such  a 
situation  as  to  prevent  that  city  from  being 
relieved.  Macdonald  continued  to  advance ; 
and  having  arrived  at  Piacenza,  and  formed 
a  junction  with  general  Victor,  he  obliged 
general  Ott  to  fall  back  on  the  castle  of  Gio- 
vanni. As  soon  as  Suworow  had  obtained 
intelligence  of  the  victorious  career  of  the 
French  general,  he  proceeded  to  Alexandria, 
leaving  general  Kaim  to  prosecute  the  siege 
of  Turin  ;  and  advanced  to  the  support  of 
general  Ott,  who  was  in  full  retreat.  At  a 
village,  six  miles  from  Piacenza,  a  general 
engagement  took  place  on  the  seventeenth, 
M'hich,  having  been  continued  through  the 
ibllowing  day,  terminated  in  favor  of  the  al- 
lies. The  vanquished  army  took  advantage 
of  the  approach  of  night  to  retire  in  two 
columns  to  Piacenza,  where  four  French 
generals,  with  several  field  officers,  and  be- 
tween four  and  five  thousand  soldiers,  who 
had  been  wounded  in  the  late  murderous 
actions,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

General  Moreau,  taking  advantage  of  Su- 
worow's  absence,  left  Genoa  at  the  head  of 
twenty-nine  thousand  men,  and  on  the  twen- 
tieth of  June  attacked  and  beat  field-marshal 
Bellegarde,  who  had  been  left  to  superintend 
the  blockade  of  Alexandria.  The  Russian 
field-marshal  immediately  abandoned  the 
pursuit  of  Macdonald,  and  endeavored  by  a 
rapid  countermarch  to  overtake  Moreau, 
who,  after  fighting  another  battle,  retreated 
within  the  Ligurian  territory.  Suworow, 
however,  was  consoled  in  this  disappoint- 
ment by  the  intelligence  of  the  surrender 
of  Turin  on  the  twenty-second  of  June,  and 
with  the  capture  of  Bologna,  which  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  allies  eight  days  after- 
wards. Macdonald  then  entered  the  Geno- 
ese territory,  and  formed  a  junction  with 
Moreau. 

The  surrender  of  Fort  Urbino,  St.  Leon, 
and  Alexandria,  was  followed  by  the  capture 
of  the  almost  impregnable  fortress  of  Man- 
tua, on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July.  Suwo- 
row, having  now  conquered  the  greater  part 
of  Italy,  began  to  menace  the  southern  de- 
partments of  France  ;  but  Moreau  still  oc- 


cupied his  formidable  position  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Genoa,  and  prevented  the  ad- 
vance of  the  allies  by  threatening  to  fall 
upon  their  rear.  The  young  men  of  the  re- 
quisition were,  at  the  same  time,  put  in  mo- 
tion on  the  frontier,  and  Championnet  w^as 
employed  in  assembling  an  army  of  forty 
thousand  men  in  the  vicinity  of  Grenoble. 
Supplies  were  also  sent  to  the  army  of  Italy,' 
and  the  chief  command  of  that  force  was 
transferred  from  general  Moreau  to  general 
Joubert,  who  advanced  at  the  head  of  thir- 
ty-six thousand  men,  and  encamped  on  the 
fifteenth  of  August,  upon  the  heights  of 
Novi.  The  allies  were  superior  in  numbers ; 
Suworow  and  Melas  were  at  the  head  of 
thirty-five  thousand  troops,  of  their  respec- 
tive nations  ;  fifteen  thousand  Piedmontese, 
who  had  formerly  obliged  the  garrison  of 
Cevi  to  surrender,  now  acted  as  light  troops ; 
while  general  Kray  entered  the  camp  on 
that  very  day  with  eighteen  thousand  men, 
set  at  liberty  by  the  fall  of  Mantua.  Suwo- 
row, determined  to  anticipate  the  French, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  most  formidable  when 
they  were  the  assailants,  attacked  their  left 
wing.  General  Joubert,  in  advancing  at  the 
head  of  his  staff,  was  struck  with  a  ball, 
which  pierced  his  heart ;  but  the  loss  of 
their  general  diminished  not  the  ardor  of 
the  soldiers :  thrice  did  Suworow  charge 
the  enemy  in  person,  at  the  head  of  his  gal- 
lant veterans,  and  thrice  was  he  repulsed  by 
the  French  legions,  of  which  Moreau  again 
took  the  command  ;  but,  in  the  mean  time, 
general  Melas  succeeded  in  turning  the 
right  flank  of  the  French  army,  which  de- 
cided the  victory.  The  danger  of  being  sur- 
rounded compelled  the  French  general  to 
abandon  the  field  of  battle  to  the  allies,  who 
took  four  generals  and  four  thousand  pris- 
oners ;  and  night  alone  enabled  him  to  rally 
his  scattered  forces,  and  once  more  to  occu- 
py his  former  position  near  Genoa. 

No  sooner  did  the  French  cease  to  be  for- 
midable than  the  fatal  effects  of  jealousy  be- 
gan to  be  visible,  both  in  the  councils  and 
in  the  camps  of  the  two  nations ;  and  the 
suspicion  and  distrust  of  the  armies  had  at 
length  attained  such  an  alarming  height, 
that  it  was  deemed  impolitic  to  confine  their 
exertions  to  the  same  theatre  :  it  was  conse- 
quently resolved  that  Melas  should  continue 
the  war  in  Italy,  while  the  Russians,  under 
Suworow,  should  enter  Switzerland,  and, 
after  defeating  Massena,  penetrate  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  French  republic.  The  com- 
mencement of  the  campaign  in  Switzerland 
was  peculiarly  auspicious  to  the  French,  but 
their  successes  were  of  short  duration  ;  for 
in  April,  Schaffhausen  and  Peterhausen  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Austrians,  who,  after 
a  succession  of  engagements,  established 
their  head-quarters  at  Zurich  on  the  seventh 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


459 


of  June,  and  obliged  Massena  to  retreat  to 
Mount  Albis.  That  general,  however,  hav- 
ing received  fresh  supplies  of  men  and  pro- 
visions, recommenced  operations  against  the 
archduke  ;  and  a  column  of  republicans,  de- 
tached across  the  Limmat,  penetrated  the 
Austrian  camp  on  the  fourteenth  of  August. 
To  relieve  Massena,  general  Muller  estab- 
lished his  head-quarters  at  Manheim,  and 
pushed  his  advanced  guard  as  far  as  Heidel- 
berg, while  Baraguay  d'Hilliers  imposed  a 
contribution  upon  Frankfort,  passed  the 
Maine,  and  joined  his  countrymen  in  the 
territories  of  Darmstadt.  When  the  arch- 
duke learnt  that  a  body  of  French  troops, 
after  entering  Suabia,  was  levynig  contribu- 
tions, and  seizing  on  the  rich  harvests  of 
Germany,  he  conferred  the  command  of  the 
Austrian  army  in  Switzerland  on  general 
Hotze,  and  recrossed  the  Rhine  in  person. 
Massena,  availing  himself  of  the  absence  of 
the  prince,  and  determined  to  obtain  a  supe- 
riority in  Switzerland  before  the  arrival  of 
Suworow,  approached  Zurich  on  the  twen- 
ty-fourth of  September,  and  on  the  following 
morning  the  battle  commenced.  General 
Hotze,  however,  received  a  mortal  wound 
early  in  the  engagement ;  and  general  Pe- 
trasch  and  prince  Koraskovv  were  obliged  to 
give  way ;  on  which  the  French  troops  car- 
ried Zurich  by  assault,  and  captured  n  con- 
siderable body  of  Russians  posted  in  that  city. 
SUWOROW  RETREATS. 
SuwoROw,  having  crossed  the  plains  of 
Piedmont,  and  possessed  himself  of  the 
heights  of  St.  Gothard,  was  now  about  to 
enter  the  canton  of  Uri,  when  he  received 
an  imperfect  account  of  the  defeat  of  the 
allies  at  Zurich  ;  and  this  disastrous  intelli- 
gence was  speedily  confirmed  by  the  ap- 
proach of  the  retreating  troops.  Unaccus- 
tomed to  see  the  Russian  legions  fly  before 
their  adversaries,  he  intimated  to  prince  Ko- 
raskovv that  he  should  answer  with  his  head 
if  he  made  another  retrograde  step.  Eager 
to  vindicate  his  character  to  so  gallant  a 
chi??f,  the  prince  immediately  reassembled 
the  wreck  of  his  troops  ;  and,  having  been 
joined  by  a  body  of  Austrians,  the  corps  of 
Conde,  and  the  Bavarian  contingent,  deter- 
mined to  attempt  a  diversion  in  favor  of  his 
commander,  by  reassuming  his  former  posi- 
tion before  Zurich,  during  the  absence  of 
Massena ;  but  the  latter  proved  his  superi- 
ority by  securing  all  the  intermediate  passes. 
At  length,  amidst  incessant  toils  and  contin- 
ual combats,  the  Russians  arrived,  on  the 
third  of  October,  in  the  valley  of  Mutten, 
and  took  possession  of  the  bridge  af^er  a 
most  obstinate  resistance.  The  post  of  Brun- 
nen  was  also  carried  the  next  day :  but 
here  ended  the  progress  of  t!ie  Russian 
hero.  Suv/orovv,  after  penetrating  into  the 
canton  of  Schweitz,  was  so  conscious  of  his 


critical  situation,  that  he  determined,  for 
the  first  time  in  his  life,  on  a  retreat,  and 
effected  it  in  a  masterly  manner. 

The  emperor  Paul,  indignant  that  the  Ger- 
manic states  were  not  actuated  by  a  zeal 
ardent  as  that  with  which  he  was  inspired, 
issued  an  official  notification,  addressed  to 
all  the  members  of  the  Germanic  empire, 
calling  upon  them  to  unite  their  forces  wiUi 
his,  and  expressing  his  determination,  if 
properly  supported,  never  to  sheath  the 
sword  till  he  had  seen  the  downfall  of  the 
monster  which  threatened  to  crush  all  legal 
authorities.  Scarcely  had  this  declaration 
reached  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed, 
than  Suworow,  alike  discontented  with  his 
allies  and  his  colleagues,  and  tired  of  inces- 
sant combats,  where  valor  was  unavailing, 
and  even  victory  was  unattended  with  its 
usual  advantages,  collected  the  wreck  of  his 
army  at  Cloire,  ordered  the  remains  of  Ko- 
raskow's  troops  and  the  corps  of  Conde  to 
form  a  junction  with  him  at  that  place,  and, 
after  some  delay,  proceeded  to  Bohemia, 
where  he  spent  the  winter.  Of  one  hundred 
thousand  men,  who  had  either  left  Russia 
with  him  eight  months  before,  or  joined  his 
army  within  that  period,  scarcely  fifty  thou^ 
sand  reached  the  banks  vC  the  Lech.  Thus 
the  co-upera,Lion  of  Russia  terminated,  and 
Suworow,  overwhelmed  with  grief  and  dis- 
appointment, retired  to  his  native  country, 
where  he  did  not  long  survive  the  frowns 
of  fortune.  He  was  coldly  received  by  the 
emperor,  and  died  on  the  eighteenth  of  May, 
1800,  aged  seventy-one. 

The  French  had  become  once  more  mas- 
ters of  Switzerland,  had  retaken  St  Gothard, 
and  begun  to  menace  the  country  of  the 
Grisons.  General  Muller  again  penetrated 
into  Germany,  seized  on  Frankfort,  Man- 
heim, and  Heidelberg,  and  threatened  to  lay 
all  that  portion  of  the  empire  under  contri- 
bution. 

No  sooner  had  the  Austrian  army,  under 
Melas,  advanced  into  the  neighborhood  of 
Coni,  and  prepared  to  lay  siege  to  tJiat  for- 
tress, than  general  Championnet,  collecting 
his  whole  force,  marched  to  Savigliano  to 
give  him  battle ;  but  on  the  fourth  of  No- 
vember a  furious  attack,  directed  against  the 
column  of  general  Grenier  by  general  Ott, 
forced  the  republicans  to  retreat  towards 
Genola,  and  the  approach  of  night  again 
saved  the  French  army  from  ruin.  The 
siege  of  Coni  was  now  prosecuted  with  vigor, 
and  on  the  second  of  January,  18(X),  the 
French  commander  agreed  to  capitulate, 
when  two  thousand  five  hundred  republicans 
became  prisoners  of  war.  The  success  of 
tlie  allied  arms  in  Italy  served  to  compen- 
sate the  sovoreigns  of  Europe  for  the  losses 
they  had  this  year  sustained  in  other  quar- 
ters ;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  campaign  was 


460 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


less  auspicious  in  its  conclusion  than  at  its 
commencement;  and  the  defection  of  the 
emperor  of  Russia  damped  the  future  ex- 
pectations of  the  court  of  Vienna. 

EXPEDITION  TO  NORTH  HOLLAND.— CAP- 
TURE OF  SURINAM. 
The  English  government,  after  a  long 
course  of  preparation,  caused  a  descent  to 
be  made,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  August, 
1799,  to  the  south-west  of  the  Holder  point, 
on  the  coast  of  North  Holland.  A  body  of 
seven  thousand  men,  French  and  Dutch,  en- 
countered the  English,  under  Sir  Ralph 
Abercrombie,  who  with  difficulty  gained  the 
advantage.  Above  one  thousand  of  the 
enemy  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  of  the 
British  about  four  hundred  and  fifty.  It  was 
the  intention  of  Sir  Ralph  to  attack  the 
Holder  fort  the  next  morning;  but  it  was 
evacuated  in  the  night,  and  he  found  in  it  a 
considerable  train  of  artillery.  Vice-admi- 
ral Mitchell  then  made  arrangements  for 
entering  the  harbor  of  tlie  Texel.  Having 
summoned  the  commander  of  the  Dutch 
fleet  to  hoist  the  flag  of  the  prince  of  Or- 
ange, and  accept  the  friendship  of  Great 
Britain,  he  received  an  answer  from  rear- 
admiral  Story,  promising  to  deliver  up  his 
squadron,  as  the  men  refused  to  fight.  The 
ships  were  twelve  in  number,  and  eight  of 
them  mounted  from  fifty-four  to  seventy-four 

S^^^-  ... 

While  the  invading  army  waited  for  tJie 
arrival  of  reinforcements,  about  twelve  thou- 
sand French  and  Dutch  attacked  them  with 
vigor  on  the  tenth  of  September :  but  so 
strong  was  tlie  post  of  the  Zuyp,  and  so 
firmly  did  the  English  defend  it,  that  about 
eight  hundred  of  the  assailants  were  killed 
or  wounded,  while  only  two  hundred  suffer- 
ed on  the  part  of  their  opponents.  The  duke 
of  York  now  landed  with  three  brigades, 
and  a  Russian  army  also  disembarked.  As 
the  allied  army  amounted  to  thirty-five  thou- 
sand men,  the  duke  and  general  d'Hermann 
ventured  upon  a  speedy  action.  The  Rus- 
sians, by  an  impetuous  onset,  September  the 
nineteenth,  made  great  havoc,  and  pushed 
forward  to  Bergen;  Abercrombie's  column 
penetrated  to  Hoorn  ;  and  the  two  other  col- 
umns were  successful  in  their  attacks ;  but 
tlie  rash  confidence  of  the  Russians  exposed 
them  to  such  danger,  that  the  retreat  of  the 
whole  force  soon  became  necessary. 

The  battle  of  Egmont,  on  the  second  of 
October,  was  severe,  but  indecisive.  The 
evening  put  an  end  to  the  engagement,  and 
the  troops  rested  upon  their  arms.  At  day- 
break the  retreat  of  the  enemy  gave  the 
English  and  Russians  an  opportunity  of  ta- 
king several  posts ;  but,  though  they  pushed 
forward  for  that  purpose,  they  vvere  pre- 
cluded by  fatigue  from  efiectually  harassing 
the    republican    troops.      The    killed    and 


wounded  of  the  British  amounted  to  about 
fifteen  hundred  and  fifty ;  of  the  Russians, 
about  six  hundred  suffered  or  were  captured, 
and  of  the  French  and  Dutch  the  loss  ex- 
ceeded three  thousand.  The  English  offi- 
cers seemed  to  be  marked  out,  as  an  unusual 
proportion  received  wounds. 

The  enemy  having  taken  a  very  strong 
position,  and  being  in  expectation  of  a  rein- 
forcement, the  duke  of  York  resolved  upon 
another  attack  before  the  erection  of  new 
works,  and  when  he  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  arrival  of  fresh  troops  to  oppose  him. 
The  Russians  had  a  greater  share  in  this 
action  of  the  sixth  of  October  than  in  the 
preceding ;  and  they  were  so  vigorously  re- 
sisted, that  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  was 
obliged  to  advance  with  a  strong  body  to 
their  relief.  The  whole  hostile  force  then 
put  itself  in  motion,  and  the  action,  which 
became  general  along  the  line,  from  Lim- 
men  to  the  sea,  terminated  to  the  honor  of 
the  invaders,  as  they  were  left  masters  of 
the  field ;  but  the  loss  on  both  sides  was  very 
severe,  and  the  enemy,  who  soon  after  re- 
ceived a  reinforcement  of  six  thousand  troops, 
maintained  their  position  between  Bever- 
wyck  and  Wyck-op-Zee. 

The  allied  army  now  found  itself  placed 
in  a  situation  so  critical  as  to  require  the 
greatest  military  talents,  united  with  the 
most  mature  experience,  to  diroct  nr  IhUwe 
operations.  Directly  opposite  hy  liiv  cntmy, 
in  a  position  almost  impregnable,  and  ren- 
dered confident  by  the  accession  of  strength 
just  received.  A  naked,  barren,  and  ex- 
hausted country,  scarcely  aflbrding  shelter 
for  the  wounded,  extended  all  around.  The 
right  wing  of  the  allied  army  was  indeed 
protected  by  the  ocean  ;  but  a  considerable 
body  of  troops,  occupying  an  almost  inac- 
cessible position,  threatened  the  left.  The 
weather,  too,  since  the  evening  of  the  sixth 
of  October,  had  set  in  with  increased  in- 
clemency ;  and  it  was  with  extreme  diffi- 
culty that  the  urgent  necessities  of  the 
troops  could  be  supplied.  To  these  compli- 
cated evils  the  whole  army  lay  exposed  on 
the  unsheltered  sand-hills  of  North  Holland, 
while  the  stadtholderian  party  remained  in- 
active, and  apparently  indifferent  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  common  cause.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  duke  of  York,  in  the 
evening  of  the  seventh,  the  night  being  ex- 
tremely dark,  and  the  rain  descending  in  tor- 
rents, issued  an  unexpected  order  for  the 
troops  to  assemble,  and  at  ten  o'clock  the 
whole  army  was  in  full  retreat  towards  Pol- 
len and  Alkmaar.  As  they  could  not,  how- 
ever, be  embarked  in  the  face  of  a  superior 
army  without  considerable  loss,  the  duke  of 
York  and  admiral  Mitchell  entered  into  a 
negotiation  v/ith  general  Brune,  and  on  the 
seventeenth   of  October  an  armistice  was 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


461 


agreed  upon,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that 
the  combined  English  and  Russian  army 
should  evacuate  the  territories  of  the  Bata- 
vian  republic  by  the  thirtieth  of  November ; 
that  the  Dutch  admiral,  De  Winter,  should 
be  considered  as  exchanged ;  that  the  mount- 
ed batteries  at  the  Helder  should  be  restored 
in  their  present  state ;  that  eight  thousand 
prisoners  of  war,  French  and  Batavians,  ta- 
ken before  the  present  campaign,  and  now 


them  into  execution.  At  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  eighteenth  of  Brumaire, 
(November  the  ninth,)  by  a  manceuvre  of 
the  conspirators  in  the  council  of  Anciente, 
it  was  proposed,  without  communicating  with 
the  directory,  that  the  assembly  should  ad- 
journ to  St.  Cloud ;  that  general  Buonaparte 
should  be  charged  to  put  the  decree  in  exe- 
cution ;  and  that  for  that  purpose  he  should 
be  appointed  commander  of  all  the  forces ; 


detained  in  England,  should  be  restored  with-  which  being  passed  by  a  great  majority,  the 


out  conditions  to  their  respective  countries ; 
and  that  major-general  Knox  should  remain 
with  the  French,  to  guaranty  the  execution 
of  this  convention.  The  proposition  of  re- 
storing the  Batavian  fleet  surrendered  by 
admiral  Story,  which  was  advanced  by  gen- 
eral Brune,  was  received  with  indignation ; 
and  the  duke  threatened,  in  case  of  perse- 
verance on  this  point,  to  cut  the  sea-dikes, 
and  inundate  the  whole  country.  Nearly 
four  thousand  Dutch  deserters  were  brought 
to  England  with  the  British  troops,  who 
were  embarked  without  delay :  and  the  Rus- 
sians were  landed  and  quartered  in  Guern- 
sey and  Jersey. 

In  this  year,  the  flourishing  settlement  of 
Surinam  was  wrested  from  the  Dutch  by  a 
body  of  troops,  collected  in  the  islands  of 
Grenada,  St.  Lucia,  and  Martinico,  by  lieu- 
tenant-general Trigge,  and  embarked  on 
board  two  line-of-battle  ships  and  five  frig- 
ates, under  the  command  of  vice-admiral 
lord  Hugh  Seymour.  On  their  arrival  off" 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Surinam,  governor 
Frederic!  capitulated,  on  the  twentieth  of 
August,  without  firing  a  gun.  The  British 
navy,  during  the  whole  of  this  year,  did  not 
lose  a  single  vessel  of  war ;  while  twenty 
frigates,  corvettes,  and  luggers,  belonging 
to  France,  and  ten  to  Spain,  were  either 
taken  or  run  on  shore.  The  Dutch  navy  may 
be  said  to  have  been  annihilated.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  ships  of  war  seized  by  admiral 
Mitchell  in  the  Nieuve  Diep  and  the  Texel, 
the  Batavian  republic  lost  a  forty-gun  ship, 
the  Hortog  Van  Brunswick,  in  the  straits 
of  Sunda ;  and  as  the  sailors  were  obviously 
disaflfected  to  the  new  government,  all  fur- 
ther exertions  by  sea,  on  the  part  of  that 
]X)wer,  were  interdicted. 

THE  FRENCH  DIRECTORY  OVERTHROWN. 
—BUONAPARTE  MADE  FIRST  CONSUL. 
The  French  directory,  which  had  long 
been  in  the  enjoyment  of  supreme  power, 
was  rapidly  verging  towards  its  dissolution, 
when  Buonaparte  arrived  from  Egypt,  and 
was  received  m  Paris  with  every  possible 
demonstration  of  public  favor.  The  Abbe 
Sieyes,  constantly  intriguing,  was  secretly 
gratified  with  the  popularity  enjoyed  by 
Buonaparte,  and,  after  disclosing  to  him  cer- 
tain projects  which  he  entertained,  solicited 
his  powerful  aid,  for  the  purpose  of  carrymg 


sitting  was  then  dissolved.  Buonaparte  in- 
stantly issued  two  proclamations,  announcing 
his  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  city 
guard  and  of  the  army,  and  inviting  them  to 
support  their  general  in  his  endeavors  to 
restore  to  the  public  the  blessings  of  liberty, 
victory,  and  peace.  He  then  marched  ten 
thousand  troops  to  the  Thuilleries,  and 
guarded  every  avenue  to  that  place  so  effec- 
tually, that  no  one  was  permitted  to  pass. 
Three  of  the  directors,  and  all  the  citizens 
of  Paris,  were,  for  the  first  time,  acquainted 
with  the  proceedings  that  had  taken  place, 
by  the  proclamations  with  which  the  walls 
of  the  capital  soon  became  placarded.  The 
director,  Barras,  who  had  refused  to  give  in 
his  resignation,  was  exiled  to  his  country- 
seat  under  a  guard  of  cavalry,  while  Goheir 
and  Moulins  remained  almost  passive  spec- 
tators of  the  events  which  deprived  them  of 
power,  and  imposed  a  new  form  of  govern- 
ment upon  their  country.  In  the  mean  time 
the  council  of  Five  Hundred  had  assembled, 
filled  with  astonishment  and  distrust;  and 
although  Lucien  Buonaparte,  brother  to  the 
general,  was  at  this  time  its  president,  an 
uproar  arose  on  the  entrance  of  the  latter, 
in  which  even  his  life  was  endangered,  until 
general  Lefebvre  at  length  rushed  into  the 
hall  with  a  body  of  armed  grenadiers,  and 
rescued  their  chief  from  the  dangers  with 
which  he  was  environed.  The  members  in- 
stantly decreed  that  the  council  of  Ancients 
had  no  power  to  invest  Buonaparte  with  the 
command,  as  that  authority  could  be  confer- 
red by  the  directory  alone,  and  an  outlawry 
was  proposed ;  but  the  president  refused  to 
pronounce  the  decree  against  his  brother, 
and  quitted  the  chair.  Immediately  pistols 
and  poniards  were  presented  to  his  breast  to 
compel  him  to  resume  his  office,  but  he  re- 
mained inflexible  until  the  military  arrived 
to  his  protection.  The  chamber  was  soon 
cleared  of  the  members  of  the  council,  and 
cries  of  "  Long  live  the  republic ! "  "  Long 
live  Buonaparte !"  sent  forth  by  the  military, 
announced  the  event  and  the  means  by  which 
it  was  accomplished.  The  first  imperfect 
intelligence  of  these  events  had  filled  the 
metropolis  with  apprehension ;  but  no  sooner 
were  the  circumstances  attending  this  mili- 
tary usurpation  made  known,  than  the  Paris- 
ians appeared  overjoyed  at  the  final  subver- 


462 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sion  of  the  jacobin  power,  and  cherished  the 
hope  of  a  new  and  better  government. 

The  existing  constitution  being  dissolved, 
a  provisional  government  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  three  consuls,  Sieyes,  Duces, 
and  Buonaparte,  who  were  invested  with  the 
full  powers  of  the  directory,  and,  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  entered  upon  their  public  func- 
tions at  the  palace  of  the  Luxembourg-  The 
legislative  commissioners  at  the  same  time 
commenced  their  sittings.  In  forming  the 
new  administration,  Lucien  Buonaparte  was 
constituted  minister  of  the  interior,  and  M. 
Talleyrand  reinstated  in  his  office  of  minister 
for  foreign  affairs.  A  new  constitution  was 
shortly  after  submitted  to  the  French  nation, 
and  almost  unanimously  approved.  It  con- 
sisted of  an  executive  composed  of  three 
consuls,  one  bearing  the  title  of  chief,  and  in 
fact  possessing  all  the  authority ;  a  Conser- 
vative Senate,  composed  of  eighty  members, 
appointed  for  life,  and  nominated  by  the  con- 
suls ;  and  a  Legislative  Body  of  three  hun- 
dred members,  with  a  tribunate  of  one  hun- 
dred. Buonaparte  was  nominated  first  or 
chief  consul  for  a  term  of  ten  years. 

BUONAPARTE  MAKES  PROPOSALS  OF 
PEACE— REJECTED  BY  THE  BRITISH 
GOVERNMENT. 

The  new  sovereign  of  France,  as  he  had 
now  in  effect  become,  finding  himself  quietly 
placed  in  possession  of  supreme  power,  and 
of  the  palace  of  the  Bourbons,  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  on  Christ 
mas  day,  for  the  purpose  of  entering  on  a 
negotiation  for  peace.  "  Called  by  the  wishes 
of  the  French  nation,"  said  he,  "  to  occupy 
the  first  magistracy  of  the  republic,  I  think 
it  proper,  on  entering  into  office,  to  make  a 
direct  communication  of  it  to  your  majesty. 
The  war  which  has  for  eight  years  ravaged 
the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  must  it  be 
eternal  1  Are  there  no  means  of  coming  to 
an  understanding  1  How  can  the  two  most 
enlightened  nations  of  Europe,  powerful  and 
strong  beyond  what  their  safety  and  inde- 
pendence require,  sacrifice,  to  ideas  of  vain 
grandeur,  commerce,  prosperity,  and  peace  1 
How  is  it  that  they  do  not  feel  that  peace  is 
of  the  first  importance,  as  well  as  the  high' 
est  glory  ?  These  sentiments  cannot  be  for 
eign  to  the  heart  of  your  majesty,  who  reigns 
over  a  free  nation  v/ith  the  sole  view  of  ren 
dering  it  happy.  Your  majesty  will  see  in 
this  overture  my  sincere  wish  to  contribute 
efficaciously,  for  the  second  time,  to  a  gen- 
eral pacification,  by  a  step  speedy,  entirely 
of  confidence,  and  disengaged  from  those 
forms  which,  perhaps  necessary  to  disguise 
the  independence  of  weak  states,  proves,  in 
those  that  are  strong,  only  the  desire  of  de- 
ceiving each  other.  France  and  England, 
by  the  abuse  of  their  strength,  may  still  for 
a  long  time,  for  the  misfortune  of  all  nations, 


retard  the  period  of  their  being  exhausted ; 
but,  I  will  venture  to  say  it,  the  fate  of  all 
civilized  nations  is  attached  to  the  termina- 
tion of  a  war,  which  involves  the  whole 
world." 

1800.— On  the  fourth  of  January,  1800,  a 
letter  was  sent  by  lord  Grenville  to  Talley- 
rand, containing  an  official  note,  in  which  it 
was  observed,  that  the  king  had  given  fre- 
quent proofs  of  his  sincere  desire  for  the  re- 
establishment  of  secure  and  permanent  tran- 
quillity in  Europe.  He  never  was,  nor  had 
been,  engaged  in  any  contest  for  a  vain  and 
false  glory.  He  had  no  other  view  than  that 
of  maintaining,  against  all  transgression,  the 
rights  and  happiness  of  his  subjects.  For 
these  he  had  contended  against  an  unpro- 
voked attack,  and,  for  the  same  objects,  he 
was  still  obliged  to  contend ;  nor  could  he 
hope  that  this  necessity  would  be  removed 
by  entering,  at  the  present  moment,  into  ne- 
gotiation with  those  whom  a  fresh  revolution 
had  so  recently  placed  in  the  exercise  of 
power  in  France ;  since  no  real  advantage 
could  arise  from  such  negotiation  to  the 
great  and  desirable  object  of  general  peace, 
until  it  should  distinctly  appear  that  those 
causes  had  ceased  to  operate  which  origin- 
ally produced  the  war,  and  by  which  it  had 
since  been  protracted,  and,  in  more  than  one 
instance,  renewed.  The  same  system,  to 
the  prevalence  of  which  France  justly  as- 
cribes all  her  present  miseries,  was  that  which 
had  also  involved  the  rest  of  Europe  in  a 
long  and  destructive  warfare,  of  a  nature 
long  since  unknown  to  the  practice  of  civil- 
ized nations.  For  the  extension  of  this  sys- 
tem, and  for  the  extermination  of  all  estab- 
lished governments,  the  resources  of  France 
had,  from  year  to  year,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  unparalleled  distress,  been  lavished 
and  exhausted.  To  that  indiscriminate  spirit 
of  destruction  the  Netherlands,  the  United 
Provinces,  the  Swiss  Cantons,  (his  majesty's 
ancient  friends  and  allies,)  had  successively 
been  sacrificed.  Germany  had  been  ravag- 
ed ;  Italy,  though  then  rescued  from  its  in- 
vaders, had  been  made  the  scene  of  unbound- 
ed rapine  and  anarchy.  His  majesty  had 
himself  been  compelled  to  maintain  an  ar- 
duous and  burdensome  contest  for  the  inde- 
pendence and  existence  of  his  kingdom. 
Nor  had  these  calamities  been  confined  to 
Europe  alone;  they  had  been  extended  to 
the  most  distant  quarters  of  the  world,  and 
to  countries  so  remote,  both  in  situation  and 
interest,  from  the  present  contest,  that  the 
very  existence  of  such  a  war  was  perhaps 
unknown  to  those  who  found  themselves 
suddenly  involved  in  all  its  horrors.  While 
such  a  system  continued  to  prevail,  experi- 
ence had  shown  that  no  defence,  but  that  of 
open  and  steady  hostility,  could  be  availing. 
Greatly,  indeed,  would  his  majesty  rejoice, 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


463 


whenever  it  should  appear  that  the  dangers 
to  which  his  own  dominions,  and  those  of  his 
allies,  had  been  so  long  exposed,  had  really 
ceased ;  whenever  he  should  be  satisfied  that 
the  necessity  of  resistance  was  at  an  end ; 
that,  after  the  experience  of  so  many  years 
of  crimes  and  miseries,  better  principles  had 
ultimately  prevailed  in  France;  and  that 
all  the  gigantic  projects  of  ambition,  and  all 
the  restless  schemes  of  destruction,  which 
had  endangered  the  very  existence  of  civil 
society,  had,  at  length,  been  finally  relin- 
quished ;  but  the  conviction  of  such  a  change 
could  result  only  from  experience,  and  from 
the  evidence  of  facts.  The  best  and  most 
natural  pledge  of  its  reality  and  permanence 
would  be  the  restoration  of  that  line  of  princes 
which,  for  so  many  centuries,  maintained 
the  French  nation  in  prosperity  at  home,  and 
in  consideration  and  respect  abroad ;  such  an 
event  would  at  once  have  removed,  and 
would  at  any  time  remove,  all  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  negotiation  for  peace.  His  ma- 
jesty made  no  claim  to  prescribe  to  France 
what  should  be  the  form  of  her  government, 
or  in  whose  hands  she  should  vest  the  au- 
thority necessary  for  conducting  the  aflfairs 
of  a  great  and  powerful  nation :  he  looked 
only  to  the  security  of  his  own  dominions, 
and  those  of  his  allies,  and  to  the  general 
safety  of  Europe.  Whenever  he  should 
judge  that  such  security  could,  in  any  man- 
ner, be  obtained,  he  would  eagerly  embrace 
the  opportunity  to  concert  with  his  allies  the 
means  of  immediate  and  general  pacification. 

In  the  reply  to  this  answer  of  the  British 
cabinet,  dated  the  fourteenth  of  January, 
Buonaparte  renewed  the  assertion  that 
France  was  not  the  aggressor  in  the  war ; 
that,  so  far  from  having  provoked  it,  she  had, 
from  the  commencement  of  her  revolution, 
solemnly  proclaimed  her  love  of  peace,  her 
disinclination  to  conquests,  and  her  respect 
for  the  independence  of  all  governments; 
and  it  was  not  to  be  doubted  that,  occupied 
entirely  at  that  time  with  her  own  internal 
affairs,  she  would  have  avoided  taking  part 
in  those  of  Europe,  and  would  have  remain- 
ed faithful  to  her  declarations :  but,  fi-om  an 
opposite  disposition,  as  soon  as  the  French 
revolution  had  broken  out,  almost  all  Europe 
had  entered  into  a  league  for  its  destruction. 
Assailed  on  all  sides,  the  republic  could  not 
but  extend  universally  the  efforts  of  her  de- 
fence ;  and  it  was  only  for  the  maintenance 
of  her  own  independence  that  she  had  made 
use  of  those  means  which  she  possessed  in 
her  own  strength,  and  the  courage  of  her 
citizens. 

In  the  answer  which  lord  Grenville  for- 
warded on  the  twentieth  of  January,  tlie 
king  expressed  his  concern  in  observin;?  that 
the  unprovoked  aggressions  of  France,  the 
sole  cause  and  origin  of  the  war,  were  sys- 


tematically defended  by  her  present  ruler, 
under  the  same  injurious  pretences  by  which 
they  were  originally  attempted  to  be  dis- 
guised. His  majesty  refiised  to  enter  into 
the  refiitation  of  allegations  then  universal- 
ly exploded,  and,  in  so  far  as  they  respected 
his  conduct,  not  only  in  themselves  utterly 
groundless,  but  contradicted  both  by  the  in- 
ternal evidence  of  the  transactions  to  which 
they  related,  and  also  by  the  express  testi- 
mony (given  at  the  time)  of  the  government 
of  France  itself. — The  French  minister  was 
referred  to  the  first  note  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment for  his  majesty's  opinion  of  the 
present  overtures. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— FINANCE- 
SUBSIDIES— DEBATES  ON  THE  WAR. 
After  the  adjournment,  the  first  subject 
of  importance  that  engaged  the  attention  of 
parliament  was  the  correspondence  which 
had  recently  taken  place  between  the  Brit- 
ish and  French  governments.  Ministers  in- 
quired what  possible  advantage  could  result 
from  a  negotiation  with  France  at  this  mo- 
ment, and  asked  whether  the  consular  gov- 
ernment presented  a  greater  certainty  of  a 
favorable  termination  of  a  treaty  than  any 
of  the  revolutionary  governments  which  had 
preceded  it:  the  minority,  on  the  other  hand, 
animadverted  on  the  precipitation  of  minis- 
ters in  closing  the  door  at  once  to  all  hopes 
of  pacification.  The  rejection  of  the  over- 
tures made  by  the  first  consul  was,  how- 
ever, approved  by  decided  majorities  in  both 
houses ;  and  it  was  accordingly  determined 
to  carry  on  the  war  on  an  extensive  scale. 
To  enable  the  allies  to  bring  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  troops  into  the  field,  ne- 
gotiations were  immediately  entered  into 
with  the  emperor,  the  duke  of  Wirtemburg, 
and  the  elector  of  Bavaria :  the  army  of 
Conde,  and  the  Swiss  regiment  of  Rovera, 
were  also  taken  into  the  pay  of  England ; 
and  it  was  proposed,  and  agreed  to  by  parlia- 
ment, to  enable  the  treasury  to  advance  tlie 
sum  of  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  until 
the  subsidiary  treaties  had  been  signed  and 
adjusted. 

The  military  and  naval  forces  deemed 
necessary  for  the  service  of  the  year  1800 
were  nearly  the  same  as  in  1799.  Pitt,  in 
detailing  the  means  for  raising  the  supply, 
estimated  the  income  tax  at  five  million 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds,  exclusive 
of  one  million  seven  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  in- 
terest for  thirty-two  million  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds ;  but  he  expressed  the 
strongest  expectation  that  it  would  turn  out 
to  better  account.  He  had  negotiated  a  loan 
of  eighteen  million  five  hundred  thousand 
poimds ;  the  surplus  of  the  consolidated  fund 
he  reckoned  at  about  four  million  pounds; 
exchequer-bills  three  million  pound?     "nd 


464 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


an  advance  of  three  million  pounds,  bearing 
no  interest  for  six  years,  from  the  bank,  as  a 
premium  for  the  renewal  of  the  charier 
for  twenty-one  years,  with  the  incidental 
sources  of  revenue,  made  up  the  required 
sum  of  thirty-nine  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds.  These  financial  proposals, 
which  underwent  a  variety  of  strictures 
from  the  vigilant  observation  of  Tierney, 
were  ultimately  carried. 

Pitt  having  moved,  on  the  seventeenth  of 
February,  for  an  advance  of  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds  to  the  emperor  of  Germany, 
it  was  opposed  with  great  energy  by  Tier- 
ney, who  conjured  the  house  to  recollect 
that  the  war  had  now  continued  seven  years, 
at  the  expense  of  two  hundred  million 
pounds,  on  the  pretext  of  its  being  just  and 
necessary.  Just  it  could  not  be,  if  the  ob- 
ject of  it  were  to  tbrce  upon  the  French  na- 
tion the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons ;  nor 
necessary,  because  we  had  refused  to  nego- 
tiate when  the  opportunity  w^as  presented  to 
us.  If  this  sum  were  granted,  much  larger 
demands  would  follow;  and  thus  we  were 
to  lavish  our  blood  and  treasure  in  a  cause 
for  which  no  satisfactory  or  intelligible  rea- 
son could  be  assigned,  and  he  defied  the 
ministers  to  name  one.  Pitt  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  stating  the  object  of  the  war  in  a 
single  word — security;  security  against  a 
danger  the  greatest  that  had  ever  threatened 
the  world — a  danger  which  never  existed 
before  in  any  period  of  society — which  had 
been  felt  and  resisted  by  all  the  nations  of 
Europe,  but  by  none  so  successfully  and  uni- 
formly as  our  own.  Our  resistance  had  not 
been  confined  to  external  force  ;  it  had  join- 
ed internal  policy  and  wise  legislative  mea- 
sures to  oppose  jacobinism  in  the  bosom  (he 
was  sorry  to  have  found  it  there)  of  our  own 
country.  How  was  it  discovered  that  jaco- 
binism had  disappeared  in  France  ?  It  was 
now  centred  in  one  man,  nursed  in  its  school, 
who  had  gained  celebrity  under  its  auspices, 
and  was  at  once  the  child  and  the  champion 
of  its  atrocities.  Granting  that  two  hundred 
million  pounds  had  been  expended  for  the 
words  "just  and  necessary,"  they  had  been 
expended,  he  said,  for  the  best  of  causes,  to 
protect  the  dearest  rights,  to  defend  the 
most  valuable  privileges,  the  laws,  the  lib- 
erties, the  happiness  of  our  country ;  and, 
for  such  objects,  as  much  more  would  we 
spend,  and  as  much  more  could  we  find. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  .Tanuary,  1800,  the 
Irish  parliament  met  at  Dublin;  and,  on  the 
fifth  of  February,  a  message  from  the  lord- 
lieutenant  intimated  the  king's  desire  that 
the  resolutions  passed  by  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain  should  be  submitted  to  the  at- 
tentive consideration  of  the  Irish  legisla- 
ture; and  expressed  his  hope  that  tlie  great 
object  to  which  they  related  might  be  ma- 


tured and  completed  by  the  wisdom  of  the 
two  parliaments,  and  the  loyal  concurrence 
of  the  people.  On  this  occasion  the  secre- 
tary of  state,  lord  Castlereagh,  to  whose 
management  the  business  was  intrusted,  en- 
tered into  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
measure  proposed,  recommending  it  by  ar- 
guments analogous  to  those  of  Pitt,  and 
other  advocates  of  the  Union  in  the  British 
parliament.  On  moving  the  first  resolution, 
after  a  vehement  debate,  the  numbers  were, 
in  favor  of  the  measure,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight,  against  it  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen. The  tumults  of  the  populace  of  Dub- 
lin were,  upon  this  occasion,  very  alarming ; 
and  a  military  guard  was  found  necessary 
to  preserve  the  advocates  of  the  Union  from 
personal  violence.  In  the  house  of  peers 
the  earl  of  Clare,  late  lord  Fitzgibbon,  chan- 
cellor of  Ireland,  on  moving  the  first  resolu- 
tion, declared  himself  satisfied,  from  an  at- 
tentive observation  of  what  had  passed  in 
Ireland  for  the  last  twenty  years,  that  the 
existence  of  her  independent  parliament  had 
gradually  led  to  her  recent  and  bitter  calami- 
ties ;  and  avowed  that  he  had,  for  the  pre- 
ceding seven  years,  pressed  upon  ministers 
the  urgent  necessity  of  union.  Lords  Dil- 
lon, Powerscourt,  Farnham,  and  Bellamont, 
declared  their  disapprobation  of  the  mea- 
sure, which  was  defended  by  the  law-lords 
Carleton  and  Kilwarden,  and  various  other 
peers;  after  which  the  question  upon  tlie 
first  resolution  was  put,  and  carried  by  sev- 
enty-five against  twenty-six  voices.  The 
succeeding  resolutions  were  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks  passed  through  this  house 
with  the  same  or  greater  facility.  In  the 
course  of  these  debates,  three  different  pro- 
tests, drawn  with  vigor  and  ability,  were 
entered  upon  the  journals,  signed  by  the 
duke  of  Leinster,  the  marquis  of  Do  wnshire, 
lords  Pery  and  Moira,  the  bishop  of  Down, 
and  about  twenty  other  peers,  expressive  of 
their  highest  indignation  at  these  proceed- 
ings. On  the  seventeenth  of  February,  the 
house  of  commons  being  in  a  general  com- 
mittee, Corry,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
made  an  able  speech  in  vindication  of  the 
measure,  blended,  however,  agreeably  to  the 
too  frequent  custom  of  the  Irish  parliament, 
with  virulent  party  and  personal  reflections. 
The  reply  of  Grattan,  wiio  had  opposed  the 
measure  throughout  with  all  the  powers  of 
eloquence,  was  so  pointed  and  severe,  that 
the  chancellor  thought  proper  to  resent  it 
by  a  challenge,  and  a  duel  ensued,  in  which 
five  shots  were  exchanged ;  and  Corry  was 
wounded,  though  not  dangerously.  On  the 
twenty-seventh  of  March,  the  whole  busi- 
ness being  completed,  lord  Castlereagh 
moved  an  address  to  his  majesty  from  the 
commons,  declaring  their  approbation  of  the 
resolutions  transmitted  to  them,  which  tliey 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


465 


considered  as  wisely  calculated  to  form  the 
basis  of  a  complete  and  entire  union  of  tlie 
two  legislatures ;  that  by  those  propositions 
they  had  been  guided  in  their  proceedings ; 
and  that  the  resolutions  now  offered  were 
those  articles,  which,  if  approved  by  the 
lords  and  commons  of  Great  Britain,  they 
were  ready  to  confirm  and  ratify,  in  order 
that  the  same  might  be  established  for  ever 
by  the  mutual  consent  of  both  parliaments. 
This  address,  being  agreed  to  by  the  two 
houses,  was  immediately  transmitted  to  Eng- 
land by  lord  Cornwallis. 

UNION  OF  IRELAND  COMPLETED. 
On  the  second  of  April  the  joint  address 
of  the  Irish  legislature  was  the  subject  of  a 
message  from  his  majesty  to  both  houses  of 
the  British  parliament.  The  measure  was 
opposed,  in  the  house  of  peers,  by  lord  Hol- 
land ;  but,  on  a  division,  only  the  earl  of 
Derby,  and  the  lords  Holland  and  King,  voted 
against  the  motion,  whilst  eighty-two  sup- 
ported it.  In  the  commons  Pitt  discussed 
the  particular  manner  of  carrying  the  mea- 
sure into  effect.  As  to  the  propriety  of  al- 
lowing one  hundred  Irish  members  to  sit  in 
the  imperial  parliament,  though  the  particu- 
lar number  might  not  be  of  the  first  import- 
ance, he  thought  it  sufficiently  suited  to  the 
proportional  contribution  of  the  two  coun- 
tries to  the  public  exigencies  of  the  empire, 
and  the  selection  was  rather  calculated  to 
fiver  the  popular  interest.  The  members 
for  counties  and  principal  cities  would  be 
sixty-eight ;  the  rest  would  be  deputed  by 
towns  the  most  considerable  in  population 
and  wealth,  thus  providing  at  once  for  the 
security  of  the  landed  interest,  and  for  the 
convenience  of  local  information;  and,  as 
the  proposed  addition  would  make  no  change 
in  the  internal  form  of  British  representa- 
tion, it  would  not  expose  us  to  the  dangers 
of  political  experiments,  under  the  specious 
name  of  reform ;  experiments  which,  what- 
ever his  opinion  respecting  reform  might 
once  have  been,  he  was  now  convinced 
would  be  hazardous  in  the  present  circum- 
stances. As  it  might  be  wished  that  very 
few  of  the  members  thus  sent  from  Ireland 
should  hold  places  under  the  crown,  he  pro- 
posed that  the  number  entitled  to  be  place- 
men should  be  limited  to  twenty,  and  that 
the  imperial  parliament  should  afterwards 
regulate  this  point  as  circumstances  might 
suggest.  The  number  of  peers  who  should 
represent  the  whole  body  of  the  Irish  no- 
bility was  fixed  at  thirty-two.  Four  would 
suffice  to  inform  the  parliament  of  the  state 
of  the  church ;  and  the  rest  would  form  a 
fair  proportion,  considered  with  reference  to 
the  case  of  Scotland,  and  the  number  of  the 
Irish  commoners.  The  election  of  the  tem- 
]ioral  peers  for  life  he  recommended,  as  more 
conformable  to  the  spirit  of  nobility  than  that 


which  v/as  settled  at  the  Scottish  union. 
The  right  reserved  for  Irish  peers  to  sit  in 
the  house  of  commons,  as  representatives 
for  Great  Britain,  would  render  them  fitter 
to  serve  their  country  when  called  to  a  higher 
assembly.  The  permission  of  creating  new 
peers  for  Ireland  he  also  justified  ;  for, 
though  in  Scotland  the  peerage  might  long 
maintain  itself  without  any  accession,  from 
the  great  extent  of  inheritance  allowed  by 
the  patents,  there  was  a  risk  of  the  Irish 
peerage  fast  diminishing,  on  account  of  the 
very  limited  nature  of  the  successions.  In 
the  article  respecting  the  church,  he  noticed 
the  clause  introduced  by  the  parliament  of 
Ireland,  providing  for  the  presence  of  the 
clergy  of  that  country  at  convocations  which 
might  be  held  in  this  island,  and  the  pro- 
priety of  leaving  to  the  imperial  legislature 
the  discussion  of  the  claims  of  the  Catholics 
to  future  emancipation.  The  next  article, 
he  observed,  would  grant  a  general  freedom 
of  trade,  with  only  such  exceptions  as  might 
secure  vested  capital,  and  prevent  a  great 
shock  to  any  particular  manufacture,  or  to 
popular  fears  and  prejudices :  almost  all  pro- 
hibitions would  be  repealed,  and  only  pro- 
tecting duties  to  a  small  amount  imposed  on 
some  few  articles. 

Grey  strenuously  opposed  the  plan  of  the 
union.  His  principal  objections  were  found- 
ed on  its  unpopularity  among  the  Irish  peo- 
ple ;  on  the  means  of  corruption  and  intimi- 
dation which  had  been  used  to  accomplish 
the  measure ;  and  the  great  dissimilarity  be- 
tween the  case  of  Ireland  and  that  of  Scot- 
land, with  respect  to  incorporating  with 
England.  He  concluded  by  moving  that 
the  number  of  Irish  placemen  who  should 
sit  in  the  united  parliament  be  limited  to 
nineteen,  instead  of  twenty,  which  was 
negatived  without  a  division.  Early  in  May, 
the  remaining  articles  having  been  severally 
investigated  and  approved  by  decisive  ma- 
jorities, Pitt  moved  that  an  humble  address 
be  presented  to  his  majesty,  acquainting  him 
that  the  house  had  proceeded  through  the 
great  and  important  measure  of  a  legisla- 
tive union,  which  they  had  the  satisfaction 
to  see  was  nearly  in  strict  conformity  with 
the  principle  laid  down  in  his  majesty's  mes- 
sage. This  was  carried  without  a  division; 
and,  the  address  and  resolutions  being  forth- 
with transmitted  to  the  house  of  peers,  the 
assent  of  that  assembly  was  obtained  with- 
out any  material  alteration.  A  joint  ad- 
dress, as  usual  on  great  occasions,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  throne ;  and  a  bill,  grounded 
upon  the  resolutions,  to  take  effect  from  the 
first  of  January,  1801,  the  first  day  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  immediately  passed 
through  both  houses.  On  the  second  of  July 
the  royal  assent  was  given  to  this  important 
bill ;  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  tlie  session 


46G 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


was  terminated  by  a  speech  from  the  throne, 
in  which  his  majesty  expressed  the  peculiar 
satisfaction  with  which  he  congratulated 
the  two  houses  of  parliament  on  the  suc- 
cess of  the  steps  they  had  taken  for  effect- 
ing an  entire  union  between  the  kingdoms 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  declaring  that 
he  should  ever  consider  this  measure  as  the 
happiest  event  of  his  reign.  The  Irish  ses- 
sion, also,  which  had  been  prolonged  till  the 
union  bill  passed  in  England,  in  order  to  its 
ratification  with  the  several  alterations  and 
additions  made  by  the  British  parliament, 
with  other  necessary  regulations  respecting 
the  election  of  the  Irish  representatives  to 
the  imperial  legislature,  was  terminated  on 
the  second  of  August,  and  with  it  the  ex- 
istence of  the  parliament  of  Ireland. 

GREAT  SCARCITY.— ATTEMPT  ON  THE 
KING'S  LIFE. 

The  harvest  of  the  two  preceding  years 
had  been  very  unproductive ;  and  the  evil 
being  enhanced  by  the  consumption  and 
waste  of  war,  a  prodigious  rise  on  every 
article  of  provision  took  place,  the  conse- 
quence of  which  was  very  wide-spread  and 
real  distress.  The  hiterference  of  the  legis- 
lature, in  attempting  to  remedy,  or  at  least 
to  palliate,  the  public  calamity,  was  judici- 
ously confined  to  recommendatory,  rather 
than  coercive  measures.  The  committee 
appointed  to  deliberate  upon  the  subject  sug- 
gested such  methods  of  relief  as  appeared 
most  effectual  for  diminishing  the  consump- 
tion of  com  by  economy  and  substitution, 
and  held  out  encouragement  to  the  extended 
growth  of  potatoes  at  home,  and  the  import- 
ation of  corn  from  foreign  countries.  The 
committee  at  the  same  time  suggested  the 


granting  of  bounties  for  the  encouragement 
of  fisheries,  and  proposed  the  temporary  but 
entire  disuse  of  corn  in  the  distilleries.  To 
give  effect  to  the  proceedings  of  the  legis- 
lature on  this  important  subject,  his  majesty 
issued  a  proclamation  towards  the  close  of 
the  year,  recommending  the  greatest  fru- 
gality in  the  use  of  every  species  of  grain, 
and  exhorting  and  charging  all  masters  of 
families  to  reduce  the  consumption  of  bread, 
in  their  respective  families,  by  at  least  one- 
third  of  the  quantity  consumed  in  ordinary 
times,  and  in  no  case  to  suffer  the  same  to 
exceed  one  quartern  loaf  for  each  person  in 
each  week. 

Another  insane  attempt  on  the  life  of  the 
king  was  made  this  year,  from  which  he 
providentially  escaped.  On  the  fifteenth  of 
May,  just  at  the  moment  when  he  had  en- 
tered the  royal  box  at  Drury-lane  theatre, 
and  while  bowing  to  the  audience  with  his 
usual  condescension,  a  person  in  the  pit 
fired  a  horse-pistol  apparently  at  his  majesty. 
For  some  seconds  the  house  remained  in 
silent  suspense;  but  no  sooner  had  they 
begun  to  recover  from  their  surprise,  than 
the  man  who  fired  the  pistol,  and  who  prov- 
ed to  be  a  discharged  soldier  of  the  name 
of  Hadfield,  was  secured.  On  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  June  he  was  arraigned  for  high  trea- 
son ;  but  it  was  clearly  proved  that  he  had 
for  some  years  labored  under  a  degree  of 
insanity,  in  consequence  of  several  despe- 
rate sabre  wounds  in  his  head,  which  he 
had  received  when  acting  as  a  serjeant  in 
the  British  army  in  Holland,  in  1794 :  he 
was  therefore  pronounced  "  Not  guilty,  be- 
ing under  the  influence  of  insanity  at  the 
time  the  act  was  done;"  but  he  was,  of 
course,  ordered  to  be  kept  in  custody. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXI. 


1  The  writer  of  this  heard  a  confirmation  of  this 
dreadful  massacre,  from  the  iipa  of  ehef  d'  brigade 
D'Armagnac,  an  eye-witness. 


2  See  Buonaparte's  remarks  on  this  accusation,  as 
given  by  Mr.  O'Meara  and  count  Las  Casas,  in  tlieir 
respective  works. 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


467 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


Recaltofihe  Russian  troops — Genoa  evacvMed  by  the  French — Buonaparte  crosses  the 
Alps,  and  gains  the  battle  of  Marengo — Armistice  concluded  in  Italy — Campaign  in 
Germany,  and  Armistice — Preliminaries  signed — Disavowed  by  the  Emperor — Net- 
val  Armistice  proposed  to  England  by  France,  and  rejected — Armistice  with  Austria 
prolonged — Hostilities  resumed — Treaty  of  Peace  concluded  at  Luneville,  between 
Austria  and  France — Affairs  of  Egypt — Assassination  of  General  Kleber — Naval 
operations — Unsuccessful  attempt  on  Ferrol  and  Cadiz — Reduction  of  Malta — War 
with  Russia — Confederacy  of  the  Northern  Powers — Parliament  assembled,  on  ac^ 
count  of  the  Scarcity  of  Corn — Population  Bill — New  Royal  Title — Meeting  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament — King^s  Speech,  and  Debates  on  the  Address — Dispute  in  the 
Cabinet  on  the  Catholic  Question — New  Ministry — The  King^s  return  of  Illness — 
Parliamentary  Proceedings — Prorogation — Embargo  on  Russian,  Danish,  and 
Swedish  vessels — Measures  of  the  Northern  Powers,  and  Occupation  of  Hanover — 
Nelson's  Victory  at  Copenhagen — Armistice — Death  of  the  Emperor  Paul — Final 
adjustment  with  the  Northern  Powers — Invasion  of  Portugal  by  Spain,  and  subse- 
quent Pacification — Madeira  occupied  by  the  English — Expedition  to  Egypt,  and 
final  expulsion  of  the  French — Projected  Invasion  of  England — Convention  between 
Buonaparte  and  the  Pope — Naval  Actions — Attack  on  the  Boulogne  Flotilla — Peace 
between  Great  Britain  and  France. 


RECALL  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  TROOPS.— GE- 
NOA EVACUATED— BATTLE  OF  MA- 
RENGO. 

The  Russian  emperor,  Paul,  little  inclin- 
ed to  listen  to  a  calm  investigation  of  facts, 
and  easily  led  away  by  the  hasty  impulses 
of  passion,  conceived  an  insuperable  disgust 
at  the  unexpected  disasters  which  had  be 
fallen  his  troops  in  Switzerland  and  in  Hol- 
land, at  the  close  of  the  last  campaign,  and 
recalled  his  whole  army  from  the  scene  of 
action.  The  archduke  Charles,  too,  who 
gave  fair  promise  of  emulating  the  example 
of  the  most  renowned  warriors,  had,  by  the 
crooked  policy  and  ruinous  influence  of  the 
Aulic  council,  which  had  controlled  his  op 
erations  and  thwarted  his  views,  been  de- 
prived of  the  command  of  the  Austrian 
troops ;  and  they  were  now  led  by  the  vete- 
ran general  Kray  in  Germany,  while  Melas 
continued  to  command  the  imperial  force 
employed  in  Italy.  The  first  operation  of 
any  consequence  was  the  siege  of  Genoa  by 
the  Austrians,  who  were  assisted  by  an  Eng- 
lish squadron  under  the  command  of  lord 
Keith.  Massena  defended  the  city  with  a 
vigor  and  resolution  which  have  seldom 
been  surpassed ;  and,  after  the  loss  of  many 
thousand  lives  on  both  sides,  famine  alone 
induced  him  to  enter  into  a  treaty,  which 
was  concluded  on  terms  honorable  to  the  de- 
fenders, and,  on  the  fourth  of  June,  Genoa 
was  evacuated.  In  the  mean  time  Buona- 
parte collected  a  powerful  army  of  reserve 
in  the  plains  of  Burgundy,  of  which  he  took 
the  command  early  in  May,  and  immediate- 
ly prepared  for  crossing  that  formidable 
mountain  the  Great  St.  Bernard.     Having 


effected  the  passage,  although  a  design  so 
vast  had  not  been  attempted  since  the  days 
of  Hannibal,  he  pursued  his  march  into  Ita- 
ly, and,  clearing  all  obstacles,  obtained  pos- 
session of  Milan  and  Pavia,     Crossing  the 
Po,  he  defeated  the  Austrians  at  Montobel- 
lo ;  and  on  the  sixteenth  of  June,  on  the 
plain  between  Alessandria  and  Tortona,  was 
fought  the  famous  battle  of  Marengo.  Here 
the  vigor  of  the  Austrians  seemed  long  to 
promise  victory  to  their  efforts.  They  turned 
the  wings  of  the  French,  and  forced  the  cen- 
tre to  fall  back ;  and  Melas  even  flattered 
himself  with  the  hope  of  cutting  off  the  re- 
treat of  the  disordered   troops.     But  when 
the  chief  consul,  who  was  in  the  heat  of  ac- 
tion, almost  despaired  of  success,  general 
Desaix  appeared  with  a  corps  de  reserve, 
and  changed  the  fortune  of  the  day ;  he  fell, 
however,  in  the  attempt.     A  new  line  was 
formed ;  the  Austrians  were  checked  in  their 
career ;    and,   though   they  still   exhibited 
marks  of  obstinate  courage,  they  were  at 
length  totally  routed.     In  this  memorable 
battle,  which  might  well  decide  the  fate  of 
Italy,  about  ten  thousand  of  their  number 
were   killed,  wounded,  or  taken  prisoners, 
but  not  without  a  loss  equally  severe  on  the 
part  of  the  conquerors.     This  defeat  rumed 
the  hopes  of  the  emperor,  and  was  followed 
by  a  proposal  from  the  vanquished  general 
for  an  armistice,  which  he  purchased  by  the 
restitution  of  Genoa,  and  the  surrender  of 
the  citadels  of  Milan,  Turin,  Tortona,  and 
other  fortresses.     Buonaparte  then  went  to 
Milan  to  re-establish  the  Cisalpine  republic, 
which  he  declared  a  free  and  independent 
nation. 


468 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


The  French  army  under  Moreau  had  en- 
tered Suabia  at  the  latter  end  of  April, 
where  it  was  opposed  by  general  Kray,  and, 
after  various  movements  of  little  importance, 
they  at  length  compelled  the  Austrians  to 
retire,  took  possession  of  Munich,  levied 
contributions  on  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  and 
threatened  the  hereditary  states  of  the  em- 
peror. Thus  pressed,  the  Austrians  deemed 
it  expedient  to  consent  to  an  armistice  (that 
in  Italy  not  extending  to  Germany),  which 
was  concluded  with  Moreau  on  the  fifteenth 
of  July.  Count  St.  Julien  was  sent  to  Paris 
by  the  Austrian  court,  where  he  signed  pre- 
liminaries of  peace  with  France  on  the  basis 
of  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio ;  but  the  em- 
peror, having  entered  into  a  new  compact 
with  Great  Britain,  by  which  it  was  agreed 
that  neither  party  should  conclude  a  peace 
which  did  not  comprehend  the  other,  formal- 
ly disavowed  it,  and  refused  to  conclude  any 
treaty,  unless  England  was  included  in  it. 
At  the  beginning  of  September  a  proposal 
was  made  through  M.  Otto,  the  French  com- 
missary, residing  in  London,  to  the  British 
ministers,  for  concluding  a  naval  armistice, 
on  which  condition  alone  the  first  consul 
would  consent  to  prolong  the  one  with  Aus- 
tria, and  a  long  correspondence  took  place 
on  the  subject;  but  it  evidently  appearing 
that  the  only  object  of  Buonaparte  was  to 
obtain  an  opportunity  of  sending  supplies  to 
Malta  and  Alexandria,  both  of  which  were 
strictly  blockaded  by  an  English  squadron, 
and  as  a  new  armistice  was,  during  the  ne- 
gotiation, concluded  with  Austria,  on  condi- 
tion of  the  surrender  of  the  three  important 
fortresses  of  Philipsburgh,  Ulm,  and  Ingold- 
stadt,  by  which  the  French  secured  an  open- 
ing into  the  hereditary  states  of  Austria, 
the  proposal  was  ultimately  rejected  on  the 
ninth  of  October.  This  armistice  termi- 
nated on  the  twenty-ninth  of  November, 
when  Moreau  resumed  offensive  operations, 
and  the  archduke  John  at  first  obtained  some 
advantage ;  but  in  a  general  attack  on  the 
lines  at  Hohenlinden,  on  the  third  of  De- 
cember, the  Austrians  were  entirely  defeat- 
ed, and  in  consequence  the  French  gained 
possession  of  Saltzburg.  In  the  space  of 
twenty  days  from  the  recommencement  of 
hostilities,  the  Austrians  lost  forty  thousand 
men,  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  while 
that  of  the  French  was  comparatively  small. 

PEACE  BETWEEN  AUSTRIA  AND 
FRANCE. 
The  archduke  Charles,  who  now  took  the 
supreme  command,  seeing  no  hope  of  an 
effectual  resistance,  proposed  another  armis- 
tice, which  was  agreed  to ;  and,  the  alarm- 
ing situation  of  the  emperor  having  induced 
the  British  government  to  release  him  from 
the  terms  of  his  alliance,  a  definitive  treaty 
of  peace  was  signed  at  Luneville  on  the 


ninth  of  February,  1801,  by  which  France 
obtained  a  cession  of  all  the  German  terri- 
tories on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  making 
that  river,  from  the  place  where  it  leaves 
Switzerland  to  that  where  it  enters  Hol- 
land, the  boundary  of  the  new  republic; 
thus  realizing  the  original  projects  of  the 
first  revolutionists.  The  acquisition  of  this 
territory  destroyed  one  of  the  chief  barriers 
against  the  encroachments  of  France  in  the 
north  of  Europe.  But,  that  no  doubt  might 
be  left  of  the  determination  of  France  to 
overawe  the  empire,  by  the  continual  fear 
of  hostile  incursions  into  Germany,  the  res- 
titution of  Dusseldorf,  Ehrenbreitstein,  Phi- 
lipsburgh, Cassel,  Kehl,  and  Brisac,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  were  rendered  of 
little  value,  by  a  stipulation  that  they  should 
remain  in  the  same  state  in  which  they 
were  at  the  moment  of  their  evacuation, 
that  is,  in  ruins.  France,  therefore,  retain- 
ed the  power  of  interposition  in  the  affairs 
of  Germany,  by  the  right  which  she  had  re- 
served to  herself,  by  this  treaty,  to  settle  the 
indemnities  to  be  secured  to  the  German 
princes,  who  were  proprietors  of  the  territo- 
ry ceded  to  her  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  and  by  her  ability,  in  consequence 
of  these  cessions,  to  make  sudden  irruptions 
into  the  heart  of  the  hereditary  states  of 
Austria.  Istria,  Dalmatia,  and  the  Venetian 
isles  in  the  Adriatic,  were  secured  to  Aus- 
tria, together  with  Venice,  the  Bocca  di  Cat- 
taro,  the  canals  and  the  country  included 
between  the  hereditary  states  of  Austria, 
the  Adriatic  sea,  and  the  Adige,  from  the 
Tyrol  to  the  mouth  of  that  sea ;  the  towing- 
path  of  the  Adige  to  form  the  line  of  limit- 
ation. France  took  to  herself,  and  for  her 
vassal,  the  Italian  republic,  or  kingdom,  as 
it  was  soon  destined  to  be,  the  dominions  of 
the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  and  the  Moden- 
ese,  whose  sovereigns  were  to  be  indemni- 
fied, for  the  territory  thus  wrested  from 
them,  by  other  territories,  to  be  wrested,  in 
like  manner,  from  the  sovereign  princes  of 
Germany. 

AFFAIRS  OF  EGYPT.— NAVAL  OPERA- 
TIONS—MALTA TAKEN. 

After  Buonaparte's  flight  fi-om  Egypt, 
general  Kleber  entered  into  a  convention,  at 
El  Arish,  with  the  commander  of  the  Turk- 
ish forces,  by  which  he  agreed  to  evacuate 
that  country,  on  the  condition  of  the  unmo- 
lested return  of  the  French  troops  to  Europe. 
This  convention,  which  was  signed  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  January,  having  been  re- 
ferred to  Sir  Sidney  Smith  by  the  Turks,  it 
received  his  sanction ;  but  the  British  cabi- 
net, without  being  aware  of  Sir  Sidney's 
share  in  the  transaction,  considered  that  it 
would  be  highly  impolitic  to  suflfer  such  a 
French  force  to  arrive  in  Europe,  to  act 
against  the  emperor,  their  ally,  and  there- 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


469 


tore  instructed  lord  Keith,  the  commander 
of  the  British  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean,  not 
to  ratify  it.  That  admiral  accordingly  sent 
a  letter  to  Kleber,  acquainting  him  that  he 
had  received  positive  orders  not  to  agree  to 
any  capitulation  with  the  troops  under  his 
command,  unless  they  should  consent  to  sur- 
render themselves  prisoners  of  war,  not  to 
go  to  France  until  exchanged,  and  to  deliver 
up  all  the  ships  and  stores  in  the  port  of  Al- 
exandria. Kleber,  indignant  at  this  unex- 
pected turn  of  affairs,  apprized  the  Turks 
that  there  was  an  end  to  the  convention; 
after  which  hostilities  were  renewed,  and 
some  considerable  advantages  were  gained  by 
the  French.  After  dispersing  the  army  of 
tho  grand  vizier,  and  quelling  an  insurrec- 
tion in  Cairo,  he  wels  assassinated  by  a  Turkish 
emissary,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  authority 
by  general  Menou. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer,  the  western 
departments  of  France  were  frequently  men- 
aced by  the  appearance  of  hostile  arma- 
ments. Sir  Edward  Pellew,  in  the  Impe- 
tueux,  with  a  flying  squadron,  and  three 
troop-ships,  made  an  attack  on  Quiberon  on 
the  fourth  of  June,  in  which  some  batteries 
were  destroyed,  but  Fort  Penthievre  proved 
too  strong  to  be  reduced.  The  same  com- 
mander also,  in  an  attempt  upon  the  Morbi- 
hun,  seized  several  sloops  and  gun-vessels, 
and  burnt  a  corvette.  Sir  John  Borlase 
Warren  likewise  succeeded  in  an  attack  on 
a  convoy  at  anchor  near  a  fort  within  the 
Penmarks,  and  in  the  destruction  of  fifteen 
sail  of  merchantmen  and  four  armed  vessels 
within  the  sands  of  Boverneuf  Bay,  These 
exploits,  combined  with  many  others  of  a 
similar  nature,  put  an  actual  stop  to  the 
coasting  trade  of  the  enemy,  and  intercepted 
tlie  supplies  intended  for  the  fleet  at  Brest. 

In  August  an  expedition  was  fitted  out, 
under  the  command  of  Sir  James  Murray 
Pulteney  and  Sir  John  Borlase  Warren, 
whose  first  destination  was  against  the  Span- 
ish port  of  Ferrol.  After  the  troops  were 
landed,  however,  the  place  was  found  too 
strong  to  be  attacked  with  any  prospect  of 
success,  and  the  attempt  was  therefore  re- 
linquished. A  more  formidable  force,  both 
naval  and  military,  was  sent  against  Cadiz, 
under  lord  Keith  and  Sir  Ralph  Abercrom- 
bie ;  but  as  a  pestilent  disorder  raged  in  the 
city,  which  was  nevertheless  capable  of 
making  a  long  resistance ;  and  as  the  army 
had  another  and  more  important  object  in 
view,  the  expulsion  of  tihe  French  from 
Egypt,  the  intention  of  attacking  Cadiz  was 
also  abandoned. 

Malta,  so  unjustly  seized  by  Buonaparte, 
in  his  voyage  to  Egypt,  had  now  experienced 
a  blockade  of  two  years  both  by  eea  and  land, 
during  which  time  general  Vauboia,  the 
French  governor,  bad  bean  fumrDon«d  no 

Vol.  IV.  40 


less  than  eight  times.  At  length,  all  hopes 
of  receiving  supplies  from  France  having 
vanished,  a  part  of  the  garrison  left  the  port 
with  two  French  frigates,  one  of  which  waa 
taken,  but  the  other  escaped  the  rigilance  of 
the  British  squadron.  A  few  days  aft^r  this, 
the  magazines  of  provisions  being  exhausted^ 
general  Vaubois  assembled  a  council  of  war, 
when  it  was  determined  to  capitulate,  and  on 
the  fifth  of  September  the  island  was  sur* 
rendered  into  the  hands  of  the  British. 

In  April  the  island  of  Goree,  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  surrendered  to  commodore  Sir 
Charles  Hamilton,  without  resistance ;  and 
in  September  the  island  of  Cura9oa,  in  the 
West  Indies,  one  of  the  few  remaining  col- 
onies of  the  Batavian  republic,  voluntarily 
placed  itself  under  the  protection  of  his 
Britannic  majesty. 

WAR  WITH  RUSSIA.— NORTHERN  CON- 
FEDERACY. 
Notwithstanding  these  successes,  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  marked 
by  circumstances  of  a  gloomy  and  discourag- 
ing nature  to  England.  France  had  reduced 
the  continent  of  Europe  to  that  situation 
which  enabled  her,  almost  without  the  fear 
of  opposition,  to  parcel  out  its  various  states 
at  her  pleasure,  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
territory  included  between  the  Texel  and 
the  Bay  of  Naples  being  occupied  by  her 
tributaries  and  vassals,  or  by  princes  who 
trembled  at  her  frown.  Prussia,  indeed,  and 
Russia,  had  not  yet  bent  beneath  the  weight 
of  her  arms,  nor  sunk  before  the  machina- 
tions of  her  intriguing  spirit ;  but  the  em- 
peror Paul,  forsaking  his  alliance  with  Eng- 
land, had  become  her  enemy,  and  complain- 
ing of  her  maritime  encroachments,  he 
stopped  all  the  British  vessels  in  his  ports, 
on  the  idle  allegation  of  the  detention  of 
Malta,  to  which  he  claimed  a  right,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  assumed  authority  of  grand- 
master of  the  order  of  knights  of  St  John 
of  Jerusalem.  He  even  sent  the  seamen 
into  confinement,  sequestered  all  British 
property  on  shore,  and  put  seals  on  all  ware- 
houses containing  English  goods.  The  Prus- 
sian monarch,  who  had  for  some  time  held 
the  scale  of  victory  in  his  hands,  indulged 
his  ancient  jealousy  of  the  house  of  Austria, 
contemplated  her  humiliation  with  pleasure, 
and  passively  looked  on  while  PVance  was 
trampling  on  the  institutions  of  surrounding 
states,  vamly  imagining  that  he  possessed 
the  ability  to  stop  her  career  whenever  her 
efforts  should  be  directed  against  hinnsel^ 
and,  more  effectually  to  favor  her  views, 
joined  a  hostile  confederacy  of  the  northern 
powers,  which  had  been  recently  foiroed 
against  England. 

The  principles  of  this  compact  had  been 
adopted  and  acted  upon  by  Denmark  and 
Sweden ;  the  right  of  search  had  been  ac- 


470 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


tively  resisted ;  and  all  the  communications 
which  had  taken  place  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  northern  powers  only  seemed  to  de- 
monstrate the  firm  resolution  of  the  latter 
to  persist  in  a  line  of  conduct,  which  must 
reduce  this  country  to  the  necessity  of  either 
submitting  to  a  violation  of  her  acknowledged 
rights,  or  of  resisting  the  assertion  of  those 
hostile  principles  by  arms.  This  confede- 
racy, aiming  a  deadly  blow  at  the  maritime 
power  of  Great  Britain,  at  a  period  of  severe 
pressure,  when  forsaken  by  her  continental 
allies,  and  threatened  with  famine  at  home, 
was  a  counterpart  of  the  memorable  armed 
neutrality  of  1780,  which  had  the  same  ob- 
ject in  view.  An  acquiescence  in  such 
claims,  which  went  the  length  of  maintain- 
ing the  right  of  a  neutral  power,  however 
insignificant,  to  carry  on,  in  time  of  war,  the 
trade  of  a  belligerant,  and  to  supply  her  with 
whatever  was  necessary  for  the  support  of 
the  contest  in  which  she  was  engaged,  would 
have  been  equally  dangerous  and  dishonor- 
able ;  for  if  the  principle  were  once  admit- 
ted, that  free  bottoms  made  free  goods,  and 
that  no  merchantmen  could  be  subjected  to 
search  which  were  under  the  protection  of 
a  ship  of  war,  a  Danish  or  a  Swedish  frigate 
might  cover  the  whole  trade  of  France,  and 
exempt  her  from  the  expense  of  insurance, 
and  the  risk  of  capture.  It  was  a  claim 
which  took  from  maritime  superiority  all  its 
lawful  advantages— sheltered  weakness  be- 
neath the  flag  of  fraud — and  contravened 
all  the  principles  which,  for  a  century,  had 
regulated  the  conduct  of  naval  powers.  It 
was,  therefore,  resolved  to  resist  this  combi- 
nation to  the  utmost ;  and  every  attempt  at 
procuring  redress  by  negotiation  having  fail- 
ed, the  most  active  preparations  were  made 
to  extort  it  by  arms. 

GREAT  SCARCITY.— POPULATION  RE- 
TURNS. 

The  British  parliament  assembled  for  the 
last  time  on  the  eleventh  of  November,  1800, 
previously  to  which  the  increased  price  of 
provisions  had  been  productive  of  a  degree 
of  public  distress  almost  unequalled.  The 
crop  of  this  year,  like  that  of  the  preceding, 
had  been  generally  deficient  in  every  coun- 
try in  Europe,  and  the  scarcity  bore  every 
symptom  of  long  continuance.  The  sober 
and  industrious  classes  of  the  laboring  poor 
sustained  their  hardships  with  laudable  pa- 
tience ;  and  though  there  were  some  riots 
in  the  metropolis,  and  various  parts  of  the 
country,  no  general  ebullition  burst  forth 
that  required  to  be  suppressed  by  bloodshed. 
To  alleviate  the  public  distress,  the  danger- 
ous measure  of  a  maximum  was,  on  the  fifth 
of  December,  brought  forward  in  parliament 
by  the  earl  of  Warwick,  who  proposed  to  fix 
the  highest  value  of  wheat  at  ten  shillings 
per  biwhel,  although  the  actual  price  was  at 


that  time  more  than  twenty  shillings ;  but 
the  false  and  mischievous  notion  of  an  arti- 
ficial scarcity,  upon  which  this  proposal  pro- 
ceeded, was  exploded  by  the  calm  wisdom 
of  parliament ;  the  motion  was  rejected  with 
marked  disapprobation  ;  and  the  legislature 
confined  its  efforts  to  suggesting  expedients 
for  diminishing  the  consumption  and  encour- 
aging the  foreign  supply.  High  bounties 
were  granted  on  importation ;  the  baking  of 
mLxed  and  inferior  flour  was  enforced  by  act 
of  parliament ;  the  distillation  of  spirits  from 
grain  was  prohibited  ;  and,  to  the  honor  of 
the  wealthier  part  of  the  community,  the 
hand  of  charity  was  also  liberally  opened. 

Among  other  causes  of  dearth,  the  great 
increase  of  the  population  was  repeatedly 
mentioned  ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  session 
a  bill  was  brought  into  parliament,  by  Ab- 
bot, for  ascertaining  the  fact,  when  it  ap- 
peared, upon  an  actual  enumeration  of  the 
people  of  Great  Britain,  that  they  amounted 
to  nearly  eleven  million,  a  result  exceeding 
the  highest  previous  conjecture ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  aggregate  population  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  amounted  at  this 
period  to  seventeen  millions. 

The  discussion  of  the  late  negotiations, 
which  occupied  a  part  of  this  short  session, 
produced  no  debates  of  importance;  and, 
the  supplies  having  been  granted,  parlia- 
ment was  prorogued  on  the  last  day  of  the 
year  by  the  king  in  person.  His  majesty, 
before  he  retired,  ordered  the  chancellor  to 
read  a  proclamation,  declaring  that  the  indi- 
viduals who  composed  the  expiring  parlia- 
ment should  be  members,  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  of  the  new  or  imperial  par- 
liament. 

NEW  ROYAL  TITLE. 

1801.— On  tlie  first  of  January,  1801,  a 
royal  declaration  was  issued  concerning  the 
style  and  titles  appertaining  to  the  imperial 
crown  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
also  to  the  ensigns,  armorial  flags,  and  ban- 
ners thereof  In  the  new  heraldic  arrange- 
ment the  fleur-de-lis  was  omitted,  the  title 
of  king  of  France  was  expunged,  and  the 
royal  dignity  was  in  future  to  be  expressed 
in  the  Latin  tongue  by  these  words: — 
"  Georgius  Tertius,  Dei  Gratia,  Britanni- 
arum  Rex,  Fidei  Defensor,^'*  and,  in  the 
vernacular  language,  "George  the  Third, 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  the  United  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  King,  De- 
fender of  the  Faith."  On  the  same  day  the 
great  seal  of  Britain  was  delivered  up  and 
defaced,  and  a  new  seal  for  the  empire  was 
given  to  the  lord  chancellor.  A  new  stand- 
ard also,  combining  the  three  crosses  of  St, 
George,  St  Andrew,  and  St.  Patrick,  was 
hoisted,  smidst  the  discharge  of  artillery,  in 
each  of  the  three  capitals  cf  Englant],  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland. 


GEORGE  ni.   1760— 1820. 


471 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— DEBATKS 
ON  THE  ADDRESS— CATHOLIC  QUES- 
TION OCCASIONS  A  CHANGE  OF  MIN- 
ISTRY—RETURN OF  THE  KING'S  ILL- 
NESS. 

The  imperial  parliament  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Ireland  assembled  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  January,  and  proceeded  to  elect  a 
speaker,  when  Addington,  who  had  long  and 
ably  filled  the  chair  of  the  lower  house,  was 
again  placed  in  that  elevated  situation.  On 
the  second  of  February,  the  kmg,  in  a 
speech  from  the  throne,  congratulated  par- 
liament on  the  Union  which  had  been  so 
happily  effected  ;  the  other  topics  were  the 
gtate  of  the  continent,  and  the  dispute  with 
the  northern  associated  powers  relative  to 
Ihe  maritime  code.  The  debates  on  the  ad- 
dress were  highly  interesting.  In  the  peers, 
earl  Fitzwilliam,  who  had  hitherto  contend- 
ed strenuously  for  the  continuance  of  the 
war,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons, 
treated  the  contest  as  hopeless ;  he,  how- 
ever, insisted  on  the  propriety  of  an  inquiry 
into  the  causes  of  the  failure,  when  such 
large  and  almost  unbounded  powers  had 
been  intrusted  to  ministers,  and  when  they 
had  the  aid  of  all  Europe  in  the  common 
cause  ;  it  was  also  necessary  to  be  informed 
why,  instead  of  succeeding  against  an  an- 
cient enemy,  they  had  at  once  plunged  the 
nation  into  a  contest  with  her  allies.  The 
new  conflict  in  which  we  were  about  to  en- 
gage was,  he  added,  as  far  as  Sweden  and 
Denmark  were  concerned,  one  of  our  own 
seeking,  as  we  had  it  in  our  power  to  sus- 
pend the  discussion  of  the  question  relative 
to  the  neutral  code,  in  the  same  manner  as 
in  1780,  when  this  country  was  in  a  less 
difficult  situation  than  at  present.  Lord 
Grenville  defended  the  conduct  of  minis- 
ters, and  maintained  that  the  claim  of 
searching  neutral  vessels  originated  in  the 
law  of  nations  and  the  rights  of  nature  ; 
and  that  the  assertion  of  this  right  consti- 
tuted the  foundation  of  our  commerce  and 
our  wealth,  and  was  the  bulwark  of  the  na- 
val and  military  glory  of  Great  Britain.  On 
a  division  the  address  was  carried. 

In  the  commons,  Pitt  insisted  that  our 
very  existence  as  a  nation  depended  on  the 
right  of  searchmg  neutral  vessels  ;  he  main- 
tained that  our  claims  on  the  present  occa- 
sion arose  not  only  out  of  positive  treaties, 
but  out  of  the  law  of  nations  ;  and  he  ask- 
ed, if  we  were  to  permit  the  navy  of  our 
enemy  to  be  supplied  and  recruited — to  suf- 
fer blockaded  ports  to  be  furnished  with 
stores  and  provisions,  and  allow  neutral  na- 
tions, by  hoisting  a  flag  on  a  sloop  or  a  fish- 
ing-boat, to  convey  the  treasures  of  South 
America  to  Spain,  or  the  naval  stores  of  the 
Baltic  to  Brest  or  to  Toulon  1  When  the 
house  divided,  there  was  a  large  majority  in 
favor  of  ministers. 


The  union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
was  regarded  by  Pitt  as  the  transaction 
which  reflected  the  greatest  lustre  upon  his 
administration;  and,  although  he  had  uni- 
formly opposed  the  claim  of  Catholic  eman- 
cipation during  the  existence  of  the  separate 
legislature  of  Ireland,  he  had,  it  was  under- 
stood, to  facilitate  this  favorite  object,  given 
assurances  to  the  Irish  Catholics  of  a  com- 
plete participation  in  all  political  privileges, 
as  soon  as  the  Union  should  have  taken 
place.  When  this  proposition  was  submitted 
to  the  cabinet  council,  some  of  its  members 
expressed  opposite  sentiments,  and  the  king 
took  a  decided  part  in  the  dispute,  alleging 
that  the  oath  taken  by  him  at  his  coronation 
precluded  his  assent  to  a  scheme  which 
mio-ht,  in  its  consequences,  endanger  the  re- 
ligious establishment.  As  this  repugnance 
obstructed  the  recommendation  of  the  mea- 
sure to  parliament,  and  diminished  the  prob- 
ability of  its  success,  Pitt  declared  that  he 
conceived  himself  bound  to  resign  a  situa- 
tion in  which  he  was  not  at  full  liberty  to 
pursue  his  ideas  of  equity  and  public  bene- 
fit :  unquestionably,  however,  this  circum- 
stance alone  did  not  induce  him  to  retire, 
such  a  step  being  forcibly  inculcated  by  the 
situation  of  the  country,  which  was  now 
left,  without  a  single  ally,  involved  in  an 
apparently  interminable  war,  and  in  the 
hands  of  a  ministry,  who,  by  their  decided 
hostility  to  the  existing  government  of 
France,  had  almost  precluded  the  possibility 
of  engaging  in  amicable  negotiations.  The 
prime  minister  was  accompanied  In  his  re- 
signation by  lord  Grenville,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  cabinet. 

The  ofl^ices  of  first  lord  of  the  treasury  and 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer  were  conferred 
upon  Addington,  the  speaker  of  the  house  of 
commons ;  to  which  high  office  he  had  been 
appointed  by  the  influence  of  Pitt,  with  whom 
he  continued  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship. 
The  post  next  in  dignity,  that  of  secretary 
for  foreign  affairs,  hitherto  held  by  lord  Gren- 
ville, was  given  to  lord  Hawkesbury.  Earl 
St.  Vincent  was  placed  at  the.  head  of  the 
admiralty,  in  the  place  of  earl  Spencer ;  lord 
Eldon,  chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas, 
formerly  Sir  John  Scott,  succeeded  lord 
Loughborough  in  the  court  of  chancery ;  lords 
Hobart  and  Pelham  were  nominated  secreta- 
ries of  state,  in  the  room  of  Dundas  and  the 
duke  of  Portland ;  York  succeeded  Wind- 
ham as  secretary  at  war ;  his  brother,  the  earl 
of  Hardwicke,  was  destmed  to  the  vice-regal 
office  in  Ireland ;  lord  Lewisham  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  board  of  control ;  and  in 
this  general  change  the  duke  of  Portland 
and  lord  Westmoreland  alone  retained  their 
stations  in  the  cabinet,  the  former  as  presi- 
dent of  the  council,  and  the  latter  as  lord 
privy-seal.     On  the  tenth  of  February  Ad- 


472 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


dington  resigned  his  office  as  speaker  of  the 
house  of  commons;  and  on  the  following 
day  Sir  John  Mitford  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 
The  agitation  of  the  king's  mind  had,  how- 
ever, so  materially  affected  the  state  both 
of  his  bodily  and  mental  health,  that  the  new 
arrangements,  although  nearly  completed, 
were  not  formally  announced,  and  a  total  in- 
terruption of  the  regal  functions  ensued,  du- 
ring which  the  former  ministers  continued  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  their  respective  of- 
fices. On  the  same  day  that  Addington  re- 
signed his  office  of  speaker,  the  earl  of  Darn- 
ley  moved  for  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of 
the  nation,  when  lord  Grenville  acquainted 
the  house  that  his  majesty's  servants,  not  be- 
ing able  to  carry  into  effect  a  measure  which 
they  deemed  essential  to  the  tranquillity  and 
prosperity  of  the  empire,  had  tendered  the 
resignation  of  their  several  employments, 
which  had  been  accepted ;  and  on  this  re- 
presentation the  earl  postponed  his  motion. 
The  routine  of  parliamentary  business  went 
on  as  usual,  until  the  recovery  of  the  king, 
when  the  appointments  of  the  new  ministers 
were  announced  in  the  accustomed  form, 
and  on  the  seventeenth  of  March  Addington 
was  sworn  into  the  two  offices  which  Pitt 
had  so  long  enjoyed. 

The  first  measures  of  the  new  ministry 
were  directed  towards  the  securing  of  inter- 
nal tranquillity.  Ireland  being  still  in  a  dis- 
turbed state,  the  act  for  the  suppression  of 
rebellion  in  that  country  was  renewed,  as 
was  that  for  the  suspension  of  the  habeas 
corpus.  The  act  was  also  suspended  in  Great 
Britain,  and  the  bill  for  preventing  seditious 
ijoeetings  was  revived,  in  consequence  of  a 
report  from  a  select  committee  of  the  house 
of  commons,  stating  the  existence  of  socie- 
ties of  disaflfected  persons  in  Great  Britain, 
particularly  of  one  in  London,  entitled  the 
United  Britons.  These  measures  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  introduction  of  a  bill  of  indem- 
nity in  favor  of  the  late  administration,  which 
also  passed  both  houses.  An  act  to  remove 
doubts  respecting  the  eligibility  of  persons 
in  holy  orders  to  sit  in  the  house  of  commons, 
by  which  they  were  henceforth  excluded, 
passed  in  this  session,  in  consequence  of  John 
Home  Tooke's  having  been  returned  for  Old 
Sarum  by  its  proprietor,  lord  Camelford ;  and 
on  the  second  of  July,  parliament  was  pro- 
rogued by  commission. 

EMBARGO  ON  RUSSIAN,  DANISH,  AND 
SWEDISH  VESSELS.— OCCUPATION  OF 
HANOVER. 

The  late  ministry,  determined  to  over- 
awe or  to  dispel  the  northern  confederacy, 
had  issued  an  order  in  council  dated  the 
fourteenth  of  January,  imposing  an  embargo 
on  all  Russian,  Danish,  and  Swedish  vessels 
in  the  ports  of  Great  Britain ;  but  the  court 


of  Berlin,  although  a  party  to  the  league, 
was  treated  upon  this  occasion  with  pecu- 
liar deference,  probably  because  its  hostility 
would  endanger  the  king's  German  domin- 
ions. Preparations  were  also  made  to  send 
a  fleet  into  the  Sound,  and  to  hazard  all  the 
evils  likely  to  result  from  a  war,  which 
threatened  to  exclude  the  British  flag  from 
the  navigation  of  the  Baltic,  and  her  com- 
merce from  the  shores  of  the  Elbe,  the  Ems, 
the  Vistula,  and  the  Weser.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  utmost  exertions  had  for  some 
time  past  been  made  in  all  the  ports  of  Rus- 
sia, Sweden,  and  Denmark.  Their  combined 
navy,  if  fitted  out  by  a  simultaneous  move- 
ment, would  have  amounted  to  nearly  eighty 
sail  of  the  line ;  and  these,  together  with 
the  numerous  gun-boats  and  floating  batteries 
which  they  either  possessed  already,  or  could 
have  easily  constructed,  might  have  rendered 
their  narrow  seas  and  difficult  coasts  imper- 
vious to  attack. 

In  the  course  of  the  spring  the  Danes  took 
possession  of  Hamburgh,  for  the  alleged  pur- 
pose of  stopping  the  British  trade  to  that 
port ;  and  the  king  of  Prussia,  after  an  un- 
successful negotiation  with  the  British  go- 
vernment, occupied  the  bailiwick  of  Ritze- 
buttle  and  the  port  of  Cuxhaven.  On  the 
thirtieth  of  March,  a  body  of  his  troops  en- 
tered the  electorate  of  Hanover,  and,  as  the 
military  establishment  was  not  sufficient  to 
justify  resistance,  a  conventional  declaration 
was  issued,  submitting  to  his  Prussian  ma- 
jesty. 

NELSON'S  VICTOKY  AT  COPENHAGEN.— 
AKMiSTlCE. 
i\s  no  hopes  could  be  entertained  of  the 
pacification  of  Europe,  on  terms  honorable 
to  Great  Britain,  until  the  dissolution  of  this 
confederacy,  a  British  fleet,  consisting  of 
eighteen  ships  of  the  line,  and  four  frigates, 
with  a  number  of  gun-boats  and  bomb-vessels, 
in  all  fifty-four  sail,  proceeded  from  Yar- 
mouth roads  for  the  Baltic,  under  the  com- 
mand of  admiral  Sir  Hyde  Parker,  assisted 
by  vice-admiral  lord  Nelson  and  rear-admiral 
Totty,  the  last  of  whom  was  so  unfortunate 
as  to  lose  his  flag-ship  on  a  sand-bank  ofl"  the 
coast  of  Lincolnshire.  It  was  supposed  that 
Denmark,  whose  trade  and  prosperity  had 
increased  considerably  during  the  war,  might 
be  prevailed  upon  to  sue  for  forbearance, 
and  the  first  efforts  of  this  armament  were 
therefore  directed  against  her  capital,  while 
Vansittart,  a  new  minister  plenipotentiary, 
was  instructed  to  endeavor  to  detach  the 
court  of  Copenhagen  from  the  northern  alli- 
ance ;  the  Prince  Regent  of  Denmark,  how- 
ever, who  had  governed  many  years  in  the 
name  of  his  father,  declared  that  he  was  de- 
termined to  adhere  to  his  engagements.  On 
the  thirtieth  of  March  the  English  squadron 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


473 


the  Sound  with  little  or  no  resistance, 
and,  after  anchoring  about  four  or  five  miles 
from  the  island  of  Huen,  Sir  Hyde  Parker, 
in  company  with  lord  Nelson  and  rear-admi- 
ral Graves,  surveyed  the  formidable  line  of 
ships,  rideaux,  galleys,  fire-vessels,  and  gun- 
boats, flanked  and  supported  by  extensive 
batteries  on  the  two  islands  called  the 
Crowns ;  these  were  supported  by  two  ships 
of  seventy  guns,  and  a  large  fi-igate  in  the 
inner  road  of  Copenhagen,  while  two  sixty- 
four  gun  vessels,  without  masts,  were  moored 
on  the  flat  towards  the  entrance  of  the  arse- 
nel.  Lord  Nelson,  who  had  made  an  offer 
of  his  services  to  conduct  the  attack,  and 
had  for  that  purpose  shifted  his  flag  from  the 
St.  George  to  the  Elephant,  a  vessel  of 
smaller  size,  immediately  gave  directions  for 
buoying  the  channel  of  the  Outer  Diep  and 
the  middle  ground,  after  which  the  detach 
ment,  consisting  of  twelve  sail  of  the  line, 
with  fi-igates,  bombs,  and  fire-ships,  selected 
for  the  assault,  passed  in  safety  and  anchored 
off  Draco. 

On  the  morning  of  the  second  of  April  the 
vice-admiral  made  the  signal  to  weigh  and 
engage  the  Danish  Ime  of  defence,  which 
was  found  to  consist  of  six  sail  of  two-deck- 
ers, eleven  floating  batteries,  mounting  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-six  cannon  each,  one 
bomb-ketch,  and  several  schooner-rigged  gun- 
vessels  ;  these  were  supported  by  the  Crown 
islands,  mounting  eighty-eight  cannon,  and 
four  sail  of  the  line  moored  in  the  harbor's 
mouth,  together  with  some  batteries  thrown 
up  on  the  island  of  Amak.  The  shallowness 
of  the  water  and  the  intricacy  of  the  naviga- 
tion prevented  the  complete  execution  of  the 
projected  plan,  for  the  Bellona  and  Russell 
grounded  before  they  had  reached  the  sta- 
tions assigned  to  them,  while  the  Agamem- 
non, being  unable  to  weather  the  shoal  of 
tlie  Middle,  was  obliged  to  anchor.  The 
Elephant's  station  was  in  the  centre,  oppo- 
site to  the  Danish  commodore  Fischer,  who 
commanded  in  the  Dannebrog,  a  sixty-two 
gun  ship ;  and  the  average  distance  at  which 
the  action  was  fought  was  scarcely  a  cable's 
length.  It  commenced  soon  after  ten  o'clock ; 
before  half-past  eleven,  it  became  general ; 
and  at  one  p.  m.  when  few,  if  any,  of  the 
enemy's  ships  had  ceased  to  fire,  the  Isis, 
Monarch,  and  Bellona  had  received  serious 
injury ;  while  the  division  of  the  command- 
er-in-chief could  only  menace  the  entrance 
to  the  harbor.  In  this  posture  of  affairs, 
the  signal  was  thrown  out  on  board  the  Lon- 
don, admiral  Parker's  ship,  for  the  action  to 
cease  ;  but  Lord  Nelson,  nevertheless,  con- 
tinued the  attack  with  unabated  vigor.  About 
two  p.  m.  the  greatest  part  of  the  enemy's 
line  had  ceased  to  fire ;  some  of  the  lighter 
ships  were  adrift ;  and  the  carnage  on  board 
40* 


their  vessels,  whose  crews  were  reinforced 
from  the  shore,  was  dreadful.  The  Danish 
commodore's  ship  was  now  on  fire,  and  drift- 
ing in  flames  before  the  wind,  spreading  ter- 
ror and  dismay  throughout  their  line ;  few 
of  her  crew  could  be  saved,  although  the 
British  boats  rowed  in  every  direction  for 
the  purpose ;  and  about  half-past  three,  she 
blew  up  with  a  terrible  explosion. 

The  ships  ahead,  and  the  Crown  batte- 
ries, as  well  as  the  prizes  made  by  the. Brit- 
ish, continuing  to  fire  after  the  Dannebrog 
was  in  flames,  lord  Nelson  dispatched  a  let- 
ter, addressed  "  to  the  brothers  of  English- 
men, the  brave  Danes,"  saying,  that  if  the 
fire  were  continued  on  the  part  of  Denmark, 
he  must  be  obliged  to  destroy  all  the  float- 
ing batteries  ho  had  taken,  without  having 
the  power  of  saving  the  brave  Danes  who 
had  defended  them.  This  was  conveyed  on 
shore,  through  the  contending  fleets,  by 
captain  Sir  Frederic  Thesiger,  who  found 
the  prince  near  the  sally-port,  animating  his 
people,  and  sharing  their  dangers.  It  de- 
serves to  be  remarked,  that  this  letter,  which 
exhibited  a  happy  union  of  policy  and  cour- 
age, was  written  at  a  moment  when  lord 
Nelson  perceived,  that,  in  consequence  of 
the  unfavorable  state  of  the  wind,  the  admi- 
ral was  not  likely  to  get  up  to  aid  the  en- 
terprise ;  that  the  principal  batteries  of  the 
enemy,  and  the  ships  at  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor,  were  yet  untouched;  that  two  of 
his  own  division  had  grounded;  and  that 
others  were  likely  to  share  the  same  fate. 

The  firing  from  the  Crown  batteries,  and 
from  the  leading  ships  of  the  British,  did 
not  cease  till  past  three  o'clock,  when  the 
Danish  adjutant-general,  Lindholm,  return- 
ing with  a  flag  of  truce,  directed  it  to  be 
suspended.  The  signal  for  doing  the  same 
was  then  made  to  the  British  ships,  and  the 
action  closed  after  five  hours'  duration,  four 
of  which  were  warmly  contested,  and  du- 
ring which  the  whole  of  the  Danish  line,  to 
the  southward  of  the  Crown  islands,  amount- 
ing to  seventeen  sail,  were  sunk,  burned,  or 
taken.  The  battle  of  Copenhagen  was,  by 
lord  Nelson's  own  account,  the  most  dread- 
ful that  he  had  ever  witnessed.  Captain 
Riou,  who  particularly  distinguished  him- 
self, was  severed  in  two  by  a  raking  shot ; 
captain  Mosse,  commander  of  the  Monarch, 
was  also  killed ;  and  the  total  loss  of  the 
British,  in  killed  and  wounded,  amounted  to 
one  thousand ;  while  that  of  the  Danes  was 
considerably  greater.  Notwithstanding  the 
long  peace  they  had  enjoyed,  the  Danish 
batteries,  both  afloat  and  ashore  were  man- 
ned, and  the  guns  served,  with  a  degree  of 
promptitude  and  valor  that  would  have  con- 
ferred credit  on  veteran  troops.  A  negotia- 
tion was  entered  upon,  which  terminated  in 


474 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


an  armistice  of  fourteen  weeks,  during  which 
the  treaty  of  armed  neutrality,  as  far  as  re- 
lated to  Denmark,  was  to  be  suspended. 
DEATH  OF  THE  EMPEROR  PAUL. 

When  the  disabled  vessels  were  refitted, 
the  British  squadron  sailed  to  Carlscrona, 
and  on  the  eighteenth  of  April  arrived  off 
that  port.  Sir  Hyde  Parker  lost  no  time  in 
acquainting  the  governor  that  an  armistice 
had  been  concluded,  by  which  the  disputes 
between  the  courts  of  Copenhagen  and  St. 
Janfes's  had  been  accommodated;  and  he 
required  an  explicit  answer  from  the  court 
of  Sweden,  relative  to  its  intention  to  aban- 
don the  hostile  measures  adopted,  in  con- 
junction with  Russia,  against  the  rights  and 
interests  of  Great  Britain.  To  this  vice- 
admiral  Cronstedt  replied,  that  it  was  the 
unalterable  resolution  of  his  Swedish  ma- 
jesty not  to  fail  for  a  moment  in  fulfilling, 
with  fidelity  and  sincerity,  the  engagements 
he  had  entered  into  with  his  allies ;  but  that 
he  would  not  refuse  to  listen  to  equitable 
proposals  for  the  accommodation  of  disputes, 
provided  they  were  made  by  plenipotentia- 
ries, sent  on  the  part  of  the  king  of  Great 
Britain  to  the  united  powers.  On  receiving 
this  answer,  the  admiral  left  the  bay  with- 
out firing  a  gun;  and  all  future  hostilities 
with  the  northern  states  were  happily  pre- 
vented by  the  death  of  the  emperor  Paul, 
who  fell  by  the  hands  of  his  courtiers  on  the 
twenty-second  of  March, 

As  soon  as  Alexander  I,  son  of  the  de- 
posed emperor,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
his  father,  he  published  an  ukase,  revoking 
several  of  the  acts  of  the  late  government, 
and  restoring  the  British  seamen  to  liberty. 
Baron  Lisakeewitsch,  the  Russian  minister 
at  the  court  of  Denmark,  having  notified 
those  events  to  Sir  Hyde  Parker,  the  admi- 
ral immediately  returned  to  Kioge  bay,  to 
await  the  orders  of  his  court  in  consequence 
of  this  new  and  interesting  change  ;  and  in 
the  mean  time  the  benefits  of  the  armistice 
were  extended  to  the  court  of  Stockholm. 
About  the  same  period  lord  St.  Helen's  ar- 
rived at  the  court  of  St.  Petersburgh,  in 
quality  of  minister  plenipotentiary  for  Eng- 
land; and,  by  a  convention  signed  in  the 
Russian  capital  on  the  seventeenth  of  June, 
the  emperor  on  the  one  hand  allowed  the 
right  of  search,  under  certain  restrictions, 
by  ships  of  war^  but  not  by  privateers; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  merchandise 
of  the  produce,  growth,  and  manufacture  of 
the  countries  engaged  in  war,  might  be  pur- 
,chased  and  carrieid  away  by  the  neutral 
powers;  but,  by  a  subsequent  explanatory 
declaration,  the  commerce  between  the 
mother  country  of  a  belligerant  and  her 
colonies  was  expressly  excluded  from  the 
benefit  of  this  arrangement  It  was  also 
Htapulated  by  one  of  ^e  articles  that  Swe- 


den and  Denmark  should  receive  back  their 
ships  and  settlements  on  acceding  to  this 
treaty,  and  with  these  terms  they  both  very 
readily  complied.  Thus  Great  Britain,  partly 
by  the  sudden  demise  of  the  emperor  Paul, 
and  partly  by  the  thunder  of  her  navy,  saw 
a  confederacy  dissolved  which  aimed  at  the 
decrease  of  her  maritime  greatness,  and  was 
calculated  to  involve  her  in  a  new  and  dis- 
astrous war. 

SPAIN  INVADES  PORTUGAL.— BRITISH 

OCCUPY  MADEIRA. 
The  attachment  of  Portugal  to  England 
again  excited  the  attention  of  the  Frencli 
government ;  and  its  ally,  the  king  of  Spain, 
was  induced  to  declare  war  against  that 
country  in  March.  A  counter-declaration 
from  the  court  of  Lisbon  was  issued  on  the 
twenty-first  of  April,  worthy  of  the  most 
prosperous  days  of  the  Portuguese  monarchy, 
and  accompanied  by  preparations  for  de- 
fence. A  Spanish  army,  however,  entered 
the  province  of  Alentejo  in  May,  and,  hav- 
ing advanced  to  the  Tagus  almost  without 
opposition,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at 
Badajos  on  the  sixth  of  June,  by  which 
Spain  obtained  possession  of  the  province  of 
Olivenza,  and  the  harbors  of  Portugal  were 
shut  against  the  English.  The  French  gov- 
ernment refused  to  concur  in  the  treaty  un- 
less certain  places  in  Portugal  were  occu- 
pied by  French  troops ;  and  general  St.  Cyr, 
who  had  been  invested  with  the  character 
of  ambassador  to  the  court  of  Madrid,  en- 
tered Portugal  at  the  head  of  twenty-four 
thousand  troops,  and  invested  the  fortress  of 
Almeida,  within  thirty  leagues  of  the  capi- 
tal. No  sooner  was  this  event  known  at 
Lisbon,  than  the  court  became  alarmed  for 
its  safety,  and,  as  the  subsidy  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  voted  to  that  state  by 
the  British  parliament  was  unaccompanied 
by  a  body  of  troops,  as  had  been  originally 
intended,  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Madrid  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  September,  highly  fa- 
vorable to  France.  During  this  contest  the 
British  ministry,  apprehensive  lest  the  island 
of  Madeira  should  be  delivered  up  to  the 
enemy,  sent  a  squadron  thither,  with  a  small 
body  of  land  forces  under  colonel  Clinton, 
who  took  possession  of  the  forts  which  com- 
mand the  bay  of  Funchal. 

EXPEDITION  TO  EGYPr.— EXPULSION  OF 
THE  FRENCH. 
The  force  which  had  been  destined  against 
Egypt  in  the  preceding  year,  after  having 
repaired  to  Gibraltar,  to  recover  from  the 
inconveniencies  of  a  long  cruise  in  a  bois- 
terous season,  proceeded  fi-om  Malta  in  De- 
cember, in  two  divisions,  for  Marmorice,  on 
the  coast  of  Caramania,  where  they  were 
landed  for  refreshment.  Being  reimbarked, 
they  sailed  for  Aboukir  bay;  and  on  the 
eighth  of  March,  1801,  the  first  division  ef- 


GEORGE  m.  1760-1820. 


475 


ffected  theit  landing  in  the  face  of  a  body  of 
Frenc'h,  who  were  aware  of  their  intention, 
and  were  posted  in  force  with  considerable 
advantages  of  position.  The  front  of  the 
disembarkation  was  narrow;  and  a  hill, 
which  commanded  the  whole,  appeared  al- 
most inaccessible ;  yet  the  British  troops  as- 
cended it,  under  the  fire  of  grape-shot,  with 
the  utmost  intrepidity,  and  forced  the  French 
to  retire,  leaving  behind  them  several  pieces 
of  artillery  and  a  number  of  horses :  in  this 
service  seven  hundred  of  our  men,  sailors 
included,  were  killed  or  wounded.  On  the 
twelfth  the  whole  army  came  within  sight 
of  the  French,  who  were  formed  advanta- 
geously on  a  ridge,  and  on  the  following  day 
marched  in  two  lines  with  an  intention  of 
turning  their  right  flank :  the  attack,  how- 
ever was  anticipated  by  the  enemy  :  the 
British  troops  were  therefore  obliged  to 
change  their  position,  and  the  advanced- 
guard  suffered  considerably;  but,  after  a 
severe  conflict,  which  lasted  several  hours, 
the  French  retreated  nearer  to  Alexandria. 

Fort  Aboukir  capitulated  on  the  nine- 
teenth; and  on  the  twentieth,  general 
Menou  arriving  from  Cairo,  the  whole  of 
the  French  disposable  force  was  concen- 
trated at  Alexandria.  The  memorable  con- 
flict which  decided  the  fate  of  Egypt  took 
place  on  the  following  day,  at  a  small  dis- 
tance from  that  city.  It  commenced  before 
daylight  in  the  morning,  by  a  false  attack 
on  the  left  of  the  English,  which  general 
Craddock  commanded  ;  but  their  most  vig- 
orous efforts  were  directed  to  the  right, 
where  the  contest  was  remarkably  obstinate : 
they  were  twice  repulsed,  and  their  cavalry 
were  repeatedly  mixed  with  the  British  in- 
fantry. An  attempt  at  the  same  time  to 
penetrate  the  centre  of  the  British  army 
with  a  column  of  infantry  was  also  repulsed ; 
another  body  which  advanced  against  the 
left  of  the  English  was  likewise  unsuccess- 
ful, and  the  British  forces  remained  masters 
of  the  field.  The  loss  on  our  side,  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing,  amounted  to  fifteen 
hundred ;  that  of  the  French,  who  lost  the 
greatest  part  of  a  famous  corps  which  Buo- 
naparte had  arrogantly  called  the  Invin- 
cibles,  and  whose  standard  was  taken,  was 
estimated  at  double  that  number.  Imme- 
diately after  this  defeat  the  French  general 
in  chief  began  to  detach  troops  to  strengthen 
the  garrisons  of  the  interior.  In  this  action 
major-general  Moore  and  Sir  Sidney  Smith 
were  wounded,  and  three  French  generals 
died  of  their  wounds. 

Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  was  vigorously 
engaged  in  the  heat  of  action  on  the  right, 
when  he  received  a  mortal  wound  in  the 
thigh  by  a  musket-ball,  which  he  concealed 
from  the  army  till  the  period  for  exertion 


was  past,  when  his  strength  failed  him :  he 
was  carried  off*  the  field,  and  conveyed  on 
board  the  admiral's  ehip,  where  he  died  on 
the  twenty-eighth.  His  death  was  uni- 
versally and  most  deservedly  lamented,  for 
his  mind  was  stored  with  every  great  and 
good  quality ;  his  military  talents  were  un- 
doubtedly great ;  his  services  had  been  long 
and  brilliant;  and,  whilst  regarded  as  a 
strict  disciplinarian,  he  still  conciliated  the 
esteem  of  all  whom  he  commanded. 

On  the  death  of  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie, 
the  command  devolved  on  general  Hutch- 
inson, with  whom  it  was  for  some  time  a 
matter  of  doubt  whether  he  should  lay  siege 
to  Alexandria,  or  proceed  up  the  left  bank 
of  the  river  Nile  into  the  country,  and,  after 
forming  a  junction  with  the  Turkish  army, 
which  was  hastening  to  join  him  by  the 
way  of  Syria,  endeavor  to  reduce  Grand 
Cairo,  and  to  cut  off  all  communication  be- 
tween the  French  on  the  coast,  and  every 
part  of  the  mterior.  The  inadequacy  of  his 
force  to  form  the  siege  of  Alexandria,  and 
the  expectation  of  being  joined  by  forces 
sent  from  Bombay  up  the  Red  Sea,  induced 
him  to  adopt  the  latter  plan  of  operations : 
the  junction  between  the  English  and  Turk- 
ish armies  was  effected  in  the  beginning  of 
June ;  and  on  the  fifteenth  general  Hutchin- 
son wrote  to  general  Belliard,  who  com- 
manded at  Cairo,  offering  him  the  most  hon- 
orable terms  to  induce  him  to  surrender  the 
place ;  he  at  first  peremptorily  refused :  but 
shortly  after  he  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  the 
English  camp;  and  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  June  the  French  engaged  to  evacuate 
Cairo,  on  being  allowed  to  return  with  their 
arms  to  Europe.  This  capitulation  was  car- 
ried into  effect  on  the  tenth  of  the  following 
month,  when  the  English  and  Turkish  flags 
were  hoisted  on  the  citadel.  The  total 
amount  of  persons  included  in  the  capitula- 
tion exceeded  fourteen  thousand,  exclusive 
of  women  and  children ;  previous  to  which 
the  town  and  castle  of  Rosetta  were  taken 
by  a  division  of  the  British  army,  under 
colonel  Spencer.  General  Hutchinson,  hav- 
ing received  some  reinforcements  in  the 
month  of  July,  which  swelled  his  army  to 
sixteen  thousand  men,  resolved  to  commence 
the  siege  of  Alexandria.  The  approaches 
to  the  town  were  made  under  circumstances 
highly  honorable  to  the  valor  and  good  con- 
duct of  the  besieging  army,  who  drove  the 
enemy  from  post  to  post,  till  the  PVench 
commander  Menou,  finding  no  prospect  of 
relief  from  Europe,  and  no  hopes  of  ultimate 
success  from  further  resistance,  agreed,  on 
the  first  of  September,  to  surrender  the 
place  on  condition  of  being  sent  to  Europe. 
The  whole  force  in  Alexandria,  at  the  period 
of  this  capitulation,  was  ten  thousand  five 


476 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


hundred  and  twenty-eight  men ;  the  last  of 
which  sailed  from  the  harbor  on  the  eigh- 
teenth of  September. 

Thus,  with  a  force  far  inferior  to  that  of 
tlieir  opponents,  did  the  British  army  wrest 
this  important  country  from  their  enemies, 
and  restore  it  to  their  allies;  but,  as  the 
conventions  were  concluded  on  grounds  simi- 
lar to  that  signed  at  El  Arish,  the  philan- 
thropist will  not  consider  the  glory  acquired 
by  the  British  arms  as  an  equivalent  for  the 
effusion  of  blood  with  which  the  protrac- 
tion of  the  contest  was  attended.  Intelli- 
gence of  the  event  reached  Paris  before  the 
British  cabinet  could  be  apprized  of  it.  In 
consequence  of  the  knowledge  thus  obtained, 
the  first  consul  of  France  derived  an  im- 
portant advantage  in  a  treaty  of  peace  which 
he  hastily  concluded  with  the  Turks,  and 
which  contained  many  provisions  highly  fa- 
vorable to  the  French,  who  had  grossly  vio- 
lated every  agreement  which  they  had  en- 
tered into  with  the  Porte ;  and  greatly  preju- 
dicial to  the  English,  who,  from  the  import- 
ant assistance  which  they  had  rendered  to 
the  Turks,  and  from  their  honorable  conduct 
towards  them  on  all  occasions,  were  entitled 
to  every  return  which  justice,  generosity, 
and  gratitude,  could  suggest.  The  evacua- 
tion of  Egypt  (the  Turkish  ambassador  not 
knowing  that  it  had  actually  taken  place) 
•was  the  consideration  held  out  by  the  French 
for  the  benefits  which  they  claimed  and  the 
privileges  which  they  acquired  by  this  new 
treaty. 

PROJECTED  INVASION  OF  ENGLAND.— 
BUONAPARTE'S  CONCORDAT  WITH  THE 
POPE. 

Whilst  the  possession  of  Egypt  was  un- 
certain, Buonaparte  determined  to  point  all 
his  efforts  against  the  only  enemy  either 
unsubdued  or  unhumbled  by  the  arts  and 
arms  of  France.  Large  bodies  of  troops 
were  accordingly  collected  on  the  northern 
coasts  of  France ;  ships,  guns,  and  flat-bot- 
tomed boats,  were  built  and  equipped ;  the 
ports  of  France,  Belgium,  and  Holland, 
were  crowded  with  armed  vessels;  camps 
were  formed  at  Bruges,  Gravelines,  Bou- 
logne, Brest,  Granville,  Cherbourg,  and  St. 
Maloes ;  and  the  deeds  about  to  be  perform- 
ed by  those  armies  which  had  forced  the 
passage  of  the  Bormida,  the  Danube,  the 
Inn,  and  the  Salza,  and  gained  the  battles 
of  Marengo  and  Hohenlinden,  were  vaunt- 
ed in  the  consular  proclamations  and  mani- 
festoes. Buonaparte  affected  to  consider  the 
English  as  a  nation  rendered  effeminate  by 
wealth,  and  unwarlike  by  commerce;  and 
it  was  confidently  predicted  that  the  steel 
of  the  French  would  prove  more  than  a 
match  for  the  gold  of  the  Britons.  On  the 
other  hand  the  whole  island  was  in  motion ; 
and  one  uniform  spirit  of  patriotic  defiance 


was  breathed  by  the  inhabitants.  The  vol- 
unteer battalions  and  companies  were  in- 
creased ;  a  numerous  and  respectable  body 
of  yeomanry  cavalry  was  formed ;  the  fen- 
cible  regiments  were  disciplined  into  a 
knowledge  of  the  military  art ;  and  the  mi- 
litia, many  regiments  of  which  had  served 
in  Ireland,  received  a  considerable  augmen- 
tation by  means  of  the  supplementary  levy. 
From  the  votes  of  supply  for  this  year,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  total  land  and  sea  force  ex- 
clusive of  volunteers,  amounted  to  nearly 
five  hundred  thousand. 

Buonaparte,  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  as- 
semblage of  troops,  affected  to  blend  all  the 
state  of  the  ancient  kings  of  France  with 
that  of  the  emperors  of  the  west.  By  a 
convention  with  the  pope,  ratified  on  the 
tenth  of  September,  he  was  not  only  ac- 
knowledged to  possess  all  the  privileges  of 
the  ancient  monarchy  so  far  as  concerned 
public  worship,  but  new  and  essential  immu- 
nities were  obtained  for  the  Galilean  church. 
His  holiness  agreed  to  procure  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  prelates  who  had  adhered  to  the 
old  establishment,  and  the  chief  magistrate 
was  to  nominate  to  the  vacant  sees.  A  new 
formula  of  prayer  was  introduced ;  and  the 
holy  father  covenanted  that  those  who  had 
acquired  the  alienated  property  of  the  church 
should  not  be  disturbed.  By  a  concordat, 
the  apostolical  and  Roman  faith  was  declar- 
ed to  be  the  religion  of  the  state,  and  the 
Catholics  were  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
public  worship. 

NAVAL  ACTIONS.— ATTACK  ON  THE  BOU- 
LOGNE FLOTILLA. 
British  seamen  this  year  displayed  their 
accustomed  zeal  and  devotion  in  the  cause 
of  their  country.  In  March  admiral  Duck- 
worth made  an  easy  capture  of  the  Swedish 
island  of  St.  Bartholomew,  as  well  as  the 
Danish  settlements  of  St.  Thomas  and  Santa 
Cruz,  which  were  of  course  restored  to  those 
powers,  in  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  St.  Peters- 
burgh  ;  the  islands  of  St.  Martin  and  St. 
Eustatia  were  also  reduced;  while  in  the 
east  the  Batavian  settlement  of  Ternate,  the 
chief  of  the  Molucca  Islands,  surrendered 
on  the  twenty-first  of  June,  after  a  vigorous 
resistance,  to  a  small  squadron,  under  the 
command  of  captain  Hayes.  In  the  Medi- 
terranean two  severe  actions  took  place ;  the 
former  of  which  proved  unfortunate.  Rear- 
admiral  Sir  James  Saumarez  was  blockading 
the  port  of  Cadiz,  when  he  received  intelli- 
gence that  three  French  line-of-battle  ships 
and  a  frigate  were  lying  at  anchor  in  the 
road  of  Algesiras,  under  cover  of  the  batte- 
ries on  shore,  and  immediately  conceived 
the  bold  design  of  attacking  them  in  that 
situation.  On  tlie  sixth  of  July  he  proceed- 
ed with  six  sail  of  the  line,  under  a  favora^- 
ble  breeze,  and  a  great  impression  was  made 


GEORGE  m.   1760-1820. 


477 


on  the  flag-ship  of  the  French  commander, 
rear-admiral  Linois,  by  captain  Stirling  in 
the  Pompee,  till  a  change  of  wind  prevented 
him  from  acting:  as  soon,  however,  as  it 
again  favored,  the  Hannibal,  captain  Ferris, 
pushed  forward  in  the  hope  of  passing  be- 
tween the  French  ships  and  the  shore,  an 
attempt  which  he  thought  might  lead  to  a 
complete  triumph;  but  his  ship  happened 
to  take  the  ground  under  one  of  the  batteries, 
and,  as  no  effort  could  extricate  her,  he  was 
obliged  to  give  her  up,  after  considerable 
loss  on  both  sides.  A  breeze  having  enabled 
two  other  ships  to  approach  the  enemy,  they 
kept  up  for  a  time  a  heavy  fire ;  but  the  im- 
practicability of  a  close  action  at  length  in- 
duced Sir  James  to  withdraw  his  force,  when 
above  three  hundred  and  sixty  of  his  men 
had  been  killed  or  wounded.  This  disap- 
pointment served  only  to  stimulate  the  ea- 
gerness of  the  British  seamen  for  another 
contest.  The  ships  were  repaired  with 
great  expedition;  and  when  the  French, 
joined  by  a  Spanish  squadron,  were  sailing 
towards  Cadiz,  the  rear  of  the  united  fleet 
was  attacked,  on  the  night  of  the  twelfth  of 
July,  by  the  Superb,  captain  Keats.  This 
vessel  having  fired  between  the  Spanish  ad- 
miral's ship  and  another  of  a  hundred  and 
twelve  guns,  and  then  retired,  a  mutual  er- 
ror, arising  from  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
occasioned  a  conflict  between  these  two  en- 
emy's ships,  when  one  of  them  suddenly 
took  fire ;  the  flames  rapidly  extended  to  the 
other ;  and  both  blew  up  with  the  loss  of 
about  two  thousand  men.  This  melancholy 
accident  discouraged  Linois  and  his  asso- 
ciates, and  tended  to  accelerate  their  retreat. 
The  San  Antonio,  of  seventy-four  guns,  was 
taken ;  but  the  Formidable  baffled  a  severe 
attack  from  captain  Hood,  whose  ship  struck 
upon  a  rock,  and  was  with  difficulty  towed 
off  in  a  disabled  state.  The  enemy  reached 
Cadiz  without  further  molestation ;  and  the 
English  admiral  sailed  with  his  prize  to  Gib- 
raltar. Thus  ended  an  action  in  which  the 
superiority  of  the  enemy  was  immense ;  and 
Sir  James  Saumarez  was  gratified  with  the 
thanks  of  the  two  houses  of  parliament,  and 
rewarded  with  a  pension  of  twelve  hundred 
pounds  per  annum. 

In  the  course  of  this  year  captain  Rowley 
Bulteel,  in  the  Belliqueux,  with  a  convoy  of 
East-Indiamen,  captured  two  French  frigates 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Brazil,  forming  a  part 
of  a  squadron  which  had  committed  great 
depredations  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  The 
fleet  under  vice-admiral  Rainer  in  the  East 
Indies  seized  a  number  of  valuable  prizes, 
particularly  two  Dutch  ships  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Java.  Captain  T.  Manby  in  the 
Bourdelois,  belonging  to  rear-admiral  Duck- 
worth's detachment  in  the  West  Indies,  near- 
ly about  the  same  time  dispersed  a  small  ar- 


mament fitted  out  by  Victor  Hughes  for  the 
purpose  of  intercepting  the  outward-bound 
convoy.  In  the  Mediterranean  a  most  severe 
action  was  fought,  on  the  tenth  of  February, 
between  the  Phoebe,  captain  R.  Barlow,  and 
the  French  frigate  L'Africaine,  the  com- 
mander of  which,  though  incapable  of  con- 
tending with  the  British  vessel,  would  not 
yield  until  his  ship  became  a  mere  wreck, 
and  his  decks  were  crowded  with  the  dying 
and  the  dead;  the  number  of  the  latter 
amounted  to  two  hundred,  and  the  wounded 
to  one  hundred  and  forty-three,  while  the 
loss  of  the  Phoebe  was  only  one  killed  and 
twelve  wounded.  Lord  Cochrane,  in  the 
Speedy  sloop,  of  fourteen  four-pounders,  and 
fifty-four  men  and  boys,  performed  a  brilliant 
exploit,  by  boarding  and  capturing  a  Spanish 
polacre  frigate,  of  thirty -two  guns,  and  three 
hundred  and  nineteen  men,  off  Barcelona. 

On  the  second  of  August  lord  Nelson 
hoisted  his  flag  as  vice-admiral  of  the  blue 
on  board  the  Medusa,  and  proceeded  with 
two  sail  of  the  line,  two  frigates,  and  several 
smaller  vessels,  to  Boulogne,  where  the 
French  had  assembled  a  great  number  of 
gun-boats,  armed  brigs,  and  lugger-rigged 
flats.  Perceiving  that  twenty-four  of  these 
were  anchored  in  a  line  in  front  of  the  har- 
bor, a  signal  was  hoisted,  on  which  the  bombs 
weighed  with  a  favorable  wind,  and  threw 
their  shells  with  such  effect,  that  in  the 
course  of  a  few  hours,  three  of  the  flats  and 
brigs  were  sunk,  and  six  driven  on  shore. 
Lord  Nelson,  being  of  opinion  that  the  re- 
mainder of  the  flotilla  might  be  captured  by 
the  boats  of  his  squadron,  directed  an  expe- 
dition to  be  undertaken  on  the  night  of  the 
fifteenth  of  August,  by  five  divisions,  one  of 
which  carried  howitzers,  under  the  com- 
mand of  captains  Somerville,  Cotgrave, 
Parker,  Jones,  and  Conn,  of  the  royal  navy. 
Parker's  division  first  approached  the  enemy, 
and  began  the  attack  with  undaunted  brave- 
ry; but  an  unforeseen  obstacle  baffled  his 
exertions :  a  very  strong  netting  was  traced 
up  to  the  lower  yards  of  the  French  vessels, 
which  were  firmly  fastened  with  chains  to 
each  other,  as  well  as  to  the  ground ;  and  so 
invulnerable  was  the  foe,  thus  guarded,  that 
two-thirds  of  the  crew  of  the  boat  in  which 
he  acted  were  repelled,  in  attempting  to 
board  a  large  brig  by  a  tremendous  discharge 
of  cannon  and  musketry ;  the  gallant  cap- 
tain afterwards  died  of  his  wounds.  The 
other  divisions  not  arriving  at  the  same  time, 
only  the  lugger  was  brouoht  ofl^,  while 
several  boats  of  the  assailants  were  sunk  or 
taken,  with  a  considerable  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded. 

PEACE  BETWEEN  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND 
FRANCE. 
Whilst  every  shore  re-echoed  with  the 
thunder  of  hostility,  the  inhabitants  of  both 


478 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


France  and  England  had  become  heartily 
tired  of  the  war.  For  some  time  past  an 
active  intercourse  had  taken  place  between 
the  two  governments.  Flags  of  truce  and 
of  defiance  were  actually  displayed  at  the 
same  time,  and  in  the  same  strait ;  so  that 
while  Boulogne  and  Dunkirk  were  bom- 
barded and  blockaded  by  hostile  squadrons, 
the  ports  of  Dover  and  Calais  were  frequently 
visited  by  the  packet-boats  and  the  messen- 
gers of  the  courts  of  St.  James  and  the 
Thuilleries.  The  negotiation  had  been  car- 
ried on  in  London,  between  lord  Hawkes- 
bury,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Louis  William 
Otto,  who  had  been  some  time  resident  in 
this  country  as  a  commissary  for  the  ex- 
change of  prisoners,  on  the  other ;  the  for- 
mer, by  a  departure  from  the  established 
rules  of  diplomatic  etiquette,  having  con- 
sented to  reduce  himself  to  a  level  with  a 
private  citizen  of  France.  It  had  continued 
during  the  whole  of  the  summer ;  and  in  its 
progress  many  impediments  arose,  and  some 
curious  discussions  took  place,  relative  to  the 
liberty  of  the  press  in  this  country,  which 
Buonaparte,  fearful  that  it  might  be  em- 
ployed to  expose  his  own  character,  wished 
to  restrain;  but  with  every  disposition  to 
concede,  as  far  as  possible,  lord  Hawkesbury 
resisted  every  attempt  to  encroach  on  that 
freedom  of  discussion,  to  which  much  of  the 
excellence  of  the  British  constitution  may 
fairly  be  ascribed.  At  length  the  cabinet  of 
Paris,  having  received  Menou's  dispatches 
from  Egypt,  hastened  the  conclusion  of  the 
business ;  and  on  the  first  of  October  the 
preliminaries  were  signed  by  lord  Hawkes- 
bury and  M.  Otto.  This  intelligence  was 
immediately  communicated  in  a  note  to  the 
lord-mayor,  and  diffused  general  satisfaction 
throughout  the  kingdom.  At  the  end  of 
eleven  days  the  ratification  of  the  prelimi- 
nary treaty  on  the  part  of  the  first  consul 
was  brought  from  Paris  by  colonel  Lauris- 
ton,  who,  as  well  as  the  French  plenipoten- 
tiary, was  drawn  through  the  streets  of  the 
metropolis  in  his  carriage  by  the  populace. 
By  this  treaty  Great  Britain  restored  to 
France  and  her  allies  every  possession  or 
colony  taken  from  them  during  the  war,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Spanish  island  of  Trin- 
idad, and  the  Dutch  settlements  at  Ceylon. 
The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  to  become  a 
free  port,  and  Malta  was  to  be  restored  to 
the  order ;  but  under  the  express  guarantee 
and  protection  of  a  third  power,  to  be  fixed 
upon  in  the  definitive  treaty.  In  order  to 
bring  that  treaty  to  a  speedy  conclusion, 
lord  Cornwallis  was  dispatched  to  France. 
Amiens  was  the  scene  of  negotiation  ap- 
pointed by  the  first  consul ;  and  his  brother, 
Joseph  Buonaparte,  received  the  full  power 
to  treat  with  the  British  plenipotentiary.  In 
the  course  of  the  discussion  which  ensued 


fresh  difficulties  were  started  by  France,  and 
fresh  demands  preferred,  which  occasioned 
so  much  delay  that  it  was  supposed  by  many 
that  war  would  be  renewed.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  March,  1802,  however,  matters  were 
finally  arranged,  and  the  seal  was  put  to  the 
treaty  of  Amiens,  which  differed  from  the 
preliminaries  only  in  the  following  points : — 
A  part  of  Portuguese  Guiana  was  given  up 
to  the  French  by  a  new  adjustment  of  bound- 
aries :  with  regard  to  Malta,  it  was  stipula- 
ted that  no  French  or  English  language,  or 
class  of  knights,  should  be  allowed;  that 
one  half  of  the  soldiers  in  garrison  should  be 
natives,  and  that  the  rest  should  be  furnished 
for  a  time  by  the  king  of  Naples ;  that  the 
independence  of  the  island,  under  the  sway 
of  the  knights,  should  be  guarantied  by 
France,  Great  Britain,  Austria,  Spain,  Rus- 
sia, and  Prussia ;  and  that  its  ports  should  be 
free  to  all  nationa  It  was  agreed  that  the 
prince  of  Orange  should  receive  compensa- 
tion for  his  loss  of  property  and  of  power. 
Persons  who  might  hereafter  be  accused  of 
murder,  forgery,  and  fraudulent  bankruptcy, 
were  to  be  surrendered  to  the  demands  of 
each  of  the  respective  powers. 

Thus  ended  the  revolutionary  war,  in  the 
defeat  of  all  the  hopes  and  expectations 
which  had  been  formed  of  indemnity  for 
the  past  and  of  security  for  the  future ;  and 
in  the  accomplishment  of  all  those  gigantic 
plans  of  subversion  and  conquest,  which  had 
been  conceived  by  the  first  founders  of  the 
French  republic,  and  pursued  with  unremit- 
ting activity  by  all  her  successive  rulers. 
By  the  peace  of  Amiens  a  great  part  of  the 
continent  of  Europe  was  laid  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  France;  and  French  influence  re- 
mained predominant  from  the  German  Ocean 
to  the  Bay  of  Naples.  In  short,  Jacobinism 
triumphed ;  her  child  and  champion  estab- 
lished his  ascendency ;  her  firmest  advocates 
were  honored  and  rewarded ;  and  the  stamp 
of  success  was  given  to  her  boldest  projects. 
Not  one  of  the  objects  which  the  princes 
originally  confederated  against  France  pro- 
fessed to  have  in  view  was  attained ;  on  the 
contrary,  her  power  was  extended,  her  ter- 
ritories were  enlarged,  her  influence  was 
increased,  and  her  principles  had  surmount- 
ed every  obstacle  opposed  to  their  progress. 
Her  government,  it  is  true,  had  assumed  a 
new  form,  less  terrific  in  appearance  than 
the  murderous  system  of  Robespierre  and 
his  sanguinary  associates,  but  in  reality 
more  despotic.  A  military  tyranny,  formed 
out  of  the  elements  of  Jacobinism,  destroyed 
every  vestige  of  civil  liberty,  and  imposed 
the  most  galling  and  odious  fetters  on  the 
minds,  as  well  as  the  persons,  of  the  people. 
England,  indeed,  had  escaped  the  yoke  to 
which  the  powers  of  the  continent  had,  in 
a  greater  or  lesser  degree,  submitted.     She 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


479 


had  secured  her  constitution  and  her  gov- 
ernment from  the  efiects  of  that  revolution- 
ary poison  which  had  destroyed  so  many 
ancient  institutions,  and  had  subverted  so 
many  thrones.  She  had  even  enlarged  her 
dominions  by  the  acquisition  of  an  important 
settlement  in  Asia,  which  afforded  her  the 
long  sought  for  advantage  of  a  safe,  and 
commodious  harbor  in  the  Eastern  ocean, 
and  by  an  island  in  the  West  Indies,  of 
consequence  more  from  its  relative  situation 
to  the  Spanish  Main,  than  from  its  produce 
or  probable  revenue.  She  had  also  kept 
inviolate  her  faith  with  her  allies,  and  had 
preserved    her    national    character    pure 


amidst  surrounding  corruption:  but  here 
ends  the  catalogue  of  her  advantages;  in 
every  other  point  she  had  completely  failed. 
None  of  the  objects  which  she  had  pursued 
in  common  with  the  other  powers  of  Eu- 
rope had  she  been  able  to  attain :  she  had 
bounteously  opened  her  treasures  to  those 
who  fought  against  revolutionary  anarchy ; 
she  had  made  every  exertion  which  her 
spirit  could  suggest  and  her  resources 
command ;  and,  had  all  her  allies  but  dis- 
played equal  vigor  and  resolution,  their 
united  efforts  must  have  been  crowned 
with  success. 


480 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Meeting  of  Parliament — Address — Sentiments  on  the  Peace — Debts  of  the  Civil  List 
— Claim  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  arrears  of  Cornish  Revenues— Repeal  of  the  In- 
come Tax — Loan — Neiv  Taxes — Sinking  Fund — Abbot  elected  Speaker — Debates 
on  the  definitive  Treaty  of  Peace— Militia  Augmentation — Vaccine  Inoculationr- 
Parliament  dissolved — French  Expedition  to  St.  Domingo  and  Gaudaloupe — Muti- 
ny in  Baniry  Bay — Affairs  of  Switzerland — Annexatix)n  of  Piedmont  to  France- 
Seizure  of  the  Maltese  property  in  Spain — Buonaparte  elected  First  Consul  for  life 
— New  Constitution  in  France — Legion  of  Honor — Affairs  of  France  in  the  West 
Indies — Despard's  Conspiracy — New  Parliament — Symptoms  of  hostility  between 
FVance  and  England— The  British  Ambassador  leaves  Paris— Grant  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales — Messages  respecting  France,  and  the  Militia,  and  announcing  hostilities — 
Military  Preparations — Levy  en  masse — Finance — Volunteer  Associations — Prepa- 
rations for  Invasion  by  France — Act  to  relieve  Catholics — Attempt  to  murder  made 
capital— Vote  of  thanks  to  the  Volunteers— The  Prince  of  Wales  is  refused  Military 
Promotion — Rebellion  in  Ireland,  and  Murder  of  Lord  Kilwarden — Ireland  placed 
under  Martial  Law,  and  Habeas  Corpus  Act  suspended— Emmett  and  others  exe- 
cuted for  Treason— Capture  of  St.  Lucia,  Tobago,  d-c.-The  French  expelled  from 
St.  Domingo — Movements  in  Europe — Invasion  of  Hanover — Blockade  of  the  Elbe 
and  Weser — War  with  Holland — Exactions  of  Buonaparte — Sale  of  Louisiana — 

.  English  Travellers  in  France  made  Prisoners  of  War — Naval  Operatixms. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT— SENTI- 
MENTS ON  THE  PEACE. 

The  imperial  parliament  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  was  opened  on  the  twenty-ninth 
of  October  1801,  by  the  king  in  person,  who, 
in  a  speech  from  the  throne,  announced  the 
conclusion  of  the  negotiation  for  peace,  and 
declared  his  satisfaction,  that  the  difference 
which  existed  with  the  northern  powers  had 
been  adjusted  by  a  convention  with  the  em- 
peror of  Russia,  to  which  the  kings  of  Den- 
mark and  of  Sweden  had  expressed  their 
readiness  to  accede,  and  by  which  the  essen- 
tial rights  for  which  we  contended  were 
secured.  He  then  proceeded  to  state  that 
preliminaries  of  peace  had  also  been  ratified 
between  himself  and  the  French  republic  ; 
and  he  trusted  that  this  important  arrange- 
ment, while  it  manifested  the  justice  and 
moderation  of  his  views,  would  also  be  found 
conducive  to  the  substantial  interests  of  this 
country,  and  honorable  to  the  British  char- 
acter. In  the  upper  house  the  address  was 
moved  by  lord  Bolton ;  and  the  duke  of  Bed- 
ford, in  a  speech  containing  much  censure 
of  the  late,  and  praise  of  the  present  admin- 
istration, declared  his  cordial  concurrence 
in  the  address,  which  was  agreed  to  without 
a  dissentient  voice. 

In  the  house  of  commons  Fox  expressed 
the  same  sentiments  of  approbation  respect- 
ing the  peace,  in  which  he  was  warmly  sec- 
onded by  Pitt,  who  described  it  as  glorious 
and  honorable.  After  the  continental  alli- 
ance had  been  dissolved,  he  said,  nothing 
remamed  for  us  but  to  procure  just  and  hon- 
orable conditions  of  peace  for  ourselves  and 


the  few  allies  who  had  not  deserted  us. 
When  it  became  a  mere  question  of  terms, 
he  was  much  more  anxious  as  to  the  tone 
and  character  of  the  peace,  than  about  any 
particular  object  which  should  come  into 
dispute.  As  long  as  the  peace  was  honora- 
ble, he  should  prefer  accepting  terms  even 
short  of  what  he  thought  the  country  enti- 
tled to,  to  risking  the  result  of  the  negotia- 
tion by  too  obstinate  an  adherence  to  any 
particular  point.  On  the  other  hand,  Wind- 
ham, the  late  secretary  at  war,  avowed  his 
entire  disapprobation  of  the  treaty,  and  de- 
clared himself  to  be  a  solitary  mourner  in 
the  midst  of  public  rejoicings.  Sheridan 
said  he  could  not  agree  that  the  conditions 
were  glorious  and  honorable.  It  was,  in  his 
opinion,  a  peace  of  which  every  one  was 
glad,  but  no  one  proud. 

A  similar  address  was  moved  in  the 
house  of  commons ;  which,  after  considera- 
ble discussion,  was  agreed  to  without  a 
division. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  November  the  arti- 
cles of  the  treaty  with  Russia  having  been 
laid  before  the  house  of  peers,  the  earl  of 
Damley  moved  an  address  of  thanks  and 
approbation  to  the  throne.  This  address 
was  vehemently  opposed  by  lord  Grenville, 
who  condemned  the  treaty  in  almost  all  its 
provisions ;  and,  from  the  tenor  of  his  lord- 
ship's remarks,  it  was  obvious  that  no  ac- 
commodation with  the  northern  powers 
could  have  taken  place  under  the  adminis- 
tration whicli  had  recently  been  dissolved. 
The  question  was  carried  in  both  houses 
without  a  divisicn. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


481 


DEBTS  OF  THE  CIVII^LIST.— PRINCE   OF 
WALES'S  CLAIMS  FOR  ARREARS. 

When  parliament  assembled,  after  the 
Christmas  recess,  the  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer called  the  attention  of  the  house  to 
certain  papers  before  them,  relative  to  the 
civil-list,  by  which  it  appeared  that  the  pe- 
cuniary affairs  of  the  sovereign  were  again 
deeply  in  arrear ;  and  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  examine  the  accounts  now  pre- 
sented to  the  house.  In  the  course  of  the 
discussion.  Manners  Sutton,  solicitor  to  the 
prince  of  Wales,  advanced  a  claim  on  the 
part  of  the  prince  for  the  amount  of  the  rev- 
enues of  the  dutchy  of  Cornwall  received 
during  his  minority,  and  applied  to  the  use 
of  the  civil-list.  Fox  declared  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  equity  of  this  claim,  but  admit- 
ted that  the  sums  voted  for  the  payment  of 
the  prince's  debts  ought  to  be  deducted  from 
the  balance  accruing  to  the  prince.  On  the 
twenty-ninth  of  March,  1802,  the  report  of 
the  committee  was  taken  into  consideration, 
when  it  appeared  that  a  debt  amounting  to 
no  less  than  nine  hundred  and  ninety  thou- 
sand pounds  had  been  contracted  since  the 
passing  of  Burke's  reform  bill,  exclusive  of 
the  arrears  discharged  in  the  years  1784  and 
1786,  and  since  that  time  the  provisions  of 
the  bill  had  been  wholly  neglected.  After  a 
long  and  animated  discussion  this  sum  was 
voted  by  the  house :  but  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer  allowed  that  measures  ought 
to  be  taken  to  prevent  in  future  any  such 
accumulation  of  debt.  Two  days  after,  Man- 
ners Sutton  moved  for  the  appointment  of  a 
committee,  to  inquire  what  sums  were  due 
to  the  prince  of  Wales  from  the  arrears  of 
the  revenues  arising  from  the  dutchy  of 
Cornwall.  The  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
considered  it  as  inconsistent  with  his  duty  to 
concur  in  this  motion.  As  to  the  legal  ques- 
tion, he  did  not  pretend  to  decide  upon  it : 
but  he  thought  the  discussion  ought  not  to 
be  entertained  in  that  house ;  not  at  least 
till  it  appeared  in  proof,  that  on  application 
for  redress,  supposing  the  wrong  to  exist, 
relief  could  not  be  obtained  elsewhere. 
INCOME  TAX  REPEALED.— FINANCES. 

On  the  same  day  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  re- 
peal the  tax  upon  income.  He  acknowledg- 
ed the  burden  of  it  to  be  very  grievous, 
though  the  necessities  of  the  state  had  ren- 
dered its  adoption  necessary;  but,  as  this 
impost  was  origmally  proposed  as  a  war  tax, 
it  should  cease  with  the  occasion  that  had 
given  it  birth.  On  the  fifth  of  April  the  plan 
of  finance  for  the  year  was  brought  forward. 
The  income-tax  had  been  mortgaged  by  Pitt 
for  tlie  sum  of  fifty-six  million  four  hundred 
and  forty-five  thousand  pounds,  three  per 
cents,  for  which  the  present  minister,  in 
consequence  of  the  repeal  of  this  tax,  was 

Vol.  IV.  41 


obliged  to  make  provision.  The  loan  for 
Great  Britain  he  stated  at  twenty-three  mil- 
lion pounds;  the  capital  in  the  different 
funds,  created  by  the  conversion  of  eight 
million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  ex- 
chequer-bills into  stock,  previously  to  the 
Christmas  recess,  was  eleven  millions  two 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand  and  sixty- 
two  pounds,  and  the  aggregate  sum  appear- 
ed to  be  no  less  than  ninety-seven  million 
nine  hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand  one 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  pounds,  the  inter- 
est of  which  was  stated  at  three  million  one 
hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  pounds.  To 
defray  this  enormous  demand,  very  heavy 
additional  duties  were  imposed  on  beer, 
malt,  and  hops.  A  considerable  increase 
was  also  made  to  the  assessed  taxes ;  and 
the  last  article  to  which  ministers  had  re- 
course at  this  crisis  was  a  tax  on  imports 
and  exports,  being  a  modification  of  the  con- 
voy duty.  The  produce  of  the  new  duties 
combined  he  estimated  at  four  million 
pounds,  an  excess  which  compensated  for 
the  deficiency  of  divers  of  the  taxes  imposed 
in  the  course  of  the  war.  In  the  progress 
of  the  business  of  the  revenue,  the  chancel- 
lor of  the  exchequer  proposed  and  carried 
into  effect  several  important  alterations  in 
the  sinking-fund  bills  of  Pitt.  The  last,  or 
new  fund,  provided  for  liquidating  the  debt 
contracted  since  the  year  1786,  was  much 
larger  than  the  original  fund  established  for 
the  liquidation  of  the  old  debt.  These  two 
funds  he  proposed  to  consolidate,  and  to  per- 
petuate, till  the  whole  of  the  debt,  both  old 
and  new,  should  be  completely  liquidated. 
The  original  fund  had  now  arisen  to  two 
million  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  pounds, 
and  the  new  to  three  million  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  pounds,  making  togetlier  five 
million  eight  hundred  and  nine  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirty  pounds.  The  debt 
contracted  previously  to  the  year  1786 
amounted  to  something  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine  million  pounds,  and  the 
new  debt  amounted  to  nearly  three  hundred 
million  pounds;  something  less  than  forty 
million  pounds  having  been  redeemed  by  the 
old,  and  upwards  of  twenty  million  pounds 
by  the  operation  of  the  new  fund.  The 
whole  of  the  existing  funded  debt,  including 
the  loan  of  the  present  year,  was  conse- 
quently about  five  hundred  and  forty  million 
pounds,  and  the  interest  amounted  annually 
to  the  vast  sum  of  upwards  of  seventeen 
million  pounds. 

ABBOT  ELECTED  SPEAKER —DEBATE  ON 
THE  PEACE.— MILITIA— VACCINATION. 
Sir  John  Mitford,  the  speaker  of  the 
English  house  of  commons,  having  vacated 
his  chair  by  accepting  the  ofl^ce  of  lord 


482 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


chancellor  of  Ireland,  in  the  room  of  lord 
Clare,  deceased,  with  the  title  of  lord  Redes- 
dale,  the  speaker's  chair  was  conferred  on 
Charles  Abbot,  Esq.  a  lawyer  of  eminence 
and  activity  in  business,  and  who  had  the 
merit  of  possessing  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  forms  and  usages  of  the  house. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  May  the  grand  de- 
bate relative  to  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace 
came  on  in  both  houses  of  parliament,  when 
it  was  attacked  and  defended  with  more 
than  ordinary  ability.  In  respect  to  Malta, 
lord  Grenville  observed,  that  few  things 
could  be  more  absurd  than  to  place  that  isl- 
and under  the  guarantee  of  six  powers,  who 
could  not  be  expected  to  agree  on  any  one 
point  relating  to  it ;  and  as  to  restoring  it  to 
the  order  of  St.  John,  that  was  still  more  ab- 
surd ;  for  how  could  it  be  said  that  such  an 
order  was  in  existence,  when  almost  all 
tlieir  funds  had  been  confiscated  ]  Of  the 
revenues  which  supported  the  order,  France, 
at  the  time  of  the  suppression  of  the  French 
langue,  had  confiscated  fifty-eight  thousand 
pounds  annually,  Spain  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  of  their  former  income  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  pounds, 
only  twenty-seven  thousand  pounds  was  now 
left, — a  revenue  evidently  insufficient  to 
keep  up  the  fortifications,  or  maintain  the 
security  of  the  island.  The  order  of  Malta 
was  therefore  extinct  as  a  power,  and  must 
necessarily  come  under  the  influence  and 
into  the  pay  of  France.  In  adverting  to 
other  pomts  of  the  treaty,  he  observed,  that 
our  sovereignty  in  India  had  not  been  re- 
cognized, while  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  a 
station  of  the  first  importance  to  that  sove- 
reignty, had  been  ceded.  In  the  Mediterra- 
nean, where  our  naval  superiority  was  most 
important,  we  had  dispossessed  ourselves, 
not  only  of  Malta,  but  of  Minorca,  and  even 
of  the  isle  of  Elba,  which  France  wanted, 
merely  to  exclude  us  from  the  port  of  Leg- 
horn. He  concluded  a  most  severe  and  elab- 
orate investigation  of  the  terms  of  the  trea- 
ty, by  moving  an  address  to  his  majesty,  ac- 
knowledging his  prerogative  to  make  peace 
and  war,  but  declaring  it  impossible  for  the 
house  to  see  without  alarm  the  circum- 
stances that  had  attended  the  conclusion  of 
the  present  treaty,  by  which  sacrifices  had 
been  made  on  the  part  of  this  country,  with- 
out any  corresponding  concessions  on  that 
of  France ;  that  in  the  moment  of  peace 
France  had  exhibited  indubitable  proofs  of 
the  most  ambitious  projects ;  that  these  con- 
siderations imposed  on  government  the  ne- 
cessity of  adopting  measures  of  precaution  ; 
and  that,  whilst  that  house  relied  on  his  ma- 
jesty's wisdom  to  be  watchful  of  the  power 
of  France,  they  thought  it  necessary  to  as- 
sure him  of  their  ready  and  firm  support  in 
resisting  every  encroachment  on  the  rights 


of  the  British  empire.  The  treaty  was  cen- 
sured also  by  the  duke  of  Richmond,  earl 
Darnley,  and  lord  Caernarvon  ;  and  defend- 
ed by  lords  Auckland,  Pelham,  and  Hobart, 
the  lord  chancellor,  and  the  earls  of  West- 
moreland and  Rosslyn.  The  motion  of  lord 
Grenville  was  at  length  negatived. 

The  terms  of  the  definitive  treaty  under- 
went a  discussion  equally  animated  in  the 
house  of  commons.  Windham  attacked  the 
stipulations  of  the  treaty  in  all  their  parts, 
concluding  by  moving  an  address  similar  to 
that  proposed  in  the  house  of  peers  by  lord 
Grenville.  The  debate  was  prolonged  to  a 
very  late  hour,  in  the  course  of  which  Sher- 
idan remarked  that  the  discussion  of  the  ne- 
cessary though  disgracefiil  treaty  of  peace, 
furnished  the  best  defence  of  the  conduct  of 
those  who  had  uniformly  opposed  the  war. 
For  his  part  he  supported  the  peace,  because 
he  supposed  it  the  best  that  ministers  could 
obtain.  Their  predecessors  had  left  them  to 
choose  between  an  expensive,  bloody,  fruit- 
less war,  and  a  hollow,  perilous  peace.  The  late 
minister  told  us  that  the  example  of  a  jaco- 
bin government  in  Europe,  founded  on  the 
ruins  of  a  holy  altar,  and  the  tomb  of  a  mar- 
tyred monarch,  was  a  spectacle  so  dreadful 
and  infectious  to  Christendom,  that  we  could 
never  be  safe  while  it  existed,  and  it  was 
our  duty  to  put  forth  our  last  efibrt  for  its 
destruction.  For  these  fine  words,  which 
had  at  last  given  way  to  security  and  indem-- 
nity,  we  had  sacrificed  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  lives,  and  expended  three  hundred 
million  pounds  of  money — and  had  gained 
Ceylon  and  Trinidad,  which  might  hence- 
forth be  named  the  Indemnity  and  Security 
Islands.  He  admitted  the  splendid  talents 
of  the  late  minister,  but  he  had  misapplied 
them  in  the  government  of  this  country. 
The  house  at  length  divided  against  Wind- 
ham's address  by  an  immense  majority. 

An  important  act  was  passed  for  consoli- 
dating the  existing  militia  laws,  and  for 
augmenting  that  force  to  seventy  thousand 
men,  the  proportion  for  Scotland  being  fixed 
at  ten  thousand.  The  sum  of  ten  thousand 
five  hundred  pounds  was  voted  to  Dr.  Ed- 
ward Jenner,  for  the  promulgation  of  his  in- 
valuable discovery  of  the  system  of  vaccine 
inoculation,  by  which  it  was  hoped  ultimate- 
ly to  extirpate  the  small-pox.  A  reward  of 
twelve  hundred  pounds  was  also  voted  to 
Henry  Greathead,  for  the  invention  of  the 
life-boat ;  and  five  thousand  pounds  to  Dr. 
James  Carmichael  Smith,  for  his  discovery 
of  the  nitrous  fumigation,  for  preventing  the 
progress  of  contagious  disorders.  On  the 
twenty-ninth  of  June  parliament  was  dis- 
solved by  proclamation. 

EXPEDITION  TO  ST.  DOMINGO—MUTINY 
IN  BANTRY  BAY. 
The  French  government  determined  to 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


483 


attempt  the  recovery  of  their  colonies  of 
St.  Domingo  and  Guadaloupe  from  the  arm- 
ed negroes  by  whom  they  were  at  present 
held.  For  this  purpose,  a  strong  military 
and  naval  force  had  been  for  some  time  pre- 
paring at  the  ports  of  Brest,  Rochefort,  and 
L'Orient,  and  the  British  ministry  consented 
to  the  sailing  of  tlie  armament  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  definitive  treaty,  on  re- 
ceiving Buonaparte's  express  assurances  that 
its  purpose  was  to  take  possession  of  the  col- 
onies, and  suppress  the  insurrection.  He 
sought  to  quell  the  revolutionary  spirit 
which  his  democratic  predecessors  had  prop- 
agated in  that  quarter,  and  which  had  ani- 
mated the  negroes  of  St.  Domingo  under 
Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  and  those  of  Gua- 
daloupe under  Pelagie,  to  assert  and  vindi 
cate  their  claims  to  liberty  and  equality,  as 
members  of  the  indivisible  French  republic 
He  was  desirous  to  put  an  end  to  a  state  of 
anarchy,  which  was  pregnant  with  the  most 
appalling  dangers,  not  only  to  the  French 
colonists,  but  to  those  of  every  other  Euro- 
pean power ;  and  the  fleet,  consisting  of 
eighteen  French  and  five  Spanish  ships  of 
the  line,  having  on  board  twenty-five  thou- 
sand troops,  under  general  Le  Clerc,  put  to 
sea  on  the  fourteenth  of  December.  Admi- 
ral Mitchell,  who  was  then  stationed  at  Ban- 
try  Bay,  with  seven  sail  of  the  line,  was 
ordered  to  follow  them,  and  observe  their 
motions ;  but,  on  learning  whither  they  were 
destined,  a  mutiny  broke  out  in  some  of  the 
vessels,  which,  however,  was  soon  suppress- 
ed, and  the  squadron  proceeded  to  the  West 
Indies,  to  reinforce  the  protecting  fleets  on 
that  station.  Fourteen  of  the  ringleaders 
were  capitally  condemned  and  executed. 

AFFAIRS  OF  SWITZERLAND.— MALTESE 
PROPERTY  IN  SPAIN  SEIZED. 
In  Switzerland,  anew  constitution  was  ac- 
cepted by  one  party  and  resisted  by  the 
other,  and  bloodshed  having  ensued,  the  HeL 
vetic  government  was  mduced  to  solicit  the 
mediation  of  France;  when  Buonaparte, 
availing  himself  of  so  plausible  a  pretext, 
sent  an  army  into  the  country,  and  issued 
an  arrogant  proclamation,  commanding  the 
senate  to  assemble  at  Berne,  and  to  send 
deputies  to  Paris ;  ordering  at  the  same  time 
all  authorities  constituted  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  troubles  to  cease  to  act 
and  all  armed  bodies  to  disperse.  The  diet 
of  Schweitz,  however,  as  the  supreme  re- 
presentative body  of  the  Swiss  union,  re- 
mained at  their  post,  hoping  for  the  inter- 
ference of  forei^fn  powers ;  but  Great  Britain 
alone  manifested  an  interest  in  their  behalf 
An  English  resident  was  sent  to  Constance 
empowered  to  promise  pecuniary  assistance 
if  the  people  were  determined  to  defend 
their  country ;  but  the  approach  of  the  French 
troops  had  compelled  the  diet  to  dissolve ; 


Aloys  Reding,  and  other  patriots,  were  ar- 
rested and  imprisoned;  and  the  indepen- 
dence of  Switzerland,  which  had  been  guar- 
antied in  the  treaty  of  Luneville,  was  an- 
nihilated by  the  power  whose  mediation  she 
had  solicited.  In  September  Piedmont  was 
formally  annexed  to  France,  and  Turin,  its 
capital,  was  degraded  into  a  provincial  city 
of  the  republic.  In  October  the  king  of 
Spain  annexed  to  the  royal  domains  all  the 
property  of  the  knights  of  Malta  in  his  do- 
minions, and  declared  himself  grand  master 
of  the  order  in  Spain.  This  step  was  sup- 
posed to  have  been  taken  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  French  government.  Thus  the  order 
of  St.  John  was  diminished  by  the  suppres- 
sion of  three  leagues,  those  of  Arragon,  Cas- 
tile, and  Navarre ;  and  thus  was  the  treaty 
of  Amiens  vitiated,  because  that  order  was 
now  no  longer  the  same  body  to  whom  the 
island  of  Malta  was  to  be  ceded  in  full  au- 
thority. 

BUONAPARTE  FIRST  CONSUL  FOR  LIFE- 
NEW  FRENCH  CONSTITUTION.-LEGION 
OF  HONOR.— WEST  INDIES. 
Buonaparte,  anxious  to  strengthen  his 
power  at  home,  caused  a  proposal  to  be  made 
in  the  conservative  senate  that  he  should 
be  declared  first  consul  for  life ;  the  question 
was  referred  to  the  people,  and  carried  by 
an  immense  majority.  A  second  question, 
whether  he  should  have  the  power  of  ap- 
pointing his  successor,  was  decided  in  the 
affirmative,  and  he  was  now  an  hereditary 
monarch  in  everything  but  the  name.  He 
imposed  a  new  constitution  on  France,  by 
which  he  invested  himself  with  the  right  of 
making  war  or  peace ;  of  ratifying  treaties ; 
of  pardoning  in  all  cases ;  of  presenting  the 
names  of  the  other  two  consuls  to  the  sen- 
ate ;  of  nominating  all  inferior  officers ;  of 
appointing,  by  his  own  authority,  forty  of  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty  members  composing 
the  senate  ;  and  of  prescribing  to  that  body 
the  subjects  on  which  alone  it  was  compe- 
tent to  deliberate.  The  other  departments 
of  the  state  were  equally  subservient  to 
his  will ;  so  that,  having  utterly  destroyed 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  he  might  be  said  to 
govern  the  republic  by  means  of  an  enor- 
mous standing  army,  and  a  numerous  inqui- 
sitorial police.  Aware  that  to  the  former 
he  was  indebted  for  his  present  elevation,  he 
had  for  some  time  contemplated  the  forma- 
tion of  a  military  order  of  nobility,  under  the 
designation  of  tlie  Legion  of  Honor,  and 
the  legislature  decreed  its  establishment. 
The  legion  was  to  be  comjx>sed  of  fifteen 
cohorts,  and  a  council  of  administration ;  each 
cohort  tx)  consist  of  seven  grand  officers,  twen- 
ty commandants,  thirty  subonlinate  officers, 
and  three  hundred  and  fifty  legionaries;  the 
first  consul  always  to  be  the  chief,  and  the 
members  to  be  aonointed  for  life,  each  with 


484 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


proportionate  salaries.  Joseph  Buonaparte, 
the  brother  of  the  first  consul,  was  elected 
grand  master. 

In  the  West  Indies  Buonaparte  recovered 
Guadaloupe,  after  a  sanguinary  resistance, 
and  had  at  first  met  with  some  success  in 
St.  Domingo,  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  having 
been  induced  to  submit  under  promise  of  par- 
don :  scarcely,  however,  had  he  signed  the 
capitulation,  when,  on  a  vague  and  improb- 
able charge  of  conspiring  against  the  French 
government,  he  was  seized  in  the  midst  of 
his  family,  and  with  them  immediately  sent 
to  France.  On  his  arrival  he  was,  without 
trial  or  examination,  thrown  into  prison, 
where  in  the  following  year  he  died,  and  it 
has  been  asserted  that  he  was  privately  put 
to  death  by  order  of  the  first  consul.  On  the 
seizure  of  Toussaint,  the  negro  generals  Des- 
salines  and  Christophe,  who  had  also  surren- 
dered, justly  fearing  the  fate  of  their  unfor- 
tunate colleague,  saved  themselves  by  flight ; 
the  insurgents  again  everywhere  assembled; 
the  climate  effectually  aided  their  efforts,  and 
general  Le  Clerc  himself  at  length  fell  a 
victim  to  its  malignity.  General  Rocham- 
beau  succeeded  to  the  command  early  in  No- 
vember, when  a  furious  and  bloody  conflict 
recommenced ;  the  negro  generals  recovered 
possession  of  the  whole  island  excepting  a 
few  maritime  towns,  of  which  the  French 
with  extreme  difficulty  maintained  posses- 
sion ;  and  a  country  of  inestimable  value, 
which,  by  measures  of  moderation  and  con- 
ciliation, might  in  all  probability  have  been 
preserved  to  France,  appeared  irrecoverably 
lost.  In  Tobago,  when  intelligence  arrived 
that  the  island  was  to  be  restored  to  France, 
the  people  of  color  flew  to  arms,  and  deter- 
mined to  attack  the  British  troops  under 
brigadier  general  Carmichael,  who  had  under 
his  command  only  two  hundred  men ;  but, 
having  gained  intelligence  of  the  plot,  he 
seized  thirty  of  the  ringleaders,  and  the 
French  took  possession  of  the  island,  in  vir- 
tue of  the  treaty  of  Amiens.  In  Dominica  a 
serious  alarm  was  created  by  the  mutiny  of 
an  entire  regiment  of  blacks,  who  put  to 
death  captain  Cameron  and  several  other 
officers ;  but  they  were  at  length  totally 
routed.  Whilst  these  contests  prevailed,  the 
French  legislative  body  abrogated  the  decree 
of  the  national  convention,  abolishing  sla- 
very, and  the  inhuman  traffic  was  renewed 
with  all  the  encouragement  which  it  enjoyed 
under  the  old  French  government. 
DESPARD'S  CONSPIRACY. 
In  October  of  this  year  a  treasonable  plot 
was  discovered,  of  which  colonel  Edward 
Marcus  Despard,  who  had  distinguished  him- 
self in  the  service  of  his  country,  was  the 
head,  and  indeed  the  only  individual  of  any 
consideration  in  the  conspiracy.  The  object 
was  the  death  of  tlie  kino-,  and  the  subver- 


sion of  the  constitution ;  but  the  means  by 
which  these  traitorous  designs  were  to  be 
effected  were  so  little  adapted  to  the  magni- 
tude of  the  enterprise,  that  it  seemed  scarcely 
possible  that  the  design  should  have  origin- 
ated with  any  man  in  a  sane  statie  of  mind. 
On  the  sixteenth  of  November  the  colonel 
and  twenty-nine  laboring  men  and  soldiers 
were  apprehended  at  the  Oakley  Arms  in 
Lambeth  ;  and  on  the  seventh  of  February, 
1803,  the  former  was  arraigned  before  a  spe- 
cial commission  for  high  treason.  After  a 
trial  which  lasted  nearly  eighteen  hours,  and 
in  which  very  honorable  testimony  was  given 
to  the  conduct  of  the  colonel,  while  in  the 
army,  by  lord  Nelson,  Sir  Alured  Clarke, 
and  Sir  Evan  Nepean,  he  was  found  guilty, 
but  earnestly  recommended  to  mercy,  on  ac- 
count of  the  high  testimonials  to  his  charac- 
ter and  eminent  services.  On  the  ninth, 
the  court  proceeded  to  the  trials  of  twelve 
other  prisoners,  and,  after  an  investigation 
which  continued  till  the  following  morning, 
the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty  against 
nine ;  two  were  acquitted,  and  the  charge 
against  the  other  was  abandoned.  On  the 
twenty-first,  colonel  Despard  and  the  six  ac- 
complices not  recommended  to  mercy  were 
executed  with  the  usual  forms  in  cases  of 
high  treason. 

NEW  PARLIAMENT. 
On  the  twenty-third  the  neM'  prl'Virriont 
was  opened  by  a  speech  from  t:  c  tij^ciic,  in 
which  the  king  observed  that,  in  his  inter- 
course with  foreign  powers,  he  had  been  ac-» 
tuated  by  a  sincere  desire  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  peace ;  but  that  it  was  nevertheless 
impossible  to  lose  sight  of  that  established 
and  wise  system  of  policy  by  which  the  in- 
terests of  other  states  are  connected  with 
our  own ;  and  that  he  could  hot  be  indiflfer- 
ent  to  any  material  change  in  the  relative 
condition  and  strength  of  those  states.  He 
expressed  his  conviction  that  parliament 
would  concur  in  the  opinion  that  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  adopt  those  means  of  security 
which  were  best  calculated  to  afford  the 
prospect  of  preserving  the  blessings  of  peace. 
The  presage  conveyed  in  this  intimation 
was  soon  afterwards  confirmed  by  proposals 
for  augmenting  the  naval  and  military  force 
of  the  country.  The  attention  of  parliament 
until  the  Christmas  recess  was  chiefly  occu- 
pied by  financial  arrangements,  and  by  a  bill 
introduced  into  the  house  of  peers  by  lord 
Pelham,  for  appointing  commissioners  to  in- 
quire into  frauds  and  abuses  existing  in  the 
naval  departments. 

SYMPTOMS  OF  HOSTILITY  WITH  FRANCE. 
—BRITISH  AMBASSADOR  QUITS  PARIS. 
The  extent  of  Buonaparte's  authority  at 
home  only  served  to  render  him  more  im- 
patient of  contradiction  abroad ;  and  as  he 
had  succeeded  in  subduing  all  opposition  in 


GEORGE  III.   1760-1820. 


485 


his  own  territories,  he  imagined  that  he 
could  as  easily  silence  the  reproaches  of 
foreign  countries.  Having*  brought  his  ne- 
gotiations in  Germany,  consequent  on  the 
peace  of  Luneville,  to  a  successful  termina- 
tion, he  had  plundered  at  his  pleasure  the 
ecclesiastical  princes  of  the  empire,  to  in- 
demnify those  whose  territories  he  had  seiz- 
ed on  the  French  side  of  the  Rhine,  and 
taken  care  amply  to  reward  those  wretched 
potentates  who  had  displayed  the  most  cow- 
ardly subserviency  to  his  interests.  Among 
these  the  petty  sovereigns  of  Baden  and 
Wirtemberg  were  raised  by  him  to  the  dig- 
nity of  electors,  as  preparatory  to  their  sub- 
sequent elevation  to  the  rank  of  kings.  He 
had  been  equally  successful  in  reviving  the 
ancient  jealousy  between  the  Prussian  mon- 
arch and  the  emperor  of  Germany ;  the  for- 
mer of  whom  was  imprudently  seduced,  by 
hopes  of  personal  aggrandizement,  to  en- 
large the  influence  and  power  of  an  impla- 
cable enemy,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for 
his  own  destruction.  In  Italy,  also,  Buona- 
parte had  assumed  the  sovereignty  under  the 
denomination  of  President  of  the  Italian  Re- 
public ;  for  such  was  the  title  now  adopted 
by  the  Cisalpine  republic.  He  had  united 
the  kingdom  of  Sardinia  and  the  dutchy  of 
Parma  to  France ;  and  he  had  taken  effec- 
tual means  for  riveting  the  chains  of  Swit- 
zerland. 

Little  solicitous  to  afford  proofs  of  a  pa- 
cific disposition  to  the  only  enemy  who  had 
resisted  him  with  effect,  Buonaparte  betray- 
ed, in  all  his  communications  with  the  Brit- 
ish cabinet,  an  overbearing  and  insupporta- 
ble pride.  First  tq  Otto,  and  afterwards  to 
his  ambassador,  general  Andreossi,  he  sent 
instructions  to  complain  of  the  freedom  of 
those  animadversions  which  the  public  wri- 
ters of  Great  Britain  passed  on  his  charac- 
ter and  conduct ;  and  those  complaints  were 
reiterated  as  well  by  Talleyrand,  as  by  the 
first  consul  himself,  to  lord  Whitworth,  who, 
hi  November,  1802,  repaired  to  Paris  as  am- 
bassador to  the  French  court.  He  could  not 
be  persuaded  that  the  British  government 
was  unable  to  exercise  over  the  press  the 
same  unlimited  power,  the  same  boundless 
tyranny,  which  he  himself  exercised  over 
every  public  writer  throughout  his  vast  do- 
minions. It  was  impossible  to  make  him 
understand  that,  in  England,  the  ministers 
were  subject  to  the  same  legal  restraints  as 
the  lowest  subject  of  the  realm ;  that  they 
could  proceed  only  according  to  the  forms 
of  law ;  and  that,  if  what  the  law  deemed 
a  libel  should  be  uttered  or  written  against 
the  first  potentate  in  Europe,  he  must,  in 
order  to  punish  the  offender,  have  recourse 
to  the  same  modes  of  proceeding  which  are 
prescribed  to  Englishmen  themselves,  under 
similar  circumstances.  In  the  autumn  of 
41* 


1802,  he  directed  his  agent,  Otto,  to  prefer 
charges  against  certain  English  public  wri- 
ters ;  and  against  Peltier,  who  conducted  a 
journal  in  the  French  language,  entitled 
VAmhigu.  Although,  as  lord  Hawkesbury 
had  pertinently  observed,  in  his  instructions 
to  Mr.  Merry,  who  was  then  at  Paris,  the 
French  press  poured  forth  constant  libels 
against  the  English  government ;  libels,  too, 
authorized  by  the  French  cabinet ;  although 
Rheinhardt,  the  Jacobin  representative  of 
Buonaparte  at  Hamburgh,  had  violated  the 
neutrality  of  the  senate,  and  had  compelled 
them  to  insert  a  most  virulent  attack  upon 
the  English  government  in  the  Hamburgh 
paper ;  although  Buonaparte  hunself  had 
publicly  uttered  similar  libels ;  and  although, 
to  use  the  words  of  lord  Hawkesbury,  it 
might,  indeed,  with  truth  be  asserted,  that 
the  period  which  had  elapsed  since  the  con- 
clusion of  the  definitive  treaty  had  been 
marked  with  one  continued  series  of  aggres- 
sion, violence,  and  insult,  on  the  part  of  the 
French  government;  so  averse  were  the 
British  ministers  from  any  conduct  which 
could  have  even  a  tendency  to  produce  a 
renewal  of  hostilities  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, that  they  instructed  the  attorney-gen- 
eral to  file  a  criminal  information  agamst 
Peltier.  The  cause  was  tried  on  the  twenty- 
first  of  February,  1803,  and  the  defendant 
was  convicted ;  but  the  renewal  of  hostili- 
ties was  allowed  to  secure  him  from  punish- 
ment. At  the  very  time  when  this  trial  was 
pending,  the  difference  between  the  two 
governments  was  such  as  to  render  hostili- 
ties unavoidable.  At  the  latter  end  of  Feb- 
ruary lord  Whitworth  had  an  interview  with 
Buonaparte,  in  which  the  latter  so  far  for- 
got himself  as  personally  to  insult  the  Brit- 
ish ambassador,  and  to  threaten  his  govern- 
ment in  the  presence  of  other  diplomatic 
characters.  On  this  occasion  he  openly 
avowed  his  ambitious  designs,  and  clearly 
developed  his  views  upon  Egypt,  whither  he 
had  dispatched  Sebastiani,  a  Corsican  offi- 
cer, in  the  ostensible  character  of  a  com- 
mercial agent,  to  seize  every  opportunity  for 
promoting  the  French  interest  in  the  Le- 
vant; he  boldly  justified  his  unprincipled 
usurpations  in  Switzerland,  Piedmont,  and 
Italy ;  and  peremptorily  insisted  on  the  im- 
mediate evacuation  of  Malta,  as  the  sine 
qua  non  of  continued  peace.  By  the  treaty 
of  Amiens,  the  king  had  stipulated  to  re- 
store the  island  within  a  given  time  to  the 
order  of  St.  John,  under  the  express  guar- 
antee of  its  independence  and  neutrality  by 
the  principal  powers  of  Europe.  Circum- 
stances, however,  tending  to  destroy  the  in- 
dependence of  the  order  itself,  by  depriving 
it  of  a  considerable  portion  of  its  revenue, 
had  subsequently  arisen,  which  rendered  it 
highly  imprudent  to  carry  that  article  of  the 


486 


mSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


treaty  into  effect.  Besides,  the  stipulaticai 
had  been  made  with  a  reference  to  the  rela- 
tive situation  of  the  contracting  parties  at 
the  time  of  concluding  the  treaty.  That 
situation  had  experienced  a  material  change 
by  the  fresh  acquisitions  of  territory  which 
Buonaparte  had  afterwards  made,  and  by  the 
consequent  addition  of  power  which  he  had 
secured.  His  intentions,  too,  to  dismember 
the  Turkish  empire,  and  to  monopolize  the 
commerce  of  the  Levant,  objects  against 
which  specific  provisions  were  made  in  the 
treaty,  were  too  notorious  not  to  call  for 
measures  of  adequate  precaution  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain,  whose  ministers,  indeed 
were  almost  to  blame  for  having  carried  a 
system  of  conciliation  and  concession  to  so 
great  a  length.  At  last  the  inutility  of  every 
attempt  to  induce  Buonaparte  to  listen  to 
the  claims  of  justice  became  so  obvious,  that 
the  British  ambassador  received  orders  to 
return  to  England ;  and  he  accordingly  left 
Paris  on  the  twelfth  of  May,  1803. 

GRANT  TO  THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES.— MES- 
SAGE RESPECTING  FRANCE.— WAR. 

On  a  message  from  the  king,  recommend- 
ing the  embarrassed  state  of  the  prince  of 
Wales  to  the  consideration  of  parliament,  a 
proposition  was  moved  by  Addington  for 
granting  to  his  royal  highness,  out  of  the 
consolidated  fund,  the  annual  sum  of  sixty 
thousand  pounds,  for  three  years  and  a  half. 
This  sum,  though  the  prince  expressed  his 
gratitude  for  the  liberality  of  parliament, 
was  not  sufficient  to  meet  all  his  engage- 
ments, and  Calcraft  moved  that  he  should 
be  enabled  immediately  to  resume  his  state 
and  dignity;  but  it  was  rejected,  and  the 
original  proposition  passed  unanimously. 

On  the  eighth  of  March  his  majesty  sent 
a  message  to  parliament,  announcing  that 
very  considerable  military  preparations  were 
carrying  on  in  the  ports  of  France  and  Hol- 
land ;  and  that  he  had  therefore  judged  it 
expedient  to  adopt  additional  measures  of 
precaution  for  the  security  of  his  dominions. 
It  was  added  that,  though  the  preparations 
referred  to  were  avowedly  directed  to  colo- 
nial service,  yet,  as  discussions  of  great 
importance  were  then  subsisting  between 
his  majesty  and  the  French  government,  the 
result  of  which  must  be  uncertain,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  such  provision  as  circum- 
stances might  require.  An  address  was 
unanimously  voted,  and  a  resolution  was 
afterwards  passed  for  raising  ten  thousand 
additional  seamen,  including  three  thousand 
four  hundred  marines.  A  subsequent  mes- 
sage to  parliament  announced  the  king's  in- 
tention to  call  out  the  militia;  and,  after 
some  succeeding  weeks  of  suspense,  it  was 
stated  in  another,  on  the  sixteenth  of  May, 
that  the  king  had  recalled  bis  ambassador 
from  Paris;  that  the  French  minister  had 


left  London  ;  and  that  his  majesty  had  given 
directions  for  laying  before  the  house  of  com- 
mons, with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  copies 
of  such  papers  as  would  afford  the  fullest 
information  at  this  important  conjuncture. 
The  message  was  taken  into  consideration 
in  the  house  of  lords  on  the  twenty-third  of 
May,  when  lord  Pelham  moved  the  address. 
The  only  question  was,  he  observed,  whether 
a  distinct  and  legitimate  ground  of  war  was 
established  by  the  correspondence  now  on 
the  table.  Without  going  minutely  into 
these  documents,  he  should  briefly  advert  to 
the  principal  points  in  dispute  between  the 
two  governments ;  and,  first,  with  respect  to 
Malta.  It  would  be  seen  from  the  papers 
on  the  table,  that  up  to  a  given  period  his 
majesty's  ministers  had  taken  every  step  to 
carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  treaty 
relating  to  this  island.  It  was  about  the 
twenty-seventh  of  January  that  the  French 
government  began  to  press,  in  a  very  per- 
emptory manner,  for  its  evacuation ;  and  it 
was  about  that  period  that  ministers  thought 
themselves  bound  to  demand  some  satis- 
factory explanation  of  the  pretensions  ad- 
vanced, and  the  views  disclosed,  by  the 
French  government.  Circumstances  then 
existed  which  rendered  it  necessary  to  refer 
back  to  what  had  been  the  conduct  of  the 
First  Consul  from  the  period  when  the  treaty 
was  concluded ;  and  in  the  course  of  this 
view  the  plain  and  intelligible  inference 
was,  that  he  had  pursued  one  constant  series 
of  acts  totally  inconsistent  with  a  sincere 
desire  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  two 
countries.  The  answers  returned  by  minis- 
ters to  the  complaints  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment regarding  the  liberty  of  the  press, 
the  residence  of  the  Bourbons,  and  the 
countenance  afforded  by  this  country  to 
French  emigrants,  would  be  found  in  the 
correspondence ;  and  he  entertained  a  con- 
fident expectation  that  that  language  on 
those  subjects  was  of  a  nature  to  meet 
with  universal  support  and  approbation. 
They  had  shown,  his  lordship  said,  the  ut- 
most reluctance  to  resort  to  any  measure 
which  might  hasten  a  renewal  of  hostili- 
ties ;  but  the  conduct  of  the  French  govern- 
ment could  no  longer  be  tolerated,  consist- 
ently with  the  honor,  dignity,  and  safety  of 
this  country.  War,  then,  had  become  in- 
evitable ;  and  it  was  a  war  in  which  the  na- 
tional spirit  ought  to  be  exerted  in  every 
way  which  would  demonstrate,  to  a  proud 
and  insolent  foe,  that,  while  the  people  of 
England  were  not  anxious  for  an  oppor- 
tunity of  taking  offence,  they  were  sensibly 
alive  to  the  least  imputation  of  dishonor,  and 
determined  on  punishing  insults  with  the 
most  exemplary  vengeance. 

The  existing  administrs^tion  appeared  at 
this  time  to  be  highly  obnoxious  to  what 


GEORGE  m,   1760—1820. 


487 


was  called  the  Grenville  party;  and  Pitt 
and  his  friends  began  to  manifest  towards 
them  unequivocal  marks  of  coldness. 

MILITARY  PREPARATIONS— FINANCE. 
Parliament  was  chiefly  occupied  by  sub- 
jects of  finance,  and  with  devising  the 
means  of  providing  for  the  defence  of  the 
country  against  the  threatened  invasion. 
The  first  and  most  obvious  measure  was  to 
render  the  militia,  the  constitutional  defence 
of  the  country,  as  effective  as  possible,  and 
a  bill  for  that  purpose  was  brought  into  the 
house  of  commons,  by  the  secretary  at  war, 
on  the  twentieth  of  May,  which  passed 
through  its  several  stages  without  any  ma- 
terial opposition.  But  the  militia  being  con- 
sidered inadequate  to  the  defence  of  the 
realm,  a  message  from  the  crown  was  sent 
to  parliament  on  the  eighteenth  of  June, 
stating  that  his  majesty  considered  it  im- 
portant for  the  safety  and  defence  of  the 
nation  that  a  large  additional  military  force 
should  be  forthwith  raised  and  assembled, 
and  it  was  recommended  to  both  houses  to 
take  such  measures  as  should  appear  to  be 
most  effectual  for  accomplishing  this  pur- 
pose with  the  least  possible  delay.  A  bill 
was  immediately  brought  into  parliament 
for  embodying  a  new  species  of  militia, 
under  the  denomination  of  the  army  of  re- 
serve, to  consist  of  fifty  thousand  men  for 
England,  and  ten  thousand  for  Ireland,  to 
be  raised  by  ballot,  and  confined  to  the  de- 
fence of  the  united  kingdom :  the  officers  to 
be  appointed  from  the  regular  army  and  the 
half-pay  list:  all  persons  from  the  age  of 
eighteen  to  forty-five  to  be  liable  to  serve, 
with  the  exception  of  those  who  were  ex- 
empt from  the  militia  ballot,  and  such  volun- 
teers as  were  enrolled  previously  to  the  date 
of  the  last  message  of  his  majesty :  all  poor 
persons  having  more  than  one  child  under 
ten  years  of  age  were  also  exempt :  the  per- 
sons composing  this  force  to  be  allowed  to 
volunteer  into  the  regular  army.  On  the 
sixth  of  July,  this  bill  obtained  the  royal  as- 
sent But  these  measures  of  defence,  how- 
ever important,  were  only  the  precursors 
of  one  of  the  most  gigantic  magnitude,  be- 
ing no  less  than  arming  and  training  the 
whole  effective  male  population  of  Great 
Britain.  This  project  was  presented  to  the 
consideration  of  parliament  on  the  eighteenth 
of  July,  and  passed  into  a  law,  by  receiving 
the  royal  assent  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
the  same  month.  This  general  enrolment, 
denominated  tlie  levy  en  masse,  was  divided 
into  four  difl^erent  classes :  the  first  compre- 
hended all  unmarried  men  between  the  ages 
of  seventeen  and  thirty ;  the  second,  unmar- 
ried men  between  thirty  and  fifty;  the  third, 
all  married  men  between  eeventcen  and 
thirty,  not  having  more  than  two  children 


under  ten  years  of  age ;  and  the  fourth,  all 
under  the  age  of  fifty-five,  not  comprised  in 
the  other  descriptions.  The  different  classes, 
who  were  to  be  trained  and  taught  the  use 
of  arms  in  their  respective  parishes,  were, 
in  case  of  actual  invasion,  liable  to  be  called 
out  by  his  majesty,  in  the  order  specified, 
to  co-operate  with  the  regular  army  in  any 
part  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  remain  embodied 
until  the  enemy  should  be  exterminated  or 
driven  into  the  sea. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  June  the  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  proposed  to  raise,  by  an  in- 
crease of  the  customs'  duties  on  sugar,  ex- 
ports, cotton,  and  tonnage,  about  two  million 
pounds  annually ;  and  by  new  duties  on  the 
excise  of  tea,  wine,  spirits,  and  malt,  six 
million  pounds  more.  He  then  presented  a 
plan  of  a  tax  on  income,  imposing  a  duty  on 
land  of  one  shilling  in  the  pound,  to  be  paid 
by  the  landlord,  and  nine-pence  in  the  pound 
to  be  paid  by  the  tenant,  together  with  a  tax 
of  one  shilling  in  the  pound  on  all  other 
species  of  income  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  upwards.  The  net  produce  of 
this  revived  property-tax  was  calculated  at 
four  million  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds, 
and  the  whole  product  of  the  war  taxes  at 
twelve  million  seven  hundred  thousand 
pounds  annually,  to  expire  six  months  after 
the  return  of  peace.  In  addition  to  these 
grants  the  other  taxes  were  continued,  and 
the  whole  of  the  supplies  voted  by  parlia- 
ment for  the  service  of  the  year  1803, 
amounted  to  upwards  of  forty-one  million 
pounds. 

VOLUNTEER  ASSOCIATIONS.— PREPARA- 
TIONS  FOR  INVASION  BY  FRANCE. 
At  this  time  the  preparations  for  invading 
Britain,  made  by  France,  called  forth  a  si- 
multaneous burst  of  loyalty  and  patriotism 
from  all  classes :  and  in  a  very  brief  inter- 
val upwards  of  four  hundred  thousand  men 
in  arms  appeared  ready  to  defend  their  na- 
tive coasts.  So  numerous,  indeed,  were 
these  voluntary  armed  associations,  that  it 
rendered  the  act  for  raising  the  levy  en 
masse  perfectly  superfluous.  Buonaparte 
viewed  with  astonishment  this  extraordinary- 
display  of  national  energy ;  and  though  his 
preparations  for  invasion  were  continued, 
the  intention  of  carrying  them  into  eflfect  is 
thought  to  have  been  secretly  abandoned. 
In  addition  to  tlie  grand  fleet  at  Brest, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  destined  for  the 
invasion  of  Ireland,  an  immense  number  of 
transports  and  gun-boats  had  been  ordered 
to  be  built,  with^the  greatest  expedition,  in 
the  French  ports,  under  the  idea  that  seme 
thousands  of  them  might  force  their  way 
across  the  channel,  in  epite  of  the  British 
navy :  nnd,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  a  suf- 
ficient flotilla  was  ar-scmbled  at  Boulogne, 
to  carry  over  any  army  tliat  France  might 


488 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


think  proper  to  employ  in  this  desperate  en- 
terprise. 

ACT  FOR  RELIEF  OF  CATHOLICS— AT- 
TEMPT TO  KILL  MADE  CAPITAL.— 
VOTE  OF  THANKS  TO  VOLUNTEERS.— 
PRINCE  OF  WALES  REFUSED  MILITA- 
RY PROMOTION. 

In  the  course  of  the  session  just  termi- 
nated, an  act  was  passed  to  relieve  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  from  certaui  penalties  and 
disabilities  to  which  they  were  before  sub- 
ject, on  subscribing  the  declaration  and  oath 
contained  in  the  act  of  the  thirty-first  of  the 
reign  of  his  present  majesty.  An  important 
addition  was  also  made  to  the  crimmal  law 
of  the  country :  by  an  act  introduced  into 
the  house  of  lords  by  lord  Ellenborough, 
and  on  that  account  called  the  Ellenborough 
Act,  any  person  guilty  of  maliciously  shoot- 
ing, cutting,  or  stabbing,  with  an  intent  to 
commit  murder,  although  death  should  not 
ensue,  was  made  subject  to  the  punishment 
of  death.  The  same  penalty  was  also  at- 
tached to  all  attempts  to  discharge  loaded 
fire-arms  with  an  intent  to  kill  or  wound. 

In  the  house  of  commons,  Windham  had 
taken  occasion  to  express  himself  in  terms 
of  great  asperity  and  contempt  towards  the 
volunteer  corps  of  the  country,  whom  he 
termed  the  "  depositaries  of  panic."  To  ob- 
viate any  supposition  that  these  sentiments 
were  generally  concurred  in,  Sheridan,  on 
the  tenth  of  August,  moved  the  thanks  of 
the  house  to  the  volunteer  and  yeomanry 
corps  of  Great  Britain,  for  the  zeal  and 
promptitude  with  which  they  had  associated 
for  the  defence  of  the  country.  He  also 
moved  that  returns  of  the  different  volun- 
teer corps  be  laid  before  the  house,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  handed  down  to  posterity, 
by  being  entered  on  the  journals.  Both 
these  motions  were  agreed  to  unanimously ; 
and  on  the  twelfth  of  August  this  session 
was  closed  by  a  speech  from  the  throne,  on 
which  occasion  his  majesty  expressed  his 
satisfaction  at  the  energy  and  promptitude 
which  had  been  displayed  in  providing  for 
the  defence  of  the  country,  and  for  the  vig- 
orous prosecution  of  the  war ;  assuring  the 
house,  at  the  same  time,  that  as  strict  a  re- 
gard would  be  paid  to  economy  in  the  public 
expenditure  as  was  consistent  with  the  ex- 
ertions necessary  to  frustrate  the  designs  of 
the  enemy. — At  this  interesting  period  the 
prince  of  Wales  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
prime  minister,  urging  upon  him  the  propri- 
ety of  investing  him  with  an  efficient  mili- 
tary rank,  and  of  placing  him  in  a  situation 
v/here  his  example  might  contribute  to  ex- 
cite the  loyal  energies  of  the  nation.  In  re- 
ply to  repeated  applications  on  this  subject, 
his  royal  highness  was  informed,  that  should 
the  enerny  so  fir  succeed  as  to  effect  a  land- 
ing, he  would  have  an  opportunity  of  show- 


ing his  zeal  at  tlie  head  of  his  regiment ; 
but,  upon  public  grounds,  his  majesty  could 
never  permit  the  prince  of  Wales  to  consid- 
er the  army  as  a  profession,  or  to  allow  of 
his  being  promoted  in  the  service. 

REBELLION  IN  IRELAND.— MURDER  OF 
LORD  KILWARDEN. 
Ireland  once  more  became  the  theatre 
of  rebellion,  the  instigators  of  which  were  a 
band  of  political  enthusiasts,  whose  director 
and  principal  mover  was  Robert  Emmett,  a 
young  man  of  specious  and  promising  tal- 
ents, the  brother  of  Thomas  Eddis  Emmett, 
who  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  rebellion 
of  1798.  He  had  been  so  unguarded  in  his 
conduct,  while  the  late  disturbances  existed, 
as  to  become  an  object  of  the  vigilance  of 
government,  and  had  found  it  prudent  to  re- 
side abroad  so  long  as  the  habeas  corpus  act 
was  suspended  ;  but  on  the  removal  of  that 
obstacle  he  returned  to  Ireland,  and  arrived 
there  in  December,  1802.  The  death  of  Dr. 
Emmett,  his  father,  one  of  the  state  physi- 
cians in  Dublin,  had  placed  the  sum  of  two 
thousand  pounds  at  his  disposal ;  and  with 
this  exchequer  he  proposed  to  himself  the 
subversion  of  the  government  of  Ireland. 
Though  the  persons  immediately  connected 
with  Emmett,  Russell,  Dowdall,  and  Coig- 
ley,  the  principals  in  the  plot,  did  not  ex- 
ceed one  hundred,  yet  these  infatuated  men 
were  so  sanguine  as  to  suppose  that  the 
spirit  of  rebellion  would,  at  their  bidding, 
pervade  the  whole  kingdom  ;  and  the  usual 
intimation,  the  stoppage  of  the  mail-coaches, 
was  to  be  the  signal  of  revolt  in  the  country, 
while  the  first  object  of  the  insurgents  in 
the  metropolis  was  to  secure  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment, and  the  principal  persons  engaged 
in  its  administration.  For  some  days  previ- 
ous to  the  fatal  explosion,  information  had 
been  conveyed  to  government  of  threaten- 
ing assemblages  of  the  people ;  and  other 
indications  tended  to  awaken  a  suspicion 
that  a  rising,  as  it  was  termed,  was  in  agita- 
tion. On  Saturday  the  twenty-third  of  July, 
towards  evening,  the  populace  began  to  as- 
semble in  vast  numbers  in  St.  James's  street 
and  its  neighborhood,  without  having  any 
visible  arrangement  or  discipline.  To  arm 
the  body  thus  collected,  pikes  were  delib- 
erately placed  along  the  sides  of  the  streets, 
for  the  accommodation  of  all  who  might 
choose  to  equip  themselves.  About  nine 
o'clock  the  concerted  signal  that  all  was  in 
readiness  was  given  by  a  number  of  men 
riding  furiously  through  the  principal  streets ; 
but  general  alarm  was  not  excited  until 
Clarke,  the  proprietor  of  a  considerable 
manufactory  in  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin, 
and  who  had  that  aflemoon  apprized  gov- 
ernment of  the  intention  of  the  insurgents, 
was  shot  at  and  dangerously  wounded. 
About  this  period  a  small  piece  of  ordnance, 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


489 


which  had  been  in  readiness  for  the  pur- 
pose, was  discharged,  and  a  sky-rocket  let 
off  at  the  same  moment,  so  as  to  be  observed 
throughout  the  whole  city.  Emmett,  at  the 
head  of  his  chosen  band,  now  sallied  forth 
from  the  obscurity  of  his  head-quarters  in 
Marshalsea  lane,  and  excited  his  followers 
to  action.  Before  they  had  reached  the  end 
of  the  lane  in  which  they  were  assembled, 
one  of  the  party  discharged  his  blunderbuss 
at  colonel  Browne,  who  was  passing  along 
the  street,  when  the  ball  unhappily  took 
effect.  From  this  period,  it  is  remarkable 
that  nothing  more  is  heard  of  Emmett,  or 
any  of  his  brother  conspirators,  till  we  find 
them  beneath  the  power  of  the  offended  laws. 
The  dreadful  assassination  of  the  chief- 
justice  of  Ireland,  Lord  Viscount  Kilwarden, 
was  the  most  important  and  lamented  event 
of  this  rash  and  crimuial  commotion.  This 
unfortunate  nobleman  had,  on  the  day  of  the 
insurrection,  retired  to  his  country-seat,  near 
four  miles  from  Dublin,  as  was  his  custom 
after  having  passed  the  week  in  fulfilling 
the  duties  of  his  exalted  situation.  On  the 
first  intimation  of  the  circumstances  which 
denoted  disturbance  bemg  conveyed  to  him, 
his  lordship,  who,  ever  since  the  period  of 
the  outrages  in  1798,  had  been  in  perpetual 
apprehension  of  being  surprised  and  assas- 
sinated by  rebels,  qrdered  out  his  carriage, 
and  taking  with  him  his  daughter  and  his 
nephew,  the  Rev.  Richard  Wolfe,  set  off  in- 
stantly for  Dublin.  Unfortunately  the  car- 
riage appeared  in  Thomas  street  immediate- 
ly atler  the  opening  of  the  depot,  and  was 
surrounded  by  a  mob  of  armed  persons.  His 
lordship  announced  his  name,  and  earnestly 
prayed  for  mercy,  but  in  vain.  Both  he  and 
his  nephew  fell  to  the  ground,  pierced  with 
innumerable  wounds ;  but  the  lady  was  per- 
mitted to  pass  through  the  whole  rebel  col- 
umn to  the  castle  without  molestation. 
About  half-past  ten  o'clock  the  rebels  were 
in  their  turn  attacked,  and  their  mighty 
projects  were  all  discomfited,  in  less  than 
an  hour,  by  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
soldiers. 

MARTIAL  LAW.— EMMETT  AND  OTHERS 
EXECUTED. 
The  privy-council  issued  a  proclamation, 
calling  on  the  magistrates  ^o  unite  their  ex- 
ertions with  those  of  the  military  power, 
and  offering  a  reward  of  one  thousand 
pounds  for  the  discovery  and  detection  of 
the  miscreants  who  murdered  lord  Kilwar- 
den. A  reward  was  also  offered  to  those 
who  should  discover  the  murderer  of  col. 
Browne  ;  and  a  notice  was  issued  by  the 
lord-mayor,  requiring  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Dublin,  except  yeomen,  to  keep  within  doors 
afler  eiirht  in  the  evening.  At  the  same 
time,  bills  for  suspending  the  habeas  corpus 
act,  and  tor  placing  Ireland  under  martial 


law,  were  passed  with  uncommon  rapidity 
through  their  different  stages,  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  the  united  kingdom.  Arrangements 
were  also  made  for  sending  large  bodies  of 
troops  from  England,  and  every  measure 
which  prudence  could  suggest  was  immedi- 
ately adopted,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
public  tranquillity.  On  this  occasion,  the 
Roman  Catholics,  with  lord  Fingal  at  their 
head,  came  forward  in  the  most  loyal  and 
patriotic  manner,  and,  afler  expressing  their 
utmost  abhorrence  of  the  enormities  com- 
mitted on  the  twenty-third  of  July,  made  an 
offer  to  government  of  their  assistance  and 
co-operation.  By  these  and  similar  exertions 
the  flame  of  rebellion  was  completely  ex- 
tinguished. 

A  special  commission  being  issued  for  the 
trial  of  the  rebels,  Edward  Kearney,  a  cal- 
enderer,  and  Thomas  Maxwell  Roche,  an 
old  man  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  were 
executed  in  Thomas  street,  the  focus  of  the 
insurrection,  and  several  others  experienced 
a  similar  fate;  but  the  most  important  of 
these  judicial  proceedings  was  the  trial  of 
Robert  Emmett,  Esq.  who  was  arraigned  on 
the  nineteenth  of  September,  and  found 
guilty  on  the  clearest  evidence.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  this  misguided  young  man,  only 
in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  was 
executed  on  a  temporary  gallows  in  Thomas 
street  In  the  ensuing  month,  Thomas  Rus- 
sell also  expiated  his  offences  under  the 
hands  of  the  executioner.  Coigley  and  Staf- 
ford were  arraigned  on  the  twenty-ninth  of 
October  ;  but,  in  consideration  of  their  hav- 
mg  made  a  full  disclosure  of  all  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  conspiracy,  no 
further  proceedings  were  had  against  them, 
or  any  of  the  remaining  prisoners. 

CAPTURE  OF  ST.  LUCIA,  &c.— FRENCH 
DRIVEN  FROM  ST.  DOMINGO. 

An  expedition  dispatched  from  Barbadoes 
on  the  twentieth  of  June,  under  lieutenant- 
general  Grinfield  and  commodore  Hood,  cap- 
tured the  islands  of  St.  Lucia  and  Tobago ; 
and  in  September  the  Dutch  colonies  of 
Demerara,  Essequibo,  and  Berbice,  also  sur- 
rendered. The  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and 
Miquelon  likewise  contributed  to  swell  the 
conquests  of  Britain ;  and  to  these  successes 
may  be  added  that  of  compelling  the  PVench 
to  abandon  the  valuable  colony  of  St  Do- 
mingo. The  war  witli  the  insurgent  ne- 
groes had  been  attended  with  horrid  cruel- 
ties on  both  sides ;  but  so  long  as  the  French 
f^eet  was  master  of  the  sea,  their  posts  on 
the  coasts  were  effectually  defended  :  on 
the  rupture  with  England,  however,  they 
were  reduced  to  great  difficulties ;  several 
places  successively  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
insurgents ;  and  Fort  Dauphin  was  taken  by 
the  English.  The  Cape  was  soon  afterwards 
completely    invested    by    Dessaline,    with 


490 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


whom  Rochambeau  at  length  entered  into  a 
negotiation,  proposing  to  give  up  the  place 
on  being  allowed  to  carry  off  the  garrison 
At  this  juncture  the  blockading  squadron 
entered  the  roads,  and  a  capitulation  was 
signed,  by  which  all  the  ships  of  war  and 
merchant  vessels  belonging  to  France  were 
to  be  surrendered  to  the  British,  who  were 
to  receive  the  garrison  as  prisoners  of  war 
Thus  the  French  lost  all  their  possessions  in 
the  island,  except  the  city  of  St,  Domingo, 
the  capital  of  that  part  which  formerly  be- 
longed to  Spain;  and  tlie  negro  chieftains 
issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  the  island 
free  and  independent. 

MOVEMENTS  IN  EUROPE.— INVASION  OF 
HANOVER. 
In  Europe  the  French  armies  were  imme 
diately  put  in  motion,  and  the  consular  goV' 
emment,  anxious  to  justify  their  conduct  to 
the  French  nation  and  to  Europe,  published 
a  declaration,  dated  the  twentieth  of  May, 
on  the  causes  which  led  to  the  renewal  of 
the  war  with  Great  Britain.  Orders  were 
issued  to  increase  the  forces  of  the  republic 
to  four  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  men  ; 
the  army  of  Italy  was  considerably  aug- 
mented ;  and  large  detachments  were  push- 
ed forward  upon  Tarentum,  and  on  all  the 
strong  posts  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  which 
lay  on  the  Adriatic.  During  the  protracted 
negotiations,  reinforcements  were  ordered 
into  Holland,  and  a  powerful  army  was  col- 
lected on  the  frontiers  of  Hanover.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  of  May,  general  Mortier  sum- 
moned the  electorate  to  surrender  to  the  re- 
publican army,  Buonaparte  formally  profess- 
ing that  he  should  occupy  that  country 
merely  as  a  pledge  for  the  restoration  of 
Malta,  and  that  this  violation  of  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Germanic  empire  was  only  for 
the  purpose  of  compelling  the  king  of  Eng- 
land to  maintain  the  peace  of  Amiens.  Al- 
though it  was  impossible  that  the  electorate 
could  oppose  any  effectual  stand  against  the 
power  of  France,  the  duke  of  Cambridge 
was  sent  over  from  England  as  commander- 
in-chief  in  that  country,  and  proclamations 
were  issued,  calling  upon  all  the  inhabitants 
capable  of  bearing  arms  to  rally  round  their 
standard.  At  tlie  latter  end  of  May,  how- 
ever, a  body  of  ten  thousand  French  troops 
passed  the  river  Ems  at  Mippen,  and  entered 
the  principality  of  Osnaburgh,  which  had 
been  previously  evacuated.  General  Wal- 
moden,  to  whom  the  command  of  the  Hano- 
verian troops  was  intrusted,  having  collected 
an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  deter- 
mined to  make  a  stand,  first  on  the  Hunte, 
and  afterwards  on  the  Weser ;  but  at  the 
moment  when  general  Mortier  had  advanced 
into-  the  vicinity  of  Nieuborg,  a  deputation 
arrived  from  the  civil  and  military  authori- 
ties of  Hanover,  entreating  him  to  suspend 


his  march ;  to  which  he  consented,  on  con- 
dition that  the  invaders  should  be  put  in  pos- 
session of  all  the  fortresses  ui  the  electorate, 
and  that  the  Hanoverian  army  should  en- 
gage not  to  serve  against  France  or  her  al- 
lies during  the  war,  or  until  regularly  ex- 
changed. On  the  fifth  of  June  the  French 
took  possession  of  the  city  of  Hanover,  where 
they  found  a  prodigious  quantity  of  artillery 
and  ammunition.  Besides  the  absolute  value 
of  the  electorate  as  a  conquest,  which  ena- 
bled the  enemy  to  remount  their  cavalry 
and  recruit  their  finances,  they  were  now 
masters  of  the  navigation  of  the  Elbe  and 
the  Weser,  and,  being  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  commercial  Hanse 
towns  of  Hamburgh  and  Bremen,  were  en- 
abled to  levy  considerable  sums  of  money  on 
those  opulent  cities,  under  the  shape  of 
loans.  In  consequence  of  these  events,  the 
British  government  blockaded  the  mouths  of 
the  Elbe  and  Weser,  which  was  in  some  de- 
gree a  retaliation  on  Germany  for  permitting 
the  violation  of  its  territory.  This  measure 
occasioned  such  distress  to  Hamburgh  and 
Bremen,  that  they  appealed  to  the  king  of 
Prussia,  as  protector  of  the  neutrality  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  empire ;  but  he  declined 
to  interfere,  and  the  French  were  thus  left 
to  pursue  their  exactions  with  impunity. 

WAR  WITH  HOLLAND.— BUONAPARTE'S 
EXACTIONS.— BRITISH  TRAVELLERS  IN 
FRANCE  MADE  PRISONERS  OF  WAR. 

Contrary  to  her  wishes  and  her  inter- 
ests, Holland  was  compelled  to  take  part 
with  France.  On  the  seventeenth  of  June 
it  was  announced  to  parliament  that  the 
king  had  communicated  to  the  Batavian 
government  his  disposition  to  respect  their 
neutrality,  provided  the  French  government 
would  do  the  same  ;  but  as  this  had  not  been 
complied  with,  and  their  forces  still  occu- 
pied the  Dutch  territory,  he  had  judged  it 
expedient  to  recall  his  minister  from  the 
Hague,  and  to  issue  letters  of  marque  and 
reprisal  against  the  Batavian  republic.  Buo- 
naparte also  compelled  the  Italian  republic 
to  take  part  in  the  war  ;  and  he  drew  pecu- 
niary assistance  from  Spain  and  Portugal  in 
so  open  a  manner,  that  it  rested  entirely 
with  the  generosity  of  Great  Britain  whether 
they  should  not  be  considered  as  involved  in 
direct  acts  of  hostility.  The  supplies  to  his 
treasury  derived  from  these  sources  were 
augmented  by  the  sale  of  Louisiana  to  the 
United  States  for  fifteen  million  dollars. 
Early  in  the  year  he  made  a  singular  over- 
ture to  Louis  the  XVIIIth  at  Warsaw,  for 
the  resignation  of  that  monarch's  claim  to 
the  throne  of  France  ;  which  was  met  by  a 
most  decided  refusal. 

After  the  declaration  of  war  by  England, 
a  step  which  had  never  before  been  resorted 
to  among  civilized  nations,  and  which  must 


GEORGE  in.  1760—1820. 


491 


always  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  atrocious 
barbarity  and  injustice,  savoring  more  of 
malice  than  mere  political  hostility,  was 
taken  by  the  French  government.  It  appear- 
ed from  an  article  published  in  the  Moni- 
teur,  the  official  organ  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment, that  two  English  frigates  had  cap- 
tured two  merchant  vessels  in  the  bay  of 
Audierne,  without  any  previous  declaration 
of  war,  and  in  manifest  violation  of  the  law 
of  nations ;  in  consequence  of  which,  a  de- 
cree, signed  by  the  First  Consul,  was  issued, 
directing  that  all  the  English,  from  the  age 
of  eighteen  to  sixty,  or  persons  holding  any 
commissions  from  his  Britannic  majesty, 
then  in  France,  should  immediately  be  con- 
sidered prisoners  of  war,  to  answer  for  those 
citizens  of  the  republic  who  had  been  ar- 
rested and  made  prisoners  by  the  vessels  or 
subjects  of  his  Britannic  majesty,  previously 
to  any  declaration  of  war.  In  virtue  of  this 
decree,  all  the  nobility,  commercial  travel- 
lers, and  others,  subjects  of  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, who  had  incautiously  put  themselves 
within  the  reach  of  Buonaparte  in  France, 
or  were  engaged  in  travelling  through  any 
of  those  countries  occupied  by  the  French 


armies,  were  either  shut  up  in  prisons,  or 
confined  to  particular  limits  as  prisoners  of 
war  upon  their  parole ;  which  violation  of 
the  law  of  nations,  and  of  neutral  hospitality, 
was  further  aggravated  by  a  perfidious  prom- 
ise previously  made  to  the  English  visitors, 
that  they  should  enjoy  the  protection  of  the 
government,  after  the  departure  of  the  Brit^ 
ish  ambassador,  as  extensively  as  during  his 
residence  at  Paris. 

The  naval  campaign  of  the  present  year, 
in  Europe,  was  not  particularly  distinguish- 
ed. On  the  fourteenth  of  September,  how- 
ever, the  port  and  town  of  Granville  were 
successively  attacked  by  Sir  James  Sauma- 
rez  ;  on  which  occasion  the  pier  was  demol- 
ished, and  a  number  of  vessels,  intended  for 
the  invasion  of  England,  destroyed.  On  the 
same  day  the  town  and  fort  of  Dieppe  were 
bombarded  by  captain  Owen,  in  the  Immor- 
talite  frigate,  with  the  Theseus  and  Sulphur 
bombs.  The  Dutch  ports,  from  the  Zand- 
voort,  in  the  vicinity  of  Haarlem,  to  Sche- 
veningen,  were  also  severely  bombarded  on 
the  twenty-eighth  of  September,  and  many 
vessels  destroyed. 


492 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


Meeting  of  Parliament — Speech  and  Address — Martial  Law  in  Ireland — Indisposition 
of  the  King — Extension  of  Irish  Militia  Service — Motions  for  Investigation  iiito  the 
Naval  and  Military  Force — Formidable  Opposition  to  Ministers — Finance — Change 
of  Administration — Slave  Trade — Additional  Force  Act — Corn  Bill — Civil-List 
Augmentation — India  Budget — Parliament  prorogued — War  in  India — Loss  and 
Recapture  of  Goree — Capture  of  Surinam — Naval  Operations — Attack  on  the  Bou- 
logne Flotilla — Failure  of  the  Catamaran  Project — Repulse  of  Admiral  Linois — 
Rupture  with  Spain,  and  forcible  detention  of  Treasure  Ships — Murder  of  the  Duke 
UEnghien — Complaints  against  British  Envoys — Seizure  of  Sir  George  Rumbold 
— Buonaparte  elected  Emperor  of  the  French — The  Emperor  of  Germany  declared 
Emperor  of  Austria — Dispute  between  France  and  Russia — Preparations  for  hos- 
tilities— Convention  between  France  and  Genoa. 


MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— MARTIAL 
LAW  IN  IRELAND. 

Parliament  assembled  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  November,  1803 ;  when  his  ma- 
jesty, after  alluding  to  the  measures  adopted 
for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  and 
adverting  to  the  successes  in  the  West  Indies, 
and  the  suppression  of  the  Irish  rebellion, 
stated  that  a  convention  had  been  concluded 
with  the  king  of  Sweden,  for  the  purpose  of 
adjusting  the  differences  which  had  arisen 
with  that  power.  In  reference  to  the  threat 
of  invasion,  the  king  declared  that,  as  he 
and  his  people  were  embarked  in  one  com- 
mon cause,  it  was  his  fixed  determination,  if 
occasion  should  arise,  to  share  their  exertions 
and  their  dangers  in  defence  of  the  consti- 
tution, religion,  laws,  and  independence  of 
the  kingdom.  The  usual  addresses  were 
agreed  to  without  opposition.  In  the  com- 
mons it  was  stated  by  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  in  reply  to  some  observations  from 
Fox,  that  the  offices  of  mediation  offered  by 
the  court  of  Russia  had  been  accepted  with 
readiness  and  gratitude  on  the  part  of  his 
majesty's  servants :  but,  although  discussions 
of  the  greatest  moment  were  commenced  in 
consequence,  yet  they  had  not  assumed  such 
a  shape  as  to  lead  to  any  probability  of  an 
amicable  arrangement  with  France. 

Secretary  Yorke  brought  in  a  bill  to  con- 
tinue two  acts ;  the  one  for  suspendmg  the 
habeas  corpus  act  in  Ireland,  and  the  other 
for  the  re-enactment  of  martial  law  in  that 
country.  This  measure,  though  it  excited 
much  discussion,  was  carried  through  both 
houses  without  producing  a  single  division. 
The  debate  which  arose  on  the  ninth  of  De- 
cember, on  the  motion  of  ftie  secretary  at 
war  to  refer  the  army  estimates  to  a  com- 
mittee of  supply,  embraced  an  extensive 
view  of  the  general  defence  of  the  country. 
The  regular  force  proposed  to  be  voted  for 
the  public  service  amounted  to  one  hundred 


and  sixty-seven  thousand  men ;  the  embodied 
militia  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  to  one 
hundred  and  ten  thousand ;  and  the  volunteer 
corps  to  upwards  of  four  hundred  thousand 
rank  and  file  in  the  united  kingdom.  For 
the  volunteer  force  of  the  country,  of  which 
about  forty-five  thousand  served  without  pay, 
it  was  proposed  to  vote  the  sum  of  seven 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  pounds  for  one 
year.  On  this  occasion  Windham  inveighed 
with  great  acrimony  against  the  military 
system  adopted  by  ministers;  and  pointed 
out  the  inferiority  of  volunteer  associations 
and  bodies  of  reserve  to  a  regular  army  of 
genuine  soldiers,  disciplined  for  offensive  as 
well  as  defensive  warfare.  Pitt,  in  a  very 
spirited  and  argumentative  manner,  defend- 
ed the  system ;  but  he  was  desirous  that  all 
the  volunteer  companies  should  be  brought 
to  act  in  battalions,  and,  whenever  it  could 
be  accomplished,  in  brigades:  he  proposed 
to  give  to  every  battalion  the  assistance  of 
a  field-officer  and  an  adjutant ;  such  officers 
still  retaining  their  rank  and  pay  in  the  army : 
and  with  respect  to  the  number  of  days  for 
which  the  corps  should  be  exercised,  he  was 
of  opinion  that  about  fifly  would  be  sufficient 
for  the  next  year,  and  forty  for  each  succeed- 
ing one.  The  expense  arising  from  the  field- 
officers  and  adjutants  he  estimated  at  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds ;  and 
that  of  the  allowance  to  such  volunteers  as 
might,  from  their  circumstances,  be  obliged 
to  accept  of  pay,  at  between  three  and  four 
hundred  thousand  pounds  more,  making  an 
aggregate  of  about  five  hundred  thousand 
pounds ;  and  if,  for  that  sum,  a  force  of  nearly 
four  hundred  thousand  men  could  be  main- 
tained in  gradual  and  efficient  improvement, 
he  affirmed  that  this  would  be  the  cheapest 
item  in  the  whole  of  the  public  expenditure. 
As  to  the  sea  fencibles,  he  looked  upon  them 
as  one  of  the  most  valuable  parts  of  our  force ; 
and  this  description  of  service  brought  into 
activity  a  body  of  men,  who,  being  chiefly 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


493 


pilots  and  fishermen,  could  neither  be  em- 
ployed in  the  navy,  nor  permanently  taken 
from  their  families. 

Ix)rd  Castlereagh  also  made  an  animated 
reply  to  the  objections  urged  by  Windham 
against  the  army  of  reserve  and  the  volun- 
teer system.  Out  of  the  thirty-five  thousand 
already  raised  for  the  army  of  reserve,  seven 
thousand  five  hundred,  he  said,  had  entered 
for  general  service.  The  military  force  of 
the  united  kingdom  was  naturally  divided 
into  troops  on  permanent  pay,  and  those  lia- 
ble to  service  in  the  event  of  invasion.  Of 
the  first  description,  there  were  in  Great 
Britain,  and  in  the  islands  of  Guernsey  and 
Jersey,  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
men;  and  in  Ireland  fifty  thousand.  The 
effective  rank  and  file  of  the  militia  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  amounted  to  eighty-four 
thousand  men ;  the  regular  force  to  ninety- 
six  thousand,  of  which  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand were  for  limited  service,  and  sixty-nine 
thousand  disposable  for  general  service.  The 
next  grand  feature  of  our  military  strength 
consisted  in  the  volunteer  force,  of  which 
three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men,  ac- 
cepted and  arrayed,  were  at  present  in  Great 
Britain ;  and  in  Ireland  it  amounted  to  sev- 
enty thousand ;  to  which  were  to  be  added 
twenty-five  thousand  sea  fencibles.  The 
total  amount  of  the  whole  military  force  at 
this  crisis  stood,  therefore,  at  six  hundred 
and  fifteen  thousand  rank  and  file ;  and  if, 
to  this  number,  officers  of  every  description 
were  added,  the  whole  amount  would  not  be 
less  than  seven  hundred  thousand  men.  The 
number  of  ships  of  war  amounted  to  four 
hundred  and  sixty-nine ;  and,  in  aid  of  the 
regular  navy,  and  for  the  purpose  of  defend- 
ing the  coast,  an  armed  flotilla,  consisting  of 
eight  hundred  craft  of  all  descriptions,  was 
nearly  completed.  Since  the  commence- 
ment of  hostilities  there  had  been  issued 
throe  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  muskets, 
sixteen  thousand  pistols,  and  seventy-seven 
thousand  pikes.  The  field-train  also,  in 
Great  Britain  alone,  was  increased  from 
three  hundred  and  fifty-six  to  four  hundred 
and  sixty  pieces  of  ordnance,  completely  ap- 
pointed ;  and  the  stores  had  been  nearly 
doubled. — Fox  applauded  the  zeal  and  pa- 
triotism of  the  volunteers ;  but  he  could  never 
bring  himself  to  believe  that  they  were  sus- 
ceptible of  anything  like  the  efficiency  of  a 
regular  force.  The  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, on  the  other  hand,  stated  that  lord 
Moira,  the  commander-in-chief  in  Scotland, 
and  lord  Cathcart,  the  commander  in  Ireland, 
were  so  highly  satisfied  with  the  steadiness 
and  discipline  of  the  volunteers  of  Edinburgh 
and  of  Dublin,  that  they  had  given  them  an 
unconditional  assurance  that  they  would 
conduct  them  with  confidence  against  an 
invading  host. 

Vol.  XV.  42 


INDISPOSITION  OF  THE  KING. OPPO- 
SITION TO  MINISTERS.— CHANGE  OF 
ADMINISTRATION. 

1804.— On  the  14th  of  February  it  was 
announced,  by  an  official  bulletin,  that  the 
king  was  much  indisposed,  and  the  public 
sympathy  was  excited  by  an  apprehension 
of  the  return  of  the  malady  by  which  he 
had  been  formerly  afflicted.  The  attack, 
however,  was  so  slight,  that  there  was  no 
necessary  suspension  of  the  royal  functions ; 
and  on  the  ninth  of  March  all  apprehension 
was  dissipated  by  the  assurance  of  the  lord 
chancellor,  that  he  had  conceived  it  proper 
and  necessary  to  have  a  personal  interview 
with  the  sovereign,  at  which  due  discussion 
had  taken  place  with  respect  to  the  bills  sub- 
mitted for  the  royal  assent ;  and  he  had  no 
hesitation  to  aver  that  the  result  of  all  that 
took  place  on  that  occasion  fully  justified 
him  in  announcing  his  majesty's  assent  to 
the  bills  specified  in  the  royal  commission. 

A  message  from  the  king,  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  March,  announced  a  voluntary  offer 
of  the  Irish  militia  to  extend  their  services 
to  Great  Britain  ;  and  bills  passed  both 
houses  to  enable  his  majesty  to  accept  the 
oflTer,  and  to  raise  ten  thousand  additional 
militia  in  Ireland. 

A  systematic  attack  on  the  ministry  was 
at  this  time  pursued  by  all  the  parties  in  op- 
position, through  the  medium  of  investiga- 
tions on  the  military  and  naval  affairs  of  the 
empire.  This  opposition  was  particularly 
displayed  in  the  progress  of  the  bill  to  con- 
solidate and  explain  the  laws  relative  to  vol- 
unteers :  the  course  of  debate  on  this  sub- 
ject, however,  was  interrupted  by  a  motion, 
of  which  Pitt  had  before  given  notice,  on 
the  naval  defence  of  the  country ;  a  ques- 
tion which  was  expected  more  than  any 
other  to  try  the  strength  of  ministry,  and 
even  to  shake  their  power  to  its  foundation. 
On  the  fifteenth  of  March,  after  expressing 
his  expectation  that  part  of  the  documents 
which  it  was  his  intention  to  call  for  would 
be  granted  by  ministers  without  resistance, 
Pitt  moved  for  an  address,  requesting  that 
his  majesty  would  order  to  be  laid  before 
parliament  an  account  of  the  number  of 
ships  in  commission  on  the  thirty-first  of  De- 
cem.ber,  1793,  on  the  thirtieth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1801,  and  on  the  thirty-first  of  Decem- 
ber, 1803,  specifying  the  service  in  which 
they  were  respectively  employed.  He  made 
his  motion  from  a  conviction,  that,  if  the  pa- 
pers were  granted,  it  would  appear  that  our 
naval  force  was,  at  the  present  moment, 
much  inferior,  and  less  adequate  to  the  exi- 
gency of  the  danger,  than  at  any  period  in 
former  times.  If  these  documents  were 
granted,  his  next  motion  would  be  for  a  copy 
of  the  contracts  made,  and  the  orders  given, 
by  the  lords  of  the  admiralty,  in  1793,  1797, 


494 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  1803,  with  respect  to  the 'number  of 
gun- vessels  to  be  built.  The  board  of  admi- 
ralty had  considered  gun-boats  peculiarly 
serviceable  for  resisting  invasion;  yet,  in 
the  course  of  a  year,  they  had  built  only 
twenty-three ;  while  the  enemy,  in  the  same 
period,  had  constructed  nearly  one  thousand. 
From  the  period  when  hostilities  were  re- 
newed, our  navy  ought  to  have  been  ni- 
creasing  instead  of  diminishing;  notwith- 
standing which,  government  had  only  con- 
tracted for  the  building  of  two  ships  of  the 
line  in  the  merchant-yards,  when  it  was  well 
known  that,  during  a  war,  the  building  of 
ships  was  always  neajly  suspended  in  the 
king's  yards,  which  were  then  wanted  for 
repairing  the  damages  sustained  in  the  ser- 
vice. It  was  also  worthy  of  remark,  that 
in  the  first  year  of  the  late  war,  our  naval 
establishment  was  increased  from  sixteen 
thousand  to  seventy-six  thousand  seamen; 
whereas,  having  begun  the  present  war  with 
an  establishment  of  fifty  thousand,  we  had 
augmented  them  in  the  course  of  the  first 
year  to  only  eighty-six  thousand  men. 

Tierney,  treasurer  of  the  navy,  objected 
strongly  to  the  production  of  the  papers  re- 
quired, and  was  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how 
the  measure  could,  for  a  single  instant,  be 
entertained  by  the  house,  when  no  cause, 
no  single  fact,  was  brought  forward  to  sup- 
port it;  when  every  possible  energy  per- 
vaded that  branch  of  the  public  service; 
when  naval  skill,  vigilance,  and  activity, 
v/ere  displayed  in  every  quarter ;  and  when 
the  best  officers  were  employed  in  every  di- 
rection with  the  highest  honor  to  themselves, 
and  the  most  decided  advantage  to  their 
country.  Sheridan  delivered  a  warm  eulogy 
on  the  character  and  conduct  of  earl  St 
Vincent,  the  first  lord  of  the  admiralty ; 
whilst  Fox  and  others,  taking  a  diflTerent 
side,  supported  the  motion  for  inquiry,  de- 
claring that  it  would  terminate  to  the  honor 
of  the  admiral.  The  debate  was  continued 
for  several  hours,  when,  on  a  division,  the 
numbers  were,  for  Pitt's  motion,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty ;  against  it,  two  hundred  and 
one. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  April,  Fox  moved 
for  a  committee  to  revise  the  several  bills 
which  had  been  proposed  for  the  defence  of 
the  country,  when  Pitt  again  took  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  its  actual  state.  There 
was  but  one  point  on  which  he  and  Fox  dif- 
fered on  this  occasion ;  the  power  vested  in 
the  king  by  the  constitution  of  calling  out 
all  the  subjects  of  his  realm  to  defend  the 
country  in  case  of  invasion.  Fox  was,  per- 
haps, tJie  first  statesman  who  ever  ventured 
to  question  the  royal  prerogative  in  this  par- 
ticular; for  nothing  is  more  clearly  laid 
down  by  our  law-writers  than  that  the  power 
of  calling  on  every  description  cf  his  sub- 


jects to  repair  to  his  standard,  when  the 
country  is  about  to  be  invaded,  is  vested  in 
the  king.  Pitt  asserted  and  maintained  this 
principle  against  Fox,  but  on  other  points 
those  rival  statesmen  agreed;  and  the  re- 
sult of  this  concurrence  of  sentiment  was  a 
strong  division,  in  which  the  ministers  had 
a  majority  of  only  fifty- two ;  two  hundred 
and  four  having  voted  for  the  motion  of  Fox, 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  against  it. 
Two  days  after  this  discussion,  another  de- 
bate took  place  on  the  same  subject,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  motion  by  secretary  Yorke, 
for  the  house  to  resolve  itself  into  a  com- 
mittee on  a  bill  for  the  suspension  of  the 
army  of  reserve  act.  This  motion  was  re- 
sisted by  Pitt ;  and,  on  a  division,  there  ap- 
peared, in  support  of  the  ministerial  plan, 
two  hundred  and  forty  ;  against  it,  two  hun- 
dred and  three ;  leaving  to  ministers  a  ma- 
jority of  only  thirty-seven.  Addington  then 
determined  on  retiring  fi-om  administration, 
after  he  had  adjusted  the  financial  concerns 
of  the  year.  The  supplies  were  estimated 
at  thirty-six  million  pounds  for  Great  Britain 
alone;  and  the  ways  and  means  consisted 
of  certain  additions  to  the  war  taxes,  a  loan 
of  ten  million  pounds,  and  a  vote  of  credit 
of  two  million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
On  the  twelfth  of  May  it  was  announced 
that  Addington  had  resigned  the  office  of 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and  that  Pitt 
was  nominated  his  successor. 

It  was  understood  to  be  his  wish  to  unite, 
in  the  public  service,  as  large  a  portion  as 
possible  of  the  weight,  talent,  and  charac- 
ter, to  be  found  in  public  men.  Whether 
he  was  sincere  in  his  desire  to  secure  the 
aid  of  lord  Grenville  and  Mr.  Fox  may  be 
doubted,  because  it  has  been  said  that  he 
could  bear  "  no  rival  near  his  throne,"  and 
that  he  preferred  the  aid  of  good  second- 
rate  man  of  business  talent ;  but  he  cer- 
tainly professed  to  wish  for  their  co-opera- 
tion, and  the  personal  objection  of  the  king 
to  Fox  appeared  alone  to  prevent  it :  lord 
Grenville  refused  to  come  into  office  with- 
out him,  but  Pitt  did  not  make  it  the  ground 
of  withholding  his  own  services.  Under 
the  new  arrangement  the  following  mem- 
bers of  Addington's  administration  retained 
their  stations ;  the  duke  of  Portland,  presi- 
dent of  the  council ;  lord  Eldon,  chancellor ; 
the  earl  cf  Westmoreland,  lord  privy-seal ; 
the  earl  of  Chatham,  master-general  of  the 
ordnance;  and  lord  Castlereagh,  president 
of  the  board  of  control.  lord  Hawkesbury 
passed  from  the  office  of  foreign  aflairs  to 
the  home-department.  The  new  members 
were  Pitt,  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  and 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer;  lord  Melville, 
first  lord  of  the  admiralty ;  lord  Harrcwby, 
secretary  for  foreign  affairs ;  lord  Camden, 
secretary  for  tiie  department  of  war  and 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


495 


colonies ;  and  lord  Mulgrave,  chancellor  of 
tlie  dutchy  of  Lancaster,  with  a  seat  in  the 
cabinet  The  government  of  Ireland  re- 
mained unchanged,  with  the  exception  of 
Wickham,  chief  secretary,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Sir  Evan  Nepean.  The  follow- 
ing new  appointments  took  place  in  the  sub- 
ordinate offices  of  government:  William 
Dundas,  secretary  at  war;  Canning,  trea- 
surer of  the  navy ;  George  Rose  and  lord 
Charles  Somerset,  joint  paymasters  of  the 
forces;  the  duke  of  Montrose  and  lord 
Charles  Spencer,  joint  paymasters-general ; 
Huskisson  and  Sturges  Bourne,  secretaries 
to  the  treasury. 

SLAVE  TRADE— CORN  BILL.— CIVIL-LIST. 
—PROROGATION. 

WiLBERFORCE,  on  the  thirtieth  of  May, 
pressed  the  consideration  of  the  abolition  of 
the  African  slave  trade.  After  an  animated 
debate,  the  motion,  which  was  supported 
by  Fox  and  Pitt,  was  carried  by  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  to  forty-nine  voices. 
A  bill  was  consequently  brought  into  parlia- 
ment, limiting  the  latest  period  at  which  ships 
were  to  be  allowed  to  clear  out  from  an  Eng- 
lish port  for  this  traffic  to  the  first  of  Octo- 
ber, 1804;  and  the  third  reading  was  car- 
ried, on  the  twenty-eighth  of  June,  by  sixty- 
nine  against  thirty-three.  In  the  house  of 
lords,  however,  the  bill  was  rejected  on  the 
thirtieth  of  July,  on  the  ground  that  the  late 
period  of  the  session  would  prevent  the  par- 
ties interested  from  obtaining  cnmpletp  jus- 
tice. 

A  plan  for  raising  and  supporting  a  per- 
manent military  force,  and  for  the  general 
reduction  of  the  additional  militia,  was  intro- 
duced into  parliament  on  the  fifth  of  June, 
by  Pitt,  under  the  designation  of  the  addi- 
tional force  act.  This  measure  aimed  at  an 
establishment  not  merely  to  meet  the  pre- 
sent circumstances  of  the  country,  but  to 
serve  as  an  instrument  for  the  immediate 
improvement  of  the  existing  system,  and  to 
supply  a  sufficient  resource  to  the  regular 
force,  should  an  opportunity  offer  of  employ- 
ing our  troops  in  foreign  warfare.  The  bill 
was  strenuously  opposed  by  Windham,  Fox, 
Addington,  and  others,  but  it  was  ultimately 
carried  through  the  lower  house  by  small 
ministerial  majorities ;  there  appearing,  on 
the  last  division — for  the  bill,  two  hundred 
and  sixty-five  ;  against  it,  two  hundred  and 
thirty-three.  In  the  upper  house,  the  mea- 
sure was  sanctioned  by  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  against  sixty-nine. 

On  the  twentieth  of  June,  the  corn-laws 
came  under  discussion.  It  has  been  main- 
tained that  the  whole  system  is  prejudicial 
to  the  public  weal,  and  that  these  laws  should 
be  altogether  repealed,  leaving  the  trade 
free,  and  the  prices  to  find  their  own  level ; 
but  in  consequence  of  a  report  of  the  house 


of  commons,  it  was  deemed  expedient  ta  have 
recourse  to  new  legislative  regulations.  From 
this  report  it  appeared  that  the  price  of  corn, 
from  1791  to  1803,  had  been  irregular,  but 
had,  upon  an  average,  yielded  a  fair  price  to 
the  grower.  The  high  prices  had  produced 
the  eflfect  of  stimulating  industry,  and  bring- 
ing into  cultivation  large  tracts  of  waste 
land ;  which,  combined  with  the  two  last 
productive  seasons,  had  occasioned  such  a 
depreciation  in  the  value  of  grain,  as  would, 
it  was  said,  tend  to  the  discouragement  of 
agriculture,  unless  immediate  relief  were  af- 
forded ;  and  for  this  purpose,  although  within 
the  period  of  the  last  thirteen  years,  no  less 
than  thirty  million  pounds  had  been  paid 
to  foreign  countries  for  supplies  of  grain,  it 
was  proposed  to  have  recourse  to  a  bounty" 
upon  exportation — a  measure  that  had  not 
been  resorted  to  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
With  this  view  a  bill  was  brought  into  par- 
liament, allowing  exportation  when  the  price 
of  wheat  was  at  or  below  forty-eight  shillings 
per  quarter  of  eight  Winchester  bushels, 
and  importation  when  the  average  price  in 
the  twelve  maritime  counties  of  England 
should  exceed  sixty-six  shillings.  The  bill 
passed  through  the  house  of  commons  with- 
out any  formidable  opposition,  but  in  the 
lords  some  few  petitions  were  presented 
against  it.  Earl  Stanhope  called  it  "  A  Bill 
to  starve  the  Poor,"  and  moved  that  it  be 
rejected.  The  measure,  however,  passed 
into  a  law. 

The  house  of  commons,  on  the  second  of 
July,  on  the  motion  of  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  resolved  itself  into  a  committee 
of  supply,  to  which  several  accounts  relative 
to  the  augmentation  of  the  civil-list  were 
referred :  when  the  arrears  thereof  were 
found  to  amount  to  five  hundred  and  ninety 
thousand  pounds.  This  excess  of  expendi- 
ture, it  was  stated,  had  arisen  from  a  variety 
of  expenses  incurred  by  services  which  could 
not  be  foreseen  in  the  year  1802,  when  the 
house  voted  the  discharge  of  arrears  then 
due,  amounting  to  about  two  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  pounds.  With  respect  to  the 
future  state  of  the  civil-list,  it  was  proposed 
that  several  charges  upon  it  should  be  annu- 
ally discharged  by  parliament.  These  charges 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
thousand  pounds,  and  related  to  fluctuating 
expenses:  many  of  them  arose  from  the 
war;  others  from  increased  law  expenses. 
The  house  assented  to  the  propositions  of 
the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  almost  with- 
out opposition. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  thirty- 
first  of  July,  when  the  king  expressed  a  hope 
that  the  exertions  of  this  country  might,  by 
their  influence  on  other  nations,  lead  to  the 
re-establishment  of  a  system  that  would  op- 
pose an  effectual  barrier  to  those  schemes 


496 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  unbounded  ambition  which  threatened  to 
overwhelm  the  continent  of  Europe. 
SUCCESSFUL  WAR  IN  INDIA. 

The  events  of  the  war  in  the  peninsula 
of  Hindostan  must  now  be  adverted  to.  The 
peishwa,  or  Mahratta  sovereign  of  Poonah, 
having-  been  expelled  from  his  dominions  by 
Holkar  in  1802,  concluded  a  subsidiary  treaty 
with  the  English  company  on  the  last  day 
of  the  year ;  and  to  effect  his  restoration  a 
detachment  of  troops  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  major-general  Arthur  Welles- 
ley,  afterwards  duke  of  Wellington,  who  en- 
tered the  Mahratta  territories  in  March, 
1803,  and  advanced  rapidly  to  Poonah,  which 
was  re-entered  by  its  sovereign  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  May.  Scindia  and  the  Rajah  of 
Berar  were  in  the  mean  time  negotiating  an 
alliance  with  Holkar,  of  which  the  governor- 
general,  the  marquis  Wellesley,  having  ob- 
tained evidence,  it  was  resolved  to  employ 
the  whole  military  force  to  break  so  danger- 
ous a  confederacy. 

General  Wellesley,  who  was  opposed  to 
the  two  latter  chieftains,  marched  against 
the  fortress  of  Ahmednuo-hur,  which  he  re- 
duced on  the  twelfth  of  August,  and  then 
advanced  to  Aurungabad.  On  the  twenty- 
third  of  September,  he  gained  a  complete 
victory  at  Assaye  over  a  greatly  superior 
force :  the  Bombay  army  had  also  been  suc- 
cessful in  the  Guzzerat,  and  gained  posses- 
sion of  the  territories  of  Scindia  in  that 
province.  In  September  and  October,  the 
town  and  provhice  of  Cuttack  were  wrested 
from  the  Rajah  of  Berar,  by  a  force  under 
lieutenant-colonel  Harcourt;  and  in  the 
north,  general  I^ke,  at  the  head  of  the  iJen- 
gal  army,  reduced  the  strong  fortress  of  Ally 
Ghur,  after  driving  to  a  precipitate  retreat 
the  forces  commanded  by  Perron,  a  French 
officer  in  the  service  of  Scindia,  who  in  con- 
.sequence  lost  his  reputation  and  influence  in 
India.  The  British  general  then  advanced 
towards  the  city  of  Delhi,  and  gave  battle  to 
the  army  of  Scindia,  commanded  by  Louis 
Bourquien,  over  which,  after  a  severe  con- 
flict, he  obtained  a  complete  victory,  and 
released  the  Mogul  Emperor,  Shah  Aulum, 
who  put  himself  under  the  protection  of  the 
English.  General  Lake  next  reduced  the 
fort  of  Agra,  and  on  the  first  of  November 
defeated  the  remainder  of  Scindia's  forces 
at  Laswaree.  Meantime  general  Wellesley 
entirely  defeated  the  Rajah  of  Berar  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  November,  in  the  plains 
of  Argaum,  which  victory  was  followed  by 
the  capture  of  the  strong  fortress  of  Gamil 
Ghur.  These  successes  compelled  the  Rajah 
to  sue  for  peace ;  and  a  treaty  was  concluded 
on  the  seventeenth  of  December,  by  which 
he  ceded  the  province  of  Cuttack,  with  some 
other  territories,  and  engaged  never  to  take 
into  his  service  the  subject  of  any  state  at 


war  with  the  English.  A  treaty  with  Scindia 
also  speedily  followed,  in  which  he  agreed 
to  cede  all  his  forts,  territories,  and  rights  in 
the  Douab,  and  in  the  districts  northward  of 
the  dominions  of  the  rajahs  of  Jeypoor  and 
Judpoor,  together  with  Baroach  in  the  Guz- 
zerat, and  Ahmednughur  in  the  Deccan. 
Thus  was  tlie  French  interest  in  India  anni- 
hilated, a  powerful  confederacy  against  the 
English  dissolved,  and  the  dominion  of  the 
company  consolidated.  The  thanks  of  par- 
liament were  voted  to  his  excellency,  and  to 
all  who  had  shared  in  the  dangers  and  glo- 
ries of  the  contest ;  while  the  king  conferred 
upon  general  Lake  the  title  of  lord  Lake,  and 
on  general  Wellesley  the  order  of  the  Bath. 
Goree,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  was  taken 
by  a  French  force,  under  the  command  of 
chevalier  Mahe,  in  January,  and  recaptured 
in  March  by  a  small  expedition  under  cap- 
tain Dickson.  On  the  fifth  of  May,  the  rich 
and  unportant  colony  of  Surinam  surrendered, 
to  major-general  Sir  Charles  Green;  and 
although  the  capture  was  an  enterprise  of 
considerable  difficulty,  this  valuable  acquisi- 
tion was   obtained  with  little  loss. 

ATTACK  ON  THE  BOULOGNE  FLOTILLA. 
—FAILURE  OF  THE  CATAMARAN  PRO- 
JECT. 

The  British  naval  operations  of  this  year 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  exertions  rigor- 
ously to  enforce  the  system  of  blockade; 
and  in  attacks  upon  the  enemy's  boats, 
which  either  ventured  out  of  the  harbor  of 
Boulogne,  for  the  purposes  of  exercise  or 
menace,  or  were  proceeding  from  other  ports 
to  that  depot ;  it  was,  however,  impossible  to 
obviate  the  effects  of  occasional  rumors  of 
invasion.  In  tJie  month  of  August  a  gene- 
ral movement  on  the  opposite  coast  exhibit- 
ed every  appearance  of  an  approaching  at- 
tack upon  some  part  of  tlie  British  empire ; 
and  at  Boulogne,  in  particular,  an  extraor- 
dinary degree  of  activity  prevailed.  Of  the 
various  armed  vessels  collected  in  that  im- 
mense depot,  a  greater  number  was  brought 
out  into  the  bay  than  on  any  former  occasion. 
Disposed  in  hostile  array,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  their  numerous  batteries  on  shore, 
they  were  vigorously  attacked  by  the  Brit- 
ish squadron  upon  that  station:  the  firing 
was  tremendous,  and  its  duration  favored 
the  belief  that  the  long  threatened  inva- 
sion was  at  this  time  to  be  certainly  attempt- 
ed. Under  the  influence  of  this  impression, 
the  greatest  exertions  were  made  for  the 
public  safety ;  in  the  early  part  of  Septem- 
ber the  alarm  began  to  subside :  but  in  the 
beginning  of  October,  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the  enemy's  vessels  again  ven- 
tured outside  the  pier.  At  this  period  min- 
isters were  induced  to  sanction  a  scheme 
which  had  been  submitted  to  them  by  some 
American  projector,  and  was  principally  to 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1620. 


407 


be  carried  into  effect  through  the  medium 
of  copper  vessels  filled  with  combustibles, 
and  so  constructed  as  to  explode  in  a  given 
time,  by  means  of  clock-work.  These  ves- 
sels, called  catamarans,  were  to  be  fastened 
to  the  bottom  of  the  enemy's  gun-boats  by 
the  aid  of  a  small  rajfl,  rowed  by  one  man, 
who,  being  seated  up  to  the  chin  in  water, 
might  possibly,  in  a  dark  night,  escape  de 
tection.  Fire-ships  of  different  constructions 
were  also  to  be  employed  in  the  projected 
attack.  The  most  active  officers  were  dis- 
tributed in  different  explosion  vessels,  and 
the  whole  was  placed  under  the  orders  of 
admiral  lord  Keith,  commanding  in  the 
Downs,  with  instructions  to  cover  the  small 
er  force  by  his  powerful  squadron.  On  the 
second  of  October  his  lordship,  with  a  for- 
midable fleet,  anchored  at  about  a  league 
and  a  half  from  the  north  to  the  west  of  the 
port  of  Boulogne ;  and  so  strongly  did  min- 
isters feel  interested  in  the  result,  that  Pitt, 
and  several  other  members  of  the  cabinet, 
were  induced  to  witness  the  scene  from 
Walmer  Castle.  At  a  quarter  past  nine  at 
night,  the  first  detachment  of  fire-ships  was 
launched,  but  the  vessels  of  the  flotilla 
opened  a  passage  as  they  approached,  and 
so  effectually  avoided  them,  that  they  sailed 
to  the  rear  of  the  enemy's  line  without  doing 
any  damage.  At  half-past  ten  the  first  ex- 
plosion-ship blew  up,  but  not  the  slightest 
mischief  was  done  either  to  the  ships  or  bat- 
teries. A  second,  a  third,  and  a  fourth  suc- 
ceeded, but  with  no  better  effect :  at  length, 
afler  twelve  of  these  ships  had  exploded, 
the  engagement  ceased  about  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  the  English  smaller 
vessels  withdrew,  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 
The  enemy's  loss,  according  to  their  own  ac- 
count, was  twenty-five  killed  and  wounded. 
Thus  terminated  the  catamaran  project,  on 
which  much  time,  expense,  and  ingenuity, 
had  been  fruitlessly  bestowed. 

REPULSE  OF  ADMIRAL  LL\OrS. 
As  soon  as  intelligence  of  the  renewal  of 
the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  France 
arrived  in  the  East  Indies,  the  French  ad- 
miral, Linois,  withdrew  from  the  roads  of 
Pondicherry,  and  for  some  time  carried  on 
a  predatory  warfare  against  the  English  in 
that  part  of  the  globe :  he  captured  several 
East-India  ships,  and,  afler  making  a  suc- 
cessful descent  on  Fort  Marlborough  (Ben- 
coolen),  plundered  that  settlement.  He  next 
collected  his  force,  consisting  of  the  Marengo, 
of  eighty  guns ;  the  Semillante  and  Belle- 
poule,  of  forty ;  a  cutter  and  brigantine,  of 
eighteen ;  and  a  corvette,  of  twenty-eight 
guns ;  and  stationed  his  squadron  in  the  In- 
dian seas,  near  the  entrance  of  the  straits  of 
Malacca,  with  the  determination  to  cruise 
in  that  latitude  till  the  arrival  of  the  home- 
ward-bound fleet  from  Canton.  On  the  fiflh 
42* 


of  February  this  fleet,  consisting  of  fifleen 
of  the  East-India  company's  ships  from 
China,  twelve  country  ships,  a  Portuguese 
East-Indiaman,  and  a  brig,  passed  Macao 
roads,  under  the  command  of  captain  Dance, 
the  senior  officer,  when  the  Portuguese  ves- 
sel and  one  of  the  China  ships  parted  com- 
pany. On  the  fourteenth  the  squadron  under 
admiral  Linois  was  discovered  by  the  India 
fleet,  when  the  commodore  instantly  hoisted 
the  signal  for  his  fleet  to  form  a  line  of  bat- 
tle in  close  order.  At  sun-set  the  enemy 
was  close  upon  the  rear  of  the  company's 
ships,  but  he  desisted  fi-om  any  hostile  ope- 
ration during  the  night.  At  daybreak  on 
the  fifteenth  he  was  seen  about  three  miles 
to  windward,  when  the  vessels  under  the 
command  of  captain  Dance  hoisted  their 
colors  and  offered  him  battle.  At  one  o'clock 
in  the  aflernoon,  the  commodore,  apprehen- 
sive that  his  rear  might  be  cut  off,  made  tlie 
signal  to  attack  each  of  the  hostile  ships  in 
succession,  which  was  correctly  performed. 
The  Royal  George,  from  her  advanced  situ- 
ation, sustained  the  brunt  of  the  action,  and 
got  as  near  the  enemy  as  he  would  permit ; 
the  Ganges  and  Earl  Camden  both  opened 
their  fire  as  soon  as  their  guns  could  take 
effect ;  but,  before  any  other  ship  could  get 
into  action,  the  enemy  stood  away  to  the 
eastward,  and  captain  Dance  pursued  them 
for  two  hours,  when,  fearing  that  a  longer 
pursuit  might  endanger  the  property  confided 
to  his  care,  he  anchored  in  a  situation  to  pro- 
ceed for  the  entrance  of  the  straits  on  the 
following  day.  Thus  did  the  gallantry  of  a 
fleet  of  British  merchantmen  put  to  flight  a 
French  admiral,  commanding  ships  of  war 
superior  in  force  and  in  men,  and  preserve 
from  capture  a  property  estimated  at  one 
million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  fleet  in  England,  rewards 
were  distributed  with  a  liberal  hand,  by  the 
East  India  company,  to  the  various  com- 
manders and  their  brave  crews;  and  the 
wounded,  as  well  as  the  representatives  of 
the  few  who  fell  in  the  engagement,  were 
munificently  rewarded ;  while  the  sovereign 
conferred  upon  the  commodore  the  honor  of 
knighthood. 

RUPTURE  WITH  SPAIN— DETENTION  OF 
TREASURE  SHIPS. 
While  a  negotiation  was  pending  be- 
tween the  courts  of  Madrid  and  London, 
admiral  Cochrane  acquainted  the  admiralty 
that  preparations  on  a  large  scale  were 
making  in  the  port  of  Ferrol,  so  that  in  a 
few  days  a  formidable  squadron  would  be 
ready  for  sea ;  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  but 
the  Spanish  government  waited  only  for  the 
arrival  of  a  fleet  of  frigates,  containing  trea- 
sures, from  South  America,  to  commence 
open  hostilities.  On  receipt  of  this  informa- 
tion, captain  Moore,  with  four  frigates  under 


498 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


his  command,  was  ordered  to  cruise  off' 
Cadiz  for  the  purpose  of  detaining  such 
Spanish  sliips  of  war,  homeward  bound,  as 
contained  bullion  or  treasure;  and  on  the 
fifth  of  October  he  fell  in  with  four  large 
frigates,  which,  on  finding  themselves  pur- 
sued, formed  in  line  of  battle,  and  conthiued 
to  steer  in  for  Cadiz  without  regarding  his 
summons  to  shorten  sail.  He  fired  a  shot 
across  the  bows  of  the  second,  which  had 
the  desired  effect  of  bringing  them  to  a  par- 
ley, when  the  Spanish  commander  was  in- 
formed that  captain  Moore  had  orders  to  de- 
tain his  squadron ;  that  it  was  his  wish  to 
execute  that  duty  without  bloodshed,  but 
the  determination  to  surrender  must  be  made 
instantly.  The  answer  being  unsatisfactory, 
a  close  battle  ensued;  in  less  than  ten 
minutes  the  Spanish  ship  La  Mercedes  blew 
up,  and  the  others  struck  in  succession,  after 
sustaining  a  considerable  loss.  Except  the 
second  captain  of  the  Mercedes,  and  forty 
five  men,  who  were  picked  up  by  the  boats 
of  the  Amphion,  all  on  board  perished. 

An  affecting  calamity  attended  the  loss 
of  this  vessel.  A  gentleman  of  rank,  who 
was  going  to  Spain  in  that  ship  with  his 
whole  family,  consisting  of  his  lady,  four 
daughters  and  five  sons,  had  passed  with 
one  of  the  latter  on  board  another  frigate 
before  the  action  commenced,  and  they  had 
there  the  horror  of  witnessing  the  dreadful 
catastrophe,  which  in  an  instant  severed 
from  them  their  dearest  relatives,  and  de- 
prived them  of  a  fortune,  the  accumulation 
of  five  and  twenty  years.  The  squadron 
was  from  Monte  Video,  Rio  de  la  Plata, 
and  contained  upwards  of  four  millions  of 
dollars,  of  which  about  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand were  on  board  the  Mercedes;  and 
the  merchandise  on  board  the  frigate  was 
also  of  great  value.  The  admiralty  was 
much  blamed  for  not  having  sent  such  a 
force  to  intercept  these  vessels  as  would  have 
allowed  their  commander  to  submit  at  once, 
without  impeachment  to  his  honor;  whereas 
the  equality  of  strength  rendered  a  san- 
guinary combat  inevitable.  The  negotia- 
tions at  Madrid  were  not  immediately  broken 
off  in  consequence  of  this  event ;  but  after 
some  time  spent  in  fruitless  attempts,  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain,  to  obtain  a  full 
disclosure  of  the  existing  engagements  be- 
tween France  and  Spain,  his  Catholic  ma- 
jesty declared  war  against  England  on  the 
twelfth  of  December. 

In  this  year,  a  British  naval  officer,  captain 
Wright,  died  in  the  prison  called  the  Tem- 
ple, at  Paris,  under  circumstances  which 
gave  rise  to  the  suspicion  that  his  death  pro- 
ceeded from  the  hands  of  violence.  He  had 
been  the  fellow-prisoner  of  Sir  Sidney  Smith, 
and,  after  escaping  with  that  officer  from  the 
Temple,  had  served  with  him  in  Egypt  and 


Syria,  and  was  the  person  who  eiTected  the 
landing  of  Georges,  Pichegru,  and  their  com- 
panions, on  the  coast  of  France.  On  the 
fifteenth  of  May,  while  cruising  in  the  Bay 
of  Quiberon,  he  was  becalmed  and  made 
prisoner  by  the  French  gun-boats,  and  did 
not  long  survive  his  captivity. 


MURDER  OF  DUKE  D'ENGHIEN.— COM- 
PLAINT AGAINST  BRITISH  ENVOYS.— 
SEIZURE  OF  SIR  GEORGE  RUMBOLD. 
The  duke  D'Enghien,  the  worthy  repre- 
sentative of  the  house  of  Conde,  had,  since 
the  continental  peace,  lived  in  retirement  at 
the  town  of  Ettenheim,  in  the  electorate  of 
Baden.  In  this  neutral  territory  Buonaparte 
resolved  to  seize  him ;  for  which  purpose 
general  Caulincourt,  with  a  body  of  cavalry, 
entered  the  electorate  on  the  fifteenth  of 
March,  and  coming  unawares  upon  the  des- 
tined victim,  secured  him  and  several  of  his 
friends  without  difficulty,  and  even  without 
opposition.  The  duke  was  immediately  con- 
veyed to  Strasburg,  and  thence,  without  any 
interval  of  repose,  to  Paris,  where  he  was 
conducted  to  the  same  prison,  the  Temple, 
which  had  been  the  last  scene  of  his  sove- 
reign's miseries :  he  was  not,  however,  per- 
mitted to  remain  here,  but  was  hurried  away 
to  the  castle  of  Vincennes,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  twentieth ;  and  that  same  evening, 
exhausted  with  fatigue,  he  was  dragged  be- 
fore a  military  commission,  when  a  pretend- 
ed trial  ensued,  and  in  two  hours,  without 
any  evidence  being  produced,  the  illustrious 
prisoner  was  found  guilty  of  having  borne 
arms  against  the  French  republic,  of  having 
conspired  to  restore  the  monarchy,  and  of 
being  an  accomplice  in  the  late  conspiracy. 
In  the  night,  Buonaparte's  brother-in-law, 
Murat,  with  four  other  general  officers, 
among  whom  were  his  own  brother,  Louis 
Buonaparte,  and  Duroc,  the  consul's  secre- 
tary, arrived  at  the  castle,  under  an  appro- 
priate escort  of  Mamelucs — and  the  duke 
was  shot  by  nine  Italian  grenadiers.  He 
died  with  the  spirit  of  a  Christian  soldier, 
expressing  his  satisfaction  that  his  execu- 
tioners were  not  Frenchmen. 

This  event  was  first  made  known  in  pa- 
pers printed  out  of  France ;  for  it  was  not 
until  after  several  days  that  the  Paris  news- 
papers contained  any  narrative  on  the  sub- 
ject. In  private,  where  men  could  venture 
to  express  an  opinion,  every  Frenchman  de- 
clared his  abhorrence  of  the  act.  In  foreign 
countries  the  murder  was  stigmatized  in  be- 
coming terms ;  and,  in  some,  solemn  funeral 
obsequies  were  performed  in  honor  of  the 
victim.  Several  notes  on  the  illegal  seizure 
of  the  duke  D'Enghien,  and  the  violation  of 
the  neutrality  of  the  German  empire,  were 
delivered  to  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  French  minister  for  foreign 
I  affairs, — among  which  the  most  spirited  were 


GEORGE  in.  1760—1820. 


499 


those  presented  by  the  Russian,  Swedish, 
and  Hanoverian  ministers. 

To  divert  public  attention  from  this  atro- 
city, the  French  government  announced  the 
discovery  of  another  plot,  in  which  they  im- 
plicated the  British  minister  at  the  court  of 
Munich,  Drake,  and  the  envoy  to  the  elector 
of  Wirtemburg-,  Spencer  Smith :  a  mass  of 
documents  and  intercepted  letters  were  pro- 
duced, from  which  it  appeared  that  Drake 
had  incautiously  given  some  attention  to  the 
representations  and  projects  of  Mehee  de  la 
Touche,  who,  having  obtained  access  to  him, 
and  made  a  tender  of  his  services,  reported 
to  the  French  government  the  result  of  his 
intrigues.  The  correspondence  was  com- 
municated to  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  who 
declared  it  impossible  for  him  to  have  any 
communication  with  Drake,  or  to  receive  him 
at  his  court,  and  the  British  envoy  of  course 
quitted  the  Bavarian  territories:  Spencer 
Smith  was  also  under  the  necessity  of  leav- 
ing Stutgard.  As  the  papers  respecting  this 
transaction  were  widely  distributed,  it  be- 
came necessary  for  the  British  government 
to  vindicate  itself,  and  a  circular  letter  was 
addressed  by  lord  Hawkesbury  to  the  foreign 
ministers  in  London,  which,  in  repelling  the 
imputation  of  countenancing  projects  of  as- 
sassination, maintained  the  right  of  bellig- 
erent powers  to  avail  themselves  of  any  dis- 
contents existing  in  the  countries  with  which 
they  may  be  at  war.  The  exercise  of  this 
right  was  fully  sanctioned  by  the  actual  state 
of  the  French  nation,  and  by  the  conduct  of 
its  government,  which  had,  ever  since  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  maintained  a 
communication  with  the  disaffected  in  his 
majesty's  dominions,  and  had  assembled,  on 
the  coast  of  France,  a  body  of  Irish  rebels 
for  the  purpose  of  aiding  their  designs.  And 
if  any  accredited  minister  at  a  foreign  court 
had  held  correspondence  with  persons  in 
France,  with  a  view  to  obtain  information  of 
the  projects  of  the  French  government,  he 
had  done  no  more  than  ministers,  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances,  had  uniformly  been  con- 
sidered as  having  a  right  to  do.  These  ar- 
guments were  combated  in  a  circular  note, 
authorizing  the  French  envoys  to  declare  to 
the  governments  where  they  resided,  that 
Buonaparte  would  not  recognize  the  English 
diplomatic  body  in  Europe,  so  long  as  they 
were  not  restrained  within  the  lunits  of 
their  functions. 

Shortly  after  this  attempt  to  place  the 
British  diplomatic  corps  out  of  the  protection 
of  the  law  of  nations,  the  French  govern- 
ment most  daringly  infringed  that  very  law. 
On  the  twenty-fifth  of  October,  Sir  George 
Rumbold,  the  English  charge  d'affaires  in 
the  circle  of  Lower  Saxony,  was  seized  at 
his  country-house  near  Hamburgh  by  a  party 


of  French  troops,  and  conveyed  to  Paris,  im- 
prisoned in  the  Temple,  and  released  only 
on  signing  a  parole  not  to  return  to  Ham- 
burgh, or  reside  within  a  certain  distance  of 
the  French  territories.  The  senate  of  Ham- 
burgh appealed  to  the  courts  of  Berlin,  Vien- 
na, and  Petersburgh,  on  this  violation  of  their 
territory,  and  an  application  was  made  by 
the  British  minister  for  foreign  affairs  to  the 
Prussian  cabinet ;  but  a  remonstrance  from 
that  quarter  had  already  been  made  with 
success  for  the  liberation  of  the  envoy,  and 
he  was  conveyed  from  Cherbourg,  by  a  flag 
of  truce,  on  board  the  Niobe  frigate,  which 
carried  him  to  Portsmouth,  after  in  vain  ap- 
plying for  the  restitution  of  his  papers. 

BUONAPARTE  ELECTED  EMPEROR  OF 
THE  FRENCH. EMPEROR  OF  GER- 
MANY DECLARED  EMPEROR  OF  AUS- 
TRIA. 

Buonaparte,  encouraged  by  the  general 
state  of  things,  proceeded  to  ascend  the  last 
step  on  the  ladder  of  ambition,  and,  when  all 
the  previous  preparations  had  been  made, 
addresses  were  presented  to  him  by  the 
legislative  and  municipal  bodies,  and  by  the 
different  armies,  in  the  months  of  March, 
April,  and  May,  beseeching  him  to  become 
emperor  of  the  French.  No  extreme  of 
adulation  could  exceed  that  by  which  these 
addresses  were  marked :  a  man  whose  hands 
were  stained  with  the  blood  of  an  innocent 
and  virtuous  prince,  was  held  up  as  a  model 
of  virtue ;  and  the  people,  over  whom  a  mil- 
itary tyranny  held  despotic  sway,  were  re- 
presented as  supremely  happy  under  his  mild 
and  free  government.  On  the  eighteenth 
of  May  a  decree  was  finally  passed  by  the 
senate,  abolishing  the  constitution  which  the 
senators  and  consuls  themselves  had  so  re- 
cently sworn  to  observe  and  maintain  invio 
late;  and  declaring  Napoleon  Buonaparte 
emperor  of  the  French,  and  the  imperial 
dignity  hereditary  in  his  family.  The  new 
emperor  then  addressed  a  letter  to  his  bish- 
ops, in  which  he  ascribed  his  elevation  to 
Providence,  and  ordered  a  Te  Deum  to  be 
sung  in  all  the  churches  on  the  glorious  oc- 
casion. The  bishops  kept  pace  in  their  ad- 
ulation with  the  military  and  civil  bodies, 
and  framed  prayers  adapted  to  the  new  order 
of  things ;  while,  to  crown  the  whole,  the 
Pope  was  ordered  to  attend  the  ceremony 
of  the  coronation,  and  to  place  the  crovra  on 
the  head  of  his  "  dearest  son  in  Christ,  Na- 
poleon, emperor  of  the  French,  who  has  sig- 
nified his  strong  desire  to  be  anointed  with 
the  holy  unction."  This  ceremony  took 
place  on  the  nineteenth  of  November,  in  the 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  at  Paris, — the 
same  church  in  which,  with  more  zeal,  the 
Parisians  had,  a  ^qw  years  before,  worshif)- 
ped  a  naked  prostitute,  as  the  Goddess  of 


500 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Reason,  in  obedience  to  the  command  of 
Buonaparte's  friend  and  predecessor,  Maxi- 
milian Robespierre. 

The  assumption  of  the  imperial  dignity 
by  Buonaparte  gave  a  new  interest  to  the 

Eolitical  concerns  of  Europe ;  and  the  time 
ad  now  arrived  when  the  Germanic  body 
was  no  longer  to  be  considered  as  united 
under  one  head. 

In  the  month  of  August,  the  emperor 
Francis  issued  a  decree,  by  which  his  title 
of  emperor  of  Germany  was  changed  for 
that  of  Austria.  The  council  of  state  de- 
clared the  object  of  this  measure  to  be  "  the 
preservation  of  that  degree  of  equality  which 
should  subsist  between  the  great  powers, 
and  the  just  rank  of  the  house  and  state  of 
Austria  among  the  nations  of  Europe."  The 
emperor  further  urged,  that,  in  conferring 
upon  his  family  an  hereditary  imperial  title, 
he  was  following  the  example  of  Russia  in 
the  last  century,  and  of  France  in  the  pres- 
ent day.  This  event  was  hailed  with  undis- 
sembled  joy  by  France  and  Prussia;  and 
when  it  was  announced  to  the  diet  of  Ratis- 
bon,  it  excited  no  animadversion,  except 
from  the  king  of  Sweden,  who  considered 
this  change  so  inseparably  connected  with 
the  composition  of  the  German  empire,  that 
it  should  be  laid  before  the  diet  as  a  subject 
for  deliberation.  No  tribute  could  have  been 
more  flattering  to  Buonaparte  than  this  con- 
cession, which  not  only  made  the  sovereign, 
hitherto  considered  as  the  first  in  Europe  in 
point  of  dignity,  more  recent  in  the  crea- 
tion of  title  than  himself,  but  even  recorded 
his  example  as  one  of  the  motives  of  the 
conduct  of  the  emperor  Francis. 

DISPUTE  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  RUS- 
SIA—CONVENTION BETWEEN  FRANCE 
AND  GENOA. 

The  renewal  of  the  war  on  the  continent 
had  been  some  time  confidently  expected, 
and  the  appointment  of  lord  Granville  Leve- 
son  Gower,  as  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
St.  Petersburgh,  served  to  strengthen  the 
opinion  that  another  continental  alliance  was 
on  the  tapis.  On  the  fifth  of  May  the  em- 
peror of  Russia  presented  an  energetic  note 
to  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  on  the  seizure  of  the 
duke  D'Enghien,  expressive  of  his  astonish- 
ment and  concern  at  the  event ;  to  which 


the  French  minister  replied,  that  the  first 
consul  felt  himself  in  no  way  responsible  to 
the  emperor  on  a  point  which  did  not  con- 
cern his  interest ;  and  that  if  his  majesty 
intended  to  form  a  new  coalition  in  Europe, 
and  to  recommence  the  war,  there  was  no 
need  of  empty  pretences.  Two  months 
elapsed  before  a  reply  was  made  to  this  pa- 
per; but  on  the  twenty-first  of  July,  M. 
D'Oubril,  the  Russian  charge  d'affaires^ 
complained  that  it  was  by  no  means  an  an- 
swer to  the  note  he  had  delivered.  An  im- 
portant correspondence  ensued,  during  which 
the  king  of  Sweden  appeared  to  be  ani- 
mated with  a  resolution  to  support  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  laws  of  nations,  and  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  emperor  Alexander. 

The  emperor  of  Russia's  appeal  to  the 
diet  of  Ratisbon  had  little  effect  on  the  Ger- 
manic body.  The  king  of  Prussia  evinced 
no  disposition  to  resist  the  aggressions  of 
Buonaparte ;  and  the  majority  of  the-  other 
states  were  fearful  of  the  renewal  of  a  con- 
test, in  which  they  might  risk  more  than 
they  could  hope  to  gain.  The  emperor  Al- 
exander, in  warmly  remonstrating  against 
the  usurping  spirit  of  France,  had  insisted 
upon  the  evacuation  of  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples and  the  north  of  Germany  by  the 
French,  and  the  indemnification  of  the  king 
of  Sardinia.  The  refusal  of  compliance  oc- 
casioned the  Russian  resident  to  demand  his 
piassports;  and  both  parties  made  prepara- 
tions for  a  renewal  of  hostilities.  Austria, 
in  the  mean  time,  was  employed  in  repair- 
ing the  losses  which  her  armies  had  sus- 
tained in  the  late  war,  and  in  improving  the 
condition  of  her  military  establishments. 

Buonaparte  spared  no  effort  to  acquire  the 
means  of  meeting  the  British  navy  on  equal 
terms.  He  had  now  at  his  disposal  the  fleets 
of  Spain ;  and,  by  a  convention  concluded 
on  the  twentieth  of  October,  he  obtained 
fi"om  Genoa,  in  return  for  some  commercial 
advantages,  the  service  of  six  thousand  sea- 
men during  the  war,  and  the  use  of  the  har- 
bors, arsenals,  and  dock-yards.  Thus  the 
port  of  Genoa  was  virtually  ceded  to  him, 
under  an  engagement  that  the  Ligurian  re- 
public should,  at  its  own  expense,  enlarge 
the  basin  for  the  reception  of  ten  sail  of  the 
line,  which  were  to  be  immediately  con- 
structed. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820 


501 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


letter  from  Buonaparte  to  His  Majesty — The  Answer — Addington  raised  to  the  Peer- 
age, and  joins  the  Ministry — Other  Appointments — Opening  of  Parliament — Xing'* s 
Speech — Supply — Budget — Catholic  Claims —  Vote  of  Credit — Proceedings  against 
Lord  Melville — Resignation  of  Lord  Sidmouth  and  the  Earl  of  Buckinghamshire — 
Illness  of  Pitt — New  Coalition  against  France — Commencement  of  Hostilities — 
Surrender  of  General  Mack — Buonaparte  enters  Vienna — Advances  into  Moravia — 
Movements  in  Italy — The  Archduke  Charles  falls  back  towards  Vienna — State  of  the 
Russian  Forces — Battle  of  Austerlitz — Armistice — 'Return  of  the  Russians — The 
Archduke  Ferdinand  defeats  a  Corps  of  Bavarians — Treaty  of  Presburg — Treaty 
between  France  and  Prussia — French  Fleets  put  to  Sea — Attempts  on  the  West 
India  Islands — Lord  Nelson's  Pursuit — Sir  Robert  Calder's  Engagement  with  Vil- 
leneuve — Victory  of  Trafalgar,  and  Death  of  Lord  Nelson — War  in  India — Its 
Termination — Marquis  Cornwallis  appointed  Governor- General — His  Death. 


LETTER  FROM  BUONAPARTE. 
Pitt  was  employed  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  a  new  confederacy  against  France, 
as  soon  as  an  opportunity  should  occur  for 
carrying  it  into  effect,  when  ministers  re- 
ceived a  letter,  written  by  Napoleon's  own 
hand,  and  addressed  to  his  Britannic  majesty. 
This  unusual  mode  of  communication,  which 
he  had  before  adopted  upon  his  accession  to 
the  office  of  first  consul,  was  chosen  from  a 
professed  desire  to  disengage  so  important  a 
transaction  from  the  intrigues  of  cabinets, 
and  the  perplexities  and  delays  of  diplomacy. 
After  adverting  to  his  recent  elevation  to 
the  throne  of  France,  and  lamenting  the  un- 
necessary effusion  of  blood,  he  said  he  con- 
sidered it  no  disgrace  to  take  the  first  step 
towards  conciliation ;  for,  though  peace  was 
the  wish  of  his  heart,  war  had  never  been 
inconsistent  with  his  glory.  As  it  had  never 
been  customary  for  the  English  sovereign  to 
communicate  directly  with  a  foreign  poten- 
tate, an  answer  was  returned  by  lord  Mul- 
grave,  addressed  to  the  French  minister,  in- 
timating his  majesty's  wish  to  procure  the 
blessings  of  peace  on  terms  compatible  with 
the  permanent  security  of  Europe;  but  stat- 
ing the  impracticability  of  more  fnlly  meeting 
the  overture  now  made,  until  he  had  com- 
municated with  the  powers  of  the  continent 
with  whom  he  was  engaged  in  confidential 
connexions  and  relations. 

APPOINTMENTS  IN  THE  MINISTRY- 
OPENING  OF  PARLIAMENT.^-SUPPLY. 
1805. — Pitt  found  it  expedient  to  renew 
his  connexion  with  Addington;  and  that 
gentleman  having  been  called  up  to  the  house 
of  peers  by  the  title  of  viscount  Sidmouth, 
was,  on  the  fourteenth  of  .January,  1805,  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  the  duke  of  Portland, 
as  president  of  the  council.  At  the  same 
time  lord  Mulgrave  was  appointed  secretary 
for  foreign  affairs  in  the  place  of  lord  Ilar- 
rowby,  and  the  earl  of  Buckinghamshire 


chancellor  of  the  dutchy  of  Lancaster.  On 
the  fifteenth,  the  session  of  parliament  was 
opened  by  his  majesty  in  person.  The  speech 
from  the  throne  announced  that  the  prepara- 
tions for  invasion  were  still  carried  on  by 
France  with  unremitting  activity;  that 
Spain,  under  the  control  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment, had  issued  a  declaration  of  war 
against  this  country ;  and  that  the  pacific 
communications  from  France  had  been  met 
by  a  corresponding  disposition  on  the  part  of 
his  majesty.  The  usual  addresses  passed 
nnanimonsly  in  both  houses. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  January,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  men,  including 
marines,  were  voted  by  the  house  of  com- 
mons for  the  service  of  the  navy,  for  the 
year  1805 ;  and  a  sum  not  exceeding  two 
million  eight  hundred  and  eighty-six  thou- 
sand pounds  for  the  payment  of  the  men. 
At  the  same  time,  the  sum  of  two  million 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  pounds 
was  granted  for  victualling,  and  four  million 
six  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  pounds  for 
wear  and  tear  of  shipping,  &c.  The  num- 
ber of  men  actually  employed  in  the  navy 
at  this  time  amounted  to  one  hundred  and 
eight  thousand.  On  the  fourth  of  February, 
the  secretary  at  war  moved  the  army  esti- 
mates of  the  year,  which  amounted  to  twelve 
million  three  hundred  and  ninety-five  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  ninety  pounds  seven 
shillings  and  sixpence,  for  three  hundred 
and  twelve  thousand  and  forty-eight  men, 
under  the  different  heads  of  service.  In  the 
budget,  which  was  opened  on  the  eighteenth, 
the  minister  stated  the  joint  charge  of  supplies 
for  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  at  forty-four 
million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds.  Among 
the  ways  and  means  were  a  loan  of  twenty 
million  pounds  for  England,  and  two  million 
five  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  Ireland; 
several  new  war  taxes  were  imposed ;  an 
augmentation  of  one-fourth  was  laid  on  the 


502 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


property  tax,  and  of  one-half  on  the  duty  on 
salt.  This  being  strongly  objected  to,  as  likely 
to  be  injurious  to  the  fisheries,  considerable 
modifications  were  made  in  their  fevor. 

Petitions  from  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
Ireland,  praying  relief  from  civil  disabilities, 
gave  rise  to  very  interesting  discussions ;  but 
the  minister  declared  that  existing  circum- 
stances were  unfavorable  to  their  claims, 
and  they  were  rejected  by  considerable  ma- 
jorities. On  the  nineteenth  of  June,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  royal  message,  relative  to  ne- 
gotiations pending  with  some  of  the  conti- 
nental powers,  a  sum  not  exceeding  three 
million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  was 
granted  to  his  majesty,  to  enable  him  to  en- 
ter into  such  engagements,  and  to  take  such 
measures,  as  the  exigencies  of  affairs  might 
demand.  On  the  twelfth  of  July  parliament 
was  prorogued  by  commission. 

PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  LORD  MEL- 
VILLE. 

In  the  course  of  this  session  proceedings 
were  instituted  against  a  member  of  admin- 
istration, which  strongly  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public.  Amongst  the  measures 
for  the  reformation  of  the  public  expendi- 
ture, meditated  or  resolved  upon  by  the  Ad- 
dington  administration,  an  inquiry  into  the 
abuses  of  the  naval  department  was  one  of 
the  most  prominent ;  and  a  bill  was  passed 
in  1803,  appointing  commissioners  for  that 
purpose.  This  bill  originated  in  a  g-reat  de- 
gree with  earl  St.  Vincent,  first  lord  of  the 
admiralty,  a  situation  to  which,  on  Pitt's  re- 
turn to  power,  lord  Melville  was  appointed. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  commissioners  had 
produced  several  successive  reports,  one  of 
which,  the  tenth,  appeared  to  implicate  the 
new  first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  who  had, 
while  he  filled  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the 
navy,  retained  in  his  hands  large  sums  of  the 
public  money,  contrary  to  law.  This  report 
Whitbread  brought  under  the  consideration 
of  the  house  of  commons  in  April,  observing 
that  the  commissioners  had  done  their  duty 
to  the  public,  and  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  bring  to 
justice  those  whom  they  had  exposed.  The 
report  involved  not  only  lord  Melville,  but 
Alexander  Trotter,  his  paymaster,  Mark 
Sproot,  a  stock-broker,  and  others.  In  ex- 
hibiting a  charge  against  lord  Melville,  he 
did  not  accuse  a  mere  unprotected  indi- 
vidual :  t;hat  nobleman  had,  for  a  period  of 
thirty  years,  been  in  the  uninterrupted  pos- 
session of  some  lucrative  office,  and  had  ex- 
ercised a  most  extensive  influence ;  lie  had 
many  individuals  attached  to  him  by  the 
consciousness  of  obligation ;  and,  though  not 
personally  present,  he  had,  no  doubt,  power- 
ful friends  in  the  house  who  would  be  found 
ready  to  undertake  his  defence.  Whitbread 
then  referred  to  the  act  of  1785,  of  which 
lord  Melville  (then  Dundas)  was  the  sup- 


porter, for  regulating  the  department  of 
treasurer  of  the  navy ;  and  to  the  order  of 
council,  by  which  his  salary  was  advanced 
from  two  thousand  pounds  to  four  thousand 
pounds  a-year,  in  lieu  of  all  profits,  fees,  or 
emoluments,  which  he  might  before  have 
derived  from  the  public  money  lying  in  his 
hands.  The  charges  were  classed  under 
three  heads:  first,  the  having  applied  the 
money  of  the  public  to  other  uses  than  those 
of  the  naval  department,  with  which  he  was 
connected,  in  express  contempt  of  an  act  of 
parliament ;  second,  conniving  at  a  system 
of  peculation  in  an  individual,  for  whose 
conduct  he  was  officially  responsible ;  and, 
third,  his  participation  in  that  system.  To 
the  honor  of  public  men,  said  Whitbread, 
charges  like  this  have  seldom  been  prefer- 
red ;  and  it  is  a  singular  circumstance  that 
the  only  instance  of  a  similar  charge,  for  a 
great  number  of  years,  was  brought  against 
Sir  Thomas  Rumbold  by  the  noble  lord  him- 
self, on  the  ground  of  malversations  in  India. 
With  respect  to  the  first  charge,  it  appeared 
from  the  report  that  there  had  been,  for  a 
number  of  years,  deficiencies  in  the  trea- 
surer of  the  navy's  department  to  the  amount 
of  upwards  of  six  hundred  thousand  pounds 
a-year.  When  lord  Melville  was  asked  a 
plain  question  as  to  the  appropriation  of  this 
money,  he,  as  well  as  Trotter,  professed  total 
ignorance  of  the  deficiencies ;  but  by-and-by 
the  paymaster  began  to  recover  his  recollec- 
tion, and  confessed,  that  from  the  year  1786 
down  to  the  period  at  which  he  was  exam- 
ined, he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  drawing 
out  public  money,  and  placing  it  in  the  hands 
of  his  own  bankers.  When  the  commis- 
sioners inquired  a  little  further,  he  had  the 
assurance  to  tell  them  that  they  had  no  right 
to  interfere  in  his  private  affairs.  Lord 
Melville,  in  a  letter  to  the  commissioners, 
acknowledged  the  fact  of  advances  having 
been  made  to  him ;  but  said  that  he  could 
not  give  the  other  information  required,  be- 
cause he  could  not  disclose  state  secrets,  and 
because  he  was  not  in  possession  of  the  ac- 
counts of  advances  made  to  other  depart- 
ments, having  himself  committed  them  to 
the  flames ;  and  not  only  had  the  noble  lord 
destroyed  the  papers,  but  he  had  actually 
lost  all  recollection  of  the  whole  afikir !  The 
second  charge  against  lord  Melville  was, 
that  he  connived  at  the  appropriation  of  pub- 
lic money  to  private  purposes.  Trotter  did 
not  deny  that  he  had  large  sums  in  the  hands 
of  Coutts,  his  private  banker ;  but  said  it 
was  more  convenient  for  the  money  to  be 
there  than  in  the  bank  of  England,  and  more 
secure :  and  for  the  truth  of  this  opinion  he 
appealed  to  lord  Melville — to  lord  Melville, 
who  framed  and  sanctioned  the  bill  of  1785 ! 
to  lord  Melville,  who,  not  satisfied  with  the 
regulations  of  the  act  of  1785,  proposes  still 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


503 


stricter  limitations  in  1786 !  For  what  pur- 
pose, however,  Whitbread  asked,  was  there 
so  constant  a  fluctuation  in  Trotter's  account 
at  Coutts's  ]  and  why  such  perpetual  drafts 
for  money,  in  the  name  of  Trotter  7  At  the 
time  that  he  was  anxious  for  the  safety  of 
what  was  passing  through  his  hands,  was  it 
always  lodged  at  Coutts's,  allowing  that  to 
be  the  place  of  fittest  security  1  No,  it  was 
employed  in  discounting  bills,  in  forming 
speculations,  in  gambling  on  the  stock  ex- 
change. No  less  than  thirty-four  million 
pounds  of  the  public  property  had  passed 
through  lord  Melville's  paymaster's  hands ; 
and,  had  Trotter's  speculations  failed,  it  was 
not  to  him,  but  to  his  lordship,  that  the  pub- 
lic had  to  look  for  redress.  While  the  people 
were  struggling  with  the  heaviest  burdens 
ever  laid  upon  them.  Trotter,  and  his  silent 
discreet  broker,  Mark  Sprott,  were  placing 
their  heads  together  to  lay  out  the  public 
money  to  the  greatest  advantage ;  and  lord 
Melville  never  once  inquired  into  his  pay- 
master's proceedings.  On  the  third  part  of 
the  subject  (the  suspicion  of  criminal  parti- 
cipation) Whitbread  said  that  lord  Melville 
had  found  Trotter  clerk  to  the  navy  pay- 
ofRce ;  he  made  him  his  paymaster,  and  in  a 
short  time  his  agent.  In  this  situation  lord 
Melville  had  pecuniary  concerns  with  him 
to  a  considerable  amount,  but  was  unable  to 
tell  the  commissioners  whether  the  advances 
made  to  him  by  Trotter  were  from  his  own 
or  the  public  money.  The  truth  was,  that 
lord  Melville  knew,  when  he  first  patronized 
him,  that,  though  a  man  of  good  family,  he 
had  no  property  but  what  was  derived  from 
his  salary:  it  was  absolute  equivocation, 
then,  to  pretend  that  his  lordship  could  be 
ignorant  of  the  source  whence  Trotter  was 
}nabled  to  supply  him  with  advances.  Whit- 
bread concluded  by  moving  thirteen  resolu- 
tions, founded  on  the  circumstances  which 
he  had  developed. 

Pitt,  in  a  long  and  able  speech,  remarked 
that  there  was  no  allegation  in  the  report,  or 
even  in  the  speech  of  Whitbread,  that  any 
loss  to  the  public  had  been  sustained  by  the 
transactions  under  consideration.  He  ad- 
mitted that  the  subject  was  of  a  grave  and 
v«olemn  nature,  and  that  if,  in  a  great  money 
department,  irregularities  had  been  commit- 
ted, though  unattended  witli  loss,  it  might 
l)e  the  duty  of  the  house  to  set  a  mark  upon 
i??]ch  proceedings ;  but  all  the  circumstances 
of  this  case  were  not  before  them  in  the  re- 
port, and,  till  they  were  investigated,  the 
house  could  not  be  in  a  situation  to  come  to 
any  vote.  On  the  face  of  the  accounts,  one 
hundred  tliousand  pounds  was  the  whole 
amount  of  the  advances  to  lord  Melville.  It 
was  known  that,  of  all  the  sums  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  million  pounds  which  had 
passetl  tlirough  the  hands  of  his  lordship. 


every  farthing  had  been  regularly  accounted 
for ;  and  it  would  be  found  that,  of  the  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  which,  on  the  face 
of  the  account,  was  paid  to  lord  Melville, 
many  of  the  drafts  were,  in  reality,  payment* 
for  public  services.  If  this  could  be  made 
out,  as  he  was  mformed  it  could,  it  was  of 
itself  a  conclusive  argument  for  further  m- 
quiry ;  he  therefore  moved  that  a  select  com- 
mittee be  appomted  to  consider  tlie  tenth 
report  of  the  commissioners  of  naval  inquiry, 
and  the  documents  therewith  connected; 
that  they  examine  the  same,  and  report  their 
opinion  thereon  to  the  house.  At  the  sug- 
gestion of  Fox,  Pitt  consented,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  move  the  previous  question. 
Tierney  said,  that,  during  the  time  he  wa» 
treasurer  of  the  navy,  he  felt  no  inconveni- 
ence fi-om  a  compliance  with  the  act  of  par- 
liament, and  held  that  the  report  of  the  com- 
missioners should  be  taken  as  conclusive 
evidence  against  lord  Melville.  After  a 
number  of  observations  from  the  attorney- 
general,  Canning,  the  master  of  the  rolls, 
and  lord  Castlereagh,  in  favor  of  a  select 
committee,  and  from  lord  Henry  Petty,  Pon- 
sonby,  Fox,  and  Mr.  Wilberforce,  in  support 
of  the  resolution,  the  house  divided,  when 
there  appeared  two  hundred  and  sixteen 
votes  for,  and  two  hundred  and  sixteen 
against,  Whitbread's  motion,  and  the  speaker 
gave  his  casting  vote  in  its  favor. 

On  the  tenth  of  April  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer  announced  to  the  house  of 
commons  that  lord  Melville  had  tendered  hii» 
resignation  of  the  office  of  first  lord  of  the 
admiralty,  which  his  majesty  had  accepted. 
Whitbread  said  that,  had  the  issue  of  the 
debate  on  Monday  been  merely  of  a  personal 
or  party  nature,  he  might  have  been  satisfied 
with  lord  Melville's  removal  fi-om  the  re- 
sponsibility, dignity,  and  emolument,  attach- 
ed  to  the  situation  which  he  had  resigned ; 
but  he  thought  it  so  necessary  that  his  lord- 
ship should  be  prevented  from  ever  again 
polluting  with  his  presence  the  councils  of 
his  sovereign,  that,  before  any  other  pro- 
ceeding, he  should  move  an  address  to  the 
throne,  praying  his  majesty  to  deprive  the 
noble  lord  of  every  civil  office  held  during 
the  pleasure  of  the  crown,  and  to  dismiss 
him  from  the  councils  of  the  kingdom  for 
ever.  Whitbread  asked  whether  Pitt  was 
prepared  to  give  a  pledge  to  this  eflfect,  and 
whether  Trotter  had  been  dismissed  1  Can- 
ning replied  that  he  had,  but  he  did  not  think 
that  the  case  of  lord  Melville,  which,  at  the 
most,  amounted  to  no  more  than  a  bare  sus- 
picion, warranted  the  severity  of  the  pro- 
ceedings now  proposed;  and,  after  a  very 
animated  conversation,  Whitbread  agreed 
to  withdraw  his  motion,  in  lieu  of  which  he 
moved  that  the  resolutions  of  the  former 
night  be  laid  before  his  majesty  by  the  whole 


604 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


bouse,  and  on  the  following  day  they  were 
presented  accordingly. 

On  the  sixth  of  May,  Whitbread  moved 
for  the  erasure  of  lord  Melville's  name  from 
the  list  of  privy-counsellors,  when  Pitt  said 
he  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  measure 
was  considered,  generally,  as  expedient;  and 
he  had  therefore  felt  it  his  duty  to  recom- 
mend it.  He  had  not  given  this  advice 
without  a  bitter  pang,  but  he  could  not 
suffer  feelings  of  private  friendship  to  inter- 
fere with  what  he  found  to  be  the  declared 
sense  of  a  majority  of  the  house.  Whit- 
bread then  inquired  whether  lord  Melville 
lield  any  place  of  profit  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  crown  1  and,  being  answered  none 
but  for  life,  he  withdrew  his  motion. 

The  commissioners  of  naval  inquiry  had, 
in  the  early  progress  of  these  discussions, 
been  sedulously  occupied  in  the  researches 
arising  out  of  the  tenth  report ;  and  Whit- 
bread now  gave  notice  of  an  intention 
finally  to  move  for  an  impeachment,  which 
was  met  on  the  part  of  Robert  Dundas,  son 
of  lord  Melville,  by  a  requisition  that  the 
noble  lord  should  be  previously  admitted  and 
lieard  by  the  house.  Leave  having  been 
obtained  from  both  houses,  his  lordship,  es- 
corted by  the  serjeant-at-arms,  advanced 
within  the  bar  on  the  eleventh  of  June,  and 
entered  upon  his  defence.  He  solemnly  as- 
serted that  he  never  knew  that  Trotter  had 
drawn  any  money  for  the  purposes  of  specu- 
lation, and  declared  that  he  had  felt  highly 
indignant  at  the  charge  that  such  transac- 
tions had  been  conducted  with  his  privity, 
and  that  Trotter  had  enjoyed  the  advantage 
of  his  (lord  Melville's)  knowledge  of  the 
confidential  secrets  of  government.  His 
lordship  as  positively  denied  his  participa- 
tion in  the  profits  of  Trotter :  he  admitted 
that,  when  the  money  was  drawn  for  naval 
purposes,  he  had  suffered  him  to  place  it  in 
the  liouse  of  Coutts  and  Co.  until  it  should 
be  wanted ;  but  that  he  had  ever  given  him 
power  to  draw  money  from  the  bank  mdis- 
criminately,  was  untrue.  He  certainly  did 
suppose  the  paymaster  derived  a  profit  from 
the  sums  invested  in  Coutts's  hands,  but  he 
had  never  considered  it  as  a  clandestine  or 
unlawful  proceeding ;  and  the  reason  he  had 
not  directly  disclaimed  any  share  in  those 
profits,  when  examined  before  the  commit- 
tee, was  because  he  had  that  moment  been 
informed  of  the  confiision  in  which  his  pay- 
master's accounts  stood,  and  there  was  a 
doubt  in  his  own  mind  whether  he  might  not 
unintentionally  have  received  what  was  his 
own  property  from  unlawful  profits.  His 
lordship  referred  to  two  sums  of  about  ten 
thousand  pounds  each,  the  circumstances 
relative  to  which  he  felt  equally  bound,  by 
private  honor  and  public  duty,  never  to  dis- 
close ;  tliough  he  affirmed  that  those  sums 


were  neither  used  nor  meant  to  be  employ- 
ed for  any  object  of  profit  by  him.  He  had 
certainly  directed  his  agent  to  procure  for 
him  the  loan  of  twenty  thousand  pounds,  for 
which  he  had  paid  regular  interest ;  but  it 
was  not  till  within  the  last  six  weeks  that 
he  knew  Trotter  was  the  lender  of  the 
money.  After  explaining  the  nature  of  his 
transactions  with  respect  to  the  loyalty  loan, 
to  which  he  subscribed  the  sum  often  thou- 
sand pounds,  his  lordship  said,  when  he  de- 
stroyed all  vouchers,  it  was  because  he  con- 
sidered them  useless,  and  not  from  the  most 
remote  apprehension  of  danger  from  their 
existence.  He  could  scarcely  believe  that 
an  impeachment  was  intended;  he  was 
equally  incredulous  with  respect  to  an  in- 
dictment ;  and  he  did  not  yet  despair  of  re- 
ceiving justice  from  his  deluded  country. 

Whitbread  then  said,  the  excuse  offered 
by  lord  Melville  for  not  directly  answering 
questions,  in  consequence  of  the  mixed  state 
of  Trotter's  accounts,  was  strange  and  in- 
credible. He  argued  on  the  suspicious  cir- 
cumstance of  refusing  to  give  any  account 
of  the  two  sums  of  ten  thousand  pounds, 
and  declared  that  if  his  lordship  would  refer 
the  matter  to  a  jury  of  honor,  consisting  of 
the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  Windham, 
and  any  other  person  of  equal  integrity,  he 
should,  in  case  they  acquitted  him,  feel  sat- 
isfied. Whitbread  concluded  by  moving 
that  Henry  lord  viscount  Melville  be  im- 
peached of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 
A  long  debate  ensued,  in  the  course  of  w^hich 
Bond  objected  to  an  impeachment  as  cum- 
brous and  expensive,  and  moved,  as  an 
amendment,  that  the  attorney-general  be 
directed  to  prosecute  lord  Melville  for  the 
several  offences  which  appeared  to  have  been 
committed  by  him.  The  motion  for  impeach- 
ment was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  seventy- 
seven,  and  Bond's  amendment  adopted  by 
two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  to  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine  voices :  it  was,  how- 
ever, ultimately  determined,  on  the  twen- 
ty-fifth of  June,  that  the  mode  of  prosecu- 
tion by  impeachment  should  be  resorted 
to ;  and  Whitbread  was  appointed  manager, 
with  directions  to  acquaint  the  lords  on  the 
following  day  therewith.  On  this  occasion 
Pitt  delivered  his  last  speech  in  the  senate, 
and  argued  strongly  in  favor  of  a  trial  by 
impeachment,  in  preference  to  proceedings 
by  a  crimmal  prosecution. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CABINET— ILLNESS 
OF  PITT.  — NEW  COALITION  AGAINST 
FRANCE. 

The  British  cabinet  was  still  in  a  divided 
state ;  and  the  conflicting  sentiments  of  its 
members  threatened  to  produce  a  partial 
change  in  the  ministry,  had  no  subject  of 
paramount  interest  arisen  to  call  them  more 
strongly  into  action.     It  appears  tliat,  soon 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


505 


after  the  Easter  recess,  lord  Sidmouth  sug- 
gested the  propriety  of  removing  lord  Mel- 
ville from  the  privy-council ;  but  Pitt,  wish- 
ing to  avoid  that  measure,  conceived  that 
both  parliament  and  the  country  v^^ould  be 
satisfied  with  the  noble  lord's  resignation  of 
his  office  as  first  lord  of  the  admiralty. 
Neither  party  was  disposed  to  yield,  and 
lord  Sidmouth,  the  earl  of  Buckinghamshire, 
and  Mr.  Vansittart,  expressed  their  deter- 
mination to  throw  up  their  several  appoint- 
ments ;  but  this  extremity  was  for  the  pres- 
ent averted  by  the  erasure  of  lord  Melville's 
name  from  the  list  of  the  privy-council,  and 
the  vote  of  impeachment  which  afterwards 
passed  against  that  nobleman.  However, 
on  the  fifth  of  July,  lord  Sidmouth  went  out 
of  office;  and  his  example  was  followed 
by  the  earl  of  Buckinghamshire.  These 
noblemen  were  succeeded  by  earl  Camden 
and  lord  Harrowby,  while  lord  Castlereagh 
was  appointed  to  the  foreign  department, 
tlie  office  of  first  lord  of  the  admiralty  hav- 
ing been  previously  conferred  on  Sir  Charles 
Middleton,  who  was  called  to  the  upper 
house  under  the  title  of  lord  Barham. 

For  more  than  four  years  Pitt  had  labor- 
ed under  all  the  inconveniencies  resulting 
from  a  weak  stomach,  and  the  consequent 
fiiilure  of  appetite ;  and  it  will  be  easily 
conceived  that  mental  anxiety  is  peculiarly 
c;alculated  to  aggravate  the  effects  of  such  a 
disorder.  This  anxiety  the  unprosperous 
state  of  affairs  on  the  continent  tended  fur- 
ther to  increase.  The  continued  encroach- 
ments of  Buonaparte,  who  had  crowned  him- 
self king  of  Italy  at  Milan,  and  annexed 
Genoa  to  France,  had  roused  the  powers  of 
the  continent  to  resistance,  and  a  treaty  be- 
tween Russia  and  England  had  been  signed 
at  St.  Petersburgh  on  the  eleventh  of  April, 
to  which  Austria  and  Sweden  soon  acceded, 
and  of  which  the  object  was  to  restore,  in 
some  degree,  the  balance  of  power  in 
Europe,  by  driving  the  French  out  of  Han- 
over and  the  north  of  Germany ;  by  estab- 
lishing the  independence  of  Holland  and 
Switzerland ;  by  restoring  the  king  of  Sar- 
dinia to  his  throne ;  and  by  compelling  the 
French  to  evacuate  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
and  the  whole  of  Italy.  This  great  object  it 
was  promised  to  accomplish  by  an  army  of 
five  hundred  thousand  men,  in  addition  to 
the  forces  to  be  employed  by  Great  Britain, 
who  herself  engaged  to  contribute  to  the 
common  efforts  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  to 
assist  the  different  powers  by  subsidies. 

SURRENDER  OF  GENERAL  MACK— BUa 
NAPARTE  ENTERS  VIENNA.  —  MOVE- 
MENTS IN  ITALY. 

Whilst  two  Russian  armies  of  fifty  thou- 
sand men  each  were  advancing  towards  the 
Danube,  Buonaparte,  in  whose  plans  prompt- 
itude was  always  the  leading  feature,  deter- 
VoL.  IV.  43 


mined  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  at  the  Aus- 
trians.  Towards  the  close  of  August  he  or- 
dered the  Boulogne  flotilla  to  be  dismantled, 
and  the  troops  to  march  to  the  Rhine ;  the 
bulk  of  his  force  in  Holland  and  Hanover 
was  also  directed  to  proceed  to  the  banks  of 
the  Danube :  and,  as  soon  as  he  received  in- 
telligence that  the  Austrians  had  entered 
Bavaria,  he  convened  the  senate,  stating,  in 
a  speech  from  the  throne,  that  he  was  about 
to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army. 
On  this  occasion  two  important  decrees 
were  proposed :  the  one  for  the  immediate 
levy  of  eighty  thousand  conscripts,  and  the 
other  for  reorganizing  the  national  guard. 
Having  crossed  the  Rhine  at  Kehl,  Buona- 
parte, at  the  head  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men,  by  a  series  of  bold  and  rapid 
movements,  gained  a  position  between  Vi- 
enna and  the  Austrian  army  under  general 
Mack.  That  army,  consisting  of  nearly 
ninety  thousand  men,  dispersed  over  a 
wide  extent  of  country,  was  beaten  in  de- 
tail, and  reduced  to  thirty  thousand,  who, 
with  their  commander,  were  blocked  up  in 
Ulm.  On  the  seventeenth  of  October  Mack 
agreed  to  surrender,  and  on  the  twentieth 
the  whole  of  the  Austrian  troops  in  that  city 
laid  down  their  arms  before  the  French  em- 
peror, and,  with  the  exception  of  the  field- 
officers,  who  were  permitted  to  return  home 
on  their  parole,  surrendered  themselves  pris- 
oners of  war,  with  all  their  artillery  and 
magazines.  Buonaparte,  having  sent  for  the 
Austrian  generals,  and  kept  them  near  his 
person  while  the  troops  defiled,  complained 
of  the  injustice  and  aggression  of  the  em- 
peror :  "  I  desire  nothing,"  said  he,  "  on  the 
continent.  France  wants  only  ships,  colo- 
nies, and  commerce ;  and  it  is  as  much  your 
interest  as  mine  that  I  should  have  them." 

The  king  of  Prussia  had  been  provoked 
to  some  show  of  indignation  by  the  march 
of  French  troops  through  part  of  the  Prus- 
sian neutral  territory  of  Anspach  without 
asking  permission,  and  was  disposed  to  re- 
sent the  insult ;  but,  on  learning  the  fete  of 
Mack's  army,  he  relapsed  into  passive  neu- 
trality. Buonaparte,  immediately  after  the 
capitulation  of  Ulm,  made  the  most  active 
exertions  for  the  further  prosecution  of  the 
campaign.  The  first  division  of  Russians, 
under  general  Kutusoff,  had  already  arrived 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Inn,  and  united  itself 
to  the  Austrians  in  that  quarter :  it  was  of 
importance,  if  possible,  to  attack  this  force 
before  the  arrival  of  the  second  division,  and 
with  this  view  the  French  army,  having 
been  joined  by  the  contingents  of  Bavaria, 
Baden,  and  Wirtemburg,  advanced  by  rapid 
marches  towards  the  Inn,  which  they  passed 
in  the  face  of  the  allies,  who  retreated  step 
by  step  on  the  road  to  Vienna,  to  effect  a 
junction  with  the  second  Russian  division, 


606 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


which  was  advancing  under  general  Bux- 
hovden.  In  this  situation  of  affairs,  the  em- 
peror of  Austria,  desirous  of  averting  the 
evils  with  which  he  was  menaced,  hy  ne- 
gotiation, proposed  an  armistice,  in  order 
that  negotiations  might  be  commenced  for  a 
general  peace.  Buonaparte  demanded  that 
the  Russian  forces  should  return  home,  that 
the  Hungarian  levies  should  be  disl)anded, 
and  that  the  Austrian  troops  should  with- 
draw from  the  dutchy  of  Venice  and  the 
Tyrol ;  but  as  tliese  terms  would  place  the 
imperial  crown  at  his  mercy,  the  emperor 
resolved  still  to  struggle  with  his  difficul- 
ties, and,  perceiving  the  danger  which  tlireat- 
ened  his  capital,  retired  with  his  court  to 
Brunn,  in  Moravia. 

Vienna  was  entered  by  the  French  on  the 
thirteenth  of  November,  and  Buonaparte,  on 
the  second  day  after  that  event,  proceeded 
to  join  the  main  army  in  Moravia,  which 
was  a-ivancing  with  such  rapidity  that  the 
Austrian  court  found  it  necessary  to  remove 
to  Olmutz.  The  Russians,  who  had  crossed 
the  Danube  at  Krems,  were  retiring  through 
that  country  to  unite  with  the  forces  under 
the  command  of  the  emperor,  and,  after  suf- 
fering severely  in  two  spirited  actions  at 
Hollbrunn  and  Guntersdorf,  they  retreated 
through  Znaim  to  Brunn,  which  they  were 
compelled  to  evacuate  on  the  eighteenth, 
leaving  large  quantities  of  ammunition  and 
provisions.  Buonaparte  established  his  head- 
quarters there  on  the  twentieth,  and  his 
main  army  took  up  a  position  at  Withau,  in 
face  of  the  Austro-Russian  army  posted  on 
the  plains  of  Olmutz. 

The  Italian  campaign  was  opened  upon 
the  Adige  on  the  eighteenth  of  October. 
The  /..ustrian  army  was  strongly  posted  near 
Verona,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river;  while 
the  French  troops,  under  marshal  Massena, 
occupied  the  city  upon  the  opposite  bank. 
The  communication  was  by  means  of  two 
bridges,  and  both  parties  had  guarded  against 
the  passage  of  them  by  strong  works,  raised 
at  the  opposite  extremities.  The  archduke 
Charles,  however,  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
imdertake  offensive  operations:  the  attack 
was  therefore  begun  by  the  French,  who 
forced  the  Austrian  intrenchments ;  and  the 
archduke,  having  obtained  information  of  the 
disaster  at  Ulm,  fell  back  towards  Vienna. 
The  archduke  John,  severely  pressed  in  the 
Tyrol,  adopted  the  same  resolution,  and, 
after  encountering  many  difficulties,  the  two 
brothers  effected  a  junction  at  Laybach,  in 
Carniola.  Massena,  who  had  advanced 
closely  in  pursuit,  established  a  communica- 
tion with  the  corps  of  Ney  and  Marmont, 
who,  after  the  reduction  of  the  Tyrol,  ap- 
proafched  the  Danube  to  support  the  main 
body  of  the  French  army. 


BATTLE  OF  AUSTERLITZ.— ARMISTICE- 
TREATY  OF  PRESBURGH— TREATY  BE- 
TWEEN FRANCE  AND  RUSSIA. 
Marshal  Davoust,  leaving  the  principal 
part  of  the  French  army  at  Vienna,  pro- 
ceeded with  his  division  towards  Presburgh, 
when  he  received  overtures  from  count 
Palfy,  the  governor,  m  the  name  of  the 
archduke  Palatme,  proposing  that  the  mili- 
tary preparations  in  Hungary  should  be  di^ 
continued,  on  condition  that  the  French  gen- 
eral would  guaranty  the  neutrality  of  that 
kingdom.  To  this  proposal  the  marshal 
readily  acceded,  and  the  principal  resources 
of  the  house  of  Austria  were  thus  reduced 
to  the  army  of  the  archduke  Charles,  and 
to  the  small  force  of  prince  John  of  Lichten- 
stein,  which  had  united  itself  to  the  Russian 
division  under  Kutusoff,  who,  perceiving  the 
difficulties  of  his  situation,  sent  the  baron 
de  Winzingerode  to  Murat,  to  propose  terms 
of  capitulation ;  and  a  convention  was  con- 
cluded, which  permitted  the  Russian  army 
to  retire  into  their  own  territory ;  but  Buo- 
naparte, conceiving  them  to  be  in  his  power, 
reftised  to  ratify  it.  In  the  mean  time,  gen- 
eral Kutusoff  had  retired  with  the  utmost 
expedition  to  Znaim,  leaving  the  division 
under  prince  Bagration,  consisting  of  six 
thousand  men,  opposed  to  thirty  thousand  of 
the  enemy,  by  whom  he  was  surrounded, 
when  he  bravely  cut  his  way  through  them, 
and  arrived  with  comparatively  little  loss  at 
the  head-quarters  of  Wischau.  The  French 
pursued  their  advantages  in  every  direction: 
on  the  twentieth  of  November  Buonaparte 
arrived  at  Brunn,  and  received  a  deputation 
from  the  Moravian  states,  with  a  bishop  at 
their  head;  Ney  was  already  master  of 
Brixen ;  and  Bernadotte  occupied  Iglau,  on 
the  confines  of  Bohemia.  Many  prisoners 
and  much  baggage  fell  into  their  hands  in 
the  various  encounters ;  and,  on  the  twenty- 
third,  they  had  pushed  their  reconnoitring 
parties  to  the  gates  of  Olmutz.  The  com- 
bined forces  at  that  place  amounted  to  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  men,  of  which  the 
Russians  formed  the  greater  part ;  but  they 
were  harassed  by  constant  exertions,  and  en- 
feebled by  continual  privations.  The  prov- 
inces to  a  great  distance  around  them  were 
wasted,  and  no  alternative  remained  but  to 
commit  the  fortunes  of  the  campaign  to  the 
last  desperate  valor  of  their  troops.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  emperor  of  Russia  in  his  camp, 
Buonaparte  sent  bis  aid-de-camp,  general 
Savary,  to  compliment  that  prince,  and  to 
propose  an  interview,  which  he  declined, 
but  in  return  dispatched  prince  Dobgoruski 
to  explain  his  sentiments.  In  the  mean  time 
Savary,  who  had  been  indiscreetly  suffered 
to  remain  within  the  Russian  lines  for  three 
successive  days,  had  returned  to  tlie  French 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


507 


camp,  and  reported  that,  in  spite  of  the  de- 
plorable state  of  their  troops,  presumption, 
imprudence,  and  indiscretion,  reigned  in 
their  military  councils.  Availing  himself 
of  this  intelligence,  Buonaparte  issued  or- 
ders for  his  army  to  retire  under  cover  of 
the  night,  as  if  apprehensive  of  an  engage- 
ment with  so  formidable  an  enemy,  and  to 
take  up  a  strong  position  in  the  rear,  where 
the  troops  were  throwing  up  intrenchments, 
and  forming  batteries,  when  prince  Dobgo- 
ruski  made  his  appearance.  These  disposi 
tions  appear  to  have  been  attended  with  the 
desired  effect.  The  head-quarters  of  the 
emperors  of  Russia  and  Germany  were  re- 
moved to  Austerlitz,  and  a  general  attack 
was  commenced  at  daybreak,  on  the  second 
of  December,  in  which  Buonaparte  suc- 
ceeded in  completely  insulating  the  centre 
of  the  allies,  and,  by  possessing  himself  of 
the  heights  of  Pratzen,  decided  the  fate  of 
the  day.  The  Russians  made  many  brave 
but  fruitless  efforts,  and  at  night-fall  retreat- 
ed upon  Boscovitz,  covered  by  the  Austrian 
cavalry.  The  loss  of  the  allies  was  esti- 
mated at  a  fourth  part  of  their  force ;  and 
this  tremendous  conflict,  which  was  styled 
by  the  French  soldiers.  The  battle  of  the 
three  emperors,  and  by  Buonaparte,  The  bat- 
tle of  Austerlitz,  terminated  the  campaign 
and  the  war.  The  Austrian  emperor,  dis- 
mayed by  his  loss,  solicited  an  immediate 
armistice ;  and  on  the  fourth  an  interview 
took  place,  at  the  French  advanced  posts, 
between  Napoleon  and  the  emperor  of  Aus- 
tria, when  a  suspension  of  arms  was  agreed 
upon,  the  terms  of  which  were,  that  the 
French  should  remain  in  possession  of  all 
their  conquests  until  the  conclusion  of  a  de- 
finitive peace,  or  the  rupture  of  negotia- 
tions ;  and  that,  in  the  latter  case,  hostilities 
should  not  recommence  until  the  expiration 
of  fourteen  days.  It  was  further  stipulated 
that  the  Russian  army  should  evacuate  the 
Austrian  states  within  a  limited  time  ;  that 
there  should  be  no  extraordinary  raising  of 
troops;  and  that  negotiators  should  meet, 
without  delay,  to  form  a  definitive  treaty. 
The  emperor  Alexander  refused  to  become 
a  party  to  these  conditions,  and  on  the  sixth 
of  December  caused  his  army  to  withdraw 
from  the  Austrian  states.  Before  the  arri- 
val of  intelligence  announcing  the  armis- 
tice, the  archduke  Ferdinand,  who  com- 
manded a  corps  of  twenty  thousand  Austri- 
ans  in  Bohemia,  defeated  a  corps  of  Bava- 
rians under  general  Wrede,  and  was  rapidly 
advancing  in  the  rear  of  the  French  army. 
Almost  at  the  same  period,  the  archduke 
Charles  advanced  from  Hungary,  within  a 
day's  march  of  Vienna,  with  a  powerful 
force ;  and,  on  summoning  the  city  to  sur- 
render, was  greatly  mortified  to  find  him- 
self reduced  to  a  state  of  inaction  by  the 


suspension  of  hostilities,  and  his  country 
prostrate  at  the  foot  of  a  man,  who,  in  the 
hour  of  triumph,  suffered  no  generous  im- 
pulse to  soften  his  political  resolves. 

A  definitive  treaty  was  signed  at  Pres- 
burg  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  December,  the 
provisions  of  which  were,  that  the  Venetian 
territory  should  be  united  in  perpetuity  to 
the  kingdom  of  Italy ;  that  the  royal  title 
assumed  by  the  electors  of  Bavaria  and  Wir- 
temburg  should  be  acknowledged  ;  that  the 
margraviate  of  Burgau,  the  principality  of 
Eichstadt,  part  of  the  territory  of  Passau, 
the  country  of  the  Tyrol,  and  the  lordships 
of  Voralberg,  should  be  ceded  to  the  king  of 
Bavaria;  that  the  Austrian  emperor's  pos- 
sessions in  Franconia,  Suabia,  and  Bavaria, 
should  be  divided  between  the  kings  of  Ba- 
varia and  Wirtemburg,  and  the  elector  of 
Baden ;  that  the  county  of  Saltzburg  and  of 
Berchtoldsgaden,  belonging  to  the  archduke 
Ferdinand,  should  be  incorporated  with  the 
Austrian  empire,  and  that  the  archduke 
should  receive  from  the  king  of  Bavaria,  in 
compensation,  the  territory  of  Wurtsburg. 
By  this  treaty  it  was  estimated  that  the  em- 
peror lost  in  subjects  more  than  two  million 
seven  hundred  thousand  souls,  and  in  reve- 
nue sixteen  million  of  florins,  about  one  mil- 
lion six  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling ; 
but  the  diminution  of  power  and  influence 
which  he  sustained  in  abandoning  his  pos- 
sessions on  the  side  of  Italy,  and  in  relin- 
quishing the  line  of  country  through  which 
he  formerly  maintained  his  connexion  with 
Switzerland,  was  a  severe  stroke  upon  his 
political  consequence. 

A  treaty  between  France  and  Prussia  was 
also  concluded  at  Vienna,  which  stipulated 
that  Buonaparte  should  send  no  more  troops 
into  Hanover,  and  that  the  forces  of  the  al- 
lies should  be  withdrawn,  and  replaced  by 
those  of  Prussia,  who,  in  exchange  for  Han- 
over, ceded  Anspach  and  Bayreuth  in  Fran- 
conia, Cleves  in  Westphalia,  and  Neufchatel 
and  Valengin  in  Switzerland. 

ATTEMPTS  ON  THE  WEST  INDIES  BY 
FRENCH  FLEETS— SIR  ROBERT  CAl^ 
DER'S  ENGAGEMENT. 
Whii^t  Buonaparte  was  thus  successful 
on  the  continent,  Great  Britain  was  not  less 
triumphant  on  her  natural  element  As 
early  as  the  eleventh  of  January,  a  French 
squadron,  consisting  of  six  sail  of  the  line 
and  two  frigates,  after  having  been  blockad- 
ed for  more  than  two  years  in  Rochefbrt, 
ventured  out  to  sea,  with  the  view  to  unite 
itself  with  the  more  formidable  force  at 
Brest ;  and  on  the  fifteenth  the  Toulon  fleet, 
comprising  eleven  sail  of  the  line,  and  hav- 
ing on  board  nine  thousand  troops,  also  push- 
ed out  to  sea,  without  being  perceived  by 
the  blockading  squadron  under  lord  Nelswi ; 
but  after  a  short  cruise  was  obliged  again  to 


508 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


put  into  port  through  stress  of  weather.  On 
the  twenty-second  of  February,  the  force 
which  had  escaped  from  Rochefort,  having- 
proceeded  to  the  West  Indies,  made  a  de- 
scent on  the  island  of  Dominica,  and  the 
town  of  Roseau  was  obliged  to  capitulate  : 
the  governor-general  Prevost,  however,  re- 
treated to  St.  Rupert's,  where  he  was  in 
vain  summoned  to  surrender ;  and  the 
French  commander  at  length  abandoned  the 
island,  after  levying  a  heavy  contribution  on 
the  inhabitants  of  Roseau.  He  next  visited 
the  islands  of  Nevis  and  St.  Kitt's,  both  of 
which  were  also  laid  under  contribution ; 
but,  on  the  arrival  of  admiral  Cochrane  in 
the  West  Indies,  this  marauding  squadron 
precipitately  sailed  for  France,  where  it  ar- 
rived in  safety. 

The  alarm  created  in  the  public  mind  re- 
specting the  proceedings  of  the  Rochefort 
squadron  had  scarcely  subsided,  when  intel- 
ligence was  received  that  the  Toulon  fleet, 
under  admiral  Villeneuve,  was  again  at  sea. 
On  the  thirtieth  of  March  this  officer  sailed 
to  Carthagena  ;  but,  not  finding  the  Spanish 
ships  in  that  port  in  readiness,  he  continued 
his  course  unmolested  to  Cadiz ;  and,  being 
there  joined  by  one  French  and  six  Spanish 
sail  of  the  line,  he  steered  to  the  West  In- 
dies with  an  accumulated  force  of  eighteen 
sail  of  the  line,  carrying,  beside  their  full 
complement  of  seamen,  ten  thousand  vete- 
ran troops. 

On  the  approach  of  Villeneuve  to  Cadiz, 
admiral  Sir  John  Orde,  who  was  blockading 
that  port  with  five  ships  of  the  line,  thought 
it  prudent  to  retire,  and  succeeded  in  joining 
lord  Gardner  off"  Brest.  The  welcome  ac- 
count, however,  soon  arrived,  that  lord  Nel- 
son, who  had  been  cruising  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, was  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  the 
West  Indies.  His  lordship,  it  is  true,  had 
only  ten  ships  of  the  line  ;  but  his  name  was 
a  tower  of  strength.  On  the  fourth  of  June 
he  arrived  off"  Barbadoes,  where  he  learned 
that  admiral  Villeneuve  had  reached  Mar- 
tinique on  the  fourteenth  of  May,  but  that 
the  Diamond  Rock  was  the  only  conquest 
he  had  achieved ;  when,  after  remaining 
nearly  inactive  during  three  weeks,  hearing 
of  the  presence  of  the  dreaded  Nelson,  he 
set  sail  on  his  return,  and  was  immediately 
followed  by  his  indefatigable  opponent,  who, 
having  in  vain  sought  him  off  Cadiz  and 
Cape  St.  Vincent,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  returned  to  Eng- 
land, after  dispatching  nine  ships  of  the  line 
to  reinforce  lord  Gardner  off  Brest.  Hopes 
were  yet  entertained  that  Villeneuve  would 
be  intercepted  before  he  could  reach  any 
friendly  port ;  and  on  the  twenty-second  of 
July,  his  fleet,  which  now  amounted  to  twen- 
ty sail  of  the  line,  three  fifty-gun  ships,  and 
five  frigates,  fell  in  with  Sir  Robert  Calder, 


who  had  only  fifteen  sail  of  the  line  and  two 
frigates,  six  leagues  west  of  Cape  Finisterre, 
and,  after  an  engagement  of  four  hours,  the 
St.  Raphael,  of  eighty-four  guns,  and  El 
Firme,  of  seventy-four,  were  taken  from  the 
enemy,  when  Sir  Robert,  from  the  foggy 
state  of  the  weather,  judged  it  expedient  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  action,  in  order  that  liis 
squadron  might  cover  the  captures.  The 
night  was  spent  by  both  fleets  in  the  neces- 
sary repairs,  and  on  the  following  morning 
the  enemy  seemed  disposed  to  renew  the 
contest,  but  he  never  approached  nearer  the 
British  lines  than  four  leagues ;  and  on  the 
twenty-fourth,  he  bore  away  to  the  south- 
east under  easy  sail.  In  England  the  con- 
duct of  Sir  Robert  Calder  became  the  sub- 
ject of  so  much  disapprobation,  that  he  de- 
manded a  court-martial,  by  which  he  was 
sentenced  to  be  severely  reprimanded,  not 
for  fear  or  cowardice,  but  for  an  error  in 
judgment,  in  not  having  done  his  utmost  to 
take  or  destroy  every  sliip  of  the  enemy. 
This  officer's  fate  was  considered  by  the 
better  informed  as  somewhat  hard  ;  and  it  is 
a  singular  proof  of  the  high  confidence  then 
existing  in  the  naval  superiority  of  the 
country,  that  an  officer  should  meet  reproof, 
who,  with  fifteen  sail,  obtained  a  partial  vic- 
tory over  more  than  twenty. 

VICTORY  OF  TRAFALGAR,  AND  DEATH 
OF  KELSON. 
The  combined  fleets,  having  at  Ferrol 
augmented  their  forces  to  twenty-seven  sail 
of  the  line,  proceedrii  to  Cadiz ;  and  scarcely 
had  lord  Nelson  arraed  in  London,  after  his 
long  and  persevering  cruise,  when  he  was 
offered  the  command  of  an  armament  suffi- 
cient to  cope  with  the  united  naval  force  of 
France  and  her  allies,  which  he  willingly 
accepted,  and,  hoisting  his  flag  on  board  the 
Victory,  arrived  off  Cadiz  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  September.  To  induce  the  enemy 
to  come  out  to  sea,  he  stationed  his  main 
force  near  Cape  St.  Mary,  and  established  a 
line  of  frigates  to  communicate  their  move- 
ments. On  the  nineteenth  of  October,  being 
apprized  that  a  reinforcement  of  seven  sail 
of  the  line  would  shortly  join  him  from  Eng- 
land, his  lordship  dispatched  admiral  Louis 
with  six  sail  to  Tetuan  lor  stores  and  water. 
Informed  of  this  event,  and  supposing  the 
English  to  be  much  reduced  in  strength,  ad- 
miral Villeneuve  availed  himself  of  the  fa- 
vorable juncture  to  obey  the  positive  com- 
mands which  had  been  issued  by  his  govern- 
ment :  on  the  next  day  the  fleet  under  his 
command  got  under  weigh,  and,  at  daybrealc 
on  the  twenty-first,  was  distinctly  seen  from 
the  Victorj^'s  deck,  formed  in  a  close  line  of 
battle  oflT  Cape  Trafalgar.  Our  fleet,  which 
had  received  the  expected  reinforcement, 
consisted  of  twenty-seven  sail  of  the  line 
and  four  frigates ;  theirs  of  thirty-three  sail 


GEORGE  III.   176&--1820. 


509 


of  the  line  and  seven  frigates ;  and  their  su- 
periority was  greater  in  size  and  weight  of 
metal  than  in  numbers.  Admiral  Villeneuve 
was  a  skilful  seaman ;  and  his  plan  of  de- 
fence was  as  well  conceived,  and  as  original, 
as  the  plan  of  attack.  The  Spaniards  were 
commanded  by  admiral  Gravina ;  and  four 
thousand  troops  were  embarked  on  board  the 
fleet,  under  the  command  of  general  Con- 
tamin,  among  whom  were  several  skilful 
sharp-shooters  and  Tyrolese  riflemen.  The 
British  fleet  bore  up  in  two  columns  as  they 
formed  in  the  order  of  sailing ;  and  as  the 
mode  of  attack  was  unusual,  so  the  structure 
of  the  enemy's  line  was  new ;  it  formed  a 
crescent  convexing  to  leeward,  so  that,  in 
.leading  down  to  their  centre,  lord  Colling- 
wood  had  both  their  van  and  rear  abaft  tiie 
beam.  As  the  mode  of  our  attack  had  been 
previously  determined  on,  few  signals  were 
necessary,  and  none  were  made,  except  to 
direct  close  order  as  the  lines  bore  down. 
The  last  telegraphic  signal  issued  by  the 
great  commander  on  going  into  action  was, 
"England  expects  every  man  to  do  his 
duty ;"  and  nobly  indeed  was  it  performed 
on  this  glorious  day,  for  the  battle  of  Trafal- 
gar is  without  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of 
British  victory. 

The  conflict  began  about  noon,  when  ad- 
miral Collingwood,  in  the  Royal  Sovereign, 
gallantly  cut  through  the  enemy's  line  about 
the  twelfth  ship  from  his  rear,  leaving  his 
van  unoccupied ;  the  succeeding  ships  broke 
through  in  all  parts  astern  of  their  leaders, 
and  engaged  their  antagonists  at  the  muzzles 
of  their  guns.  Lord  Nelson,  on  board  the 
Victory,  directed  his  attack  on  the  enemy's 
line  between  the  tenth  and  eleventh  ships 
in  the  van;  but,  finding  it  so  close  that 
there  was  not  room  to  pass,  he  ordered  his 
ship  to  be  run  on  board  the  Redoubtable,  op- 
posed to  him;  his  second,  the  Temeraire, 
engaged  the  next  ship  in  the  enemy's  line, 
and  the  others  singled  out  their  adversaries 
according  to  the  order  of  battle.  During 
nearly  four  hours  the  conflict  was  tremen- 
dous, particularly  in  that  part  of  the  line 
where  the  commander-in-chief  had  com- 
menced the  onset.  The  guns  of  his  ship 
repeatedly  set  fire  to  the  Redoubtable ;  and 
the  British  seamen,  apprehensive  that  both 
ships  might  be  involved  in  destruction,  were 
employed  at  intervals  during  the  heat  of  the 
fight  in  throwing  buckets  of  water  on  the 
spreading  flames.  About  three  in  the  after- 
noon the  Spanish  admiral,  with  ten  sail  of 
the  line,  joining  the  frigates  to  leeward,  bore 
away  for  Cadiz ;  and  ten  minutes  afterwards 
five  of  the  headmost  ships  of  the  enemy's 
van,  under  admiral  Dumanoir,  tacked,  and 
stood  to  windward  of  the  British  line :  the 
sternmost  was  taken,  but  the  others  escaped. 
The  heroic  exertions  of  the  British  were 
43* 


rewarded  by  the  capture  of  nineteen  ships 
of  the  line,  with  the  commander-in-chief, 
Villeneuve,  and  two  Spanish  admirals ;  but, 
a  gale  of  wind  coming  on  from  the  south- 
west after  the  action,  only  four  of  the  prizes 
could  be  saved,  which  were  carried  into 
Gibraltar.  The  Achille,  a  French  seventy- 
four,  blew  up,  after  her  surrender :  but  two 
hundred  of  her  men  were  saved.  Admiral 
Villeneuve  was  sent  to  England,  and  after- 
wards permitted  to  return  to  France,  where, 
as  was  stated  by  the  French  government, 
he  destroyed  himself,  dreading  the  conse- 
quences of  a  court-martial. 

In  such  a  battle  the  loss  on  both  sides 
must  be  severe ;  that  of  the  victors  amount- 
ed to  fifteen  hundred  men  killed  and  wound- 
ed :  but  the  deep  regret  which  the  efltision 
of  so  much  brave  blood  cannot  fail  to  excite 
was  absorbed  in  the  greater  sorrow  caused 
by  the  fall  of  the  commander-in-chief,  who 
was  mortally  wounded  by  a  musket-shot 
from  the  ship  with  which  he  was  closely  en- 
gaged. He  survived  the  battle  about  two 
hours;  and  the  pain  of  his  last  moments 
was  soothed  by  the  glad  tidings  that  the 
hostile  flags  were  striking  around  him ; 
when,  after  breathing  his  thanks  to  Heaven 
for  being  enabled  once  more  to  do  his  duty 
to  his  country,  he  expired  without  a  groan. 
Such  was  the  end  of  this  great  man,  whose 
career  had  been  eminently  brilliant,  and 
whose  fate  was  glorious  and  triumphant. 
Before  the  battle  began  he  entertained  a 
presentiment  that  this  would  be  the  last  day 
of  his  life,  and  seemed  to  look  for  death  with 
almost  as  sure  an  expectation  as  for  victory; 
but  although  this  gloomy  foreboding  occu- 
pied his  mind,  and  though  he  had  more  than 
once  observed  that  the  enemy  would  endeavor 
to  mark  him  out  as  one  of  their  victims,  yet 
his  lordship,  on  the  mornmg  of  the  twenty- 
first,  put  on  the  stars  of  the  different  orders 
with  which  he  had  been  invested.  His  sec- 
retary and  chaplain,  apprehensive  that  these 
insignia  might  expose  his  person  to  unneces- 
sary danger,  endeavored,  but  in  vain,  to  pre- 
vail upon  him  to  take  them  oflf:  to  all  their 
entreaties  he  replied — "In  honor  I  gained 
them,  and  in  honor  I  will  die  with  them." 

The  survivors  were  gratified  with  the 
thanks  of  both  houses  of  parliament ;  gold 
medals  were  awarded  to  those  who  had  par- 
ticularly distinguished  themselves  on  this 
memorable  day ;  and,  besides  the  honors  and 
rewards  showered  upon  the  family  of  the 
fallen  hero,  the  dignity  of  Baron,  with  an 
annuity  of  two  thousand  pounds  a-year  to 
himself  and  his  two  next  heirs,  was  con- 
ferred upon  vice-admiral  Collingwood. 

The  four  French  ships  under  rear-admiral 
Dumanoir,  which  escaped  to  the  southward 
towards  the  close  of  the  action  off  Trafalgar 
soon  shared  the  fate  of  their  oompauions. 


510 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


On  the  night  of  the  second  of  November, 
rear-admiral  Sir  Richard  Strachan,  cruising 
off  Ferrol  with  four  ships  of  the  line  and 
three  frigates,  fell  in  with  what  he  thought 
the  Rochefort  squadron;  but  they  proved 
to  be  the  fugitives  from  the  combined  fleet, 
to  which  he  immediately  gave  chase.  A  little 
before  noon  on  the  fourth,  Dumanoir,  finding 
an  engagement  unavoidable,  came  to  close 
action ;  and,  after  a  well-supported  contest, 
continued  for  nearly  three  hours  and  a  half, 
all  the  four  ships  struck  to  the  English,  but 
not  till  they  had  become  quite  unmanage- 
able. Thus  was  the  naval  power  of  France 
^nd  her  ally  reduced  to  insignificance ;  the 
phantoms  of  "ships,  colonies,  and  commerce," 
which  had  floated  before  the  imagination  of 
Buonaparte,  were  chased  from  the  regions 
of  probability;  and  Britain  was  confirmed 
in  her  paramount  dominion  of  the  seas. 

WAR  IN  INDIA.— DEATH  OF  LORD  CORN- 
WALLIS. 

In  India  a  new  war  was  occasioned  by 
the  intrigues  and  aggressions  of  Jeswunt 
Rao  Holkar,  the  Mahratta  chief,  who  had 
usurped  the  dominions  of  his  brother,  and 


renounced  his  allegiance  to  the  Peishwa. 
After  a  fruitless  negotiation,  the  troops  in 
the  Deccan,  under  general  Wellesley,  re- 
duced the  fortress  of  Chandore ;  while  lord 
Lake,  by  a  series  of  skilful  and  rapid  move- 
ments, compelled  him  to  risk  encounters 
which  ultimately  led  to  his  discomfiture. 
On  the  thirteenth  of  November,  1804,  a 
large  force  was  totally  routed  near  Deeg ; 
and  on  the  seventeenth  his  cavalry  was  sur- 
prised and  defeated  near  Feruckabad,  Holkar 
himself  escaping  with  great  difficulty  from 
the  field.  This  splendid  success  would  have 
decided  the  contest,  had  not  the  unexpected 
defection  of  the  rajah  of  Bhurtpore  enabled 
the  fugitive  to  repair  his  desperate  fortunes. 
Early  in  1805  lord  Lake  made  several  at- 
tacks on  the  town  of  Bhurtpore,  in  all  of 
which  he  was  repulsed  with  considerable 
loss ;  but  at  length  the  rajah  made  proposals 
for  peace,  which  W£is  granted  to  him,  and 
subsequently  to  Holkar,  on  terms  favorable 
to  the  company.  In  July  lord  Cornwallis 
arrived  at  Madras,  as  successor  to  the  mar- 
quis Wellesley,  but  in  such  a  reduced  state 
of  health  that  he  died  in  the  October  fol- 
lowing. 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


511 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


State  of  Europe — Meeting  of  Parliament — Death  of  Pitt — Change  of  Ministry — New 
Military  Arrangements — Finance — Prevention  of  Abuses — Corn  Trade  with  Ireland 
— Intercourse  between  the  West  Indies  and  America — Slave  Trade — Impeachment 
of  Lord  Melville — India  Affairs — Prorogation  of  Parliament — Negotiation  for 
Peace — Death  of  Fox — Ministerial  Appointments — Dissolution  of  Parliament — 
Admiral  Sir  J.  T.  Duckworth's  Victory — Other  Naval  Successes — Capture  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope — Unauthorized  Expedition  to  Buenos  Ayres — Court-Mar  Hal  on 
Sir  Home  Popham — Dispute  with  America — Elevation  of  Joseph  Buonaparte  to  the 
Throne  of  Naples — Resistance  to  the  French  Arms — Battle  of  Maida — Occupa- 
tion of  Hanover  by  Prussia — Consequent  Hostility  with  England  and  Sweden — 
Revolution  in  her  Politics — Confederation  of  the  Rhine — Louis  Buonaparte  declared 
King  of  Holland — Titles  conferred  by  Buonaparte  on  his  Followers — Murder  of 
Palm — Fourth  Coalition  against  France — Movements  of  the  French  and  Prussian 
Forces — Battle  of  Auerstadt,  or  Jena — Its  Consequences — Seizure  of  British  Prop- 
erty at  Hamburgh — Buonaparte's  Berlin  Decree — Negotiation  for  an  Armistice — 
Advance  of  the  Russians — Their  Repulse — Levies — Operations  in  Silesia — Battle 
of  Eylau — Surrender  of  Dantzic — Success  of  the  French  in  Swedish  Pomerania — 
Battle  of  Friedland — Treaty  of  Tilsit — War  with  Turkey  and  Russia,  followed  by 
Hostilities  between  England  and  the  former — Expeditions  to  Constantinople  and 
Effypt — Capture  of  Monte  Video — Attack  on  Buenos  Ayres — Its  Failure — General 
Whitelock  tried  by  Court-Martial  and  cashiered — Capture  of  Curagoa — Insurrec- 
tion of  the  Sepoys  in  India, 


STATE  OF  EUROPE. 
1806. — At  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1806,  the  French  and  English  nations  had 
acquired  an  absolute  and  uncontrolled  do- 
minion, the  one  over  the  land,  and  the  other 
over  the  seas.  The  battle  of  Austerlitz  had 
confirmed  the  military  superiority  of  France, 
and  left  her  without  a  rival  on  the  continent; 
while  the  victory  of  Trafalo^ar  had  decided 
the  naval  pre-eminence  of  England:  she 
was,  however,  unable  to  make  any  serious 
impression  on  the  power  of  Buonaparte,  who, 
after  the  treaty  of  Presburg,  no  longer  de- 
terred by  the  fear  of  a  continental  coalition, 
was  at  liberty  to  direct  his  whole  force  and 
energy  to  her  subjugation.  If  Great  Britain 
had  nothing  to  apprehend  from  the  number 
of  troops  Buonaparte  might  be  able  to  land 
on  the  shores  of  England,  other  parts  of  the 
empire  were  not  equally  invulnerable  to  his 
attacks.  In  Ireland,  exposed  by  her  griev- 
ances to  the  seduction  of  his  emissaries,  and 
accessible  by  her  situation  to  the  invasion 
of  his  army,  rebellion  had  been  put  down, 
but  discontent  still  existed :  the  fire  which 
had  lately  blazed  with  such  fury,  was  smoth- 
ered, but  not  extinguished ;  and  though  the 
more  moderate  of  the  Catholics  were  ready 
to  postpone  the  discussion  of  their  claims 
till  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  redress  of  their 
grievances  was  removed,  and  the  prudent 
and  considerate  were  disinclined  to  those 
violent  counsels  fi-om  which  they  had  already 
suffered  so  much,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed 
that  all  the  Irish  Catholics  were  moderate 


and  prudent,  but  that  many  of  that  body 
would  join  themselves  to  a  French  army 
whenever  it  might  make  its  appearance  in 
their  country. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT— DEATH  OF 
PIT1\— CHANGE  OF  MINISTRY. 

Affairs  were  in  this  posture  when  par- 
liament was  opened  by  commission  on  the 
twenty-first  of  January.  After  suitable  con- 
gratulations on  the  late  naval  successes, 
mixed  with  regret  for  the  lamented  death  of 
the  hero  by  whom  they  were  achieved,  the 
speech  stated  that  his  majesty  had  directed 
the  treaties  concluded  with  foreign  powers 
to  be  laid  before  the  two  houses ;  and,  while 
he  lamented  the  late  disastrous  events  on  the 
continent,  he  congratulated  them  on  the  as- 
surances which  he  continued  to  receive  from 
the  emperor  of  Russia.  The  speech  then 
stated  that  one  million  pounds,  accruing  to 
the  crown  from  the  droits  of  admiralty,  would 
be  applied  to  the  public  service  of  the  year ; 
and  concluded  by  recommending  vigilance 
and  exertion  against  the  enemy.  An  amend- 
ment to  the  address  was  read  in  both  houses, 
but  was  not  proposed  as  a  motion,  on  account 
of  the  dangerous  indisposition  of  Pitt,  who 
was  at  that  moment  on  his  death-bed. 

This  distinguished  statesman  had  been 
compelled,  at  the  close  of  the  former  session 
of  parliament,  to  relinquish  all  active  share 
in  public  business,  and  retire  to  Bath,  whence 
he  returned,  on  the  eleventh  of  January,  to 
his  residence  on  Putney  Heath,  in  a  state  of 
debility  and  exhaustion,  augmented  by  anxi- 


512 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ety  and  disappointment.  His  constitution, 
originally  delicate,  sunk  rapidly ;  and  on  the 
twenty-third  of  January  he  expired,  in  the 
forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  after  having 
enjoyed  greater  power  and  popularity,  and 
held  the  first  place  in  the  government  of  his 
country  for  a  longer  course  of  years,  than 
any  former  minister  of  England.  On  a  mo- 
tion of  the  honorable  Henry  Lascelles,  made 
in  the  house  of  commons  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  January,  and  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of  two  hundred  and  fifty-eightto  eighty- 
nine,  his  remains  were  interred  at  the  pub- 
lic expense  in  Westminster  Abbey,  by  the 
side  of  his  father.  A  sum  not  exceeding  forty 
thousand  pounds  was  voted  for  the  payment 
of  his  debts  without  opposition.  He  pos- 
sessed no  particular  advantages  of  person  or 
physiognomy;  but  as  a  speaker  he  was 
thought  to  be  without  a  rival.  His  mtegrity 
was  unimpeached;  his  conduct  moral;  and, 
so  far  was  he  from  making  use  of  his  oppor- 
tunities to  acquire  wealth,  that  he  died  in- 
solvent. As  a  financier,  he  displayed  great 
ability  in  augmenting  the  public  revenue, 
and  in  raising  money  on  public  faith;  but 
whilst  he  was  thus  adding  to  the  burdens 
of  the  people,  and  entailing  a  heavy  load  on 
posterity,  the  wealth  so  acquired  was  dis- 
tributed with  lavish  profusion.  Such  was  his 
dread  of  the  revolutionary  principles  which 
desolated  France,  that,  considering  no  price 
too  great  for  the  means  of  opposing  them,  he 
carried  the  practice  of  subsidizing  foreign 
states  to  an  unprecedented  and  almost  ruinous 
extent.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  his 
errors,  his  exertions  in  the  public  service, 
during  a  period  of  unexampled  difficulty, 
were  unwearied;  and  the  emphatic  words 
pronounced  by  the  herald  over  his  corpse, 
"  non  sibi  sed  pafrice  vixit,''^  were  not  less 
just  than  honorable. 

Either  from  confidence  in  his  own  powers, 
or  from  the  love  of  sway,  Pitt  seldom  asso- 
ciated himself  with  men  of  superior  talent, 
and  his  death  at  this  critical  juncture  was 
considered  as  a  virtual  dissolution  of  the  ex- 
isting administration.  His  colleagues,  be- 
sides the  want  of  public  confidence,  were 
disunited  and  without  a  head ;  and  the  loss 
of  their  patron  dissolved  the  only  tie  that 
bound  them.  In  circumstances  so  discourag- 
ing, the  surviving  members  of  Pitt's  admin- 
istration resigned  to  their  opponents  the 
reins  of  government,  witliout  a  struggle; 
and  even  refused  to  retain  charge  of  them, 
when  urged  to  that  duty  by  the  solicitations 
of  the  court.  Lord  Hawkesbury  was  oflfered 
the  post  of  premier,  but  he  deemed  it  too 
arduous,  and  on  retiring  from  office  received 
the  wardenship  of  the  cinque  ports. 

Every  attempt  to  form  an  administration 
from  the  wreck  of  the  late  cabinet  having 
proved  unsuccessful,  his  majesty  called  in 


the  assistance  of  lord  Grenvillc,  and  on  the 
third  of  February  the  new  ministerial  ar- 
rangements were  finally  settled,  embracing 
the  leading  members  of  the  three  parties, 
designated  by  the  appellation  of  the  old  and 
new  opposition,  and  the  Sidmouth  party. 
The  cabinet  was  composed  of  the  following 
members :  earl  Fitzwilliam,  president  of  the 
council ;  lord  Erskine,  lord  chancellor ;  vis- 
count Sidmouth,  lord  privy-seal ;  lord  Gren- 
ville,  first  lord  of  the  treasury ;  lord  Ho- 
wick  (late  Mr.  Grey),  first  lord  of  the  ad- 
miralty ;  earl  Moira,  master-general  of  the 
ordnance ;  earl  Spencer,  Mr.  Fox,  and  Mr. 
Windham,  secretaries  of  state  for  the  home, 
foreign,  and  war  departments;  and  lord 
Henry  Petty,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 
Lord  chief  justice  Ellenborough  was  also 
admitted  to  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.  The  duke 
of  Bedford  went  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieuten- 
ant, accompanied  by  Elliot  as  chief  secreta- 
ry. Ponsonby  was  appointed  chancellor  and 
keeper  of  the  seals  in  Ireland,  and  Sir  John 
Newport  chancellor  of  the  Irish  exchequer ; 
lord  Minto  was  appointed  president  of  the 
board  of  control ;  Sheridan,  treasurer  of  the 
navy ;  general  Fitzpatrick,  secretary  at  war ; 
Sir  Arthur  Pigott  and  Sir  Samuel  Romilly, 
attorney  and  solicitor  general.  In  the  sub- 
ordinate offices,  likewise,  so  complete  a 
change  had  not  been  eflfected  since  the  com- 
mencement of  Pitt's  first  administration. 

Lord  Grenville's  holding  the  office  of  au- 
ditor of  the  exchequer,  which  is  incompati- 
ble with  that  of  first  lord  of  the  treasury, 
rendered  it  necessary  to  bring  a  bill  into 
parliament,  to  enable  him  to  accept  the  lat- 
ter office,  without  forfeiting  the  former; 
and,  to  palliate  the  objections  that  might  be 
made  to  this  equivocal  union,  his  lordship 
was  empowered  to  name  a  trustee  to  hold 
the  office  of  auditor,  so  long  as  he  should 
continue  in  the  situation  of  first  lord  of  the 
treasury ;  which  trustee  should  be  responsi- 
ble to  the  auditor  for  the  salary,  and  to  the 
public  for  the  due  execution  of  his  office. 
The  appointment  of  lord  chief  justice  El- 
lenborough to  a  seat  in  the  cabinet  was  a 
measure  of  still  more  doubtful  policy. 

MILITARY  ARRANGEMENTS.— FINANCE. 
—SLAVE  TRADE. 
On  the  third  of  April,  Windham  submit- 
ted to  the  house  of  commons  some  important 
military  arrangements.  Instead  of  an  en- 
gagement to  serve  for  life,  he  proposed  that 
the  soldiers  in  future  should  be  enlisted  for 
a  term  of  years  only ;  this  term  to  be  divi- 
ded into  three  periods,  of  seven  years  each, 
for  the  infantry;  and,  for  the  cavalry  and 
artillery,  the  first  period  to  be  ten ;  the  sec- 
ond, six ;  and  the  third,  five  years.  At  the 
end  of  each  period  the  soldier  to  have  a 
right  to  claim  his  discharge,  and  be  entitled 
to  certain  advantages  proportioned  to  his 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


13 


length  of  service.  Desertion  might  be  pun- 
ished by  the  loss  of  so  many  years'  service ; 
and  though  corporal  punishments  could  not, 
he  said,  be  entirely  banished  from  the  army, 
they  might  be  diminished  both  in  number 
and  severity.  The  volunteer  corps  ought 
only  to  be  formed  of  persons  who  would 
serve  at  their  own  expense,  and  the  peasant- 
ry should  be  loosely  trained  to  harass  and 
impede  an  enemy.  This  training  he  meant 
to  be  compulsory;  and  that  two  hundred 
thousand  should  be  annually  liable  to  that 
duty.  The  bills  necessary  for  effecting  these 
arrangements  were  strongly  opposed  in  eve- 
ry stage,  but  finally  passed  in  both  houses. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  March  the 
budget  was  opened  by  lord  Henry  Petty,  who 
stated  the  unredeemed  debt  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Ireland  at  nearly  five  hundred  and 
fifty-six  million  pounds,  and  the  redeemed 
«.t  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  million 
pounds,  of  which  the  annual  charge  was 
nearly  twenty-seven  million  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  The  supplies  on  account 
of  Great  Britain  were  estimated  at  forty- 
three  million  six  hundred  and  eighteen 
thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-two 
pounds ;  and  among  the  proposed  ways  and 
means  the  most  considerable  were  a  loan  of 
eighteen  million  pounds,  and  an  augmenta- 
tion of  the  war  taxes  to  nmeteen  million 
five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  to  be  effected 
principally  by  raismg  the  property  tax  from 
six  and  a  half  to  ten  per  cent.  It  was  also 
proposed  to  raise  the  war  duties  on  the  cus- 
toms, with  certain  modifications,  from  one 
fourth  to  one  third ;  and,  in  order  to  cover 
the  interest  of  the  loan,  the  duty  on  wine 
was  to  be  made  permanent,  and  two  pounds 
per  ton  imposed  on  pig-iron;  the  duty  on 
tea  was  to  be  equalized ;  and  a  tax  on  ap- 
praisements imposed.  The  property  tax  bill 
encountered  great  opposition,  but  was  pass- 
ed with  some  modifications.  The  tax  on 
iron  excited  such  opposition  that  it  was 
abandoned,  and  a  tax  on  private  brewers 
substituted,  but  this  raised  a  still  greater 
outcry,  and  the  interest  of  the  loan  was  pro- 
vided for  by  an  addition  of  ten  per  cent,  to 
the  assessed  taxes.  The  budget  for  Ireland 
was  opened  by  Sir  John  Newport  on  the 
seventh  of  May,  when  it  appeared  that  the 
supply  voted  for  that  country  was  eight 
million  nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  ninety-four  pounds; 
and  the  ways  and  means,  including  a  loan 
of  two  million  pounds,  were  estimated  at 
nine  million  one  hundred  and  eighty-one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-five  pounds. 

Some  salutary  regulations  were  adopted 
in  various  departments.  The  balances  of 
the  treasurer  of  the  ordnance  were  ordered 
to  be  deposited  at  the  bank  of  England,  and 
tlie  payments  to  be  made  by  drafts  upon 


that  establishment :  the  same  principle  was 
also  extended  to  the  excise  and  customs,  to 
the  stamp  and  post  offices,  and  to  the  oflBce 
of  surveyor-general  of  the  woods  and  for- 
ests ;  an  act  was  passed  for  increasing  tlie 
salaries  and  abolishing  the  fees  of  the  cus- 
tom-house officers  of  the  port  of  London; 
and  judicious  measures  were  adopted  for  the 
settlement  of  public  accounts. 

The  corn  trade  between  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  was  placed  on  the  same  footing 
as  that  between  the  different  counties  of 
England,  by  an  act  which  judiciously  allow- 
ed the  free  interchange  of  grain  without 
any  bounty,  duty,  or  restraint  whatever.  An 
act  was  also  passed  for  regulating  the  inter- 
course between  the  West  Indies  and  the 
United  States,  which  vested  a  discretionary 
power  in  his  majesty  to  permit,  under  cer- 
tain restrictions,  the  trade  in  lumber  and 
provisions  carried  on  by  neutrals  with  the 
British  colonies,  with  the  proviso  that  no 
commodities,  staves  and  lumber  only  ex- 
cepted, should  be  imported,  which  were  not 
of  the  growth  and  produce  of  the  countries 
to  which  the  neutral  vessels  belonged,  and 
that  they  should  not  export  the  indigenous 
products  of  the  colonies. 

The  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  which 
had  for  so  many  years  engrossed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  friends  of  humanity  in  this  coun- 
try— which  had  been  supported  by  the  elo- 
quence of  the  late  prime  minister  whenever 
it  was  brought  before  parliament,  but  had  as 
constantly  been  defeated  hy  the  prevalence 
of  interests  which,  as  minister,  he  did  not 
choose  to  oppose — was  pursued  by  the  new 
administration  with  so  much  earnestness, 
that  in  the  present  session  considerable  pro- 
gress was  made  towards  its  accomplishment. 
A  bill  was  passed,  prohibiting  the  exporta- 
tion of  slaves  from  the  British  colonies  aft«r 
the  first  of  January,  1807,  and  interdicting 
all  subjects  of  this  country  from  being  ac- 
cessory to  the  supply  of  foreign  countries 
with  slaves  after  that  period.  Another  bill 
soon  after  passed  without  opposition,  for 
preventing  the  increase  of  the  British  slave 
trade,  by  prohibiting  any  vessels  from  em- 
barking in  that  traffic  which  were  not  al- 
ready employed  therein.  The  next  mea- 
sure was  a  resolution  moved  by  Fox  on  the 
tenth  of  June,  and  which  being  his  last  mo- 
tion, may  be  said  to  have  closed  the  parlia- 
mentary career  of  that  great  statesman. 
The  words  of  the  resolution  were,  "  that 
this  house  conceiving  the  African  slave 
trade  to  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of  jus- 
tice, humanity,  and  sound  policy,  will,  with 
all  practicable  expedition,  take  effectual 
measures  for  abolishing  the  said  trade,  in 
such  manner  and  at  such  period  as  may  be 
deemed  advisable."  He  declared  that  he 
was  so  fully  impressed  with  the  vast  im' 


514 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


portance  of  attaining  the  object  of  his  mo- 
tion, that  if,  during  the  almost  forty  years 
that  he  had  enjoyed  a  seat  in  parhament,  he 
had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  accomplish  that, 
and  that  only,  he  could  retire  from  public  life 
with  the  conscious  satisfaction  that  he  had 
done  his  duty.  The  motion  was  opposed  by 
lord  Castlereagh,  the  members  for  Liver- 
pool, and  a  few  in  the  West  India  interest; 
but,  on  a  division,  they  were  only  fifteen 
against  one  hundred  and  fourteen,  leaving  a 
majority  of  ninety-nine  in  favor  of  the  abo- 
lition. In  the  lords  the  same  resolution  was 
adopted,  on  the  motion  of  lord  Grenville,  by 
forty-one  against  twenty.  The  last  step 
taken  on  this  subject,  during  the  present 
session,  was  a  joint  address  from  the  two 
houses,  beseeching  his  majesty  to  take  mea- 
sures for  obtainmg  the  concurrence  of  for- 
eign powers  in  the  abolition. 

IMPEACHMENT  OF  LORD  MELVILLE- 
PARLIAMENT  PROROGUED. 
The  house  of  commons  having  resolved 
to  exercise  its  power  of  impeachment  against 
lord  Melville,  managers  were  duly  appoint- 
ed ;  Westminster  hall  was  appropriately 
fitted  up ;  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  April 
the  court  was  opened  with  the  usual  forms. 
The  articles,  which  were  ten  in  number, 
contained  three  principal  charges.  The  first 
was,  that,  before  the  tenth  of  January,  1786, 
he  had  applied  to  his  private  use  and  profit 
various  sums  intrusted  to  him  as  treasurer 
of  the  navy.  The  second  was,  that  he  had 
permitted  Trotter,  his  paymaster,  illegally 
to  take  from  the  bank  of  England  large  sums 
issued  on  account  of  the  treasurer  of  the 
navy,  and  to  place  those  sums  in  the  hands 
of  his  private  banker.  The  third  was,  that 
he  had  fraudulently  permitted  Trotter  to 
apply  the  said  money  to  purposes  of  private 
use  and  emolument,  and  had  himself  de- 
rived profit  therefrom.  Lord  Melville  aver- 
red that  he  was  not  guilty,  when  Whitbread 
addressed  the  court  in  an  elaborate  speech, 
and  the  solicitor-general  recapitulated  the 
evidence.  The  counsel  for  lord  Melville 
occupied  three  days  in  the  defence :  on  the 
two  following  days  the  managers  delivered 
their  reply  on  the  part  of  the  commons :  the 
fiirther  proceedings  were  deferred  till  the 
twenty-eighth  of  May.  A  motion  of  thanks 
to  the  managers  was  made  on  the  twenty- 
third,  in  the  commons,  by  general  Fitzpat- 
rick,  and  agreed  to  with  only  one  dissentient 
voice.  At  the  appointed  period  the  peers 
assembled ;  the  assistance  of  the  judges  on 
certain  points  of  law  was  resorted  to ;  and 
on  the  twelfth  of  June  their  lordships  pro- 
ceeded to  deliver  their  verdict.  The  result 
was,  that  his  lordship  was  acquitted  of  all 
the  charges ;  but  on  four  of  the  articles  the 
majority  in  his  favor  did  not  amount  to  dou- 
ble the  number  of  those  who  gave  a  con- 


trary judgment.  The  whole  number  of  peers 
voting  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-five,  and, 
considering  the  nature  of  the  proceeding, 
the  trial  was  conducted  with  unusual  dis- 
patch. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  July,  after  a  long 
and  busy  session,  parliament  was  prorogued 
by  commission. 

NEGOTIATION  FOR  PEACE. 

In  February,  a  project  for  assassinating 
Buonaparte  was  communicated  by  a  foreigner 
to  Fox,  who  immediately  sent  a  statement 
of  the  circumstances  to  Talleyrand.  The 
French  minister,  in  reply  to  this  letter,  took 
occasion  to  introduce,  unoflficially,  an  extract 
from  Buonaparte's  speech  to  the  Legislative 
Body,  expressive  of  his  wish  for  peace  with 
England,  and  his  readiness  to  negotiate, 
without  a  moment's  delay,  agreeably  to  the 
treaty  of  Amiens.  Fox  considered  this  com- 
munication as  a  distinct  overture,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  answer  it  in  that  frank  and  direct 
style  which  is  the  characteristic  of  all  his 
public  dispatches.  He  stated  the  impossi- 
bility of  concluding  any  treaty  unless  in  con- 
cert with  Russia ;  but  suggested  the  practi- 
cability of  some  previous  discussion  of  the 
principal  points,  and  some  provisional  ar- 
rangements. A  correspondence  of  some 
length  ensued,  in  which  Talleyrand  endea- 
vored to  represent  Russia  as  interposing  its 
authority  between  two  nations  fully  compe- 
tent to  adjust  their  own  differences:  Fox, 
however,  stated  explicitly  that  his  majesty 
was  willing  to  negotiate  conjointly  with 
Russia,  but  not  separately ;  to  which  Talley- 
rand re-urged  the  former  objections,  and 
thus  the  correspondence  closed. 

Early  in  June,  however,  lord  Yarmouth, 
son  of  the  marquis  of  Hertford,  who  had 
been  among  those  detained  in  France  at  the 
commencement  of  hostilities,  arrived  in 
London,  and  communicated  the  substance 
of  a  conversation  with  Talleyrand,  which 
had  passed  at  the  desire  of  that  minister,  for 
the  purpose  of  conveying  the  outlines  of  the 
terms  on  which  peace  might  be  restored. 
Three  specific  offers  were  held  out  as  in- 
ducements to  Great  Britain  to  treat,  viz.  the 
restoration  of  Hanover;  the  possession  of 
Sicily,  as  a  consequence  of  the  principle  of 
the  uti  possidetis ;  and  a  facility  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  form  of  treating,  which, 
without  recognizing  the  claim  of  a  joint 
negotiation,  would  not  impair  the  advantages 
which  Great  Britain  and  Russia  might  de- 
rive from  their  alliance.  Talleyrand,  in  the 
first  interview  with  lord  Yarmouth  after  his 
return  to  Paris,  not  only  departed  entirely 
from  his  oflfer  of  Sicily,  but  indulged  him- 
self in  vain  allusions  to  further  demands, 
and  in  peremptory  representations  of  the 
necessity  of  negotiating  with  some  persons 
duly  empowered  to  treat.     This  deviation 


GEORGE  IIL   1760—1820. 


515 


from  the  original  overtures  was  viewed  by 
the  British  ministry  as  an  indication  of  the 
little  reliance  tliat  could  be  placed  on  the 
sincerity  of  the  French  negotiators;  lord 
Yarmouth  was  therefore  directed  to  insist 
generally  on  the  recurrence  to  the  original 
overtures,  and  to  make  the  readmission  of 
Sicily  the  sine  qua  non  of  the  production 
of  his  full  powers,  which,  to  avoid  all  pre- 
tence of  cavil,  were  conveyed  to  him  with- 
out delay.  In  the  mean  time  the  Russian 
plenipotentiary,  M.  D'Oubril,  who  had  ar- 
rived at  Paris  on  the  tenth  of  July,  had 
signed  a  separate  peace  with  the  French 
government,  and  returned  to  St.  Petersburgh 
without  communicating  to  lord  Yarmouth 
some  of  its  most  material  articles.  In  this 
posture  of  affairs  lord  Lauderdale  was  dis- 
patched to  Paris.  The  health  of  Fox  began 
at  this  period  to  decline,  and  the  nomination 
of  his  personal  friend,  and  tried  political  ad- 
herent, was  a  pledge  that  the  cabinet  con- 
tinued to  promote  his  views,  and  consult  the 
spirit  of  his  policy. 

The  first  endeavor  of  lord  Lauderdale  was 
to  bring  back  the  French  government  to  the 
basis  of  the  uti  possidetis ;  but  the  negotia- 
tors, Champagny,  minister  of  the  interior, 
and  general  Clarke,  contrived,  under  vari- 
ous pretences,  to  procrastinate,  till  it  be- 
came the  policy  of  Britain,  as  well  as  of 
France,  to  await  the  decision  of  the  court 
of  St.  Petersburgh  on  the  treaty  which  M. 
D'Oubril  had  carried  thither.  On  the  third 
of  September,  a  courier  brought  the  intelli- 
gence to  Paris  that  the  emperor  of  Russia 
ha^l  refused  to  ratify  it;  and  Talleyrand 
communicated  this  information  to  the  Brit- 
ish negotiator  the  day  after  its  arrival,  as- 
suring him  that  France  was  now  prepared 
to  make  peace  with  England  on  more  favor- 
able terms  than  she  otJberwise  would  have 
been  disposed  to  admit ;  but,  as  the  abandon- 
ment of  Russia  was  to  be  the  price,  the 
British  cabinet  determined  not  to  listen  to 
any  such  projects.  A  series  of  unsatisfac- 
tory discussions  ensued,  which  lasted  until 
Buonaparte  left  Paris  for  the  army  on  the 
ilhine,  accompanied  by  Talleyrand,  and  one 
of  the  plenipotentiaries,  general  Clarke, 
(vhampagny,  who  remained  to  conduct  the 
negotiation,  was  neither  authorized  to  relin- 
fjuish  the  claims  of  Joseph  Buonaparte  upon 
Sicily,  nor  to  acquiesce  in  such  an  arrange- 
ment as  would  have  satisfied  the  court  of 
St„  Petersburgh ;  the  negotiation  was  there- 
fore at  an  end,  and  lord  Lauderdale  returned 
to  England.  Ilis  passports  were  accompa- 
nied by  a  note,  insinuating  that  the  princi- 
ples of  Fox  had  been  abandoned  by  his  col- 
leagues and  successors ;  to  which  lord  l^u- 
derdale  delivered  a  spirited  reply. 

That  the  English  ministers  were  sincere 
in  their  desire  for  peace  ie  unquestionable ; 


but  that  the  commercial  part  of  the  nation, 
at  least,  did  not  participate  in  this  wish,  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that,  though  the  grounds 
upon  which  the  discussions  had  broken  off 
were  unknown,  the  intelligence  of  lord 
Lauderdale's  departure  from  Paris  was  re- 
ceived at  the  Royal  Exchange  in  London 
with  triumphant  shouts  of  applause. 

DEATH  OF  FOX— MINISTERIAL  APPOINT- 
MENTS.—DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  PAR. 
LIAMENT. 

Fox's  accession  to  power,  while  laboring 
under  indisposition,  whatever  political  hopes 
it  might  excite,  was  a  circumstance  preg- 
nant to  himself  of  inconvenience  and  dan- 
ger. The  business  of  the  house  of  commons 
he  was,  in  a  few  months,  obliged  to  aban- 
don ;  but,  with  this  deduction  from  his 
harassing  employments,  the  remainder  press- 
ed too  heavily  upon  him,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  most  decided  indications  of  dropsy 
appeared.  After  a  series  of  increasing  lan- 
guors, this  great  man  closed  his  connexion 
with  all  mortal  scenes  at  Chiswick,  at  the 
seat  of  the  duke  of  Devonshire,  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  September,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year 
of  his  age.  The  public  regret  for  his  lose 
subdued  for  a  time  the  conflicting  prejudices 
of  party,  and  an  unanimous  homage  was 
paid  to  those  great  and  amiable  qualities 
which  won  the  cordial  affection  of  his  friends, 
and  the  generous  admiration  of  his  adversa- 
ries. His  funeral,  though  performed  at  pri- 
vate expense,  was  attended  by  tlie  most  dis- 
tinguished characters  in  the  country,  and  an 
immense  assemblage  of  the  general  popula- 
tion. In  person,  he  was  about  the  middle 
size,  and,  as  he  advanced  in  life,  very  cor- 
pulent. The  independence  of  his  mind  and 
frankness  of  his  manners  were  unalloyed  by 
any  portion  of  asperity :  he  was  the  firm 
and  consistent  advocate  of  liberty,  civil  and 
religious;  and  the  powerful  and  frequent 
application  of  his  talents  to  popular  purposes 
procured  him  the  general  appellation  of 
"the  man  of  the  people."  As  a  public 
speaker,  his  manner  was  not  graceful,  but  it 
was  peculiarly  animated  and  impressive.  As 
a  minister,  he  displayed  the  same  noble  sim- 
plicity and  plain  dealing  which  character- 
ized his  conduct  in  private  life.  Peace  was 
the  darling  wish  of  his  heart,  though  he 
would  have  scorned  to  purchase  that  bless- 
ing by  the  slightest  sacrifice  of  national 
honor.  Having  commenced  a  negotiation, 
he  was  spared  the  pain  of  seeing  the  intri- 
cate policy  of  modern  times  triumph  over 
his  favorite  object ;  and  with  the  satisfaction 
of  leaving  the  old  associates  of  his  public 
career  in  the  employment  of  the  state,  and 
in  the  consequent  possession  of  rewards  and 
honors,  "  I  die  happy"  were  nearly  the  last 
words  he  uttered. 
On  the  death  of  Fox,  lord  Howick  w«0 


616 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


appointed  to  the  foreign  office;  Grenville, 
first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  took  the  place  of 
lord  Howick ;  Tierney,  president  of  the  board 
of  control,  in  the  place  of  Grenville,  who  had 
succeeded  to  that  office,  with  a  seat  in  the 
cabinet,  on  the  appointment  of  lord  Minto  to 
the  government  of  India ;  lord  Sidmoath  to 
succeed  to  tlie  presidency  of  the  council, 
from  which  earl  Fitzwilliam,  on  account  of 
ill  health,  was  desirous  to  withdraw;  and 
lord  Holland,  the  nephew  of  Fox,  to  succeed 
lord  Sidmouth  as  lord  privy-seal.  A  disso- 
lution of  parliament,  after  a  remarkably  short 
duration,  immediately  and  unexpectedly  fol- 
lowed ;  and,  though  the  returns  to  the  new 
one  were  such  as  to  add  to  the  weight  and 
influence  of  the  friends  of  administration  in 
tlie  house  of  commons,  the  experiment  was 
not,  on  the  whole,  attended  with  much 
success. 

ADMIRAL  DUCKWORTH'S  VICTORY. — 
CAPTURE  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD 
HOPE— SIR  HOME  POPHAM'S  EXPEDI- 
TION TO  BUENOS  AYRES. 
At  the  close  of  the  preceding  year,  ad- 
miral Villaumez,  accompanied  by  Jerome 
Buonaparte,  succeeded  in  escaping  from  port, 
with  eleven  sail  of  the  line,  and  a  number 
of  frigates.  After  continuing  in  company 
for  ten  days,  the  fleet  separated  into  two 
squadrons,  one  of  which,  consisting  of  five 
ships  of  the  line,  two  frigates,  and  a  cor- 
vette, under  the  command  of  admiral  Le 
Seigle,  steered  for  St.  Domingo,  where  a 
body  of  troops  and  a  supply  of  ammunition 
were  disembarked  for  the  use  of  the  colony. 
On  the  sixth  of  February,  admiral  Sir  J.  T. 
Duckworth,  with  seven  ships  of  the  line  and 
four  frigates,  discovered  the  enemy  to  wind- 
ward of  Ocoa  bay,  and,  after  a  furious  action, 
three  ships  of  the  line  struck;  the  other 
two  were  driven  on  shore  and  burnt,  and  the 
smaller  vessels  got  off.  The  other  squadron 
of  Villaumez,  amounting  to  six  sail  of  the 
line,  with  three  frigates,  was  originally  des- 
tined for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  but  hav- 
ing been  informed  of  the  capture  of  that 
settlement  by  the  English,  they  steered  to 
the  coast  of  Brazil,  and  thence  to  the  West 
indies.  In  June,  admiral  Cochrane,  who  had 
only  four  sail  of  the  line  and  three  frigates, 
discovered  them  near  Barbadoes,  but  did  not 
consider  it  safe  to  hazard  an  engagement 
with  such  a  disparity  of  force ;  their  ruin, 
however,  was  soon  after  accomplished  by  the 
fury  of  the  elements,  being  separated  by  a 
tremendous  gale  of  wind  on  the  eighteenth 
of  August  The  French  admiral's  vessel 
reached  the  Havannah  with  extreme  difficul- 
ty, three  were  destroyed  on  the  American 
coast,  another  escaped  into  Brest,  and  the 
Veteran,  seventy-four,  commanded  by  Jerome 
Buonaparte,  was  stranded  on  the  coast  of 
Brittany.  The  captain  and  crew  got  on  shore. 


Admiral  Linois  had  long;  carried  on  a  pre- 
datory warfare  in  the  Indian  seas,  and  the 
Isle  of  France  had  been  the  grand  depot  of 
the  plunder  he  had  collected,  whence,  in  dif- 
ferent bottoms,  it  had  been  transferred  to 
France ;  and  thither  the  admiral's  ship,  the 
Marengo,  of  eighty  guns,  and  the  Belle 
Poule,  of  forty,  were  this  year  bending  their 
course,  looking  forward  to  the  splendid  en- 
joyment of  the  produce  of  their  toil.  These 
hopes,  however,  were  frustrated  by  Sir  J.  B. 
Warren,  with  one  of  the  squadrons  which 
had  been  dispatched  in  pursuit  of  Jerome 
Buonaparte.  On  the  morning  of  the  thir- 
teenth of  March,  the  French  ships  were  see 
to  windward,  and,  after  a  running  light  o 
three  hours,  were  compelled  to  strike,  thus 
affording  some  atonement  for  their  depreda- 
tions on  our  commerce. 

Five  large  frigates  and  two  corvettes,  with 
troops  on  board  for  the  West  Indies,  having 
escaped  from  Rochefort  in  September,  were 
met  at  sea  by  a  British  squadron  under  Sir 
Samuel  Hood,  who,  after  a  running  fight  of 
several  hours,  captured  four  of  them.  The 
loss  of  the  English  was  small,  but  Sir  Samuel 
unfortunately  lost  his  arm.  Several  distin- 
guished actions  of  a  minor  nature  occurred 
in  the  course  of  the  year. 

An  expedition  against  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  consisting  of  about  five  thousand 
troops,  under  Sir  David  Baird,  with  a  naval 
force,  comminded  by  Sir  Home  Popham, 
sailed  from  England  in  ^August,  1805,  and 
arrived  on  the  fourth  of  January  following. 
On  the  eighth  the  army  moved  forward,  and, 
having  dislodged  the  enemy's  light  troops, 
their  main  body,  estimated  at  five  thousand 
men,  was  discovered  in  motion,  to  anticipate 
the  approach  of  the  Britisli ;  they,  however, 
forced  the  Batavians  to  a  precipitate  retreat. 
The  governor-general,  Jansens,  seemed  dis- 
posed to  maintain  himself  in  the  interior ; 
but  general  Beresford  being  sent  against 
him,  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  surrender,  on 
condition  of  his  forces  being  conveyed  to 
Holland  at  the  expense  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment, and  not  considered  prisoners  of 
war. 

Sir  Home  Popham,  who  in  1804  had  been 
appointed  to  confer  with  the  insurgent  gen- 
eral Miranda,  concerning  his  views  on  South 
America,  had  long  entertained  an  idea  tiiat 
an  expedition  should  be  sent  against  the 
Spanish  settlements  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata ; 
and  having  been  successful  at  the  Cape,  he 
turned  his  thoughts  to  the  conquest  of  Bue- 
nos Ayres,  taking  upon  himself  a  high  and 
extraordinary  degree  of  responsibility.  Hav- 
ing persuaded  Sir  David  Baird  to  furnish  a 
small  body  of  troops,  imder  general  Beres- 
ford, he  directed  his  course  to  St.  Helena, 
where  he  obtained  a  small  reinforcement  to 
hia  little  army,  which,  after  all,  did  not  ex- 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


517 


ceed  sixteen  hundred  men,  including  ma 
rines.  With  this  inadequate  force  he  arriv- 
ed at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  the 
beginning  of  June,  and  on  the  twenty-fourth 
landed  the  troops  without  resistance,  about 
twelve  miles  from  Buenos  Ayres.  After 
dispersing  a  body  of  Spaniards,  who  fled  at 
the  first  fire,  general  Beresford  entered  the 
city  on  the  twenty-seventh,  the  viceroy  hav- 
ing  retreated  to  Cordova  with  the  small  body 
of  troops  under  his  command.  While  the 
army  was  thus  employed,  the  line-of-battle 
ships  of  the  squadron  made  demonstrations 
before  Monte  Video  and  Maldanado,  in  which 
were  stationed  the  regular  troops  of  the  col- 
ony, while  the  defence  of  Buenos  Ayres, 
supposed,  from  its  situation,  to  be  less  liable 
to  attack,  had  been  committed  to  the  militia. 
Favorable  terms  were  granted  to  the  inhab- 
itants, and  the  property  of  individuals  on 
shore  was  respected,  but  a  great  booty  was 
made  of  the  public  money  and  commodities, 
and  of  the  shipping  in  the  river. 

The  Spaniards  were  at  first  taken  by  sur- 
prise ;  but,  on  recovering  fi-om  their  panic, 
they  collected  the  few  troops  they  had  in 
the  neighborhood,  under  the  direction  of 
Liniers,  a  French  colonel  in  the  Spanish 
service,  who  crossed  the  river  in  a  fog,  on 
the  fourth  of  August,  with  about  one  thou- 
sand men,  unobserved  by  the  English  cruis- 
ers. On  the  twelfth  a  desperate  action  took 
place  in  the  streets  and  great  square  of  the 
town,  when  the  English  were  ultimately 
compelled  to  surrender  themselves  prisoners 
of  war ;  but,  contrary  to  the  articles  of  ca- 
pitulation, they  were  marched  up  the  coun- 
try. Their  loss  amounted  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  killed,  wounded,  and  missing, 
besides  thirteen  hundred  made  prisoners. 
Sir  Home  Popham  blockaded  the  river  till 
October,  when  the  arrival  of  troops  from  the 
Cape  enabled  him  to  attempt  Monte  Video, 
in  which  he  was  unsuccessful.  On  the 
twenty-ninth  a  body  of  troops  was  landed  at 
Maldanado,  and  the  Spaniards  were  driven 
from  thence  and  from  the  isle  of  Gorriti. 

Lord  Howick,  on  the  nmeteenth  of  De- 
cember, announced  the  recall  of  Sir  Home 
Popham  in  terms  of  severe  reprehension; 
and  on  the  seventeenth  of  February  follow- 
ing, that  officer  arrived  in  London,  when  he 
was  put  under  a  formal  arrest,  preparatory 
to  trial  by  a  court-martial,  for  acting  with- 
out orders,  and  for  leaving  the  Cape  in  an 
unprotected  state.  After  an  able  defence, 
tlie  court  adjudged  him  to  be  severely  re- 
primanded. 

DISPUTE  WITH  AMERICA. 

Differences  had  existed,  for  a  consider- 
able time,  between  the  United  States  of 
America  and  Spain,  arising  out  of  the  ill-de- 
fined boundaries  of  Louisiana,  and  the  Spon- 

VoL.  IV.  44 


iards  had  made  inroads  on  the  district  of 
New-Orleans  and  the  Mississippi,  even  in 
those  parts  which  had  been  unequivocally 
ceded  to  the  United  States.  Some  disputes  be- 
tween America  and  the  English  government 
also  assumed  an  important  character.  The 
complaint  of  the  United  States  involved  three 
points:  first.  The  practice  of  impressing  Brit- 
ish seamen  found  on  board  American  mer- 
chant vessels  on  the  high  seas ;  second,  The 
violation  of  their  rights,  as  neutrals,  by  seiz- 
ing and  condemning  their  merchantmen, 
though  engaged  in  what  they  considered  a 
lawful  commerce ;  and,  third,  The  mfringe- 
ment  of  their  maritime  jurisdiction  upon  their 
own  coasts.  On  the  first  point,  it  was  urged 
that  native  Americans  were  impressed  on 
pretence  of  their  being  Englishmen,  and 
forced  to  serve  in  the  British  navy ;  and  the 
public  mind  in  the  United  States  was  in- 
flamed with  exaggerated  reports,  stating 
that  thousands  of  their  citizens  were  in  this 
situation.  The  second  ground  of  complaint 
arose  from  a  desire,  on  the  part  of  the  Amer- 
icans, not  only  to  trade  with  the  colonies  of 
a  belligerant,  in  a  manner  that  would  not  be 
allowed  in  a  time  of  peace,  but  to  become 
the  carriers  of  their  produce  to  the  mother 
country,  protecting  it,  at  the  same  time,  mi- 
der  their  neutral  flag.  The  third  point, 
which  merely  required  that  the  extent  of 
their  maritime  jurisdiction  should  be  defined, 
admitted  of  easy  arrangement. 

An  amicable  adjustment  of  these  diffisr- 
ences  being  equally  desirable  to  both  parties, 
a  special  mission  was  appointed  to  England, 
and  conferences  were  opened  in  London  by 
lords  Holland  and  Aukland  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  and  by  Messrs.  Monroe  and 
Pinckney  on  that  of  America.  After  some 
deliberations  respecting  an  efficient  substi- 
tute for  the  practice  of  impressment,  the 
latter  consented,  though  in  opposition  to  their 
instructions,  to  pass  to  the  other  subjects  of 
negotiation,  on  receiving  an  assurance  that 
the  right  should  be  exercised  with  great 
caution,  and  immediate  redress  afforded  on 
representation  of  any  injury.  On  the  subject 
of  intercourse  with  the  colonies  of  the  ene- 
my, a  rule  was  established  for  defining  the 
diflference  between  a  continuous  and  an 
interrupted  voyage;  and  it  was  expressly 
stipulated  that  upon  re-exportation  there 
should  remain,  after  the  drawback,  a  duty  to 
be  paid  of  one  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  on  all 
European  articles,  and  not  less  than  two  per 
cent,  on  colonial  produce.  The  maritime 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  was  guar- 
antied, and  some  commercial  stipulations 
were  framed  for  the  reciprocal  advantage 
of  the  two  countries;  but  the  American 
president,  Mr.  Jefferson,  refused  to  ratify 
the  treaty. 


518 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


JOSEPH  BUONAPARTE  MADE  KING  OF 
NAPLES— BATTLE  OF  MAIDA. 
The  king  of  Naples,  by  a  treaty  con- 
cluded at  Paris,  in  September,  1805,  had 
engaged  to  repel,  by  force,  every  encroach- 
ment on  his  neutrality :  scarcely,  however, 
had  six  weeks  elapsed,  when  a  squadron  of 
English  and  Russian  vessels  was  permitted 
to  land  a  borly  of  forces  in  Naples  and  its 
vicinity.  This  being  considered  by  Buona- 
parte as  an  act  of  perfidy  deserving  the  se- 
verest punishment,  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, on  the  morning  after  the  signature  of 
the  treaty  of  Presburg,  declaring  that  the 
Neapolitan  dynasty  had  ceased  to  reign ;  and 
a  French  army,  under  Joseph  Buonaparte, 
who  assumed  the  sovereignty,  immediately 
marched  into  Naples,  when  all  the  fortresses, 
except  Gaeta  and  another,  surrendered  by 
capitulation.  The  new  king  was  received 
with  those  acclamations  and  addresses  which 
can  always  be  procured  by  power  ;  and  the 
heir-apparent  retired  into  his  dukedom  of 
Calabria,  where  general  Damas,  a  French 
emigrant,  was  endeavoring  to  organize  a 
levy  en  masse :  the  province,  however,  was 
speedily  reduced  by  general  Regnier.  Sir 
James  Craig,  with  the  English  army,  accom- 
panied the  royal  family  to  Sicily,  and  in 
April  was  succeeded  in  his  command  by  Sir 
John  Stuart. 


Sir  Sidney  Smith  took  the  command  of  many  were  to  be  occupied  and  governed  by 


the  English  squadron  destined  for  the  de 
fence  of  Sicily. — After  throwing  succors 
into  Gaeta,  which  was  gallantly  defended 
by  the  prince  of  Hesse  Philipstal,  he  took 
possession  of  the  isle  of  Capri,  and  proceeded 
along  the  coast,  exciting  alarm,  and  keeping 
up  a  communication  with  the  Calabrese. 
At  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  court  of 
Palermo,  the  English  general  consented  to 
employ  a  part  of  his  force  in  Calabria,  and, 
on  the  first  of  July,  landed  in  the  gulf  of 
St  Eufemia,  near  the  northern  frontier  of 
Ix)wer  Calabria,  with  about  four  thousand 
eight  hundred  men.  The  French  general, 
Regnier,  made  a  rapid  march  from  Reggio, 
and  on  the  third  encamped  at  Maida,  alwut 
ten  miles  distant  from  the  English  army, 
with  a  force  nearly  equal,  and  in  daily  ex- 
pectation of  reinforcements.  Being  deter- 
mined to  give  battle  without  delay,  Sir  John 
Stuart  advanced  the  next  morning,  and  found 
the  French  in  a  strong  position  below  the 
village,  their  force  augmented  to  seven 
thousand  men,  the  expected  detachments 
havino-  joined.  Regnier,  confident  in  his 
superiority,  quitted  his  post  to  meet  the  as- 
sailants on  the  plain,  when  the  English,  not 
dismayed  at  the  unexpected  increase  of  his 
numbers,  advanced  with  alacrity  to  the  at- 
tack ;  and,  after  some  firing,  both  sides  pre- 
pared for  close  combat ;  but  the  French  gave 
way  when  the  bayonets  began  to  cross,  and, 


the  English  receiving  a  reinforcement  at  this 
critical  juncture,  the  French  precipitately 
abandoned  the  field,  with  the  loss  of  about 
seven  hundred  killed  and  a  thousand  prisoners. 
The  British  loss  was  forty-five  killed  and  two 
hundred  and  eighty-two  wounded.  This  bril- 
liant action,  though  it  did  not  lead  to  the  re- 
covery of  Naples,  preserved  Sicily  from  inva- 
sion, and  compelled  the  French  to  evacuate 
Calabria.  General  Stuart,  however,  aware 
that  his  small  force  would  be  inadequate  to  the 
permanent  defence  of  the  country,  retired  to 
Sicily,  leaving  a  garrison  in  the  strong  fort 
of  Scylla.  The  fall  of  Gaeta,  which  took 
place  soon  after  the  battle  of  Maida,  set  at 
liberty  a  force  of  sixteen  thousand  men, 
which,  in  conjunction  with  the  powerful  ar- 
my under  Massena,  who  was  sent  to  subdue 
the  Calabrese,  slowly  effected  that  purpose. 

OCCUPATION  OF  HANOVER  BY  PRUSSIA- 
—CONFEDERATION  OF  THE  RHINE. 
The  court  of  Prussia,  which  still  vacilla- 
ted greatly  in  its  politics,  addressed  a  procla- 
mation on  the  twenty-seventh  of  January  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Hanover,  in  which  it  was 
observed,  that,  after  the  events  which  ter- 
minated in  the  peace  of  Presburg,  the  only 
means  of  preserving  the  country  from  the 
flames  of  war  consisted  in  forming  a  con- 
vention with  Buonaparte,  in  virtue  of  which 
the  states  of  his  Britannic  majesty  in  Ger- 


Prussia  till  the  return  of  peace.  This  pro- 
ceeding called  forth  an  official  note  from 
Fox,  addressed  to  baron  Jacobi,  the  Prussian 
minister  in  London,  desiring  him  explicitly 
to  inform  his  court  that  no  convenience  or 
political  arrangement,  much  less  any  offer 
of  equivalent  or  indemnity,  would  ever  in- 
duce his  majesty  to  consent  to  the  alienation 
of  the  electorate.  The  disposition  shown  by 
Prussia  to  hold  Hanover  conditionally,  did 
not,  however,  please  Buonaparte,  who  dic- 
tated new  terms;  and  another  treaty  was 
signed  on  the  fifteenth  of  February,  by  whicli 
Prussia  was  bound,  not  only  to  annex  it  to 
her  dominions,  but  to  exclude  British  ves- 
sels and  commerce  from  her  ports.  The  in- 
dignity offered  to  Great  Britain  by  these 
proceedings  demanded  prompt  retaliation: 
the  rivers  Ems,  Weser,  Elbe,  and  Trave, 
were  accordingly  blockaded  ;  a  general  em- 
bargo was  laid  on  all  Prussian  vessels  in 
British  harbors ;  and  the  English  mission  at 
Berlin  was  recalled.  These  measures  were 
announced  to  parliament,  on  the  twenty-first 
of  April,  in  a  message  which  was  answered 
by  unanimous  addresses  of  thanks  from  both 
houses;  and  the  strongest  animadversions 
were  directed  against  Prussia  for  her  abject 
submission  to  the  will  of  Buonaparte. 

In  addition  to  her  war  with  England,  the 
subserviency  of  Prussia  to  France  involved 
her  in  hostilities  with  Sweden.    The  troops 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


19 


of  that  power,  who  occupied  Luneburg  on 
behalf  of  the  king  of  England,  having  op- 
posed the  entrance  of  the  Prussians,  were 
compelled,  after  a  slight  resistance,  to  retreat 
into  Mecklenburg;  on  which  the  king  of 
Sweden  laid  an  embargo  upon  all  Prussian 
vessels  in  his  harbors,  and  blockaded  her 
ports  in  the  Baltic.  To  counteract  these 
measures,  Prussia  was  preparing  to  expel 
the  Swedes  from  Pomerania,  when  a  new 
revolution  in  her  politics  took  place,  which 
gave  a  different  direction  to  her  arms.  The 
feelings  of  the  Prussian  nation  were  hostile 
to  France ;  and  the  queen,  young,  beautiful, 
and  persuasive,  indignant  at  the  usurpations 
and  insults  of  Buonaparte,  joined  in  the  same 
cause.  The  first  public  act  of  the  cabinet  of 
St.  Cloud,  which  gave  serious  alarm  to  the 
court  of  Berlin,  was  the  investiture  of  Murat 
with  the  dutchies  of  Berg  and  Cleves,  the 
latter  of  which  was  one  of  the  three  prov- 
inces obtained  from  Prussia  in  exchange 
for  Hanover;  the  other  two,  Anspach  and 
Bayreuth,  being  transferred  to  Bavaria  for 
the  dutchy  of  Berg.  But  a  deeper  injury 
awaited  the  Prussian  government :  while  La- 
forest,  the  French  resident  at  Berlin,  was 
urging  the  ministers  of  that  court  to  persist 
in  the  measures  they  had  adopted  for  the 
retention  of  Hanover,  Lucchesini,  the  Prus- 
sian minister  at  Paris,  discovered  that  the 
French  governmpnt  had  offered  to  Great 
Britain  the  complete  restitution  of  the  elec- 
toral dominions.  Fortunately,  however,  as 
Prussia  then  thought,  the  negotiation  be- 
tween France  and  Russia  was  broken  off  by 
the  refusal  of  the  court  of  St.  Petersburgh  to 
ratify  the  treaty  concluded  by  M.  D'Oubril. 
But  this  event,  while  it  opened  to  Prussia 
the  prospect  of  assistance,  in  case  she  should 
be  driven  to  a  war  with  France,  disclosed  to 
her  further  proof  of  the  secret  enmity  of  the 
cabinet  of  St.  Cloud  ;  it  now  appearing,  for 
the  first  time,  that  distinct  hints  had  been 
given  to  M.  D'Oubril,  that,  if  his  court 
was  desirous  of  annexing  any  part  of  Polish 
Prussia  to  its  dominions,  no  opposition  would 
be  interposed  by  France. 

The  peace  of  Presburg  had  lefl  the  forms 
of  the  Germanic  constitution  entire:  the 
residence  of  the  French  troops  in  Germany, 
however,  in  consequence  of  the  protracted 
occupation  of  Cattaro  by  the  Russians,  ma- 
tured the  establishment  of  a  new  confede- 
ration of  princes,  at  the  head  of  which  Buo- 
naparte should  himself  be  placed.  This 
project  was  arranged  with  extvaonlinary 
promptitude ;  and  on  the  twelllb  of  July  the 
act  of  confederation  was  executed  at  Paris. 
The  members  were,  the  emperor  of  the 
French,  the  kings  of  Bavaria  end  V/irtem- 
burg,  the  archbisliop  of  Ratisbon,  the  elec- 
tor of  Baden,  the  duke  of  Bersr,  the  land- 
grave of  Hesse  Darmstadt,  and  several  mi- 


nor German  princes,  who,  separating  them- 
selves from  the  Germanic  empire,  appointed 
a  diet  to  meet  at  Frankfort  to  manage  their 
public  concerns,  and  settle  their  diflcrences; 
and  chose  Buonaparte  for  their  protector. 
They  established  among  themselves  a  fede- 
ral alliance,  by  which,  if  one  of  them  enga- 
ged in  a  continental  war,  all  tlie  others  were 
bound  to  take  part  in  it,  and  to  contribute 
their  contingent  of  troops  in  the  following 
proportions: — France,  two  hundred  thou- 
sand; Bavaria,  thirty  thousand;  Wirtem- 
burg,  twelve  thousand ;  Baden,  three  thou- 
sand ;  Berg,  five  thousand ;  Darmstadt,  four 
thousand;  Nassau,  Hohenzollern,  and  others, 
four  thousand ;  making  a  total  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight  thousand  men.  A  num- 
ber of  petty  princes  were  deprived  of  their 
ancient  rights  of  sovereignty,  and  these 
were  transferred,  without  equivalent  or  in- 
demnity, to  the  members  of  this  federal 
union.  The  imperial  city  of  Nuremberg  was 
given  to  the  king  of  Bavaria,  and  that  of 
Frankfort  on  the  Maine  to  the  archbishop  of 
Ratisbon,  formerly  elector  and  arch-chancel- 
lor of  the  empire,  and  now  prince  primate 
of  "  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine." 

The  house  of  Austria,  thus  stripped  of  its 
honors,  was  compelled  to  lay  down  the  title 
of  Emperor  of  Germany,  which,  by  a  formal 
deed  of  renunciation,  was  resigned  by  Fran- 
cis the  second,  retaining  only  the  more  hum- 
ble one  of  Emperor  of  Austria.  The  acqui- 
escence of  Prussia  in  these  arrangements 
was  purchased  by  the  delusive  hope  that  she 
would  be  permitted  to  form  a  confederation 
of  states  in  the  north  of  Germany,  under 
her  protection,  as  the  confederation  of  the 
Rhine  was  under  that  of  France:  but  no 
sooner  had  the  submission  of  Austria  been 
secured  than  Prussia  was  told  that  Buona- 
parte could  not  permit  her  to  include  the 
Hanseatic  towns  in  her  plan,  being  deter- 
mined to  take  them  under  his  own  protec- 
tion ;  and,  as  the  elector  of  Saxony  was  un- 
willing to  contract  the  new  obligations 
which  Prussia  wished  to  impose  on  him, 
France  could  not  see  him  forced  to  act 
against  the  interests  of  his  people.  The 
elector  of  Hesse  Cassel  was  invited  to  join 
the  confederation  of  the  Rhine,  and  some 
territorial  addition  was  offered  him,  but  he 
rejected  the  proposal,  and  a  resohition  was 
passed,  by  which  he  was  cut  off  from  access 
to  part  of  his  own  states. 

TITLES  CONFERRED  BY  BUONAPARTE 
ON  HIS  FOLLOWERS— MURDER  OF 
PALM. 

Buonaparte  had  no  sooner  abolislied  the 
name  of  republic  in  France,  thpn  he  souTht 
to  extinrruish  that  appellation  in  the  other 
states  of  Europe.  Amon<'-st  other  transform- 
ations, his  yo'insrer  brother,  Louis,  was  se- 
lected to  be  king  of  Holland,  and  unwill- 


520 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ingly  drag-ged  from  the  gaieties  of  Paris, 
to  rule  over  a  laborious  and  impoverished 
people.  The  new  constitution  which  ac- 
companied the  king-  had  no  guarantee  but 
the  will  of  its  author,  nor  did  he  attempt  to 
disguise  that  he  considered  Holland  as  virtu- 
ally a  province  of  France.  Buonaparte  also 
strengthened  his  connexion  with  Bavaria, 
by  the  union  of  a  princess  of  that  house 
with  his  step-son,  Eugene  Beauharnois, 
whom  he  adopted  as  his  successor  in  the 
kingdom  of  Italy.  He  created  a  number  of 
dutchies  in  the  countries  conquered  by 
France,  and  chiefly  in  Italy,  which  he  con- 
ferred on  those  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves in  his  service.  Berthier  was  created 
prince  of  Neufchatel ;  Bernadotte,  prince  of 
Ponte  Corvo;  and  Talleyrand,  prince  of 
Benevento.  Many  of  the  marshals  and  gen- 
erals were  raised  to  the  rank  of  dukes. 
Buonaparte's  sister,  Paulina,  the  wife  of  the 
prince  Borghese,  received  the  principality 
of  Guastalla ;  and  his  uncle,  cardinal  Fesch, 
was  appointed  coadjutor  and  successor  of 
the  archbishop  of  Ratisbon. 

Whilst  Buonaparte  was  carrying  these 
projects  into  effect,  the  pressure  of  the 
French  armies  upon  Germany  was  extreme, 
and  a  spirit  of  resistance  was  excited  in  a 
variety  of  publications,  which  soon  attract- 
ed the  notice  of  the  French  government. 
Orders  were  in  consequence  given  for  the 
apprehension  of  various  booksellers,  among 
whom  the  fate  of  John  Palm,  a  resident  of 
Nuremberg,  an  imperial  town  of  Germany, 
possessing  laws  and  tribunals  of  its  own,  at- 
tracted particular  notice.  This  person,  the 
publisher  of  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Germany 
in  the  lowest  state  of  degradation,"  was  ar- 
rested by  order  of  the  French  government, 
and  dragged  to  Braunau,  charged  with  the 
publication  of  a  libel  against  the  French 
emperor.  A  court-martial  was  immediately 
summoned,  and,  after  sitting  for  three  days, 
M.  Palm  was  sentenced  to  be  shot,  which 
was  carried  into  execution  on  the  following 
day. 

FOURTH  COALITION  AGAINST  FRANCE- 
BATTLE  OF  JENA.— BERLIN  DECREE. 
At  length  the  court  of  Berlin  assumed  a 
tone  of  firmness;  the  king  of  Sweden  cher- 
ished the  prospect  which  seemed  thus  to  be 
afforded  of  checking  the  power  of  Buona- 
parte ;  the  Prussian  vessels  detained  in  Brit- 
ish ports  were  speedily  liberated ;  and  lord 
Morpeth  was  dispatched  to  Berlin,  with  of- 
fers of  assistance  in  the  fourth  coalition  that 
was  at  this  time  forming  against  France. 
On  the  twenty-fourth  of  September  Buona- 
parte quitted  Paris,  to  join  the  armies :  so 
late,  however,  as  the  fifth  of  October,  a  dis- 
patch was  delivered  from  the  Prussian  out- 
posts to  the  French  army,  which  still  afford- 
ed  an  opening    for   amicable  adjustment. 


Within  a  few  days  after,  a  declaration, 
stating  the  grounds  of  the  war,  was  pub- 
lished by  the  Prussian  cabinet. 

The  French,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
concentrating  their  forces  at  Bamberg,  ad- 
vanced in  three  divisions  against  the  Prus- 
sian army,  which  had  taken  a  strong  posi- 
tion along  the  north  of  Frankfort  on  the 
Maine.  The  campaign  opened  on  the  ninth 
of  October,  when  the  left  of  the  Prussians 
was  turned,  and  they  were  compelled  to  re- 
treat with  considerable  loss:  on  the  tenth, 
the  left  wing  of  the  French  army,  under 
marshal  Lannes,  was  successful  at  Saalfield, 
where  prince  Louis  of  Prussia  was  killed. 
The  main  body  of  the  Prussians  occupied 
Eysenach,  Gotha,  Erfurt,  and  Weimar,  but 
the  arrangements  of  the  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick, to  whom,  at  the  advanced  age  of  sev- 
enty-one, the  chief  command  was  confided, 
were  suddenly  changed,  in  consequence  of 
his  right  wing  being  unexpectedly  turned 
by  the  French,  who  gained  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Saal,  and  cut  him  off  from  his  re- 
sources. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourteenth  the 
great  battle  of  Auerstadt  or  Jena  commenc- 
ed, m  which  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
men,  with  seven  hundred  pieces  of  artillery, 
scattered  death  in  every  direction.  The 
courage  and  discipline  on  each  side  were 
perhaps  equal ;  but  the  military  rkill  was 
greatly  superior  on  the  \:iiri  o''  ' '  -:"  I'^ench, 
and  after  a  most  dreadful  conflict  the  Prus- 
sians were  finally  defeated  in  every  quarter. 
Their  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  exceeded 
twenty  thousand  ;  from  thirty  to  forty  thou- 
sand were  made  prisoners ;  and  three  hun- 
dred pieces  of  cannon,  with  immense  maga- 
zines, were  taken  :  among  the  prisoners 
were  more  than  twenty  generals ;  marshal 
Mollendorf  was  wounded,  and  the  duke  of- 
Brunswick  and  general  Ruchel  were  killed. 
The  French  stated  their  loss  at  from  four  to 
five  thousand  men :  the  victory,  however, 
was  complete,  and  decided  the  fate  of  the 
campaign. 

All  the  principal  towns  in  the  electorate 
of  Brandenburg,  though  strongly  garrison- 
ed, surrendered  almost  without  resistance. 
Spandau  and  Stettin  opened  their  gates  on 
being  invested,  and  Magdeburg,  with  a  gar- 
rison of  twenty-two  thousand  men,  capitu- 
lated to  Ney,  after  a  few  bombs  had  been 
thrown  into  the  city.  Berlin  was  entered 
on  the  twenty-fifth,  and  the  king  of  Prussia 
retreated  toKoningsberg,  where,  with  scarce- 
ly fifty  thousand  men,  he  av/aited  the  arrival 
of  whatever  assistance  might  be  afforded  by 
Russia. 

Mecklenburg  was  also  taken  possession 
of  by  the  French  ;  and  Hanover  v/as  occu- 
pied by  general  Mortier.  Their  next  object 
^vas  the  possession  of  Hamburgh,  M'herc  all 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


521 


British  property  was  placed  under  sequestra- 
tion ;  the  merchants  and  bankers  were  re- 
quired to  exhibit  their  accounts,  summary 
punishment,  by  martial  law,  being  denounc- 
ed ag-ainst  those  who  should  make  false  re- 
turns ;  and  the  English  who  remained  in 
the  city  were  put  under  arrest. 

These  proceedings  were  the  prelude  to  a 
decree  issued  by  Buonaparte  at  Berlin  on 
the  twentieth  of  November,  which  after- 
wards became  so  memorable  under  the  de- 
,>*ignation  of  the  "  Berlin  decree."  This  edict 
alleged  that  England  had  violated  the  laws 
of  nations,  in  considering  every  individual 
belonging  to  a  hostile  state  as  an  actual  en- 
emy, whether  found  on  board  vessels  of  mer- 
chandise, or  otherwise  engaged  in  commer- 
cial occupations ;  that  slie  had  extended  her 
right  of  blockade  beyond  all  reasonable  lim- 
its— to  places  where,  with  all  her  naval  su- 
periority, it  was  impossible  for  her  actually 
to  maintain  it ;  that  the  monstrous  abuse  of 
this  right  had  no  other  object  but  to  aggran- 
dize England  by  the  ruin  of  the  continent ; 
that  all  who  dealt  in  English  commodities, 
miglit,  therefore,  be  justly  regarded  as  her 
accomplices ;  and  that,  as  it  was  a  right  con- 
ferred by  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nations, 
to  oppose  to  an  enemy  the  weapons  he  em- 
ploys against  his  adversary,  it  was  decreed, 
tliat  till  the  English  government  should 
abandon  this  system,  the  British  isles  should 
be  placed  hi  a  state  of  blockade,  and  all  cor- 
respondence with  her  interdicted.  This  vio- 
lent decree,  and  the  apprehension  of  retali- 
atory measures  on  the  part  of  England,  oc- 
casioned great  dismay  in  the  commercial 
cities  of  the  contment. 

OPERATIONS  IN  SILESIA  AND  SWEDISH 
POMERANIA.— TREATY  OF  TILSIT. 

After  the  battle  of  Jena,  Buonaparte  ob- 
tained further  success  over  the  detached  and 
broken  forces  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  and 
over  several  bodies  of  Russian  troops  which 
crossed  the  Vistula  to  assist  Prussia ;  he  thus 
was  enabled  to  overrun  all  Silesia,  to  take 
Breslau  and  other  fortresses,  and  to  lay 
siege  to  the  city  of  Dantzic ;  but  that  im- 
portant place  did  not  surrender  till  the 
twenty-seventh  of  May.  He  then  penetrated 
into  Poland,  and  after  a  series  of  severe  con- 
flicts the  French  and  Russian  armies  fought 
on  the  fourteenth  of  June  the  sanguinary 
and  decisive  battle  of  Friedland,  which  the 
French  classed  among  their  most  splendid 
victories.  One  of  its  immediate  conse- 
quences was  the  capture  of  Koningsberg, 
containing  large  stores  of  grain,  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  English  mus- 
kets, which  had  not  yet  been  landed.  The 
Russians  retreated  towards  the  Niemen, 
crossed  that  river  at  Tilsit,  burned  the 
44* 


bridge,  and  continued  their  march  to  the 
eastward.  The  emperor  Alexander  and  the 
king  of  Prussia,  who  had  been  there  during 
the  last  three  weeks,  retired  to  Memel,  that 
town  and  its  territory  being  all  tliat  remain- 
ed in  the  possession  of  the  latter  sovereign. 

Buonaparte  entered  Tilsit  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  June ;  and  on  the  twenty-second 
an  armistice  was  concluded,  by  which  it  was 
agreed  that  there  should  be  an  immediate 
exchange  of  prisoners,  and  that  plenipoten- 
tiaries should  be  instantly  appointed  to  ne- 
gotiate a  peace.  Three  days  afterwards  an 
interview  took  place  between  the  emperor 
Alexander  and  Buonaparte,  on  a  raft  which 
had  been  constructed  upon  the  Niemen. 
The  conference  lasted  two  hours,  and  was 
attended  with  mutual  expressions  of  regard. 

On  the  seventh  of  July  the  arrangements 
of  pacification  were  completed.  Prussia  was 
deprived  of  all  her  territories  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Elbe,  and  of  all  her  Polish  prov- 
inces, except  those  situated  between  Pome- 
rania  and  the  Newmarke,  and  ancient  Prus- 
sia, to  the  north  of  the  little  river  Netz. 
The  elector,  now  king  of  Saxony,  took  also 
the  title  of  duke  of  Warsaw,  and  was  to 
have  free  communication  by  a  military  road 
through  the  Prussian  territory,  with  his  new 
dominions,  which  were  to  consist  of  Thorn, 
Warsaw,  and  the  rest  of  Prussian  Poland, 
except  that  part  to  the  north  of  the  Bug, 
which  was  incorporated  with  the  dominions 
of  the  emperor  Alexander.  Dantzic  was  in 
future  to  be  an  independent  town  ;  East 
Friesland  was  added  to  the  kingdom  of  Hol- 
land ;  a  new  dominion,  under  the  designa- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia,  was 
formed  of  the  provinces  ceded  by  Prussia, 
and  others  in  the  possession  of  Buonaparte  ; 
and  the  recognition  of  Jerome  Buonaparte 
as  its  sovereign,  also  of  the  kings  of  Hol- 
land and  Naples,  and  of  all  the  present  and 
future  members  of  the  confederation  of  the 
Rhine,  was  stipulated.  Prussia  consented  to 
become  a  party  in  the  maritime  war  against 
England ;  the  emperor  of  Russia  and  Buo- 
naparte mutually  guarantied  to  each  other 
the  integrity  of  their  possessions,  and  of 
tliose  of  the  other  powers  included  m  the 
treaty ;  the  offer  of  a  mediation  to  effect  a 
peace  between  France  and  England  was  ac- 
cepted, on  the  condition  that  England  should, 
within  one  month,  admit  it ;  and  the  em- 
peror of  Russia  agreed  to  accept  the  media- 
tion of  Buonaparte  for  the  conclusion  of 
peace  with  the  Ottoman  Porte. 

The  king  of  Sweden  refused  to  accede 
to  the  treaty  of  Tilsit,  and  attempted  the 
defence  of  Pomerania ;  but  his  efforts  were 
unavailing.  He,  however,  succeeded  in 
withdrawing  his  forces  from  Stralsund,  and 
returned  into  Sweden. 


522 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


WAR  WITH  TURKEY  AND  RUSSIA— EX 

PEDITION  TO  CONSTANTIiNOPLE  AND 

EGYPT. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1806,  war 
had  been  declared  by  Turkey  against  Rus- 
sia ;  and  to  oblige  the  Turks  to  accede  to 
terms  of  accommodation,  by  which  a  force 
would  be  released  from  this  southern  war- 
fare, and  enabled  to  swell  the  Russian  army 
in  Poland,  a  British  fleet,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Sir  J.  T.  Duckworth,  advanced 
through  the  Dardanelles  on  the  nineteenth 
f)f  February,  with  orders  to  bombard  Con- 
stantinople, if  certain  terms  were  not  ac- 
ceded to.  In  passing  between  Sestos  and 
Abydos  they  sustained  a  heavy  fire,  which 
they  retaliated  very  severely,  and  the  Turk- 
ish squadron  was  driven  on  shore  and  burnt 
by  Sir  Sidney  Smith.  The  English  then  an- 
chored near  the  Prince's  Isles,  about  eight 
miles  from  Constantinople ;  and  a  proposal 
was  made  to  spare  the  city  on  condition  that 
the  Turkish  fleet  should  be  surrendered, 
which  was  of  course  rejected,  and  defensive 
measures  being  pursued  with  the  greatest 
activity.  Sir  J.  T.  Duckworth  prepared  for 
his  departure  while  the  passage  of  the  Dar- 
danelles was  still  practicable.  On  the  first 
of  March  he  repassed  the  castles,  in  which 
he  sustained  considerable  loss,  and  thus,  in- 
stead of  producing  accommodation  between 
Russia  and  the  Porte,  a  new  power  was 
added  to  the  list  of  England's  enemies.  The 
British  agents  and  settlers  in  the  Turkish 
territories  were  exposed  to  considerable  an- 
noyance ;  the  seizure  and  sequestration  of 
English  property  at  Smyrna,  Salonica,  and 
other  places,  were  ordered  by  the  Porte, 
with  a  promptitude  which  precluded  all  op- 
portunity for  precaution ;  the  power  of 
France  over  the  divan  became  materially 
strengthened;  and  Sebastiana,  the  French 
ambassador  at  Constantinople,  was  consulted 
on  almost  every  emergency.  In  this  war 
between  Russia  and  the  Porte,  the  former 
was,  however,  generally  successful ;  and,  to 
add  to  the  disasters  of  the  Turks,  an  insur- 
rection arose  during  its  progress,  owing  to 
some  new  regulations  in  the  dress  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  troops,  which  terminated  in 
the  deposition  of  the  grand  seignior,  Selim 
the  third,  and  the  proclamation  of  Mustapha 
the  fourth.  By  sea,  the  Russians  were 
equally  successful  as  by  land  ;  and  in  an  en- 
gagement between  the  Russian  and  Turkish 
fleets,  fought  on  the  1st  of  .Tuly,  near  the 
entrance  to  the  Dardanelles,  the  latter,  con- 
sisting of  eleven  sail  of  the  line,  was  nearly 
annihilated. 

The  failure  of  the  weak  and  injudicious 
attempt  on  Constantinople  was  followed  by 
the  disappointment  of  another  expedition 
which  was  sent  against  another  seat  of  the 
Ottoman  power.     On  the  sixth  of  March,  a 


force  of  five  thousand  men,  under  the  com- 
mand of  major-general  Mackenzie  Eraser, 
sailed  from  Messina,  and  having  effected  a 
landing  near  Alexandria,  speedily  compelled 
that  city  to  capitulate.  Ulterior  operations 
against  Rosetta  and  Rhamanie  were  unsuc- 
cessful, and  the  troops  retreated,  fighting  all 
the  way  to  Alexandria,  where  they  remained 
till  September,  when  general  Fraser,  unable 
to  cope  with  the  enemy,  entered  into  a  ne- 
gotiation ;  and  having  obtained  the  restora- 
tion of  the  British  prisoners,  consented  to 
evacuate  Egypt 

CAPTURE  OF  MONTE  VIDEO— UNSUC- 
CESSFUL ATTACK  ON  BUENOS  AYRES. 
—GENERAL  WHITELOCKE  CASHIERED. 
Some  hopes  were  entertained  that  the 
reverses  in  the  Mediterranean  would  be 
compensated  by  successes  in  South  America, 
In  October,  1806,  ministers  had  sent  out  a 
reinforcement  to  the  river  Plate,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Samuel  Auchmuty,  and 
convoyed  by  Sir  Charles  Stirling,  who  was 
appointed  to  supersede  Sir  Home  Popham  m 
the  naval  command  on  that  station.  On  arri- 
ving at  Maldanado,  Sir  Samuel  determined 
to  attack  the  strong  fortress  of  Monte  Video, 
the  key  of  the  river  Plate;  and  on  the 
eighteenth  of  January  the  troops,  amounting 
to  about  four  thousand  men,  were  landed 
near  the  place,  and  repulsed  a  superior  force 
which  had  been  ordered  out  against  them. 
A  battery  was  erected,  which,  though  ex- 
posed to  the  incessant  fire  of  the  enemy, 
effected  a  practicable  breach  on  the  second 
of  February;  and  orders  were  issued  that 
the  assault  should  be  made  next  morning,  an 
hour  before  daybreak.  The  enemy,  in  the 
mean  time,  had  so  barricaded  the  breach  with 
hides,  that  the  head  of  the  assailing  column 
could  not  in  the  darkness  distinguish  it  from 
the  untouched  wall;  and  the  men  remained 
under  a  galling  fire  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour^ 
when  it  was  at  length  discovered  by  captain 
Renny,  vv^ho  fell  gloriously  as  he  mounted  it ; 
the  gallant  soldiers  then  forced  their  way 
into  the  town,  overturning  the  cannon  which 
had  been  placed  at  the  head  of  the  principal 
avenues,  and  clearing  the  batteries  and  the 
streets  with  their  bayonets.  By  sunrise  all 
was  in  possession  of  the  British  except  the 
citadel,  which  soon  surrendered ;  and  early 
in  the  morning,  highly  to  the  credit  of  the 
troops,  all  was  perfectly  quiet 

When  intelligence  arrived  in  England  of 
the  recapture  of  Buenos  Ayres  by  the 
Spaniards,  orders  were  sent  by  a  fast-sailing 
vessel  to  direct  general  Craufiird,  who  had 
been  sent  against  Chili  with  four  thousand 
two  hundred  men,  accompanied  by  a  naval 
force  under  admiral  Murray,  to  proceed 
with  his  armament  to  the  river  Plate.  On 
the  fourteenth  of  June,  he  reached  Monte 
Video,  where  he  found  general  Whitelocke, 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


523 


who  had  arrived  on  the  ninth  of  May  from 
England,  with  a  reinforcement  of  sixteen 
hundred  men,  and  to  whom  was  intrusted 
the  chief  command  of  the  British  forces  in 
South  America,  with  orders  to  reduce  the 
whole  province  of  Buenos  Ayres.  Having, 
after  fatiguing  marches,  nearly  surrounded 
the  town,  he  ordered  a  general  attack  to  be 
made  on  the  fifth  of  July,  each  corps  to  enter 
by  the  streets  opposite  to  it,  and  all  with 
unloaded  muskets.  The  service  was  exe- 
cuted with  great  intrepidity,  but  with  the 
loss  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  men,  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners.  No  mode 
of  attack  could  have  been  so  ill  adapted 
against  a  town  consisting  of  flat-roofed  houses, 
disposed  in  regular  streets,  intersecting  each 
other  at  right  angles.  Volleys  of  grape-shot 
were  poured  on  our  columns  in  front  and  in 
flank  as  they  advanced ;  and  they  were  as- 
sailed also  from  the  house-tops  with  hand- 
grenades  and  other  destructive  missiles.  Sir 
Samuel  Auchmuty  succeeded  in  making 
himself  master  of  the  Plaza  de  Toros,  where 
he  took  eighty-two  pieces  of  cannon  and  an 
immense  quantity  of  ammunition.  General 
Craufurd  with  his  brigade  was  cut  off  from 
all  communication  with  the  other  columns, 
and  was  obliged  to  surrender ;  as  was  also 
lieutenant-colonel  Duff",  witli  a  detachment 
under  his  command.  On  the  following  morn- 
ing, general  Liniers  ofl^ered  to  deliver  up  the 
prisoners  taken  on  this  occasion,  and  also 
those  taken  from  general  Beresford,  on  con- 
dition that  the  attack  on  the  town  should  be 


discontinued ;  and  that  within  two  months 
from  that  date,  Monte  Video,  and  the  other 
stations  on  the  river  Plate,  occupied  by  the 
English  troops,  should  be  evacuated.  He 
added  that  the  exasperation  of  the  populace 
against  the  English  prisoners  was  unbounded ; 
and  that  if  hostilities  were  continued,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  insure  their  safety. 
These  terms  were  no  sooner  proposed  than 
they  were  yielded  to  by  general  White- 
locke,  whose  conduct  called  forth  the  most 
severe  reprehension ;  and  on  his  return  to 
England  he  was  tried  by  a  court-martial, 
cashiered,  and  declared  totally  unfit  and  un- 
worthy to  serve  his  majesty  in  any  military 
capacity. 

CAPTURE  OF  CURACOA— INSURRECTION 
IN  INDIA. 

Against  these  misfortunes,  the  solitary 
acquisition  of  the  Dutch  island  of  Curacoa 
is  to  be  recorded.  On  the  first  of  January, 
1807,  the  capture  was  effected  with  incon- 
siderable loss,  by  a  squadron  of  four  frigates 
under  the  command  of  captain  Brisbane. 

The  tranquillity  of  British  India  was  in- 
terrupted in  July,  1806,  by  an  insurrection 
of  the  sepoys  or  native  troops  in  the  pay  of 
the  company,  who  attacked  the  European 
barracks  at  Vellore,  and  massacred  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  men  before  they 
were  quelled.  A  rumor,  that  it  was  the 
wish  of  the  British  government  to  convert 
the  sepoys  by  forcible  means  to  Christianity, 
was  the  cause  of  this  disaflfection. 


524 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XXXYII. 


A  new  Parliament — The  late  Negotiations — Finance — Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade — 
Change  of  Administration — Dissolution  of  Parliament — New  Election — New  Mili- 
tary Plan — Bill  respecting  Ireland — Reversions — Prorogation — Expedition  against 
Copenhagen — Capture  of  the  Danish  Fleet — War  with  Denmark — With  Russia — 
Restrictions  on  Commerce — Action  between  a  British  and  American  Frigate — Cap- 
ture of  the  Danish  West  India  Islands — The  French  enter  Portugal — The  Royal 
Family  embark  for  Brazil — Affairs  of  Spain — Buonaparte's  efforts  to  place  his 
Brother  on  the  Throne — Expedition  to  Portugal — Convention  of  Cintra — Advance 
of  the  British  forces  into  Spain,  under  Sir  John  Moore — His  retreat — Battle  of 
Corunna,  and  death  of  Sir  John  Moore. 


NEW  PARLIAMENT— THE  LATE   NEGO- 
TIATIONS.—FINANCE. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  new  parliament  on 
the  fifteenth  of  December,  1806,  the  royal 
speech  animated  the  nation  to  exertions 
against  the  enemy.  On  the  second  of  Jan- 
uary, 1807,  the  subject  of  the  late  negotia- 
tion with  France  for  the  restoration  of  a 
general  peace  was  brought  under  considera- 
tion. On  this  occasion  Canning  condemned 
the  policy  of  breaking  with  Prussia  for  the 
sake  of  Hanover.  Prussia  had,  in  the  first 
instance,  accepted  the  transfer  of  that  elec- 
torate from  France,  on  condition  that  the 
possession  should  not  be  considered  as  valid 
until  a  general  peace  should  be  concluded, 
or  until  the  consent  of  the  king  of  Great 
Britain  should  be  obtained.  Buonaparte  ac- 
quiesced for  a  time ;  but  no  sooner  was  he 
relieved  from  anxiety  respecting  the  Russian 
armies,  than  he  insisted  that  the  occupation 
should  be  absolute,  and  Prussia  had  then  no 
choice  but  war,  or  compliance  at  the  risk  of 
war  with  England :  she  saw  this  risk,  but 
could  not  avoid  it ;  and  we  fell  into  the  snare. 
Buonaparte  had  apprehended  the  union  of 
Prussia  with  the  two  great  surviving  powers 
of  the  confederacy,  and  wished  to  have  her 
at  his  mercy.  In  the  space  of  three  months 
he  beheld  her  at  war  with  England,  and 
England  and  Russia  separately  negotiating 
for  peace.  He  found  means  to  continue  this 
state  of  things  until  the  arrangements  for 
the  overthrow  of  Prussia  were  matured : 
then  the  farce  was  ended,  and  he  hastened 
to  the  field  of  battle. 

Parliament,  after  providing  for  an  aug- 
mentation of  the  sea  and  land  forces,  direct- 
ed its  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the 
revenue.  Lord  Henry  Petty,  having  stated 
the  total  amount  of  the  supplies  for  the  year 
1807  at  forty  million  five  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-seven thousand  sixty-five  pounds  eleven 
shillings  and  eight  pence,  and  the  ways  and 
means  at  forty-one  million  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  brought  forward  a  perma- 
nent plan  of  finance,  which  professed  to  have 


for  its  object  to  provide  the  means  of  main- 
taining the  honor  and  independence  of  the 
British  empire  during  the  necessary  contin- 
uance of  the  war,  without  perceptibly  in- 
creasing the  burdens  of  the  country,  and  with 
manifest  benefit  to  the  interest  of  the  public 
creditor.  This  plan  was  adapted  to  meet  a 
scale  of  expenditure  nearly  equal  to  that  of 
1806;  and  assumed  that,  during  the  war,  the 
annual  produce  of  the  permanent  and  tem- 
porary revenue  would  continue  equal  to  the 
produce  of  that  year.  Keeping  these  prem- 
ises in  view,  it  was  proposed  that  the  war 
loans  for  the  years  1807,  1808,  and  1809, 
should  be  twelve  million  pounds  annually ; 
for  1810,  fourteen  million  pounds ;  and  for 
each  of  the  ten  following  years,  sixteen  mil- 
lion pounds.  Those  several  loans  were  to  be 
made  a  charge  on  the  war  taxes,  which  were 
estimated  to  produce  twenty-one  million 
pounds  annually :  this  charge  to  be  at  the 
rate  of  ten  per  cent,  on  each  loan ;  five  per 
cent,  for  interest,  and  the  remainder  as  a 
sinking  fimd,  which,  at  compound  interest, 
would  redeem  any  sum  of  capital  debt  in 
fourteen  years.  The  portions  of  war  taxes 
thus  successively  liberated,  might,  if  the  war 
should  still  be  prolonged,  become  applicable 
in  a  revolving  series,  and  be  again  pledged 
for  new  loans;  it  was,  however,  material, 
that  the  property-tax  should,  in  every  case, 
cease  on  the  sixth  of  April  next,  after  the 
ratification  of  a  definitive  treaty  of  peace. 
In  the  result  therefore  of  the  whole  mea- 
sure, there  would  not  be  imposed  any  new 
taxes  for  the  first  three  years  from  this  time. 
New  taxes  of  less  than  three  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  on  an  average  of  seven  years, 
from  1810  to  1816,  both  inclusive,  were  all 
that  would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  procure 
for  the  country  the  full  benefit  of  the  plan 
here  described,  which  would  continue  for 
twenty  years ;  during  the  last  ten  of  which 
again  no  new  taxes  would  be  required.  After 
repeated  discussions  the  plan  was  agreed  to, 
and  the  funds  advanced  considerably,  which 
gave  the  minister  an  opportunity  of  negoti- 


GEORGE  m.  1760-1820. 


525 


ating  a  loan  on  terms  highly  advantageous 
to  the  public,  and  yet  not  unproductive  to 
the  contractors. 

ABOLITION  OF  THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 

At  this  period  the  total  abolition  of  the 
African  slave  trade  was  finally  accomplished. 
On  the  second  of  January  lord  Grenville 
introduced  a  bill  for  effecting  this  glorious 
object,  which  was  read  a  first  time,  and 
printed.  On  the  fourth  of  February,  coun- 
sel were  heard  at  the  bar  of  the  house,  in 
favor  of  the  continuance  of  the  trade,  and 
on  the  following  day  lord  Grenville  conclu- 
ded an  elaborate  speech  on  the  subject,  by 
moving  the  second  reading  of  the  bill,  which 
was  principally  opposed  by  the  duke  of  Clar- 
ence, earls  Westmoreland  and  St.  Vincent, 
and  lords  Sidmouth,  Eldon,  and  Hawkes- 
bury.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 
house  divided,  when  there  appeared  for  tlie 
motion  one  hundred,  and  against  it  thirty-six 
voices.  On  the  tentli  the  bill  was  read  a 
third  time,  and  ordered  to  the  commons  for 
the  concurrence  of  that  assembly.  On  the 
twenty-third  lord  Howick  moved  for  its  com- 
mitment, when  the  opponents  of  this  humane 
law  were  so  much  diminished  that  there  ap- 
peared, on  a  division,  for  the  question  two 
hundred  and  eighty-three,  and  against  it  only 
sixteen  voices.  The  bill,  which  was  debated 
with  great  animation  in  all  its  stages,  en- 
acted, that  no  vessel  should  clear  out  for 
slaves  from  any  port  within  the  British  do- 
minions after  the  first  of  May,  1807,  and 
that  no  slave  should  be  landed  in  the  colo- 
nies after  the  first  of  March,  1808.  On  the 
sixteenth  of  March,  on  the  motion  of  lord 
Henry  Petty,  the  bill  was  read  a  third  time, 
and  passed  without  a  division.  On  the 
eighteenth  the  bill  was  carried  to  the  lords 
for  their  concurrence  in  some  amendments, 
when  lord  Grenville  instantly  moved  that  it 
should  be  printed,  and  taken  into  considera- 
tion on  the  twenty-third,  on  which  day  the 
alterations  were  agreed  to.  The  reason  of 
this  haste  was,  that  his  majesty,  displeased 
with  the  introduction  of  a  bill  for  granting 
some  concessions  to  Roman  Catholic  officers, 
had  resolved  to  displace  the  existing  admin- 
istration. Though  the  bill  had  passed  both 
houses,  there  was  an  awful  fear,  lest  it 
should  not  receive  the  royal  assent  before 
the  ministry  was  dissolved.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  March,  at  half-past  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  his  majesty's  message  was 
delivered  to  the  different  members  of  admin- 
istration, commanding  them  to  wait  upon 
him,  to  deliver  up  the  seals  of  their  respec- 
tive offices.  It  then  appeared,  that  a  com- 
mission for  the  royal  assent  to  this  bill, 
among  others,  had  been  obtained.  This 
commission  was  instantly  opened  by  the  lord 
/Chancellor  (Erskine),  and  as  the  clock  struck 
twelve,  this  important  bill  became,  after  a 


struggle  of  twenty  years,  a  part  of  the  law 
of  the  land  !  Thus  did  Great  Britain  set  an 
example  to  the  world,  which  neither  the 
philanthropists  of  the  French  republic,  nor 
those  of  the  United  States  of  America,  had 
been  sufficiently  magnanimous  to  exhibit. 

CHANGE  OF  THE  MINISTRY.— DISSOLU- 
TION OF  PARLIAMENT. 

A  BILL,  Styled  the  Roman  Catholics'  Army 
and  Navy  Service  Bill,  occasioned  the  dis- 
missal of  the  ministry.  Its  object  was  to 
secure  to  all  his  majesty's  subjects  the  privi- 
lege of  serving  in  the  army  and  navy,  upon 
their  taking  an  oath  prescribed  by  act  of 
parliament,  and  for  leavmg  to  them,  as  far 
as  convenience  would  admit,  the  free  exer- 
cise of  their  respective  religions.  Without 
having  for  its  aim  what  was  called  the  eman- 
cipation of  tlie  Catholics,  this  bill  was  adapt- 
ed to  afford  them  great  satisfaction,  being 
doubtless  mtended  as  the  precursor  of  a  sys- 
tem of  enlarged  toleration :  it  soon,  however, 
became  a  matter  of  notoriety,  that  the  king 
regarded  it  as  contrary  to  the  obligations  of 
his  coronation  oath,  and,  under  such  circum- 
stances, ministers  immediately  abandoned 
it :  but  being  also  required  to  give  a  written 
obligation,  pledging  themselves  never  more 
to  propose  anything  connected  with  the 
Catholic  question,  they  resisted  the  demand, 
as  incompatible  with  their  honor  and  duty. 
Some  portion  of  irritation  now  operated  on 
both  sides — the  breach  had  extended  too  far 
to  admit  of  being  closed — confidence  was 
mutually  impaired — and  the  necessary  con- 
sequence, the  resignation  of  ministers,  al- 
most immediately  ensued. 

The  new  ministers  announced  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  March,  were  lord  Eldon, 
chancellor;  the  earl  of  Westmoreland,  privy- 
seal  ;  the  duke  of  Portland,  first  lord  of  the 
treasury;  earl  Camden,  president  of  the 
council ;  lord  Mulgrave,  first  lord  of  the 
admiralty;  lord  Chatham,  master  of  the 
ordnance;  lord  Hawesbury,  secretary  for 
the  home  department;  Canning,  secretary 
for  foreign  affairs;  lord  Castlereagh,  secre- 
tary for  the  department  of  war  and  colo- 
nies ;  and  Perceval,  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer. 

A  justification  of  the  late  ministry  was 
sought  by  a  motion  made  by  Brand,  that  it 
was  contrary  to  the  first  duties  of  the  confi- 
dential servants  of  the  crown,  tx3  restraui 
themselves  by  any  pledge,  express  or  im- 
plied, from  offering  to  the  king  any  advice 
that  the  course  of  circumstances  might  ren- 
der necessary.  The  majority  in  favor  of  the 
new  ministers,  in  a  house  of  four  hundred 
and  eighty-four  members,  only  amounted  to 
thirty-two ;  and  Canning  intimated,  that  in 
the  event  of  administration  finding  any  im- 
pediment from  the  number  of  then-  oppo- 
nents, a  dissolution  of  parliament  would  be 


526 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


resorted  to.  This  threat  was  soon  after  car- 
ried into  effect,  and  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  April,  the  session  and  tlie  parliament 
were  brought  to  an  end  by  a  speech  from 
the  throne,  in  which  the  commissioners 
were  charged  to  state  that  his  majesty  was 
anxious  to  recur  to  the  sense  of  his  people, 
while  the  events  which  had  recently  taken 
place  were  yet  fresh  in  their  recollection. 

NEW  ELECTION.— MILITARY  PLAN—BILL 
RESPECTING  IRELAND.— PARLIAMENT 
PROROGUED. 

The  general  election  which  succeeded 
the  dissolution  of  parliament  was,  in  many 
places,  very  violently  contested,  the  cry  of 
No  Popery,  and  The  Church  is  in  danger, 
being  used  for  political  purposes;  and  so 
successfully  was  it  exerted,  that  of  the  late 
ministry  Thomas  Grenville  was  the  only 
commoner  in  the  cabinet  who  resumed  his 
seat  for  the  place  he  had  before  represented. 
The  new  parliament  assembled  on  the 
twenty-second  of  June,  when  Abbot  was 
unanimously  re-elected  speaker  of  the  house 
of  commons.  The  king's  speech,  which  was 
delivered  by  commission,  stated  that,  since 
the  events  which  led  to  the  dissolution,  he 
had  received  the  warmest  assurances  of  sup- 
port in  maintaining  the  just  rights  of  the 
crown,  and  the  true  principles  of  the  consti- 
tution. In  the  lords  the  address  was  carried 
by  one  hundred  and  sixty  against  sixty- 
seven,  and  in  the  commons  by  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-five, 
being  the  fullest  house  ever  known  on  a 
similar  occasion;  and  thus  the  solidity  of 
the  present  administration  was  fully  estab- 
lished. 

A  new  military  plan  was  introduced  by 
lord  Castlereagh,  for  increasing  the  regular 
army  from  the  militia,  and  for  supplying  the 
deficiencies  arising  from  such  a  transfer  by 
a  supplementary  militia.  Two  bills  were 
accordingly  passed,  through  the  operation 
of  which  it  was  calculated  that  thirty-eight 
thousand  men  would  be  added  to  the  military 
force  of  the  country.  A  bill  was  introduced 
by  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  for  suppressing  in- 
surrection in  Ireland,  and  for  preventing  the 
disturbance  of  the  peace  in  that  country 
and  another  bill  was  also  passed  to  prevent 
improper  persons  from  keeping  arms.  An 
address  was  likewise  carried  in  the  com- 
mons, on  the  motion  of  Bankes,  praying 
his  majesty  not  to  make  any  grant  of  an 
office  in  reversion,  until  six  weeks  after  the 
commencement  of  the  ensuing  session.  On 
the  fourteenth  of  August  parliament  was 
prorogued. 

EXPEDITION   AGAINST  COPENHAGEN.— 

CAPTURE  OF  THE  DANISH  FLEET. 

The  efiforts  of  Buonaparte  to  exclude  the 

commerce  of  England  from  every  part  of 

the  continent,  and  to  promote  a  maritime 


confederacy  against  her,  rendered  it  certain 
that  no  power  which  he  could  control  would 
be  permitted  to  enjoy  a  free  trade ;  and  hav- 
ing succeeded  in  closing  the  ports  of  Russia 
and  Prussia  against  the  British  flag,  Den- 
mark became  involved  in  a  distressing  di- 
lemma. The  Berlin  decree  of  Buonaparte, 
and  the  British  orders  of  council  issued  by 
way  of  counteraction,  placed  all  inferior 
powers  in  a  state  of  submission  to  the  bel- 
ligerants;  and  between  the  dread  of  France, 
to  whom  all  her  continental  territories  lay 
open,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  English 
navy  on  the  other,  Denmark,  though  anxious 
rigidly  to  preserve  her  neutrality,  was  se- 
verely visited  with  the  calamities  of  war. 
Persuaded  that  sooner  or  later  she  must  be 
absorbed  in  that  vortex  of  domination,  from 
which  nearly  all  the  continental  powers  had 
been  unable  to  extricate  themselves,  the 
British  government  dispatched  to  the  Baltic 
an  armament  of  twenty  thousand  troops,  un- 
der the  command  of  lord  Cathcart,  with  a 
powerful  fleet  under  admiral  Gambler,  one 
of  the  lords  of  the  admiralty.  When  the 
intelligence  of  this  expedition  first  reached 
Copenhagen,  it  was  universally  supposed,  in 
that  city,  that  the  English  army  was  intend- 
ed to  co-operate  with  the  Swedes  in  Pome- 
rania;  the  illusion,  however,  was  speedily 
dissipated  by  the  arrival  of  a  British  envoy 
in  the  Danish  capital,  early  in  August  with 
instructions  to  demand  the  delivery  of  the 
fleet  into  the  possession  of  the  British  ad- 
miral, under  a  solemn  stipulation  that  it 
should  be  restored  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
war  between  England  and  France ;  but  in 
case  the  prince-royal  refused  to  comply,  he 
was  to  be  informed  that  the  British  com- 
manders would'  forthwith  proceed  to  hostili- 
ties. The  prince  argued  upon  the  proposals 
made  to  him  with  dignity,  and  finally  de- 
clared his  determination  to  reject  them,  and 
to  adhere  to  the  line  of  policy  which  he  had 
hitherto  pursued. 

The  English  army  landed  without  oppo- 
sition on  the  sixteenth  of  August,  and  alter 
some  ineffectual  attempts  to  impede  its  pro- 
gress, Copenhagen  was  closely  invested  on 
the  land-side,  the  fleet  forming  an  impene- 
trable blockade  by  sea.  A  proclamation 
was  at  the  same  time  issued  by  the  com- 
manders, notifying  to  the  inhabitants  of  Zea- 
land the  motives  of  their  undertaking ;  the 
conduct  that  would  be  observed  towards 
them ;  and  an  assurance  that  at  any  time 
when  the  demand  of  his  Britannic  majesty 
should  be  acceded  to,  hostilities  should  cease. 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  was  dispatched  on  the 
twenty-sixth  with  a  force  to  disperse  troops 
which  were  collecting  with  great  rapidity 
under  general  Cartenchield  which  he  effec- 
tually performed.  On  the  evening  of  the 
second  of  September,  the  land  batteries,  and 


GEORGE  UI.    1760—1820. 


527 


the  bomb  and  mortar  vessels,  opened  a  tre- 
mendous fire  upon  the  town,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  a  general  conflagration  appeared 
to  have  taken  place.  No  proposals  for  ca- 
pitulation being  sent  on  the  two  ensuing 
days,  the  firing,  which  had  been  considerably 
slackened,  was  vigorously  renewed  on  the 
evening  of  the  fourth,  and  next  morning 
the  commandant  of  the  garrison  sent  out 
a  flag  of  truce.  A  capitulation  having  been 
settled  on  the  eighth,  the  British  army  took 
possession  of  the  citadel,  dock-yards  and 
batteries,  under  an  engagement  of  restoring 
them,  and  of  evacuating  the  island  of  Zea- 
land, at  the  expiration  of  six  weeks,  or 
sooner  if  possible:  no  requisitions  were 
made,  no  contributions  were  levied,  no  mili- 
tary excesses  were  committed,  and  the  police 
of  the  city  was  regulated  by  the  Danish 
magistrates.  The  British  admiral  immedi- 
ately began  rigging  and  fitting  out  the  ships 
that  filled  the  spacious  basins  where  they 
were  laid  up  in  ordinary,  sixteen  of  which 
were  of  the  line,  fifteen  were  frigates,  six 
brigs,  and  twenty-five  gun-boats ;  and  at  the 
expiration  of  the  term  limited  in  the  capit- 
ulation, they  were  all,  together  with  the 
stores,  timber,  and  every  article  of  naval 
equipment  found  in  the  arsenal  and  store- 
houses, conveyed  to  England,  except  one 
iine-of-battle  ship  that  grounded  on  the  isle 
of  Huen,  and  was  destroyed. 

The  English  fleet  had  scarcely  quitted 
the  road  of  Copenhagen,  when  a  number  of 
small  armed  vessels  commenced  depreda- 
tions on  our  traders  in  the  Baltic  with  con- 
siderable success.  British  property  was  con- 
fiscated throughout  the  Danish  dominions, 
and  correspondence  with  England  strictly 
prohibited.  Under  these  circumstances  a 
declaration  was  published  in  justification  of 
the  motives  which  dictated  the  expedition, 
wherein  it  was  stated  that  "  his  majesty  had 
received  the  most  positive  information  of  the 
determination  of  the  ruler  of  France  to  oc- 
cupy with  a  military  force  the  territory  of 
Holstein,  for  the  purpose  of  excluding  Great 
Britain  from  her  accustomed  channels  of 
communication  with  the  continent,  or  in- 
ducing or  compelling  the  court  of  Denmark 
to  close  the  passage  of  the  Sound  against 
British  commerce  and  navigation,  and  of 
availing  himself  of  the  aid  of  the  Danish 
marine  for  the  invasion  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland ;"  and  further,  that  "  Holstein  once 
occupied,  Zealand  would  be  at  the  mercy  of 
France,  and  the  navy  of  Denmark  at  her 
disposal."  The  expedition  was  therefore 
justified  as  an  act  of  self-preservation. 

RUSSIA    PROCLAIMS    WAR    WITH    ENG- 
LAND.—RESTRICTIONS  ON  COMMERCE. 
The  emperor  of  Russia  strongly  resented 
the  conduct  of  England  towards  Denmark ; 
and  as  the  treaty  of  Tilsit  had  already  tended 


considerably  to  relax  the  bond  of  union  be- 
tween the  courts  of  London  and  St.  Peters- 
burgh,  it  was  far  from  improbable  that  Rus- 
sia might  soon  join  the  league  against  Brit- 
ain. Apprehension  was  at  length  converted 
into  certainty — the  British  ambassador  was 
ordered  to  leave  St.  Petersburgh — and  on 
the  thirty-first  of  October  a  declaration  of 
war  was  issued  against  England.  The  em- 
peror proclaimed  anew  the  principles  of  the 
armed  neutrality,  and  engaged  that  there 
should  be  no  re-establishment  of  peace  be- 
tween Russia  and  England  until  satisfaction 
should  have  been  given  to  Denmark. 

Buonaparte's  efforts  to  exclude  English 
commerce,  and  to  establish  his  continental 
system,  were  this  year  continued  with  rigor- 
ous perseverance.  To  embarrass  the  trade 
and  finances  of  Great  Britain,  Europe  was 
obliged,  in  a  great  degree,  to  abandon  those 
luxuries  which  long  habit  had  almost  ren- 
dered necessary ;  and  these  restrictions  were 
followed,  on  the  part  of  England,  by  a  sys- 
tem of  retaliation,  which  deprived  multi- 
tudes in  France  of  the  means  of  honest  in- 
dustry, and  even  of  relief  under  disease  and 
pain.  The  distress  of  the  West  India  plant- 
ers, in  consequence  of  the  exclusion  of  their 
produce  from  the  usual  markets,  excited 
particular  attention;  and,  to  remedy  this 
evil,  a  committee  of  the  house  of  commons, 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  means  of  afford- 
ing them  relief,  recommended  a  decrease  of 
duty  upon  colonial  produce,  an  advance  of 
bounty  upon  its  importation,  and  the  inter- 
ruption of  the  intercourse  carried  on  by 
American  ships  between  Europe  and  tlie 
colonies  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Martinique, 
and  Guadaloupe,  through  the  medium  of  the 
United  States.  An  order  of  council,  issued 
on  the  seventh  of  January,  which  prohibited 
neutral  vessels  from  trading  to  any  port  in 
the  possession,  or  under  the  control  of  the 
enemy,  not  having  answered  the  desired 
purpose,  additional  orders  were  issued  on 
the  eleventh  of  November,  declaring  every 
port  from  which  Great  Britain  was  excluded, 
to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade ;  all  trade  in  the 
produce  and  manufactures  of  these  countries 
was  pronounced  illegal ;  and  the  vessels 
employed  therein  were  liable  to  seizure. — 
Thus  was  the  communication  along  the 
coasts  of  France  and  her  allies,  by  means 
of  neutral  vessels,  completely  prohibited; 
and,  though  the  Americans  might  still  freely 
trade  witli  the  enemy's  colonies  for  articles 
of  tJieir  own  consumption,  the  double  re- 
striction was  imposed  upon  the  intercourse 
by  them  between  France  and  her  colonies, 
of  calling  at  a  British  port,  and  paying  a 
British  duty.  To  avoid  tlie  losses  and  hos- 
tilities which  were  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  measures  respectively  adopted  by  Eng- 
land and  France,  the  American  congress, 


528 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


on  the  twenty-second  of  December,  laid  a 
strict  embargo  on  all  the  vessels  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  by  which  they  were  prohibited 
from  quitting  any  of  their  ports ;  and  ships 
from  all  other  nations  were  commanded  to 
leave  the  American  harbors,  with  or  with- 
out cargoes,  as  soon  as  the  act  was  notified 
to  them.  This  intelligence  created  a  gene- 
ral feeling  of  alarm  among  commercial  men; 
and  the  merchants  of  Liverpool,  considering 
that  this  act  of  congress  proceeded  from  our 
orders  in  council,  petitioned  for  their  speedy 
removal,  but  parliament  did  not  think  proper 
to  comply  with  their  request.  Buonaparte, 
aware  that  all  restrictions  on  commerce 
would,  from  the  situation  and  pursuits  of 
England,  fall  upon  this  country  with  a  much 
heavier  pressure  than  on  France,  felt  no  dis- 
position to  relax  in  this  new  species  of  war- 
fare ;  and  accordingly,  on  the  twenty-third 
of  November,  a  decree  was  issued  from  Mil- 
an, enacting,  "  that  all  vessels  which,  after 
having  touched  at  England  from  any  nation 
whatever,  shall  enter  the  ports  of  France, 
shall  be  seized  and  confiscated  as  well  as 
their  cargoes,  without  exception  or  distinc- 
tion of  commodities  or  merchandise."  This 
interdict  was,  on  the  nineteenth  of  the  fol- 
lowing montli,  succeeded  by  a  rejoinder  to 
the  orders  in  council  of  the  eleventh  of  No- 
vember, by  which  it  was  declared  that  every 
neutral  which  submitted  to  be  searched  by 
an  English  ship,  or  paid  any  duty  whatso- 
ever to  the  English  government,  should  be 
considered  as  thereby  denationalized;  and 
having  forfeited  the  protection  of  its  own 
government,  should  in  consequence  be  liable 
to  seizure  as  a  lawful  prize,  by  French  ships 
of  war.  Neutral  powers  were  thus  placed 
between  confiscation  and  confiscation.  If 
they  proceeded  to  a  French  port  without 
first  paying  a  duty  upon  th^ir  cargoes  in 
England,  they  were  liable  lo  be  captured  by 
British  cruisers  ;  and  if  they  came  to  Eng- 
land and  paid  the  duty,  they  then  became 
subject  to  confiscation  in  the  ports  of  the 
enemy.  The  case  was  one  of  extreme 
hardship;  and  in  this  country,  where  war 
had  not  obliterated  all  sense  of  moral  obli- 
gation, the  justice  and  the  policy  of  the  or- 
ders in  council  underwent  a  severe  scru- 
tiny, and  called  forth  the  most  anunated 
discussions. 

ACTION  BETWEEN  A  BRITISH  AND  AMER- 
ICAN FRIGATE— DANISH  WEST  INDIA 
ISLANDS  SURRENDER. 

Whilst  the  orders  of  council  increased 
the  difierences  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  an  unfortunate  occurrence 
created  another  ground  of  dispute.  On  the 
twenty-third  of  June  an  English  man-of- 
war,  the  Leopard,  captain  Humphries,  ac*>-I 
ing  under  the  orders  of  admiral  Berkeley,  f 
fell  in  with  the  Chesapeak,  American  fi/g-l 


ate,  off  the  Capes  of  Virginia,  and  demanded 
some  British  deserters,  whom  she  was  known 
to  have  on  board.  Her  captain  refusing  to 
admit  the  search,  the  Leopard  fired  a  broad- 
side, which  killed  and  wounded  several  of 
his  men :  after  which  the  American  struck 
his  colors.  In  consequence  of  this  transac- 
tion, the  president  of  the  United  States  is- 
sued a  proclamation,  ordering  the  immediate 
departure  of  all  British  ships  of  war  from 
the  harbors  and  waters  of  the  Union,  and, 
in  his  message  to  congress  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  October,  relative  to  the  pending 
negotiation  with  Great  Britain,  he  stated 
that  satisfaction  had  been  demanded  for  the 
outrage.  An  investigation  m  the  mean  time 
took  place  at  Halifax,  and  one  of  the  desert- 
ers taken  on  board  the  Chesapeak  was  con- 
demned by  a  court-martial,  and  executed. 
The  British  ministry  hesitated  not  to  declare 
in  parliament  their  readiness  to  make  every 
reparation  for  whatever  might  appear  an  un- 
authorized act  of  hostility ;  and,  in  a  pro- 
clamation issued  for  recalling  British  sea- 
men, it  was  stated  that  force  might,  if  ne- 
cessary, be  exercised  for  recovering  desert- 
ers on  board  the  merchant-vessels  of  neu- 
trals ;  but  that,  with  respect  to  ships  of  war, 
a  requisition  only  should  be  made.  By  this 
proclamation  the  conduct  of  admiral  Berke- 
ley was  tacitly  disavowed ;  and  an  envoy 
was  soon  after  dispatched  on  a  special  mis- 
sion to  America,  with  overtures  of  concilia- 
tion, which,  however,  proved  abortive. 

The  Danish  West  India  islands  of  St. 
Thomas,  St.  John,  and  St.  Croix,  surrender- 
ed in  December,  without  resistance,  to 
a  squadron  commanded  by  Sir  Alexander 
Cochrane. 

FRENCH  ENTER  PORTUGAL. 
The  French  armies  entered  Spain ;  and 
Buonaparte  having  publicly  declared  that 
the  house  of  Braganza  should  cease  to  reign, 
a  large  force,  under  general  Junot,  entered 
Portugal ;  and  on  the  evening  of  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  November  had  reached  Abrantes, 
within  three  days'  march  of  Lisbon.  At 
this  alarming  crisis  the  prince  regent,  hav- 
ing hastily  concerted  measures  with  lord 
Strangford,  the  English  minister  at  Lisbon, 
adopted  the  resolution  of  transferring  the 
royal  family  and  the  seat  of  the  Portuguese 
government  to  Brazil.  No  time  having 
been  left  for  delay,  the  embarkation  was  ex- 
peditiously performed ;  and,  on  the  morning 
of  the  twenty-ninth,  the  Portuguese  fleet, 
consisting  of  eight  ships  of  the  line,  four 
frigates,  three  brigs  and  a  schooner,  sailed 
out  of  the  Tagus,  having  on  board  the  prince 
of  iirazil,  with  the  whole  of  the  royal  fami- 
V-  and  a  number  of  persons  attached  to  its 
*b'lunes.  The  French  troops,  who,  from  the 
heights  in  the  vicinity  of  Lisbon,  viewed 
the  fleet  as  it  dropped  down  the  river,  en- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


529 


iered  the  city  without  opposition,  and  treat- 
ed it  as  a  conquest  of  the  French  arms. 
The  migration  of  the  Braganza  family, 
which  has  no  example  in  modern,  and 
scarcely  any  in  ancient  history,  was  per- 
formed under  the  protection  of  the  British 
navy,  Sir  Sidney  Smith  having  accompani- 
ed the  royal  emigrants  to  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
where  they  arrived  on  the  ninth  of  Janua- 
ry ;  and  a  direct  intercourse  being  thus  es- 
tablished between  England  and  Brazil,  a 
new  epoch  was  formed  in  the  history  of 
commerce.  The  valuable  island  of  Madei- 
ra was  committed  by  the  Portuguese  go- 
vernment to  the  protection  of  the  British 
until  the  conclusion  of  a  general  peace. 

BUONAPARTE  PLACES  HIS  BROTHER  ON 
THE  THRONE  OF  SPAIN— INSURREC- 
TION AT  MADRID. 

After  Buonaparte  had,  in  the  pretended 
Ciiaracter  of  a  friend  and  ally,  introduced 
liis  armies  into  Spain,  the  reigning  mon- 
arch, Charles  the  fourth,  perplexed  and  har- 
assed by  court  intrigues,  was  induced  or 
compelled  to  resign  his  crown  to  his  son, 
tlie  prince  of  Asturias.  The  new  sovereign, 
Ferdinand  the  seventh,  with  the  whole  of 
the  royal  family,  and  some  of  the  principal 
grandees,  were,  in  a  mysterious  manner,  al- 
lured to  take  a  journey  to  Bayonne,  for  the 
purpose  of  an  interview  with  Buonaparte, 
who,  having  thus  secured  the  two  kings, 
obliged  them  to  sign  a  formal  abdication, 
tiTul  the  infants  Don  Carlos  and  Don  Anto- 
nio renounced  all  claim  of  succession  to 
the  Spanish  crown.  By  the  French,  these 
abdications  and  renunciations  were  repre- 
sented as  voluntary  acts ;  but  by  Spain,  and 
the  rest  of  Europe,  they  were  contemplated 
in  a  very  different  light ;  an  imperial  decree 
was  issued  by  Buonaparte,  declaring  the 
throne  of  Spain  to  be  vacant,  by  the  abdica- 
tion of  the  reigning  family ;  a  junta,  princi- 
pally composed  of  the  partisans  of  France, 
was  convened  to  meet  at  iBayonne.  Among 
tlie  deputies  chosen  by  the  notables  to  re- 
present them  in  the  junta  was  Pedro,  bishop 
of  Orense,  who  excused  himself  from  ac- 
cepting the  trust  in  a  letter  to  iMurat,  then 
grind  duke  of  Berg,  and  provisional  vice- 
oy.  It  was  fraught  with  pure  morality  and 
accurate  reasoning,  covered  with  a  veil  of 
exquisitely  fine  irony.  The  bishop  of  St. 
Andero's  letter  on  the  sa.me  occasion,  though 
quite  in  another  style,  was  as  much  admi- 
red :  he  replied,  "  I  cannot  make  it  conveni- 
ent to  attend,  and  if  I  could,  I  would  not." 
Buonaparte  conferred  tlie  crown  of  Spain 
on  his  brother  Joseph,  who  resigned  the 
crovv'n  of  Naples  in  favor  of  the  grand  duke 
of  Ber<j,  Mural. 

T)ie  circumstances  of  the  time  induced 
a  belief  that  the  new  government  would 
meet  with  little  onposition :  the  French  oc- 

VoL.  IV.  '    45 


cupied  all  the  most  commanding  positions ; 
the  main  body  of  their  army  was  stationed 
in  iMadrid,  and  the  principal  cities  and  for- 
tresses were  garrisoned  by  their  detach- 
ments. At  that  time  the  French  could  not 
have  fewer  than  one  hundred  thousand 
troops  in  Spain,  and  twenty  thousand  in 
Portugal ;  but  notwithstanding  the  presence 
of  so  Ibrmidable  a  force,  the  news  of  the 
compulsory  renunciations  of  the  Bourbon 
dynasty  formed  the  signal  for  a  general  in- 
surrection. On  the  morning  of  the  second 
of  iMay,  1808,  immense  crowds  collected  in 
the  principal  streets  of  the  capital,  and,  ren- 
dered confident  by  their  numbers,  attacked 
the  French  troops  with  great  vigor  and  reso- 
lution, forced  them  to  retreat,  and  obtained 
possession  of  their  cannon,  with  which  they 
succeeded  in  driving  them  out  of  the  city. 
The  alarm  was  no  sooner  given  than  the 
French  repaired  to  their  posts,  and  tlie  re- 
inforcements which  poured  into  the  city 
overwhelmed  the  insurgents.  About  two 
o'clock  the  firing  ceased,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants flattered  themselves  that  the  carnage 
was  at  an  end ;  but  in  the  afternoon  Murat 
issued  orders  for  the  immediate  formation  of 
a  military  tribunal,  of  which  general  Grou- 
chy was  appointed  president;  and,  afler  a 
summary  trial,  three  groups  of  forty  each 
were  successively  shot.  In  this  manner 
was  the  evening  of  the  second  of  May 
spent  by  the  French  at  Madrid ;  the  inhabit- 
ants were  commanded  to  illuminate  their 
houses;  and  through  the  whole  night  the 
dead  and  dying  were  lying  in  heaps  upon 
the  blood-stained  pavement  The  numbers 
slain  on  both  sides  must  have  been  immense. 

This  effort  of  the  citizens  of  Madrid, 
which  ought  to  have  aroused  the  Junta  to 
a  sense  of  their  duty,  produced  directly  the 
opposite  elTect,  and  bent  them  completely  to 
the  will  of  Murat.  Through  his  influence, 
the  holy  inquisition  addressed  a  circular  to 
all  the  courts  of  the  kingdom,  in  which  they 
accused  the  Spanish  people  of  having  occa- 
sioned, by  their  factious  disposition  and 
outrageous  violence,  the  disturbances  and 
bloodshed  of  the  second  of  May. 
MADRID  EVACUATED  BY  THE  FRENCH. 

A  PROVINCIAL  junta  assembled  at  Ovie- 
do  published  a  formal  declaration  of  war 
agamst  France,  and,  having  appointed  the 
marquis  of  Santa  Cruz  general  of  the  pa- 
triotic army,  sent  a  deputation  to  solicit  the 
assistance  of  England,  which  was  readily 
granted,  and  the  British  government  depla- 
red  itself  at  peace  with  the  Spanish  nation. 
The  defence  of  Arragon  was  committed  to 
general  Palafox,  whose  bold  and  animated 
addresses  had  contributed  to  rouse  his  coun- 
trymen to  arms ;  and  Saragossa,  the  princi- 
pal city,  was  considered  by  the  French  as 
a  place  of  so  much  importance,  that  they 


530 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


made  repeated  attacks  upon  it  with  all  the 
forces  they  could  spare;  but  though  they 
more  than  once  obtained  possession  of  some 
parts  of  the  town,  they  were  never  able  to 
preserve  what  they  with  so  much  difficulty 
acquired.  Another  point  of  great  import- 
ance to  both  the  contending  parties  was  the 
possession  of  the  principal  road  between 
Bayonne  and  Madrid,  and  Cuesta  was  the 
Spanish  general  appointed  to  secure  that 
important  object:  the  French  general  dis- 
patched for  the  same  purpose  was  Lesolles. — 
The  hostile  forces  met  on  the  fourteenth  of 
July  at  Rio  Seco,  near  Valladolid,  and  the 
Spaniards  were  compelled  to  retreat,  on 
which  the  French  took  possession  of  Rio 
Seco,  and  afterwards  of  St.  Andero ;  their 
triumph,  however,  was  of  short  duration, 
the  advance  of  general  de  Ponti,  with  a 
division  of  ten  thousand  men  from  the  Aus- 
trian army,  obliging  the  French  to  evacuate 
the  town  precipitately. 

Buonaparte  remained  at  Bayonne,  direct- 
ing or  receiving  the  deliberations  of  the 
junta  which  he  had  convened,  and  drawing 
up  a  constitution  for  Spain.  Murat,  under 
plea  of  ill-health,  having  previously  quitted 
Madrid,  Joseph  Buonaparte,  accompanied 
by  his  principal  ministers,  set  out  for  the 
capital  of  his  yet  unconquered  kingdom, 
where  he  arrived,  under  the  protection  of 
ten  thousand  men,  on  the  twentietli  of  July ; 
but  on  that  very  day  general  Dupont,  with 
fitleen  thousand  men,  surrendered  himself 
and  his  army  prisoners  to  Castanos,  the 
chief  of  the  Andalusian  army ;  and  as  soon 
as  this  news  reached  Madrid,  Joseph  and 
his  court  sought  their  safety  in  flight,  mean- 
ly consoling  themselves,  however,  by  carry- 
ing off  the  regalia,  plate,  and  other  valua- 
bles in  the  royal  palaces.  The  council  of 
Castile  immediately  resumed  the  govern- 
ment, with  professions  of  ardent  attachment 
to  the  cause  of  their  deposed  monarch ;  but 
these  professions  were  received  with  dis- 
trust by  tlie  patriots,  and  the  government  of 
the  country  still  continued  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  the  junta  of  Seville.  It  was  also 
judged  expedient  to  form  a  military  junta 
at  Madrid,  composed  of  five  generals,  in- 
cluding Castanos  and  Morla. 

EXPEDITION  OF  THE  BRITISH  TO  POR- 
TUGAL. 
In  England,  an  expedition  which  had  been 
fitted  out  under  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  for 
the  purpose,  it  was  supposed,  of  proceedmg 
agajnst  Spanish  America,  was  countermand- 
ed on  the  arrival  of  the  nev/s  of  the  insur- 
rection in  Spain.  This  army,  consisting  of 
about  ten  thousand  men,  sailed  from  Cork 
on  the  twelfth  of  July ;  and  Sir  Arthur,  hav- 
ing arrived  at  Corunna  on  the  twentieth, 
ofiered  the  assistance  of  the  force  under  his 
command  to  the  junta  of  Galicia  ;  but  that 


body,  though  the  defeat  at  Rio  Seco  had 
taken  place  a  few  days  before,  and  tlie  Span- 
iards were  retreating  in  every  direction,  un- 
intimidated  by  their  late  reverses,  replied, 
that  they  wished  for  nothing  from  the  Brit- 
ish government  except  money,  arms,  and 
ammunition  :  they  expressed  their  firm  con- 
viction, however,  that  the  armament  might 
be  of  infinite  service  if  it  were  employed  in 
driving  the  French  from  Lisbon,  and  to  that 
point  it  accordingly  proceeded.  The  Eng- 
lish government  next  turned  its  thoughts  to 
the  Spanish  troops  which  Buonaparte  had 
drawn,  under  the  pretence  of  securing  Han- 
over, to  the  northern  parts  of  Germany  ;  and 
a  negotiation  being  entered  into  between 
their  commander,  the  marquis  de  la  Romana, 
and  the  British  admiral.  Sir  Richard  Keats, 
ten  thousand  men  were,  by  a  well-concerted 
plan,  rescued  from  the  power  of  Buonaparte, 
and  landed  on  the  northern  coast  of  Spain, 
to  support  the  patriotic  cause. 

Buonaparte  returned  to  Paris  on  the  fifth 
of  September,  when  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  men  were  ordered  to  be  raised  for 
the  augmentation  of  his  army,  which,  com- 
bined with  the  report  of  tlie  French  minis- 
ter for  foreign  afiairs,  stating  that  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men  were  to  be  placed  at  the 
service  of  the  war  in  Spain,  sufficiently  in- 
dicated that  the  insurrections  in  that  country 
had  not  shaken  his  purposes.  Having  ar- 
ranged his  military  operations,  Buonaparte 
set  out  from  Paris  to  meet  the  emperor 
Alexander,  and  the  dependent  German 
princes,  at  Erfurth.  The  proceedings  of  this 
meeting  were  never  suffered  to  transpire ; 
but  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  one  of  its  ob- 
jects was  to  overawe  Austria,  and  to  ar- 
range the  co-operation  of  Russia  and  the 
confederate  states  of  the  Rhine  against  her, 
if  she  attempted  to  avail  herself  of  the  war 
in  Spain.  On  his  return  to  Paris,  he  assured 
the  legislative  body  that  the  emperor  of  Rus- 
sia and  himself  were  determined  to  make 
considerable  sacrifices  in  order  to  procure, 
for  the  hundred  millions  of  men  whom  they 
represented,  an  early  enjoyment  of  the  com- 
merce of  the  seas ;  and  he  announced  his 
resolution  to  depart  m  a  few  days  to  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  armies,  to  crown 
the  king  of  Spain  at  Madrid,  and  to  plant 
his  eagles  on  the  forts  of  Lisbon.  He  ar- 
rived at  Bayonne  on  the  third  of  November, 
when  the  progress  of  the  campaign  became 
unfavorable  to  the  patriotic  cause.  Having 
fully  succeeded  in  the  north-west  of  Spain, 
Buonaparte  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  di- 
rected his  efforts  against  tlie  forces  under 
Castanos,  on  the  Ebro,  whom  lie  defeated  at 
Tudela  on  the  twenty-tliird ;  and,  in  the 
short  space  of  three  weeks,  the  grand  ar- 
mies of  Blake,  Castanos,  and  count  Belve- 
der,  on  which   tiie   nrincipal   hopes  of  tlie 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


531 


Spanish  nation  rested  for  the  defence  of  the 
capital  and  the  north  of  Spain,  were  defeat- 
ed, and,  in  a  great  measure,  dispersed.  On 
the  twenty-second  of  November,  eleven  days 
after  the  battle  of  Tudela,  Buonaparte  re- 
moved his  head-quarters  from  Burgos,  and 
marched  against  Madrid  by  the  direct  road 
of  the  Castiles.  The  Puerto,  a  passage  of 
the  Somo  Sierra,  was  defended  by  a  division 
of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  thousand  Span- 
iards, and  by  a  battery  of  sixteen  pieces  of 
cannon ;  but  the  powerful  army  to  which 
they  were  opposed  compelled  them  to  seek 
safety  in  flight,  leaving  their  cannon  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  On  the  second  of  De 
cember,  Buonaparte  arrived  on  the  heights 
which  overlook  the  capital  of  Spain,  and 
summoned  it  to  surrender ;  but  the  bearer 
of  the  proposal  narrowly  escaped  being  torn 
to  pieces  by  the  inhabitants,  who  evinced  a 
resolution  to  defend  themselves,  which  was 
feebly  seconded  by  their  leaders ;  and,  after 
an  obstinate  resistance,  the  French  forces 
took  possession  of  the  city  on  the  fourth,  the 
Spanish  troops  being  withdrawn  during  tlie 
preceding  night. 

BATTLES  OF  ROLEIA  AND  VIMIERA— 
CONVENTION  OF  CINTRA. 
The  news  of  the  Spanish  insurrection 
soon  reached  Lisbon;  but  the  inhabitants, 
kept  in  awe  by  the  army  of  Junot,  were  pre- 
vented at  first  from  manifesting  their  joy  at 
the  intelligence :  at  Oporto,  however,  cir- 
cumstances were  more  favorable.  A  body 
of  Spanish  troops,  which  occupied  that  city, 
on  learning  that  their  services  were  required 
in  their  own  country,  determined  to  join  the 
patriotic  ranks  ;  but,  before  their  departure, 
they  took  the  French  general  and  his  staflf 
prisoners,  and  delivered  up  the  government 
of  the  city  to  Louise  d'Oliveda,  who  imme- 
diately opened  a  friendly  communication 
with  an  English  frigate  which  was  cruising 
off  that  port.  The  conduct  of  Oporto  served 
as  an  example  for  the  other  parts  of  Portu- 
gal :  nearly  the  whole  of  the  north  rose  in 
arms  against  the  French ;  the  authority  of 
the  prince  regent  was  re-established ;  and 
provincial  Juntas,  similar  in  their  character 
and  functions  to  those  in  Spain,  were  form- 
ed. These  assemblies  turning  their  atten- 
tion towards  England  for  assistance,  the 
army  of  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  which  had, 
in  the  first  instance,  been  offered  to  the 
Spaniards,  was  destined  for  Portugal,  and 
subsequently  augmented  by  reinforcements 
from  the  south  of  Spain,  under  generals  An- 
struther  and  Ackland,  and  from  the  Baltic 
under  Sir  John  Moore.  On  the  arrival  of 
the  expedition  at  Oporto,  the  bishop  stated 
that  the  Portuguese  force  in  that  quarter 
was  sufficient  to  repel  the  attacks  of  the  en- 
emy, on  which  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  deter- 
mined to  effect  a  landing  in  Mondego  bay, 


having  previously  given  orders  to  general 
Spencer  to  join  him  at  that  place :  and  on 
the  ninth  of  August  their  united  forces  ad- 
vanced on  the  road  to  Lisbon.  On  the  fif- 
teenth the  advanced  guard  of  the  British 
army  came  up,  for  the  first  time,  with  a  par- 
ty of  the  French  at  Oviedas,  when  a  slight 
action  took  place,  called  the  action  of  Lou- 
rinka.  On  the  seventeenth  Sir  Arthur  de- 
termined to  attack  general  Laborde,  whose 
force,  strongly  and  advantageously  posted  at 
Roleia,  consisted  of  about  six  thousand  men. 
A  desperate  battle  ensued,  attended  with 
very  considerable  loss  on  the  side  of  the 
British ;  but,  at  the  close  of  the  day,  the  en- 
emy was  completely  repulsed,  and  his  re- 
treat might  have  been  cut  offj  had  the  Brit- 
ish army  been  supplied  with  the  usual  pro- 
portion of  cavalry.  Junot,  having  been  in- 
formed of  the  reinforcements  which  the 
British  army  expected,  resolved,  notwith- 
standing the  defeat  of  his  troops  at  Roleia, 
to  anticipate  their  arrival,  for  which  purpose 
he  left  Lisbon  with  nearly  the  whole  of  his 
disposable  force,  amounting  to  about  four- 
teen thousand  men,  and  on  the  morning  of 
the  twenty-first  came  up  with  the  army  un- 
der Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  at  Vimiera.  The 
French  commenced  the  attack  on  various 
points  with  their  usual  impetuosity,  but  met 
with  a  resistance  to  which  they  had  been 
long  unaccustomed.  After  repulsing  them 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  the  British  be- 
came the  assailants,  and  general  Anstruther, 
advancing  for  the  purpose  of  occupying  his 
position  on  the  left,  attacked  their  flank,  and 
threw  them  into  complete  confusion.  Nearly 
at  the  same  time  the  enemy  assailed  gene- 
ral Ferguson's  brigade,  and  again  he  gave 
way  before  the  rampart  of  British  bayonets 
with  which  he  was  resisted.  Having  failed 
in  every  quarter  the  French  commenced  a 
retreat,  after  sustaining  a  loss  of  three  thou- 
sand men,  and  thirteen  pieces  of  cannon.  In 
this  decisive  victory  the  whole  of  the  French 
force  in  Portugal  was  employed,  under  the 
command  of  Junot,  the  duke  of  Abrantes,  in 
person ;  the  enemy  was  certainly  superior 
in  cavalry  and  artillery,  and  not  more  than 
half  of  the  British  army  was  actually  en- 
gaged. Sir  Harry  Burrard,  who  arrived  on 
the  morning  of  the  battle,  declined  assuming 
the  command  till  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley 
should  have  completed  his  operations ;  and 
on  the  following  day  Sir  Hew  Dalrymple, 
who  had  been  ordered  from  his  situation  as 
lieutenant-governor  of  Gibraltar,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  taking  the  command  of  all  the  dif- 
ferent corps  sent  by  the  British  government 
into  Portugal,  reached  Cintra,  to  which  the 
British  army  had  moved.  A  few  hours  after 
his  arrival  a  flag  of  truce  came  in  from  Ju- 
not, witli  a  proposal  for  a  cessation  of  hostil- 
ities, that  a  convention,  by  which  the  French  - 


532 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


should  evacuate  Portugal,  might  be  agreed 
upon ;  and  an  armistice  was  accordingly 
consented  to,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the 
convention  of  Cintra.  Its  essential  articles 
were,  that  the  English  government  should 
be  at  the  expense  of  transporting  the  whole 
of  the  Trench  army  to  any  of  the  ports  in 
France,  between  Rochefort  and  L' Orient; 
that  they  were  to  be  at  liberty  to  serve 
again  immediately ;  and  that  all  the  proper- 
ty of  the  French  army,  as  well  as  of  indi- 
viduals, was  to  be  sacred  and  untouched, 
and  might  either  be  sold  in  Portugal,  or  car- 
ried off  into  France.  The  embarkation  was 
to  take  place  in  three  divisions,  the  first  to 
sail  within  seven  days ;  no  native  of  Portu- 
gal was  to  be  molested  on  account  of  his 
political  conduct  during  the  French  occupa- 
tion, and  such  as  were  desirous  of  withdraw- 
ing into  France  were  to  have  full  liberty  to 
dispose  of  their  property.  When  the  insur- 
rection in  Spain  first  broke  out,  Junot  had 
ordered  a  number  of  Spanish  troops,  serving 
in  his  army,  into  confinement  in  the  ships  in 
the  harbor ;  and,  in  return  for  the  delivering 
up  of  these  men,  the  British  commander  en- 
gaged to  obtain  the  release  of  such  French 
subjects  as  were  detained  in  Spain  without 
having  been  taken  in  battle.  Sir  Charles 
Cotton  concluded  a  separate  convention  with 
admiral  Siniavin,  for  the  surrender  of  the 
Russian  ships  in  the  Tagus. 

In  Portugal,  as  well  as  in  England,  the 
terms  of  the  convention  produced  universal 
discontent.  General  Freire,  commander  of 
the  Portuguese  troops,  entered  a  formal  pro- 
test against  it ;  and  the  coolness  which  liad 
already  unfortunately  taken  place  Vv  as  by 
this  means  greatly  aggravated.  On  the  fif- 
teenth of  September  the  French  troops  com- 
pleted their  embarkation,  and  Portugal  was 
entirely  freed  from  the  presence  of  an  ene- 
my, who,  for  ten  months,  had  inflicted  upon 
her  the  most  severe  calamities.  The  Brit- 
ish, however,  did  not  begin  their  march  to- 
wards Spain  till  two  months  after  the  ratifi- 
cation of  the  convention  of  Cintra;  and 
even  then,  upwards  of  ten  thousand  were 
left  behind.  This  fatal  convention  drew 
after  it  a  long  train  of  disaster  and  disgrace. 
One  of  its  first  effects  was  to  suspend  all  the 
operations  of  the  army ;  and  Sir  Hew  Dal- 
rymple.  Sir  Harry  Burrard,  and  Sir  Arthur 
Wellesley,  were  all  summoned  to  England, 
in  consequence  of  the  inquiry  which  was  in- 
stituted into  that  proceeding,  and  of  which 
the  result  was  a  formal  declaration,  commu- 
nicated officially  to  Sir  Hew  Dalrymple, 
strongly  disapproving  the  terms  of  both  the 
armistice  and  convention. 

ADVANCE  OF  THE  BRITISH  INTO  SPAIN 
UNDER  SIR  JOHN  MOORE. 
The  command  of  the  British  army  was 
now  vested  in  Sir  John  Moore,  who  had  dis- 


tinguislied  himself  in  the  West  Indies,  in 
Holland,  and  in  Egypt,  and  had  recently  re- 
turned from  Sweden,  v/hither  he  had  been 
sent,  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  men,  to 
assist  the  king,  against  whom  war  had  been 
declared  by  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Denmark ; 
but,  through  the  capricious  conduct  of  that 
monarch,  he  had  been  constrained  to  bring 
back  his  troops  without  landing  them.  The 
force  destined  to  act  in  favor  of  the  Span- 
iards marched  from  Lisbon  on  the  twent}'- 
seventh  of  October,  under  the  command  of 
Sir  John  Moore,  with  v/hom  Sir  David  Baird, 
who  had  been  sent  from  England  v.'ith  a  re- 
inforcement often  thousand  men,  was' di- 
rected to  form  a  junction  wherever  he  should 
appoint.  Sir  David  arrived  at  Corunna  on 
the  thirteenth  of  October,  and  to  his  aston- 
ishment, the  Junta  of  Galicia  at  first  refused 
him  permission  to  land  his  troops;  and  when 
their  tardy  acquiescence  was  at  length  ob- 
tained, his  reception  was  extremely  cold  and 
dispiriting.  Sir  John  Moore,  also,  when  he 
arrived  at  Salamanca,  on  the  fourteenth  of 
November,  found  it  necessary  to  write  to  the 
British  minister  at  Madrid,  desiring  him 
frankly  to  inform  the  Spanish  government, 
that  if  they  expected  his  army  to  advance, 
they  must  pay  more  attention  to  its  wants ; 
and  the  farther  he  went,  the  more  strongly 
was  he  impressed  with  the  conviction,  that 
the  information,  upon  the  faith  of  wh'ch  he 
had  crossed  the  frontiers  of  Portugal,  wa.s 
destitute  of  foundation.  He  had  been  of- 
ficially informed  that  his  entry  into  Spain 
would  be  covered  1  y  sixty  thousand  men ; 
but  he  had  now  r.dvanced  within  three 
marches  of  the  French  army,  and  not  even 
a  Spanish  picket  had  appeared  to  protect 
his  front.  All  their  principal  armies  v/ere 
beaten  and  dispersed ;  Burgos  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  French;  and  even  Valladolid  had 
been  occupied  by  their  cavalry.  Under 
these  circumstances.  Sir  John  resolved  to 
retreat ;  but  before  he  could  put  this  deter- 
mination into  effect,  he  received  a  commu- 
nication from  Don  P.  Morla,  member  of  the 
supreme  junta,  who  proved  to  be  a  traitor, 
and  another  from  Frere,  the  British  ambas- 
sador at  Madrid,  which  induced  him  to  ad- 
vance. If  Sir  John  Moore  had  not  possessed 
in  an  extraordinary  degree,  circumspection, 
penetration,  and  firmness,  these  solicitations 
would  have  thrown  him  and  his  army  into 
the  power  of  the  French. 

SIR  JOHN  MOORE'S  RETREAT. 
Before  he  had  proceeded  a  day's  march 
on  his  route,  Sir  John  Moore  learnt,  by  an 
intercepted  dispatch,  that  Buonaparte,  wlio 
had  entered  Madrid  on  the  fourth  of  Decem- 
ber, was  advancing  towards  Lisbon,  and  that 
a  body  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  under 
Soult,  duke  of  Dalmatia,  was  posted  at  Sal- 
dana,  on  the  banks  of  the  Carrion.     Sir 


GEORGE  III.   1780—1820. 


533 


John,  anxious  to  meet  the  wishes  of  his 
troops  by  leading  them  against  the  enemy, 
effected  a  junction  with  Sir  David  Baird, 
and  proceeded,  by  rapid  marches,  to  the 
Carrion.  Here  the  advanced  posts  of  the 
two  armies  first  met,  and  the  superiority  of 
the  British  cavalry,  under  lord  Paget,  was 
eminently  displayed  in  a  successful  skir- 
mish ;  but  just  as  Sir  John  Moore  had  issued 
his  orders  for  a  general  attack,  and  had  re- 
quested the  marquis  of  Romana  to  co-operate 
with  his  forces,  he  received  information  that 
Buonaparte,  in  person,  was  advancing  in  his 
rear ;  that  the  force  which  had  been  station- 
ed at  Talavera  had  moved  forward  to  Sala- 
manca ;  and  that  Soult  himself  had  received 
strong  reinforcements.  Retreat  was  now 
indispensable.  The  corps  of  Soult,  before 
it  was  reinforced,  consisted  of  eighteen 
thousand  men ;  the  right  flank  of  the  British 
was  threatened  by  Junot,  who,  liberated  by 
the  convention  of  Cintra  from  his  perilous 
situation  in  Portugal,  had  again  advanced 
into  Spain,  with  fifteen  thousand  men ;  while 
Buonaparte,  who  had  quitted  Madrid  on  the 
eighteenth,  with  forty  thousand  troops,  was 
advancing  with  his  usual  rapidity.  At  Ben 
evente  another  skirmish  took  place,  which 
terminated  greatly  to  the  honor  of  the  British 
cavalry,  and  in  which  the  French  general 
Lefebvre,  at  the  head  of  his  chasseurs,  was 
taken  prisoner.  Finding  that  his  main  force 
could  not  come  up  with  Sir  John  Moore  be- 
fore he  had  quitted  Benevente,  and  his  pres- 
ence being  required  in  France,  Buonaparte 
committed  the  further  prosecution  of  the 
pursuit  to  marshal  Soult.  The  situation  of 
the  British  army  was,  at  this  time,  dispirit- 
ing in  the  extreme.  In  the  midst  of  winter, 
in  a  dreary  and  desolate  country,  the  sol- 
diers, chilled  and  drenched  by  deluges  of 
rain,  and  wearied  by  long  and  rapid  marches, 
were  almost  destitute  of  fuel  to  cook  their 
victuals,  and  it  was  with  extreme  difficulty 
tliat  they  procured  shelter.  Their  provi- 
sions were  scanty,  irregular,  and  difficult  of 
attainment;  the  wagons,  in  which  were 
their  magazines,  baggage,  and  stores,  were 
often  deserted  in  the  night  by  the  Spanish 
drivers,  terrified  by  the  approach  of  the 
French.  Thus  baggage,  ammunition,  stores, 
and  even  money,  were  frequently  obliged  to 
be  destroyed,  to  prevent  them  from  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy;  and  the  weak, 
the  sick,  and  the  wounded,  were  necessarily 
left  behind.  In  the  midst  of  these  distresses, 
the  Spanish  peasantry  offered  no  assistance, 
and  showed  no  sympathy ;  on  tlie  contrary, 
though  armed,  they  fled  at  the  approach  of 
the  English,  carrying  with  them  everything 
that  could  alleviate  their  distress,  or  con- 
tribute to  their  preservation  or  comfort.  The 
difficulties  and  anxiety  of  the  British  com- 
mander were  increased  by  the  relaxation 
45* 


which  took  place  in  the  discipline  of  his 
army.  The  disappointment  which  they  ex- 
perienced in  not  being  allowed  to  measure 
their  strength  with  the  enemy,  and  the 
sufferings  of  a  retreat  which  they  consider- 
ed as  a  disgraceful  and  unnecessary  flight, 
contributed  to  weaken  their  habits  of  order 
and  subordination,  and  compelled  Sir  John 
Moore  to  issue  such  orders  as  should  unequi- 
vocally express  his  sense  of  so  great  an  evil, 
and  his  unalterable  determination  to  punish, 
in  the  most  severe  and  exemplary  manner, 
every  future  offender.  The  enemy  was  now 
pressing  Sir  John  Moore  so  much,  that  he 
resolved  to  halt  at  Lugo,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  fifth  of  January,  1809,  and  to  offer 
battle ;  but  Soult  did  not  think  it  safe  to  at- 
tack !,im  in  the  strong  position  which  he 
had  taken  up  near  this  place ;  and  Sir  John, 
not  judging  it  prudent  either  to  act  offen- 
sively, or  to  delay  his  retreat,  quitted  his 
ground  in  the  night  of  the  ninth,  leaving  his 
fires  burning.  On  the  11th,  the  wJioIe  of 
the  British  army  reached  Corunna,  with  the 
exception  of  general  Crawford's  division, 
consisting  of  three  thousand  men,  which  had 
embarked  at  Vigo;  but,  unfortunately,  the 
transports  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  the  next 
morning  Soult's  army  occupied  an  extensive 
line  above  the  town,  in  readiness  to  make 
an  attack  as  soon  as  the  troops  should  begin 
to  embark. 

BATTLE  OF  CORUNNA,  AND  DEATH  OF 
SIR  JOHN  MOORE. 

On  the  fourteenth,  in  the  evening,  the 
transports  hove  in  sight;  and  on  the  six- 
teenth, when  orders  had  been  issued  for  the 
embarkation  of  the  whole  army,  general 
Hope  reported  from  his  post  that  the  ene- 
my's line  was  getting  under  arms.  This 
was  about  noon,  at  the  moment  that  Sir  John 
Moore  was  visiting  his  outposts,  and  explain- 
ing his  plans  to  the  general  officers ;  but  as 
soon  as  he  was  informed  of  this  hostile  indi- 
cation, he  flew  to  the  field,  where  the  pick- 
ets were  already  engaged,  and  beheld  the 
French  descending  from  the  hills  in  four 
columns,  two  of  which  threatened  Sir  David 
Baird's  division,  on  the  right  of  the  British 
line.  This  effort  was  met  by  Sir  John  Moore 
and  Sir  David  Baird,  at  the  head  of  the 
forty-second  and  fiftieth  regiments,  and  the 
brigade  nnder  lord  W.  Bentinck,  by  whom 
the  enemy  was  charged  and  driven  back 
with  great  slaughter,  though  not  till  Sir 
David  had  received  a  severe  wound  in  his 
arm,  and  was  obliged  to  retire  from  the  scene 
of  action.  At  this  period  of  the  action  Sir 
John  Moore  received  his  death-wound.  Un- 
dismayed by  the  loss  of  their  commander, 
the  British  soldiers  maintained  the  advan- 
tages they  had  ffained  on  the  right,  and, 
with  the  most  determined  bravery,  contmued 


534 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


to  repel  the  attacks  of  the  enemy  on  their  | 
centre  and  left,  till  they  actually  forced  him  | 
to  retire,  although  he  had  brought  up  fresh 
troops  in  support  of  those  originally  engag- 
ed ;  and,  on  the  close  of  the  day,  the  British 
were  left  masters  of  the  field.  Not  more 
than  fifteen  thousand  British  were  engaged, 
of  whom  between  seven  and  eight  hundred 
were  killed  or  wounded.  The  French  ex- 
ceeded twenty  thousand,  and  their  loss  was 
estimated  at  about  two  thousand. 

In  consequence  of  the  death  of  Sir  John 
Moore,  and  the  wound  of  Sir  David  Baird, 
the  command-in-chief  had  devolved  upon 
general  Hope,  who  lost  no  time  in  carrying 
into  effect  the  embarkation  of  the  troops, 
according  to  the  arrangements  already  made 
by  his  predecessor ;  they  accordingly  quitted 
their  position  about  ten  o'clock  at  night,  and 
marched  into  Corunna,  where  everything 
was  so  well  concerted,  that  during  the  night, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  following  day,  the 


whole  army  embarked  without  further  mo- 
lestation. When  the  French  found  the 
British  were  gone,  they  fired  on  the  trans- 
posts,  which  so  alarmed  the  masters  of  sev- 
eral of  them,  that  they  cut  their  cables,  and 
four  of  the  ships  ran  aground ;  the  troojjs, 
however,  were  removed,  and  the  vessels  de- 
stroyed. The  body  of  Sir  John  Moore  was 
hastily  interred  on  the  ramparts  of  Corunna, 
where  a  monument  was  afterwards  raised 
to  his  memory. 

In  this  retreat  the  British  army  lost  all  its 
ammunition,  all  its  magazines,  above  five 
thousand  horses,  and  five  or  six  thousand 
men.  The  expedition,  however,  calamitous 
as  it  proved,  was  not  destitute  of  advantage 
to  the  cause  it  was  intended  to  support,  as 
it  drew  Buonaparte  from  the  south,  which 
at  that  time  lay  entirely  open  to  his  enter- 
prises, and  afforded  time  to  the  Spaniards  to 
recover  in  some  degree  from  the  terrors  of 
tlieir  enemy. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


535 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


Parliamentary  Proceedings — Expedition  against  Denmark — Droits  of  Admiralty — 
Enlistment — Local  Militia — Finance — Criminal  Law — Administration  of  Justice — 
Distilleries — Spanish  Cause — Prorogation — Austria  declares  against  England — 
Effhrts  of  the  Swedes  against  Russia  and  Denmark — Affairs  of  Italy — Militia — 
Convention  of  Cinfra — Charges  against  Duke  of  York — Traffic  in  East  India  Ap- 
pointments— Corrupt  Practices  respecting  Seats  in  Parliament,  and  Bill  for  their 
Prevention — Budget — Dutch  Commissioners — Rupture  between  Austria  and  France 
— Campaign  in  Germany — Overthrow  of  Austrians — Treaty  of  Peace — Efforts  of 
Tyrolese — Annexation  of  Rome  to  France — Divorce  of  Buonaparte  and  Josephine — 
Affairs  of  Sweden — Expedition  to  Walcheren — Attack  on  a  French  Fleet — French 
Convoy  destroyed — Martinique,  Cayenne,  and  Bourbon  taken — Differences  with 
America — Ministerial  disputes  and  changes — Jubilee — Campaign  in  Spain — Battle 
of  Talavera — Siege  of  Cadiz — Attempt  to  rescue  Ferdinand — Operations  in  Por- 
tusraL 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  PARLIAMENT— DROITS 
OF  ADMIRALTY. — ^ENLISTMENT. — FI- 
NANCE. 

At  the  opening  of  the  British  parliament, 
ca  the  thirty-first  of  January,  1808,  the  con- 
dact  of  ministers  in  the  expedition  against 
Denmark  met  decided  approval;  the  feel- 
ings of  the  English  people,  still,  however, 
prompted  them  to  wish  that  the  odium  of 
coercing  a  neutral  power  had  been  left  to 
France,  and  that  the  capture  of  the  Danish 
fleet  had  been  reserved  as  another  triumph 
for  our  navy,  in  defensive  war.  The  orders 
of  council  were  made  valid  by  an  act  passed 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  which  was 
accompanied  by  a  bill  for  regulating  the 
commercial  intercourse  with  America,  until 
amicable  arrangements  should  be  concluded 
with  that  country. 

Sir  Francis  Burdett,  observing  that  the 
proceeds  of  the  droits  of  admiralty  amount- 
ed to  so  considerable  a  sum  that  he  was  con- 
vinced parliament  could  never  endure  that 
it  should  be  left  as  the  private  property  of 
the  king,  moved  in  the  house  of  commons, 
with  a  view  to  an  ulterior  inquiry,  for  an 
account  of  the  net  proceeds,  paid  out  of  the 
court  of  admiralty  to  the  receiver-general 
of  droits,  of  all  property  condemned  to  his 
majesty  since  the  first  of  January,  1793, 
with  the  balances  now  remaining;  which 
was  agreed  to. 

When  the  mutiny-bill  came  under  con- 
sideration in  the  commons,  lord  Castlereagh, 
referring  to  Mr.  Windham's  system,  said 
that  he  had  no  objection  to  limited  service 
under  certain  n]odifications,  but  he  thought 
it  ought  not  to  be  enforced  to  the  exclusion 
of  unlimited  service,  and  therefore  moved 
that  a  clause  be  introduced,  allowing  the 
option  of  enlisting  for  life,  which  was  car- 
ried by  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  against 
a  hundred.     Another  measure  relating  to 


internal  defence  was  the  creation  of  a  local 
militia,  amounting  to  sixty  thousand  men,  to 
be  balloted  for  in  the  different  counties,  in 
proportion  to  the  deficiency  of  volunteers  of 
each,  "from  among  persons  between  the  ag-es 
of  eighteen  and  twenty-five.  Volunteer 
corps  might,  if  they  chose,  transfer  them- 
selves, with  the  approbation  of  his  majesty, 
into  this  local  militia.  The  period  of  ser- 
vice during  the  year  to  be  twenty-eight 
days,  for  which  pay  was  to  be  allowed.  This 
measure  encountered  strenuous  opposition, 
but  was  ultimately  carried. 

The  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  did  not 
this  year  find  himself  under  the  necessity 
of  adding  much  to  the  public  burdens.  By 
an  arrangement  with  the  bank  of  England, 
five  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  the  un- 
claimed dividends  were  obtained  for  imme- 
diate use ;  a  reduction  in  the  charges  of  the 
bank  for  superintending  the  pecuniary  con- 
cerns of  the  public  was  effected  to  the 
amount  of  sixty-four  thousand  pounds ;  and 
a  loan  of  three  million  pounds  was  granted 
by  the  directors  to  government,  without  in- 
terest, till  six  months  after  the  termination 
of  the  war.  The  supplies  voted  amounted 
to  about  forty-three  million  pounds  for  Eng- 
land, and  five  million  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  for  Ireland,  and  the  ways  and 
means  included  a  loan  of  eight  millions  of 
pounds,  to  provide  for  the  interest  of  which 
new  taxes  were  only  found  necessary  to  the 
amount  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  pounds.  A  new  financial  plan  was 
introduced  by  the  chancellor  of  the  exche- 
quer to  accelerate  the  reduction  of  the  na- 
tional debt.  It  was  to  enable  proprietors  of 
three  per  cent,  consolidated  or  reduced  bank 
annuities,  to  exchange  with  the  commission- 
ers for  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt, 
such  bank  annuities,  for  a  life  annuity  during 
the  continuance  of  one  or  two  lives.    To 


536 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


prevent  impositions,  the  power  of  transfer 
was  to  be  limited  to  persons  under  thirty- 
five  years  of  age,  and  the  amount  of  the 
transfer  to  sums  not  less  than  one  hundred 
pounds;  the  stock  not  to  be  transferable 
when  the  funds  were  above  eighty  pounds. 
The  effect  would  be  to  secure  to  the  nation 
the  redemption  of  the  funds  so  transferred, 
at  the  price  at  which  they  were  when  the 
transfer  was  made. 

A  bOl  for  preventing  the  grant  of  offices 
in  reversion,  or  for  joint  lives,  with  benefit 
of  survivorship,  was  brought  in  by  Bankes, 
and  carried  through  the  commons;  but  in 
the  lords,  though  supported  by  several  of  his 
majesty's  ministers,  it  was  opposed  by  the 
lord-chancellor,  lord  Arden,  lord  Redesdale, 
and  the  duke  of  Montrose,  and  thrown  out 
by  a  majority  of  eighty  voices.  Conceiving, 
however,  that  it  was  incumbent  upon  the 
house  of  commons  not  to  abandon  a  measure 
so  connected  with  retrenchments,  Bankes 
introduced  another  bill,  similar  in  its  object, 
but  limited  as  to  duration,  and  the  bill,  thus 
modified,  passed  the  upper  house. 

CRIMINAL  LAW— DISTILLERIES.— SPAN- 
ISH CAUSE.— PROROGATION  OF  PAR- 
LIAMENT. 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  who,  in  common 
with  many  other  enlightened  men,  had  long 
lamented  that  in  the  criminal  law  of  the 
country  so  many  crimes  were  subject  to 
capital  punishment,  introduced  a  bill  into 
parliament  for  the  repeal  of  so  much  of  an 
act  of  Elizabeth  as  related  to  taking  away 
the  benefit  of  clergy  from  offenders  con- 
victed of  stealing  privately  from  the  person. 
A  clause  was  introduced  by  the  solicitor- 
general,  to  provide  that  privately  stealing, 
as  distinguished  from  robbery,  should  be  pun- 
ished by  transportation  for  life,  or  for  a  term 
of  years,  at  the  discretion  of  the  judge,  at 
whose  option  the  punishment  might  be  com- 
muted into  imprisonment  for  any  period  not 
exceeding  three  years.  A  bill  was  also 
passed,  framed  by  the  lord  chancellor,  for 
the  better  administration  of  justice  in  Scot- 
land, the  object  of  which  was  to  divide  the 
court  of  session  into  two  chambers  of  seven 
or  eight  judges,  to  give  those  courts  certain 
powers  of  making  regulations  with  respect 
to  proceedings,  and  to  executions  in  pend- 
ing appeals,  and  also  of  issuing  commissions 
to  ascertain  in  what  cases  it  might  be  proper 
to  establish  a  trial  by  jury.  An  act  for  pro- 
hibiting, for  a  limited  time,  the  distillation 
of  spirits  from  corn  or  grain,  was  strongly 
opposed  in  all  its  stages,  as  tending  to  check 
that  demand  which,  by  encouraging  agricul- 
turists to  grow  more  than  was  necessary 
for  the  ordinary  support  of  the  people,  in- 
sured a  supply  in  seasons  of  scarcity.  It 
was  defended  as  a  temporary  measure,  on 
the  ground  that  the  supply  of  grain  from 


the  continent  was  cut  off,  and  no  prospect 
left  of  a  sufficient  resource  in  the  last  year's 
crop  of  this  country. 

The  cause  of  the  Spanish  patriots  had 
awakened  tJie  zeal,  and  animated  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  people  of  this  country,  to  a 
degree  almost  unexampled;  and  Sheridan 
seemed  only  to  be  the  organ  of  the  public 
voice,  when  he  rose  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, on  the  fifteenth  of  June,  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  affairs  of 
Spain,  and  to  demand  their  utmost  exertions 
hi  favor  of  the  Spaniards.  Canning,  in  re- 
ply, declared  that  his  majesty's  ministers 
saw,  with  a  deep  and  lively  interest,  the  no- 
ble struggle  which  a  part  of  the  Spanish  na- 
tion was  now  making  to  resist  the  unex- 
ampled atrocity  of  France,  and  to  preserve 
the  independence  of  their  country ;  and  as- 
sured the  house,  that  there  existed  the 
strongest  disposition,  on  the  part  of  the 
British  government,  to  afford  every  practi- 
cable aid  in  a  contest  so  magnanimous.  On 
the  fourth  of  July  parliament  was  prorogued, 
and  the  commissioners  declared,  in  his  ma- 
jesty's name,  that  he  would  continue  to 
make  every  exertion  in  his  power  for  the 
support  of  the  Spanish  cause. 

AUSTRIA  DECLARES  AGAINST  ENG- 
LAND.—EFFORTS  OF  THE  SWEDES. 
At  the  commencement  of  1808,  Austria, 
hitherto  the  principal  ally  of  Britain,  de- 
clared against  her;  the  alleged  cause  of 
which  was  a  refusal,  by  the  English  cabinet, 
to  accept  the  mediation  of  the  emperor  for 
a  peace  between  England  and  France,  on 
the  ground  that  the  overtures  appeared  too 
vague  and  indeterminate  to  authorize  the 
opening  of  a  negotiation ;  Stahremberg,  the 
Austrian  ambassador,  presenting  no  authen- 
ticated document  from  the  French  ruler, 
nor  giving  any  intimation  of  the  basis  en 
which  it  was  proposed  to  treat.  The  real 
cause,  however,  lay  in  the  predominating 
influence  of  France,  which  was  also  appa- 
rent in  the  north  of  Europe.  In  Februar}^ 
a  Russian  army  entered  the  Swedish  prov- 
ince of  Finland,  and  war  was  respectively 
declared  by  the  courts  of  St.  Petersburg]^ 
and  Stockholm.  Christian  the  seventli,  king 
of  Denmark,  died  about  the  same  time;  and 
the  crown  prince,  who,  from  the  imbecility 
of  his  father,  had  long  conducted  the  af- 
fairs of  government,  assumed  the  sceptre 
by  the  name  of  Frederic  the  sixth.  His 
accession  was  followed  by  a  declaration  of 
war  against  Sweden,  whose  sovereign,  with, 
some  qualities  of  heroism,  wanted  the  sound- 
ness of  mind  necessary  for  the  management 
of  public  affairs,  and  acted  more  from  the 
impulse  of  passion  than  the  conclusions  of 
reason.  Already  involved  in  a  war  with 
France  and  Russia,  he  immediately  pre- 
pared to  meet  the  combination  of  dangers 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


537 


by  which  he  was  threatened ;  and  as  his  re- 
sources were  inadequate  to  the  contest,  the 
English  government  granted  him  a  subsidy 
of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  per  month, 
and  dispatched  ten  thousand  troops  to  afford 
such  aid  as  the  circumstances  of  the  war 
might  demand.  Unfortunately,  however,  a 
disagreement  between  the  Swedish  monarch 
and  Sir  John  Moore,  the  English  general, 
respecting  their  military  plans,  prevented 
their  co-operation,  and  the  armament  was 
ordered  to  the  aid  of  the  Spanish  patriots. 
A  British  squadron,  under  Sir  Samuel  Hood, 
was  also  sent  to  the  Baltic,  to  act  in  concert 
with  the  Spanish  admiral,  and  a  Russian 
ship  of  seventy-four  guns  was  taken  and 
destroyed,  in  consequence  of  her  having 
grounded. 

AFFAIRS  OF  ITALY. 

Buonaparte,  this  year,  effected  conside- 
rable changes  in  Italy.  He  adopted  his  son- 
in-law,  Eugene  Beauharnois,  as  his  own 
son,  and  settled  that  kingdom  upon  him  in 
tail  male;  expressly  stating,  however,  that 
the  right  which  Eugene  received  by  adop- 
tion should  never,  in  any  case,  authorize 
him  or  his  descendants  to  bring  forward  any 
claim  to  the  throne  of  France,  the  succes- 
sion of  which  was,  he  declared,  "  irrevoca- 
bly" fixed :  he  incorporated  with  the  crown 
of  Italy  the  dominions  of  the  pope,  stating 
in  a  decree,  as  the  sole  reason  for  this  act 
of  undisguised  despotism,  that  "the  sove- 
reign of  Rome  had  refused  to  make  war 
against  England."  Parma,  Placentia,  and 
Guastalla,  were  also  annexed  to  that  king- 
dom, as  were  Kehl,  Wesel,  Cassel,  and 
Flushing  to  France.  The  crown  of  Naples 
was  transferred  to  Joachim  Murat,  who  had 
married  a  sister  of  Buonaparte ;  and,  to  ren- 
der his  domestic  policy  still  more  subservi- 
ent to  his  schemes  of  foreign  subjugation, 
he  instituted  an  imperial  university,  decla- 
red himself  the  head,  and  decreed  that  no 
school  or  seminary  of  education  should  be 
free  from  its  control.  An  order  of  heredita- 
ry nobility  was  also  created. 

MILITIA.— CONVENTION  OF  CINTRA. 

1809.— The  British  parliament  assembled 
on  the  nineteenth  of  January,  1809.  On 
the  twenty-fifth  the  thanks  of  parliament 
were  voted  to  the  ofiicers  and  men  under 
Sir  John  Moore,  by  whose  gallantry  and 
good  conduct  the  victory  of  Corunna  was 
achieved ;  and  a  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  deceased  general  was  also  agreed  to. 
This  was  succeeded  by  a  motion  for  thanks 
to  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  and  the  officers 
and  men  under  his  command,  for  the  bril- 
liant victory  of  Vimiera,  which  was  carried 
with  the  sole  dissentient  voice  of  lord  Folk- 
stone,  who  thought  such  a  tribute  greater 
than  the  service  could  claim. 

A  bill,  which  was  introduced  into  the 


house  of  commons  by  lord  Castlereagh,  for 
augmenting  the  disposable  force  of  the 
country,  called  forth  a  very  animated  opix>- 
sition,  but  ultimately  passed  into  a  law.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  militia  should  be  re- 
duced to  about  three-fifths  of  its  present 
force  by  volunteering  into  the  line,  and  tiiat 
twenty-four  thousand  men  should  be  raised 
to  supply  the  deficiency. 

The  convention  of  Cintra,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances which  led  to  the  conclusion  of 
that  treaty,  were  brought  under  the  conside- 
ration of  parliament,  on  the  twenty-first  of 
February,  by  lord  Henry  Petty,  who  moved 
resolutions  directly  censuring  the  conven- 
tion, and  attributing  the  causes  to  tlie  mis- 
conduct of  ministers ;  and  although  it  was 
strenuously  contended  that  to  have  expell- 
ed, in  the  course  of  a  short  campaign  of 
three  weeks,  an  array  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand French  from  Portugal,  was  a  brilliant 
addition  to  the  military  glory  of  the  coun- 
try, the  previous  question  was  only  carried 
by  two  hundred  and  three  against  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight. 

CHARGES  AGAINST  DUKE  OF  YORK. 

Colonel  Wardle,  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  January,  stated  in  the  commons,  that  the 
power  of  disposing  of  commissions  in  the 
army  had  been  exercised  to  the  worst  of 
purposes,  though  it  had  been  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  person  of  high  birth  and  exten- 
sive influence,  for  the  purpose  of  defraying 
the  charges  of  the  half-pay  list,  for  the  suj)- 
port  of  veteran  officers,  and  for  increasing 
the  compassionate  fund  for  the  aid  of  offi- 
cers' widows  and  orphans;  but  he  could 
bring  positive  proof  that  such  commissions 
had  been  sold,  and  the  money  applied  to 
very  different  objects.  He  then  proceeded 
to  state,  that  Mary  Anne  Clarke,  who  had 
lived  under  the  "protection"  of  the  duke 
of  York,  with  a  splendid  establishment  in 
Gloucester  Place,  had  been  permitted  by 
his  royal  highness  to  traffic  in  commissions ; 
that  she  in  fact  possessed  the  power  of  mili- 
tary promotion ;  and  that  the  duke  partici- 
pated in  the  emoluments  which  were  de- 
rived from  this  scandalous,  corrupt,  and  ille- 
gal traffic.  Colonel  Wardle  concluded  by 
moving  for  a  committee  of  inquiry  into  the 
conduct  of  the  duke  of  York,  in  respect  to 
the  disposal  of  military  commissions,  which, 
after  a  long  debate,  was  agreed  to;  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer  observing  that 
publicity  had  been  mentioned  as  desirable, 
he  was  of  the  same  opinion ;  and  it  was 
therefore  determined  that  the  investigation 
should  be  conducted  before  a  committee  of 
the  whole  house. 

In  the  course  of  the  cross-e.xaminations 
much  important  evidence  was  adduced,  and 
the  charges  derived  additional  strengtli 
from  the  means  taken  by  the  advocates  of 


538 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  commander-in-chief  to  refute  them ;  as 
the  numerous  letters  brought  to  him  by 
their  means,  of  which  the  prosecutor  at  first 
was  totally  ignorant,  placed  Wardle,  for  a 
time,  on  high  ground.  At  the  close  of  the 
evidence,  on  the  twenty-second  of  Febru- 
ary, the  opinion  of  the  general  officers^  who 
were  members  of  the  house  of  commons, 
was  asked  with  respect  to  the  improvement 
of  the  army  in  discipline  and  condition,  and 
whether  the  system  of  promotion  had  not 
been  improved  under  the  administration  of 
the  duke  of  York.  Generals  Norton  and 
Fitzpatrick,  the  secretary  at  war.  Sir  Ar- 
thur Wellesley,  and  general  Grosvenor,  all 
answered  these  questions  affirmatively,  and 
pronounced  high  eulogiums  on  the  charac- 
ter and  conduct  of  his  royal  highness.  Du- 
ring this  inquiry,  which  was  continued  un- 
interruptedly for  three  weeks,  Mary  Anne 
Clarke  was  repeatedly  examined  at  the  bar, 
and,  by  the  readiness  and  smartness  of  her 
answers  to  the  infinite  number  of  questions 
proposed,  gave  a  degree  of  relief  to  the 
protracted  examinations.  On  the  twenty- 
third  of  February  the  duke  addressed  a  let- 
ter to  the  house  of  commons,  through  the 
medium  of  the  speaker,  in  which  his  royal 
highness,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  upon 
his  honor  as  a  prince,  distinctly  asserted  his 
innocence,  and  claimed  from  the  justice  of 
the  house  that  he  should  not  be  condemned 
without  a  trial. 

Wardle,  however,  moved  an  address  to 
liis  majesty,  stating,  that  after  a  diligent  and 
laborious  inquiry,  it  had  been  proved  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  house,  that  corrupt  prac 
tices  had  existed  to  a  very  great  extent  in 
the  different  departments  of  the  military  ad- 
ministration, and  praying  that  his  majesty 
would  be  graciously  pleased  to  remove  the 
duke  of  York  from  the  command  of  the  ar- 
my. The  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  pro- 
posed an  amendment,  substituting  two  reso- 
lutions ;  the  first,  stating  that  an  inquiry  had 
been  instituted  into  the  conduct  of  the  com 
mander-in-chief ;  and  the  second,  that  it  was 
the  opinion  of  the  house  that  there  was  no 
just  ground  to  charge  his  royal  highness  with 
personal  corruption  or  criminal  connivance. 
To  this  amendment  another  was  moved  by 
Bankes,  acquitting  the  duke  of  personal  cor- 
ruption or  criminal  connivance,  but  express- 
ing an  opinion  that  abuses  could  scarcely 
have  existed  to  the  extent  proved,  without 
exciting  some  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  the 
commander-in-chief;  and  suggesting  that, 
after  the  exposures  made  by  the  recent  in- 
quiry, a  regard  to  the  public  happiness  and 
tranquillity  required  the  removal  of  the  duke 
of  York  from  the  command  of  the  army. 
The  motion  and  amendments  gave  rise  to 
many  long  and  animated  discussions,  in  the 
course  of  which  it  was  urged,  in  favor  of 


the  original  motion,  that  whatever  might  be 
due  to  the  rank  of  his  royal  highness,  the 
members  of  that  house  should  always  bear 
in  mind  that  it  was  their  duty  to  protect  t!ie 
public  interests,  and  to  watch  over  the  se- 
curity and  welfare  of  the  state.  By  the 
supporters  of  the  duke  of  York,  it  was  con- 
tended that  Mary  Anne  Clarke  was  wholly 
unworthy  of  credit,  and  that  there  was  no 
evidence  to  establish  the  corrupt  participa- 
tion or  criminal  connivance  of  the  duke.  If 
it  could  once  be  supposed  that  he  was  a 
party  in  such  a  conspiracy,  how  was  any 
distress  for  money  possible,  when  there 
was  a  mint  constantly  at  work]  There  were 
then  in  the  army  upwards  of  ten  thousand 
officers;  and  such  was  the  eagerness  for 
promotion,  that  there  were  always  persons 
ready  to  give  ample  premiums  above  tlie 
regulated  price.  Had  not  his  royal  highness 
felt  secure  in  conscious  innocence,  was  it  to 
be  supposed  that  he  would  have  ventured  to 
discard  Mary  Anne  Clarke,  to  withdraw  her 
annuity,  to  irritate  her  to  the  utmost,  and  to 
set  all  her  threats  at  defiance  ]  It  ought  to 
be  recollected,  that  the  person  against  whom 
the  charge  was  directed,  was  not  only  high 
in  office  and  in  rank,  but  one  whose  birth 
placed  him  so  near  the  crown,  that  events 
might  one  day  call  him  to  the  throne  itself; 
and  yet,  by  the  proceeding  now  proposed, 
the  house  was  called  upon,  on  the  most  ques- 
tionable evidence,  to  disgrace  itself  by  pro- 
nouncing the  duke  guilty  of  the  lowest  and 
most  infamous  species  of  corruption.  Jn 
favor  of  Bankes's  amendment,  it  was  urged 
that  one  case,  that  of  doctor  O'Meara,  rested 
on  the  duke's  own  letter  as  much  as  on  the 
evidence  of  Mary  Anne  Clarke ;  that  it  was 
astonishing  that  the  constant  applications  of 
this  woman  did  not  create  some  suspicions 
in  the  mind  of  the  duke ;  and  that  it  was 
necessary,  as  a  reparation  to  public  morals 
and  decency,  to  remove  him  from  the  com- 
mand of  the  army.  On  the  question,  whether 
the  house  should  proceed  by  address  or  b}- 
resolution,  there  appeared  for  proceeding  by 
address,  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine;  by 
resolution,  two  hundred  and  ninety-four; 
leaving  a  majority  against  Bankes's  address 
of  ninety-five.  A  second  division  then 
took  place  on  Wardle's  motion,  which  was 
supported  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-three, 
and  opposed  by  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
four. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  March  the  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer  brought  forward  his 
resolution,  modified  in  these  terms : — "  that 
this  house  having  appointed  a  committee  to 
investigate  the  conduct  of  the  duke  of  York, 
as  commander-in-chief,  and  having  carefully 
considered  the  evidence  which  came  before 
the  said  committee,  and  finding  that  per- 
sonal corruption,  and  connivance  at  corrup- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


539 


tion,  have  been  imputed  to  his  said  royal 
highness,  find  it  expedient  to  pronounce  a 
distinct  opinion  upon  the  said  imputation, 
and  are  accordingly  of  opinion  that  it  is 
wholly  without  foundation."  This  motion 
was  carried  by  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
eiglit  against  one  hundred  and  ninety-six. 
Previously  to  the  divisions  it  was  generally 
understood  that  the  duke  had  come  to  the 
determination  to  resign  his  office  of  com- 
mander-in-chief; and  on  the  twentieth  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer  informed  the 
house  that  his  royal  highness,  having  obtain- 
ed a  complete  acquittal  of  the  charges,  was 
desirous  of  giving  way  to  that  public  senti- 
ment which,  however  ill-founded,  they  had 
unfortunately  drawn  down  upon  him ;  that, 
under  these  circumstances,  he  had  tendered 
to  his  majesty  his  resignation  of  the  office 
of  commander-in-chief,  which  the  king  had 
been  graciously  pleased  to  accept.  General 
Sir  David  Dundas  was  appointed  his  succes- 
sor ;  and  one  of  the  first  consequences  of 
the  investigation,  was  the  enactment  of  a 
law  declaring  the  brokerage  of  offices,  either 
in  the  army,  the  church,  or  the  state,  to  be 
a  crime  highly  penal. 

TRAFFIC  IN  INDIA  APPOINTMENTS.— 
CORRUPT  PRACTICES  IN  PARLIAMENT. 
In  the  course  of  the  investigation  into  the 
duke's  conduct,  it  was  ascertained  that  there 
was  a  systematic  and  almost  avowed  traffic 
in  East  India  appointments,  as  well  as  in 
subordinate  places  under  government.  These 
discoveries  led  to  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee of  the  house  of  commons,  to  inquire 
into  the  abuse  of  East  India  patronage,  when 
it  appeared  that  a  vast  number  of  cadet- 
ships  and  writerships  had  been  disposed  of 
illegally.  Thellusson,  one  of  the  directors, 
deeply  implicated  in  these  transactions,  was 
in  consequence  rejected  at  the  next  elec- 
tion ;  and  the  court  determmed  that  all  those 
young  men  named  by  the  committee  of  the 
house  of  commons,  as  having  obtained  their 
appointments  by  corrupt  practices,  should  be 
deprived  of  their  employments,  and  recalled 
from  India.  The  inquiry  developed  transac- 
tions intimately  connected  with  the  character 
of  the  house  of  commons,  and  the  proceed- 
ings of  some  of  its  most  distinguished  mem- 
lors  ;  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  April,  lord 
Arcliibald  Hamilton  submitted  a  motion 
^'•rounded  on  the  conduct  of  lord  Castle- 
rra:^h,  wh.o,  in  the  course  of  the  inquiry, 
admitted  that  he,  m  1805,  delivered  into  the 
hinds  of  lord  Clancarty  a  writership,  of 
wliich  lie  had  the  gift,  for  the  pur]X)se  of 
exchanging  it  for  a  seat  in  parliament. — 
This  negotiation,  which  was  finally  broken 
o^',  was  carried  on,  it  appeared,  between  lord 
Castlereagh  and  one  Reding,  an  advertising 
place  broker,  who  was  a  perfect  stranger  to 
liis  lordship.     Lord  Castlereagh  expressed 


his  sorrow  that  any  motives  of  private  friend- 
ship or  of  pubhc  zeal  should  have  induced 
him  to  do  anything  requiring  the  cognizance 
of  that  house.  If  he  had  erred,  it  was  un- 
intentionally, and  he  would  submit  with 
patience  to  any  censure  which  he  might  be 
thought  to  have  incurred :  his  lordship  then 
bowed  to  the  chair,  and  retired ;  when  lord 
A.  Hamilton  moved,  that  lord  Castlereagh 
had  been  guilty  of  a  dereliction  of  his  duty, 
as  president  of  the  board  of  control,  a 
gross  violation  of  his  engagements  as  a  ser- 
vant of  the  crown,  and  an  attack  on  the 
purity  and  constitution  of  the  house.  A  long 
debate  ensued,  at  the  close  of  which  the 
motion  was  rejected  by  two  hundred  and 
thirteen  against  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven. 
A  motion  was  afterwards  carried,  to  the 
effect,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  house  of 
commons  to  mamtain  and  guard  the  purity 
and  independence  of  parliament ;  but  that 
the  intended  charge  not  having  been  carried 
into  effect,  no  criminatory  proceeding  appear- 
ed to  the  house  to  be  necessary. 

The  recent  exposures  led  to  the  intro- 
duction of  a  bill  by  Curwen,  which  ulti- 
mately passed  into  a  law,  for  better  securing 
the  purity  and  independence  of  parliament, 
by  preventing  the  procuring  or  obtaining 
seats  by  corrupt  practices,  and  also  for  the 
more  effectual  prevention  of  bribery. — While 
this  bill  was  before  the  house,  iMadocks 
charged  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
and  lord  Castlereagh  with  corrupt  and  crimi- 
nal practices  to  procure  the  return  of  mem- 
bers to  parliament  He  affirmed  that  Quintin 
Dick  purchased  a  seat  for  Cashel,  in  Ireland, 
through  the  hon.  Henry  Wellesley,  who  act- 
ed on  behalf  of  the  treasury ;  that  on  the 
question  brought  forward  by  colonel  Wardle, 
lord  Castlereagh  intimated  the  necessity 
either  of  his  voting  with  government  or  of 
resigning  his  seat;  and  that  Dick,  rather 
than  vote  against  his  conscience,  did  vacate 
it.  Perceval,  in  his  defence,  declined  putting 
in  the  plea  which  he  said  he  conscientiously 
could  adduce,  until  the  house  should  have 
decided  on  the  propriety  of  entertaining  the 
charge;  and  he  would  then  come  before 
them  prepared  to  meet  it,  and  vindicate  his 
own  honor.  iMadocks's  motion  was  nega- 
tived. 

BUDGET— DUTCH  COMMISSIONERS. 

The  supplies  voted  for  the  year  amounted 
to  about  fifty-four  million  pounds;  and  among 
the  ways  and  means  were  war-taxes  nine- 
teen million  pounds,  and  a  loan  of  eleven 
million  pounds  for  Great  Britain ;  three  mil- 
lion pounds  were  also  borrowed  for  Ireland, 
and  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  tlie 
prince  of  Brazil,  for  the  liquidation  of  which 
the  revenues  of  the  island  of  Madeira  liad 
been  assigned,  together  with  a  consignment 
of  such  produce  of  Brazil  as  belonged  to  the 


540 


HISTORY  OF  GRf^AT  BRITAIN. 


prince.  The  whole  loan  had  been  contracted 
for  at  the  low  interest  of  four  pound  twelve 
sliillings  and  one  penny  per  cent,  per  an- 
num. The  fourth  report  of  the  committee 
of  public  expenditure  exhibited  disclosures 
regarding  the  conduct  of  the  commissioners 
appointed  to  manage,  sell,  and  dispose  of  the 
Dutch  ships  detained  or  brought  into  the 
ports  of  Great  Britain,  which  excited  con- 
i>iderable  surprise.  It  appeared  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  five  commissioners  took 
place  in  1795 ;  that  their  transactions  were 
nearly  brought  to  a  close  in  1799 ;  and  that, 
as  no  fixed  remuneration  had  been  assigned 
to  them,  they  charged  a  commission  of  five 
per  cent,  on  the  gross  proceeds  of  their  sales, 
Jiinounting  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
thousand  pounds ;  and  not  satisfied  with  this 
enormous  allowance,  employed  the  money 
intrusted  to  their  hands  in  discounting  pri- 
vate bills  for  their  own  emolument.  After 
an  animated  discussion,  the  house  resolved 
tliat  the  commissioners  had  been  guilty  of  a 
llagrant  violation  of  public  duty. 

WAR  BETWEEN  AUSTRIA  AND  FRANCE. 
—CAMPAIGN  IN  GERMANY. 

Austria,  after  humbling  herself  to  the 
French  emperor,  found  it  impossible  to  have 
peace  on  terms  compatible  with  independ- 
ence, and  therefore,  from  the  period  of  the 
conferences  at  Erfurth,  till  Buonaparte  cross- 
eX  the  Pyrenees  for  t!«e  purpose  of  putting 
Iiim.'self  at  the  head  of  his  armies  in  Spain, 
she  v;ent  on  completing  her  military  prepa- 
rations. Tliese  were  not  viewed  by  France 
v/ith  indifference ;  and,  from  Valladolid, 
Buonaparte  sent  his  mandate  to  the  princes 
of  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine,  to  fur- 
nLsh  tlieir  contingents,  and  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  for  war ;  soon  after  wliich  he 
'loJrt  Spain,  and  returned  to  Paris.  In  March 
the  preparations  for  war  were  prosecuted  by 
lv)th  parties  with  uncommon  vigor.  The 
Austrian  army  was  divided  into  nine  corps, 
ox  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  men  each. 
The  archduke  Charles,  freed  from  the  inter- 
ference of  the  Aulic  council,  was  appointed 
jreneralissimo,  and  six  of  the  corps  were 
placed  under  his  immediate  command :  the 
-Seventh  was  sent,  under  the  archduke  Fer- 
tiinand,  into  Poland ;  and  the  eighth  and 
ninth  to  Italy,  under  the  archduke  John. 
There  were  also  two  corps  of  reserve,  one 
of  them  consisting  of  twenty  thousand  men, 
commanded  by  prince  John  of  Lichtenstein, 
and  the  other  of  ten  thousand  men,  under 
general  Keinmayer,  exclusive  of  the  parti- 
pan  corps,  and  the  landv/ehr,  or  militia. 
Buonaparte  principally  relied,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  on  the  contingents 
from  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine,  The 
Bavarians  were  formed  into  three  divisions, 
under  marshal  Lefebvfe,  v/ho  commanded 
the  allied  troops  tij]  the  arrival  of  Buona- 


parte. In  the  mean  time  the  north  and  v/est 
of  Germany,  and  the  interior  of  France, 
were  stripped  of  troops,  which  proceeded 
rapidly  towards  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 
On  the  side  of  Italy,  prince  Eugene,  the 
viceroy,  had  concentrated  a  formidable  army ; 
and  the  Saxon  troops,  under  marshal  Berna- 
dotte,  were  stationed  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Dresden,  to  protect  that  capital  from  the 
Austrian  army  in  Bohemia. 

On  the  eighth  of  x\pril,  Austria  declare^l 
war  against  France;  and  on  the  nintli,  the 
archduke  Charles,  having  established  h.s 
head-quarters  at  Dintz,  sent  formal  notice  to 
the  French  general  commanding  in  Bava 
ria,  that  he  had  received  orders  to  advanc 
with  his  troops,  and  to  treat  as  enemies  all 
who  should  oppose  him..  This  notice  served 
as  an  intimation  to  the  king  of  Bavaria,  who, 
quitting  his  capital,  repaired  to  Augsburg. 
On  the  following  day  the  Austrians  threv/ 
a  bridge  of  boats  over  the  Inn,  between 
Brannau  and  Scharding,  and  advanced  slovvly 
into  Bavaria.  Three  days  afterwards,  Buo- 
naparte, having  learnt  by  the  telegrapli  thot 
the  Austrians  had  crossed  the  Inn,  quitted 
Paris,  and  arrived  at  Donav/erth  on  the  sev- 
enteenth, from  which  place  he  removed  to 
Ingolstadt.  On  the  nineteenth,  marshal  Da- 
voust  advanced  to  the  village  of  Pressing  ■, 
where  he  defeated  a  division  of  tlie  Austrirai 
army.  On  the  stime  day  another  French 
corps  attacked  an  Austrian  division  in  iron-, 
while  the  Bavarians  fell  upon  their  rea]-, 
and  completed  their  rout.  These  afiairs,  and 
the  sanguinary  engagements  near  Aben;-- 
bergh,  Haussen,  and  Dinzlingen,  h-id  the  ei' 
jtect  of  cutting  off  the  left  wing  of  the  An- 
itrian  army  under  general  Killer,  and  draw- 
ing it  back  to  Land  shut. 

Buonaparte,  during  the  few  days  Winch 
he  had  passed  with  the  army,  had  made  }5ii>i- 
self  completely  acquainted  with  its  position;', 
and  had  so  far  ascertained  the  situation  vS 
the  country,  as  to  be  able  to  take  advantage 
of  the  errors  or  misfortunes  of  his  enemy. 
He  immediatel}^  attacked  the  Austrians  in 
front  at  Ebensberg,  where  he  lost  four  thou- 
sand men  in  storming  the  bridge ;  but  Ebens- 
berg  having  been  set  on  fire,  lieuten-ant- 
general  Ililler  continued  his  retreat  till  h.e 
passed  the  Danube,  near  Stain,  to  wait  for 
the  archduke.  The  flank  of  the  Austrian 
army  having  been  completelv  laid  open  by 
the  battle  of  Ebensberg,  Buonaparte  lost  not 
a  moment  in  advancing  to  Landshut.  The 
Austrian  cavalry,  v/aich  had  formed  before 
the  city,  was  driven  back  by  marshal  Bcs- 
sieres;  the  same  fate  awaited  the  infantry; 
and  the  town,  with  thirty  pieces  of  cannon, 
nine  thousond  prisoners,  and  all  the  maoa- 
zines  established  at  tliat  place,  fell  into  the 
hand^  of  the  enemy.  On  the  twenty -sec- 
ond, Baonaparte  aaadved  opposite  Eckmidil, 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


541 


where  four  corps  of  the  Austrians,  amount- 
ing- to  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  men, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  the  arch- 
duke Charles,  were  already  posted.  Never 
before  had  these  chiefs  been  opposed  to  each 
other ;  and,  as  neither  had  yet  experienced 
a  defeat,  the  utmost  confidence  reigned  in 
their  respective  armies.  Buonaparte's  mili- 
tary eye  immediately  perceiving  that  the 
left  wing  of  the  Austrian  army  was  disad- 
vantageously  posted,  he  ordered  marshal 
Lannes  to  attack  it,  while  their  front  was 
opposed  by  the  main  body  of  the  French. 
The  contest  was  long  and  obstinate ;  but,  at 
the  close  of  the  day,  the  archduke's  left 
wing  was  turned,  and  he  was  driven  from 
all  his  positions.  A  large  body  of  the  Aus- 
trians, endeavoring  to  make  a  stand  under 
cover  of  the  woods  near  Ratisbon,  were 
driven  into  the  plain,  where  they  suffered 
dreadfully ;  and  an  attempt  to  cover  the  re- 
treat of  the  main  body  by  the  cavalry  was 
equally  unsuccessful.  The  Austrians  en- 
deavored to  make  a  stand  at  Ratisbon ;  but 
after  three  successive  charges  they  gave 
way,  leaving  the  field  covered  with  eight 
thousand  of  their  slain,  and  the  French  en- 
tered the  city  through  a  breach  in  the  forti- 
fications, where  a  sanguinary  engagement 
also  took  place. 

In  these  battles  Buonaparte  pursued  his 
usual  plan  of  breaking  the  enemy's  forces 
into  detached  parts,  and  then  attacking  them 
separately ;  and  the  Austrians,  uninstructed 
by  experience,  had  so  disposed  their  troops 
as  to  favor  his  operations.  General  Belle- 
garde  did  not  join  the  archduke  till  the  day 
after  his  disaster.  In  five  days  the  Austrians 
lost  forty  thousand  men,  and  a  hundred  pieces 
of  cannon.  On  the  ninth  of  May,  Buona- 
parte, without  encountering  any  formidable 
resistance  in  his  way  from  Ratisbon,  appear- 
ed before  the  gates  of  Vienna.  That  city, 
formerly  an  important  fortress,  was  in  vain 
besieged  by  the  Turks,  and  would  even  now, 
from  the  solidity  of  its  ramparts,  the  strong 
profile  of  its  works,  and  its  extensive  mines, 
be  capable  of  a  protracted  resistance,  but  that 
palaces  now  adorn  the  ramparts,  casements 
and  ditches  are  converted  into  work-shops, 
plantations  mark  the  counterscarps,  and 
avenues  of  trees  traverse  the  glacis,  uniting 
extensive  and  beautiful  suburbs  to  the  body 
of  the  place.  The  archduke  Maximilian, 
who  commanded  the  city,  animated  and  en- 
couraged the  citizens  to  resistance,  as  long 
9.S  the  imperfect  nature  -sf  the  fortifications 
and  tlieir  unskilfulness  in  the  art  of  war 
would  permit:  for  twenty-four  hours  the 
French  howitzers  played  on  the  town ;  but 
their  destructive  fire  did  not  shake  tiie  con- 
stancy of  the  inhabitants,  until  the  commu- 
nication with  the  lefl  bank  was  on  the  point 
of  being  cut  off,  when  surrender  became  in- 

VoL.  IV.  46 


dispensable,  and  the  regular  iJroops,  amounts 
ing  to  about  four  thousand,  efiected  their  re- 
treat by  the  great  bridge  of  Tabor,  to  which 
they  set  fire.  The  emperor,  in  anticiptition 
of  the  advance  of  the  French  to  Vienna, 
had  taken  up  his  abode  at  Znaim,  in  Mo- 
ravia. 

After  the  battle  of  Eckmuhl  the  archduke 
Charles  crossed  to  the  north  side  of  the 
Danube,  and  retreating  towards  Bohemia, 
attempted  to  gain  the  capital,  by  forced 
marches,  before  the  arrival  of  the  French ; 
but  the  capture  of  Vienna  was  an  object  of 
too  much  importance  not  to  be  attempted  by 
Buonaparte  with  all  his  powers,  and  when 
the  archduke  had  reached  Meissau,  he  learn- 
ed that  the  city  had  surrendered.  Deprived, 
by  this  capture,  of  a  point  of  support  for  the 
operations  of  his  army,  the  archduke  fixed 
his  head-quarters,  on  the  sixteenth  of  May, 
at  Enzersdorf,  his  outposts  extending  on  the 
right  as  far  as  Krems,  while  Presburg,  low- 
er down  the  river,  was  occupied  by  his  left 
Buonaparte  lost  not  a  moment  in  determin- 
ing to  attack  him,  and  moved  the  French 
army  down  the  south  bank  of  the  Danube 
to  Ebersdorf,  where  two  islands  divide  the 
river  into  three  branches,  each  about  two 
hundred  yards  wide.  On  the  nineteenth  of 
May  the  French  engineers  threw  two  bridges 
from  the  right  bank  of  the  Danube  to  the 
smaller  island;  and  on  the  twentieth,  two 
other  bridges  were  erected  from  thence  to 
the  Isle  of  In-der-lobau,  which  forms  a  con- 
venient rendezvous  for  troops,  being  about 
six  English  miles  long,  and  four  and  a  half 
broad.  The  extent  of  the  island  afl^ords  facil- 
ities for  throwing  a  bridge  across  that  arm 
of  the  river  which  separates  the  island  from 
the  Marsh  field,  and  there  Buonaparte  fixed 
his  head-quarters.  In  three  hours  a  bridge, 
consisting  of  fifteen  pontoons,  was  accord- 
ingly thrown  over,  and  the  archduke  design- 
edly permitted  part  of  the  enemy  to  extena 
themselves  along  the  left  bank  of  the  river 
without  molestation.  Buonaparte  was  ac- 
cordingly left  at  liberty  to  fix  on  the  field  of 
battle,  and  he  immediately  posted  his  right 
wing  on  the  village  of  Essling,  and  the  left 
on  that  of  Aspern.  On  the  twenty-first,  the 
archduke  Charles  ordered  an  attack  in  five 
columns,  constituting  a  force  of  seventy-five 
thousand  effective  men,  and  during  that  and 
the  following  day  was  fought  the  obstinate 
and  sanguinary  battle  of  Aspern,  or  Essling. 
On  both  sides,  during  this  long  and  severe 
conflict,  were  deeds  of  heroic  valor  perform- 
ed. On  the  night  of  the  twenty-first,  gen- 
oral  Baiquant  with  eight  divisions  of  the 
second  line  of  the  Austrian  army,  remained 
in  the  occupation  of  Aspern,  which,  after 
having  been  retaken  by  the  French  on  tlio 
morning  of  the  twenty-second,  was  regained 
by  general  Baiquant,  who  entered   it  by 


542 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


storm,  though  defended  by  twelve  thousand 
of  the  enemy's  best  troops ;  and,  after  a  va- 
riety of  fortune,  the  French,  on  the  night 
betw^een  the  twenty-second  and  twenty- 
third,  retreated  from  the  left  bank  of  the 
Danube,  and  took  a  position  in  the  island  of 
Lobau,  their  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
prisoners,  having  probably  amounted  to  thir- 
ty thousand  men.  The  Austrian  loss  was 
also  severe,  being  acknowledged  by  the  offi- 
cial accounts  to  have  exceeded  twenty 
thousand.  This  was  the  greatest  check 
which  the  victorious  career  of  Buonaparte 
had  yet  received. 

The  king  of  Saxony  having  taken  up 
arms  in  favor  of  France,  soon  found  himself 
stripped  of  a  great  part  of  his  dominions ; 
and  the  Austrians,  possessing  a  powerful 
army  in  that  quarter  threatened  even  the 
newly-formed  kingdom  of  Westphalia,  while 
in  these  states,  as  in  Hanover  also,  a  formi- 
dable insurrection  sprang  up,  which,  if  it 
had  been  cherished  by  the  support,  either 
of  the  British  or  the  Austrians,  would  have 
rendered  the  situation  of  Buonaparte  critical 
in  the  extreme.  Unfortunately,  however, 
no  such  aid  was  afforded ;  so  that,  after  hav- 
ing harassed  the  French,  and  prevented  the 
march  of  troops  to  the  Danube,  they  were 
at  last  crushed  by  superior  numbers  and  dis- 
cipline. At  the  head  of  these  partisans  ap- 
peared two  men,  well  calculated  by  their 
character,  talents,  and  influence,  to  collect 
and  animate  their  followers.  Schill,  a  major 
in  the  Prussian  service,  found  no  difficulty 
in  raising  the  inhabitants  of  a  conquered 
country ;  and,  although  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  corps  which  he  commanded  was  at 
any  time  very  numerous,  it  was  formidable 
by  the  rapidity  of  its  movements,  by  its  sud- 
den and  unexpected  appearance,  and  by  the 
countenance  it  afforded  to  the  discontented 
inhabitants.  After  traversing  the  whole  of 
the  north  of  Germany,  in  different  direc- 
tions, and  perplexing  and  defeating  the 
troops  that  were  opposed  to  him,  Schill  was 
at  length  compelled  to  take  shelter  in  Stral- 
sund,  where  he  died  fighting,  and  several  of 
his  adherents  were  executed  as  deserters 
from  the  king  of  Prussia.  The  duke  of 
Brunswick  Oels,  though  in  his  own  person 
less  unfortunate  than  Schill,  did  not  effect 
anything  more  decisive,  being  at  length 
driven  to  the  necessity  of  embarking  with 
his  little  corps  for  England. 

In  Italy  the  Austrians  were  at  first  emi- 
nently successful;  they  soon  made  them- 
selves masters  of  Padua  and  Vicenza,  cross- 
ed the  Adige,  and  threatened  Venice  itself; 
but  the  victories  of  Buonaparte  in  Bavaria 
rendered  it  advisable  for  the  archduke  John, 
the  Austrian  commander  in  Italy,  to  measure 
back  his  steps.  He  was  closely  pursued  by 
the  viceroy  of  Italy,  who,  having  received  a 


reinforcement  of  ten  thousand  men,  over 
threw  the  Austrians  beyond  the  Piave  v/ith 
considerable  loss.  Advancing  towards  Vi- 
enna, the  French,  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  Marengo,  brought  the  archduke 
John  to  another  engagement  at  Raab,  in 
which  he  was  defeated,  with  the  loss  of 
three  thousand  prisoners.  After  this  engage- 
ment, the  archduke  retreated  rapidly,  and  in 
some  disorder,  towards  Pest,  for  the  purpose 
of  joining  the  main  Austrian  army ;  and  the 
viceroy,  advancing  without  impediment  to 
Vienna,  served  to  swell  the  number  of  com- 
batants in  the  approaching  great  and  de- 
cisive battle  of  Wagram. 

OVERTHROW  OF  THE  AUSTRIANS. 

After  the  battle  of  Aspern,  Buonaparte 
continued  stationary  on  the  south  bank  of 
the  Danube  till  the  beginning  of  July ;  but 
scarcely  a  day  passed  without  producing  a 
bulletin,  the  ostensible  object  of  which  was 
to  register  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Danube, 
and  to  congratulate  his  army  on  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Russians,  and  the  junction  of 
the  troops  under  the  viceroy  of  Italy ;  Buona- 
parte, however,  was  making  the  most  formi- 
dable preparations :  in  a  fortnight,  general 
count  Bertrand  raised  a  bridge  of  sixty 
arches  over  the  Danube  to  In-der-Lobau,  so 
broad  that  three  carriages  could  pass  abreast, 
over  four  hundred  fathoms  of  a  rapid  river ; 
and  a  second  bridge,  eight  feet  broad,  was 
constructed  for  infantry.  On  the  fourth  of 
July  the  whole  of  the  French  army  was  con- 
centrated in  and  about  the  island  of  Lobau, 
which  contained  magazines  of  provisions, 
one  hundred  pieces  of  cannon,  and  twenty 
mortars,  with  a  communication  between  it 
and  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  by  means  of 
three  bridges,  raised  under  cover  of  artillery 
in  an  incredibly  short  time,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  count  Bertrand,  and  a  bridge  of  boats, 
each  protected  by  a  tete  du  pont,  and  other 
works.  In  the  night  of  the  fourth,  which 
was  dark  and  tempestuous,  and  when  the 
Austrians,  who  were  strongly  intrenched  on 
the  opposite  bank,  were  expecting  an  attack 
on  their  right,  from  a  feint  made  by  the  ene- 
my of  crossing  the  river  before  Essling,  a 
heavy  fire  was  opened  on  the  village  of  En- 
zersdorf,  which  supported  the  left  wing  of 
their  army.  In  the  short  space  of  two  hours 
the  French  army  crossed  the  river,  and  on 
the  morning  of  the  fifth,  they  were  discov- 
ered in  order  of  battle  on  the  Austrian  left 
flank.  This  manoeuvre  obliged  the  archduke 
Charles  to  change  his  front,  and  quit  his  in- 
trenched camp ;  otherwise  he  must  have 
given  battle  on  ground  selected  by  the  ene- 
my. These  movements  occupied  the  whole 
of  the  fifth,  the  night  of  which  was  spent 
by  Buonaparte  in  accumulating  his  force  to- 
wards the  centre,  which  was  stationed  with- 
in canhon-shot  of  the  village  of  Wagram. 


GEORGE  HI.   1760—1820. 


.543 


The  battle  began  at  daybreak  on  the  sixth, 
and  soon  became  general.  In  every  attack 
the  Austrians  had  rather  the  advantage ;  till 
Buonaparte,  bringing  fresh  divisions  in  great 
superiority  and  almost  the  whole  of  his  ar- 
tillery up  to  one  point,  began  to  batter  the 
Austrian  left  wing,  as  if  he  had  been  storm- 
ing a  fortress.  The  left  wing  having  been 
penetrated,  gave  way,  fighting  as  it  retreat- 
ed ;  as  did  also  the  right,  which  was  attack- 
ed in  flank  by  marshal  Davoust.  Wagram 
now  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French ;  and 
tlie  Austrians,  routed  in  all  quarters,  retired 
towards  Moravia.  In  this  battle  the  French 
boasted  of  taking  t^n  pieces  of  cannon,  and 
twenty  thousand  prisoners,  among  whom 
were  nearly  four  hundred  officers,  while 
they  acknowledged  their  own  loss  to  have 
been  fifteen  hundred  killed,  and  nearly  four 
thousand  wounded ;  but  the  loss  of  the  Aus- 
trians was  much  greater. 

The  French  pursued  the  retreating  army 
as  far  as  Znaim,  whither  the  emperor  Fran- 
cis had  retired  on  the  approach  of  Buona- 
parte towards  Vienna.  Here  another  battle, 
or  rather  skirmish,  took  place,  which  was 
terminated  by  a  proposal  from  the  emperor 
Francis  for  an  armistice :  this  being  imme- 
diately agreed  to,  it  was  signed  on  the 
twelfth,  and  the  terms  too  plainly  indicated 
the  extent  of  the  Austrian  losses,  and  the 
exhausted  state  of  their  resources. 

TREATY  OF  PEACE.— EFFORTS  OF  THE 
TYROLESE. 
The  negotiations  for  a  definitive  treaty 
proceeded  very  slowly,  and  were  not  finally 
closed  till  the  fifteenth  of  October.  When 
the  terms  were  made  known,  they  were 
generally  regarded  as  less  unfavorable  to 
Austria  than  had  been  anticipated ;  the  ces- 
sions made  by  the  emperor  Francis  were, 
however,  very  considerable.  To  Bavaria 
were  ceded  Salsburg,  and  a  portion  of  terri- 
tory extending  along  the  banks  of  the  Dan- 
ube, from  Passau  to  the  vicinity  of  Lintz : 
to  France  Austria  gave  up  Fiume  and 
Trieste,  with  the  whole  of  the  country  to 
the  south  of  the  Saave,  till  that  river  enters 
Bosnia :  the  king  of  Saxony  obtained  sev- 
eral villages  in  Bohemia,  and,  in  Poland,  the 
whole  of  Western  Galicia,  from  the  fron- 
tiers of  Silesia  to  the  Bog,  together  with 
the  city  of  Cracow,  and  a  district  round  it 
in  Eastern  Galicia.  Russia  obtained  so 
much  of  this  latter  province  as  should  con- 
tain four  hundred  thousand -souls.  With  re- 
spect to  external  politics,  the  emperor  Fran- 
cis agreed  to  acknowledge  Joseph  Buona- 
parte king  of  Spain ;  to  accede  to  the  con- 
tinental system  ;  and  to  break  off  p.11  inter- 
course wiih  Great  Britain.  The  most  mor- 
tifying condition  of  this  treaty,  however, 
was  that  by  wiiich  the  Austrian  monarch 
gave  up  the  inhabitants  of  the  Tyrol  to  Ba- 


varia ;  with  a  provision,  indeed,  that  Buona- 
parte should  procure  for  them  a  complete 
and  full  pardon.  In  every  part  of  Germany 
peace  was  now  established,  except  in  these 
mountains,  the  inhabitants  of  which,  though 
abandoned  by  that  power  in  whose  favor 
they  had  risen  in  arms,  and  to  whom  they 
had  manifested  an  attachment  unbroken  by 
sacrifices  and  sufferings,  still  refused  sub- 
mission to  the  conquerors :  the  brave  Hofer, 
a  man  worthy  of  being  a  leader  among  a 
nation  of  heroes,  animated  and  directed  the 
actions  of  his  countrymen ;  aqd  before  him, 
untutored  as  he  was  in  the  aft  of  war,  the 
experienced  troops  of  Europe  fled  in  dismay. 
In  vain  did  Buonaparte  pour  in  fresh  forces ; 
all  his  schemes  were  foiled;  and  if,  for  a 
short  time,  the  Tyrolese  fled  before  his  ar- 
mies, or  appeared  not  to  oppose  their  pro- 
gress, it  was  only  to  attack  them  to  more 
advantage  in  the  passes  of  the  moimtains, 
or  to  fall  on  them  when  they  were  unpre- 
pared. On  their  conquest,  however,  Buona- 
parte was  determined;  and  he  at  length 
effected  it,  by  pouring  in  continued  rein- 
forcements, and  by  the  capture  and  mfamous 
execution  of  the  gallant  Ilofer. 

ROME  ANNEXED  TO  FRANCE. 
Whilst  Buonaparte  was  at  Vienna,  and 
within  a  few  days  of  the  great  battle  of  As- 
pern,  he  caused  it  to  be  proclaimed  in  that 
city,  that  from  the  first  of  June  the  papal 
territory  should  be  united  with  the  French 
empire.  The  pope  solemnly  protested  against 
the  violence  and  injustice  by  which  he  had 
been  stripped  of  his  temporal  sovereignty, 
and  at  the  same  time  issued  an  act  of  ex- 
communication against  the  French  emperor, 
and  all  his  co-operators  in  this  unprovoked 
spoliation :  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican,  how- 
ever, had  lost  their  terrors;  and  an  act, 
which  three  centuries  ago  would  have  rous- 
ed to  arms  all  the  states  of  Europe,  was  now 
witnessed  without  one  single  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  surrounding  sovereigns. 

DIVORCE  OF  BUONAPARTE  AND  JOSE- 
PHINE. 
It  had  frequently  been  intimated  that 
Buonaparte  intended  to  divorce  Josephine, 
for  the  purpose  of  uniting  himself  with  a 
younger  and  more  noble  bride ;  and  his  quar- 
rel with  the  pope,  so  far  from  impeding  liis 
object,  relieved  him  from  the  necessity  of 
asking  a  sanction  which  he  was  aware  would 
have  been  refused.  On  the  sixteenth  of 
December  the  design  was  formally  announc- 
ed to  the  conservative  senate :  the  project 
of  a  decree  was  submitted  to  that  assembly 
on  the  same  day ;  and  before  the  sitting  ter- 
minated, the  law  authorizing  the  divorce 
was  enacted.  Buonaparte  explained  to  the 
assembly  the  motives  by  which  he  was  actu- 
ated; and  Josephine  declnredthat  she  will- 
ingly consented  to  the  divorce,  to  furtlier 


544 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  policy  of  her  husband  and  the  interests 
of  the  state.  A  verbal  process  was  then 
drawn  up,  to  which  was  annexed  a  decree, 
pronouncing  the  marriage  contract  between 
them  to  be  dissolved. 

AFFAIRS  OF  SWEDEN. 

At  the  ccmmencement  of  the  contest  with 
Russia,  the  Swedes  had  displayed  traits  of 
heroism  that  would  have  reflected  honor  on 
the  army  of  Charles  the  twelfth ;  but,  not- 
withstanding the  liberal  subsidy  granted  by 
Britain,  neither  the  population  nor  the 
finances  of  Sweden  were  equal  to  the  exi- 
gency of  her  present  situation.  The  pro- 
gress of  the  Russians  in  Finland,  and  the 
increasing  calamities  of  the  war,  aggravated 
by  the  ravages  of  a  contagious  distemper, 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  army  that  it  was 
the  fixed  purpose  of  the  king  again  to  mea- 
sure hig  strength  with  Russia  and  France, 
excited  universal  discontent;  and  a  confede- 
racy was  formed  against  him,  which  termi- 
nated in  his  expulsion  from  the  throne.  This 
bloodless  revolution,  v/hich  took  place  on 
the  thirteenth  of  March,  1809,  was  effected 
without  commotion ;  and  the  diet  being  as- 
sembled at  Stockholm,  the  duke  of  Suder- 
mania,  uncle  to  Gustavus,  was  chosen  re- 
gent, and  afterwards  king,  under  the  title 
of  Charles  the  thirteenth.  On  ascending 
the  throne  of  Sweden,  he  professed  his 
determination  not  to  consent  to  any  peace 
with  Russia  that  should  be  disgraceful  to 
his  country,  or  that  should  oblige  her  to  take 
up  arras  against  her  faithful  ally.  Great 
Britain,  and  the  war  was  accordingly  renew- 
ed ;  misfortune,  however,  still  attended  tlie 
Swedish  arms,  and  peace  was  at  length  pur- 
chased by  the  sacrifice  of  Finland.  Soon 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  with  Rus- 
sia, negotiations  were  opened  between  Swe- 
den and  France ;  and,  on  the  sixth  of  Janu- 
ary, 1810,  a  treaty  was  concluded,  by  which 
Swedish  Pomerania,  with  the  principality 
of  Rugen,  was  restored  to  Sweden;  the 
former  commercial  relations  between  the 
two  countries  were  revived ;  and  Buonaparte 
prevailed  upon  his  new  ally  to  adopt  the 
continental  system,  and  to  exclude  British 
commerce  from  the  ports  of  the  Baltic. 
EXPEDITfON  TO  WALCHEREN. 

After  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  be- 
tween France  and  Austria,  the  English  gov- 
ernment made  preparations  for  a  formidable 
expedition,  and  forty  thousand  troops  were 
assembled,  with  thirty-five  sail  of  the  line, 
and  about  two  hundred  sail  of  smaller  ves- 
sels. It  was  the  intention  of  government 
to  keep  its  destination  secret ;  but  long  be- 
fore its  departure  the  point  of  attack  was 
generally  known  in  England,  and  publicly 
announced  in  tlie  French  journals.  The 
expedition  was  fitted  out  in  the  most  com- 
nlete  manner,  and  the  command  of  tlie  armv 


was  conferred  on  the  earl  of  Chatham,  a  man 
unfortunately  proverbial  for  indolence  and 
inactivity :  the  naval  part  was  under  admiral 
Sir  Richard  Strachan.  On  the  twenty-eighth 
of  July  the  armament  sailed  from  the 
Downs ;  and  on  the  first  of  August  Flush 
ing  was  invested.  On  the  thirteenth  the 
bombardment  commenced,  when  the  town 
and  its  inhabitants  suflfered  dreadfully  from 
Congreve's  rockets,  but  the  fortifications 
were  little  injured.  On  the  fifteenth  the 
French  general  Monnet,  the  commander, 
demanded  a  suspension  of  arms,  which  was 
succeeded  by  the  surrender  of  the  town ; 
and  the  garrison,  comprising  more  than  five 
thousand  troops,  were  made  prisoners  of 
war.  Soon  afterwards  a  rumor  reached 
England  that  no  ulterior  operations  would 
be  undertaken ;  and  it  appeared  that  no  de- 
cision on  this  point  was  made  before  the 
twenty-seventh  of  August,  when  Sir  Rich- 
ard Strachan,  having  waited  upon  lord  Chat- 
ham in  person,  to  learn  his  lordship's  plans, 
was  informed  that  he  had  come  to  the  deter- 
mination not  to  advance.  The  French,  in 
the  mean  time,  had  not  been  inactive,  and 
difficulties  now  presented  themselves  which 
might  have  embarrassed  a  more  able  and 
active  commander;  every  preparation  was 
made  to  oppose  the  passage  both  of  our  army 
and  navy ;  the  interior  of  the  Netherlands, 
and  of  France,  as  far  as  Par's,  vrns  fti-'ppod 
of  the  national  guards;  and  a:i  ;.r;;r  ,,  iuraii- 
da'ulo  for  numbers,  if  not  from  discipline  and 
experience,  had  actually  been  collected  for 
the  defence  of  Antv/erp  and  the  shipping : 
the  naval  stores  were  removed,  and  prepa- 
rations were  made  for  conveying  the  ships 
up  tlie  river,  beyond  the  reach  of  either  tils' 
invading  army  or  navy.  Lord  Chatham, 
with  a  great  proportion  of  the  troops,  at 
length  returned  to  England;  and  the  rest 
found  it  expedient  to  give  up  all  their  con- 
quests but  the  island  of  Walcheren.  This 
pestilential  station  it  was,  after  much  inde- 
cision, resolved  to  keep,  for  the  purpose  of 
shutting  up  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt,  and 
for  enabling  our  merchants  to  introduce 
British  merchandise  into  Holland ;  but  from 
this  island,  the  sole  fruit  of  one  of  the  most 
formidable  and  expensive  expeditions  ever 
sent  from  this  country,  we  were  doomed  to 
be  driven  by  an  enemy  more  cruel  and  de- 
structive than  the  French.  A  m^alady  of  the 
most  fatal  kind, soon  appeared  among  the 
troops,  and  showed  the  necessity  for  imme- 
diate recall ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  thirteenth 
of  November,  when  a  great  proportion  of 
the  forces  had  either  died  or  been  rendered 
incapable  of  performing  their  duty,  that  the 
fortifications  were  ordered  to  be  destroyed  ; 
and  on  the  twenty-third  of  December  tlie 
island  was  evacuated  in  the  sight  of  an  en- 
emy, who,  aware  that  the  ravages  of  disease 


GEORGE  III. 

would  render  attack  unnecessary,  had  taken 
no  measures  to  expel  the  invaders. 

A'lTACK  ON  A  FRENCH  FLEET— FRENCH 
CONVOY  DESTROYED— MARTINIQUE, 
CAYENNE,  AND  BOURBON  TAKEN. 
In  the  spring  of  1809,  the  French  fleet, 
consisting  of  eight  sail  of  the  line  and  two 
frigates,  escaped  from  Brest,  and  ran  into  the 
mouth  of  the  Charente,  where,  joined  hy 
four  sail  of  the  line  and  two  frigates,  they 
nnchored  under  the  batteries ;  and  lord  Coch- 
rane, in  the  Imperieuse,  being  dispatched 
from  England  to  attack  them,  a  number  of 
vessels,  with  a  supply  of  Congreve's  rockets, 
joined  lord  Gambier's  fleet,  and  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  attack  were  immediately  begun. 
Tlie  fitting  up  and  management  of  an  explo- 
sion-ship were  intrusted  to  lord  Cochrane, 
who,  with  one  lieutenant  and  four  seamen, 
committed  himself  to  this  floating  volcano. 
On  the  eleventh  of  April,  the  fire-ships,  led 
on  by  captain  Wolridge,  and  the  explosion- 
ship,  bearing  its  small  adventurous  crew, 
proceeded  to  the  attack,  favored  by  a  strong 
northerly  wind  and  the  flood  tide,  when  a 
bcom  stretched  across  the  entrance  was 
broken  through,  and  the  English  advanced, 
undismayed  by  the  heavy  fire  from  the  forts 
on  the  Isle  of  Aix.  Lord  Cochrane,  having 
approached  with  his  ship  as  near  to  the 
enemy  as  possible,  set  fire  to  the  fusee,  and, 
nine  minutes  after  he  had  quitted  her,  she 
blew  up  with  a  tremendous  explosion.  His 
lordship  had  no  sooner  reached  his  own  ship, 
than  he  proceeded  to  attack  the  French 
vessels  thrown  into  confusion  or  driven  on 
shore,  and  sustained  their  fire  for  some  time 
before  any  other  man-of-war  entered  the 
liarbor.  Early  on  the  twelfl:h,  lord  Cochrane 
announced  by  signal  that  seven  of  the  ene- 
my's ships  were  on  shore,  and  might  be 
destroyed ;  but  the  state  of  the  wind  render- 
ing it  hazardous  to  enter  the  roads,  in  which 
the  water  was  shallow,  with  the  large  ships, 
lord  Gambier,  who  had  unmoored,  anchored 
again  three  miles  from  the  forts,  and  sent  all 
the  small  vessels  for  the  attack.  Lord  Coch- 
rane, leading  the  way,  opened  a  fire  upon  a 
nhip  of  fifty-six  guns,  which  struck,  and  after- 
vrards  three  others  of  the  line  were  forced  to 
strike,  all  of  which  were  set  on  fire  and 
destroyed.  The  other  French  ships,  being 
got  into  deep  water,  moved  up  the  river 
Charente,  where  it  was  impracticable  to 
molest  them,  but  it  was  unlikely  that  they 
could  all  agam  put  to  sea. 

Towards  the  end  of  October,  three  sail  of 
the  line,  four  frigates,  and  twenty  large 
transports,  were  dispatched  from  Toulon, 
imder  the  French  admiral  Baudin,  to  the 
relief  of  Barcelona,  when  lord  Collingwood 
cave  orders  to  admiral  Martin  to  chase  them. 
The  sight  of  the  English  fleet  was  the  sig- 
nal for  the  flight  of  the  French ;  and  the 
46* 


1760—1820. 


545 


line-of-battle  ships,  with  one  frigate,  ran 
ashore  between  Cette  and  Frontignan,  where 
they  were  burnt  by  their  crews.  The  trans- 
ports took  refuge  in  the  bay  of  Rosas,  where, 
under  the  shelter  of  four  armed  vessels,  they 
seemed  to  regard  themselves  secure ;  but  in 
this  situation  they  were  attacked  by  captain 
Hallowell,  with  the  boats  of  the  English 
squadron,  and,  after  a  gallant  resistance,  the 
whole  were  either  burnt  or  brought  oflT  in 
the  sight  of  thousands  of  spectators.  In  the 
West  Indies,  the  island  of  Martinique,  and 
the  city  of  St.  Domingo,  were  added  to  our 
numerous  possessions;  and  the  colony  of 
Cayenne,  under  the  government  of  Victor 
Hughes,  fell  an  easy  conquest  to  a  combined 
attack  made  by  English  and  Portuguese 
troops.  In  the  Mediterranean,  the  small 
Grecian  islands  of  Zante,  Cephalonia,  Itha- 
ca, and  Cerigo  acknowledged  the  British 
flag. 

DIFFERENCES  WITH  AMERICA. 
The  differences  between  England  and 
America  this  year  assumed  a  more  con- 
firmed character,  although  both  countries 
professed  an  anxious  desire  for  the  revival 
of  amicable  relations.  For  the  purpose  of 
removing  one  of  the  most  irritating  parts  of 
the  British  orders  in  council,  they  were 
modified,  in  the  beginning  of  April,  so  as  to 
permit  neutral  vessels  to  trade  with  any 
port  whatever,  except  those  in  a  state  of 
actual  blockade ;  and  the  blockade  was  con- 
fined to  France,  Holland,  and  the  ports  of 
Italy  under  the  dominion  of  France.  About 
the  time  that  these  regulations  were  issued, 
an  assurance  was  given  by  the  Hon,  D.  M. 
Erskine,  the  British  minister  to  the  United 
States,  that  the  orders  in  council  of  January 
and  November,  1807,  would  be  withdrawn, 
as  respected  the  United  States,  on  the  tenth 
of  June,  in  the  persuasion  that  the  president 
would  issue  a  proclamation  for  the  renewal 
of  the  mtercourse  with  Great  Britain.  In 
virtue  of  this  assurance,  Madison,  who  had 
succeeded  JeflTerson  as  president,  issued 
a  proclamation  on  the  following  day,  an- 
nouncing that  the  trade  between  England 
and  America  would  be  renewed  on  the  tenth 
of  June.  This  pleasing  prospect  was  dis- 
pelled by  the  discovery  that  the  arrange- 
ments entered  into  by  Erskine  with  the 
American  government,  were  unauthorized 
by  his  instructions,  and  could  not  be  carried 
into  eflfect.  Previously  to  this  arrangement, 
the  American  government,  finding  the  em- 
bargo to  fall  with  a  severe  pressure  upon 
every  part  of  the  community,  had  raised  it 
as  to  all  otlier  nations,  and  substituted  in  its 
stead  a  system  of  non-intercoiu*se  and  non- 
importation towards  England  and  France. 
By  this  act  of  congress,  all  voyages  to  the 
British  and  French  dominions,  and  all  trade 
in  articles  of  their  manufacture,  were  pro- 


546 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


hibited,  with  the  reservation,  however,  that 
if  either  of  the  belligerants  should  so  revoke 
or  modify  her  edicts,  that  they  should  cease 
to  violate  the  commerce  of  the  United  States, 
the  trade  with  that  country  should  be  re- 
newed. A  number  of  American  vessels 
having  sailed  for  Europe  on  the  confidence 
which  they  placed  in  the  unratified  arrange- 
ment, the  orders  of  council  were  suspended 
in  their  favor,  and  Jackson  was  appointed  to 
succeed  Erskine  as  British  envoy  to  the 
United  States;  but  the  discussions  that  en^ 
sued  took  such  an  unfavorable  turn,  that  he 
retired  from  Washington  to  New-York,  on 
its  being  notified  that  no  further  communi- 
cation from  him  would  be  received. 

MINISTERIAL  DISPUTES  AND  CHANGES, 
—JUBILEE. 

The  ill  success  of  many  of  the  measures 
of  ministers  produced  dissatisfaction  in  the 
nation,  and  variance  among  themselves ;  and 
on  the  twenty-first  of  September  a  duel  took 
place  between  lord  Castlereagh  and  Can 
ning,  two  members  of  the  cabinet,  and  secre 
taries  of  state,  when,  after  firing  a  second 
time.  Canning  received  his  antagonist's  ball 
in  his  right  thigh.  This  duel  was  preceded 
by  a  letter  from  lord  Castlereagh  to  Canning, 
in  which  his  lordship  accused  the  foreign 
secretary  of  having  clandestinely  endeavored 
to  procure  his  removal  from  office,  on  the 
ground  of  incapacity  for  fulfilling  its  duties. 
Both  of  them,  before  the  duel,  resigned 
their  offices,  as  did  the  duke  of  Portland, 
on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities ;  the 
remaining  ministers  made  proposals  to  lords 
Grey  and  Grenville,  which  were  rejected, 
and,  in  consequence,  Perceval  took  the  office 
of  first  lord  of  the  treasury  and  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  ;  the  marquis  of  Wellesley 
was  recalled  from  his  embassy  in  Spain  to 
succeed  Canning  in  the  foreign  department ; 
lord  Liverpool  was  transferred  from  the  home 
to  the  department  of  war  and  colonies ;  Ry- 
der was  appointed  to  succeed  lord  Liverpool ; 
and  lord  Palmerston  was  at  the  same  time 
appointed  secretary  at  war,  in  the  room  of 
Sir  James  Pulteney. 

Though  the  events  of  this  disastrous  year 
injured  the  popularity  of  ministers,  no  part 
of  the  public  displeasure  fell  upon  their  ven- 
erable monarch,  who  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
October  commenced  the  fiftieth  year  of  his 
reign.  The  day  was  celebrated  as  a  jubilee, 
with  thanksgivings,  feasts,  and  illuminations. 
These  loyal  demonstrations  were  mingled 
with  a  deep  sympathy  for  the  king,  now  la- 
boring under  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  af- 
flicted with  almost  total  blindness,  yet  en- 
gaged in  war  against  a  power  which  had 
shaken  every  throne  in  Europe  but  his  own. 
CAMPAIGN  IN  SPAIN. 

In  the  centre  of  Spain,  marshal  Victor  at- 
tacked and  defeated  tlie  idi*ision  of  the  due 


del  Infantado's  army,  under  the  command  of 
general  Venegas ;  while,  in  the  north,  Soult 
made  himself  master  of  Ferrol,  as  well  as 
the  fleet  moored  in  the  harbor :  he  after- 
wards possessed  himself  of  Oporto,  without 
any  formidable  resistance ;  although  that 
place  was  defended  by  twenty-four  thousand 
troops  and  two  hundred  pieces  of  cannon. 

Early  in  April,  the  principal  Spanish  and 
French  armies  occupied  the  following  posi- 
tions : — the  marquis  del  Romana  was  at  Vil- 
lafranca;  general  Cuesta,  having  been  join- 
ed by  the  division  under  the  due  d' Albu- 
querque, had  halted  in  his  retreat  before  the 
French  at  Talavera ;  general  Reding,  hav- 
ing suflTered  severely  in  an  attempt  to  sur- 
prise Barcelona,  and  in  a  succession  of  en- 
gagements near  Tarragona,  had  been  rein- 
forced by  the  army  of  general  Blake,  and 
was,  with  that  general,  employed  against 
the  French  in  Catalonia.  Of  the  French 
forces,  Soult  was  at  Oporto;  Ney  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Corunna  and  Ferrol ;  and 
Victor  was  advancing  towards  Lisbon,  by 
Badajoz,  with  the  Spanish  force  under  gen- 
eral Cuesta  in  his  front.  The  only  engage- 
ment worthy  of  notice  was  fought  between 
marshal  Victor  and  general  Cuesta,  at  Me- 
dellin,  a  town  of  Estremadura,  equi-distant 
from  Merida  and  Truxillo.  In  this  the  patri- 
ots lost,  according  to  the  French  accounts, 
fourteen  hundred  men  in  killed  and  wound- 
ed, with  six  standards,  and  all  their  artil- 
lery. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  Spain 
when  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  sailed  from 
Portsmouth  on  the  fifteenth  of  April,  and 
arrived  at  Lisbon  on  the  twenty-second,  to 
take  the  command  of  the  British  army, 
which,  by  reinforcements,  sent  principally 
from  Ireland,  had  been  increased  to  thirty 
thousand  men.  Sir  Arthur  determined  to 
dispossess  Soult  of  the  city  of  Oporto,  and 
with  this  view  he  assembled  the  British 
army  at  Coimbra  on  the  seventh  of  May, 
and  advanced  towards  the  Douro.  Soult, 
aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the  opposing 
force,  withdrew  the  main  body  of  his  army, 
having  lost  in  his  retreat  by  Orense  and 
Penefrel,  to  Monte  Alegre,  not  less  than  a 
fourth  of  his  army,  and  all  his  artillery  and 
equipments  ;  and  Oporto  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  British  almost  without  resistance.  Sir 
Arthur  Wellesley,  having  placed  that  city 
in  a  proper  state  of  defence,  returned  to  the 
south  of  Portugal,  to  protect  Lisbon  and  its 
vicinity  from  the  French  army,  which  was 
advancmg  along  the  Tagus,  under  marshal 
Victor. 

In  the  north-east  of  Spain,  prodigies  of 
valor  had  been  displayed ;  the  second  siege 
of  Saragossa  rivalled  the  first,  and  will  for 
ever  occupy  a  distinguished  place  in  the 
military  annals  of  the  country.     After  tlie 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


547 


fall  of  that  city,  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
was  made  by  general  Blake  to  regain  it,  in 
which  the  Spanish  army  under  his  command 
became  exposed  to  a  fatal  and  inglorious  de- 
feat at  Belchite. 

BATTLE  OF  TALAVERA. 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  [See  Note  C, 
at  the  end  of  this  Vol.]  having  concerted  a 
plan  with  general  Cuesta  to  attack  the  cen- 
tral French  armies,  and  obtain  possession  of 
Madrid,  a  junction  of  their  forces  took  place 
In  the  neighborhood  of  Plasencia  on  the 
twentieth  of  July ;  and  the  combined  army, 
amounting  to  about  sixty  thousand  men,  of 
which  twenty-four  thousand  were  British, 
proceeded  to  Talavera.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  Joseph  Buonaparte  and  general  Sebas- 
tiani  formed  a  junction  with  marshal  Victor 
at  Toledo,  by  which  their  force  amounted  to 
forty-seven  thousand  men ;  and  it  was  now 
obvious  that  they  intended  to  try  the  result 
of  a  general  action.  In  the  afternoon  of  the 
twenty-seventh  the  enemy  crossed  the  Al- 
berche,  and  cannonaded  the  left  of  the  Brit- 
ish position,  while  their  cavalry  attacked  the 
Spanish  infantry,  hoping  to  break  the  ranks 
and  carry  the  town  ;  but  they  were  bravely 
resisted,  and  finally  repulsed.  Early  in  the 
evening  marshal  Victor  pushed  a  division 
along  the  valley,  on  the  left  of  a  height  oc- 
cupied by  general  Hill,  which  he  considered 
the  key  of  the  British  position;  and  his 
efforts  to  obtain  this  eminence  corresponded 
with  the  estimation  in  which  it  was  held. 
For  a  moment  the  attack  was  successfiil; 
but  general  Hill  instantly  charged  the  as- 
sailants with  the  bayonet,  and  regained  the 
post.  The  French  repeated  their  attack 
about  midnight,  but  they  were  again  repuls- 
ed with  great  slaughter.  Both  armies  passed 
the  night  on  the  field,  and  several  partial 
engagements  were  fought  before  the  ensu- 
ing dawn.  The  French  having  ascertained 
that  any  attack  upon  the  town,  posted  as  the 
Spaniards  were,  was  hopeless,  at  daybreak 
on  the  twenty-eighth  general  Ruffin  advanc- 
ed with  three  regiments  in  close  columns 
against  the  eminence  occupied  by  general 
Hill,  but  here  they  were  again  driven  back, 
leaving  the  field  covered  with  their  slain. 
A.bout  eleven  o'clock,  the  enemy,  finding 
himself  baffled  in  all  his  efforts,  suspended 
the  attack,  and  dined  upon  the  field  of  bat- 
tle. Wine  and  bread  were  at  the  same  time 
served  out  to  the  British  troops ;  and  during 
this  pause  in  the  work  of  destruction,  the 
men  in  both  armies  repaired  to  a  brook  to 
quench  their  thirst,  and  stooped  to  the  stream 
in  presence  of  each  other  without  molesta- 
tion: numbers  of  them  even  shook  hands 
across  the  brook  before  the  battle  recom- 
menced. At  noon,  Victor  ordered  a  general 
attack  aioT\g  the  whole  line,  and  directed 
his  own  three  divisions  against  general  Hill's 


position;  but  they  were  driven  back,  and 
their  retrograde  movement  exposed  Sebash 
tiani's  right,  which  suflTered  severely.  Their 
general  at  length  rallied  them,  and  some 
columns  under  Vilatte  advanced  to  their 
support.  General  Anson's  brigade  of  dra- 
goons, with  general  Fane's  brigade  of  heavy 
cavalry,  were  ordered  to  charge  them,  when 
the  British  suffered  dreadfully  ;  but  though 
they  failed  in  breaking  the  enemy,  they  de- 
terred him  from  any  further  attempt  against 
the  hill.  The  attack  upon  the  centre,  which 
commenced  at  the  same  time,  was  gallantly 
resisted  by  general  Campbell,  supported  by 
the  Spaniards,  who  turned  the  flank  of  the 
assailants,  while  the  English  took  their  can- 
non. General  Sherbroke  repelled  the  force 
opposed  to  him,  by  a  charge  of  bayonets 
from  the  whole  division ;  but  the  brigade  of 
guards,  advancing  too  far,  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  fire  of  the  hostile  batteries  and 
retiring  columns.  At  this  moment,  when 
the  fate  of  the  battle  appeared  worse  than 
doubtful,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  secured  the 
victory  by  moving  from  the  heights  a  bat- 
talion of  the  forty-eighth,  which,  with  the 
assistance  of  Cotton's  brigade  of  cavalry, 
enabled  the  guards  to  retreat  under  cover. 
At  the  close  of  the  day  the  enemy  were 
repulsed  at  all  points,  and  retreated  in  good 
order  across  the  Alberche,  leaving  behind 
them  twenty  pieces  of  cannon.  The  loss 
on  both  sides  was  severe ;  that  of  the  ene- 
my, who  had  entire  brigades  of  infantry  de- 
stroyed, was  estimated  by  the  English  com- 
mander at  ten  thousand  men.  On  the  same 
authority  it  is  stated  that  the  British  had 
eight  hundred  killed,  three  thousand  nine 
hundred  wounded,  and  six  hundred  and  fifty 
missing,  and  the  Spaniards  twelve  hundred 
and  fifty  killed  and  wounded.  For  this 
achievement  the  thanks  of  parliament  were 
voted  to  the  officers  and  men,  and  the  com- 
mander was  elevated  to  the  peerage  by  the 
title  of  viscount  Wellington.  That  those 
honors  were  well  merited  is  manifest  from 
the  skill  and  prudence  of  the  general-in- 
chief,  in  the  disposition  of  his  different  spe- 
cies of  troops ;  and  from  the  great  prowess 
displayed  by  the  troops  in  an  action  so  long 
and  obstinately  contested. 

The  English  army  had  scarcely  time  to 
congratulate  itself  on  this  victory,  before  in- 
telligence arrived  that  Soult,  Ney,  and  Mor- 
tier,  had  advanced  through  Estremadura, 
and  were  already  in  their  rear.  A  retreat 
was  now  indispensable,  as  Soult  had  seized 
at  Plasencia  the  provisions  intended  for  tlie 
British  army  ;  and  as  no  doubt  could  be  en- 
tertained that  Victor's  army  would  again  ad- 
vance as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  approach 
of  the  French  forces  through  Estrcmadura, 
Cuesta  was  left  at  Talavers,  where  it  was 
^oped  he  might  be  able  to  maintain  liis  p©- 


548 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sition ;  but  in  any  event,  it  was  understood 
that  he  should  by  no  means  abandon  the 
wounded.  On  the  third  of  August  the  Brit- 
ish force  marched  to  Oropesa,  on  the  way  to 
Plasencia,  with  an  intention  to  attack  the 
force  under  Soult,  and  in  the  evening  Sir 
Arthur  Wellesley  received  information  that 
Cuesta  meant  to  quit  Talavera  immediate- 
ly; and  that,  for  want  of  conveyance,  he 
should  be  obliged  to  abandon  his  hospitals. 
Surrounded  with  difficulties,  with  thirty 
thousand  men  under  Soult  pressing  upon 
iiim  from  the  north,  and  an  army  equally 
strong  under  Victor  advancing  from  the  east, 
the  British  general  determined  to  retreat 
over  the  bridge  of  Arzobispo,  and  by  a  moun- 
tainous road  to  take  up  a  position  at  Deley- 
tosa,  on  the  way  to  Truxillo.  Here  he  re- 
mained unmolested  by  the  French,  and  was 
enabled  to  recruit  his  army;  but  finding 
that  the  junta  were  by  no  means  disposed  to 
supply  the  wants  which  had  prevented  his 
pursuit  of  the  French  before  the  battle  of 
Talavera,  he  retreated  to  Badajoz,  where, 
during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  his  army 
continued  inactive. 

SIEGE  OF  CADIZ. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Talavera  general 
Venegas,  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  La 
Manclia,  consisting  of  about  thirty  thousand 
men,  was  defeated  near  Toledo  by  Sebasti- 
ani,  and  superseded  in  the  command  by  the 
marquis  of  Areizaga,  v/ho,  having  reassem- 
bled the  forces,  and  increased  them  to  the 
number  of  fifty  thousand,  advanced  ujwn 
Madrid,  and  on  the  nineteenth  of  November 
was  defeated  at  Ocana  with  great  loss.  The 
French  soon  afterwards  reduced  Cordova 
and  Seville,  and  thus  laid  open  the  road  to 
Cadiz.  In  old  Castile  the  duke  del  Parque, 
at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  men,  after  re- 
pulsing the  French  at  Alba  de  Tormes,  re- 
treated to  the  mountains  of  Faenza,  on  the 
borders  of  Galicia.  In  Catalonia,  Blake  was 
unable  to  make  head  against  the  French 
Jirmy  under  Augereau,  to  whom  Gerona,  af- 
ter a  long  and  heroic  defence,  capitulated  on 
the  tenth  of  December. 

1810. — After  the  battle  of  Ocana,  the 
French,  under  Soult,  assisted  by  Victor  and 
Mortier,  and  accompanied  by  Joseph  Buona- 
parte in  person,  advanced  into  the  south  of 
Spain ;  and  having,  on  the  twentieth  of  Jan- 
uary, 1810,  penetrated  the  passes  of  the  Si- 
<»rra  Morena  almost  without  resistance,  they 
e.-'tabiished  their  head-quarters  at  Baylen. 
Sebastiani  overran  Grenada,  and  took  pos- 
session of  Malaga.  Victor  occupied  Seville 
on  the  tenth  of  February,  the  supreme  Junta 
assembled  there  having  previously  retired  to 
tiie  isle  of  Leon,  near  Cadiz.  This  last  refug*^ 
of  Spanish  independence  had  been  exposed 
to  the  greatest  danger  tlirough  their  vacilla- 
tion or  treachery,  and  it  was  saved  by  a  re- 


markably rapid  march  of  the  duke  of  Albu- 
querque, at  the  head  of  eight  thousand  men, 
from  Estremadura.  On  his  arrival  at  Cadiz 
he  found  that  the  Junta,  who  were  suspected 
of  a  design  to  make  terms  with  Joseph,  had 
been  deposed,  and  the  supreme  authority 
vested  in  a  regency.  The  most  vigorous 
preparations  were  now  made  for  defence : 
all  persons  capable  of  bearing  arms  were 
enrolled  ;  British  troops  arrived  from  Lis- 
bon and  Gibraltar  ;  and  the  Spanish  fleet, 
amounting  to  twenty  sail  of  the  line,  was 
moored  in  the  harbor,  under  the  direction  of 
the  British  admiral  Purvis,  who  brought  in 
his  own  squadron.  The  French  occupied 
the  shores  of  the  bay,  and  endeavored  to  an- 
noy the  shipping  and  the  town,  but  they  did 
not  venture  a  regular  attack  upon  the  isle 
of  Leon  ;  they,  however,  took  fort  Matagor- 
da, situate  but  two  miles  from  the  city,  after 
it  had  been  bravely  defended  for  two  months 
by  a  body  of  British  soldiers  and  sailors. 

In  Catalonia,  the  Spanish  general,  O'Don- 
nel,  who  had  collected  a  considerable  force 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  siege  of  Ilost- 
alric,  was  defeated  on  the  plain  of  Vich  after 
an  obstinate  engagement ;  and,  after  a  brave 
resistance  of  four  months,  tlie  castle  of  Ilost- 
alric  was  taken,  by  which  the  French  secur- 
ed the  communication  between  Gerona  and 
Barcelona.  In  June  they  captured  the  im- 
portant fortresses  of  Lerida  and  Mequinen- " 
za ;  but  Tortosa,  which  was  besieged  imme- 
diately afterwards,  did  not  surrender  until 
the  commencement  of  the  following  year. 
Valencia,  for  the  surprise  of  which  a  plan 
was  concerted  between  Suchet  and  some 
traitors  within  the  city,  was  defended  by 
general  Caro,  who  marched  out  to  attack  the 
French,  and  defeated  them  with  great 
slaughter.  In  the  south  six  thousand  French, 
stationed  at  Ronda,  were  surprised  by  a  de- 
tachment from  Algesiras,  under  general 
Lacy,  and  fled  in  disorder,  leaving  their 
arms  and  ammunition,  which  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  mountaineers.  The  spirit 
of  resistance  spreading  to  the  frontiers  of 
Murcia,  Sebastiani  was  ordered  into  that 
province,  v/here  he  compelled  the  Spaniards 
to  retire  to  Alicante.  In  August,  a  Frencli 
force,  posted  at  Moguer,  in  the  province  of 
Seville,  was  expelled  by  a  body  of  Spaniards 
and  English,  who,  on  the  approach  of  a  hos- 
tile reinforcement,  retTirned  to  Cadiz.  An- 
other expedition,  undertaken  against  Mala- 
ga, hi  October,  proved  unsuccessful,  and 
lord  Blaney,  who  commanded  the  troops, 
was  taken  prisoner. 

In  the  month  of  April  the  British  cabinet 
made  an  attempt  to  rescue  the  person  of 
Ferdinand  out  of  the  hands  of  Napoleon. 
The  person  employed  in  this  mission  was  an 
Irish  adventurer  of  the  name  of  Kelly,  and 
the  plan,  it  appears,  was  concerted  with  the 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


549 


marquis  Wellesley,  the  English  secretary  of 
state  for  foreign  affairs,  who  had  placed  at 
Kelly's  disposal  a  squadron  off'  Quiberon, 
whence  the  prince  was  to  embark.  Having 
made  his  way  to  Valencay,  the  residence,  or 
rather  tlie  place  of  imprisonment,  of  Ferdi- 
nand, Kelly  disclosed  his  intentions  to  the 
Infante,  Don  Antonio,  and  to  the  Intendant 
of  the  household ;  but  Ferdmand,  on  being 
acquainted  with  Kelly's  visit,  informed  Ber- 
themy,  the  governor  of  the  castle,  that  an 
English  emissary  had  found  his  way  thither. 
Kelly  was,  in  consequence,  placed  under  ar- 
rest, and  the  vigilance  of  the  French  gov- 
ernor over  the  person  and  suite  of  the  im- 
becile monarch,  if  possible,  increased. 
OPERATIONS  IN  PORTUGAL. 

Lord  Wellington,  after  the  battle  of 
Talavera,  determined  to  confine  his  opera- 
tions to  the  defence  of  Portugal,  till  a  more 
auspicious  state  of  afl^airs  should  arise  ;  and 
as  the  force  which  this  country  could  send 
into  the  Peninsula  was  small,  in  comparison 
with  the  immense  armies  of  France,  and  as 
the  Portuguese  troops  could  not  at  first  be 
expected  to  equal  the  British,  it  was  expe- 
dient to  act  where  inequality  of  numbers 
would  be  compensated  by  local  and  artificial 
strength,  and  where  he  would  possess  the 
best  means  of  supplying  and  increasing  his 
force.  Lord  Wellington  accordingly  deter- 
mined to  make  his  stand  within  the  lines  of 
Torres  Vedras,  a  position  capable  of  being 
rendered  impregnable :  lying  near  the  Ta- 
gus,  his  army  could  receive  reinforcements 
and  supplies  readily  from  England  ;  and  his 
vicinity  to  the  sea  would  enable  him,  in  case 
of  exigency,  to  embark  without  delay.  The 
French  general,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
be  in  the  very  heart  of  a  hostile  country,  the 
inhabitants  of  which  were  neither  disposed 
nor  able  to  supply  his  wants ;  and  from  the 
nature  of  the  war  in  the  Peninsula,  it  would 
be  extrfemely  difficult  to  procure  the  sup- 
plies from  any  great  distance.  To  gain  time 
for  improving  the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras, 
lord  Wellington  determined  to  retard  the 
progress  of  the  enemy  as  much  as  possible, 
without  hazarding  a  general  engagement ; 
and,  in  furtherance  of  this  plan,  he  advanc- 
ed, at  the  commencement  of  the  summer,  to 
the  north-eastern  frontier  of  Portugal,  his 
force  consisting  at  that  time  of  about  thirty 
tliousand  British,  and  nearly  sixty  thousand 
Spanish  and  Portuguese. 

In  the  beginning  of  July  the  hostile  ar- 
mies were  posted  as  follows :  a  small  French 
corps  was  stationed  before  Badajoz,  watched 
by  the  Spanish  r.rmy  of  Romana,  consisting 
of  nine  thousand  men,  and  by  general  Hill, 
with  a  British  force,  amounting  to  about  five 
thousand.  The  grand  French  army  under 
Massena,  composed  of  the  divisions  of  Soult 
and  of  Nev,  and  of  laro^e  reinforcements 


brought  from  France,  was  posted  before  Ciu- 
dad  Rodrigo,  which  fortress  he  determined 
to  take  before  he  advanced  further  into  Por- 
tugal. That  place  made  an  obstinate  de- 
fence during  a  terrific  and  destructive  bom- 
bardment of  sixteen  days.  The  head-quar- 
ters of  the  English  army  were  in  front  of 
Celerico,  where  the  first  division,  under 
general  Spencer,  was  stationed  ;  the  second, 
under  general  Hill,  was  at  Portalegra  ;  the 
third,  commanded  by  general  Cole,  was  can- 
toned at  Garda ;  the  fourth,  under  general 
Picton,  was  at  Pinhel ;  and  the  light  division, 
under  general  Crawford,  including  two  regi- 
ments of  Portuguese  cacadores  or  marksmen, 
was  advanced  close  to  the  French  army  at 
Ciudad  Rodrigo.  Each  division  had  attached 
to  it  some  Portuguese  regiments,  with  one  or 
more  English  officers  in  them,  and  by  whose 
efforts  they  had  been  brought  into  such  order 
and  discipline,  that  it  was  reasonably  ex- 
pected they  would,  in  the  hour  of  trial,  not 
disgrace  their  companions  in  the  field. 

After  the  fall  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  which 
did  not  surrender  till  the  fortress  was  no 
longer  defensible,  Massena  advanced  to  the 
siege  of  Almeida,  and  opened  his  trenches 
on  the  fifteenth  of  August.  While  a  false 
attack  w^as  made  against  the  north  of  the 
town,  two  thousand  men  dug  the  first  paral- 
lel to  a  depth  of  three  feet ;  and  on  Sunday 
the  twenty-sixth,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, eleven  batteries,  mounted  with  sixty- 
five  pieces  of  cannon,  opened  their  fire.  The 
garrison  consisted  of  five  thousand  men,  of 
whose  spirit  no  doubt  was  entertained  ;  the 
city  was  well  provided  ;  and  its  works  had 
been  placed  in  so  respectable  a  state,  that 
lord  Wellington  felt  assured  of  the  enemy 
being  detained  till  late  in  the  season.  On 
the  night  after  the  batteries  opened,  how- 
ever, the  large  powder-magazine  in  the  cit- 
adel blew  up  with  a  tremendous  explosion. 
More  than  half  the  artillery-men,  a  great 
number  of  the  garrison,  and  many  of  the  in- 
habitants, perished  ;  the  guns  were  dis- 
mounted, and  the  works  no  longer  defensi- 
ble. The  necessary  and  almost  immediate 
consequence  was  the  surrender  of  the  place, 
and  all  the  troops  in  the  garrison  were  made 
prisoners  of  war.  On  the  fall  of  Almeida, 
Massena  advanced  fiirther  into  Portugal, 
and  lord  Wellington,  who  retreated  slowly 
before  him,  towards  Coimbra,  resolved  to 
take  up  a  position  on  the  Sierra  de  Busaco, 
which  is  a  high  ridge  that  extends  from  the 
Mondego  in  a  northerly  direction  about 
eight  miles,  and  there  to  resist  the  advance 
of  the  French  army.  In  this  retreat  the  se- 
vere hut  efficacious  policy  was  adopted  of 
rendering  all  the  country  in  the  line  of 
march  quite  iniiospitable  to  the  French,  by 
stripping  it  of  all  its  inlmbitants,  with  the 
whole  of  their  movable  property,  and  by  de- 


550 


ffiSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


stroying  what  could  not  be  carried  off.  The 
British  and  Portuguese  troops  were  posted 
along  the  ridge  of  the  mountain  or  Sierra, 
forming  the  segment  of  a  circle,  whose  ex- 
treme points  embraced  every  part  of  the  en- 
emy's position,  and  whence  every  move- 
ment below  could  be  distinctly  observed.  On 
the  twenty-sixth  of  September,  the  light 
troops  on  both  sides  were  engaged  through- 
out the  line,  and  at  six  o'clock  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  the  divisions  of  Ney  and 
Regnier  made  two  desperate  attacks  upon 
lord  Wellington's  position,  one  on  the  right, 
the  other  on  the  left  of  the  highest  point  of 
the  Sierra.  Ney's  division  gained  the  top 
of  the  ridge,  but  was  driven  back  with  the 
bayonet ;  and,  another,  further  to  the  right, 
was  repulsed  before  it  could  reach  the  top 
of  the  mountain.  On  the  left,  the  attack 
was  made  by  three  divisions,  one  only  of 
which  made  any  progress  towards  the  sum- 
mit, and  this  force,  being  charged  with  the 
bayonet,  was  driven  down  with  immense 
loss.  The  Portuguese  soldiers  established 
this  day  their  character  for  courage  and  dis- 
cipline :  they  were  worthy,  lord  Wellington 
said,  to  contend  in  the  same  ranks  with  Brit- 
ish troops,  in  that  good  cause  which  they  af- 
forded the  best  hopes  of  saving.  The  ene- 
my, thus  repulsed  in  his  attempts  to  open  a 
passage  for  his  further  advance  into  Portu- 
gal, accomplished  by  a  manoeuvre  what 
force  had  failed  to  effect.  On  the  evening 
of  the  twenty-eighth  lord  Wellington  ob- 
served, as  he  had  anticipated,  the  French 
army  silently  moving  round  the  northern 
edge  of  the  Sierra,  toward  Coimbra,  which 
obliged  him  to  quit  Busaco,  and  retreat  to 
the  left  bank  of  the  Mondego.  In  the  after- 
noon of  the  thirtieth  the  French  advanced 
guard  appeared  in  the  front  of  Coimbra,  and 
the  next  day  lord  Wellington  fell  back  upon 
Leyria,  and  from  thence  to  the  lines  of 
Torres  Vedras. 

So  perfectly  convinced  was  the  French 
general  that  the  retreat  of  lord  Wellington 
was  for  the  purpose  of  embarking  at  Lisbon, 


and  that  his  sole  object  should  be  immediate 
and  close  pursuit,  that  he  abandoned  his 
wounded  at  Coimbra,  with  little  or  no  pro- 
tection, and  advanced  without  taking  tlie 
precaution  to  form  and  establish  magazines. 
On  his  arrival  at  Torres  Vedras,  after  recon- 
noitring the  British  line,  he  found  their  po- 
sition to  be  impregnable,  and  here  the  error 
he  had  committed,  in  making  so  incautious 
an  advance,  became  manifest.  These  lines, 
strong  by  nature,  and  greatly  improved  by 
art,  extended  to  a  distance  of  thirty-five 
miles,  flanked,  on  one  side  by  the  sea,  and 
on  the  other  by  the  Tagus.  The  British 
army  was  formed  into  four  divisions,  each 
occupying  one  of  the  four  passes  of  the 
mountains.  The  French  force  reached  the 
vicinity  of  Torres  Vedras  harassed  by  fa- 
tigue, straitened  for  provisions,  and  without 
magazines  in  their  rear ;  and  when  the  rela- 
tive strength  and  situation  of  the  two  armiea 
was  known  in  England,  the  destruction  of 
the  enemy  was  regarded  as  inevitable.  Mas- 
sena,  however,  kept  his  position  in  front  of 
Torres  Vedras  till  the  fourteenth  of  Novem- 
ber, when,  being  constramed  to  seek  better 
quarters  for  the  winter,  he  marched  for  San- 
tarem.  On  the  next  morning  the  allied  army 
broke  up,  and  followed  the  march  of  the  en- 
emy, hoping  that  the  time  for  his  destruction 
had  now  arrived  ;  but,  on  examining  his  po- 
sition, it  was  not  judged  advisable  to  make 
an  attack ;  lord  Wellington  therefore  con- 
tented himself  with  fixing  his  head-quarters 
at  Cartaxo,  about  ten  miles  nearer  Lisbon, 
and  in  these  positions  the  two  armies  re- 
mained at  the  close  of  the  year  1810. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year  captain  Mends, 
with  a  small  squadron  of  light  vessels  hav- 
ing  on  board  five  hundred  Spanish  troops  un- 
der general  Porlier,  destroyed  all  the  French 
batteries,  except  Castro,  from  St.  Sebastian 
to  St.  Andero,  on  which  he  found  above  a 
hundred  pieces  of  heavy  cannon  :  ■  having 
thus  laid  that  great  extent  of  sea-coast  bare 
of  defence,  he  obtamed  two  good  anchorages 
for  British  vessels. 


GEORGE  in.  1760—1820. 


551 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


Parliament  convened — Inquiry  as  to  the  Walcheren  Expedition — Breach  of  Privilege 
— Sir  Francis  Burdett'^s  Motion  and  Conduct  thereon^  and  his  committal  to  the 
Tower — Bullion  Question,  and  other  Proceedings — Capture  of  Amhoyna,  Islands 
of  Bourbon,  France,  Guadaloupe,  and  Santa  Maura — Marriage  of  Buonaparte — 
Annexation  of  Holland  to  France — Other  Annexations — Burning  Decrees  of 
Buonaparte — Attempt  on  Sicily — War  with  Russia — Differences  with  the  United 
States — State  of  Spanish  America — The  King^s  Mental  Malady — Regency — 
Opening  of  Parliament — Proceedings  as  to  Commercial  Distress,  and  other  Affairs 
— American  Disputes — Capture  of  Java — Naval  Actions — Further  Measures  against 
British  Commerce. 


PARLIAMENT.— WALCHEREN   EXPEDI- 
TION. 

Parliament  assembled  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  January,  1810,  and  the  opening 
speech,  which  was  read  by  commission,  con- 
tained but  little  specific  matter  besides  late 
disasters,  and  the  necessity  of  affording  fur- 
ther assistance  to  Spain  and  Portugal.  Lord 
Porchester  moved  for  an  inquiry  into  the 
policy  and  conduct  of  the  late  expedition  to 
Walcheren,  by  a  committee :  not  a  select  and 
secret  committee,  he  said,  before  whom 
garbled  extracts  might  be  laid  by  ministers 
themselves  in  order  to  produce  a  partial  de- 
cision, but  a  committee  of  the  whole  house, 
by  which  oral  evidence  might  be  examined 
at  the  bar.  This  motion  was  opposed  by  min- 
isters, but  was  carried  against  them  by  a 
majority  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  to 
one  hundred  and  eighty-six.  On  the  first  of 
February,  the  day  before  the  investigation 
commenced,  Yorke  gave  notice  that  he 
should,  during  the  inquiry,  enforce  the 
standing  order  of  the  house  for  the  exclu- 
sion of  strangers.  Sheridan  deprecated  the 
idea  of  proceeding  in  an  investigation,  in 
which  the  nation  was  so  deeply  interested, 
with  closed  doors,  and  asked,  whether  it 
could  be  endured  that  the  people  should  be 
kept  in  complete  ignorance  of  what  parlia- 
ment was  doing  at  one  of  the  most  awful 
moments  of  its  existence.  A  majority  of 
members,  however,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  to  eighty,  decided  that  the  standing  or- 
der, for  the  exclusion  of  strangers,  should 
remain  unaltered.  Amongst  the  papers  laid 
before  parliament,  was  a  "copy  of  the  earl 
of  Chatham's  statement  of  his  proceedings," 
dated  the  fifteenth  of  October,  1809,  pre- 
sented to  the  king  on  the  fourteenth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1610.  The  tenor  of  the  narrative 
was  to  impute  blame  to  the  naval  part  of  the 
expedition,  and  his  lordship  represented  its 
failure  to  have  arisen,  either  from  insuffi- 
cient arrangements  on  the  part  of  the  ad- 
miral. Sir  Richard  Strachan,  or  from  un- 
avoidable difficulties,  inherent  in  the  nature 


of  the  expedition  itself,  which,  being  en- 
tirely of  a  naval  nature,  did  not  come  within 
his  province.  The  presenting  of  such  a 
document  to  the  sovereign  by  a  military 
commander,  without  the  intervention  of  any 
responsible  minister,  and  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  accused  party,  was  pronounced 
a  clandestine  and  unconstitutional  attempt 
to  poison  the  royal  ear ;  and  a  motion  was 
made  by  Whitbread  for  an  address  to  his 
majesty,  praying  that  copies  of  all  papers 
submitted  to  him  by  the  earl  of  Chatham, 
concerning  the  expedition  to  the  Scheldt, 
might  be  laid  before  the  house,  was  carried, 
in  opposition  to  ministers,  by  a  majority  of 
seven.  This  proceeding  was  followed  by  a 
vote  of  censure,  proposed  by  Whitbread, 
and  amended  by  Canning,  in  which  lord 
Chatham's  conduct  was  pronounced  highly 
reprehensible ;  and  his  lordship,  to  avoid  an 
address  to  the  king  for  his  removal,  resign- 
ed his  office  of  master-general  of  the  ord- 
nance. The  examination  of  evidence  upon 
the  Walcheren  expedition  occupied  the  house 
from  the  second  of  February  to  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  March,  when  lord  Porchester  moved 
two  series  of  resolutions,  to  the  effect,  that 
the  expedition  was  undertaken  under  cir- 
cumstances which  aflbrded  no  rational  hope 
of  adequate  success,  and  at  the  precise  sea- 
son of  the  year  when  the  disease  which  had 
proved  so  fatal  was  known  to  be  most  pre- 
valent ;  that  the  advisers  of  that  ill-judged 
enterprise  were  therefore  highly  reprehen- 
sible; and  that  their  conduct  in  delaying 
the  evacuation  of  Walcheren  called  for  the 
severest  censure. — After  four  nights'  debate, 
tliere  appeared,  for  lord  Porchester's  resolu- 
tions, two  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  and 
against  them,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
voices.  The  house  next  decided  upon  an 
amendment  of  general  Crawford's,  purport- 
ing, that  though  the  house  considered  with 
regret  the  lives  which  had  been  lost,  it  wait 
of  opinion  that  his  majesty's  ministers  had 
proceeded  upon  good  grounds  in  undertaking 
the  expedition — which  amendment,  though 


552 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 


suDstantially  at  variance  with  the  first  part 
of  the  resolutions,  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  forty.  The  second  set  of  resolutions, 
censuring  ministers  for  delaying  the  evacu- 
ation of  Walcheren,  was  negatived  by  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  against  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four ;  and  a  resolution,  ap- 
proving their  conduct  for  retaining  the  island 
till  the  time  it  was  abandoned,  was  carried 
by  two  hundred  and  fifly-five  against  two 
hundred  and  thirty-two. 

BREACH  OF  PRIVILEGE.— SIR  F.  BUR- 
DETT'S  MOTION. 

The  exclusion  of  strangers  from  the  house 
of  commons,  during  this  inquiry,  excited 
much  public  observation;  and  the  conduct 
of  Yorke,  who  moved  it,  and  of  Windham, 
who  made  some  unpopular  observations  on 
the  practice  of  reporting  debates  in  the 
newspapers,  being  canvassed  in  some  in- 
stances with  too  much  freedom,  Yorke,  on 
the  nineteenth  of  February,  complained  of 
a  breach  of  privilege,  his  conduct  in  that 
assembly  having  been  made  the  subject  of 
discussion  in  a  speaking  club  called  the 
British  Forum;  and,  on  the  twenty-first 
John  Gale  Jones,  the  manager  of  the  society, 
was  summoned  to  the  bar,  and  committed 
to  Newgate.  Though  several  members  ex- 
pressed their  doubts  of  the  policy  of  his 
commitment,  the  power  of  the  house  to  do 
so  was  denied  by  Sir  Francis  Burdett  alone, 
who,  not  having  been  present  at  the  former 
debate,  moved,  on  the  twelfth  of  March,  for 
the  discharge  of  Jones,  on  the  ground  that 
the  house  had  exceeded  its  authority,  which 
was  negatived  by  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  against  fourteen.  The  speech  deliver- 
ed on  this  occasion.  Sir  Francis  published  in 
a  periodical  paper  on  the  twenty-fourth,  with 
a  letter  prefixed,  addressed  to  his  constitu- 
ents, "  denying  the  power  of  the  house  of 
commons  to  imprison  the  people  of  Eng- 
land." In  consequence  of  this  publication, 
it  was  moved  by  Lethbridge,  and  decided  by 
a  majority,  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  pub- 
lishing a  scandalous  and  libellous  paper,  re- 
flecting upon  their  just  rights  and  privileges; 
and  a  motion  for  his  commitment  to  the 
Tower  was  made  by  Sir  Robert  Salisbury, 
and  carried,  afler  a  long  and  animated  de- 
bate, by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety  to  one  hundred  and  fifly-two  voices. 
The  division  did  not  take  place  till  seven 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Friday,  the  sixth 
of  April,  when  the  speaker  signed  the  war- 
rant, and  delivered  it  to  the  serjeant-at-arms. 
That  officer  was  informed  by  Sir  Francis 
that  he  would  be  ready  to  receive  him  on 
the  next  morning,  which  being  viewed  by 
the  Serjeant  as  implying  that  he  would  go 
peaceably  to  the  Tower,  he  retired.  Sir 
Francis,  however,  alleging  the  illegality 
of  the  warrant,  refused  to  go  unless  con- 


strained by  actual  force,  which  he  was  de- 
termined to  resist.  After  taking  the  opinion 
of  the  attorney-general,  the  serjeant,  accom- 
panied by  a  number  of  police  officers,  and  a 
detachment  of  troops,  forced  an  entry  into 
his  house,  and  conveyed  him  to  the  Tower. 
As  the  escort  which  guarded  the  prisoner 
was  on  its  return,  a  numerous  mob  attacked 
them  with  stones  and  brickbats,  and  some 
shots  were  fired,  by  which  two  or  three  lives 
were  lost,  and  several  wounded;  tlie  mob 
assembled  round  the  house  of  Sir  Francis 
also  committed  many  outrages  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. On  the  tenth,  a  letter  sent  by  Sir 
Francis  to  the  speaker,  after  the  receipt  of 
his  warrant,  became  a  topic  of  debate,  and 
a  resolution  was  unanimously  passed,  de- 
claring it  a  high  and  flagrant  breach  of  the 
privileges  of  the  house. 

Sir  Francis  Burdett  commenced  actions 
against  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons, 
for  issuing  the  warrant  for  his  arrest  and  im- 
prisonment ;  against  the  serjeant-at-arms,  for 
executing  the  warrant  generally,  and  for 
breaking  open  the  outer  door  of  his  house  in 
its  execution ;  and  against  earl  Moira,  the 
governor  of  the  Tower,  for  illegal  imprison- 
ment ;  the  object  of  Sir  Francis  being  to  as- 
certain, whether  an  appeal  lay  to  a  court  of 
law,  against  the  proceedings  of  the  house  of 
commons  acting  as  accuser  and  judge,  and 
affecting  the  liberty  of  the  subject — if  the 
punishment  could  be  remitted  by  a  court  of 
law,  the  privilege  claimed  would  be  restrict- 
ed, if  not  destroyed ;  in  all  which  he  failed, 
the  plea  that  the  warrant  being  issued  by 
the  authority  of  the  house  of  commons  was 
a  legal  instrument,  and  that  therefore  the 
arrest  and  imprisonment  were  legal,  being 
admitted.  Thus  the  attempt  to  overthrow 
this  branch  of  the  privilege  of  parliament 
served  to  confirm  it,  and  gave  to  the  claims 
of  the  house  of  commons  a  solemn  judicial 
recognition. 

BULLION  QUESTION.— SUPPLIES,  &c. 

Horner,  on  the  first  of  February,  moved 
for  a  variety  of  returns  respecting  the  pres- 
ent state  of  the  circulating  medium,  and 
the  trade  in  bullion,  on  the  production  of 
which  a  committee  was  appointed  for  the 
purpose  of  inquiry  into  the  high  price  of 
bullion,  and  its  effect  on  the  value  of  the 
paper  currency.  The  committee  were  of 
opinion,  that  the  evils  complained  of  were 
to  be  attributed  to  an  excessive  issue  of  bank 
of  England  paper;  and  it  was  stated  in  their 
report  that  "  a  general  rise  of  all  prices,  a 
rise  in  the  market  price  of  gold,  and  a  fall 
in  the  foreign  exchanges,  will  be  the  effect 
of  an  undue  quantity  of  circulating  medium 
in  a  country  which  has  adopted  a  currency 
not  exportable  to  other  countries,  or  con- 
vertible at  will  into  a  coin  that  is  converti- 
ble."   It  was  added,  that  no  sufficient  rem- 


GEORGE  ni.   1760—1820. 


553 


edy  for  the  present  evil,  or  security  for  the 
future,  could  be  pointed  out,  except  the  re- 
peal of  the  law  which  suspended  the  cash 
payments  of  the  bank,  to  effect  which  the 
committee  was  aware  that  some  difficulties 
must  be  encountered ;  but  all  hazards  to  the 
stability  of  the  bank,  and  all  injury  to  public 
credit,  miglit  be  obviated,  by  restricting  cash 
payments  for  two  years  from  the  present 
time,  and  by  intrustmg  to  the  bank  itself 
tjje  charge  of  conductmg  and  completing 
the  operation. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  May  the  budget  was 
brought  forward,  and  the  supplies  voted  for 
the  year  amounted  to  fifty-two  million  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  pounds,  of 
which  the  proportion  for  Ireland  was  six 
million  one  hundred  and  six  thousand  pounds. 
The  ways  and  means,  without  the  imposi- 
tion of  any  new  taxes,  were  estimated  at  a 
surplus  of  one  hundred  and  forty-one  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  two  pounds  over  the 
demand,  including,  however,  a  loan  of  eight 
million  pounds,  which  was  borrowed  at  the 
favorable  rate  of  four  pound  four  shillings 
and  three  pence  three  farthings  per  cent. 
The  foreign  subsidies  were  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds  for  Sicily,  and  nine  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand  pounds  for  Portu- 
gal ;  and  a  vote  of  credit  was  pEissed  for 
three  million  pounds.  Perceval  stated  that 
the  official  value  of  the  imports  was  nearly 
five  million  pounds  more  than  in  the  most 
prosperous  year  of  peace ;  that  the  exports 
of  our  manufactures  exceeded  in  amount 
those  of  1802,  by  eight  million  pounds ;  and 
that  though  there  was  a  diminution  of  nearly 
four  million  pounds  in  the  exports  of  foreign 
goods,  yet  the  average  was  highly  favorable 
to  the  country.  He  added,  that  the  orders 
of  council  had  already  reduced  the  receipts 
of  the  customs  in  France  from  two  million 
five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  to  five  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds,  being  a  diminution  of 
fcur-fifths  of  their  whole  amount. 

Petitions  from  the  Catholics  were  presented 
to  both  houses,  and  gave  rise  to  protracted 
discussions,  but  were  rejected  by  considera- 
ble majorities.  Several  measures  of  reform 
experienced  a  similar  fate.  A  bill,  intro- 
duced by  Bankes,  for  rendering  perpetual  the 
act  preventing  the  grant  of  offices  in  rever 
sion,  was  rejected  by  the  lords.  Brandt's 
motion  for  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  the  representation,  and  into  the 
means  of  rendering  it  complete,  was  nega- 
tived by  a  great  majority.  Various  altera- 
tions were  proposed  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly 
in  the  criminal  code;  and  it  was  unani- 
mously resolved,  that  the  subject  of  peniten- 
tiary houses  should  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  the  next  session.  Addresses  were 
voted  in  both  houses,  on  the  motion  of  lord 
Holland  and  Brougham,  beseeching  his  ma- 
VoL.  IV.  47 


jesty  to  persevere  in  his  endeavors  to  in- 
duce foreign  nations  to  co-operate  in  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  The  latter, 
with  great  ability  and  eloquence,  exposed 
the  practices  of  certain  persons,  even  in  this 
country,  who  carried  on  that  traffic  in  a 
clandestine  manner,  as  the  penalties  were 
pecuniary,  and  it  was  a  mere  commercial 
speculation,  what  risk  might  be  run  for  a 
certain  profit  by  an  adventure  in  the  slave- 
trade  :  and  a  resolution  for  taking  into  con- 
sideration, early  in  the  next  session,  such 
measures  as  might  tend  to  prevent  those 
violations  of  the  law,  was  unanimously 
adopted. 

The  twelfth  report  of  the  commissioners 
of  military  inquiry  disclosed  a  flagrant  in- 
stance of  public  delinquency.  It  appeared 
that  Joseph  Hunt,  a  member  of  the  house 
of  commons,  and  late  treasurer  of  the  board 
of  ordnance,  had  misapplied  certain  sums  of 
public  money  to  a  considerable  amount ;  and 
on  the  motion  of  Calcraft;  he  was  expelled 
the  house.  The  defaulter  had,  on  the  plea 
of  ill  health,  emigrated  to  Lisbon.  On  the 
twenty-first  of  June,  parliament  was  pro- 
rogued. 

CAPTURE  OF  AMBOYNA  AND  OTHER 

ISLANDS. 
The  Dutch  settlement  of  Amboyna,  with 
its  dependencies,  was  carried  by  a  coup  de 
main  in  February,  by  an  expedition  under 
captain  Tucker,  who  obtained  a  booty ;  and 
the  chief  of  the  spice  islands,  Banda,  with 
its  dependencies,  surrendered  uncondition- 
ally to  captain  Cole,  of  the  Carolina  frigate, 
who  conducted  the  attack  with  uncommon 
gallantry  and  skill.  The  island  of  Bourbon, 
and  the  Mauritius,  or  Isle  of  France,  having 
long  aflEbrded  shelter  to  a  large  number  of 
French  privateers,  which  had  captured  East 
India  shipping  to  an  enormous  amount,  ex- 
peditions were  planned  against  them.  The 
Isle  of  Bourbon  was  first  attacked,  for  which 
purpose  a  large  force  was  collected  under 
lieutenant-colonel  Keating  and  commodore 
Rowley,  who  were  preparmg  for  an  assault 
on  St,  Dennis,  the  principal  town,  when  a 
proposal  from  the  governor  for  a  capitulation 
was  acceded  to,  and,  two  days  afterwards, 
the  whole  island  submitted.  A  body  of 
troops  from  India  and  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  amounting  to  about  ten  thousand,  des- 
tined for  the  reduction  of  the  Isle  of  France, 
under  major-general  John  Abercrombie,  ef- 
fected a  landing  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  No- 
vember ;  admiral  Bertie  commanded  the  na- 
val force.  On  the  second  of  December  the 
troops  prepared  for  attackmg  the  forts ;  but 
on  the  day  following,  general  de  Caen,  the 
French  governor,  capitulated,  on  condition 
that  the  troops  should  return  to  France 
without  being  considered  as  prisoners  of  war ; 
by  which  the  Isle  of  France,  an  immense 


554 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


quantity  of  stores  and  valuable  merchandise, 
five  large  frigates,  some  smaller  ships  of  war, 
and  twenty-eight  merchantmen,  with  two 
captured  British  East-Indiamen,  were  sur- 
rendered to  his  majesty's  arms. 

In  the  West  Indies,  the  island  of  Guada- 
loupe,  the  last  that  remained  to  the  French 
in  that  part  of  the  world,  surrendered,  on 
the  fifih  of  February,  to  a  combined  naval 
and  military  force,  under  admiral  Sir  Alex- 
ander Cochrane,  and  lieutenant-general  Sir 
George  Beckwith;  in  the  Ionian  Sea,  the 
island  of  Santa  Maura,  the  ancient  Leucadia, 
was  taken  on  the  sixteenth  of  April,  by  an 
armament  from  Zante,  under  captain  Eyre 
of  the  Magnificent,  and  brigadier-general 
Oswald,  after  a  vigorous  resist;ance ;  and  in 
the  Baltic  sea,  the  island  of  Anholt  was  de- 
fended by  captain  Maurice  and  three  hun 
dred  and  eighty  men,  against  a  Danish  force 
of  nearly  three  thousand,  which  landed  there 
on  the  twenty-third  of  March ;  but  were  re 
pulsed,  with  the  loss  of  four  hundred  and 
four  taken,  besides  many  killed  and  wounded 

MARRIAGE  OF  BUONAPARTE— ANNEXA- 
TION OF  HOLLAND  TO  FRANCE. 

The  marriage  of  Buonaparte  to  the  arch- 
dutchess  Maria  Louisa  of  Austria,  to  which 
his  divorce  from  Josephine,  in  the  close  of 
1809,  was  the  prelude,  took  place  early  in 
this  year.  On  the  twenty-seventh  of  Feb- 
ruary he  announced  to  the  senate  that  he  had 
dispatched  his  cousin,  the  prince  of  Neuf- 
chatel  (Berthier),  to  demand  for  him  the 
hand  of  the  daughter  of  the  emperor  Fran- 
cis, agreeably  to  a  contract  that  had  been 
made,  and  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
secret  article  in  the  treaty  of  peace.  The 
marriage  took  place  at  Vienna  on  the  elev- 
enth of  March,  the  archduke  Charles  receiv- 
ing the  hand  of  his  niece,  as  representative 
of  his  old  antagonist ;  and  on  the  thirteenth 
the  new  empress  set  off  on  her  way  to  Paris, 
where  the  ceremony  was  repeated  on  her 
arrival,  with  every  mark  of  imperial  gran- 
deur, on  the  first  of  April.  The  train  of  the 
bride  was  supported  by  four  queens ;  and 
after  the  marriage  was  concluded,  Buona- 
]>arte  conducted  her  to  St.  Cloud,  where, 
three  days  afterwards,  they  received  the 
congratulations  of  the  senate.  It  was  at 
fh-st  conceived  that  the  archdutchess  was  an 
unwilling,  though  resigned,  victim  to  the 
preservation  of  her  family ;  but  it  soon  ap- 
peared that  she  was  delighted  with  her  con- 
quest over  the  man  who  had  conquered  Eu- 
rope, while  Napoleon  equally  felicitated  him- 
self in  a  connexion  which  seemed  to  secure 
the  perpetuity  of  his  new  dynasty. 

Proceeding  in  his  plans  of  encroachment, 
Buonaparte  seized  the  seven  Dutch  prov 


that  period,  indeed,  they  had  been  a  depend- 
ency upon  France ;  but  in  some  things  Louis 
had  not  shown  himself  sufficiently  obsequi- 
ous, especially  in  the  restrictions  upon  com- 
merce. On  the  first  of  July  he  resigned  his 
nominal  dignity  in  favor  of  his  two  sons,  de- 
claring his  queen  regent ;  and,  in  a  farewell 
address  to  the  legislative  body,  he  stated  the 
circumstances  that  had  rendered  it  necessa- , 
ry  for  him  to  sign  a  treaty  with  his  brother, 
the  emperor,  whereby  he  had  been  deprived 
of  all  authority.  He  advised  them  to  receive 
the  French  with  respect  and  cordiality ;  he 
expressed  a  warm  affection  for  his  late  sub- 
jects ;  and,  indeed,  throughout  his  short 
reign,  he  always  appeared  as  the  friend  of 
the  people  upon  whom  he  had  been  arbitra- 
rily imposed.  It  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  the  wish,  and  certainly  was  not  the  pol- 
icy, of  Buonaparte  to  deprive  his  brother  of 
the  regal  state  to  which  he  had  raised  him, 
if  he  could  have  made  him  subservient  to 
his  ruling  passion  of  ruining  the  commerce 
of  Great  Britain,  or  obtaining  what  he  call- 
ed a  maritime  peace,  by  the  revocation  of 
the  English  orders  in  council.  With  this 
view  he  had,  towards  the  close  of  1809,  sent 
for  Louis  to  Paris,  and,  after  many  confer- 
ences, Louis  reported  to  his  ministers  that 
there  could  no  longer  be  any  independence 
or  national  existence  for  Holland,  should  the 
maritime  war  be  continued ;  and  as  it  was 
possible  that  the  cabinet  of  London,  rather 
than  suffer  its  annexation  to  the  French  em- 
pire, might  be  induced  to  make  peace  with 
France,  or  to  change  its  measures  with  re- 
spect to  neutral  commerce,  he  directed  them 
to  send  to  England  some  discreet  man  of 
business,  to  urge  the  advantages  of  the  in- 
dependence of  Holland  to  that  country.  In 
conformity  with  this  message,  which  could 
only  be  considered  as  coming  from  Napoleon 
himself.  Mynheer  Peter  Cgesar  Labouchere 
arrived  in  London  in  February,  and  had  sev- 
eral conferences  with  the  marquis  Welles- 
ley,  who  told  him,  that  while  the  Milan  and 
Berlin  decrees  remained  in  force,  it  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  we  should  relax  our  ef- 
forts for  self-defence :  the  orders  in  council 
were  not  the  cause,  but  the  consequence  of 
those  decrees ;  and  even  were  the  latter 
promised  to  be  recalled,  it  would  not  be  con- 
venient for  England  to  admit,  in  principle, 
that  the  British  measures  of  reprisals  should 
be  discontinued  as  soon  as  the  cause  that 
provoked  them  should  be  removed.  The  ne- 
gotiation having  thus  failed,  the  annexation 
was  determined  upon;  the  abdication  of 
Louis  in  favor  of  his  children  was  consider- 
ed of  no  validity,  not  having  been  previous- 
ly concerted  with  the    emperor;  and  the  , 


mces,  which  in  1806  he  had  formed  into  a  |  seven  provinces  were  merged  in  the  French 
kingdom,  in  favor  of  his  brother  Louis.  From  I  empire. 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


555 


OTHER  ANJ^JEXATrONS.— BURNING 
DfcXREES. 

Other  annexations  were  those  of  the 
Valais,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Alps  by  the  mountain  of  Sim- 
plon,  through  which  a  road  had  been  making 
during  the  preceding  ten  years ;  and  of  the 
Hanse  Towns,  with  the  whole  territory  be- 
tween the  Elbe  and  the  Ems.  The  elector- 
ate of  Hanover,  also,  was  annexed  to  the 
kingdom  of  Westphalia,  and  to  all  the  de- 
pendent kingdoms  the  conscription  laws 
were  extended.  In  France  itself  the  chains 
of  despotic  power  were  riveted  by  a  rigor- 
ous police,  and  restrictions  on  the  liberty  of 
the  press.  Decrees  for  seizing  and  burning 
English  merchandise  were  carried  into  exe- 
cution with  great  rigor  in  the  Hanse  Towns, 
in  France,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Germany, 
Prussia,  and  Denmark ;  while  the  holding 
of  any  intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  or 
with  British  ships,  was  made  felony  in  the 
captain  of  any  vessel,  who  was  accordingly 
liable  to  be  punished  with  death  ;  the  owner 
of  the  ship  was  to  be  branded ;  and  minor 
punishments  were  denounced  against  all 
who  should  be  in  the  least  concerned  in  this 
proliibited  traffic,  down  to  the  meanest  por- 
ter. The  king  of  Prussia,  dejected  by  the 
curtailment  of  his  power,  and  by  the  death 
of  his  beautiful  and  high-spirited  queen, 
viewed  all  these  chf^nges  with  apparent  un- 
concern. In  Italy  the  ecclesiastics,  by  their 
influence,  still  maintained  th'3  supremacy  of 
the  pope ;  and  a  greater  concourse  than  or- 
dinary of  that  order  having  been  remarked 
at  Rome,  an  ordinance  was  issued,  that  they 
should  immediately  repair  to  the  usual  places 
of  their  respective  residences ;  and  on  symp- 
toms of  dissatisfaction  being  manifested  in 
the  ecclesiastical  states,  a  French  corps, 
twenty  thousand  strong,  was  collected  in 
the  vicinity  of  Rome,  and  the  churches  and 
other  public  buildings  were  converted  into 
barracks  for  its  accommodation. 

In  Sweden  the  influence  of  France  was 
strengthened  by  an  event  which  may  be 
ranked  among  the  most  extraordinary  oc- 
currences of  the  year.  The  duke  of  Suder- 
mania,  who,  it  will  be  recollected,  had  been 
called  to  the  throne  in  1809  by  the  name  of 
Charles  the  Thirteenth,  being  at  an  advanc-} 
ed  age,  and  without  children,  had  deemed  j 
it  necessary  that  a  successor  to  the  throne 
should  be  nominated ;  and  the  states  had  ac- ! 
cordingly  electo:]  Christian  Augustus,  prince  j 
of  Augustenberg,  a  subject  of  Denmark,  j 
who  repaired  to  Stockholm  in  January,  1810,  | 
and  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Swedish  [ 
monarch.  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  I 
v/liile  reviewin<r  some  regiments  of  cavalry,  j 
he  was  suddenly  taken  ill,  and  fallincjr  froin 
his  horse,  soon  expired.  His  death  was  at-| 
tribut-jd  to  poison  ;  and  on  the  twentieth  of  i 


June,  when  his  fiineral  procession  was  pass- 
ing through  the  streets  of  Stockholm,  tha 
populace  rose  upon  count  Fersen,  in  the 
presence  of  a  regiment  of  guards,  and  bar- 
barously murdered  him.  On  the  fifteenth 
of  August  the  states  were  assembled  at  Ore- 
bro,  for  the  election  of  another  successor  to 
the  throne.  The  candidates  were,  the  eldest 
son  of  the  deposed  Gustavus  the  Fourth ; 
the  prince  of  Holstein,  elder  brother  of  the 
deceased  prince  of  Augustenberg ;  the  king 
of  Denmark ;  and  the  French  marshal  Ber- 
nadotte,  prince  of  Ponte  Corvo,  a  soldier  of 
fortune  who  had  married  into  Buonaparte's 
family.  The  election  took  place  on  the  twen- 
ty-first of  August,  when  the  latter  was  unani- 
mously chosen  crown-prmce  of  Sweden,  and 
an  ambassador  was  dispatched  to  Paris,  to 
announce  the  decision  to  the  emperor  and 
to  the  prhice  elect.  On  his  arrival  in  Swe- 
den, Bernadotte,  who  had  acquired  great 
wealth,  and  was  liberal  in  the  employment 
of  it,  endeavored  by  every  possible  means  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  the  nation,  and  to 
acquire  its  confidence ;  he  professed  to 
change  his  religion,  and  to  adopt  the  Lu- 
theran tenets  of  the  Swedish  church ;  and 
on  the  first  of  November  he  was  installed, 
in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  diet,  Vvdien 
he  addressed  the  states  in  a  judicious  speech. 

Shortly  afterwards,  the  Swedish  govern- 
ment, at  the  requisition  of  Buonaparte,  de- 
clared its  adherence  to  his  continental  sys- 
tem, prohibited  all  intercourse  with  the 
British  dominions,  and  interdicted  the  im- 
portation of  colonial  produce.  The  Danes 
were  also  active  in  fitting  out  frigates  and 
gun-boats  for  annoying  the  trade  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  Baltic ;  but  although  they  had 
considerable  success,  they  could  not  prevent 
the  English  from  taking  possession  of  the 
island  of  Anholt,  in  the  Cattegat,  as  a  de- 
pository for  prohibited  merchandise. 
ATTEMPT  ON  SICILY. 

In  the  beginning  of  July,  .Joachim  Murat, 
the  newly-created  king  of  Naples,  had  col- 
lected a  powerful  armament  on  the  coast  of 
Calabria,  consisting  of  thirty-seven  thou- 
sand troops,  two  hundred  and  eigiit  gun- 
boats, and  seven  hundred  boats  of  other 
descriptions,  for  the  invasion  of  Sicily.  The 
British  commander.  Sir  John  Stuart,  made 
the  best  preparations  in  his  power  for  re- 
sisting the  threatened  attack,  by  disposing 
all  his  troops,  about  fifteen  thousand  in  num- 
ber, along  the  shore,  and  guarding  the  whole 
coast  by  batteries  and  gun-boats.  The  Nea- 
politan army  was  encamped  on  the  heifrhts 
above  the  cistle  of  Scylla,  and  the  jrun-boats 
and  small  craft  lay  at  anclior,  under  cover 
of  heavv  batlr'ries,  which  continually  threw 
shot  and  shells  into  the  British  quarters  in 
Sicilv.  Daily  skirmishes  took  place  between 
the  Sicilian  flotilla,   prepared  by  Sir  Jolni 


556 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Stuart,  and  that  of  king  Joachim.  Gene- 
rally speaking,  this  was  rather  productive  of 
a  superb  spectacle,  than  of  any  serious  inju- 
ry to  either  side ;  though  in  the  course  of 
repeated  attacks  upon  the  Neapolitan  flo- 
tilla, great  numbers  of  the  vessels  were,  de- 
stroyed, taken,  or  dispersed.  On  the  eigh- 
teenth of  September,  a  debarkation  of  about 
three  thousand  five  hundred  men,  Neapoli- 
tans and  Corsicans,  was  effected  near  the 
Faro;  but  not  being  properly  supported, 
nine  hundred  of  them  were  taken  prisoners 
by  major-general  Campbell,  and  the  rest 
were  driven  for  shelter  into  their  gun-boats. 
This  repulse  was  followed,  on  the  third  of 
October,  by  a  singular  proclamation  from 
Joachim,  which  declared  the  expedition  to 
Sicily  to  be  adjourned ;  the  object  of  the  em- 
peror having  been  answered  in  the  proof  he 
had  obtained  that  the  enemy's  flotillas  could 
not  obstruct  the  passage ;  and  that  Sicily 
might  be  conquered  whenever  it  should  be 
seriously  attempted. 

In  the  Russian  cabinet  French  influence 
also  predominated,  and  Alexander,  for  whose 
quarrel  England  engaged  in  war  with  Tur- 
key, made  war  himself  against  that  power 
for  consenting  to  a  peace  with  England.    In 

1809  the  Russian  troops  invaded  Bulgaria, 
and  obtained   several  advantages;   and   in 

1810  several  sanguinary  battles  were  fought, 
but  none  were  decisive.  There  was  an  un- 
usual demonstration  of  vigor  on  the  part  of 
the  Ottomans;  for  though  closely  pressed 
by  the  Russians,  and  the  war  in  Servia  was 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  insurgents 
there,  they  nevertheless  sent  troops  into  Sy- 
ria against  the  powerful  sect  of  the  Wecha- 
bites,  or  Waughabites,  the  avowed  enemies 
of  Islamism. — These  Wechabites  also  be- 
took themselves  to  piracy,  which  occasioned 
an  armament  to  be  sent  against  them  in 
April,  into  the  Persian  gulf,  by  the  British 
government  at  Bombay. 

CONTINUED  DIFFERENCES  WITH  THE 
UNITED  STATES— STATE  OF  SPANISH 
AMERICA. 

The  differences  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  of  America  still  remained 
unadjusted ;  and  the  American  minister  in 
London  demanded  the  recall  of  Jackson  the 
British  ambassador,  which  was  accordingly 
ordered,  but  Vv^thout  any  mark  of  censure 
on  his  conduct.  In  August,  Buonaparte, 
availing  himself  of  an  act  passed  by  con- 
gress for  the  conditional  repeal  of  the  non- 
intercourse  act,  declared,  that  the  Berlm 
and  Milan  decrees  should  cease  to  operate 
on  the  first  of  November ;  and  the  Ameri- 
can president  issued  a  proclamation  on  the 
second  of  November  discontinuing  all  re- 
strictions in  relation  to  France  and  her  de- 
pendencies, ordering,  at  the  same  time,  that 
if  Great  Britain  did  not  revoke  her  edicts 


by   the  second  of  February,  the  interdict 
should  be  enforced  against  her. 

Such  was  the  unpromising  state  of  the 
differences  between  Great  Britain  and 
America  at  the  close  of  the  year  1810, 
when  a  commencement  was  made  of  those 
civil  dissensions  in  Spanish  America,  which 
afterwards  produced  so  much  bloodshed. 
The  manner  in  which  these  colonies  were 
governed  by  the  mother  country  had  long 
been  a  subject  of  much  discontent ;  but 
such  was  their  attachment  to  the  general 
cause  of  Spain,  that  the  French  usurpa- 
tions excited  an  ardent  zeal  in  its  defence, 
and  the  colonists  readily  submitted  to  the 
provisional  governments  of  Old  Spain,  and 
sent  liberal  contributions  for  their  support. 
The  bad  success,  however,  of  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  central  junta  and  the  regen- 
cy, led  them  to  consider  of  the  means 
whereby  they  might  secure  themselves  from 
a  French  yoke ;  at  the  same  time  that  they 
might,  by  their  own  efforts,  redress  the 
grievances  under  which  they  labored.  This 
spirit  first  manifested  itself  in  the  province 
of  Caraccas,  where  the  magistrates  were 
deposed,  and  a  provisional  junta  was  formed 
for  carrying  on  the  government  upon  the 
principle  of  fraternization  and  unity  with 
the  mother  country.  Similar  revolutions 
took  place  almost  simultaneously  in  other 
provinces;  and  on  the  nineteenth  of  April, 
Caraccas,  Cumana,  Barinr,  Margarita,  Bar- 
celona, Merida,  and  Truxillo,  formed  a  union, 
under  the  name  of  the  American  confed- 
eracy of  Venezuela.  The  principal  leaders 
in  this  revolution,  while  they  looked  for- 
ward to  ultimate  independence,  concealed 
their  intentions  at  first  under  a  profession  of 
warm  attachment  to  Old  Spain,  and  swore 
allegiance  to  Ferdinand  the  seventh,  whom 
they  doubtless  believed  to  be  for  ever  lost  to 
them :  but  they  did  not  recognize  the  au- 
thority of  the  regency  at  Cadiz,  which  they 
affirmed  the  central  junta  had  no  right  to 
appoint  without  first  assembling  the  cortes. 
The  revolutionists  were  declared  traitors, 
and  their  ports  placed  under  blockade  till 
they  should  acknowledge  the  regency  as 
the  legitimate  representatives  of  Ferdinand 
the  seventh ;  at  the  same  time  the  promise 
of  an  amnesty  was  held  out  for  what  had 
passed,  on  condition  of  future  obedience. 
Two  parties  now  appeared  to  divide  Spanish 
America;  the  loyalists,  who  submitted  to 
the  regency,  and  the  independents,  who  in- 
sisted upon  governing  themselves.  King 
Joseph  also  endeavored  to  form  a  third;  but 
he  met  with  very  different  success,  so  gene- 
ral was  the  aversion  to  the  French  usurpa- 
tion, though  the  dissensions  of  the  other  two 
parties  had  fermented  into  the  flames  of 
civil  war.  The  junta  of  Caraccas,  desirous 
of  knowing  what  might  be  expected  from 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


557 


Great  Britain  in  this  novel  conjuncture,  en- 1 
tered  into  a  correspondence  witli  the  British 
governor  of  Curacoa,  who  did  not  hesitate 
to  admit  it,  though  he  felt  it  incumbent 
upon  him  to  send  to  his  government  for  in- 
structions. In  reply  to  his  application  to  the 
ministry,  the  earl  of  Liverpool,  on  the  twen- 
ty-ninth of  June,  wrote  a  letter,  the  sub- 
stance of  which  was,  that  under  the  obliga- 
tions of  justice  and  good  faith,  his  majesty 
must  discourage  every  attempt  to  separate 
the  Spanish  provinces  in  America  from  the 
mother  country :  yet  if  Spain  should  be  con- 
demned to  submit  to  the  yoke  of  the  com- 
mon enemy,  his  majesty  would  think  it  his 
duty  to  attbrd  every  kind  of  assistance  to 
those  provinces  in  rendering  them  inde- 
pendent of  French  Spain,  and  to  open  in 
them  an  asylum  to  such  Spaniards  as  should 
disdain  to  submit  to  their  oppressors,  where 
they  might  preserve  the  remains  of  the 
monarchy  for  their  lawful  sovereign,  should 
he  ever  recover  his  liberty.  A  copy  of  this 
letter  being  communicated  to  the  regency, 
was  published  in  all  the  Spanish  newspa- 
pers, as  a  public  declaration  of  the  system 
on  which  the  British  government  intended 
to  act  with  respect  to  the  South  American 
colonies. 

A  strong  suspicion  was  entertained  by 
the  independents  in  Paraguay,  that  there 
might  be  a  secret  negotiation  for  enforcing 
the  pretensions  of  the  princess  of  Brazil  to 
the  whole  country  between  the  Porona  and 
La  Plata,  in  exchange  for  the  islands  of 
Madeira  and  St.  Catherine:  this  apprehen- 
sion arose  from  the  appearance,  in  the 
month  of  March,  of  a  Portuguese  army,  ten 
thousand  strong,  on  the  frontiers  of  the 
Spanish  colonies;  but  it  was  quieted  by  a 
letter  from  lord  Strangford,  the  British  min- 
ister at  the  court  of  Brazil,  to  the  Buenos 
Ayres  junta,  m  which  any  such  intention 
was  disavowed. 

KING'S  MALADY.— REGENCY. 
His  majesty,  in  consequence,  as  was  sup- 
posed, of  deep  affliction  from  the  sufferings 
of  his  youngest  daughter,  the  princess  Ame- 
lia, which  terminated  in  her  death  on  the 
second  of  November,  was  again  attacked  by 
the  mental  malady  under  which  he  had  be- 
fore labored,  and  his  advanced  age  left  no 
just  grounds  to  hope  for  his  recovery.  The 
parliament  stood  prorogued  to  the  first  of 
November,  on  which  day  both  houses  met, 
expecting  to  be  further  adjourned  ;  but  the 
king  was  not  in  a  state  to  sign  the  commis- 
sion, and  as  the  reports  of  the  physicians  af- 
forded hopes  of  his  speedy  recovery,  suc- 
cessive adjournments  took  place,  until  it 
became  necessary  to  appoint  a  regency ;  on 
the  twentieth  of  December,  three  resolu- 
tions, framed  on  the  precedents  of  1788-9, 
were  proposed  by  Perceval,  as  preparatory 
47* 


to  the  introduction  of  a  bill  for  supplying 
the  defect  in  the  per.sonal  exercise  of  the 
royal  authority.  By  this  bill  the  prince  of 
Wales  was  appointed  regent,  and  empower- 
ed to  exercise  the  royal  authority  in  the 
name  of  his  majesty.  He  was,  for  a  speci- 
fied time,  restrained  from  granting  peer- 
ages, or  summoning  heirs-apparent,  or  ap- 
pointing to  titles  in  abeyance;  likewise 
from  granting  offices  in  reversion,  or  for  a 
longer  time  than  during  pleasure,  excepting 
those  allowed  by  law  to  be  granted  for  life, 
or  during  good  behavior,  as  well  as  pen- 
sions to  the  chancellor,  judges,  &.c.  These 
restrictions  were  to  terminate  on  the  first 
of  February,  1812,  provided  parliament 
should  have  been  sitting  six  weeks,  and 
should  be  then  assembled.  The  care  of  his 
majesty's  person  and  the  direction  of  his 
household  were  vested  in  the  queen,  who 
was  to  be  assisted  by  a  council,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  were,  the  archbishops  of  Can- 
terbury and  York,  the  duke  of  Montrose, 
the  earl  of  Winchelsea,  the  earl  of  Ayles- 
ford,  lord  Eldon,  lord  Ellenborough,  and  Sir 
William  Grant.  If  his  majesty  should  be 
restored  to  health,  the  queen  and  her  coun- 
cil were  to  notify  that  event  by  an  instru- 
ment transmitted  to  the  privy-council,  who 
were  to  assemble  and  make  entry  of  it ;  af- 
ter which  the  king,  by  his  sign-manual, 
might  require  them  to  assemble,  and  at  his 
pleasure  direct  proclamation  to  issue,  when 
the  powers  of  the  act  were  to  cease. 

1811. — Lambe  moved  an  amendment,  that 
the  entire  royal  power  should  be  conferred 
upon  the  prince  of  Wales,  without  any  re- 
striction. A  debate  ensued,  in  the  course 
of  which  arguments  of  a  similar  tendency 
with  those  used  under  the  same  cirumstances 
during  Pitt's  administration  were  adduced, 
and  with  the  same  result,  the  amendment 
being  negatived  by  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  against  two  hundred  ;  the  smallness  of 
which  majority  denoted  a  general  opinion 
that  ministers  held  their  places  by  a  very 
doubtful  tenure.  Indeed,  the  opposition  had 
every  reason  to  contemplate  the  establish- 
ment of  a  regency  as  the  conclusion  of 
the  existing  administration,  the  members 
of  which  had  never  possessed  the  prmce's 
confidence. 

After  much  discussion,  the  regency  bill, 
by  resorting  to  the  fiction  of  signifying  the 
king's  assent  to  an  act  founded  on  that  very 
incapacity  which  disabled  him  from  perform- 
ing any  legislative  function,  finally  passed 
into  a  law,  on  the  fifth  of  February,  1811 ;  and 
as  it  was  well  known  that  the  political  attach- 
ments and  principles  of  the  prince-regent  la^ 
on  the  side  of  earl  Gray  and  lord  Grenville,  it 
was  expected  that  the  existing  administration 
would  be  dissolved,  and  their  opponents  taken 
into  power ;  but  the  installation  of  the  prince, 


558 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


as  regent,  took  place  on  the  sixth  of  Febru- 
ary ;  and  no  arrangements  for  a  new  ministry 
had  been  made.  The  malady  of  the  king, 
after  undergoing  frequent  and  great  varia- 
tions, assumed  a  much  more  mild  and  favor- 
able form,  and  the  physicians  again  pro- 
nounced his  recovery  as  not  far  distant.  This 
circumstance,  combined  with  others,  deter- 
mined the  prince  to  retain  the  present  min- 
isters, which  he  communicated  to  Perceval, 
in  a  note  dated  the  fourth  of  February  ;  at 
the  same  time  stating  that  the  irresistible 
impulse  of  filial  duty  and  affection  made  him 
unwilling  to  do  a  single  act  which  might 
retard  his  father's  recovery;  and  that  this 
consideration  alone  had  dictated  his  decision. 
He  added,  that  it  would  not  be  one  of  the 
least  blessings  which  would  result  from  the 
restoration  of  his  majesty,  that  it  would  res- 
cue the  regency  from  a  situation  of  unexam- 
pled embarrassment,  and  put  an  end  to  a 
state  of  affairs  ill  calculated,  he  feared,  to 
sustain  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  in  this 
awful  and  perilous  crisis,  and  most  difficult 
to  be  reconciled  to  the  genuine  principles 
of  the  British  constitution. 

PARLIAMENTARY  PROCEEDINGS. 

On  the  twelfth  of  February,  the  session 
was  opened  with  the  usual  formalities ;  and 
a  speech  was  delivered  by  commission,  in 
the  name  of  the  regent,  which,  after  express- 
ing the  most  unfeigned  sorrow  on  account 
of  the  calamity  that  had  imposed  upon  him 
the  duty  of  exercising  the  royal  authority, 
congratulated  parliament  on  the  success  of 
his  majesty's  arras,  both  by  sea  and  land, 
and  trusted  that  he  would  be  enabled  to  con- 
tinue to  afford  the  most  effectual  assistance 
to  the  brave  nations  of  the  peninsula.  It 
was  his  earnest  wish  to  bring  the  discussions 
with  the  United  States  of  America  to  an 
amicable  termination,  and  he  trusted  to  the 
zeal  of  parliament  for  adequate  supplies  in 
order  to  bring  the  great  contest  in  which 
the  country  was  engaged  to  a  happy  issue. 
The  usual  address  was  carried  in  both  houses. 

A  proof  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
prince-regent  regarded  his  temporary  au 
thority  was  afforded  by  a  communication 
made  to  the  house  of  commons  on  the  twen 
tv-first  of  February,  when  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer  stated  that  his  royal  high- 
ness, on  being  informed  that  a  motion  was  in 
tended  to  be  made  for  a  provision  for  the 
royal  household,  declared  that  he  would  not 
add  to  the  burthens  of  the  people  by  accept- 
ing of  any  addition  to  his  public  state  as  re- 
gent. Adam  stated  that  the  prince  had  put 
into  his  hand  a  letter  from  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  relatin;^  to  the  intended  pro- 
vision, accompanying  it  with  v^•ritte^  instruc- 
tions, that,  sliould  any  proposition  for  an  es- 
tablishment be  made,  he  should  inform  the 
house  that  his  roval  highness  wished  to  dis- 


charge the  duties  of  the  temporary  regency 
without  an  increase.  In  case,  however,  of 
such  circumstances  occurring  as  might  lead 
to  a  permanent  regency,  he  conceived  that 
the  question  would  then  be  opened  anew  to 
the  consideration  of  his  royal  highness. 

The  commercial  distresses  of  the  nation 
were  now  so  seriously  felt,  that  the  atten- 
tion of  government  was  necessarily  fixed 
upon  them ;  and  on  the  first  of  March  a 
committee  of  twenty-one  members  was  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  state  of  the  com- 
mercial credit  of  the  country,  and  to  make 
their  report  thereon.  On  the  eleventh,  the 
report  was  taken  into  consideration,  and  an 
act  was  passed,  whereby  the  sum  of  six  mil- 
lion pounds  was  to  be  advanced  to  certain 
commissioners,  for  the  assistance  of  such 
persons  as  should  apply  for  the  same,  on 
giving  sufficient  security  for  repayment.  It 
might  naturally  have  been  supposed  that,  in 
the  midst  of  so  much  embarrassment  and  dis- 
tress, the  money  voted  by  parliament  at  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee  would 
have  been  eagerly  sought  after,  and  soon 
exhausted.  Such  was  the  case  in  1793: 
the  reverse,  however,  happened  now,  and 
the  sums  applied  for  were  to  a  less  amount 
than  the  provision  made.  Yet  the  commer- 
cial distresses  continued  to  increase  during 
the  year,  and  displayed  themselves  by  fright- 
ful lists  of  bankrupts  in  every  gazette, 
amounting  to  an  aggregate  of  which  no  for- 
mer year  in  the  annals  of  the  country  afforded 
a  parallel ;  and  they  were  mainly  attributa- 
ble to  the  effects  of  the  American  embargo, 
to  the  operation  of  the  Milan  and  Berlin  de- 
crees, and  to  the  sequestration  and  confis- 
cation of  British  property  on  the  continent. 

The  report  of  the  bullion  committee  was 
brought  under  consideration  on  the  sixth  of 
May,  when  Horner,  the  chairman,  moved  a 
series  of  resolutions  grounded  upon  the  re- 
port, and  contending  that  the  standard  value 
of  gold,  as  a  measure  of  exchange,  could 
not  possibly  fluctuate  under  any  change  of 
circumstances,  though  its  real  price  was  un- 
questionably subject  to  all  the  variations 
arising  from  the  increase  or  diminution  of 
the  supply ;  that  bank  paper,  measured  by 
this  standard,  was  depreciated  ;  and  that  the 
consequence  was  to  render  our  exchanges 
with  the  continent  unfavorable,  to  advance 
prices,  to  occasion  immense  losses  to  credit- 
ors, and  materially  to  injure  all  moneyed 
incomes.  Vansittart,  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury, who  took  the  lead  in  opposing  the  bul- 
lionists,  moved  a  number  of  counter-resolu- 
tions, in  which  it  was  declared  that  bank 
notes  were  not  depreciated  ;  that  the  politi- 
cal and  commercial  relations  of  this  country 
with  foreign  states  were  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  unfavorable  state  of  the  foreign  ex- 
change, and  the  high  price  of  bullion  ;  that 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


559 


it  was  highly  important  that  the  restrictions 
on  cash  payments  at  the  bank  should  be 
removed,  whenever  it  was  compatible  with 
the  public  interest ;  but  that  to  fix  a  definite 
period  earlier  than  that  of  six  months  after 
the  conclusion  of  peace,  which  was  already 
fixed,  would  be  hig-hlv  inexpedient  and  dan- 
gerous. These  discussions  occupied  the  house 
of  commons  no  less  than  seven  nights,  when 
the  resolutions  moved  by  Horner  were  re- 
jected, and  those  presented  by  Vansittart 
adopted  by  a  large  majority.  Before  the  ses- 
sion closed,  however,  a  practical  illustration 
was  adduced  by  lord  King,  that  the  question 
was  not  set  at  rest  by  this  decision.  His 
lordship,  in  a  notice  sent  to  his  tenants,  re 
minded  them  that  they  had  agreed  to  pay 
their  rents  in  good  and  lawful  money  of 
Great  Britain,  and  as  he  would  no  longer  ac- 
cept of  bank  notes  at  their  nominal  value,  he 
called  upon  them  to  pay  either  in  guineas 
or  in  equivalent  weight  in  Portuguese  gold 
coin,  or  in  bank  notes  sufficient  to  purchase, 
at  the  existing  market  price,  the  weight  of 
as  much  standard  gold  as  would  be  sufficient 
to  discharge  the  rents.  Lord  Stanhope  thought 
this  proceeding  so  mischievous,  that  he  in- 
troduced a  bill  into  the  house  of  lords,  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  June,  for  preventing 
the  current  gold  coin  of  the  realm  from  being 
paid  for  more  than  its  mint  value,  and  for 
preventing  bank  notes  from  being  received 
for  any  smaller  sum  than  that  for  which  they 
were  issued.  The  fate  of  this  bill  was  very 
extraordinary :  on  its  first  reading,  ministers 
opposed  it,  on  the  ground  that  such  a  mea- 
sure was  unnecessary;  but  on  the  second 
reading  they  had  discovered  their  error,  and 
the  prorogation  of  parliament  was  actually 
delayed  for  the  purpose  of  passing  it  into  a 
law. 

The  practice  of  flogging  in  the  army  had 
frequently  been  a  subject  of  animadversion, 
both  in  and  out  of  parliament ;  but  though 
government  had  hitherto  strenuously  oppos- 
ed the  motions  which  had  been  made  to 
abolish  it,  Manners  Sutton,  the  judge  advo- 
cate, when  the  mutiny-bill  came  before  the 
house  of  commons  on  the  fourteenth  of 
March,  introduced  a  clause  by  which  a  dis- 
cretionary power  was  given  to  courts-martial 
of  sentencing  to  imprisonment,  instead  of  cor- 
poral punishment  A  bill  was  also  passed  for 
effecting  an  interchange  of  militias  between 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  attention 
of  parliament  was  likewise  called,  by  Brough- 
am, to  the  enormities  practised  by  captains 
of  vessels  and  others,  who  still  carried  on 
the  African  slave-trade.  His  proposition, 
which  passed  into  a  law,  was  to  render  any 
British  subject  who  might  engage  in  this 
traffic  liable  to  transportation,  for  any  period 
not  exceeding  fourteen  years. 

Among  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  an  opinion 


had  universally  prevailed  that  the  prince  was 
favorable  to  their  claims ;  and  on  his  invest- 
ment with  power,  their  activity  and  zeal  in 
promoting  their  object  greatly  increased. 
Among  other  measures,  they  had  proposed 
to  establish  a  committee  in  Dublin,  composed 
of  delegates  from  each  county,  for  the  man- 
agement of  their  affairs,  which  being  deemed 
unlawful,  Wellesley  Pole,  secretary  to  the 
lord-lieutenant,  addressed  a  circular  to  the 
sheriffs  and  chief  magistrates  of  the  counties, 
requiring  them  to  arrest  all  persons  con- 
cerned in  the  election  of  such  delegates ;  and 
this  letter,  being  brought  before  parliament, 
excited  considerable  discussion.  On  the 
third  of  March,  Pool,  having  returned  from 
Ireland,  stated,  in  explanation,  that  the  Cath- 
olic committee  of  1809  had  confined  their 
deliberations  to  the  business  of  petitioning ; 
whereas  the  delegates  of  1810  were  empow- 
ered to  manage  the  Catholic  aflTairs  general- 
ly ;  and  that  a  committee  of  grievances, 
which  met  weekly,  imitated  all  the  forms  of 
the  house  of  commons.  The  lord-lieutenant 
had  taken  the  opinion  of  the  great  law  offi- 
cers, and  the  attorney-general  had  drawn  up 
the  circular  letter  which  was  issued.  The 
Catholic  petitions  were  this  session  rejected. 
Not  discouraged  by  this  defeat,  the  Irish 
Catholics  held  a  meeting  on  the  ninth  of 
July,  at  Dublin,  for  the  appointment  of  dele- 
gates to  the  general  committee  of  Catholics, 
when  five  persons  were  apprehended  for  a 
breach  of  the  convention  act,  one  of  whom, 
Dr.  Sheridan,  was  tried  and  acquitted.  A 
new  committee  of  delegates  met  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  October,  at  a  theatre,  and  having 
placed  lord  Fingal  in  the  chair,  dispatched 
their  business  before  the  magistrates  arrived 
to  disperse  them.  On  the  twenty-sixtli  the 
aggregate  meeting  was  held,  when  it  was 
resolved  to  present  an  humble  address  to  the 
prince-regent,  as  soon  as  the  restrictions  on 
his  authority  should  cease. 

The  sensation  excited  by  a  bill  introduced 
by  lord  Sidmouth,  for  altering  the  toleration 
act,  can  scarcely  be  described.  In  forty- 
eio-ht  hours,  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  pe- 
titions against  it  were  poured  into  the  house 
of  lords ;  and  when  the  bill  came  to  be  read 
a  second  time,  on  the  twenty-first  of  May, 
it  was  encountered  by  five  hundred  more. 
Such  an  expression  of  the  public  feeling  was 
not  to  be  resisted :  ministers  themselves,  and 
even  the  dignitaries  of  the  church,  now  op- 
posed the  further  progress  of  the  measure ; 
and  under  these  circumstances  it  was  re- 
jected without  a  division.  On  introducing 
the  bill,  lord  Sidmouth  stated,  that,  till  with- 
in the  last  thirty  or  forty  years,  the  tolera- 
tion act  liad  been  construed  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  exclude  all  persons  unqualified,  by 
the  want  of  the  requisite  talents  and  learn- 
ing, and  unfit   from  tlie  meanness  of  their 


560 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


situation,  or  the  profligacy  of  their  character, 
fron..  exercising  the  functions  of  ministers  of 
religion :  but  since  that  period,  all  who  of- 
fered themselves  at  the  quarter-sessions,  pro- 
vided they  took  the  oaths,  and  made  the  de- 
claration required  by  law,  obtained  the  re- 
(juisite  certificates,  not  only  as  a  matter  of 
course,  but  as  a  matter  of  right.  In  order 
to  remedy  this  evil,  he  proposed,  that,  to  en- 
title any  man  to  obtain  a  license  as  a  preach- 
er, he  should  have  the  recommendation  of  at 
least  six  respectable  householders  of  the  con- 
(^Tegation  to  which  he  belonged;  and  that 
such  congregation  should  be  actually  willing 
to  listen  to  his  instructions.  Those  who  were 
itinerants  were  to  bring  a  testimonial,  stating 
them  to  be  of  sober  life  and  character,  to- 
gether with  the  belief  that  they  were  quali- 
fied to  perform  the  functions  of  preachers. 
The  effects  expected  from  this  bill  were, 
that  improper  and  unaccredited  men  would 
have  been  prevented  from  assuming  the 
most  important  of  all  duties, — that  of  in- 
structing their  fellow-creatures  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  virtue.  As  it  might, 
however,  have  been  occasionally  perverted 
to  purposes  of  intolerance,  it  is  better,  per- 
haps, that  it  was  lost. 

On  the  twentieth  of  May,  Perceval  opened 
the  budget  for  the  year.  The  supply  voted 
for  the  public  service  amounted  to  about 
fifty-six  million  pounds,  including  a  sum  of 
two  million  pounds  granted  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Portugal,  and  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds  as  an  eleemosynary  aid  to  the  dis- 
tressed Portuguese.  The  loan  for  the  pres- 
ent year,  he  stated  at  twelve  million  pounds, 
the  interest  on  which  he  proposed  to  dis- 
charge by  an  additional  duty  on  British  and 
foreign  spirits.  He  further  stated  it  to  be 
]iis  intention  to  impose  an  additional  duty  on 
timber,  pearl  and  pot  ashes,  and  foreign  lin- 
ens, which,  with  a  tax  of  one  penny  per 
^x)und  on  cotton  wool,  imported  from  the 
United  States  of  America,  he  estimated  at 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  six 
hundred  pounds.  Owing,  however,  to  the 
opposition  made  to  the  principle  of  taxing 
a  raw  material,  the  proposed  duty  on  cotton 
wool  was  abandoned ;  and  a  tax  upon  hats, 
which  had  long  operated  as  a  burdensome 
and  vexatious  impost  on  the  fair  trader, 
v/hile  it  sunk  into  insignificance  as  a  sub- 
ject of  revenue,  shared  the  same  fate. 

One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  prince-re- 
gent, after  his  assumption  of  the  royal  func- 
tions, was  tlie  restoration  of  his  brother,  the 
(iuke  of  York,  to  the  post  of  commander-in- 1 
chief  of  the  army — a  measure  which  induced  I 
lord  Milton  to  propose  a  vote  of  censure  on 
the  advisers  of  it.  The  chancellor  of  the  1 
exchequer  acknowledged  the  responsibility  \ 
of  his  majesty's  servants  in  recommending ! 
the  measure  in  question.    Sir  David  Dund:?.?, 


who  had  lately  filled  the  office,  was  obliged, 
by  illness,  to  retire  from  its  arduous  duties, 
and  there  was  not  the  slightest  hesitation  in 
the  minds  of  ministers,  whom  they  should 
recommend  to  supply  the  vacancy : — the 
eminent  services  rendered  to  the  army  by 
the  duke  of  York  left  them  no  choice ;  and 
as  to  the  proceedings  on  a  former  occasion, 
alluded  to  by  the  noble  lord,  they  pledged 
the  house  to  nothing.  On  this  occasion, 
several  gentlemen  who  had,  during  the  pro- 
ceedings in  the  year  1809,  taken  part  agahist 
the  duke  of  York,  did  not  hesitate  to  avow, 
either  that  they  had  been  formerly  carried 
away  by  the  current  of  public  opinion,  or 
that  they  considered  the  case,  as  it  now  pre- 
sented itself,  in  a  different  point  of  view. 
The  votes  for  lord  Milton's  motion  were  for- 
ty-seven; against  it,  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  ;  constituting  a  majority  of  two  hundred 
and  forty-nine  in  favor  of  the  reappoint- 
ment.— The  nation  at  large  seemed  to  have 
been  affected  with  a  similar  change  of  opin- 
ion, and  the  duke  resumed  his  post  with  all 
the  facility  of  a  public  functionary  who  had 
quitted  his  office  without  imputation. 

His  majesty's  health,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  year,  underwent  several  variations  ;  but 
in  the  report  of  the  queen's  council,  made 
on  the  sixth  of  July,  a  few  days  before  the 
prorogation  of  parliament,  which  took  place 
on  the  twenty-fourth,  it  was  stated  that  his 
health  was  not  such  as  to  enable  him  to  re- 
sume the  personal  exercise  of  the  royal 
functions. 

AMERICAN  DISPUTES. 

The  orders  in  council  not  being  repealed 
on  the  second  of  February,  Pinkney,  the 
American  minister  in  London,  was  recalled, 
and  had  his  audience  of  leave  of  the  prince- 
regent  on  the  first  of  March,  from  which 
time  the  American  ports  were  open  to  the 
ships  of  France,  and  closed  against  those  of 
England,  An  encounter  which  took  place 
between  a  British  sloop  of  war,  the  Little 
Belt,  commanded  by  captain  Bingham,  and 
the  American  frigate  called  the  President, 
under  commodore  Rodgers,  had  nearly 
proved  the  signal  of  open  war  between  the 
two  nations ;  but  their  respective  govern- 
ments disavowed  the  issue  of  any  hostile  or- 
ders to  the  commanders,  and  were  disposed 
to  take  no  further  notice  of  the  affair.  In 
the  spring,  an  envoy  extraordinary  was  sent 
to  the  United  States  on  the  subjects  in  dis- 
pute, but  he  found  it  impossible  to  effect  an 
adjustment  without  exceeding  his  instruc- 
tions, by  holding  forth  an  expectation  that 
the  orders  of  council  would  be  repealed. 
On  the  meeting  of  Congress  of  November, 
the  president  recommended  vigorous  mea- 
sures of  preparation,  both  by  sea  and  land, 
in  consequence  of  the  hostile  inflexibility  of 
the   British   cabinet :    the   finances  of  tlie 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


561 


American  government,  however,  seemed  but 
little  suited  to  meet  the  expense  of  a  war ; 
and  the  friends  of  peace,  though  outvoted  in 
the  legislative  assemblies,  put  some  confi- 
dence in  the  prospect  of  loans  and  taxes  to 
cool  the  martial  ardor  of  a  people  unaccus- 
tomed, like  those  of  Europe,  to  acquiesce  in 
such  burdens. 
CAPTURE  OF  JAVA.— NAVAL  ACTIONS. 

The  Dutch  settlements  in  the  island  of 
Java,  from  which  the  mother  country  had, 
in  the  days  of  her  prosperity,  derived  great 
wealth  and  consequence,  were  now  destined 
to  augment  the  preponderating  power  of 
Britain  in  the  East,  a  formidable  expedition 
being  fitted  out  against  them  by  lord  Minto, 
governor-general  of  India,  who  intrusted  the 
command  of  the  troops  to  Sir  Samuel  Auch- 
muty,  and  accompanied  them  in  person.  On 
the  fourth  of  August,  a  landing  was  effected 
about  twelve  miles  eastward  from  the  city 
of  Batavia ;  and  on  the  eighth,  the  city  of 
Batavia  surrendered  without  resistance.  The 
garrison  retreated  first  to  Welterzeede,  and 
then  to  a  fortified  position  or  intrenchment 
which  surrounds  Fort  Cornelis.  On  the 
twenty-sixth  a  general  assault  of  the  works 
was  ordered,  when  the  lines  were  forced — 
the  fort  was  stormed — and  the  whole  of  the 
hostile  army  was  killed,  taken,  or  dispersed : 
General  Jansens  fled  with  a  few  cavalry, 
but  he  was  soon  compelled  to  capitulate,  and 
the  whole  island  of  Java  surrendered  to  the 
British  arms, — which  after  this  event  had 
neither  an  enemy  nor  a  rival,  from  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  to  Cape  Horn. 

In  the  Italian  seas  a  brilliant  achievement 
was  performed  by  four  frigates,  under  cap- 
tain Hoste,  against  a  French  force  of  five 
frigates,  and  several  smaller  vessels,  with 
five  hundred  troops  on  board,  destined  to 
garrison  the  island  of  Lissa.  Confiding  in 
their  superiority,  the  French  attacked  the 
English  with  more  than  their  accustomed 
skill,  following  up  that  skill  with  a  consider- 
able share  of  activity  and  bravery.  The  un- 
conquerable spirit  of  British  seamen,  how- 
ever, was  most  brilliantly  displayed  on  this 
occasion  ;  and  the  result  was,  that  the  ship 
of  the  French  commander,  who  fell  in  the 
aetion,  was  destroyed,  and  two  were  cap- 
tured.    A  fourth  escaped  after  striking  her 


colors.  In  the  Indian  sea,  three  French 
frigates,  with  a  reinforcement  of  troops  for 
the  Mauritius,  having  appeared  off  that  isl- 
and after  its  capture,  they  were  pursued  by 
three  frigates  and  a  sloop,  when  one  was 
taken  ;  another  escaped  after  having  struck ; 
and  the  third,  having  proceeded  to  Tamata- 
va,  which  had  been  repossessed  by  the 
French,  was  there  captured,  with  the  fort 
and  the  vessels  in  the  harbor.  In  every  di- 
rection the  enemy's  coast  was  kept  m  con- 
tinual alarm  ;  and  in  none  could  his  vessels, 
armed  or  unarmed,  move  in  safety. 

MEASURES  AGAINST  BRITISH  COM- 
MERCE. 

A  SON  was  born  to  Napoleon  on  the  twen- 
tieth of  April.  The  ancient  title  of  King 
of  Rome,  which  had  long  lam  dormant,  was 
immediately  revived  for  the  young  prince, 
and  he  was  welcomed  with  all  the  extrava- 
gant adulation  usually  bestowed  on  the  heirs 
of  absolute  monarchy  or  extensive  dominion. 
Nothmg,  however,  could  for  a  moment  di- 
vert the  attention  of  the  ruler  of  France 
from  his  favorite  object, — the  exclusion  of 
English  commerce  from  the  continent ;  and 
while  the  French  people  were  substituting 
horse-beans  for  coffee,  and  extracting  sugar 
from  beet-root  and  palm  sea-weed,  they  were 
called  upon  to  applaud  the  wisdom  and  good- 
ness which  dictated  the\exclusion  of  colonial 
produce,  and  the  burning  of  British  mer- 
chandise. The  conscription  law  was  applied 
to  the  levymg  of  seamen  in  the  thirty  mari- 
time departments,  and  the  quotas  liable  to 
serve  in  the  years  1813  to  1816,  were  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  minister  of  marine. — 
At  Antwerp  twenty  ships  of  the  line  were 
ordered  to  be  built,  and  the  basin  was  ren- 
dered capable  of  containing  fifty  sail.  Span- 
ish prisoners  were  employed  in  the  dock- 
yards and  fortifications ;  and  men  of  all 
countries  were  collected  to  man  the  fleet. 
About  this  time  it  began  to  be  apparent  that 
no  great  cordiality  subsisted  between  Buo- 
naparte and  the  emperor  Alexander ;  and  in 
an  answer  to  an  address  from  a  council  of 
commerce,  he  complained  that  Russia  had 
not  caused  his  decrees  to  be  respected ;  add- 
ing, "  I  am,  and  always  will  be,  master  of 
the  Baltic." 


562 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

Surrender  of  Toftosa  and  Olivenca— Battles  of  Barossa  and  Albuera,  and  variotts 
Operations  of  the  contending  Armies — Loss  of  Tarragona  and  Valencia — Capture 
of  Ciudad  Rodrigo  and  Badajoz — Lord  Wellington  enters  Spain — Battle  of  Sala- 
manca— Capture  of  Madrid — Retreat  of  Allies  to  Portuguese  frontier — Parliament 
assembled — The  King  and  Regent — Overtures  to  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville — Assas- 
sination of  Perceval — Ministerial  Negotiations — Riots  in  Manufacturing  Districts 
— Repeal  of  Orders  in  Council —  War  by  Americans — Proceedings  in  Parliament 
— Invasion  of  Russia  by  Buonaparte — Battles  of  Smolensko  and  Borodino — De- 
struction  of  Moscow — Disastrous  Retreat  of  the  French — Invasion  of  Canada — 
Actions  at  Sea — Meeting  of  Parliament — Charges  against  Princess  of  Wales — 
Appointment  of  Vice-Chancellor — Declaration  on  the  American  War — Treaty  with 
Sweden — Proceedings  and  Prorogation  of  Parliament. 


SURRENDER  OF  TORTOS A. —BATTLES  OF 
BAROSSA  AND  ALBUERA. 

On  the  second  of  January  Suchet  made 
himself  master  of  Tortosa,  the  siege  of 
which  was  truly  honorable  to  the  Spanish 
name ;  and  on  the  twenty-second  Olivenca 
was  taken  possession  of  by  Soult,  almost 
without  being  defended.  On  the  latter  day 
died  the  gallant  and  truly  patriotic  marquis 
de  la  Romana,  in  a  fit  of  apoplexy,  at  Bada- 
joz. Within  a  month  afterwards,  his  corps, 
the  command  of  which  had  devolved  on 
general  Mendizabel,  was  totally  defeated  by 
Soult. 

An  expedition  sailed  from  Cadiz,  under 
the  command  of  lieutenant-general  Graham 
and  Don  Manuel  La  Pena,  to  attack  the 
French  who  were  employed  in  the  siege  of 
that  city,  and  to  open  a  communication  with 
the  Isle  de  Leon,  in  the  absence  of  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  besiegers'  force.  On 
the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  March,  this  force, 
comprising  a  body  of  English,  Spaniards, 
and  Portuguese,  arrived  on  the  low  ridge 
of  Barossa,  about  four  miles  from  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Santi  Petri.  A  spirited  and 
successful  attack  on  the  rear  of  the  enemy's 
lines  at  Santi  Petri,  opened  the  communi- 
cation with  the  Isle  of  Leon ;  after  which 
general  Graham  moved  down  from  the  po- 
sition of  Barossa  to  the  Torre  de  Bermesa, 
about  half-way  to  the  Santi  Petri,  to  secure 
the  communication  across  that  river,  over 
which  a  bridge  had  been  recently  thrown ; 
/but  the  general,  when  he  advanced  into 
the  middle  of  the  wood  through  which  his 
route  lay,  received  notice  that  the  enemy 
was  advancing  towards  the  heights  of  Ba- 
rossa, and,  considering  that  position  as  the 
l^ey  to  Santi  Petri,  he  immediately  made  a 
counter-march,  to  support  the  troops  left  for 
its  defence:  before  this  corps,  however, 
could  wholly  disentangle  itself  from  the 
woods,  the  Spanish  trooDS  on  the  ridge  of 
Barossa  were  seen  retiring,  whilst  the  left 


wing  of  the  enemy  was  rapidly  ascending. 
To  retreat  in  the  face  of  an  enemy  superior 
in  numbers,  and  so  advantageously  posted, 
would  have  exposed  the  allies  to  great 
danger:  relying,  therefore,  on  the  courag-e 
of  his  troops,  an  immediate  attack  was  de- 
termined on  by  the  English  commander, 
which  was  executed  with  the  utmost  bravery, 
and  in  an  hour  and  a  half  the  French  were 
in  full  retreat ;  but  after  so  unequal  a  con- 
test, the  allies  found  pursuit  impracticable. 
The  enemy  lost  about  three  thousand  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  including 
general  Bellegarde,  and  many  other  officers, 
killed,  and  generals  Rupin  and  Rousseau 
taken,  with  six  pieces  of  cannon.  The  Eng- 
lish loss  in  killed  and  wounded  amounted  to 
twelve  hundred  and  forty-three,  amongst 
whom  were  several  officers  high  in  estima- 
tion. Admiral  Sir  Richard  Keats  ably  sec- 
onded the  operations  of  the  army,  and  a 
small  body  of  seamen  and  marines  stormed 
and  dismantled  the  works  of  the  enemy  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Gaudalete.  General  Gra- 
ham, finding  it  impossible  to  procure  sup- 
plies, withdrew  the  next  day  across  the 
Santi  Petri,  and  afterwards  returned  to  the 
Isle  of  Leon.  La  Pena,  who  was  blamed 
for  not  having  more  effectually  co-operated 
with  the  British,  returned  with  his  forces 
to  Cadiz;  and  the  French  resumed  the 
blockade. 

General  Massena  began  his  retreat  from 
Santarem,  where  he  had  never  found  an  op- 
portunity to  engage  lord  Wellington  with 
any  favorable  prospect.  The  van-guard  of 
his  lordship,  however,  attacked  his  rear  near 
Pombal,  and  drove  it  from  its  position,  on 
the  eleventh  of  March ;  but  this  advantage 
was  much  more  than  counterpoised  by  the 
loss  of  Badajoz,  which,  after  a  vigorous  re- 
sistance, surrendered  to  marshal  Soult  on 
the  same  day,  Massena,  continuing  his  re- 
treat through  Portugal,  was  closely  pursued 
by  lord  Wellmgton,  having  been  attacked 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


263 


on  the  fourteenth,  and  forced  to  abandon  a 
strong  position  near  Cazac  Nova;  he  was 
also  obliged  to  change  the  line  of  his  retreat, 
in  which  he  was  harassed  by  the  militia 
under  colonels  Trant  and  Wilson,  and  was 
driven  from  the  Tierra  di  Moira,  with  the 
loss  of  six  thousand  prisoners.  General 
Beresford,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  at- 
tacked the  advanced-guard  of  marshal  Mor- 
tier,  and  pursued  it  to  the  gates  of  Badajoz ; 
and  on  the  fifteenth  of  April  he  forced  Oli- 
venca  to  capitulate.  On  the  tenth  of  the 
same  month  the  Catalonians  took  Figueras 
by  surprise,  having  maintained  intelligence 
with  the  Italian  troops  in  that  place.  Lord 
Wellington  attacked  the  rear  of  Massena's 
army  on  the  third  of  April,  near  Sabergal 
on  the  river  Coa ;  and  after  a  spirited  con- 
test, the  French  position  was  carried  by  the 
bayonet.  His  lordship  was  in  turn  attacked 
by  Massena,  in  his  position  of  Fuente  de 
Honore,  on  the  third  of  May,  and  the  French 
gained  some  advantage  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  action,  which  was  retrieved  by 
the  British  before  night ;  the  battle  was  re- 
newed next  day  by  the  enemy,  but  they 
were  at  length  obliged  to  recross  the  Agueda, 
without  accomplishing  the  object  of  throw- 
ing a  body  of  troops  into  Almeida.  The 
garrison  of  that  fortress,  however,  succeeded 
in  evacuating  the  place,  and  blowing  up  the 
works,  on  the  night  of  the  tenth  of  May. 
These  events  established  the  fame  of  the 
British  general-in-chief  Massena,  rapidly 
pursued  by  the  English,  conducted  his  re- 
treat in  the  most  able  manner ;  but  his  route 
was  tracked  by  the  most  horrible  desolation ; 
and  he  and  his  followers  were  accused,  by 
the  British  commander,  of  acts  of  cruelty 
and  wanton  mischief  which  would  have 
disgraced  a  horde  of  barbarians. 

By  the  eighth  of  May  general  Beresford 
had  invested  Badajoz,  and  repelled,  though 
with  some  loss,  the  sorties  of  the  garrison : 
scarcely,  however,  had  he  commenced  the 
siege,  when  intelligence  arrived  that  mar- 
shal Soult  had  left  Seville,  with  fifteen  thou- 
sand men,  and  was  marching  to  its  relief. 
This  information  was  confirmed  on  the  night 
of  the  twelfth  of  May ;  in  consequence  of 
which  the  English  commander  immediately 
suspended  his  operations,  removed  the  bat- 
tering cannon  and  stores  to  Elvas,  and,  hav- 
ing been  joined  on  the  fourteenth  by  the 
Spanish  generals  Castanos  and  Blake,  he 
prepared  to  meet  the  enemy.  Soult,  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  fifteenth,  appeared  in  front 
of  the  allies  with  a  force  of  about  twenty 
thousand  men,  having  been  joined  in  his 
march  by  a  corps  of  five  thousand,  under 
Latour  Maubourg.  The  allied  army  com- 
pleted its  dispositions  for  receiving  the  ene- 
my on  the  morning  of  the  sixteentli :  it  was 
then  formed  in  two  lines,*  on  a  rising  ground. 


running  nearly  parallel  to  the  little  river 
Albuera.  Several  of  the  Spanish  corps,  al- 
though they  made  forced  marches,  were  un- 
able to  join  the  army  till  the  middle  of  the 
preceding  night.  The  French  began  the 
attack,  in  which  they  attempted,  atler  push- 
ing across  the  river,  to  turn  the  right  flank 
of  the  allies,  and  to  carry  the  village  and 
bridge  of  Albuera  in  front ;  and  they  suc- 
ceeded so  far  as  to  drive  from  their  ground 
the  Spanish  troops,  who  were  posted  on  the 
heights  to  the  right  of  the  line,  and  to  oc- 
cupy their  place.  In  this  situation  they  were 
enabled  to  keep  up  a  raking  fire  upon  the 
whole  position  of  the  allies,  so  that  it  be- 
came necessary  to  recover  it ;  and  the  most 
vigorous  efforts  were  made  with  that  view, 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  A  dreadful 
carnage  ensued,  by  which  some  regiments 
were  nearly  annihilated ;  occasioned,  prin- 
cipally, by  a  body  of  Polish  lancers,  who 
broke  in,  unperceived,  upon  the  rear  of  the 
right  division,  commanded  by  lieutenant- 
colonel  Colbourn.  One  regiment,  the  thirty- 
first,  alone  escaped  the  fury  of  this  attack, 
and  kept  its  ground  till  the  arrival  of  the 
third  brigade  under  major-general  Houghton, 
who  fell,  pierced  with  wounds,  as  he  was 
cheering  his  men  to  advance.  At  length, 
however,  the  enemy  was  driven  back,  with 
great  slaughter,  across  the  river.  The  main 
attack  being  thus  frustrated,  that  of  the 
village,  upon  which  no  impression  had  been 
made,  was  relaxed,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  day  was  spent  in  cannonading  and  skir- 
mishing. Soult  retired  to  the  ground  he  had 
previously  occupied ;  and  on  the  night  of 
the  seventeenth  he  commenced  his  retreat 
towards  Seville,  leaving  Badajoz  to  its  own 
defence,  and  relinquishing  the  care  of  many 
of  his  wounded  to  the  allies.  In  this  battle, 
though  it  ended  so  honorably  to  the  allies, 
the  British  sustained  a  greater  loss  than  in 
any  action  previously  fought  in  the  Peninsula, 
and  its  influence  was  seriously  felt  on  sub- 
sequent occasions:  but  the  steadiness  and 
gallantry  of  the  troops  obtained  the  highest 
commendations,  as  well  from  their  com- 
mander as  from  both  houses  of  parliament; 
though  the  generalship  displayed  was  not 
equally  applauded,  as  it  was  known  tliat  lord 
Wellington  was  of  opinion,  that  the  heights 
on  the  right  should  have  been  occupied  by 
British  troops. 

Shortly  after  this  engagement  lord  Wel- 
lington joined  general  Beresford,  leaving  his 
army,  in  the  north  of  Portugal,  under  the 
command  of  general  Spencer,  and  the  siege 
of  Badajoz  was  recommenced.  The  French 
army  opposed  to  general  Spencer  was  now 
commanded  by  marshal  Marmont,  Massena 
having  been  recalled  to  Paris.  It  soon  ap- 
peared that  the  French  were  resolved  that 
Badajoz  should  not  fall,  if  they  could 


564 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN- 


bly  prevent  it ;  and,  in  order  to  enable  Soult 
again  to  advance  to  its  relief,  Marmont  de- 
tached fifteen  thousand  men,  under  Drouet, 
to  reinforce  him.  Lord  Wellington  there- 
fore resolved,  if  possible,  to  gain  possession 
of  Badajoz,  before  the  French  army,  thus 
reinforced,  should  advance  for  its  relief;  and, 
for  this  purpose,  two  different  attacks  were 
made  against  it.  But  both  attempts  were 
unsuccessful,  and  the  siege  was  soon  after 
raised. 
LOSS  OF  TARRAGONA  AND  VALENCIA. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  June,  Suchet 
took  Tarragona  by  assault,  when  a  most  in- 
human slaughter  of  the  inhabitants  took 
place  ;  on  the  first  of  August  general  Blake 
was  repulsed  in  an  attack  on  Niebla ;  and 
on  the  ninth  Soult  defeated  the  army  of  Mur- 
cia,  in  the  vicinity  of  Baza.  On  the  four- 
teenth the  Spaniards  surprised  the  French 
in  Santander ;  on  the  nineteenth  Figueras 
was  retaken  by  the  French  general  Macdon- 
ald,  after  a  tedious  blockade ;  and  on  the 
twenty-fifth  the  Spanish  general  Abudia 
was  defeated  by  Dorsenne,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Astorga.  Lord  Wellington  formed 
the  blockade  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo  on  the 
fourth  of  September ;  but  the  French  hav- 
ing collected  all  their  troops  from  the  north 
and  from  Navarre,  to  that  which  had  retreat- 
ed from  Portugal,  on  the  twenty-fifth  lord 
Wellington  retired,  and  his  rear  was  attack- 
ed by  the  advanced-guard  of  Marmont.  The 
infantry,  however,  forming  a  square,  and 
presenting  a  firm  front,  retreated  without 
being  broken.  It  is  in  such  contests  of  man 
to  man,  that  the  superiority  of  mind  and 
manhood  is  decided ;  and  happily  the  deci- 
sion was  uniformly  in  favor  of  British  troops 
in  the  sharp  contests  on  the  frontiers  of  Por- 
tugal. General  Hill,  with  a  division  of  the 
allied  army,  by  a  series  of  bold  and  skilful 
manoeuvres,  surprised  and  completely  routed 
a  French  column,  commanded  by  general 
Girard,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  October, 
taking  one  thousand  four  hundred  prisoners, 
the  whole  of  Girard's  artillery,  baggage,  and 
commissariat,  together  with  the  contribution 
of  money  which  he  had  levied  at  Merida. 
Suchet  having  taken  the  town  of  Murviedro, 
and  invested  the  castle,  which  is  built  on  the 
ruins  of  the  ancient  Saguntum,  general 
Blake  attacked  him  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
October ;  but  the  former  was  victorious,  and 
the  castle  capitulated  on  the  twenty-sixth. 
Suchet  passed  the  Guadalquiver  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  December,  defeated  the  pa- 
triots, and  compelled  Blake  to  retire  within 
the  walls  of  Valencia.  The  baron  d'Eroles, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  defeated  the  French 
near  Perigeorda,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Oc- 
tober. 

1812. — On  the  ninth  of  January,  the  im- 
portant city  of  Valencia  capitulated,  with  an 


army  of  eighteen  thousand  men  ;  by  whicli 
event  three  hundred  and  seventy-four  pieces 
of  cannon,  and  immense  magazines,  also  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  com- 
mencement of  this  year  was  distinguished 
by  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Tariflfa,  which 
had  been  bravely  defended,  by  a  small  gar- 
rison of  English  and  Spaniards,  from  the 
twentieth  of  December  to  the  fourth  of  Jan- 
uary, against  eleven  thousand  men,  under 
marshal  Victor.  On  the  nineteenth  of  Jan- 
uary, lord  Wellington,  who  was  now  in  a 
condition  to  resume  offensive  operations,  car- 
ried Ciudad  Rodrigo  by  assault,  after  a  fort- 
night's siege,  where  he  captured  the  heav 
train  of  the  French  army.  Major-genera 
M'Kinnon  fell,  mortally  wounded,  in  the 
breach  ;  and  the  loss  of  men  was  considera- 
ble. On  this  occasion  a  vote  of  the  cortes 
conferred  on  lord  Wellington  the  rank  of  a 
grandee  of  Spam  of  the  first  class,  with  the 
title  of  duke  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo.  In  the 
eastern  parts  of  the  kingdom  the  patriotic 
generals  carried  on  the  war  against  the 
common  enemy  with  considerable  spirit. 
The  French  commander,  Montbrun,  was 
compelled  to  retire  from  before  Alicant,  af- 
ter an  ineffectual  cannonade  of  the  fortress. 
The  French  attacked  general  Lacy,  who 
was  posted  on  the  heights  of  Atafalla,  near 
Tarragona,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  January, 
when  the  patriots  eminently  distinguished 
themselves  ;  but,  overwhelmed  by  the  num- 
bers and  discipline  of  the  enemy,  they  were 
ultimately  obliged  to  retreat  to  the  moun- 
tains. By  the  treachery  of  its  governor,  the 
town  of  Peniscola,  a  place  of  great  strength, 
seated  on  a  bold  promontory  overlooking  the 
Mediterranean,  was  soon  afterwards  sur- 
rendered to  the  French. 

CAPTURE  OF  BADAJOZ. 
General  Ballasteros  defeated,  near 
Malaga,  a  French  corps  under  general  Mar- 
ausin,  on  the  sixteenth  of  February.  On 
the  sixteenth  of  March  lord  Wellington 
again  invested  Badajoz ;  on  the  thirty-first 
he  opened  his  fire ;  and,  on  the  sixth  of 
April  three  practicable  breaches  were  made, 
when  an  assault  in  the  night  was  determined 
upon.  Simultaneous  attacks  on  different 
parts  of  the  works  were  planned,  of  which 
that  on  the  castle,  by  escalade,  conducted 
by  lieutenant-general  Picton,  was  the  only 
one  that  succeeded ;  and  his  third  division 
was  established  in  it  by  about  half-past  elev- 
en. In  the  mean  time  the  breaches  in  the 
bastions  were  vigorously  assailed  by  other 
divisions ;  but  the  assailants,  after  six  hours' 
hard  fighting,  and  considerable  loss,  were 
obliged  to  retire,  the  garrison  having  em- 
ployed every  imaginable  contrivance  for  re- 
pelling the  assault.  The  possession  of  the 
castle,  however,  which  commanded  all  the 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


565 


works,  decided  the  fate  of  the  town  ;  and  at 
daylight,  on  the  seventh,  general  Philippon, 
the  coiTimandant,  surrendered,  with  the 
whole  garrison,  which,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  siege,  had  consisted  of  five  thousand 
mon ;  but  about  twelve  hundred  had  been 
killed  or  wounded  during  its  progress,  be- 
Bidfs  those  who  perished  in  the  assault.  This 
triumph  compelled  the  French,  who  had  ad- 
vanced into  Portugal  as  far  as  Castello  Bran- 
co,  for  purposes  of  plunder,  to  draw  off  the 
besieging  arm}/  from  Badajoz,  and  to  com- 
mence a  precipitate  retreat.  On  the  south 
of  tho  Tagns,  the  British  cavalry  under  Sir 
Stapylton  Cotton,  defeated  the  cavalry  of 
Soult  at  Villa  Franca,  on  the  eleventh  of 
April. 

WELLINGTON  ENTERS  SPAIN— BATTLE 
OF  SALAMANCA. 

All  the  frontier  towns  having  thus  fallen 
into  his  'hands,  lord  Wellington  determined 
no  longer  to  delay  the  expedition  into  Spain 
which  he  had  long  meditated.  As  a  pre- 
liminary, he  directed  Sir  Rowland  Hill, 
who  still  commanded  in  the  south,  to  en- 
deavor to  destroy  the  bridges  of  Almarez, 
which  formed  the  only  communication  low- 
er than  Toledo,  which  the  French  consider 
ed  a  most  important  station,  by  which  a 
great  army  could  cross  the  Tagus ;  and,  af- 
ter a  difficult  march  of  seven  days,  the  en- 
terprise was  effected  in  the  most  brilliant 
ttyle.  Such,  indeed,  was  that  general's  suo 
cess  on  services  of  this  nature,  that  he  kept 
the  enemy  in  continual  alarni.  On  the  thir- 
teenth of  June  the  allied  army  broke  up 
from  their  cantonments  on  the  Agueda,  and 
on  the  sixteenth  entered  Salamanca.  The 
French  had  erected  in  this  place  three  forts, 
which  lord  Wellington  hoped  speedily  to 
reduce :  his  first  attack,  however,  was  un- 
H'jccessful;  and  it  was  found  necessary  to 
wait  for  some  days  the  arrival  of  a  batter- 
ing train.  The  enemy  hovered  round,  en- 
deavoring to  communicate  with  the  garri- 
son, and  to  throw  in  supplies ;  but  all  their 
attempts  were  frustrated  by  the  activity  of 
Sir  Thomas  Graham.  On  the  twenty-sev- 
enth the  principal  fort  was  stormed,  when 
the  rest  immediately  surrendered,  and  the 
French  army  took  a  position  behind  the 
Douro,  breaking  down  the  bridges  over  that 
river,  the  passage  of  which  lord  Wellington 
was  not  provided  with  the  means  of  forcing. 
Here  Marmont  was  joined  by  Bonnet,  which, 
with  other  reinforcements,  rendered  his 
force  equal  or  superior  to  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish commander,  and  he  consequently  de- 
termined to  act  on  the  offensive.  After  a 
great  variety  of  skilful  mancBuvres  on  both 
sides,  Marmont,  inspired  with  the  extrava- 
gant hope  of  destroying,  at  one  blow,  the 
whole  English  army,  extended  his  line,  in 
order  to  inclose  the  allies  within  the  posi- 

VoL  IV.  48 


tion  which  they  had  taken  up,  near  Sala- 
manca, an  error  which  was  instantly  per- 
ceived and  improved  by  his  opponent.  On 
the  twenty-second  of  July,  nearly  the  whole 
army  being  brought  opposite  to  the  enemy's 
left,  an  attack  was  commenced  upon  that 
w^ng.  Three  divisions,  under  generals  Leith, 
Cole,  and  Cotton,  charged  in  front,  while 
general  Pakenham  formed  another  across 
the  enemy's  flank.  This  single  movement 
decided  the  victory.  The  left  wing  made 
no  resistance ;  the  British  troops  overthrew 
everything  opposed  to  them.  In  the  cen- 
tre the  contest  was  more  obstinate.  The 
fourth  division  was  compelled  to  retreat, 
and  general  Beresford  was  wounded,  and 
obliged  to  leave  the  field  ;  these  troops,  how- 
ever, being  reinforced  by  those  which  had 
routed  the  French  left  wing,  victory  declar- 
ed alike  in  their  favor.  The  right  wing 
soon  shared  the  fate  of  the  two  others ;  and 
as  the  evening  closed,  the  whole  force  of 
the  enemy  was  in  total  rout.  Although  the 
darkness  of  the  night  favored  their  retreat, 
seven  thousand  prisoners,  eleven  pieces  of 
cannon,  six  stands  of  colors,  and  two  eagles, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  allies.  Marmont 
lost  an  arm,  Bonnet  was  severely  wounded ; 
and  the  care  of  saving  the  wrecks  of  the 
army  devolved  on  general  Clausel.  In  kill- 
ed, wounded,  and  missing,  the  loss  of  the 
allies  ainounted  to  five  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty,  and  that  of  the  enemy 
must  have  been  still  greater.  The  Portu- 
guese displayed  great  bravery,  and  sustain- 
ed a  heavy  loss,  their  killed  and  wounded 
amounting  to  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty- 
six.  Thus  in  the  course  of  four  years  lord 
Wellington  had  defeated  seven  of  the  most 
celebrated  French  marshals. 

CAPTURE  OF  MADRID— RETREAT. 
Joseph  Buonaparte  marched  from  Mad- 
rid, on  the  twenty-first  of  July,  with  about 
fourteen  thousand  troops,  to  join  Marmont ; 
but,  receiving  intelligence  of  his  defeat  at 
Salamanca,  he  marched  towards  Segovia. 
The  allies  pushed  forward,  and,  as  the  first 
consequence  of  their  important  victory,  ob- 
tained possession  of  Madrid  on  the  twelfth 
of  August;  where  they  took  twenty-five 
hundred  prisoners,  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine  pieces  of  cannon,  nine  hundred  barrels 
of  gunpowder,  twenty-three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty-four  muskets,  and  large 
magazines.  IxDrd  Wellington  next  advanc- 
ed towards  Burgos,  and  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  some  of  the  outworks ;  but  all  his  at- 
tempts against  the  castle  foiled,  and  he  at 
length  raised  the  siege,  after  sustaining 
considerable  loss,  and  commenced  a  retro- 
grade march  towards  the  Douro,  the  French 
army  having  been  reinforced  by  all  the  dis- 
posable troops  in  Uie  north  of  Spain,  and  ad- 
vices having  also  been  received  that  Soult, 


566 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Suchet,  and  Joseph  Buonaparte,  with  seven- 
ty thousand  men,  were  fast  approaching-  the 
passes  against  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  who  had 
no  adequate  force  to  oppose  them.  Having 
recalled  his  troops  from  Madrid,  and  direct- 
ed general  Hill  to  proceed  northward  to 
join  him,  lord  Wellington  moved  upon  Sala- 
manca, where  he  hoped  to  establish  himself; 
but  Soult  having  united  his  forces  with 
those  of  Souham,  which  had  advanced  from 
Burgos,  obliged  him  to  continue  his  retreat. 
On  the  twenty-fourth  of  November  he  fixed 
his  head-quarters  at  Freynada,  on  the  Por- 
tuguese frontier,  after  a  masterly  retreat 
before  an  army  of  ninety  thousand  men, 
including  a  most  efficient  cavalry,  against 
which  he  could  only  oppose  fifty-two  thou- 
sand. Though  unable  to  maintain  himself 
in  the  centre  of  the  peninsula,  lord  Wel- 
lington's advance  had  the  efiect  of  obliging 
the  invaders  to  break  up  the  lines  of  Cadiz, 
and  evacuate  Seville,  Grenada,  Cordova, 
and  all  the  south  of  Spain. 

The  patriotic  corps  had  numerous  skir- 
mishes with  the  French,  in  which  they 
were  frequently  successful ;  and  the  gueril- 
las also  carried  on  their  desultory  operations 
with  wonderful  enterprise  and  effect.  By  a 
decree  of  the  regency  and  the  cortes,  lord 
Wellington  was  constituted  generalissimo 
of  the  Spanish  armies,  which  excited  a  re- 
monstrance from  Ballasteros,  the  Spanish 
general,  who  was  therefore  superseded  by 
the  regency,  in  the  command  of  the  fourth 
army.  His  lordship  had  previously  been 
created  earl,  and  afterwards  marquis,  of 
Wellington — titles  which  he  had  nobly  ac- 
quired by  his  conduct  of  the  peninsular  war. 

PARLIAMENT  ASSEMBLED.— THE  KING 
AND  REGENT.— OVERTURES  TO  LORDS 
GREY  AND  GRENVILLE. 

Pakliament  assembled  on  the  seventh  of 
January ;  and  the  speech  of  the  prince-re- 
gent, after  lamenting  the  disappointment  of 
the  hopes  so  confidently  entertained  of  his 
majesty's  speedy  recovery,  congratulated 
parliament  on  the  skill  and  valor  displayed 
by  the  British  army  in  the  peninsula  of 
Spain  and  Portugal,  as  well  as  upon  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  colonial  power  of  the  enemy 
in  the  east;  and  concluded  with  an  assu- 
rance, on  the  part  of  the  regent,  that  he 
would  continue  to  employ  all  such  means  of 
conciliation,  for  adjusting  the  existing  dif- 
ferences between  Great  Britain  and  Amer- 
ica, as  might  be  consistent  with  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  his  majesty's  crown. 

The  king's  symptoms  had  gradually  be- 
come more  discouraging,  until,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  year,  there  remained 
little  hope  of  his  restoration.  As  separate 
establishments  for  the  regent  and  the  king 
were  now  necessary,  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchecfuejr  proposed  thsit  an  addition  of  sev- 


enty thousand  pounds  per  annum  should  be 
made  to  the  civil-list  out  of  the  consolidated 
fund ;  that  the  king's  establishment,  the  an- 
nual expense  of  which  was  estimated  at  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  should  be  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  queen,  who  would 
have  the  care  of  his  person ;  that  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  per  annum  be  added  to  her  ma- 
jesty's income ;  and  that  a  commission  of 
three  persons  should  be  appointed  for  the 
management  of  the  king's  private  property. 
These  propositions  were  agreed  to,  as  was 
a  bill,  by  which  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  was  voted  to  the  prince-re- 
gent to  meet  the  expenses  consequent  on 
his  assumption  of  the  royal  authority.  A 
grant  of  nine  thousand  pounds  per  annum 
was  likewise  voted  to  each  of  the  princesses, 
in  addition  to  four  thousand  pounds  payable 
fi-ora  the  civil-list. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  February,  when  the 
regency  restrictions  were  on  the  eve  of 
their  termination,  the  prince  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  duke  of  York,  expressing  his 
approbation  of  the  conduct  of  ministers,  but 
intimating  a  wish  that  some  of  those  per- 
sons with  whom  the  early  habits  of  his  pub- 
lic life  were  formed  would  strengthen  his 
hands,  and  constitute  a  part  of  his  govern- 
ment. Two  days  after  the  date  of  this  let- 
ter, lords  Grey  and  Grenville,  to  whom  the 
duke  of  York  had,  in  compliance  with  the 
request  of  the  prince-regent,  communicated 
his  sentiments,  addressed  a  reply  to  his  royal 
highness,  in  which  they  expressed,  on  pub- 
lic grounds  alone,  the  impossibility  of  their 
uniting  with  the  existing  government,  their 
differences  of  opinion  embracing  almost  all 
the  leading  features  of  the  actual  policy  of 
the  empire.  On  one  subject  their  senti- 
ments were  especially  at  variance :  they 
were  so  firmly  persuaded  of  the  necessity 
of  a  total  change  in  the  system  of  govern- 
ing Ireland,  and  of  the  immediate  repeal 
of  those  civil  disabilities  under  which  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  people  labored,  on 
account  of  their  religious  opinions,  that  to 
recommend  to  parliament  that  repeal  would 
be  the  first  advice  which  they  would  feel  it 
their  duty  to  offer  to  his  royal  highness. 
All  hope  of  forming  an  extended  adminis- 
tration was  therefore  at  an  end. 

The  ministry  now  consisted  of  two  par- 
ties ;  at  the  bead  of  one  of  which  was  Per- 
ceval, and  of  the  other  the  marquis  of  Wel- 
lesley.  The  differences  between  these  states- 
men were  partly  personal,  and  partly  po- 
litical :  the  high  and  aspiring  views  of  the 
marquis  would  not  pennit  him  to  serve  under 
Perceval,  though  he  had  no  objection  to 
serve  with  him,  or  to  serve  under  either  tho 
earl  of  Moira  or  lord  Holland ;  and  when  it 
appeared  that  the  regent  intended  to  con- 
Uuue  Perceval  at  the  head  of  h'm  councilei, 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


567 


the  marquis  resigned  his  office,  and  the  seals 
of  the  foreign  department  were  transferred 
to  lord  Castlereagh.  On  the  nineteenth  of 
March,  lord  Borington  moved  an  address  to 
the  prince-regent,  beseeching  him  to  form 
such  an  administration  as  might  most  effec- 
tually call  forth  the  entire  confidence  and 
energies  of  the  united  kingdom,  and  afford 
to  his  royal  highness  additional  means  of 
conducting  to  a  successful  termination,  a  war, 
in  which  were  involved  the  safety,  honor, 
and  prosperity  of  the  country.  Earl  Grey 
stated  the  points  on  which  lord  Grenville 
and  himself  had  declined  a  union  with  the 
existing  administration,  which,  he  said,  was 
formed  on  the  express  principle  of  resistance 
to  the  Catholic  claims;  a  principle  loudly 
proclaimed  by  the  person  at  its  head,  from 
the  moment  he  quitted  the  bar  to  take  a 
share  in  political  life ;  and  where  he  led,  the 
rest  were  obliged  to  follow.  With  respect 
to  the  disputes  with  America,  he  wished  to 
bear  in  mind  the  principle  so  well  expressed 
by  the  late  Edmund  Burke,  that,  "  as  we 
ought  never  to  go  to  war  for  a  profitable 
wrong,  so  we  ought  never  to  go  to  war 
for  an  unprofitable  right."  On  making 
bank  notes  a  legal  tender,  an  impassable  line 
of  separation  existed  between  him  and  the 
present  ministry ;  and  as  to  the  war  in  the 
Peninsula,  it  was  his  wish  that  we  should  not 
proceed  on  the  present  expensive  scale, 
without  having  some  military  authority  as 
to  its  probable  result  He  complained  of  an 
tmseen  and  separate  influence  behind  the 
throne;  the  existence  of  which  was  denied 
by  lord  Mulgrave,  who  avowed  the  hostility 
of  ministers  to  the  Catholic  claims,  which 
was  assumed,  by  the  earl  of  Moira,  as  a  suf- 
ficient reason  why  they  ought  to  be  removed. 
The  motion  was  negatived. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  PERCEVAL. 
The  power  of  the  administration  appeared 
now  more  firmly  established  than  ever, 
when  it  was  deprived  of  its  leader  by  a 
tragical  and  extraordinary  event.  On  the 
eleventh  of  May,  as  Perceval,  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  was  entering  the  lobby  of  the 
house  of  commons,  a  man,  named  John  Bel- 
lingham,  shot  him  through  the  heart.  He 
staggered,  fell,  and  in  a  few  minutes  expired. 
The  assassin,  who  made  no  attempt  to  es- 
cape, was  examined  at  the  bar  of  the  house 
of  commons,  where  it  was  apprehended  that 
this  was  only  the  first  act  of  a  deep  and  ex- 
tensive conspiracy ;  but  it  soon  appeared 
that  the  act  was  merely  in  revenge  of  a  sup- 
posed private  injury.  Bellingham  having, 
in  a  commercial  visit  to  Rtissia,  undergone 
imprisonment  for  debt  unjustly,  as  he  as- 
serted, and  for  which  he  thought  the  British 
government  was  bound  to  procure  him  re- 
dress, its  refusal  to  take  any  cognizance  of 
his  case,  made  such  an  impression  on  his 


mind,  constitutionally  disposed  to  dark  mel- 
ancholy, that  he  resolved  to  make  a  sacri- 
fice of  some  conspicuous  member  of  the 
government.  On  his  trial,  which  took  place 
four  days  after  the  commission  of  the  deed, 
he  displayed  great  self-possession,  yet  his 
sanity  was  involved  in  doubt ;  he  discovered 
intellectual  powers  capable  of  discerning  all 
the  tendencies  of  human  actions,  but  stimu- 
lated to  the  confines  of  madness  by  an  acute 
sense  of  real  or  supposed  wrongs  which  he 
claimed  the  right  of  avenging.  After  admit- 
tmg  the  act,  denying  malice  towards  Perce- 
val, declaring  he  would  rather  have  shot 
lord  Gower,  the  late  ambassador  to  Russia, 
and  attempting  a  palliation  rather  than  a  de- 
fence, he  was  found  guilty,  and  executed  on 
the  Monday  following. 

The  day  after  the  assassination  of  Perce- 
val, a  message  was  sent  down  to  parliament 
by  the  prince-regent,  expressing  the  wish 
of  his  royal  highness  that  a  suitable  provision 
should  be  made  for  his  family.  A  grant  of 
two  thousand  pounds  a-year  was  accordingly 
conferred  on  his  widow,  and  the  sum  of  fifty 
thousand  pounds  voted  to  her  twelve  chil- 
dren. It  was  afterwards  proposed,  and  agreed 
to,  that  the  annuity  of  Mrs.  Perceval  should, 
at  her  demise,  descend  to  her  eldest  son. 

In  private  life,  few  men  were  more  de- 
servedly respected  than  Perceval.  On  quit- 
ting Cambridge,  he  pursued  the  study  of  the 
law  as  a  profession,  and  on  entering  parlia- 
ment, in  1796,  he  attached  himself  to  the 
politics  of  Pitt;  but  he  was  not  distinguished 
as  a  public  speaker  till  he  became  prime 
minister.  His  talents  were  not  splendid ;  but, 
as  a  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  he  displayed 
considerable  skill  in  augmenting  the  public 
burdens,  at  a  time  when  the  war  was  con- 
ducted on  a  scale  of  unprecedented  expendi- 
ture. His  advancement,  however,  can  only 
be  attributed  to  his  inflexibility  on  the  Cath- 
olic question,  at  a  time  when  a  majority 
of  parliamentary  talent,  though  a  minority 
in  number,  was  in  favor  of  some  concession. 
MINISTERIAL  NEGOTIATIONS. 

In  consequence  of  the  vacancy  occasioned 
by  the  death  of  Perceval,  overtures  were 
made  by  lord  I^iverpool  to  the  marquis  Wel- 
lesley  and  Canning;  but  they  declined  to 
associate  themselves  with  government,  as- 
signing, as  their  reason,  the  avowed  senti- 
ments of  ministers  on  the  Catholic  question. 
Stuart  Wortley  moved  an  address  to  the 
prince-regent,  praying  that  he  would  take 
such  measures  as  might  be  best  calculated 
to  form  an  efficient  government  The  motion 
having  been  carried,  the  address  was  pre- 
sented; and  in  answer,  his  royal  highness 
said  that  he  would  take  it  into  his  serious 
and  immediate  consideration.  The  marquis 
Wellesley,  who  was  first  applied  to,  pro- 
posed, as  the  chief  conditions  on  which  the 


568 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


new  cabinet  should  be  formed,  the  early 
consideration  of  the  Catholic  question,  and 
the  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  in 
Spain ;  and,  on  failing  with  lords  Liverpool 
and  Melville,  he  communicated  with  lords 
Grey  and  Grenville,  but  they  also  declined 
his  proposals.  Lord  Moira  was  afterwards 
empowered  to  negotiate  with  them,  and  it 
was  expected  that  the  treaty  would  be  brought 
to  a  favorable  issue.  This,  however,  was 
also  broken  off;  and  at  length,  on  the  eighth 
of  June,  lord  Liverpool  acquainted  the  house 
of  lords  that  the  prince-regent  had  that  day 
appomted  him  first  commissioner  of  the 
treasury,  and  authorized  him  to  complete  the 
arrangements  for  the  ministry.  Lord  Sid 
mouth  was  appointed  secretary  of  state  for 
the  home  department ;  the  earl  of  Harrowby 
president  of  the  council,  and  Vansittart  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer, 

RIOTS.— REPEAL  OF  ORDERS  IN  COUN- 
CIL.—WAR  DECLARED  BY  AMERICA. 
Towards  the  close  of  1811,  a  spirit  of 
riot  and  insubordination  had  manifested  itself 
in  the  county  of  Nottingham,  which  in  the 
course  of  the  present  year  extended  to  the 
neighboring  counties,  and  in  some  degree 
pervaded  all  the  manufacturing  districts  of 
England.  The  avowed  and  immediate  ob- 
ject of  the  insurgents,  who  assumed  the  name 
of  Luddites,  was  the  destruction  of  certain 
articles  of  machinery,  the  use  of  which  had 
superseded  or  diminished  manual  labor.  In 
consequence  of  the  report  of  the  secret  com- 
mittee, appointed  by  parliament  on  the  sub- 
ject, a  bill  was  brought  into  the  house  of 
commons,  which  made  it  a  capital  ofjonce 
to  administer  illegal  oaths ;  and  the  ixnver 
of  the  magistrates,  in  the  disturbed  districts, 
was  considerably  enlarged.  In  the  interval 
between  the  spring  and  the  summer  assizes, 
special  commissions  were  issued  to  try  the 
offenders,  when  numerous  convictions  took 
place  for  every  gradation  of  offence ;  and, 
of  the  capital  convicts,  eight  of  Lancaster, 
and  two  at  Chester,  suffered  the  penalty  of 
the  law.  In  the  metropolis,  some  most  bar- 
barous murders  and  other  atrocities,  com- 
mitted during  the  winter,  excited  general 
alarm ;  and  a  more  efficient  system  of  nightly 
watch  was  established  than  had  hitherto 
existed. 

In  consequence  of  the  distress  of  the  com- 
mercial and  manufacturing  classes,  the  new 
ministers  at  length  consented  to  the  repeal 
of  the  orders  in  council ;  and  on  the  twenty- 
tliird  of  June  a  declaration  from  tlie  prince- 
regent  appeared  in  the  Ix)ndon  Gazette,  ab- 
solutely and  unequivocally  revoking  these 
orders  as  far  as  they  regarded  American  ves- 
sels ;  with  the  proviso,  that  if,  after  the  no- 
tification of  this  repeal  by  the  British  minis- 
ter in  America,  the  government  of  the 
United  States  should  not  revoke  its  inter- 


dictory acts  against  British  commerce,  that 
revocation  on  our  part  should  be  null  and 
void.  It  afterwards  appeared  that,  five  days 
before  the  declaration  was  published  in  Lon- 
don, the  American  government  had  declared 
war  against  Great  Britain. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  June,  Vansittart, 
the  new  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  brought 
forward  the  budget,  which  had  been  nearly 
arranged  by  Perceval  before  his  death.  The 
amount  of  the  charges  he  stated  at  seven 
million  twenty-five  thousand  seven  hundred 
pounds  for  Ireland,  and  fifty-five  million 
three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  forty-eight  pounds,  for  Great  Britam. 
This  sum  certainly  was  an  enormous,  he 
might  say  a  terrible  extent  of  charge ;  but 
great  as  it  was,  the  resources  of  the  country 
were  still  equal  to  it;  and,  by  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  ways  and  means,  he  produced  a 
result  of  fifty-five  million  three  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds,  including  a  loan  of  fifteen  million 
six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds.  In 
the  course  of  the  year  a  former  lean  had 
been  obtained  to  the  amount  of  six  million 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine  thousand  six 
hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds,  which, 
added  to  the  new  one,  and  to  tiie  exchequer- 
bills  funded  in  1812,  created  an  annual  in- 
terest of  one  million  nine  hundred  and  five 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-four 
pounds ;  to  provide  for  which,  he  proposed 
to  discontinue  the  bounty  on  the  exportation 
of  printed  goods,  and  to  increase  the  duties 
on  tanned  hides  arid  skins,  glass,  tobacco, 
sales  by  auct.oi,  }:o!;tage  of  letters,  and  as- 
sessed taxes,  tlie  aggregate  annual  product 
of  which  he  estimated  at  one  million  nine 
hundred  and  three  thousand  pounds.  That 
on  leather  was  strongly  opposed,  but  the  en- 
tire budget  received  the  sanction  of  the  par- 
liament. 

The  advocates  of  the  Catholic  cause  re- 
solved to  appeal  again  to  the  legislature; 
and  Canning,  on  the  twenty-second  of  June, 
proposed  a  resolution,  that  the  house,  early 
in  the  next  session  of  parliament,  would 
take  into  consideration  the  laws  afiecting  his 
majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  with  a  view  to  a  final 
and  conciliatory  adjustment.  This  motion, 
which  was  supported  by  lord  Castlereagh, 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  against  one  hundred  and  six ; 
and  a  similar  resolution,  moved  in  the  lords 
by  the  marquis  Wellesley,  on  the  first  of  July, 
was  supported  by  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five,  and  opposed  by  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  voices.  Of  the  royal  dukes,  two  voted  on 
one  side,  and  three  on  the  other ;  even  the 
bench  of  bishops  was  divided,  three  of  them 
voting  for,  and  fifteen  against,  the  pledge  to 
consider  the  subject.     A  bill  to  extend  and 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


569 


secure  the  privileges  of  the  dissenters  was 
introduced  by  lord  Castlerea^h  on  the  tenth 
of  July,  and  carried;  by  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  repeal  certain  intolerant  statutes, 
and  to  amend  others,  relating  to  religious 
worship  and  assemblies,  and  to  persons 
preaching  or  teaching  therein.  A  bill  for 
improving  the  ecclesiastical  courts  in  Eng- 
land also  received  the  sanction  of  the  legis- 
lature. 

Returns  under  the  population  act  passed 
in  the  last  session  were  laid  before  parlia- 
ment, from  which  it  appeared  that,  in  Great 
Britain,  the  total  population,  in  1801,  was  ten 
million  four  hundred  and  seventy-two  thou- 
sand and  forty-eight,  and,  in  1811,  eleven 
million  nine  hundred  and  eleven  thousand 
six  hundred  and  forty-four;  making  an  in- 
crease of  one  million  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-six 
residents,  which,  added  to  the  number  serv 
ing  in  the  army  and  navy  abroad,  made  a 
total  increase  of  one  million  six  hundred  and 
nine  thousand,  four  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
persons.  These  results  revived  the  import 
ant  question  of  subsistence  compared  with 
population.  By  accounts  produced  about 
this  time,  it  appeared  that,  during  eleven 
years,  from  1775  to  1786,  the  average  quan- 
tity of  grain  imported  was  five  hundred  and 
sixty-four  thousand,  one  hundred  and  forty^ 
three  quarters ;  from  1786  to  1798  one  mil- 
lion one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  one 
hundred  and  one  quarters  ;  from  1799  to 
1810,  including  three  years  of  scarcity,  one 
million  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  thou 
sand  and  three  quarters.  The  average  prices 
were  thirty  shillings  per  quarter  in  the  first 
period,  forty  shillings  in  the  second,  and  sixty 
shillings  in  the  third;  and  during  the  last 
year,  not  less  than  four  million  two  hundred 
and  seventy-one  thousand  pounds  went  out 
of  the  country  to  purchase  sustenance  for  its 
inhabitants. 

The  act  for  prohibiting  the  grant  of  offices 
in  reversion  was  renewed  for  two  years.  A 
bill  was  also  introduced  for  abolishing  sine- 
cure offices  executed  by  deputy,  by  which 
the  office  of  paymaster  of  widows'  pensions 
was  done  away ;  and  the  regent's  confiden 
tial  servant,  colonel  M'Mahon,  on  whom  it 
had  been  recently  conferred,  although  the 
commissioners  of  public  accounts  and  mil- 
itary inquiry  had  long  since  reported  the 
place  as  one  of  those  sinecures  which  ought 
to  be  abolished,  was  appointed  keeper  of  the 
privy  pnrse,  and  private  secretary  to  his 
royal  highness.  Strong  animadversions  were 
made  on  the  latter  office ;  and  the  suggestion 
of  Wilberforce,  that  the  salary  should  be 
paid  out  of  the  regent's  privy  purse,  was 
adopted.  An  act  likewise  passed,  by  which 
payments  of  bank  notes,  in  or  out  of  court, 
were  declared  legal,  to  the  effect  of  staying 
48* 


an  arrest,  and  its  provisions  were  extended 
to  Ireland. 

In  April,  when  Buonaparte  was  meditat- 
ing a  war  against  Russia,  he  made  overtures 
for  peace  with  England,  and  a  correspond- 
ence took  place  upon  the  subject,  which  ter- 
minated unsuccessfully,  after  the  interchange 
of  a  single  dispatch,  Buonaparte  having  de- 
manded as  a  preliminary,  the  recognition  of 
the  Corsican  dynasty  in  Spain.  No  notice 
of  this  correspondence  was  taken  in  parlia- 
ment before  the  seventeenth  of  July :  on  the 
thirtieth  parliament  was  prorogued ;  and  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  September  a  proclama- 
tion was  issued  announcing  its  dissolution. 

INVASION  OF  RUSSIA  BY  BUONAPARTE- 
DESTRUCTION  OF  MOSCOW.— RETREAT 
OF  THE  FRENCH. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1810, 
Russia  by  a  public  ukase  altered  her  com- 
mercial system,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
despot  of  France,  was  equivalent  to  a  decla- 
ration of  war  against  him.  In  February  1811 
five  divisions  of  the  Russian  army  moved 
from  the  Danube  to  Poland :  Alexander, 
who  had  been  provoked  by  the  seizure  of  the 
dutchy  of  Oldenburgh,  on  no  other  pretence 
than  that  of  convenience,  published  a  protest 
which  annihilated  the  treaty  between  France 
and  Russia:  Napoleon,  therefore,  prepared  to 
invade  Russia.  The  object  of  the  invader 
was  great ;  and  the  army  which  he  assem- 
bled for  the  achievement  of  that  object  was 
in  full  proportion  to  its  magnitude.  The  con- 
federation of  the  Rhine  furnished  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  thousand  six  hundred  and 
eighty-two  men ;  Prussia  was  compelled  to 
allow  her  whole  military  force  to  be  employ- 
ed in  this  war  against  her  own  independence; 
and  a  contingent  of  thirty  thousand  men  was 
furnished  by  Austria.  According  to  a  state- 
ment of  the  earl  of  Liverpool,  the  number  of 
the  French  army,  previously  to  its  entrance 
on  the  Russian  territory,  was  not  less  than 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men ;  and 
in  assembling  this  immense  force,  much  time 
was  necessarily  employed.  Buonaparte  left 
Paris  and  arrived  at  Dresden  in  May:  he 
declared  war  against  Russia  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  June;  and  having  crossed  the 
Niemen  without  opposition,  he  entered  Wil- 
na,  the  capital  of  Russian  Poland,  on  the 
eighteenth.  The  Russian  plan  was  that  of 
gradual  retreat  before  the  invaders,  making 
a  stand  only  in  favorable  positions,  and  trust- 
ing to  the  increasing  difficulties  of  advance, 
and  the  inclemencies  of  the  seasons,  to  stop 
their  career.  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  July, 
after  various  movements,  Buonaparte  entered 
Witepsk ;  on  the  sixteenth  of  August  he  ad- 
vanced towards  Smolensko,  where  the  Rus- 
sians were  posted  in  great  force ;  and,  after 
a  fiirious  contest,  in  which  the  invaders  were 
three  times  repulsed,  they  entered  the  city 


570 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


which  they  found  burnmg  and  in  ruins. 
About  this  period  the  veteran  general  Kut- 
usoffwas  called  from  retirement  to  take  the 
chief  command,  instead  of  general  Barclay 
de  Tolli,  who  had  incurred  censure  for  re- 
treating from  Smolensko :  on  the  other  hand, 
Buonaparte  omitted  to  attack  the  Russians 
on  their  march  from  Smolensko  to  repass 
the  Dnieper.  On  the  seventh  of  September, 
he  fought  the  bloody  battle  of  Borodmo, 
otherwise  of  Moskwa,  in  which  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  men  were  engaged. 
The  Russians  remained  master  of  the  field, 
but  the  victory  was  claimed  by  both  armies. 
On  each  side  the  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
was  not  less  than  forty  thousand..  Notwith- 
standing this  severe  check,  the  French  suc- 
ceeded, after  a  little  skirmishing,  in  enter- 
ing Moscow,  where  they  hoped  to  have 
found  quarters  for  the  winter ;  but  the  gov- 
ernor, count  Rostopchin,  had  determined  on 
one  of  the  greatest  sacrifices  recorded  in 
history ;  and,  afler  the  painful  operation  of 
withdrawing  from  their  homes  two  hundred 
thousand  human  beings,  the  only  measure 
which  could  disappoint  the  enemy  was  re- 
sorted to,  and  the  destruction  of  the  ancient 
capital  of  Russia  by  fire  was  so  completely 
effected,  that  scarcely  a  tenth  part  of  that 
extensive  city  escaped.  Tlie  French  troops 
entered  Moscow  on  the  fourteenth  of  Sep- 
tember, before  the  flames  had  reached  their 
height,  and  continued  to  occupy  the  ruins 
until  the  assemblage  of  fresh  bodies  of  Rus- 
sian troops,  and  the  approach  of  winter,  be- 
gan to  prove  the  danger  of  prolonging  their 
stay — during  which  Buonaparte  endeavored 
to  impose  on  Europe  by  lying  bulletins. 

Buonaparte,  after  having  in  vam  offered 
peace  to  the  emperor  of  Russia,  commenced 
a  retrograde  movement  on  the  nineteenth 
of  October ;  from  which  period  the  retreat 
of  his  army  towards  the  frontiers  of  Poland 
was  only  an  unbroken  series  of  defeats  and 
disasters,  miseries  and  deaths,  without  a  par- 
allel in  the  annals  of  the  world.  From  the 
time  of  his  crossing  the  Niemen  to  that  of 
the  arrival  of  the  wretched  remnant  of  his 
army  at  Molodetschino,  three  hundred  thou- 
sand human  beings,  French  and  Russians  to- 
gether, not  including  sick  and  wounded, 
were  sacrificed  to  the  guilty  ambition  of  one 
man !  Of  the  immense  French  fijrce  which 
invaded  Russia,  not  one  hundred  thousand 
could  be  mustered  at  the  close  of  the  cam- 
paign ! — in  reality,  at  Moscow,  where  Buo- 
naparte declared  the  campaign  to  be  termi- 
nated, it  was  only  beginning  on  the  part  of 
Russia.  Buonaparte  did  not  remain  to  wit- 
ness the  last  scenes  of  the  tragedy;  but 
leaving  his  men  to  perish  by  the  sword  of 
the  enemy,  by  famine,  or  by  frost,  he  liter- 
ally fled  in  disguise  from  Smorgony  to  Paris, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  eighteenth  of  De- 


cember, and  was  the  herald  of  his  own  dis- 
comfiture, intimating  that  France  would 
now  be  more  in  need  of  him  than  ho  of 
France.  His  name  and  presence,  however, 
were  still  terrible;  and  he  proceeded,  with- 
out fear  or  mercy,  to  drain  the  population 
and  resources  of  France,  in  order  to  appear 
again  in  the  field. 

Russia  exerted  herself  in  the  cabinet  as 
well  as  in  arms :  in  the  course  of  the  year 
she  effected  peace  with  Britain,  with  Swe- 
den, with  Spain,  and  »vith  Turkey.  To  Brit- 
ain she  gave  the  most  substantial  proof  of 
her  sincerity,  by  charging  her  with  the  pro- 
tection of  her  naval  force,  which  was  sent 
to  winter  in  the  English  ports. 
INVASION  OF  CANADA.-ACTIONS  AT  SEA. 

America,  as  already  stated,  declared  war 
against  England  on  the  eighteenth  of  June, 
but  the  British  government  did  not  resort  to 
the  same  measure  till  the  thirteenth  of  Oc- 
tober, in  the  hope  that  the  repeal  of  the  or- 
ders in  council  would  have  induced  the 
Americans  to  revoke  their  hostile  declara- 
tion; their  conduct,  however,  betrayed  so 
much  partiality  for  the  French,  and  so  much 
dislike  of  the  British  and  of  their  naval  pre- 
eminence, that,  although  the  latter  govern- 
ment displayed  as  much  conciliation  as  the 
extraordinary  measures  of  Buonaparte  would 
allow,  the  different  spirit  in  which  the  most 
equivocal  concessions  of  the  French  were 
received,  betrayed  such  a  decided  feeling  of 
hostility  towards  England,  that  war  could  no 
longer  be  averted.  By  land  the  first  efforts 
of  the  Americans  were  directed  againtt 
Canada,  which  was  invaded  by  general  Hull, 
with  so  little  skill,  that  on  the  sixteenth  of 
August  he  surrendered  his  entire  army,  con- 
sisting of  two  thousand  five  hundred  men, 
with  thirty-three  pieces  of  ordnance,  to  an 
inferior  force  of  British  and  Indians,  under 
general  Brock ;  and  on  the  thirteenth  of  Oc- 
tober, a  second  army,  repeating  the  attempt 
on  Canada,  was  completely  defeated,  nine 
hundred  prisoners  being  taken,  and  the  re- 
mainder either  killed  or  wounded.  The  loss 
of  the  English  was  very  slight,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  general  Brock,  who  was  killed 
while  cheering  his  troops,  before  the  engage- 
ment actually  commenced.  At  sea  the  Amer- 
icans were  more  successful ;  a  circumstance 
to  be  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  great  superiori- 
ty of  their  frigates,  in  size,  weight  of  metal, 
and  number  of  men.  Their  advantage,  in 
the  capture  of  the  Guerriere  by  the  Con^^ti- 
tution,  consisted  only  in  an  accession  of 
fame, — for  the  Guerriere  was  burnt :  but,  in 
their  subsequent  capture  of  the  Macedonian, 
the  prize  was  carried,  in  a  sound  state,  into 
an  American  port  Their  privateers  also 
made  numerous  captures  in  the  West  Indies. 
Ministers  were  much  censured  by  the  oppo- 
sition for  a  want  of  foresight  in  not  heiag 


GEORGE  III.  17G0— 1820. 


571 


prepared  with  a  more  efficient  naval  force 
to  contend  with  the  Americans ;  and  several 
ships  of  the  line  were  afterwards  ordered  out 

The  naval  force  of  France  was  in  so  re- 
duced a  state,  that  scarcely  anything  re- 
mained to  be  done.  In  February,  however, 
the  Victorious,  of  seventy-four  guns,  captain 
Talbot,  took  the  Rivoli,  of  seventy-four  guns, 
in  the  Adriatic.  In  March,  the  Rosario 
sloop,  captain  Harvey,  in  company  with  the 
Griffon,  defeated  a  French  flotilla  of  thirteen 
sail,  six  of  which  were  destroyed  or  taken 
off  Boulogne ;  and  in  May,  the  Northum- 
berland, captain  Hotham,  destroyed  two 
French  frigates  and  a  brig,  under  the  bat- 
teries of  the  Isle  of  Groa. 

In  the  East  Indies,  the  strong  fortress  of 
Bundelcund  capitulated  to  a  British  force, 
under  colonel  Martindell ;  an  expedition, 
fitted  out  at  Batavia,  against  Palambang, 
was  completely  successful  ;  the  military 
force  employed  in  it  afterwards  subdued  the 
sultan  of  Djojocarta ;  and  a  treaty  of  alli- 
ance was  concluded  between  Great  Britain 
and  Persia. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT— CHARGES 
AGAINST  PRINCESS  OF  WALES. 

The  new  parliament  assembled  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  November,  when  the  house 
of  commons  unanimously  re-elected  Abbot 
for  their  speaker ;  and  on  the  thirtieth  the 
prince-regent,  for  the  first  time,  delivered  a 
speech  from  the  throne,  the  topics  of  which 
were  principally  the  political  and  military 
occurrences  of  the  year.  Alluding  to  the 
pBainsular  war,  his  royal  highness  expressed 
his  firm  reliance  on  the  determination  of 
parliament  to  continue  every  aid  in  support 
of  a  contest,  w^hich  had  first  given  to  the 
eontinent  of  Europe  the  example  of  perse- 
vering and  successful  resistance  to  the  pow- 
er of  France.  On  the  usual  motion  for  an 
address,  in  the  house  of  lords,  the  marquis 
Wellesley  took  a  review  of  the  past  Spanish 
campaign,  and  argued  that  the  system  adopt- 
ed by  ministers  was  timid  without  prudence, 
and  narrow  without  economy ;  profuse  with- 
out the  fruits  of  expenditure,  and  slow  with- 
out the  benefits  of  caution.  Lord  Liverpool, 
in  reply,  dwelt  on  the  great  exertions  which 
had  been  made,  and  the  addresses  were 
voted  in  both  houses  without  a  division. 

One  of  the  first  measures  of  the  new  par- 
liament was  the  grant  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  to  the  sufferers  in  Russia  by 
the  invasion  of  that  country.  The  sum  of 
one  hundred  thousand  pounds  was  also 
granted  to  lord  Wellington, 

For  a  long  period  no  subject  of  a  domestic 
nature  had  fixed  upon  the  public  mind  with 
so  much  force  as  the  discord  and  alienation 
which  had,  for  years,  subsit^ted  between  the 
prince-regent  and  his  illustrious  consort. 
The  cause  of  these  dissensions  it  would  be 


perhaps  impossible  to  trace ;  but  that  they 
originated  at  a  period  so  early  as  the  firsf 
year  of  the  residence  of  the  princess  of 
Wales  in  this  country,  and  that  they  were 
of  such  a  nature  as  almost  to  dissolve  the 
marriage  contract,  is  clear  from  a  corre- 
spondence which  took  place  between  those 
illustrious  personages  in  the  year  1796.  The 
marriage  was  solemnized  on  the  eighth  of 
April,  1795 ;  the  birth  of  their  only  child 
was  on  the  seventh  of  January  following ; 
and  in  April,  in  the  same  year,  the  prmcesd 
was  informed,  by  a  message  from  the  prince, 
conveyed  through  the  medium  of  lord  Chol- 
mondeley,  that  the  intercourse  between 
them  was,  in  future,  to  be  of  the  most  re- 
strictive nature — in  fact,  that  a  separation 
as  to  all  conjugal  relations  was,  from  that 
time  and  for  ever,  to  take  place.  In  this  ar- 
rangement the  princess  expressed  her  ac- 
quiescence, but  she  considered  the  subject 
of  too  important  a  nature  to  rest  merely  on 
verbal  communication ;  and,  m  compliance 
with  her  request,  the  pleasure  of  his  royal 
highness  was  communicated  in  writing.    In 

1805,  when  the  royal  pair  had  been  for  some 
years  living  in  a  state  of  separation,  the 
duke  of  Sussex  informed  the  prince,  that  Sir 
John  Douglas  had  made  known  to  him  some 
circumstances  respecting  the  behavior  of 
the  princess,  which  might,  if  true,  not  only 
afl^ect  the  honor  and  peace  of  mind  of  his 
royal  highness,  but  also  the  succession  to 
the  throne.  Sir  John  and  lady  Douglas 
having  made  a  formal  declaration  of  the 
charges  they  thought  proper  to  advance 
against  the  princess  of  Wales,  this  declara- 
tion was  submitted  by  the  prince  to  lord 
Thurlow,  who  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the 
matter  must  be  referred  to  the  king.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  opinion,  and  some  further 
examinations,  a  warrant  was  issued  by  Jiis 
majesty,   dated   the   twenty-ninth  of  May, 

1806,  directing  and  authorizing  lord  Erskine, 
as  lord  chancellor, — lord  Grenville,  as  first 
lord  of  the  treasury — earl  Spencer,  as  one 
of  his  majesty's  principal  secretaries  of  state 
— and  lord  Ellenborough,  as  chief-justice  of 
the  court  of  king's  bench,  to  inquire  into 
the  truth  of  the  said  allegations,  and  to  re- 
port to  him  thereon.  These  commissioners 
first  examined  on  oath  the  principal  inform- 
ants, Sir  John  Douglas,  and  Charlotte,  his 
wife  ;  who  both  positively  swore,  the  former 
to  his  having  observed  the  fact  of  the  preg- 
nancy of  her  royal  highness ;  and  the  latter, 
not  only  that  she  had  observed  it,  but  that 
her  royal  higlmess  had  not  made  tlie  least 
scruple  of  talking  about  it  with  her,  and  de- 
scribing the  stratagems  she  meant  to  resort 
to  in  order  to  avoid  detection.  Lady  Douglas 
further  deposed  that,  in  the  year  180*2,  the 
princess  was  secretly  delivered  of  a  male 
child,  which  had  been  brought  up  in  her 


572 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


own  house,  and  under  her  own  inspection. 
On  this  part  of  the  inquiry  the  commission- 
ers reported,  that  there  was  no  foundation 
whatever  for  believing  that  the  child  living 
with  the  princess  was  the  child  of  her  royal 
liighness;  nor  had  anything  appeared  to 
them  that  could  warrant  the  belief  that  she 
was  pregnant  at  any  period  within  the  com- 
pass of  their  inquiries.  That  child  was, 
beyond  all  doubt,  born  in  the  Brownlow- 
street  hospital,  on  the  eleventh  of  July, 
1802,  of  the  body  of  Sophia  Austin,  and  was 
first  brought  to  the  princess's  house  in  the 
month  of  November  following.  As  the  de- 
clarations on  which  the  commissioners  had 
been  ordered  to  inquire  and  report  contain- 
ed other  particulars  respecting  the  conduct 
of  her  royal  highness,  which  must  necessa- 
rily give  occasion  to  very  unfavorable  im- 
pressions, they  proceeded  to  state  that  seve- 
ral strong  circumstances  of  this  description 
had  been  positively  sworn  to,  by  witnesses 
who  could  not,  in  their  judgment,  be  sus- 
pected of  any  unfavorable  bias,  and  whose 
veracity,  in  this  respect,  they  had  no  ground 
to  question.  "It  appears,  therefore,"  con- 
tinued the  commissioners,  "  that  as,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  fact  of  pregnancy  and  delive- 
ry are,  to  our  minds,  satisfactorily  disproved, 
so,  on  the  other,  we  think  that  the  circum- 
stances to  which  we  now  refer,  particularly 
those  stated  to  have  passed  between  her 
royal  highness  and  captain  Manby,  must  be 
credited  until  they  shall  receive  some  de- 
cisive contradiction ;  and,  if  true,  are  justly 
entitled  to  the  most  serious  consideration." 
Immediately  on  the  receipt  of  a  copy  of 
this  report,  the  princess  of  Wales  addressed 
a  letter  to  his  majesty,  in  which,  in  the  face 
of  the  Almighty,  she  asserted  not  only  her 
innocence  as  to  the  weightier  parts  of  the 
charge  preferred  against  her,  but  her  free- 
dom from  all  the  indecorums  and  improprie- 
ties which  had  been  imputed  to  her  by  the 
lords  commissioners,  upon  the  evidence  of 
persons  who  spoke  as  falsely  as  Sir  John 
and  lady  Douglas  themselves.  On  the  sev- 
enteenth of  August  she  again  wrote  to  the 
king,  requesting  that  she  might  have  au- 
thenticated copies  of  the  report,  and  of  the 
declarations  and  depositions  on  which  it 
proceeded.  Having  received  these  papers, 
the  princess  submitted  them  to  her  legal  ad- 
visers, lord  Eldon,  Perceval,  and  Sir  Thom- 
as Plomer;  and  on  the  second  of  October 
she  transmitted  to  his  majesty  an  elaborate 
letter  on  the  subject.  Nine  weeks  having 
elapsed  without  any  reply,  the  princess 
again  wrote,  expressing  her  anxiety  to 
learn  whether  she  might  be  admitted  to  the 
royal  presence ;  in  reply  to  which  her  royal 
highness  was  informed,  that  her  vindication 
hcS  been  referred  to  his  majesty's  confiden- 
tial servants,  who  had  given   it  aa  their 


opinion  that  it  was  no  longer  necessary  for 
his  majesty  to  decline  receiving  the  prin- 
cess into  his  royal  presence;  but  at  the 
same  time  he  hoped  that  such  a  conduct 
would  be  in  future  observed  by  her,  as 
might  fully  justify  those  marks  of  paternal 
regard  and  affection  which  the  king  always 
wished  to  show  to  every  part  of  his  royal 
family.  The  princess  no  sooner  received 
this  communication  than  she  named  a  day, 
on  which,  if  agreeable  to  his  majesty,  she 
would  have  the  happiness  to  throw  herself, 
in  filial  duty  and  affection,  at  his  feet.  The 
day,  however,  was  at  first  postponed  by  his 
majesty,  who  afterwards  informed  the  prin- 
cess that,  at  the  request  of  the  prince  of 
Wales,  he  declined  to  see  her  until  her  vin- 
dication had  been  examined  by  the  lawyers 
of  the  prince,  and  until  his  royal  highness 
had  been  enabled  to  submit  the  statement 
which  he  proposed  to  make  thereon.  The 
princess  remonstrated  in  strong  terms 
against  this  interposition,  and  trusted  that 
his  majesty  would  recall  his  determination 
not  to  see  her  till  the  prince's  answer  re- 
specting her  vmdication  was  received. 

After  a  lapse  of  three  weeks  the  prin- 
cess informed  his  majesty  that,  having  re- 
ceived no  intimation  of  his  pleasure,  she 
was  reduced  to  the  necessity,  in  vindication 
of  her  character,  to  resort  to  the  publica- 
tion of  the  proceedings  upon  the  inquiry 
into  her  conduct :  and  that  the  publication 
alluded  to  would  not  be  withheld  beyond 
the  following  Monday.  To  avoid  this  pain- 
ful extremity  she  had  taken  every  step  in 
her  power,  except  that  which  would  be 
abandoning  her  character  to  utter  infamy, 
and  her  station  in  life  to  no  uncertain  dan- 
ger, and  possibly  to  no  very  distant  destruc- 
tion. This  letter  was  dated  the  fifth  of 
March,  soon  after  which  Perceval  and  his 
friends  were  intrusted  with  the  seals  of  of- 
fice; and  when  the  ministerial  arrange- 
ments were  completed,  a  minute  of  council 
was  made,  dated  the  twenty-second  of  April, 
1807,  wherein  it  was  humbly  submitted  to 
his  majesty,  that  it  was  essentially  necessa- 
ry, in  justice  to  her  royal  highness,  and  for 
the  honor  and  interest  of  his  majesty's  il- 
lustrious family,  that  the  princess  of  Wales 
should  be  admitted  into  his  presence,  and  be 
received  in  a  manner  due  to  her  rank  and 
station.  Notwithstanding  this  advice,  it 
does  not  appear  that  she  was  ever  restored 
to  complete  favor,  and  her  intercourse  with 
her  daughter  also  became  subject  to  great 
restraint.  Nothing,  however,  occurred,  that 
is  publicly  or  oflScially  known,  till  January, 
1813,  at  which  time  the  princess  was  so 
much  debarred  from  the  society  of  her 
daughter,  that  she  determined  to  write  to 
the  prince-regent  on  the  siibject.  In  thi« 
letter,  which  waa  transmitted  to  ministers 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


573 


on  the  fourteenth,  she  dwelt  with  great 
force  upon  the  injustice  of  widening  the 
separation  between  mother  and  daughter, 
which  she  considered  as  not  only  cutting 
her  off  from  one  of  the  few  domestic  en- 
joyments which  she  still  retained,  but  as 
countenancing  those  calumnious  reports 
which  had  been  proved  to  be  unfounded. 
In  consequence  of  this  letter,  which  shortly 
appeared  in  a  daily  journal,  the  prince-re- 
gent directed  that  the  whole  of  the  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  investigation  of  1806, 
(inappropriately  called  the  "  delicate  inves- 
tigation,") should  be  referred  to  the  privy- 
council,  to  report  whether  the  intercourse 
between  the  princess  and  her  daughter 
should  continue  under  restriction.  In  virtue 
of  this  appointment,  the  members  of  the 
council  assembled  on  the  twenty-third  of 
February,  when  they  reported  that,  in  their 
opinion,  it  was  highly  fit  and  proper  that 
the  intercourse  between  the  princess  of 
Wales  and  the  princess  Charlotte  should 
continue  to  be  subject  to  regulation  and  re- 
straint. 

1813. — On  the  first  of  March  the  princess 
of  Wales  addressed  a  letter  to  the  speaker 
of  the  house  of  commons,  in  which  she 
complained  that  the  tendency  of  this  report, 
a  copy  of  which  had  been  transmitted  to 
her  by  lord  Sidmouth,  was  to  cast  aspersions 
upon  her  honor  and  character.  Thus  as- 
sailed by  a  secret  tribunal,  before  which  she 
could  not  be  heard  in  her  own  defence,  she 
was  compelled  to  throw  herself  upon  the 
house,  and  to  require  that  the  fullest  inves- 
tigation might  be  instituted  into  the  whole 
of  her  conduct  during  her  residence  in  this 
country.  On  the  fifth  of  March  C.  John 
stone,  after  avowing  that  he  had  no  concert 
with,  or  authority  from,  the  princess,  sub- 
mitted to  the  house  of  commons  a  motion 
for  an  address  to  the  prince-regent,  request- 
ing him  to  order  that  a  copy  of  the  report 
made  to  his  majesty  on  the  fourteenth  of 
July,  1808,  touching  the  conduct  of  her 
royal  highness,  the  princess  of  Wales,  be 
laid  before  the  house,  with  a  view  to  an  in- 
quiry now,  while  the  witnesses  on  both  sides 
were  still  living,  into  all  the  allegations, 
facts,  and  circumstances,  appertaining  to 
that  investigation ;  a  proceeding,  which,  in 
his  opinion,  was  due  to  the  honor  of  her 
royal  highness,  the  safety  of  the  throne,  and 
the  tranquillity  of  the  country.  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  in  opposing  the  motion,  said  that 
the  house  could  not  consider  the  papers 
called  for  at  all  necessary  to  remove  any 
apprehension  as  to  the  successor  to  the 
throne.  The  innocence  of  the  princess  of 
Wales  had  been  established  on  the  report 
of  the  members  of  two  successive  adminis- 
trations ;  and,  if  a  prosecution  had  not  been 
instituted  against  her  accusers,  it  arose  only 


from  a  wish  to  avoid  bringing  such  eubjecta 
before  the  public.  It  may  suflice  to  add, 
that  the  document  called  for  was  not  pro- 
duced ;  the  princess  was  declared  free  from 
imputation ;  and  addresses  of  congratulation 
poured  in  upon  her  from  all  quarters  of  the 
kingdom. 

VICE-CHANCELLOR  APPOINTED— DECLA- 
RATION ON  AMERICAN  WAR. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  accumula- 
tion of  business  in  the  court  of  chancery,  a 
bill,  proposed  by  lord  Redesdale,  was  passed 
this  session  for  the  appointment  of  a  vice- 
chancellor  of  England,  with  full  power  to 
determine  all  cases  of  law  and  equity  in  the 
court  of  chancery,  to  the  same  extent  as  the 
chancellors  had  been  accustomed  to  deter- 
mine ;  and  his  decrees  were  to  be  of  equal 
validity,  but  subject  to  the  revision  of  the 
lord-chancellor,  and  not  to  be  enrolled  until 
signed  by  him. 

On  the  ninth  of  January,  a  declaration 
was  issued,  m  which  the  prince-regent  sta- 
ted that  he  could  never  acknowledge  any 
blockade  which  had  been  duly  notified,  and 
which  was  supported  by  an  adequate  force, 
to  be  illegal,  merely  upon  the  ground  of  its 
extent,  or  because  the  ports  or  coasts  were 
not  at  the  same  time  invested  by  land  ;  nei- 
ther could  he  admit  that  neutral  trade  with 
Great  Britain  could  be  constituted  a  public 
crime,  subjecting  the  ships  of  any  power  to 
be  denationalized ;  that  Great  Britain  couiJ 
be  debarred  of  her  just  and  necessary  retalia- 
tion through  the  fear  of  eventually  affecting 
the  interests  of  a  neutral ;  or  that  the  right 
of  searching  neutral  merchant-vessels  in 
time  of  war,  and  the  impressment  of  Brit- 
ish seamen  found  therein,  could  be  deemed 
any  violation  of  a  neutral  flag. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  February,  a  mo- 
tion for  referring  the  Catholic  claims  to  a 
committee  of  the  whole  house,  was  carried 
in  the  commons  by  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  votes  against  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  ;  and,  on  the  thirtieth  of  April,  Grattan 
presented  a  bill  for  the  removal  of  the  civil 
and  military  disqualifications  under  which 
his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects  labor- 
ed. On  its  passage  through  a  committee. 
Abbot,  the  speaker,  divided  the  house  on  the 
clause  by  which  Roman  Catholic  members 
were  to  be  admitted  to  a  seat  in  parliament ; 
and,  on  its  bemg  rejected  by  a  majority  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty-one  against  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-seven,  the  bill  was  abandoned 
by  its  friends.  The  extensive  principles  of 
religious  toleration  professed  in  the  discus- 
sions on  this  question,  rendered  the  time  fa- 
vorable for  relieving  persons  impugning  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  from  the  pains  and 
penalties  to  which  they  were  by  law  subject, 
and  William  Smith  moved  for  leave  to  bring 


574 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


in  a  bill  for  this  purpose.  As  the  law  stood, 
he  said,  any  one  denying  the  existence  of 
any  of  the  Persons  of  the  Trinity  was  dis- 
abled from  holding  any  office,  civil,  ecclesi- 
astical, or  military ;  and,  if  a  second  time 
convicted,  he  was  disabled  to  sue  or  prose- 
cute in  any  action  or  information,  or  to  be  the 
guardian  of  any  child,  and  was  liable  to  im- 
prisonment for  three  years.  The  bill  under- 
went no  opposition  in  either  house.  It  may 
also  be  here  mentioned  that  an  act  was  pass- 
ed, during  this  session,  for  establishing  some 
proportion  between  the  stipends  of  curates 
and  the  value  of  the  livings  which  they 
served ;  the  necessitous  condition  of  many 
who  performed  the  duty  of  non-resident 
clergymen  having  too  long  been  a  reproach 
to  the  church  of  England. 

The  heavy  expenses  of  the  war  rendered 
a  new  plan  of  finance  necessary;  and,  in 
submitting  his  propositions  to  a  committee 
of  the  whole  house,  Vansittart  said,  that 
further  measures  might  be  taken  for  pro- 
moting and  facilitating  the  redemption  of 
the  land-tax,  the  produce  of  which  should  be 
applied  to  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt. 
In  the  second  place,  he  proposed  that,  on  all 
loans  hereafter  to  be  contracted,  there  should 
be  a  provision  made  for  discharging  the  debt; 
and  his  third  proposition  was  a  measure  for 
the  repeal  of  part  of  the  act  of  1802,  regard- 
ing the  sinking  fund,  probably  in  conse- 
quence of  its  having  been  demonstrated 
about  this  time,  that  Ihe  sinking  fund  had 
added  as  much  to  the  public  debt  as  it  had 
redeemed,  besides  heavy  expenses.  This 
fund,  he  said,  should  be  sacredly  supported 
to  a  certain  amount;  but  he  believed  it 
might  be  shown  that  its  enormous  increase, 
by  throwing  into  the  market  immense  sums 
of  money  at  one  time,  would  produce  injuri- 
ous effects.  When  the  establishment  of  a 
sinking  fund  was  proposed  by  Pitt,  in  1786, 
the  national  debt  amounted  to  nearly  two 
hundred  and  forty  million  pounds — a  sum  of 
which  few  then  living  ever  hoped  to  see  the 
redemption,  but  which,  he  said,  had  already 
been  effected ;  while,  within  the  same  period 
two  hundred  million  pounds  of  war  taxes 
had  been  paid  by  the  unexampled  exertions 
of  the  country.  By  the  original  constitution 
of  the  fund,  the  stock  purchased  by  the 
commissioners  was  not  cancelled,  but  was 
still  considered  to  be  their  property ;  and  the 
interest  was  regularly  applied  by  them  to 
the  further  discharge  of  the  national  debt. 
This  arrangement,  securing  an  accumula- 
tion by  compound  interest,  was  now  abolish- 
ed. Till  the  complete  redemption  of  the 
debt,  Vansittart  proposed  to  make  good  to 
the  sinking  fund  the  annual  sum  of  eight 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  pounds,  which 
would  have  been  appropriated  to  the  differ- 
ent sums  provided  for  in  1802,  if  that  con- 


solidation had  not  taken  place,  and  if  those 
sums  had  been  accompanied  by  the  usual 
redeeming  fund  of  one  per  cent.  If  this 
plan  were  adopted,  no  fresh  taxes  would  be 
required  for  four  years,  except  about  one 
million  pounds  for  1813.  In  submitting  tlie 
proposed  ways  and  means  for  the  year,  in 
case  his  plan  with  respect  to  the  sinking 
fund  should  not  be  adopted,  the  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  stated  that  the  sum  to  be 
raised  was  one  million  one  hundred  and 
thirty-six  thousand  pounds,  for  which  he 
meant  to  provide  by  an  additional  duty  on 
tobacco,  in  lieu  of  the  proposed  auction  duty 
of  last  year ;  additional  duties  on  the  consoli- 
dated customs,  with  some  exceptions;  an 
addition  of  one  shilling  one  penny  per  bottle 
on  French  wines ;  an  increase  of  two-thirds 
on  goods  imported  from  France  and  her  de- 
pendencies ;  an  increase  generally  of  one- 
half  the  present  amount  of  the  war  duties 
on  exports;  and  an  additional  duty  of  a 
penny  per  pound  on  the  export  of  foreign 
hides.  The  various  resolutions  were  agreed 
to  without  material  opposition. 

The  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  East 
India  company,  concerning  which  innumera- 
ble petitions  had  been  presented,  came  be- 
fore the  house  of  commons  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  March,  lord  Castlereagh  having 
stated,  that  the  term  of  the  existing  charter 
would  expire  in  May,  1814,  and  that  his 
majesty's  ministers  had  to  consider  three 
propositions — Whether  the  existing  govern- 
ment in  India  should  be  allowed  to  continue 
in  its  present  state — whether  an  entire 
change  should  take  place  in  the  system — or 
whether  a  middle  course  should  be  adopted. 
On  a  question  of  so  much  importance  it  was 
deemed  necessary  to  hear  evidence  at  the 
bar ;  and  the  witnesses,  chiefly  persons  who 
had  occupied  high  staJions  in  India,  were 
generally  against  operilhg  the  trade,  or  al- 
lowing missionaries  to  repair  to  the  east  for 
the  purpose  of  converting  the  natives.  On 
this  subject,  however,  so  much  zeal  had  been 
displayed  in  many  of  the  petitions,  that,  after 
much  discussion,  it  was  at  length  resolved 
that  such  measures  ought  to  be  adopted  as 
might  tend  to  the  introduction  of  useful 
knowledge,  and  of  religious  and  moral  im- 
provement, among  the  natives ;  and  that  fa- 
cilities should  be  afforded  to  persons  desi- 
rous of  going  to,  and  remaining  in,  India  for 
these  purposes.  After  the  subject  had  occu- 
pied the  attention  of  parliament  for  some 
months,  a  bill,  founded  on  certain  resolu- 
tions proposed  by  lord  Castlereagh,  was  in- 
troduced, and  read  a  third  time  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  July.  It  secured  to  the  company, 
for  a  further  term  of  twenty  years,  or  until 
April,  1834,  all  their  possessions  in  India, 
including  the  later  acquisitions,  continental 
and   insular,  to  the  north  of  the  equator. 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


575 


Their  exclusive  right  to  commercial  inter- 
course with  China,  and  to  the  trade  in  tea, 
was  confirmed.  British  subjects  in  general 
were  permitted  to  trade  to  and  from  all  ports 
within  the  limits  of  the  charter,  under  cer- 
tain provisions:  all  ships  engaging  in  this 
private  trade  to  be  of  the  burden  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  or  upwards,  and  those 
for  the  settlements  of  Fort  William,  Fort 
St  George,  Bombay,  and  Prince  of  Wales's 
Island,  to  be  provided  with  a  license,  which 
the  court  of  directors  were  bound  to  grant : 
to  all  other  places  a  special  license  was  re- 
quired, which  the  directors  might  grant  or 
refuse,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  board  of 
control.  The  church  establishment  in  the 
British  territories  in  India  was  placed  under 
the  direction  of  a  bishop  and  three  archdea- 
cons. The  application  of  the  company's 
territorial  revenues  was  directed  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  military  force  and  to  the 
establishments  at  their  settlements,  the  pay- 
ment of  the  interest  of  their  debts  in  Eng- 
land, the  liquidation  of  their  territorial  debt, 
their  bond  debt  at  home,  and  such  other  pur- 
poses as  the  directors,  with  the  approbation 
of  the  board  of  control,  might  appoint  The 
dividend  on  India  stock  was  limited  to  ten 
per  cent  until  the  fund,  called  the  separate 
fund,  should  be  exhausted,  when  it  was  to  be 
ten  and  a  half  per  cent ;  and  the  number  of 
king's  troops,  for  which  payment  was  to  be 
made  by  the  company,  was  limited  to  twenty 
thousand,  unless  a  greater  number  should 
be  sent  to  India  at  the  request  of  the  direc- 
tors. Thus  the  new  charter  secured  to  the 
East  India  company  all  the  political  power 
they  could  reasonably  desire,  whilst  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  exclusive  right  of  trading 
between  China  and  Great  Britain  left  the 
most  valuable  portion  of  their  mercantile 
business  without  competition. 

TREATY  WITH  SWEDEN. 
The  treaty  with  Sweden  was  laid  before 


parliament  on  the  eleventh  of  June,  and 
excited  strong  animadversions.  The  king 
of  Sweden  having  engaged  to  employ  a 
force  of  not  less  than  Siirty  thousand  men 
in  concert  with  the  Russians,  Great  Britain 
so  fiir  acceded  to  a  compact  between  the 
courts  of  Stockholm  and  Petersburgh,  as 
not  only  to  oppose  no  obstacle  to  the  annex- 
ation of  Norway  to  Sweden,  but  to  assist,  if 
necessary,  in  obtaining  that  object,  by  a 
naval  co-operation;  his  Britannic  majesty 
also  engaging,  independently  of  other  suc- 
cors, to  ftirnish  to  Sweden,  for  the  service 
of  the  current  campaign,  the  sum  of  one  ipil- 
lion  pounds,  and  to  cede  to  her  the  island  of 
Guadaloupe.  The  king  of  Sweden  recipro- 
cally granted  to  the  subjects  of  his  Britannic 
majesty,  for  twenty  years,  the  right  of  en- 
trepot in  the  ports  of  Gottenburg,  Carlsham, 
and  Stralsund,  for  all  commodities  of  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  upon  a  duty  of  one 
per  cent  ad  valorem.  Lord  Holland  depre- 
cated the  transfer  of  Norway,  denounced 
the  cession  of  Guadaloupe,  and  opposed  the 
subsidy  as  inconsistent  with  the  financial 
difficulties  under  which  the  country  was 
laboring.  His  proposal,  however,  to  suspend 
the  execution  of  the  treaty,  was  rejected. 

The  session  closed  on  the  twenty-second 
of  July  with  a  speech  from  the  throne,  ex- 
pressing satisfaction  at  the  favorable  state  of 
affairs  on  the  continent,  and  regret  at  the 
continuance  of  war  with  the  United  States ; 
declaring,  however,  that  the  prince-regent 
could  not  consent  to  purchase  peace  by  a 
sacrifice  of  the  maritime  rights  of  Great 
Britain.  He  approved  of  the  arrangements 
for  the  government  of  British  India,  and  ex- 
pressed his  resolution  to  employ  the  means 
placed  in  his  hands  by  parliament,  in  such  a 
manner  as  might  be  best  calculated  to  re- 
duce the  extravagant  pretensions  of  the 
enemy,  and  facilitate  the  attainment  of  a 
safe  and  honorable  peace. 


576 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


Prussia  declares  against  France— Battle  of  Lutzen—Artnistice— Renewal  of  Hos- 
tilities— Austria  joins  the  Gi-and  Alliance — Battle  btfore  Dresden — Battle  of  Dcn- 
nevitz — Bavaria  joins  the  Allies — Rout  of  Buonaparte  at  Leipzic — Revolution  in 
Holland  and  Successes  in  Spain — Battle  of  Vitloria — Capture  of  St.  Sebastian — 
Lord  Wellington  enters  France — Failure  of  Sir  John  Murray  before  Tarragona — 
Campaign  in  America — Naval  Engagements — Meeting  of  Farliamcnt — Froceed- 
iiigs — Peace  with  Denmark — Transfer  of  Norway  to  Sweden — Marat  joins  the 
Allies — Lord  Wellijigton  crosses  the  Adour — Battle  of  Orthes — Soult  retreats  to 
Toulouse — The  Allies  cross  the  Rhine,  and  enter  France — Treaty  of  Chaumont — 
Battle  of  Craone — Occupation  of  Paris  by  Capitulation — Abdication  of  Buona- 
parte— Battle  of  Toulouse — Convention  of  Paris — Entrance  of  Louis  XVIIL — 
Treaty  of  Peace — Royal  Visitors  to  England — Restoration  of  the  Pope — Return  of 
Ferdinand  to  Spain — South  American  Affairs — Parliamentary  Proceedings — 
Honors  conferred  on  the  Duke  of  Wellington — Princess  of  Wales — State  of  Ire- 
land— Treaty  with  Holland — Congress  of  Vienna. 


PRUSSIA  DECLARES  AGAINST  FRANCE. 
—BATTLE  OF  LUTZEN. 

In  the  year  1813,  the  first  event  of  im- 
portance which  occurred  was  the  defection 
of  the  Prussian  general,  D'Yorck,  who  en- 
tered into  a  convention  with  the  Russian 
f^-eneral,  Wittgenstein,  now  appointed  to  the 
command  in  chief  on  the  death  of  the 
veteran  KutusofF,  but  shortly  afterwards  suc- 
ceeded by  Barclay  de  ToUi.  That  conven- 
lion  the  king  of  Prussia,  then  within  the 
f  rasp  of  Buonaparte,  refused  to  ratify ;  but 
ro  sooner  had  he  freed  himself  from  the  ap- 
trehension  of  peril — no  sooner  did  he  per- 
ceive that  there  was  a  chance  for  emancipa- 
tion for  himself  and  his  country — than  he 
conferred  the  most  distinguished  approbation 
upon  D'Yorck. 

As  tlie  year  advanced  a  Russian  envoy 
vas  dispatched  to  Vienna;  an  Austrian  am- 
]  assador  arrived  in  London ;  and  Sweden, 
I  y  landing  a  considerable  force  in  Swedish 
Pomerania,  struck  the  first  decisive  blow 
{.gainst  the  French.  During  the  three  first 
months  Buonaparte  strained  every  nerve  to 
recruit  his  armies,  or  more  properly  speak- 
ing, to  create  new  ones.  By  the  third  of 
April,  decrees  had  been  passed  for  levies  to 
:  he  amount  of  five  hundred  and  thirty-five 
thousand  men;  and  it  was  then  estimated 
Ihat  ho  would  have  four  hundred  thousand 
on  the  Elbe,  two  hundred  thousand  in  Spain, 
and  two  hundred  thousand  partly  on  the 
Rhine,  and  partly  in  Italy.  On  the  fifteenth 
of  April  he  left  Paris,  the  empress  Maria 
Louisa  having  first  been  declared  regent  of 
the  French  empire  "  till  the  moment  when 
victory  should  return  the  emperor."  Previ- 
ously to  this  the  king  of  Prussia  had  issued 
an  edict,  abolishing  the  continental  system ; 
the  emperor  of  Austria  was  understood  to 
have  formed  the  resolution  of  taking  part 


against  France,  unless  Buonaparte  should 
listen  to  his  offer  of  mediation;  and  the 
crown-prince  of  Sweden,  over  whose  inten- 
tions some  clouds  of  doubt  yet  hung,  had 
resolved  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
Swedish  armies. 

About  this  time  a  Danish  mission  ar- 
rived in  England,  and  for  a  while  the  hope 
was  indulged  that  peace  between  Britain 
and  Denmark  would  be  restored  ;  but  the 
demands  of  the  latter  being  inadmissible, 
or,  according  to  other  accounts,  the  cession 
of  Norway  to  Sweden  being  demanded  by 
this  country,  occasioned  the  failure  of  the 
negotiation. 

On  the  second  of  IMay  was  fought  the 
great  battle  of  Lutzen,  in  which  the  village 
of  Gros-Gorschen  was  six  times  taken  and 
retaken  by  the  bayonet;  but  the  allies  at 
length  drove  the  French  from  their  positions, 
and  remained  masters  of  the  field ;  though 
they  subsequently  found  it  necessary  to  fiul 
back  beyond  the  Elbe,  which  they  effected 
in  perfect  order.  Here  they  received  con- 
siderable reinforcements,  and  another  dread- 
ful battle,  or  rather  a  succession  of  battles, 
took  place  from  the  nineteenth  to  the  twen- 
ty-second, at  and  near  Bautzen,  of  the  same 
character  as  the  action  at  Lutzen ;  the  re- 
sult of  which,  according  to  the  French  ac- 
counts, was,  that  they  lost  between  eleven 
and  twelve  thousand  men  in  killed  and 
wounded,  and  the  allies  ten  thousand ;  and 
that  they  advanced  about  thirty  miles,  the 
allies  retiring  before  them,  unbroken  and 
formidable,  into  the  Prussian  territory. 
These  engagements  were  fatolly  ominous 
to  Buonaparte :  in  the  action  of  the  twenty- 
first  he  was  deserted  by  a  part  of  the  Saxon 
and  of  the  Wirtemburg  troops ;  and  on  the 
twenty-second  the  celebrated  marshal  Duroc 
Vv  as  nsortaily  wounded.     In  an  engagement 


GEORGE  ILL   1760—1820. 


577 


previous  to  the  battle  of  Lutzen  the  French 
also  lost  marshal  Bessieres,  who  was  killed 
by  a  cannon-ball. 

AUSTRIA  JOINS  THE  ALLIANCE. 
Buonaparte  now  listened,  or  affected  to 
listen,  to  the  proposition  for  a  congress  to  be 
holden  at  Prague,  for  negotiating  a  general 
peace;  and,  in  pursuance  of  that  object,  a 
suspension  of  hostilities  was  agreed  upon  on 
the  first  of  June ;  and  on  the  fourth  an  ar- 
mistice, to  continue  on  all  points  till  the 
twentieth  of  July,  was  finally  concluded  and 
ratified — hostilities  not  to  recommence  with- 
out six  days'  notice.  At  the  request  of  Aus- 
tria, who  appears  to  have  been  the  prime 
mover  in  this  aflfair,  the  armistice  was  pro- 
longed till  the  tenth  of  August :  every  at- 
tempt, however,  at  negotiation  failed;  and 
on  the  seventeenth,  agreeably  to  notice,  hos- 
tilities again  commenced.  Austria,  having 
signed  a  treaty  by  which  she  became  a 
member  of  the  grand  alliance,  having  for 
its  object  the  recovery  of  the  independence 
of  Europe,  had  issued  a  declaration  of  war 
against  France ;  and  at  the  different  inter- 
views which,  during  the  armistice,  had  taken 
place  between  the  respective  sovereigns 
and  their  ministers,  it  had  been  determined 
that  the  crown-prince  of  Sweden  should  be 
invested  with  the  chief  command  of  the 
combined  forces. 

BATTLES  OF  DRESDEN,  DENNEVITZ, 

AND  LEIPZIG. 
Various  movements  and  affairs  of  posts 
took  place  immediately  on  the  renewal  of 
hostilities ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  August  that  a  general  battle  was 
fought  before  Dresden,  in  which  general 
Vandamme  and  six  other  French  generals, 
with  many  officers  of  rank,  six  standards, 
sixty  pieces  of  artillery,  and  ten  thousand 
prisoners,  were  taken.  On  the  twenty-sixth 
general  Blucher,  whose  active  and  intrepid 
exertions  obtained  him  that  distinction  which 
has  attached  so  much  glory  to  his  name,  had 
taken  fifty  pieces  of  artillery,  thirty  tum- 
brils and  ammunition-wagons,  and  ten  thou- 
sand prisoners;  and,  renewing  the  contest 
on  the  following  day,  he  took  thirty  more 
pieces  of  cannon,  and  five  thousand  prisoners. 
The  loss  of  the  French  was  also  increased, 
and  the  allies  proportionably  strengthened, 
by  the  desertion  of  two  Westphalian  regi- 
ments during  the  principal  battle.  In  the 
action  of  the  twenty-eighth,  the  brave,  but 
»  unfortunate,  general  Moreau  received  a 
mortal  wound  while  in  earnest  conversation 
with  the  emperor  of  Russia.  He  had  ar- 
rived at  Gottenburgh  from  America  in  May, 
and  proceeding  to  join  his  countryman  and 
early  companion  in  arms,  Bernadotte,  was 
appointed  to  the  high  station  of  major-general 
of  the  allied  army.  His  judicious  advice 
respecting  the  plan  of  the  campaign  was 
Vol.  IV.  49 


considered  of  high  importance,  and  his  loss 
was  much  regretted  by  the  allies.  On  the 
twenty-ninth  general  Blucher  again  defeated 
the  enemy,  taking  general  Putton  prisoner, 
with  twenty  eagles,  and  twenty-two  pieces 
of  cannon. 

The  crown-prince  achieved  a  signal  vic- 
tory on  the  sixteenth  of  September,  at  Den- 
nevitz,  over  marshal  Ney,  on  which  occasion 
the  loss  of  the  French  was  stated  at  sixteen 
thousand  men.  From  the  recommencement 
of  hostilities,  down  to  this  period,  the  entire 
loss  of  the  enemy  was  estimated  at  upwards 
of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pieces  of  cannon. 

Feeling  the  severity  of  their  losses,  an  ex- 
traordinary sitting  of  the  French  senate  was 
holden  on  the  fourth  of  October,  the  empress 
Maria  Louisa  attending  in  person.  The  ob- 
ject of  this  sitting  was  to  pass  a  decree  for 
another  levy  of  two  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  men.  But  France  had  yet  greater, 
severer  losses  to  sustain.  The  defection  of 
the  king  of  Bavaria,  and  his  junction  with 
the  allied  powers ;  tlie  defeat,  the  total  rout 
of  Buonaparte  at  Leipzic  on  the  sixteenth, 
eighteenth,  and  nineteenth  of  October,  with 
the  loss  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  tliousand 
men,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  pieces  of 
cannon,  were  yet  to  be  proclaimed  to  the 
world.  Previously  to  this  last  and  decisive 
conflict,  (during  which  seventeen  battalions 
of  German  infantry,  with  all  their  staff,  and 
two  regiments  of  Westphalian  huzzars,  with 
twenty-two  pieces  of  artillery,  came  over  to 
the  allies,)  Buonaparte  had  been  concentrat- 
ing his  forces  at  Leipzic,  while  the  allies 
extended  themselves  on  every  side,  and  pre- 
pared for  battle.  In  the  grand  contest  for 
this  city,  a  greater  force  had  assembled  than 
had  almost  ever  acted  on  so  confined  a  thea- 
tre ;  and  the  attack  of  the  allies  on  the  six- 
teenth, after  much  slaughter,  lefl  both  ar- 
mies in  nearly  the  positions  they  held  at  its 
commencement.  The  seventeenth  passed 
chiefly  in  preparation  for  the  great  action 
of  the  next  day,  which  was  directed  upon  the 
town  itself,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  which 
Buonaparte  had  lost  forty  thousand  men,  and 
sixty-five  pieces  of  cannon.  His  army  began 
to  defile  towards  Weissenfels  during  the 
night,  and  in  the  morning  of  the  nineteentli 
the  magistrates  of  Leipzic  requested  a  sus- 
pension of  arms,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging 
a  capitulation;  but,  as  it  was  easily  seen 
that  this  was  an  artifice  to  facilitate  tlie  escape 
of  the  French,  the  emperor  Alexander  would 
allow  no  respite,  and  the  allied  forces  were 
led  to  the  attack.  After  a  short  resistance 
they  carried  tlie  city,  which  was  entered  by 
the  emperor  of  Russia,  the  king  of  Prussia, 
and  the  crown-prince  of  Sweden,  about  two 
hours  after  Buonaparte  had  quitted  it  The 
French  were  flying  in  utter  confusion  over 


578 


mSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAUV. 


the  Elster ;  the  bridge  was  blocked  up;  prison- 
ers were  taken  by  thousands;  and  many 
who  plunged  into  the  stream  perished.  The 
wliole  of  the  rear-guard  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  allies ;  among  the  prisoners  were  Reg- 
nier,  Brune,  Valfery,  Bertrand,  and  Lauris- 
ton,  together  with  the  king  of  Saxony  and 
his  whole  court ;  Macdonald  with  difficulty 
gained  the  opposite  bank,  and  prince  Ponia- 
towski  was  drowned  in  the  attempt. 

Buonaparte  retreated  through  Erfurt  with 
about  seventy  or  eighty  thousand  men,  and 
at  Hanau  was  opposed  by  thirty  thousand 
Bavarians,  under  general  Wrede,  who  did 
not  retire  until  they  had  sustained  a  consid- 
erable loss.  On  the  second  of  November  he 
reached  Mentz,  and,  continuing  his  retreat 
through  Frankfort,  crossed  the  Rhine  on  the 
seventh  of  November,  when  he  again  de- 
serted the  shattered  remains  of  his  army, 
and  fled  to  Paris. 

The  immediate  consequences  of  this  grand 
overthrow  were  great  and  glorious  beyond 
expectation.  The  house  of  Orange  was  re- 
instated in  Holland;  Hanover  and  Bruns- 
wick were  restored  to  their  rightful  sove- 
reigns ;  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine  was 
dissolved;  the  Rhine  itself  was  passed  by 
the  allies ;  and  the  "  sacred  territory "  of 
France,  covered,  as  it  had  been,  by  so  many 
vassal  states,  was  now  laid  open  to  its  very 
frontier. 

The  first  steps  of  Buonaparte,  after  his 
arrival  at  Paris,  were  to  throw  an  oppres- 
sive weight  of  taxation  upon  the  people,  and 
to  decree  a  new  levy  of  three  hundred 
thousand  conscripts,  to  be  sacrificed  at  the 
shrine  of  unprincipled  ambition.  Shortly  after 
the  issuing  of  this  decree,  the  allied  powers 
promulgated  a  declaration,  offering  peace  to 
Buonaparte  on  the  liberal  basis  of  guaranty- 
ing to  the  French  empire  "  an  extent  of  ter- 
ritory which  France,  under  her  kings,  never 
knew ;"  On  this  basis,  Buonaparte  professed 
himself  willing  to  treat ;  and  a  congress 
was  therefore  expected  to  assemble  at  Man- 
he  im  to  negotiate  a  general  peace.  It  was 
the  desire  of  Buonaparte  that,  during  the 
negotiating,  an  armistice  should  be  pro- 
claimed ;  but  to  this  the  allies  very  pru- 
dently refused  to  assent. 

REVOLUTION  IN  HOLLAND. 

The  revolution  in  Holland  appeared  as 
the  sudden  burst  of  public  feeling,  though  it 
did  not  take  place  without  previous  concert. 
The  people  of  Amsterdam  rose  in  a  body, 
and,  with  the  old  cry  of  Oranje  Boven, 
put  up  the  Orange  colors,  and  proclaimed 
the  sovereignty  of  that  house.  On  the  six- 
teenth of  November,  an  administration  was 
organized  under  the  direction  of  the  armed 
burghers,  and  many  of  the  leading  citizens 
took  upon  themselves  the  care  of  preserving 


order.  Similar  measures  wore  adopted  at 
the  Hague,  Rotterdam,  and  other  places. 
The  intelligence  of  these  events  was  brought 
over  on  the  twenty-first  to  London,  by  a 
deputation,  for  the  purpose  of  inviting  the 
prince  of  Orange  to  place  himself  at  the 
head  of  his  countrymen — a  call  which  he 
readily  obeyed.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  No- 
vember, he  embarked  at  Deal,  accompanied 
by  the  earl  of  Clancarty,  and  on  the  third  of 
December  made  his  solemn  entry  into  Am- 
sterdam, where  he  was  proclaimed  by  the 
title  of  William  the  First,  sovereign  prince 
of  the  united  Netherlands. 

SUCCESSES  IN  SPAIN.— BATTLE  OF  VIT- 
TORIA. 

In  Spain  lord  Wellington  had,  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  May,  entered  Salamanca, 
the  French  precipitately  evacuating  the  city 
on  his  approach ;  and  on  the  following  day, 
apparently  fearful  of  being  cut  oflf  by  the 
rapid  advance  of  the  allied  army,  they  com- 
menced a  hasty  evacuation  of  Madrid,  and 
of  all  the  posts  in  its  vicinity.  Lord  Wel- 
lington continued  to  advance,  the  French 
flying  before  him  in  every  direction ;  and, 
on  the  thirteenth  of  June,  they  blew  up  the 
inner  walls  of  Burgos,  fled  from  that  for- 
tress, and  abandoned  the  whole  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  Ebro,  which  general  Graham  im- 
mediately passed.  Lord  Wellington's  next 
laurels  were  gathered  on  the  plains  of  Vit- 
toria,  where,  on  the  twenty-first  of  June,  he 
obtained  a  complete  victory  over  marshal 
Jourdan.  The  French  lost  one  hundred  and 
fifty-one  pieces  of  cannon,  four  hundred  and 
fifteen  wagons  of  ammunition,  all  their 
baggage,  provisions,  and  treasure,  with  their 
commander's  baton  of  a  marshal  of  France. 
Lord  Wellington  continued  the  pursuit,  and 
on  the  twenty-fifth  took  their  only  remain- 
ing gun.  The  battle  of  Vittoria  was  cele- 
brated in  England  by  general  illuminations 
and  splendid  fetes;  in  Spain  medals  were 
struck  on  the  occasion ;  and  the  cortes,  by  an 
unanimous  vote,  decreed  a  territorial  prop- 
erty to  lord  Wellington,  in  testimony  of 
the  gratitude  of  the  Spanish  nation. 

Buonaparte  immediately  superseded  Jour- 
dan, and  appointed  Soult  to  succeed  him,  with 
the  title,  orrank,  of  lieutenant-general  of  the 
emperor,  an  honor  never  before  conferred 
upon  any  of  Buonaparte's  generals.  Previ- 
ously to  his  joining  the  army,  he  issued  a  pro- 
clamation, stating  that  his  imperial  majesty's 
instructions,  and  his  own  intentions,  were,  to* 
drive  the  allies  across  the  Ebro,  and  to  cele- 
brate the  emperor's  birth-day  in  the  town  of 
Vittoria!  Soult,  however  was  destined,  in 
his  turn,  to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of 
British  prowess.  From  the  twenty-fifth  of 
July  to  the  second  of  August,  a  series  of  en- 
gagements took  place,  the  result  of  which 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


579 


was  the  retreat  of  the  enemy  into  France, 
with  the  loss  of  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand 
men,  four  thousand  of  wliom  were  prisoners. 

CAFrURE  OF  ST.  SEBASTIAN.— WELLING- 
TON ENTERS  FRANCE. 

The  siege  of  St.  Sebastian,  which  had 
been  invested  shortly  atlur  the  battle  of 
Vittoria,  was  conducted  by  Sir  Thomas  Gra- 
ham ;  and,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  an 
attempt  to  storm  the  fortress  proved  unsuc- 
cessful. As  the  port  was  necessary  for  the 
supply  of  provisions  and  other  necessaries 
by  sea,  not  a  day  was  lost  in  prosecuting  the 
siege  ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  thirty-first  of 
August  that  anotiier  assault  was  undertaken. 
The  breach,  which,  at  a  distance,  appeared 
very  ample,  proved  to  be  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  would  admit  the  men  only  in  single 
files ;  and,  if  any  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
narrow  ridge  of  the  curtain,  his  station 
proved  instantly  fatal.  Two  hours  of  severe 
but  fruitless  exertion  ensued,  and  the  attack 
was  almost  in  a  desperate  state,  when  Sir 
Thomas  Graham  adopted  the  expedient  of 
directing  the  guns  against  the  curtain  over 
the  heads  of  his  own  troops.  The  firing  was 
executed  with  such  admirable  precision  and 
effect,  that  in  an  hour  the  defenders  were 
driven  from  their  works,  and  retired  to  the 
castle,  leaving  the  town  in  full  possession  of 
the  allies,  who  sustained  the  severe  loss 
of  two  tliousand  throe  hundred  men  in 
killed  and  wounded.  The  importance  of  the 
place  induced  Soiilt  to  cross  the  Bidassoa 
in  great  force  for  its  relief;  but  he  was  gal- 
lantly repulsed  by  the  Spanish  troops  alone. 
The  castle  surrendered  on  the  eighth  of  Sep- 
tember, and  the  garrison,  now  reduced  to 
about  eighteen  hundred  men,  were  made 
prisoners. 

On  the  seventh  of  October  the  allied  ar- 
my crossed  the  Bidassoa,  and  planted  the 
British  standard  in  France.  Pampeluna,  the 
siege  of  which  had  been  left  to  the  care  of 
the  Spanish  general  Don  Carlos  D'Espagna, 
surrendered  on  the  thirty-first  day  of  Octo- 
ber; a  circumstance  which  relieved  lord 
Wellington  fi-om  every  apprehension  respect- 
ing his  rear,  and  enabled  him  to  concentrate 
and  dispose  of  his  forces  at  pleasure.  His 
march  was  impeded  by  heavy  rains;  but,  on 
the  tenth  of  November,  the  French  were 
driven  from  an  intrenched  position  along  the 
Nivelle,  and  pursued  to  Bayonne.  On  the 
ninth  of  December,  and  four  following  days, 
Soult,  who  intended  to  drive  the  allies  across 
the  Ebro,  and  to  celebrate  Bounaparte's  birth- 
day in  Vittoria,  Sustained  another  series  of 
defeats  on  the  banks  of  the  Adour.  Imme- 
diately after  the  action  tlirce  German  regi- 
ments, apprizf^d  of  t!ie  important  changes 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  northern  parts 
of  the  continent,  went  over  in  a  body  to  the 
allies. 


FAILURE  BEFORE  TARRAGONA. 
From  this  brilliant  career  of  success  in  the 
north  of  Spain,  we  must  now  turn  to  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  Peninsula,  where  gene- 
ral Sir  John  Murray  disembarked  his  tbrces 
on  the  thirty-first  of  May,  and,  on  the  third 
day  of  June,  invested  Tarragona ;  but,  after 
advancing  his  batteries  against  it,  he  received 
reports  that  Suchet  was  marching  from  Va- 
lencia, for  its  relief,  with  a  superior  force, 
and  he  immediately  reimbarked  his  army, 
leaving  cannon  in  the  batteries,  although  ad- 
miral Hallowell  was  of  opinion  that  they 
might  have  been  brought  off  if  he  had  re- 
mained till  night.  Sir  John  Murray's  con- 
duct afterwards  underwent  an  investigation 
before  a  military  tribunal,  but  it  was  attrib- 
uted to  an  error  in  judgment.  Lord  Wil- 
liam Bentinck,  who  succeeded  him  in  the 
command,  resumed  the  siege  of  Tarra^ona^ 
in  August,  and  Suchet,  who  had  retired  into 
Catalonia,  advanced  to  Villa  Franca;  and,, 
the  British  general  having  withdrawn,  he 
entered  Tarragona,  destroyed  the  works, 
withdrew  the  garrison,  and  again  retired  to- 
wards Barcelona.  As  the  grand  eflbrt  against 
France  was  making  on  the  side  of  the  west- 
ern Pyrenees,  the  third  Spanish  army  was 
detached  in  order  to  co-operate  with  lord 
Wellington,  and  the  remainder  of  the  troops 
in  this  quarter  acted  on  the  defensive. 
Suchet,  however,  although  able  to  maintain 
his  footing  in  Spain,  could  not  hope  to  gain 
any  material  advantage ;  and  such  was  now 
the  commanding  situation  of  lord  Welling- 
ton, that  the  liberation  of  the  Peninsula 
might  be  considered  as  accomplished. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  AMERICA.— NAVAL  EN- 
GAGEMENTS. 
The  events  of  the  war  with  the  United 
States  were  at  this  period,  when  continental 
affairs  were  so  highly  important,  viewed  with 
comparatively  little  interest.  The  Ameri- 
cans collected  a  large  force  in  the  back  set- 
tlements, and  again  approached  Detroit, 
when  colonel  Proctor,  on  the  twenty-second 
of  January,  routed  their  advanced  guard,  and 
captured  five  hundred  men,  including  their 
commander,  general  Winchester.  In  the  end 
of  April  the  American  general  Dearborn, 
with  five  thousand,  men,  took  possession  of 
York,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  from 
whence  general  Sheaffe,  who  had  not  one 
thousand  men,  was  compelled  to  retire. 
About  the  same  time  general  Vincent  was 
obliged,  by  superiority  of  numbers,  to  evacu- 
ate Fort  George,  on  the  Niagara  frontier,  and, 
on  the  fifth  of  June,  he  compelled  the  enemy 
again  to  fall  back  on  Niagara ;  but  soon  .It- 
terwards  colonel  Proctor  was  attacked  Iw  tbg 
American  general  Harrison,  with  ten  tht>u- 
saud  men,  who  captured  nearly  the  whole 
of  his  force;  he  himself  escaping  with  a  few 
of  his  attendants.     On  the  tenth  of  Septeni- 


580 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ber  nine  American  vessels  encountered  six 
British  on  Lake  Erie,  in  which  unequal  con- 
test the  American  commander's  vessel  at  one 
time  struck ;  but  at  length  the  Vv^hole  British 
squadron,  reduced  to  a  complete  wreck,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  In  the  end  of 
October  three  American  armies,  each 
amounting  to  ten  thousand  men,  marched 
from  different  points  upon  Lower  Canada; 
but  this  great  effort  was  completely  frus- 
trated, and,  on  the  whole,  the  campaign  was 
honorable  to  the  British  arms. 

Great  Britain  did  not  fully  maintain  that 
decided  superiority  in  naval  combats  which 
had  so  long  distinguished  her,  although  in 
none  did  she  suffer  disgrace.  The  preceding 
year  closed  with  the  loss  of  the  English  frig- 
ate Java,  captain  Lambert,  with  lieutenant- 
general  Hislop  and  his  staff  on  board,  bound 
to  Bombay.  She  was  met  off  the  coast  of 
Brazil  by  the  American  frigate  Constitution, 
captain  Bainbridge,  of  much  superior  force ; 
and  after  a  furious  action,  in  which  she  was 
dismasted  and  completely  disabled,  she  sur- 
rendered to  her  antagonist  in  a  state  which 
obliged  him  to  set  her  on  fire  as  soon  as  the 
wounded  were  removed.  Captain  Lambert 
and  many  of  his  crew  were  killed.  The 
Peacock  British  sloop,  of  eighteen  guns,  was 
also  sunk  in  an  engagement  with  the  Amer- 
ican sloop  Hornet.  The  time,  however, 
arrived,  in  which  the  British  flag  was  to  re- 
cover its  glory.  Captain  Broke,  of  the  Shan- 
non frigate,  had  been  cruising  for  some  time 
near  the  port  of  Boston,  where  the  Chesa- 
peake frigate  then  lay ;  and  that  the  enemy 
might  not  be  prevented  from  coming  out,  by 
the  apprehension  of  having  more  than  one 
opponent  to  deal  with,  captain  Broke,  on  the 
first  of  June,  drew  up  before  the  harbor  in  a 
posture  of  defiance.  Captain  Lawrence,  of 
the  Chesapeake,  accepted  the  challenge,  and 
put  to  sea ;  while  crowds  of  the  inhabitants, 
in  the  gi-eatest  confidence  as  to  the  issue, 
lined  the  beach  to  witness  the  approaching 
conflict.  After  the  exchange  of  two  or  three 
broadsides,  the  Chesapeake  fell  on  board  the 
Shannon,  and  they  were  locked  together.  At 
this  critical  moment  captain  Broke,  observing 
that  the  enemy  flinched  from  their  guns, 
gave  orders  to  board.  In  less  than  ten  min- 
utes, the  whole  of  the  British  crew  were  on 
the  decks  of  the  Chesapeake;  and  in  two 
minutes  more  the  enemy  were  driven,  sword 
in  hand,  from  every  point;  the  American 
flag  was  hauled  down ;  and  the  British  Union 
floated  over  it  in  triumph.  In  another  min- 
ute they  ceased  firing  from  below,  and 
palled  for  quarter;  and  the  whole  service 
was  performed  in  fifleen  minutes  from  its 
commencement.  Both  ships  came  out  of  ac- 
tion in  the  most  beautiful  order,  their  rigging 
appearing  as  perfect  as  if  they  had  only  been 
exchanging  a  salute.     The  Shannon  sailed 


immediately  with  her  prize  for  Halifax, 
where  captain  Lawrence  died  of  his  wounds. 
The  loss,  on  both  sides,  was  very  severe  for 
so  short  a  contest ;  that  of  the  English  being 
twenty-three  killed  and  fifty-six  wounded, 
and  the  Americans  about  seventy  killed  and 
one  hundred  wounded.  In  St.  George's  chan* 
nel  the  American  sloop  of  war  Argus  waa 
also  captured  by  the  British  sloop  Pelican. 
PARLIAMENT. 
Parliament  was  opened  so  early  as  the 
fourth  of  November,  by  the  prince-regent, 
with  a  speech  from  the  throne,  of  which  the 
new  alliances  against  France,  and  the  war 
with  America,  formed  the  principal  topics. 
The  prince  declared  that  no  disposition  to 
require  from  France  sacrifices  inconsistent 
with  her  honor,  or  just  pretensions  as  a  na- 
tion, would  ever  be  an  obstacle  to  peace; 
and  that  he  was  ready  to  enter  into  discus- 
sions with  the  United  States  on  principles 
not  inconsistent  with  the  established  maxims 
of  public  law,  and  with  the  maritime  rights 
of  the  British  empire.  The  addresses  on 
the  speech  were  carried  without  opposition. 
After  the  treaties  with  Russia  and  Prussia 
had  been  laid  before  the  house,  lord  Ca»- 
tlereagh  introduced  a  bill  to  enable  his  ma- 
jesty to  accept  the  services  of  a  proportion 
of  the  militia  out  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 
The  bill  passed  through  both  houses  Y>-}tliGat 
opposition,  every  possible  exurtii  n  to  Lring 
the  great  contest  on  the  continent  to  a  speedy 
issue  being  considered  desirable.  The  sanc- 
tion of  parliament  was  also  obtained,  without, 
a  dissentient  voice,  for  the  loan  of  twenty^- 
two  million  pounds,  as  well  as  for  the  aids 
granted  to  Sweden,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Aus- 
tria, either  in  direct  subsidies  or  in  bills  of 
credit.  Two  millions  had  been  advanced  to 
Portugal,  two  to  Spain,  and  one  to  Sweden. 
The  sum  to  be  allowed  to  Russia  and  Prussia 
was  estimated  at  five  million  pounds;  and 
the  advance  to  be  made  to  Austria  consisted 
of  one  million  pounds,  together  with  one  hun- 
dred thousand  stand  of  arms,  and  military 
stores  in  proportion.  Men  of  all  parties 
concurred  in  supporting  the  foreign  policy 
of  ministers,  and  the  advocates  of  peace 
admitted  that  there  were  no  means  of 
securing  that  blessing  but  by  perseverance 
in  the  mighty  contest  which  had  been 
so  gloriously  begun.  On  the  twentieth  of 
December  parliament  was  adjourned  until 
the  first  of  March,  1814. 

PEACE  WITH  DENMARK— TRANSFER  OF 
NORWAY.— MURAT  JOINS  THE  ALLIES. 
Peace  between  Great  Britain  and  Den- 
mark was  re-established  on  the  fourteenth 
of  January.  Britain  engaged  to  restore  all 
her  conquests  except  Heligoland ;  prisoners 
of  war,  on  both  sides,  were  to  be  released ; 
Denmark  was  to  join  the  allies  with  ten 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


581 


thousand  men,  on  receiving  a  subsidy  of 
four  hundred  thousand  pounds  from  Eng- 
land ;  and  Pomerania  to  be  ceded,  by  Swe- 
den, to  Denmark,  in  lieu  of  Norway.  It 
was  not,  however,  without  great  reluctance 
that  the  king  of  Denmark  parted  with  one 
of  his  crowns,  and  the  people  of  Norway 
could  not  be  reconciled  to  a  transfer  which 
militated  against  their  national  and  political 
prejudices.  Violent  commotions  consequent- 
ly took  place ;  a  declaration  of  Norwegian 
independence  was  made ;  and  prince  Chris- 
tian, hereditary  prince  of  Denmark,  was 
proclaimed  regent.  Hostilities  commenced 
between  Sweden  and  Norway  about  the 
middle  of  July ;  by  the  latter  end  of  August 
prince  Christian  was  compelled  to  relinquish 
his  claims ;  and  the  sceptre  of  Norway,  after 
having  been  so  long  annexed  to  the  Danish 
dominions,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  king 
of  Sweden. 

The  mortifications  of  Buonaparte  were 
increased  by  the  defection  of  Murat,  his 
brother-in-law,  who  had  been  created  king 
of  Naples  by  his  interest,  and  who,  by  a 
treaty  dated  the  eleventh  of  January,  en- 
gaged to  assist  Austria  with  an  army  of 
thirty  tlioasand  men,  and  opened  his  ports 
to  the  Eno-lish.  In  Holland,  a  body  of  Eng- 
lish and  Dutch,  under  Sir  Thomas  Graham, 
created  a  diversion  in  favor  of  the  allies. 

WELLINGTOIV  CROSSES  THE  ADOUR— 
BATTLE  OF  ORTHES. 
In  the  south  of  France,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year,  the  progress  of  lord  Wel- 
lington was  retarded  by  the  state  of  the 
weather ;  but  as  soon  as  it  became  tolerably 
favorable,  he  resolved  to  pass  the  Adour,  in 
which  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  admiral 
Penrose,  with  the  vessels  and  boats  collect- 
ed for  the  service.  The  army  now  received 
its  supplies  from  the  little  harbor  of  St.  Jean 
de  Luz,  which  was  crowded  with  English 
shipping.  The  Gave  d'Oleron  was  also  pass- 
ed, and  Soult  withdrew  to  a  commanding 
position  in  front  of  Orthes,  where,  being  re- 
inforced by  general  Clausel,  he  determined 
to  wait  the  issue  of  an  action.  On  the 
twenty-seventh  of  February  lord  Welling- 
ion  issued  his  orders  for  a  general  attack, 
when  the  French  were  driven  from  one  po- 
sition to  another,  till  the  rapid  advance  of 
Sir  Rowland  Hill,  wlio  had  forced  a  passage 
over  the  Gave  de  Pau,  above  the  town,  and 
marched  a  strong  body  of  cavalry  upon  the 
road  to  St.  Sevre,  threw  them  into  inextri- 
cable confusion.  On  the  twenty-eighth,  the 
pursuit  was  continued  to  St.  Sevre,  where 
general  Beresford  crossed  the  upper  part  of 
the  Adour.  On  the  first  of  March  the  ad- 
vance of  the  main  army  was  impeded  by 
heavy  rains;  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  however, 
proceeded  to  Aire,  which  he  attacked  on  the 
second,  and,  after  an  obstinate  resistance, 
49* 


the  enemy  was  again  put  to  flight,  leaving 
the  road  to  Bordeaux  completely  open.  The 
retreat  of  Soult's  army  was  towards  Tou- 
louse, whither  the  main  body  of  the  British 
pursued  him ;  whilst  Bayonne  was  invested 
by  Sir  John  Hope.  In  this  state  of  affairs, 
Buonaparte  released  Ferdinand  the  seventh 
and  his  brother  Don  Carlos. 

ALLIES  ENTER  FRANCE— TREATY  OF 
CHAUMONT— BATTLE  OF  CRAONE. 
The  allied  armies  operating  on  the  Rhine 
probably  exceeded  half  a  million.  Prussia 
and  Austria  had,  between  them,  an  effec- 
tive force  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand ;  Russia  alone  had  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand ;  and  to  these  may  be  added  thirty 
thousand  Swedes,  ten  thousand  Danes,  and 
a  large  num.ber  of  troops  contributed  by  the 
princes  of  the  confederation  of  the  Rhme. — 
On  crossing  that  important  river,  the  allies 
issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  they  de- 
clared that,  though  victory  had  conducted 
them  into  France,  they  had  not  come  to 
make  war  upon  her ;  their  wish  and  object 
were  simply,  to  repel  far  from  them  the 
yoke  that  the  French  government  endeavor- 
ed to  impose  on  their  respective  countries — 
countries  which  possessed  the  same  rights 
to  independence  and  happiness  as  France. 
As  conquest  and  splendor  were  not  their  ob- 
jects, they  therefore  called  upon  the  magis- 
trates, land-owners,  and  cultivators,  to  re- 
main at  their  homes,  as  the  progress  and 
stay  of  the  allied  armies  would  be  charac- 
terized by  the  maintenance  of  public  order, 
respect  to  private  property,  and  the  most 
severe  discipline.  Notwithstanding  all  they 
had  suffered,  they  were  not  animated  by  a 
spirit  of  vengeance ;  they  knew  how  to  dis- 
tinguish and  separate  the  ruler  of  France 
from  France  herself:  to  him  they  attributed 
all  their  calamities ;  and  not  even  were  they 
disposed  to  retaliate  on  the  French  nation 
any  of  those  miseries  which  the  revolution 
had  brought  on  Europe. — While  Buonaparte 
never  made  war  but  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
quest, and  to  gratify  his  ambition,  other 
counsels  guided  the  allied  monarchs.  They, 
indeed,  were  ambitious — they,  indeed,  sought 
glory ;  but  their  ambition  and  glory  were  of 
a  very  opposite  character  from  those  of  Buo- 
naparte. The  only  conquest  which  they  de- 
sired was  that  of  peace ;  not  such  a  peace 
as  Buonaparte  had  often  mocked  Europe 
with,  but  a  peace  which  should  secure  to 
their  own  people,  to  France,  and  to  Europe, 
a  state  of  real  repose.  "  We  hoped  to  find 
it  before  touching  the  soil  of  France;  we 
come  hither  in  quest  of  it !" 

Marshal  Blucher's  army,  amounting  to 
eighty  thousand  men,  crossed  the  Rhine  in 
three  columns;  general  St  Priest  at  Cob. 
lentz,  generals  Langeron  and  DTorck  at 
Caub,  and  general  Sacken  at  Manheinj; 


582 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


while,  at  the  same  time,  Brabant  was  enter- 
ed by  fifty  thousand  men,  to  co-operate  with 
the  forces  from  England.  But  it  was  not 
only  with  her  troops  and  money  that  this 
country  was  determined  to  assist  the  allies 
in  their  glorious  purpose  of  restoring  the 
tranquillity  of  Europe  :  as  it  was  natural  to 
suppose  that  the  downfall  of  Buonaparte,  or, 
if  he  displayed  a  sincere  desire  for  peace,  a 
treaty  with  him,  would  take  place,  it  was 
proper,  in  either  case,  that  Britain,  who  had 
done  so  much,  and  who  was  so  much  inte- 
rested in  the  result,  should  have  her  repre- 
sent>ative  present  with  the  allied  armies; 
and  lord  Castlereagh  was  selected  for  this 
purpose. 

Buonaparte  found  the  French  nation  very 
reluctant  in  coming  forward  against  the  in- 
vaders ;  and  the  regular  armies,  which  still 
remained  to  him,  were  by  no  means  equal 
to  cope  with  them :  they  therefore  advanced 
into  France  with  little  opposition.  By  the 
middle  of  January  part  of  the  allied  forces 
occupied  Langres,  an  ancient  and  conside- 
rable town,  one  hundred  miles  within 
the  French  frontier.  The  principal  armies 
which  Buonaparte  had  been  able  to  collect 
were  under  the  command  of  Marshals  Vic- 
tor and  Marmont.  The  former  advanced 
into  Alsace,  where  he  met  the  Bavarians, 
under  general  Wrede;  the  French,  how- 
ever, were  compelled  to  evacuate  this  prov- 
ince, and,  being  brought  to  action  in  Lor- 
raine, were  defeated  with  great  loss,  and  re- 
treated on  Luneville.  The  Cossacks,  ac- 
cording to  their  usual  custom,  were  greatly 
in  advance,  having  pushed  on  between  Epi- 
nal  and  Nancy.  The  second  French  army, 
under  Marmont,  was  ordered  to  oppose  the 
advance  of  Blucher ;  but  neither  in  relative 
force  nor  equipment  was  it  equal  to  this  ob- 
ject. Marmont,  therefore,  retreated  before 
the  Prussian  general  to  the  Saare,  behind 
which  river,  and  within  the  frontiers  of  Old 
France,  he  took  up  a  position.  His  retreat 
was  much  harassed  on  one  flank  by  count 
Sacken,  who  occupied  Worms,  Spires,  and 
Deux  Fonts ;  while,  on  the  other,  he  was 
approached  by  general  D'Yorck,  who  occu- 
pied Treves  and  Saar-Louis.  From  this 
sketch  it  is  evident  that,  even  within  a 
month  after  the  allies  had  crossed  the 
Rhine,  they  were  gaining  fast  upon  Paris, 
while  the  French  armies  which  had  hitherto 
been  collected  were  quite  incompetent  to 
resist  them  with  effect. 

On  the  twenty-fiftii  of  January,  Buona- 
parte left  Paris,  preceded  by  Berthier,  hav- 
ing previously  confided  the  regency,  during 
his  absence,  to  Maria  Louisa.  The  French 
armies  about  this  time  were  assembling  with- 
in the  line  of  the  Meuse ;  Chalons-sur-Marne 
being  the  point  towards  which  Macdonald, 
Marmont,  Victor,  and   Mortier,   were  re- 


treating from  different  quarters.  The  allied 
armies  were  also  concentrating  and  pressing 
on  the  same  point:  Blucher  by  the  way  of 
Nancy  and  Toule;  and  Schwartzenberg, 
who  had  the  chief  command  of  the  Aus- 
trian and  Russian  armies,  by  Langres  and 
Chaumont.  Anxious  to  prevent  the  junction 
of  his  opponents,  Buonaparte  moved  forward 
to  St.  Dizier,  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  at- 
tacked Blucher  at  Brienne,  where,  after  a 
sanguinary  conflict,  he  remained  master  of 
the  field.  On  the  first  of  February  he  again 
attacked  the  Prussian  general  at  La  Ro- 
thiere,  where  he  was  beaten  with  the  loss 
of  seventy-three  pieces  of  cannon  and  of 
four  thousand  prisoners,  and  driven  over  the 
Aube  to  Troyes,  from  whence  the  advance 
of  Schwartzenberg  compelled  him  to  retreat 
to  Nogent,  and  abandon  the  ancient  capital 
of  Champagne.  This  rapid  career,  which 
threatened  speedy  ruin  to  Buonaparte,  stimu- 
lated him  to  fresh  exertions,  and  he  deter- 
mined on  the  plan  of  concentrating  his 
force  at  particular  points.  His  first  efforts 
were  directed  against  Blucher,  whom  he 
compelled,  after  a  variety  of  actions,  to  re- 
treat. In  the  mean  time,  however,  prince 
Schwartzenberg,  with  the  Austrians,  was 
advancing  upon  Paris,  and  a  corps  had  gain- 
ed possession  of  Fontainbleau  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  February,  which  obliged  Buona- 
parte to  turn  his  arms  on  that  side;  and, 
after  much  fighting,  Schwartzenberg  was 
compelled  to  withdraw  his  positions  on  the 
Seine,  and  establish  his  head-quarters  at 
Troyes.  This  city  was  evacuated  by  the 
allies  on  the  twenty-third ;  it  was,  however, 
recovered  on  the  fourth  of  March  by  general 
Wrede,  at  which  time  Buonaparte  was 
marching  against  Blucher. 

During  these  operations  the  plenipoten- 
tiaries from  the  several  belligerent  powers 
assembled  at  Chatillon,  where  Caulincourt 
appeared  on  the  part  of  France.  The  treaty, 
which  proceeded  upon  the  ground  of  placing 
France  in  the  same  territorial  situation  as 
she  stood  under  her  kings,  with  some  ad- 
dition to  her  ancient  limits,  contained  a 
proposition  that  her  capital  should  be  occu- 
pied by  the  allied  armies  till  the  conclusion 
of  a  definitive  treaty.  Buonaparte,  elated 
by  the  temporary  successes  which  he  had 
recently  gained,  seized  with  fury  the  paper 
containing  the  proposal,  exclaiming,  while 
he  tore  it,  "  Occupy  the  French  capital !  I 
am  at  this  moment  nearer  to  Vienna  than 
they  are  to  Paris !"  The  advantages,  how- 
ever, of  the  allies  were  immense :  every 
fortress  which  fell  on  either  side  of  the 
Rhine  augmented  their  means  of  invasion ; 
the  Oder,  the  Elbe,  and  the  Rhine,  had  be- 
come a  triple  line  of  reserves,  from  which 
they  continually  drew  reinforcements;  and 
the  obstacles  that  had  hitherto  retarded  tlieir 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


683 


progress  were  daily  diminishing.  Anxious, 
however,  to  ascertain  Buonaparte's  views 
and  intentions,  the  allied  sovereigns  allowed 
Caulincourt  to  present  a  counter-proposition, 
stipulating  only  that  it  should  correspond 
with  the  spirit  and  substance  of  the  condi- 
tions already  submitted;  and  the  tenth  of 
March  was  fixed  upon,  by  mutual  consent, 
as  the  period  at  which  the  fi.nal  determina- 
tion should  be  made. 

In  the  mean  time  a  treaty  was  signed  at 
Chaumont,  by  which  Austria,  Russia,  Eng- 
land, and  Prussia,  undertook  each  to  bring 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  into  the 
field,  and  engaged,  should  Buonaparte  re- 
ject the  propositions  submitted  to  him,  to 
employ  all  their  means  in  a  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  the  war.  Britain  also  engaged  to 
fiirnish  a  subsidy  of  five  million  pounds  to  be 
equally  divided  among  the  other  three  pow- 
ers ;  reserving  to  herself,  however,  the  right 
of  furnishing  her  contingent  in  foreign  troops, 
at  the  rate  of  twenty  pounds  per  annum  for 
infantry,  and  thirty  pounds  for  cavalry.  The 
treaty  finally  stipulated  that  the  league 
should  continue  for  twenty  years,  and  should 
extend  also  to  such  other  powers  as  might  de- 
termine to  join  the  confederation.  At  length, 
on  the  fifteenth  of  March,  the  French  pleni- 
potentiary presented  a  counter-proposition, 
demanding  that  the  Rhine  should  form  the 
boundary  of  the  French  empire ;  that  Ant- 
werp, Flushing,  Nimeguen,  and  part  of  Waal, 
should  be  ceded  to  France ;  and  that  Italy, 
including  Venice,  should  form  a  kingdom 
for  the  viceroy,  Eugene  Beauharnois.  In 
addition  to  these  claims,  he  demanded  in- 
demnities for  Joseph,  Jerome,  and  Louis 
Buonaparte;  and  for  the  viceroy,  as  duke 
of  Frankfort.  As  these  demands  would  con- 
fer power  on  France  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  other  great  political  bodies  of  Europe, 
the  ministers  of  the  allied  sovereigns  de- 
clared that,  to  continue  the  negotiations,  un- 
der the  present  auspices,  would  be  to  re- 
nounce the  objects  they  had  in  view,  and  to 
betray  the  confidence  reposed  in  them.  Aus- 
tria herself  abandoned  Buonaparte  to  his 
fate,  and  the  congress  was  dissolved. 

Operations  were  not  relaxed  in  conse- 
quence of  these  negotiations.  On  the  fifth 
of  March,  Buonaparte  was  repulsed  at  Sois- 
sons,  which  town,  after  having  twice  changed 
masters,  had  been  most  opportunely  reduced 
by  Winzingerode  and  Bulow,  at  the  head  of 
thirty  thousand  men.  He  then  made  a  flank 
movement  on  Craone,  which  covered  the 
left  wing  of  Blucher's  army,  and  an  obsti- 
nate engagement  ensued,  during  which  the 
Prussian  general  detached  ten  thousand 
cavalry,  with  instructions  to  tlirow  them- 
selves on  the  flank  and  rear  of  tlie  French  ; 
but  this  manoeuvre  was  unsuccessful,  and 
on  the  seventh  Blucher  retreated  in  admira- 


ble order  upon  Laon,  where  he  was  joined 
by  the  Russians  who  had  evacuated  Sois- 
sons.  Here  he  was  attacked  by  Buonaparte, 
with  his  whole  force,  on  the  ninth;  and, 
after  a  severe  action  on  that  and  the  follow- 
ing day,  he  retained  his  position,  the  French 
retreating  towards  Soissons,  with  the  loss 
of  forty-eight  pieces  of  cannon  and  five  thou- 
sand prisoners.  In  Blucher  Buonaparte  found 
an  antagonist,  who,  in  every  vicissitude,  pre- 
sented an  example  of  constancy  and  hero- 
ism ;  and  to  whose  prowess  he  is  said  to 
have  paid  an  involuntary  tribute,  on  one  oc- 
casion, by  exclaiming  that  he  would  rather 
fight  ten  regular  generals  than  that  old 
drunken  hussar;  for  the  day  after  he  had 
totally  defeated  him,  he  was  sure  to  find  him 
as  ready  as  ever  to  renew  the  combat. 

In  the  course  of  his  route,  Buonaparte 
seized  Rheims,  and  continued  his  march  to- 
wards prince  Schwartzenberg,  who,  on  the 
twenty-first,  took  a  position  before  Arcis-sur- 
Aube.  After  an  obstinate  engagement,  Buo- 
naparte, apprehensive  of  a  surprise  fi-om 
Blucher,  avoided  a  general  action,  and  re- 
treated upon  Vitry  and  St.  Dizier.  His  ef- 
forts were  now  directed  to  prevent  the  junc- 
tion of  Schwartzenberg  and  Blucher;  but 
in  furthering  his  object,  by  passing  the  Aube 
with  his  whole  army  near  Vitry,  he  left  him- 
self open  to  the  bold  decision  which  was  im- 
mediately adopted  by  the  allies,  who  lost  no 
time  in  placing  themselves  between  the 
French  army  and  Paris,  and  proceeding 
thither,  with  a  united  force  of  at  least  two 
hundred  thousand  men. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  prince 
Schwartzenberg  established  his  head-quar- 
ters at  Vitry;  and  on  the  same  day  field- 
marshal  Blucher  arrived,  with  a  large  pro- 
portion of  his  army,  at  Chalons.  General 
Winzingerode  and  CzernicheflT  were  now 
dispatched,  with  ten  thousand  horse  and  fifty 
pieces  of  cannon,  to  observe  the  march  of 
Napoleon  on  St.  Dizier,  and  to  menace  his 
rear.  The  arrangements  being  complete, 
the  king  of  Prussia  issued  orders  to  marshal 
Blucher  to  direct  his  force  on  Paris ;  and  on 
the  twenty-fifth  the  Austro-Russian  army 
faced  about  from  Vitry,  and  took  the  same 
direction,  by  the  route  of  Fete  Champenoise, 
where  a  junction  between  the  two  armies 
was  formed.  On  their  march  the  allies  had 
the  good  fortune  to  intercept  a  column  of 
five  thousand  men,  escorting  from  Paris  an 
immense  convoy  of  ammunition  and  provis- 
ions for  Buonaparte.  Tlie  grand  army  es- 
tablished its  head-quarters  at  Coulommiers 
on  the  twenty-seventh,  having  marcfied 
twenty-seven  leagues  in  three  days,  and  be- 
ing now  only  thirteen  leagues  from  Paris. 
The  plan  of  tlie  nllied  sovereigns  was  to 
concentrate  the  whole  of  their  force  on  the 
right  banks  of  the  Marne  ana  Ui9  Seine, 


584 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  to  attack  Paris  on  the  north,  by  takmg 
a  position  on  the  heights  of  Montmartre. 
On  the  twenty-eighth  they  continued  their 
progress  to  Meaux,  and  in  the  evening  ar- 
rived in  tlie  neighborhood  of  the  French 
metropolis,  M^ithout  having  encountered  any 
formidable  obstacle. 

OCCUPATION  OF  PARIS— ABDICATION  OF 
BUONAPARTE. 
Hitherto  Buonaparte  had  displayed  to 
his  army  the  most  invincible  confidence  in 
the  final  result  of  the  campaign,  considering 
the  armies  to  which  he  was  opposed  as  cut 
oif  in  their  retreat,  and  inclosed  in  the  heart 
of  France.  Roused  at  length  from  this  de- 
lusion by  intelligence,  received  on  the 
twenty-seventh,  that  the  allies  were  march- 
ing directly  on  Paris,  he  advanced  to  the 
Aube.  On  the  twenty-ninth  at  daybreak, 
whilst  preparing  to  pass  that  river  at  the 
bridge  of  Doulancourt,  a  courier  arrived 
with  intelligence  that  marshals  Marmont 
and  Mortier,  after  having  fallen  back  before 
the  enemy,  were  making  dispositions  to  de- 
fend the  capital ;  and,  aware  of  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  their  means,  he  foresaw  the  catas- 
trophe which  was  about  to  destroy  the  great 
edifice  of  liis  power.  The  troops  left:  for  its 
defence  consisted  of  the  remains  of  the 
corps  which  had  fallen  back  before  the  allied 
armies ;  five  or  six  thousand  regulars  in  gar- 
rison, commanded  by  generals  Compans  and 
Ornans ;  and  thirty  thousand  national  guards, 
of  whom  eight  or  ten  thousand  at  the  most 
were  fit  for  active  service.  This  small  army, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  Joseph 
Buonaparte,  assisted  by  Mortier  and  Mar- 
mont, and  the  governor-general,  Hulin,  had 
taken  a  position  in  front  of  the  heights  of 
Montmartre,  under  cover  of  some  intrench- 
raents  hastily  thrown  up,  and  lined  with  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pieces  of  artillery;  their 
line  extended  to  the  villages  of  Pantin,  Ro- 
mainville,  and  Belleville.  The  canal,  and 
the  nature  of  the  ground  altogether,  ren- 
dered this  position  a  strong  one,  particularly 
as  the  allied  cavalry  had  no  extent  of  ground 
to  make  a  charge.  In  the  interim,  Buona- 
parte had  issued  orders  to  defend  the  capHal 
to  the  last  extremity,  being  himself,  as  he 
announced,  on  his  march  to  relieve  it.  At 
dawn  on  the  thirtieth,  the  allies,  wishing  if 
poasil<Ie  to  spare  the  effusion  of  blood,  sent 
a  flag  of  truce  into  Paris;  but  admittance 
being  refused,  they  resolved  to  attack  the 
enemy  on  the  heights,  the  result  of  which 
was  a  brilliant  victory,  and  the  possession  of 
Paris.  In  every  direction  the  French  troops 
had  been  driven  to  the  barriers,  and  the  cap- 
ital was  about  to  be  forced,  when  marshal 
Marmont,  on  whom  the  command  had  de- 
volved, dispatched  an  officer  to  general  Bar- 
clay de  Tolli  to  solicit  a  truce ;  engaging 
to  abandon  all  the  ground  w^hich  he  occupied 


beyond  the  barriers,  and  to  sign  a  capitula- 
tion for  the  surrender  of  the  city  in  two 
hours.  The  Russian  general  instantly  sub- 
mitted this  proposition  to  his  imperial  mas^ 
ter,  and  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  were 
both  on  the  field,  and  the  truce  was  agreed 
to  without  hesitation.  At  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  count  de  Nesselrode  entered 
the  city,  furnished  with  full  powers  to  ratify 
the  capitulation,  which  was  concluded  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  thirty-first 
of  March. 

Buonaparte  arrived  at  Troyes  at  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  on  the  twenty-ninth,  having 
exhausted  his  troops  by  a  march  of  twenty 
leagues  that  day,  and,  early  on  the  follow- 
ing morning,  took  the  direction  of  Sens; 
but  so  great  was  his  impatience,  that  with 
an  escort  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  cav- 
alry, he  proceeded  with  the  utmost  rapidity 
to  Fontainbleau,  and  in  the  night  of  the 
same  day  arrived  at  Cour  de  France,  about 
four  leagues  from  Paris.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  thirty-first  he  received  intelli- 
gence that  his  capital  had  capitulated,  and 
that  no  efforts  could  now  prevent  the  en- 
trance of  the  allied  armies  into  Paris.  In 
this  emergency  he  held  a  council  with  his 
officers,  at  which  it  was  determined  that 
Buonaparte  should  repair  to  Fontainbleau, 
and  there  rally  his  army,  while  Caulinccurt 
proceeded  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  allied 
monarchs,  furnished  with  full  powers  to  co-. 
incide  in  such  conditions  as  the  conquerors 
might  be  disposed  to  dictate. 

The  military  government  of  Paris  was 
confided  to  general  Baron  Sacken ;  and  the 
propriety  of  this  choice  was  manifested  by 
the  good  order  and  tranquillity  which  prevail- 
ed in  all  quarters.  The  senate  was  the  only 
body  which  possessed  any  authority ;  but 
this  assembly  thought  itself  crushed  beneath 
the  ruins  of  Buonaparte's  throne,  till  a  de- 
claration on  the  part  of  the  emperor  Alex- 
ander called  it  into  action.  This  proclama- 
tion was  no  sooner  promulgated  than  the 
senators  were  suddenly  convoked  by  prince 
Talleyrand  de  Perigord,  in  his  quality  of 
vice-grand  elector.  Sixty-five  senators  as- 
sembled, by  this  authority,  on  the  first  of 
April,  threw  off  the  imperial  sway,  and  cre- 
ated a  provisional  government,  charged  with 
the  offiCe  of  re-establishing  the  functions 
and  administration  of  the  state.  The  instal- 
lation of  the  provisional  government  w-as 
signalized  by  an  address  to  the  French  ar- 
mies, in  which  it  was  said,  "  You  are  no 
longer  the  soldiers  of  Napoleon  :  the  senate 
and  all  France  release  you  from  your  oath." 
On  the  following  day,  the  second  of  April, 
the  senate  decreed  that  Buonaparte  had  for- 
feited the  throne  of  France,  and  that  the 
people,  as  well  as  the  army,  were  released 
from  the  oath  of  fidelity.     At  the  close  of 


GEORGE  ni.   1760— 182a 


585 


the  sitting  the  members  proceeded,  in  a 
body,  to  the  emperor  of  Russia,  who,  after 
receiving  their  homage,  addressed  them  in 
these  terms : — "  A  man,  who  called  himself 
my  ally,  came  as  an  unjust  aggressor  into 
my  dominions.  It  is  against  him,  and  not 
against  France,  that  I  have  carried  on  the 
war.  I  am  the  friend  of  the  French,  and 
you  cause  me  to  renew  this  declaration.  It 
is  just  and  wise  that  France  should  have 
strong  and  liberal  institutions,  commensu- 
rate with  her  present  enlightened  state. 
The  allies  and  I  have  only  come  to  protect 
the  freedom  of  your  decisions.  As  a  proof 
of  the  durable  alliance  which  I  wish  to  con- 
tract with  your  nation,  I  restore  to  you  all 
the  prisoners  now  in  Russia.  The  provi- 
sional government  has  solicited  this  of  me  : 
I  grant  it  to  the  senate  in  consequence  of 
the  resolution  which  it  has  taken."  Thus 
were  two  hundred  thousand  French  captives 
restored  without  ransom,  and  returned,  from 
the  extremities  of  Europe  and  Asia,  to  the 
bosom  of  their  families. 

Marshal  Marmont,  in  a  correspondence 
with  prince  Schwartzenberg,  on  the  third  of 
April,  professed  his  readiness  to  accede  to 
fhe  decree  by  which  Buonaparte  was  de- 
clared to  have  forfeited  the  throne  of  France ; 
but  he  required,  as  a  guarantee,  that  all  troops 
quitting  the  standard  of  Napoleon  should 
have  leave  to  pass  freely  into  Normandy; 
and  that,  if  the  events  of  the  war  should 
place  Buonaparte  as  a  prisoner  in  the  hands 
of  the  allies,  his  life  and  safety  should  be 
guarantied,  and  he  should  be  sent  to  a  coun- 
try chosen  by  the  allied  powers  and  the 
French  government.  To  these  demands 
prince  Schwartzenberg  acceded ;  and  Mar- 
mont, with  his  corps  of  twelve  thousand 
men,  passed  within  the  lines  of  the  allies. 
In  the  mean  time  Buonaparte  collected  all 
his  troops  at  Fontainbleau,  amounting  to  sixty 
thousand  men,  and  announced  that  it  was 
his  intention  to  march  his  army  to  the  capi- 
tal, and  to  repel  the  invaders.  The  strug- 
gle, however,  had  become  hopeless,  and 
major-general  Berthier  was  deputed  to  re- 
pair to  the  palace  during  the  night  of  the 
third  of  April,  and  to  recommend  to  Buona- 
parte the  salutary  measure  of  abdication. 
The  first  mention  of  the  subject  roused  him 
into  rage ;  but  when  marshals  Ney,  Oudinot, 
and  Macdonald,  who  afterwards  arrived,  as- 
sured him  that  this  alone  could  save  the 
country,  his  spirit  seemed  subdued,  and  he 
consented  to  abdicate  his  throne  in  favor  of 
his  son,  the  infant  king  of  Rome.  This  pro- 
posal it  was  determined  to  submit  to  the 
senate  and  the  French  nation ;  and  on  the 
fourth  marshals  Ney  and  Macdonald,  accom- 
panied by  Caulincourt,  were  deputed  to  re- 
pair to  Paris  for  that  purpose.  At  the  con- 
ference which  ensued,  Talleyrand,  general 


Pozzo  di  Borgo,  and  others,  attended ;  and 
the  result  was,  that  the  Bourbon  dynasty 
should  be  restored.  At  the  breaking  up  ol 
the  conference,  marshals  Ney  and  Macdon- 
ald returned  to  Fontainbleau,  where  they 
arrived  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  on  the 
fifth.  Ney  was  the  first  to  enter  the  apart- 
ments of  the  palace,  when  Buonaparte  in- 
quired, with  earnestness,  if  he  had  succeed- 
ed. "  In  part,  sire,"  said  the  marshal,  "  but 
not  in  regard  to  the  regency — it  was  too 
late — revolutions  never  give  way.  This 
has  taken  its  course,  and  the  senate  will  to- 
morrow recognize  the  Bourbons."  The 
marshal  then  proceeded  to  state  that  the 
personal  safety  of  the  emperor  and  his  family 
had  been  stipulated  for ;  that  he  would  be 
permitted  to  retire  to  the  Isle  of  Elba,  which 
was  to  be  possessed  by  him  in  full  sove- 
reignty ;  and  that  a  stipend  of  two  million 
of  francs  would  be  allowed  for  his  annual 
expenditure.  In  virtue  of  these  arrange- 
ments Buonaparte  consented  to  the  entire 
renunciation  of  his  rights,  and  on  the  sixth 
of  April  announced  his  abdication  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms : — "  The  allied  powers  have 
proclaimed  that  the  emperor  Napoleon  is 
the  only  obstacle  to  the  re-establishment  of 
peace  in  Europe:  the  emperor,  faithful  to 
his  oath,  declares  that  he  renounces,  for  him- 
self and  his  heirs,  the  thrones  of  France 
and  Italy ;  and  that  there  is  no  personal  sac- 
rifice, even  that  of  life,  which  he  is  not  rea- 
dy to  make  for  the  interest  of  France."  In 
the  event  of  her  surviving  him,  a  reversion 
of  one  million  of  francs  was  to  be  enjoyed 
by  his  consort,  Maria  Louisa,  to  whom  were 
assigned  the  dutchies  of  Parma,  Placentia, 
and  Guastalla  ;  and  a  revenue  of  two  million 
five  hundred  thousand  francs  was  assigned 
in  various  proportions  to  his  mother,  bro- 
thers, and  sisters.  These  revenues  were  to 
be  charged  on  the  great  book  of  France. 
Joseph  and  Jerome  Buonaparte  fled  from 
Blois,  after  endeavoring  to  compel  their  sis- 
ter-in-law to  accompany  them  to  Orleans 
Next  day  count  Schouwalow  arrived  to  take 
her  under  his  protection,  and  to  conduct  her 
to  the  head-quarters  of  the  emperor  of  Aus- 
tria. On  the  twentieth  Buonaparte  depart- 
ed from  Fontainbleau  for  Elba,  accompanied 
by  generals  Bertrand  and  Drouet,  who  re- 
tired with  him  to  that  island.  The  exiles 
were  escorted  on  their  journey  by  four  supe- 
rior officers,  acting  as  commissioners  to  the 
allied  powers,  together  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty  foreign  troops,  supported  by  detach- 
ments placed  at  a  distance  from  each  otlier. 
On  the  twelfth  of  March,  the  city  of 
Bourdeaux  was  occupied  by  marshal  Berea- 
ford,  with  a  detachment  of  fifteen  thousand 
men,  at  the  request  of  tiie  inhabitants,  who, 
having  mounted  the  white  cockade  and  de- 
clared for  tlie  Bourbons,  had  received  the 


586 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


due  d'AngouIeme,  nephew  to  the  unfortu- 
nate Louis  the  sixteenth,  and  husband  to  his 
daug-hter,  with  general  acclamations.  On 
the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  two  deputies  from 
Bourdeaux  arrived  in  England,  and  waited 
on  Louis  the  eighteenth  at  Hartwell  House ; 
shortly  after  which  deputies  also  came  from 
other  parts  of  France. 

BATTLE  OF  TOULOUSE. 
SouLT  retreated  towards  Toulouse,  which, 
though  naturally  not  very  strong,  he  had 
time  to  place  in  a  posture  of  defence,  as  the 
continual  falls  of  rain  impeded  the  advance 
of  the  allied  army.  On  the  eighth  of  April, 
the  French  cavalry  were  driven  from  a  vil- 
lage on  a  small  river  which  falls  into  the 
Garonne,  below  the  town.  The  ninth  was 
occupied  in  making  preparations;  and  on 
the  tenth  they  were  carried  into  execution. 
After  a  long  and  arduous  contest,  the  allied 
armies  established  themselves  on  three  of 
the  sides  of  Toulouse ;  and,  having  turned 
the  French  army,  compelled  it  finally  to  re- 
treat, leaving  three  generals,  D'Harisse, 
Burrot,  and  St.  Hillaire,  and  sixteen  hundred 
men,  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  victors. 
Of  the  numerous  battles  fought  by  lord  Wel- 
lington m  the  south  of  Europe,  that  of  Tou- 
louse, which  was  the  last  of  the  campaign 
and  of  the  war,  was  the  most  sanguinary : 
the  engagement,  which  commenced  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  did  not  cease  till  the 
same  hour  in  the  evening;  and  the  number 
of  the  killed  and  wounded,  in  the  allied  ar- 
mies, amounted  to  nearly  five  thousand.  On 
the  eleventh,  intelligence  reached  Toulouse 
that  Buonaparte  was  dethroned,  and  the  in- 
formation was  immediately  communicated 
to  marshals  Soult  and  Suchet ;  but  they  did 
not  consider  it  sufficiently  authentic  to  in- 
duce them  to  lay  down  their  arms ;  and, 
in  the  interval,  Sir  John  Hope  was  made 
prisoner  in  a  sortie  of  the  enemy  from 
Bayonne.  Other  arrivals,  however,  placed 
the  fact  out  of  all  doubt,  and  a  suspension  of 
hostilities  was  agreed  upon,  on  the  same  ba- 
sis as  the  convention  of  Paris. 

COiNVExNTION  OF  PARIS.— ENTRANCE  OF 
LOUIS  EIGHTEENTH. 

At  the  period  of  the  restoration,  Louis  the 
eighteenth  was  confined,  at  his  rural  retire- 
ment in  England,  by  sickness  and  infirmity ; 
in  consequence  of  which  his  brother,  the 
count  d'Artois,  was  appointed  lieutenant- 
general  of  France,  and  made  his  public  entry 
into  Paris  on  the  twelfth  of  April,  surrounded 
by  several  of  the  great  officers  of  state,  and 
attended  by  a  group  of  French  marshals. 
On  the  fifteenth,  the  emperor  of  Austria, 
who  h'ld  hitherto  remained  at  Dijon,  also 
entered  the  French  capital  in  great  state. 
On  the  twenty-third,  a  convention  was  signed 
between  the  allied  powers  and  France,  by 
which  it  was  agreed  that  hostilities  should 


everywhere  cease,  and  that  the  allied  ar^ 
mies  should  evacuate  the  French  territory 
in  fourteen  days;  the  boundary  line  to  be 
observed  being  that  which  constituted  the 
limits  of  France  on  the  first  of  January,  1792. 
Fifteen  days  were  allowed  for  mutual  evacu- 
ations in  Piedmont,  and  twenty  days  in 
Spain  ;  the  fleets  were  to  remain  in  their 
then  present  stations ;  but  all  blockades  were 
to  be  raised,  and  the  fisheries  and  coasting 
trade  permitted.  All  prisoners  were  mu- 
tually liberated,  and  sent  to  their  respective 
countries.  On  the  third  of  May,  Louis  the 
eighteenth,  (who  had  been  conducted  into 
London  by  the  prince-regent,  and  convoyed 
from  Dover  to  Calais  by  the  duke  of  Clar- 
ence, at  which  places  he  was  joyfully  wel- 
comed) made  his  solemn  entry  into  Paria 
The  procession  was  very  brilliant,  and  passed 
in  perfect  order  and  decorum ;  but  the  ex- 
pressions of  satisfaction  were  by  no  means 
universal,  particularly  among  the  soldiery. 
On  the  preceding  day,  he  had  issued  a  de- 
claration, forming  the  basis  of  that  constitu- 
tional charter  by  which  the  liberties  of  the 
nation  were  to  be  secured.  The  represent- 
ation was  to  be  vested  in  two  bodies,  the 
chambers  of  peers  and  of  deputies ;  the  taxes 
to  be  freely  granted ;  public  and  individual 
liberty  to  be  secured;  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  saving  necessary  precautions  for  pub- 
lic tranquillity,  to  be  respected  ;  liberty  of 
worship  allowed  ;  property  to  be  inviolable?, 
and  the  sale  of  national  estates  irrevocable; 
the  ministers  responsible  ;  the  judicial  power 
independent,  and  the  public  debt  guaraiv 
tied ;  the  pensions,  ranks,  and  honors  of  the 
military,  and  the  ancient  and  new  nobility, 
v/ere  to  be  preserved,  and  the  legion  of 
honor  maintained. 

PEACE. 
On  the  thirteenth  of  May,  a  definitive 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Paris,  by  which 
the  integrity  of  the  French  boundaries,  as 
they  existed  on  the  first  of  .lanuary,  1792, 
was  assured,  with  some  small  additions  on 
the  side  of  Germany  and  Belgium,  and  a 
more  considerable  annexation  on  that  of 
Savoy,  including  Chamberi  and  Annecy, 
together  with  Avignon,  the  Venaissin,  and 
Montbeliard.  The  navigation  of  the  Rhine 
was  declared  free — the  duties  payable  on  its 
banks  to  be  hereafter  settled  ;  Holland,  un- 
der the  sovereignty  of  the  house  of  Orange, 
was  to  receive  an  increase  of  territory — the 
sovereignty  in  no  case  to  be  united  with  a 
foreign  crown ;  the  German  states  were  to 
be  independent,  and  united  by  a  federal 
league  ;  Sv/itzerland  to  be  independent  under 
its  own  government ;  Italy,  out  of  the  Aus- 
trian limits,  to  be  composed  of  sovereign^ 
states ;  Malta,  and  its  dependencies,  to  h&- 
long  to  Great  Britain.  France  recovered 
all  the  colonies,  settlements,  and  fisheries 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


587 


which  she  possessed  on  the  first  of  January, 
1792,  excepting  Tobago,  St.  Lucie,  and  the 
fcle  of  France,  with  its  dependencies,  which 
were  ceded  to  England ;  and  a  part  of  St. 
Domingo,  which  was  to  revert  to  Spain. 
The  king  of  Sweden  renounced,  in  favor  of 
France,  his  claims  on  Guadaloupe,  and  Por- 
tugal restored  French  Guiana.  In  her  com- 
merce with  British  India,  France  was  to  en- 
joy the  facilities  granted  to  the  most  favored 
nations,  but  not  to  erect  fortifications  in  the 
establishments  restored  to  her.  The  naval 
arsenals  and  ships  of  war,  in  the  maritime 
fortresses  which  she  surrendered  in  the  late 
convention,  were  to  be  divided  between  her 
and  the  countries  in  which  such  fortresses 
were  situated ;  Antwerp,  in  fifture,  to  be 
only  a  commercial  port.  Plenipotentiaries 
from  the  powers  engaged  in  the  late  war 
were  to  assemble  at  Vienna,  to  complete  the 
dispositions  of  the  treaty.  The  king  of 
France  engaged  to  co-operate  with  his  Brit- 
annic majesty  in  his  efforts  for  obtaining  the 
total  abolition  of  the  slave-trade ;  and,  after 
the  private  claims  of  her  subjects  on  France 
should  have  been  satisfied.  Great  Britain 
generously  consented  to  remit  in  her  favor 
the  whole  excess  for  the  maintenance  of 
prisoners  of  war. 

ROYAL  VISITORS  TO  ENGLAND. 
The  restoration  of  peace,  after  so  long 
and  arduous  a  struggle,  was  hailed  in  Eng- 
land with  the  most  lively  satisfaction ;  an 
air  of  gladness,  joy,  and  exultation,  was  dif- 
fused over  the  whole  country ;  and  the  me- 
tropolis was  converted  into  a  scene  of  gaiety, 
never  surpassed  on  any  occasion,  by  the  ar- 
rival, early  in  June,  of  the  emperor  of  Rus- 
sia and  his  sister,  the  grand  dutchess  of  Old- 
enburgh,  the  king  of  Prussia  and  his  sons, 
with  the  most  distinguished  of  the  allied 
generals,  including  Blucher,  Platofl^,  Barclay 
de  Tolli,  Czernicheflf',  D'Yorck,  and  Bulow\ 
Prince  Metternich,  and  several  of  the  most 
distinguished  continental  statesmen,  also  ac- 
companied them.  They  were  received  and 
entertained  with  all  the  honors  due  to  such 
illustrious  visitors ;  and,  after  a  stay  of  about 
three  weeks,  during  which  illuminations, 
galas,  and  feasting,  were  the  order  of  the  day, 
they  returned  to  the  continent,  to  be  present 
at  a  general  congress  of  the  European  pow- 
ers at  Vienna. 

RESTORATION  OF  THE  POPE— AND  FER- 
DINAND.—SOUTH  AMERICAN  AFFAIRS. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  French  provis- 
ional government  was  to  facilitate  the  return 
of  pope  Pius  the  seventh  to  his  dommions ; 
who,  to  evince  his  gratitude  to  his  patrons 
and  to  all  Europe,  adopted  the  extraordinary 
measure  of  re-establishing  the  order  of  Je- 
suits, a  detestation  of  whose  principles  had, 
in  1773,  become  so  universal  in  the  Catholic 
world,  that  their  suppression  was  effected  by 


the  concurrent  efforts  of  the  Bourbon  eove* 
reigns.  He  had  also  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  reviving  all  the  monastic  institutions, 
and  invited  the^'dispersed  members  of  those 
fraternities  to  repair  to  Rome,  where  the  va- 
cant convents  should  be  prepared  for  their 
reception. 

In  Spain,  one  of  the  latest  artifices  of 
Buonaparte  was  that  of  proposing  to  liberate 
Ferdinand  the  seventh,  on  condition  that  he 
should  deliver  up  certain  garrisons  to  the 
French.  By  this  means  the  enemy  would 
have  been  reinforced  with  twenty  thousand 
men,  which  might  have  turned  the  scale 
against  lord  Wellington,  and  thus  the  spread- 
ing of  the  insurrection  in  favor  of  Louis  the 
eighteenth,  in  the  southern  departments  of 
France,  would  have  been  impeded :  general 
Copons,  however,  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
person  of  Ferdinand  without  acceding  to  the 
invidious  demand  of  the  French  ruler.  The 
liberated  monarch  arrived  at  Gerona  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  March,  and  was  every- 
where enthusiastically  received  by  the  Span- 
ish pepple.  Their  beloved  sovereign  was 
restored  to  their  wishes,  and  their  hearts 
cherished  the  reviving  thought  of  peace,  hap- 
piness, and  security;  but,  alas!  how  soon 
was  the  intoxicating  chalice  fated  to  be 
dashed  from  their  lips !  One  of  the  first  im- 
pulses of  the  "  beloved  Ferdinand"  was  to 
overturn  the  constitution  which  had  been 
framed  by  the  cortes — to  spurn  his  deliver- 
ers from  his  presence — ^to  condemn  the  sa- 
viors of  their  country  to  exile,  imprison- 
ment, and  death — to  re-establish  the  inqui- 
sition— and  to  encompass  himself  within  a 
pestiferous  swarm  of  bigoted  priests  and 
crime-diseased  noblesse,  the  wretched  rem- 
nants of  his  father's  infamous  court.  From 
the  arbitrary  measures  pursued  by  Ferdinand, 
it  was  evident  that  he  would  be  disposed  to 
reduce  by  force,  rather  than  reclaim  by  con- 
ciliation, the  revolted  colonies.  A  compul- 
sory loan,  imposed  on  the  merchants  of  Cadiz, 
enabled  him  to  equip  eight  thousand  troops, 
the  command  of  which  was  intrusted  to  gen- 
eral Murillo ;  and  the  expedition  sailed,  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  year,  for  South  Amer- 
ica, where  Montevideo  held  out  for  tlie 
mother  country,  though  blockaded  Ly  land 
and  sea,  and  reduced  to  great  extremities. 
The  naval  force  of  Buenos  Ayres  was  com- 
manded by  commodore  Brown,  an  English- 
man, against  whom  the  governor  of  Monte- 
video sent  out  a  flotilla,  over  which  Brown 
obtained  a  complete  victory,  and  Montevideo 
soon  afterwards  surrendered.  In  Chili  the 
authority  of  Ferdinand  the  seventh  was  ac- 
knowledged, on  condition  that  trade  be  free- 
ly permitted  with  allied  and  neutral  nations, 
especially  with  Great  Britain.  In  Venezuela, 
tiie  royalists  obtained  a  victory  which  enabled 
them  to  regain  possession  of  the  Caracas. 


588 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


PARLIAMENT— HONORS  CONFERRED  ON 
WELLINGTON,  &c. 

Parliament  was  not  reassembled  till  the 
twenty-first  of  March,  1814,  when  the  allied 
armies  were  within  a  few  days'  march  of 
their  ultimate  destination.  The  first  busi- 
ness of  importance  was  a  motion  made  by  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  for  a  grant  of 
two  million  pounds,  on  account  of  the  army 
extraordinaries,  in  addition  to  three  million 
pounds  before  voted.  On  the  twenty-second, 
Goulbourn  introduced  a  bill  for  preventing 
the  grant  of  any  patent  office  in  the  colonies 
for  any  longer  term  than  during  such  time 
as  the  grantee  should  discharge  the  duties  of 
the  office  in  person,  and  behave  well  therein. 
A  bill,  introduced  by  Pt  Samuel  Romilly, 
for  taking  away  corruption  of  blood  in  cases 
of  felony  and  high  treason,  was  passed,  with 
an  amendment  proposed  by  Yorke,  purport- 
ing that  no  attainder  of  felony  not  extending 
to  high  treason,  petty  treason,  and  murder, 
do  lead  to  corruption  of  blood. 

The  price  of  corn  being  at  this  time  high, 
a  measure,  the  object  of  which  was  to  pro- 
hibit importation,  excited  general  alarm,  es- 
pecially in  the  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial districts,  and  its  promoters  were  accused 
of  a  design  to  sacrifice  the  trading  to  the 
landed  interest,  in  order  to  enable  the  coun- 
try gentlemen  to  keep  up  their  greatly  in- 
creased rents.  On  the  fifth  of  May,  Sir 
Henry  Parnell  moved,  in  the  commons,  a 
resolution  for  permitting,  at  all  times,  the 
exportation  of  grain  from  any  part  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  This  being  carried,  a 
second  resolution  was  proposed  for  regulat- 
ing the  importation  of  grain  by  a  schedule, 
according  to  which,  when  the  home  price  of 
wheat  was  sixty-three  shillings  per  quarter, 
or  under,  foreign  wheat  should  be  liable  to  a 
duty  of  twenty-four  shillings;  when  the  home 
price  was  eighty-six  shillings,  it  should  be 
duty  free ;  and  at  all  intermediate  prices  the 
same  ratio  should  be  preserved :  and  a  third 
resolution  for  the  warehousing  of  foreign 
corn,  duty  free,  for  re-exportation.  A  bill, 
founded  on  the  first  resolution,  was  passed ; 
but,  in  consequence  of  the  great  number  of 
petitions  against  any  alteration  in  the  corn 
laws,  the  further  consideration  of  measures 
for  regulating  the  importation  was  post- 
poned to  another  session. 

The  prince-regent  conferred  upon  field- 
marshal  the  marquis  of  Wellington  the  dig- 
nity of  duke  and  marquis  of  the  united 
kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  by 
the  style  and  title  of  Marquis  Douro  and 
Duke  of  Wellington  in  the  county  of  Som- 
erset. To  support  the  dignity  thus  con- 
ferred upon  him,  the  sum  of  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds  was  voted  by  parliament, 
in  addition  to  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
granted  on  a  former  occasion.    At  the  same 


time  Sir  John  Hope  was  raised  to  the  peer- 
age, under  the  title  of  Lord  Niddry;  Sir 
Stapylton  Cotton  was  created  Lord  Comber- 
mere  ;  Sir  Thomas  Graham  Lord  Lynedoch ; 
Sir  Rowland  Hill,  Lord  Hill ;  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Beresford,  Lord  Beresford;  and  the 
dignities  of  the  three  latter  were  accom- 
panied by  a  grant  of  two  thousand  pounds 
per  annum  each.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of 
June  the  duke  of  Wellington  took  his  seat 
for  the  first  time  in  the  house  of  peers,  when 
he  modestly  expressed  his  thanks  for  the  ap- 
probation bestowed  upon  his  conduct. 
PRINCESS  OF  WALES. 
A  SHORT  time  before  the  arrival  of  the 
royal  visitors  in  this  country,  the  princess 
of  Wales  received  a  letter  from  the  queen, 
acquainting  her  that  in  a  communication 
from  her  son,  the  prince-regent,  he  stated 
that  her  majesty's  intention  of  holding  two 
drawing-rooms  in  the  ensuing  month  having 
been  notified  to  the  public,  he  must  declare 
that  he  considered  his  own  presence  at  her 
court  indispensable ;  and  that  he  desired  it 
might  be  distinctly  understood,  for  reasons 
of  which  he  alone  could  be  the  judge,  to  be 
his  fixed  and  unalterable  determination  not 
to  meet  the  princess  of  Wales  upon  any  oc- 
casion, either  in  public  or  in  private.  'The 
princess  replied  that,  though  she  could  not 
so  far  forget  her  duty  to  the  king  and  to 
herself  as  to  surrender  her  right,  she  should 
not,  in  this  instance,  present  herself  at  the 
drawing-rooms  of  the  next  month. — ^The 
princess  next  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
prince,  demanding  to  know  what  circum- 
stances could  justify  the  proceeding  he  had 
thus  thought  fit  to  adopt.  After  open  per- 
secution and  mysterious  inquiries,  upon  un- 
defined charges,  the  malice  of  her  enemies, 
she  said,  fell  entirely  upon  themselves,  and 
she  was  restored  to  the  full  enjoyment  of 
her  rank  in  his  majesty's  court.  She  had 
been  declared  innocent,  and  would  not  sub- 
mit to  be  treated  as  guilty.  Her  royal  high- 
ness proceeded  to  state  that  occasions  might 
arise  (one  she  trusted  was  far  distant)  when 
she  must  appear  in  public,  and  his  royal 
highness  must  be  present  also.  The  time 
selected  for  this  proceeding,  she  said,  made 
it  peculiarly  galling :  many  illustrious  stran- 
gers were  already  in  England,  including  the 
heir  of  the  house  of  Orange,  who  had  an- 
nounced himself  as  her  future  son-in-law ; 
others  were  expected,  of  equal  rank,  to  re- 
joice with  his  royal  highness  in  the  peace 
of  Europe ;  her  daughter  would,  for  the  first 
time,  appear  in  the  splendor  and  publicity 
becoming  the  approaching  nuptials  of  the 
presumptive  heiress  of  the  empire ;  and,  of 
all  his  majesty's  subjects,  she  alone  was  pre- 
vented from  appearing  in  her  place  to  par- 
take of  the  general  joy,  and  deprived  of  the 
indulgence  in  those  feelings  of  pride  and  af- 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


58?> 


fection  permitted  to  every  mother  but  her, 
tier  royal  highncFS  also  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  speaker,  inclosing,  for  the  information 
of  the  house  of  commons,  the  correspond- 
ence which  had  passed  on  this  occasion. 
After  the  letters  had  been  read,  Methuen 
moved,  "  that  an  humble  address  be  present- 
ed to  his  royal  highness  the  prince-regent, 
to  pray  that  he  would  be  graciously  pleased 
to  acquaint  the  house  by  whose  advice  he 
was  induced  to  form  tlie  'fixed  and  unal- 
teral)le  determination  never  to  meet  her 
royal  highness  the  princess  of  Wales,  upon 
finy  occasion,  either  in  public  or  private.' " — 
Ministers  contended  that  it  was  not  within 
the  province  of  the  house  to  interfere  in  this 
case ;  and  the  debate,  which  was  carried  on 
with  closed  doors,  terminated  in  Methuen's 
consenting  to  withdraw  his  motion,  from  a 
hope  that  the  rigorous  proceeding  announc- 
ed against  the  princess  would  not  be  acted 
upon  at  the  approaching  drawing-rooms.  In 
this  expectation  the  honorable  gentleman 
was  disappointed ;  but  when  the  subject  was 
.igain  resumed  on  the  twenty-third  of  June, 
Methuen  dwelt  more  upon  the  necessity  of 
increasing  the  establishment  of  the  princess 
of  Wales  than  on  the  indignity  and  injus- 
tice offered  to  her ;  on  which  lord  Castle- 
roagh  observed  that  it  was  the  first  time 
parliament  had  been  told  that  an  increased 
j^rovision  for  her  royal  highness  was  the  ob- 
ject which  her  friends  had  in  view.  His 
'nrdship  proceeded  to  state  that  he  had  no 
objection  to  submit  to  the  house,  on  a  future 
(lay,  a  proposal  on  this  subject;  and,  in  con- 
clusion, adverted  to  a  fact  not  before  gene- 
rally known,  namely,  that  there  was  in  ex- 
istence an  instrument  dated  in  the  year 
1809,  signed  by  the  prince  and  princess  of 
Wales,  and  approved  by  his  majesty,  and  to 
which  his  signature,  as  well  as  that  of  a 
large  proportion  of  the  ministers  of  the  time, 
was  affixed,  which  provided  for  a  distinct 
establishment  for  the  princess,  and  admitted 
th*^  fact  of  the  separation.  On  the  fourth 
of  July  lord  Castlereagh  proposed  that  such 
an  increase  should  be  made  to  the  income 
of  the  princess  as  would  enable  her  to  main- 
tain  an  establishment  more  suited  to  her 
situation  in  this  country;  and  he  thought 
the  most  desirable  measure  would  be  to 
raise  it  to  that  point  to  which  it  would  be 
advanced  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  the 
prince-regent:  his  proposal  therefore  was, 
that  the  net  annual  sum  of  fifty  thousand 
TX)nnds  should  be  granted  to  the  princess  of 
Wales,  and  that  the  five  thousand  pounds 
and  seventeen  thousand  pounds  per  annum, 
which  she  at  present  enjoyed,  should  be 
withheld  from  the  prince-regent's  income. 
This  sum  was,  at  her  own  request,  reduced 
to  thirty-five  thousand  pounds;  and  the 
princess  shortly  afterwards  asked,  and  read- 
VoL.  IV.  50 


ily  obtained,  permission  to  make  a  t^ur  to 
the  Continent. 

LORD  COCHRANE. 

Public  attention  was  strongly  excited 
during  the  session  by  a  prosecution  against 
lord  Cochrane  and  seven  others,  for  a  con- 
spiracy to  create  a  fraudulent  advance  in 
the  price  of  the  public  funds,  by  circulating 
false  intelligence  of  the  defeat  and  death  of 
Buonaparte.  The  trick  was  carried  into  ef- 
fect, with  temporary  success,  on  the  eleventh 
of  February ;  and  the  whole  of  the  defend- 
ants being  found  guilty,  the  sentence  passed 
on  lord  Cochrane  was,  that  he  pay  a  fine  of 
five  hundred  pounds,  be  imprisoned  twelve 
months,  and  stand  once  in  the  pillory !  this 
part  of  the  sentence  was,  however,  re- 
mitted. On  the  fifth  of  July  the  house  of 
commons  expelled  his  lordship  by  a  majority 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  to  forty-four :  he, 
however,  asserted  his  entire  ignorance  of 
the  whole  plot,  that  he  was  placed  under 
disadvantages  by  the  nature  of  the  prosecu- 
tion and  the  conduct  of  the  judge :  and  the 
electors  of  Westminster  felt  so  confident  of 
his  innocence,  that  they  re-elected  him  not 
only  without  opposition,  but  in  triumph. 
His  name  was  also  erased  from  among  the 
knights  of  the  Bath. 

FINANCE. 

The  national  income  and  expenditure 
were,  on  the  thirteenth  of  June,  brought 
under  the  consideration  of  the  house  of 
commons.  The  whole  amount  of  the  joint 
and  separate  charges  for  the  service  of  the 
year  were  stated  by  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  at  sixty-seven  million  five  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  thousand  four  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  pounds  for  England ;  and 
for  Ireland  at  eight  million  one  hundred  and 
seven  thousand  and  ninety-four  pounds, 
making  the  total  expense  of  the  year  seven- 
ty-five million  six  hundred  and  twenty-four 
thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-two 
pounds.  To  meet  the  charges  upon  the 
public  revenue,  the  taxes  and  the  loans  of 
the  year  for  England  would  produce  sixty- 
seven  million  seven  hundred  and  eight  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  forty-five  pounds. 
The  exports  of  the  past  year  had  very  con- 
siderably exceeded  those  of  the  most  flour- 
ishing year  at  any  former  period.  The 
total  amount  of  the  loan  for  1814  was  twen- 
ty-four million  pounds,  being  eighteen  mil- 
lion five  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  Eng- 
land, and  five  million  five  hundred  thousand 
pounds  for  Ireland;  and,  from  the  terms 
upon  which  the  loan  had  been  negotiated,  it 
might  be  calculated  that  the  public  would 
remain  charged  with  the  yearly  interest 
upon  it  of  four  pounds,  twelve  shillings  and 
one  penny  per  cent.  At  the  close  of  this 
statement  the  usual  resolutions  were  read 
and  agreed  to,  after  a  remark  from  Ponoon- 


590 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


by,  that  the  public  interest  demanded  that 
the  property  tax  should  not  be  collected 
after  the  fifth  of  April  next.  Apprehen- 
sions, however,  were  still  entertained  that 
the  tax  might  be  renewed ;  and  the  incon- 
clusive replies  given  by  government  to  the 
inquiries  made  on  that  subject  excited  a 
very  deep  and  general  alarm  throughout 
the  country.  The  first  place  which  took 
measures  to  petition  parliament  against  the 
renewal  of  the  tax  was  the  city  of  London ; 
and  the  example  of  the  metropolis  was  so 
generally  followed,  that  the  voice  of  the 
people,  which,  when  distinctly  and  perse- 
veringly  raised,  must  always  be  heard,  final- 
ly prevailed. 

STATE  OF  IRELAND. 
The  state  of  Ireland  had,  for  some  time, 
been  such  as  to  call  for  the  adoption  of  addi- 
tional measures  for  securing  the  public  tran- 
quillity ;  and  on  the  eighth  of  July,  Peel, 
chief  secretary  for  Ireland,  proposed  the  re- 
newal of  a  measure  which  had  received  the 
sanction  of  parliament  in  1807.  The  clause 
of  the  insurrection  act,  which  it  was  now 
intended  to  revive,  provided  that,  in  case 
any  part  of  the  country  should  be  disturbed, 
two  justices  of  the  peace  should  be  empow- 
ered to  summon  an  extraordinary  sessions 
of  the  county,  which  should  consist  of  seven 
magistrates;  that  the  lord-lieutenant,  in 
council,  on  receiving  a  report  from  the 
magistrates  so  assembled,  stating  that  the 
ordinary  law  was  inadequate  to  the  preser- 
vation of  tlie  public  peace,  should  be  em- 
powered to  issue  a  proclamation,  command- 
ing all  resident  within  the  same  district  to 
keep  within  their  houses  from  sun-set  to 
sun-rise ;  and  that  any  persons  detected  out 
of  their  houses  at  the  prohibited  times,  with- 
out being  able  to  show  good  cause,  should 
be  liable  to  be  transported  for  seven  years. 
It  was  also  required  that  the  lord-lieutenant 
should  order  a  special  session  of  the  peace 
to  be  held,  at  which  the  persons  offending 
against  this  law  should  be  tried,  and,  if  ne- 
cessary, the  trial  by  jury  should,  in  these 
cases,  be  dispensed  with.  Other  provisions 
sanctioned  the  employment  of  the  military ; 
enabled  the  magistrates  to  pay  domiciliary 
visits ;  and  to  break  open  doors  if  denied  ad- 
mission. The  bill  was  warmly  discussed  in 
its  several  stages,  but  it  ultimately  passed 
both  branches  of  the  legislature ;  and,  at  the 
close  of  the  session,  obtained  the  royal  as- 
sent. Parliament  was  prorogued,  on  the 
thirtieth  of  July,  by  the  prince-regent  in 
person. 

TREATY  WITH  HOLLAND.— CONGRESS 

OF  VIENNA. 

It  was  agreed  by  treaty  between  Great 

Britain  and  Holland,  that  this  country  should 

retain  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Dernerara, 

Essequibo,  and  Berbice,  but  restore  Batavia,! 


Surinam,  Cura9oa,  and  St.  Eustatia.  A  ne- 
gotiation was  also  entered  into  for  uniting 
Great  Britain  and  Hollai|d  more  closely,  by 
a  marriage  between  the  young  prince  of 
Orange  and  the  princess  Charlotte  of  Wales; 
but,  from  some  cause  with  which  the  public 
has  never  been  fully  acquamted,  though  it 
does  not  appear  that  the  prince  was  ever 
very  acceptable  to  his  intended  consort,  the 
treaty  was  not  successful. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  March,  the  prince 
of  the  Netherlands  opened  the  grand  meet- 
ing of  the  notables  of  the  country,  to  take 
into  consideration  the  plan  of  the  constitu- 
tion, which  was  viewed  and  adopted  with 
acclamation.  Decrees  were  also  passed, 
for  the  establishment  of  the  freedom  of  the 
press ;  the  restoration  of  the  Dutch  language, 
which  had  fallen  into  disuse  during  the 
union  of  Holland  with  France  ;  the  relief  of 
the  inferior  clergy ;  the  solemn  observance 
of  the  sabbath,  and  other  purposes.  The 
Austrian  Netherlands  were  conferred  on  the 
house  of  Orange,  in  the  hope  that  so  import- 
ant an  acquisition  would  render  it  capable 
of  preserving  its  independence,  and  main- 
taining a  rank  among  the  sovereigns  of  Eu- 
rope. 

The  emperor  of  Russia  and  the  king  of 
Prussia  made  their  solemn  entry  into  Vienna; 
and  on  the  first  of  November  the  formal  in- 
stallation of  the  congress  took  place.  The 
royal  personages  congregated  on  this  occa- 
sion consisted  of  the  emperors  of  Russia  and 
Austria,  and  the  kings  of  Prussia,  Denmark, 
Wirtemberg,  and  Bavaria;  with  ambassa- 
dors from  England,  Russia,  Austria,  Prussia, 
France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Switzerland,  Italy, 
and  the  minor  states  of  Germany.  One  of 
the  first  acts  of  the  congress  was  to  recog- 
nize a  new  regal  title  annexed  to  the  British 
crown,  and  to  confirm  to  Hanover  the  rank 
of  a  kingdom,  the  title  of  elector  being  ren- 
dered unsuitable  to  present  circumstances 
by  the  sixth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Paris,  by 
which  it  was  agreed  "  that  the  states  of  Ger- 
many should  remain  independent,  and  joined 
in  a  federal  union."  On  tliis  ground,  several 
of  the  powers  concurrmg  in  the  treaty  had 
invited  the  prince-regent  to  renounce  the 
ancient  title  and  to  assume  that  of  king, 
with  some  extension  of  territory,  by  which 
the  arrangements  required  for  the  fiiture 
welfare  of  Germany  would  be  facilitated; 
particularly  as  all  the  ancient  electors,  and 
the  duke  of  Wirtemberg,  had  already 
erected  their  states  into  kingdoms.  A  gen- 
eral diet  assembled  on  the  fifteenth  of  De- 
cember, which  was  opened  by  the  duke  of 
Cambridge,  and  a  constitution  was  agreed 
upon  on  the  plan  of  a  representative  gov. 
ernment. 

In  Italy,  tire  territx)ne8  formerly  possessed 
by  the  tfovereign  hpvise  of  Sardinia   were 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


591 


-estored  to  Victor  Emanuel ;  and,  by  a  pro- 
tocol signed  in  the  congress  of  Vienna  on 
the  fourteenth  of  December,  the  territory 
forming,  before  the  French  revolutionary 
wars,  the  venerable  republic  of  Genoa,  was 
definitively  united  to  the  states  of  his  Sar- 
dinian majesty,  contrary  to  the  condition  on 
which  Genoa  was  occupied  by  a  British 
force.  The  annexation  of  all  the  other  dis- 
tricts in  the  north  of  Italy  to  the  Austrian 
dominion,  followed  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Lord  William  Bentinck  had  given 
the  Genoese  an  assurance  that  their  city 


would  be  restored  to  ita  former  indepen- 
dence ;  but  lord  Castlereagh  expressed  the 
regret  of  himself  and  his  brother  ministers, 
that  they  had  not  been  able  to  preserve  ita 
separate  existence,  without  the  risk  of  weak- 
ening the  system  adopted  for  Italy ;  and  to 
this  state-necessity  the  ancient  republic  waa 
obliged  to  submit,  as  was  that  of  its  old  rival, 
Venice,  to  the  political  arrangement  which 
finally  annexed  it  to  Austria.  Of  all  the 
sovereigns  by  right  of  French  conquest,  Mu- 
rat,  king  of  Naples,  alone  held  his  acquisi- 
tions undisturbed 


592 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 


Negotiations  vntk  America — Campaign  in  Canada — Failure  at  Plattshurg — Expedi- 
tion to  Washington — Attacks  on  Alexandria  and  Baltimore — Naval  Acti&ns — Fail- 
ure against  New- Orleans — Capture  of  Fort  Bowyer — Peace  with  America — Cap- 
ture of  President  frigate — Meeting  and  Proceedings  of  Parliament — Return  of 
Buonaparte  from  Elba,  his  march  to  Paris — Measures  of  allied  Powers — State  of 
Paris — Movements  of  French  and  allied  forces — Buonaparte  attacks  the  Prussians 
— Battle  of  Waterloo — Buonaparte's  return  to  Paris — His  Abdication — Advance  of 
Allies — Capitulation  of  Paris — Return  of  Louis  XVIII. — Buonaparte  surrenders 
to  the  English,  is  sent  to  St.  Helena — Murat  attempts  Naples,  and  loses  his  Ufc — 
Parliament  reassembled — Corn  Laws,  and  other  Measures — Terms  imposed  upon 
France — Continental  Affairs — Hostilities  in  India. 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  AMERICA— CAM- 
PAIGN IN  CANADA. 
During  the  continuance  of  a  conflict  in 
which  embattled  nations  were  the  actors, 
and  empires  the  stake — whilst  the  united 
armies  of  all  Europe  were  approaching,  and 
finally  occupying,  the  proud  city  of  Paris — 
the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  was  of  a  secondary  interest. 
A  war  so  differently  affecting  the  different 
parts  of  the  Union  could  not  fail  to  call  forth 
those  violent  political  contentions  for  which 
that  republic  is  so  much  distinguished.  At 
Boston  the  declaration  of  war  was  the  sig- 
nal of  a  general  mourning ;  all  the  ships  in 
the  harbor  displayed  flags  half-mast  high ; 
and  in  that,  as  in  other  cities  of  the  north- 
ern states,  public  meetings  of  the  inhabitants 
were  held,  at  which  a  number  of  resolutions 
were  passed,  stigmatizing  the  approucliing 
contest  as  unnecessary  and  ruinous,  and  as 
tending  to  a  connexion  with  France,  de- 
structive to  American  liberty  and  independ- 
ence. Immediately  afler  the  declaration  a 
party  was  formed,  called  the  Peace  Party, 
which  combined  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
federalists  throughout  the  United  States, 
and  by  whom  a  systematic  opposition,  prin- 
cipally directed  against  the  national  finances, 
was  maintained  to  the  latest  period  of  the 
war.  With  the  democratic  party,  and  in  the 
southern  states  in  particular,  where  swarms 
of  privateers  were  preparing  to  reap  a  rich 
harvest  among  the  West  India  Islands,  the 
popular  sentiment  was  decidedly  in  favor  of 
war ;  and,  of  all  the  cities  of  America,  in 
this  interest,  Baltimore  stood  in  the  foremost 
rank  in  zeal  and  in  violence.  The  first  im- 
portant event,  the  capture  of  the  British 
frigate  Guerriere  by  the  Constitution,  cre- 
ated in  England  astonishment  not  unmixed 
with  dismay ;  whilst  in  America  the  contest 
became  in  consequence  more  popular,  and 
the  spirit  of  maritime  enterprise  more  ani- 
mated and  enthusiastic.  When  the  captain 
and  crew  of  the  Constitution  landed  at  Bos- 


ton, particularly  unfavorable  to  the  war  as 
that  town  had  been,  they  were  received 
with  every  mark  of  honor  and  distinction, 
and  a  splendid  entertainment  was  given  to 
captain  Hull  and  his  officers. 

In  the  interval  between  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war  and  the  close  of  tho  year,  the 
elections  to  the  offices  of  government  in  the 
United  States  took  place ;  and  the  federal- 
ists, in  common  with  the  English  people, 
cherished  the  expectation  that  the  power 
and  influence  of  Madison  the  president,  and 
the  war  party  in  America,  were  nearly  at  an 
end.  The  disasters  in  Canada,  however,  in- 
stead of  rendering  the  war  more  generally 
and  decidedly  unpopular,  changed  the  dis- 
like which  had  been  entertained  for  it  in  the 
northern  states  inlo  a  determination  to  pros- 
ecute the  contest  with  increased  vigor. 
The  democratic  interest  was  consequently 
strengthened ;  and,  on  the  second  of  Decem- 
ber, the  re-election  of  Madison  was  secured. 
Soon  afler  the  American  government  bad 
declared  war  against  Great  Britain,  over- 
tures of  a  pacific  nature  were  made  by  both 
parties :  but  although  much  diplomatic  dis- 
cussion took  place  on  both  sides,  the  negoti- 
ation proved  unsuccessful.  In  each  country 
the  original  cause  of  the  war,  and  the  re- 
sponsibility of  its  continuance,  were  imputed 
to  the  enemy :  admitting,  however,  the  ex- 
istence of  the  British  orders  in  council,  and 
the  impressment  of  American  seamen,  to 
have  justified  the  United  States  in  declaring 
war  in  the  first  instance,  yet,  when  the  for- 
mer of  these  evils  was  removed,  and  when 
an  offer  to  suspend  hostilities  by  sea  and 
land  was  made  through  the  medium  of  the 
British  authorities  in  America,  in  order  to 
adjust  the  still  existing  differences,  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  American  government  to 
have  accepted  the  pacific  overture.  The 
limits  of  the  right  of  blockade  stand  fixed, 
by  the  law  of  nations,  upon  grounds  that  ad- 
mit of  no  serious  dispute  ;  and,  with  regard 
to  the  impressment  of  seamen,  America  did 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


593 


not  deny  that  Great  Britain  had  a  right  to 
reclaim  her  own  subjects ;  and  the  Enghsh 
government  did  not  pretend  to  have  any 
right  to  impress  any  who  were  really  and 
truly  American  citizens.  The  whole  quar- 
rel, then,  was  about  the  means  of  asserting 
these  rights  ;  and  had  the  ministers  of  both 
countries  sought  for  peace  in  the  spirit  of 
peace,  that  inestimable  blessing  must  have 
been  speedily  obtained  :  the  conquest  of 
Canada,  however,  against  which,  notwith 
standing  all  their  reverses,  the  Americans 
had  yet  met  with  sufficient  success  to  give 
them  some  hope  of  its  final  accomplishment, 
may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  objects  for 
which  they  were  induced  to  persevere  in 
the  war. 

At  the  opening  of  congress  on  the  seventh 
of  November,  1813,  the  president  announced 
that  Great  Britain  had  declined  an  offer, 
which  had  been  made  by  the  emperor  Alex- 
ander, to  mediate  the  existing  differences 
between  that  power  and  the  United  States ; 
and  under  such  circumstances,  the  president 
conceived  that  a  nation  proud  of  its  rights, 
and  conscious  of  its  strength,  had  no  choice 
but  in  exertion  of  the  one  in  support  of  the 
other.  The  door  of  negotiation  was  not, 
however,  finally  closed  ;  for,  while  Great 
Britain  was  disinclined  to  commit  the  deci- 
sion of  the  question  at  issue  to  the  mediation 
of  a  power,  that,  in  common  with  America, 
might  be  disposed  to  circumscribe  her  mari- 
time claims,  she  professed  a  readiness  to 
nominate  plenipotentiaries  to  treat  directly 
with  those  of  the  American  government, 
and  expressed  an  earnest  wish  that  their 
conferences  might  result  in  establishing  be- 
tween the  two  nations  the  blessings  of 
peace.  This  proposal,  which  was  commu- 
nicated by  lord  Castlereagh  to  the  American 
secretary  of  state  on  the  fourth  of  Novem- 
ber, was  accepted  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States  without  hesitation,  and  Got- 
tenburg  was  fixed  upon  as  the  seat  of  dis- 
cussion. The  negotiations,  however,  which 
were  removed  to  Ghent,  did  not  commence 
till  the  following  August,  and  then  proceed- 
ed with  little  prospect  of  success,  although 
the  restoration  of  peace  in  Europe  had  re- 
moved the  principal  causes  of  difference. 

After  the  failure  of  the  enemy  in  their  in- 
vasion of  Canada,  and  attempt  upon  Mont- 
real in  October,  1813,  they  were  convinced 
not  only  that  an  overwhelming  superiority 
of  fierce  was  of  little  avail  against  British 
troo{)s,  but  that  the  inhabitants  were  not  so 
favorably  disposed  towards  them  as  they  ex- 
pected. In  the  course  of  the  year  they  had, 
however,  acquired  the  ascendency  on  Lake 
Erie ;  but,  instead  of  expelling  the  British 
firom  the  Niagara  frontier,  they  had,  on  the 
last  day  of  December,  lost  all  their  own 
poete  on  the  river  St  Lawrence,  their  strong- 
50* 


est  fortress  bemg  taken,  in  a  masterly  style, 
by  colonel  Murray,  under  the  orders  of  gen- 
eral Drummond,  who  had  been  recently  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  in  Upper  Canada. 
Sir  James  Yeo,  a  naval  officer  of  high  repu- 
tation, who  commanded  on  Lake  Ontario, 
and  the  American  commodore  Chauncey, 
were  each  indefatigable  in  preparing  for  the 
campaign  of  1814,  and  Sir  James  was  pre- 
pared for  any  operation  before  Chauncey 
was  in  a  condition  to  meet  him ;  but,  being 
unsupported  by  an  adequate  land  force,  no- 
thing important  took  place.  The  Canadian 
bank  of  the  Niagara  became  the  theatre  of 
a  quick  succession  of  obstinate  and  sangui- 
nary conflicts;  and  general  Brown,  who 
was  opposed  to  general  Drummond,  proved 
himself  the  ablest  of  the  American  land  of- 
ficers; but  the  struggle  closed  by  leaving 
the  two  armies  in  the  same  positions  they 
had  occupied  in  tlie  spring. 

FAILURE  AT  PLATTSBURG. 
In  June  and  July,  after  the  dethronement 
of  Buonaparte,  a  numerous  fleet  arrived  in 
the  river  St.  Lawrence  from  Bourdeaux, 
with  fourteen  thousand  of  those  troops  which, 
under  the  duke  of  Wellington,  had  raised 
the  military  reputation  of  their  country  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  renown ;  but  it  was  not 
till  the  third  of  September  that  Sir  George 
Prevost  entered  the  American  territory,  and 
advanced  against  Plattsburg,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  in  conjunction  with  a  flotilla  under 
captain  Downie  of  the  navy.  The  Ameri- 
can flotilla,  which  was  somewhat  superior 
in  force,  lay  at  anchor  in  Plattsburg  bay. 
After  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  British 
vessels,  during  which  time  the  American 
troops  were  busily  employed  in  improving 
their  defences,  and  increasing  the  difficulties 
of  attack,  a  joint  assault  was  agreed  upon ; 
and,  on  the  morning  of  the  eleventh,  captain 
Downie  stood  into  the  bay,  and  attacked  the 
American  squadron.  Not  a  moment  was 
now  to  be  lost  on  shore ;  but,  from  some  un- 
explained cause,  the  advance  of  the  army 
was  not  sufficiently  rapid,  and,  during  an 
obstinate  struggle  of  more  than  two  hours, 
the  vessels  were  successively  obliged  to 
strike.  When  the  light  troops  were  close 
in  upon  their  works,  and  half  an  hour  would 
have  avenged  the  fall  of  the  gallant  Downie, 
who  was  mortally  wounded  early  in  the  ac- 
tion, the  loss  of  the  fleet  induced  Sir  George 
Prevost  to  recall  them,  but  they  reluctantly 
yielded  this  triumph  to  a  weak  and  undis- 
ciplined enemy;  and  in  the  night  he  com- 
menced a  precipitate  retreat,  abandoning  a 
large  quantity  of  stores.  The  whole  loss 
of  the  army,  in  killed  and  wounded,  did  not 
exceed  two  hundred  men ;  but  the  disgrace- 
ful issue  of  the  expedition  had  such  an  ef- 
fect on  the  minds  of  the  soldiery,  that  above 
eight  hundred  of  them  had  deserted  before 


594 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


tlie  retreat  was  concluded.  Hitherto  it  had 
been  considered  that  Sir  George  Prevost  had 
ably  conducted  the  defence  of  Canada ;  but 
he  was  now  recalled  to  answer  to  charges 
preferred  against  him  by  Sir  James  Yeo,  for 
his  neglect  to  co-operate  with  captain  Dow- 
nie ;  he  did  not,  however,  live  to  await  his 
trial. 

EXPEDITION  TO  WASHINGTON-ATTACKS 
ON  ALEXANDRIA  AND  BALTIMORE. 
A  STRONG  naval  force,  with  an  adequate 
number  of  troops,  was  also  dispatched  against 
the  American  coasts,  and  their  operations 
were  attended  with  general  success.  On 
the  nineteenth  of  August  admiral  Sir  Alex- 
ander Cochrane  and  major-general  Ross  en- 
tered the  Patuxent;  and  the  army,  being 
disembarked,  immediately  commenced  its 
march  for  the  city  of  Washington,  while  ad- 
miral Cockburn,  with  a  flotilla  of  armed  boats, 
proceeded  up  the  river  on  its  flank.  As  these 
boats  opened  the  reach  above  Pig-point  they 
perceived  the  Baltimore  flotilla,  under  com- 
modore Barney,  which  had  taken  refuge  in 
the  Patuxent.  Those  vessels  were  soon  af- 
terwards discovered  to  be  on  fire,  and  six- 
teen of  them  blew  up  in  succession.  The 
seventeenth  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Brit- 
ish, and  several  merchant  schooners  were 
captured  or  destroyed.  On  the  twenty-fourth, 
when  the  land  forces,  in  number  about  five 
thousand,  came  within  five  miles  of  Wash- 
ington, they  encountered  about  nine  thou- 
sand Americans,  whom  they  completely 
routed ;  and  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening 
they  entered  the  new  metropolis  of  the 
United  States,  when  they  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  set  fire  to  the  capitol,  including 
the  senate-house  and  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives. The  arsenal,  the  dock-yard,  with 
a  frigate  nearly  ready  to  be  launched,  and  a 
sloop  of  war,  the  treasury,  the  war-office, 
the  rope-walk,  the  president's  house,  and  a 
great  bridge  over  the  Potowmac,  were  also 
consigned  to  the  flames.  Private  property 
was  respected,  except  some  houses  from 
which  guns  had  been  discharged  at  the  Brit- 
ish troops.  On  the  evening  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  the  army  left  Washington,  it  being  ne- 
cessary to  retreat  before  any  great  force 
could  be  assembled ;  and  some  wounded 
were  necessarily  left  behind,  who  were 
treated  with  hum.anity.  On  the  thirtieth 
the  whole  force  reimbarked  without  molest- 
ation. The  destruction  of  public  buildings, 
not  designed  for  military  purposes,  was  re- 
sented, by  the  Americans,  as  an  insult  which 
one  free  people  ought  not  to  inflict  on  an- 
other. This  enterprise  was  followed  by  an 
attack  on  the  town  of  Alexandria,  situated 
lower  down  the  Potowmac.  On  the  twenty- 
ninth.  Fort  Washington,  by  which  the  river 
is  there  protected,  surrendered  to  captain 
Gordon,  of  the  Seahorse,  accompanied  by 


other  vessels;  and  the  common-council  of 
Alexandria  capitulated,  on  condition  that 
private  property  should  be  respected.  All 
naval  and  military  stores  and  merchandise, 
being  delivered  up,  were  shipped  on  board 
twenty-one  vessels  which  were  found  in  the 
harbor ;  and  the  British  departed,  laden  with 
spoil,  without  sustaining  much  injury  from 
the  batteries  on  the  river. 

The  next  object  of  attack  was  Baltimore ; 
and  on  the  twelfth  of  September  the  forces 
under  general  Ross  effected  a  landing  near 
North  Point,  about  thirteen  miles  from  the 
town.  Having  forced  an  intrenchment  which 
had  been  drawn  across  the  peninsula,  they 
advanced ;  and,  while  their  van-guard  was 
engaged  with  the  riflemen  in  the  woods,  a 
bullet  pierced  the  breast  of  general  Ross, 
who  expired  on  the  spot,  deeply  lamented 
by  the  army.  Colonel  Broke,  who  succeeded 
to  the  command,  attacked  and  dispersed  a 
large  body  of  Americans ;  but,  on  advancing 
to  the  town,  he  found  it  so  strongly  defend- 
ed, that  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the 
enterprise. 

NAVAL  ACTIONS. 

Among  the  losses  sustained  at  this  period 
was  that  of  captain  Sir  Peter  Parker,  com- 
manding the  Menelaus,  who  was  mortally 
wounded  while  leadmg  a  body  of  a  hundred 
seamen  against  an  American  force  stationed 
near  Bellair ;  and  the  British  sloop  of  war 
Reindeer  was  taken  by  the  American  sloop 
Wasp;  but  this  misfortune  was  fully  com- 
pensated by  the  capture  of  the  United  States 
frigate  Essex,  oflf  Valparaiso,  on  the  western 
coast  of  South  America,  by  the  English  frig- 
ate Phcebe,  which  relieved  the  British  tra-' 
ders  in  that  quarter  from  a  formidable  enemy. 

An  expedition,  which  sailed  from  Halifax 
in  July,  under  general  Pilkington,  had  re- 
duced Moose  Island,  and  two  others  in  the 
bay  of  Passamaquoddy.  In  September  this 
advantage  was  followed  up  by  an  expedition 
which  caused  the  enemy  to  burn  a  fine  frig- 
ate, called  the  John  Adams,  and  compelled 
them  to  leave  the  whole  district,  from  that 
bay  to  the  Penobscot  river,  in  possession  of 
the  British. 

In  consequence  of  the  alarm  created  by 
these  operations,  measures  w^ere  submitted 
to  congress  by  the  American  government  for 
making  adequate  defensive  preparations; 
and  it  was  proposed  that  the  present  mili- 
tary establishment,  amounting  to  sixty-two 
thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-eight  men, 
should  be  preserved  and  rendered  complete; 
and  that  an  additional  permanent  force  of  at 
least  forty  thousand  men  should  be  raised  for 
the  defence  of  the  cities  and  frontiers.  A 
bill  was  accordingly  introduced,  providing 
that  the  white  male  inhabitants  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  forty-five,  should  be  distributed  into 


GEORGE  IIL  1760-1820. 


595 


classes  of  twenty-five  in  each ;  every  class 
to  furnish  one  able-bodied  man  to  serve  du- 
ring the  war ;  tliat  assessors  should  deter- 
mine the  territorial  precincts  of  each  class, 
so  that  the  property  in  each  division  should 
be  as  nearly  equal  as  possible ;  that,  in  case 
of  failure,  a  penalty  should  be  levied  on  each 
class,  to  be  divided  among  them,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  property  of  individuals ;  and  that 
every  five  male  inhabitants  liable  to  military 
duty,  who  should  join  to  furnish  one  soldier 
durmg  the  war,  should  be  exempt  from 
service. 

FAILURE  AT  NEW-ORLEANS. 
In  the  beginning  of  December,  admiral 
Cochran^e's  squadron  arrived  at  the  mouths 
of  the  river  Mississippi,  with  a  considerable 
body  of  troops,  commanded  by  major-gene- 
ral Keane.  The  first  object  was  to  reduce 
a  flotilla  of  gun-boats  on  I^ac  Borgne,  which 
was  gallantly  performed  on  the  fourteenth, 
by  captain  Lockyer,  with  the  boats  of  the 
squadron.  On  the  twenty-third,  the  first 
division  of  troops,  amounting  to  two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  men,  were  landed  within 
six  miles  of  the  city,  and  in  the  night  they 
were  attacked  by  the  Americans ;  but,  after 
sustaining  some  loss,  they  maintained  their 
position.  On  the  twenty-fifth,  on  which  day 
ihe  second  division  joined,  major-general  Sir 
E.  Pakenham,  an  officer  of  distinguished 
merit,  who  had  served  in  the  Peninsula,  ar- 
rived, and  took  the  command.  He  found 
the  British  army  posted  on  a  piece  of  flat 
ground,  with  the  Mississippi  on  the  left,  and 
a  thick  wood  on  the  right.  The  enemy 
were  stationed  behind  an  intrenciiment,  ex- 
tending from  the  river  on  their  right  to  the 
wood  on  tlieir  left,  a  distance  of  about  a 
thousand  yards.  This  line  was  strengtliened 
with  flank-works,  and  had  a  canal  in  front, 
about  four  feet  deep :  on  the  further  bank 
of  the  Mississippi  the  Americans  had  a  bat- 
tery of  twelve  guns,  which  enfiladed  the 
whole  front  of  their  position.  The  disposi- 
tion for  the  attack,  which  was  to  be  made 
during  the  night,  was  formidable ;  but  unex- 
pected difficulties,  increased  by  the  falling 
of  the  river,  occasioned  considerable  delay 
to  the  entrance  of  the  armed  boats,  and  the 
attack  did  not  take  place  until  the  columns 
were  discernible  from  the  enemy's  line  at 
more  than  two  hundred  yards'  distance. 
The  troops  engaged  on  each  side  may  be 
estimated  at  ten  thousand ;  and,  since  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  no  engagement  had, 
perhaps,  been  fought  with  so  much  bravery — 
none,  certainly,  with  so  disastrous  a  result. 
The  loss  of  the  British,  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  prisoners,  amounted  to  two  thousand  and 
forty,  including,  in  the  former,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, who  fell  while  bravely  en- 
couraging his  men  on  the  edge  of  the  glacis, 
and  among  the  wounded,  generals  Gibbs  and 


Keane,  the  former  of  whom  expired  on  the 
following  day.  The  loss  of  the  enemy,  ac- 
cording to  the  official  statement  of  their 
general,  was  incredibly  small,  not  exceed 
ing  seventy-one.  General  Lambert,  on 
whom  the  command  now  devolved,  after 
holding  a  consultation  with  admiral  Coch- 
rane, determined  to  leimbark  the  troops, 
and  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  The  con- 
cluding operation  of  the  war  was  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  Bowyer,  on  Mobile  Point,  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  which,  being  wholly 
unable  to  resist  the  British  force,  capitula- 
ted on  the  eleventh  of  February,  1815. 

PEACE  WITH  AMERICA— CAPTURE  OF 
THE  PRESIDENT  FRIGATE. 
Before  these  events  took  place,  the  la- 
bors of  the  plenipotentiaries  assembled  at 
Ghent  were  brought  to  a  close ;  a  treaty  of 
peace  and  amity  having  been  signed  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  December,  which  was  af- 
terwards ratified  by  both  governments.  The 
treaty,  which  was  negotiated  on  the  part  of 
America  by  Adams,  Bayard,  Clay,  Russel, 
and  Gallatin,  and  of  Great  Britain  by  lord 
Gambler,  Goulbourn,  and  Adams,  was  silent 
on  the  grand  cause  of  the  war  and  primary 
object  of  dispute, — the  right  of  search ;  but, 
as  America  abandoned  her  claim  of  com- 
pensation for  the  captures  made  under  the 
British  orders  in  council,  and  omitted  all 
mention  of  her  original  pretensions,  her  re- 
sistance to  the  maritime  claims  of  Englaad 
must  be  considered  as  tacitly  abandoned. 
All  conquests,  on  either  side,  were  to  be  re- 
stored.— Britain  retaining  the  islands  in  Pas- 
samaquoddy  bay,  which  were  hers  by  the 
treaty  of  1783.  Under  this  article  the 
Americans  had  only  the  defenceless  shore  of 
the  Detroit,  on  the  frontier  of  the  two 
provinces,  to  offer  in  exchange  for  their 
fortress  of  Niagara  and  the  important  post 
of  Michilimackinac,  both  of  which  were  still 
in  possession  of  the  British.  The  Indians 
were  to  be  restored  to  the  rights  and  po&- 
sessions  which  they  held  in  1812;  it  was 
reciprocally  agreed  that  commissioners 
should  be  appointed  for  settling  the  disputes 
respecting  boundaries ;  and  both  parties  en- 
gaged to  continue  their  efforts  for  the  entire 
j  abolition  of  the  slave-trade. 
I  The  interval  between  the  actual  conclu-^ 
ision  of  the  treaty,  and  the  circulation  of 
j  that  important  intelligence,  enabled  the  Eln- 
!  glish  navy  to  obtain  another  triumph.  The 
President,  one  of  the  largest  frigates  yet 
sent  to  sea  by  the  United  States,  command- 
ed by  captain  Decatur,  accompanied  by  the 
Macedonian,  armed  brig,  laden  with  provi- 
sions, sailed  from  New- York  during  one  of 
those  gales  in  which  the  blockading  squad- 
ron was  driven  out  to  sea.  After  a  long  chase 
the  Endymion,  captain  Hope,  came  up  with 
the  former,  when  a  severe  action  ensued,  m 


596 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


which  the  President,  having  crippled  her 
adversary  in  the  rigging,  was  enabled  to  get 
ahead.  The  British  frigate  Pomona  now 
coming  up,  the  President  surrendered,  after 
exchanging  a  few  broadsides.  The  mutual 
advantages  of  a  free  interchange  of  com- 
mercial communication  between  two  coun- 
tries, whose  interest  it  is  at  all  times  to 
cherish  the  relations  of  peace,  were  resumed 
shortly  after  this  event;  and  in  both  was 
the  termination  of  the  war  hailed  with  un- 
feigned satisfaction. 

PARLIAMENT. 

The  session  of  parliament  was  opened  on 
the  eighth  of  November,  1814,  by  a  speech 
from  the  prince-regent,  of  which  the  lead- 
ing topics  were  the  pending  negotiations  at 
Ghent,  and  the  intended  congress  at  Vien- 
na. Adverting  to  the  supplies  for  the  ensu- 
ing year,  his  royal  highness  regretted  the 
necessity  of  so  large  an  expenditure,  and 
concluded  by  recommending  that  parliament 
should  proceed  with  due  caution  in  the  adop- 
tion of  such  regulation  as  might  be  neces- 
.sary  for  extending  the  trade  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  securing  her  commercial  advan- 
tages. The  usual  address  was  carried  with- 
out a  division. 
RETURN  OF  BUONAPARTE  FROM  ELBA. 

1815. — Determined  on  one  more  despe- 
rate effort,  Napoleon  Buonaparte  again  stood 
forward  to  alarm,  and  it  might  almost  be 
said,  to  appal,  the  surrounding  nations.  On 
the  twentieth  of  February,  1815,  he  laid  an 
embargo  on  the  vessels  in  the  ports  of  Elba, 
assembled  his  guards,  and  declared  his  pur- 
pose of  contending  for  the  imperial  crown 
of  France.  On  the  twenty-sixth  (Sir  Neil 
Campbell,  the  English  commissioner  ap- 
pointed to  reside  in  Elba,  being  at  this  time 
in  Italy)  he  embarked  in  four  vessels,  with 
about  a  thousand  men  ;  on  the  first  of  March, 
he  effected  a  landing  near  Cannes ;  and  in 
four  days  the  astoundmg  news  reached  the 
capital.  Monsieur,  the  king's  brother,  im- 
mediately set  off  from  Paris  with  marshal 
Ney,  who  treacherously  kissed  the  hand  of 
Louis,  and  swore  to  bring  his  old  comrade 
to  the  capital  in  an  iron  cage.  His  majesty 
at  the  same  time  convoked  an  extraordinary 
meeting  of  the  legislative  body,  which  in- 
stantly voted  addresses,  and  declared 
their  inviolable  attachment  to  the  throne. 
The  king  and  his  ministers  adopted  such 
measures  as  seemed  best  calculated  to  in- 
sure the  public  safety ;  but,  unfortunately, 
the  army  was  rotten  at  the  very  core.  The 
French  soldiers  had  never  heartily  joined 
with  the  enemies  of  their  chief;  his  name 
and  the  imperial  eagle  were  still  dear  to 
them;  and,  as  they  claimed  an  important 
share  in  the  establishment  of  his  military 
^lory,  so  they  had  continued  to  sympathize 
m  iua  disgrace,  and  to  look  back  with  re- 


gret on  those  halcyon  days  when  conquered 
and  invaded  nations  administered  to  the 
gratification  of  their  ruling  passion.  Aware 
of  the  disposition  of  the  army,  and  confi- 
ding in  their  attachment,  Buonaparte  does 
not  appear  to  have  made  any  specific  ar- 
rangement, or  adopted  any  regular  plan  of 
march ;  but,  as  soon  as  a  favorable  opportu- 
nity of  escape  presented,  to  have  trusted  en- 
tirely to  the  power  of  his  name  and  pres- 
ence. 

At  Grenoble  a  large  quantity  of  ammuni- 
tion fell  into  the  hands  of  Buonaparte,  who 
pushed  on,  at  the  head  of  only  six  hundred 
horse,  to  Lyons,  whence  the  disaffected  troops 
had  previously  compelled  Monsieur  to  re- 
tire. Here  he  halted  to  refresh  his  follow- 
ers ;  reviewed  the  whole  of  his  army,  which 
now  made  a  formidable  appearance ;  as.su- 
med  the  imperial  state ;  and  began  to  issue 
proclamations  and  decrees.  The  same  re- 
bellious spirit  appeared  in  other  places.  Mar- 
shal Ney,  having  issued  a  proclamation,  da- 
ted the  fourteenth  of  March,  describing  the 
Bourbons  as  unfit  to  reign,  and  recommend- 
ing his  troops  to  join  the  august  Napoleon, 
went  over  to  the  invader  at  Lons  le  Saul- 
nier.  Secure  in  the  support  of  the  army, 
Buonaparte  proceeded  on  his  march,  and 
entered  Paris  on  the  evening  of  the  twenti- 
eth. On  the  following  morning  he  showed 
himself  at  a  window  in  the  garden  of  the 
Thuilleries ;  and,  about  noon,  he  reviewed 
the  troops  on  the  Place  Carousel.  Louis 
the  eighteenth,  accompanied  by  marshals 
Berthier  and  Macdonald,  had  previously  left 
Paris  for  Lisle,  whither  Monsieur  and  mar- 
shal Marmont  were  also  retiring  Avith  a  con- 
siderable force.  One  of  the  first  measures 
of  Buonaparte  was  to  dispatch  Caulincourt 
to  invite  the  archdutchess  Maria  Louisa  to 
reunite  her  fortunes  with  his ;  and,  for  some 
time,  the  Parissians  were  amused  witli  the 
expectation  that  their  empress  would  return. 
The  imperial  carriages  were  ordered  from 
St.  Cloud  to  meet  her  and  her  son  on  their 
route  from  Vienna ;  their  arrival  was  even 
announced ;  but  neither  the  empress  of 
France  nor  the  king  of  Rome  appeared.  An 
attempt  to  kidnap  the  baby  monarch  proved 
also  unsuccessful. 

MEASURES  OF  ALLIED  POWERS.— STATE 
OF  PARIS. 
As  soon  as  the  intelligence  of  Buona- 
parte's irruption  had  reached  Vienna,  the 
allied  powers  issued  a  solemn  manifesto,  in 
which  they  declared,  that,  by  thus  break- 
ing the  convention  which  had  established 
him  in  the  island  of  Elba,  Buonaparte  had 
destroyed  the  only  legal  title  on  which  his 
existence  depended  ;  that,  by  appearing 
again  in  France  with  projects  of  confusion 
and  disorder,  he  had  deprived  himself  of  the 
protection  of  the  law,  and  had  manifested 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


i97 


to  the  universe  that  there  could  be  neither 
peace  nor  truce  with  him ;  that  he  had 
placed  himself  without  the  pale  of  civil 
and  social  relations;  and  that,  as  an  enemy 
and  disturber  of  the  tranquillity  of  the 
world,  he  had  rendered  himself  liable  to 
public  vengeance.  The  allies,  at  the  same 
time,  expressed  their  firm  determination  to 
maintain  entire  the  treaty  of  Paris,  and  to 
employ  all  their  means,  and  unite  all  their 
efforts,  to  prevent  the  peace  of  Europe  from 
being  again  troubled.  This  declaration  was 
followed  by  a  new  treaty,  signed  at  Vienna 
on  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  by  which  the 
contracting  parties  solemnly  engaged  not 
to  lay  down  their  arms  but  in  agreement 
with  each  other ;  nor  until  Buonaparte 
should  be  wholly  and  completely  deprived 
of  the  power  of  exciting  disturbances,  and 
of  renewing  his  attempts  to  obtain  the  su- 
preme power  in  France. 

About  a  fortnight  after  his  return  to 
Paris,  Buonaparte  severally  addressed  let- 
ters to  the  allied  sovereigns,  stating  that  he 
had  been  restored  by  the  unanimous  wish 
of  the  French  people,  and  that  he  was  de- 
sirous of  maintaining  peace  on  the  terms 
which  had  been  settled  with  the  Bourbons. 
The  congress,  to  which  these  letters  were 
generally  referred,  agreed  that  no  answer 
should  be  returned  to  them ;  and,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  he  found  himself  surround- 
ed by  difficulties  of  no  ordinary  kind.  In 
several  parts  of  France  the  royalists  were 
in  arms ;  and,  however  willing  his  military 
associates  might  be  to  support  him  in  the 
absolute  dominion  he  had  possessed  as  em- 
peror, the  republican  party,  on  which  he 
was  chiefly  obliged  to  depend,  would  only 
receive  him  as  the  head  of  a  popular  gov- 
ernment. The  liberty  of  the  press,  which 
he  reluctantly  conceded,  facilitated  the  cir- 
culation of  much  that  was  obnoxious  to 
him ;  and  the  interference  of  the  police,  on 
such  occasions,  was  resented  by  the  repub- 
licans as  an  infraction  of  the  promised  free- 
dom. The  declarations  of  the  allied  pow- 
ers were  also  distributed  throughout  France, 
in  the  hope  that,  by  making  his  danger 
more  apparent,  he  would  be  compelled  to 
surrender  many  sovereign  prerogatives.  His 
cabinet  became  the  scene  of  vehement  con- 
tention, and  he  was  at  length  induced  to 
conciliate  the  attachment  of  the  council  of 
state  by  a  solemn  promise  to  adhere  to  their 
advice  in  the  formation  of  a  new  constitu- 
tion. Having  thus  divided  their  strength 
and  lulled  their  suspicion,  he  took  advan- 
tage of  their  apathy,  fled  from  the  Thuille- 
ries,  seized  the  impregnable  palace  of  Bour- 
bon, and,  surrounded  by  a  body  of  his  guard, 
he  published  the  outline  of  a  new  constitu- 
tion of  his  own  arrangement,  under  the 
singular  title  of  "  An  additional  Act ;"  the 


mode  of  promulgating  which,  without  the 
sanction  of  any  public  body,  was  evidently 
dangerous  to  national  freedom ;  and  neither 
the  republicans  nor  the  constitutionalists 
relished  this  anticipation  of  the  solemn  na- 
tional compact,  for  which  he  had  appointed 
the  Champ  de  Mai.  The  royal  charter, 
subsisting  as  a  fundamental  law,  could  not 
be  innovated  upon ;  but  tlie  additional  act 
in  some  measure  confirmed  the  mass  of  con- 
tradictory laws  already  prescribed  by  Buo- 
naparte, and  was  liable  to  be  modified,  lim- 
ited, and  controlled  by  the  old  imperial 
decrees  embodied  in  the  constitutions  to 
which  this  act  was  proffered  as  a  supple- 
ment. 

The  assembly  of  the  Champ  de  Mai  was 
held  on  the  first  of  June,  various  arrange- 
ments having  been  previously  made  to  in- 
fluence the  votes ;  and  after  a  declaration 
of  the  arch-chancellor,  that  the  new  con- 
stitution was  accepted  by  an  almost  unani- 
mous concurrence  of  votes,  but  unaccom- 
panied by  the  slightest  evidence  of  their 
validity,  the  emperor  signed  the  additional 
act,  to  which  he  swore  upon  the  evangel- 
ists to  adhere.  He  then  distributed  his 
eagles  to  the  troops  of  the  line  and  the  na- 
tional guard,  as  they  passed  before  him,  and 
swore  to  defend  their  colors.  The  next 
point  was  to  assemble  the  chambers,  which 
took  place  on  the  Sunday  following,  when 
the  representatives  elected  for  their  presi- 
dent Lanjuinais,  an  individual  peculiarly 
obnoxious  to  Buonaparte  ;  but,  notwith- 
standing the  chagrin  occasioned  by  this  cir- 
cumstance, he  complacently  expedited  all 
his  civil  affairs,  such  as  the  installation  of 
his  chambers  of  commons  and  of  peers ;  in- 
formed them  that  his  first  duty  called  him 
to  meet  the  formidable  coalition  of  empe- 
rors and  kings  that  threatened  their  inde- 
pendence, and  that  the  army  and  himself 
would  acquit  themselves  well ;  recommend- 
ing to  them  the  destinies  of  France,  his 
own  personal  safety,  and,  above  all,  the  lib- 
erty of  the  press.  When  the  ceremonials 
were  completed,  Buonaparte  quitted  Paris 
for  the  frontiers,  where,  by  one  of  those 
rapid  movements  which  have  so  frequently 
distinguished  his  career,  he  put  his  forces 
in  motion  upon  the  Sambre  on  the  fifteenth 
of  June. 

MOVEMENTS  OF  FRENCH  AND  ALLIED 
FORCES— BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO. 

The  close  of  the  last  year  had  left  the 
whole  fortified  frontier  of  the  Belgic  prov- 
inces on  the  side  of  France  occupied  by 
strong  garrisons,  chiefly  of  English  troops, 
or  in  the  pay  of  England ;  and,  since  Buo- 
naparte's return,  continued  reinforcements 
had  been  sent  from  this  country,  the  whole 
of  which  were  placed  under  the  command 
of  the  duke  of  Wellington.     In  the  latter 


598 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


part  of  May  the  Prussian  army,  under 
prince  Blucher,  had  arrived  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Namur,  and  frequent  confer- 
ences took  place  between  the  two  generals 
relative  to  co-operation.  Buonaparte  de- 
termined to  attack  them  while  the  Russians 
and  Austrians  were  too  distant  to  afford 
succor ;  and  on  the  15th  of  June,  at  day- 
break, the  Prussian  out-posts  on  the  Sam- 
bre  were  driven  in :  general  Ziethen  was 
compelled  to  retire  from  Charleroi  through 
Fleurus,  to  unite  himself  with  the  main 
Prussian  army,  which  lay  in  the  vicinity  of 
St.  Amand  and  Ligny ;  and,  towards  even- 
ing, an  advanced  corps  of  Belgians  was 
driven  to  the  position  of  Les  Quatre  Bras. 

The  duke  of  Wellington,  although  he 
had  used  his  best  endeavors  to  gain  imme- 
diate intelligence  when  Buonaparte  joined 
his  army,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  very 
early  informed  of  that  event,  as,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  want  of  provisions,  and  espe- 
cially of  forage,  he  had  found  it  necessary 
to  disperse  his  army  very  much.  The 
British  head-quarters  were  at  Brussels.  As 
soon  as  the  movements  of  the  French  were 
ascertained,  the  whole  of  the  army  was 
ordered  to  advance  upon  Les  Quatre  Bras, 
and,  early  in  the  morning,  the  prince  of 
Orange  reinforced  the  brigade  which  had 
been  driven  from  thence,  regained  part  of 
the  ground,  and  commanded  the  communi- 
cation with  Blucher,  who  was  posted  on  the 
heights  between  Brie  and  Sombref,  await- 
ing the  attack  of  the  French,  although  the 
fourth  corps  under  Bulowhad  not  joined. 

Except  the  corps  of  Ney,  who  was  at 
Frasne,  opposed  to  the  British  at  Les  Qua- 
tre Bras,  and  of  Grouchy,  who  was  in  the 
rear  of  Fleurus,  Buonaparte  attacked  the 
Prussians  with  his  whole  force,  bring- 
ing up  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  men  against  eighty  thousand. 
About  three  in  the  aflernoon  he  carried  the 
village  of  St.  Amand,  after  a  vigorous  re- 
sistance ;  and  his  next  efforts  were  directed 
against  Ligny,  where  the  contest  was  main- 
tained with  the  utmost  obstinacy,  for  five 
hours.  About  two  hundred  cannons  from 
both  sides  were  directed  against  this  unfor- 
tunate village;  and  it  took  fire  in  many 
places  at  once.  Sometimes  the  battle  ex- 
tended along  the  whole  line.  About  five 
the  Prussians,  led  by  Blucher,  in  person, 
recovered  St.  Amand,  and  regained  the 
heights ;  and  at  this  moment  they  might 
have  profited  greatly  by  their  advantage,  if 
Bulow  had  arrived;  but  either  the  march 
of  this  corps  had  been  miscalculated,  or  the 
nature  and  state  of  the  roads  had  not  been 
taken  into  the  account.  From  the  duke  of 
Wellington  he  could  receive  no  assistance ; 
for  as  many  of  his  troops  as  had  come  up 
were  themselves  perilously  engaged  with 


superior  numbers.  As  evening  advanced 
the  situation  of  the  Prussians  became  more 
hopeless ;  there  were  no  tidings  of  Bulow ; 
the  British  division  could  with  difficulty 
maintain  its  own  position  at  Les  Quatre 
Bras ;  and  Blucher  was  at  length  obliged 
to  retire  upon  Pilly,  leaving  behind  him 
sixteen  pieces  of  cannon,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  killed  and  wounded.  The  retreat, 
however,  was  effected  with  such  order  that 
the  French  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  pur- 
sue him,  and  he  formed  again  within  a 
quarter  of  a  league  from  the  field  of  battle. 
The  gallant  marshal,  in  one  of  the  charges 
of  cavalry,  nearly  closed  his  long  and  illus- 
trious life,  his  horse  having  fallen,  mortally 
wounded,  and  himself  being  rode  over  by 
the  French  cuirassiers,  who  were  repulsed 
and  pursued  by  the  Prussian  cavalry  before 
he  was  discovered  and  remounted. 

Early  in  the  aflernoon  of  the  same  day, 
the  sixteenth,  marshal  Ney,  after  skirmish- 
ing for  a  considerable  time,  commenced  his 
grand  attack  on  the  British,  at  Les  Quatre 
Bras,  with  about  forty  thousand  men ;  and 
the  position  was  maintained,  with  the  most 
signal  intrepidity,  by  the  prince  of  Orange, 
the  duke  of  Brunswick,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Picton,  who  completely  defeated  every  at- 
tempt to  get  possession  of  it.  In  this  ac- 
tion the  French  were  not  only  superior  in 
numbers,  but  were  comparatively  fresh,  the 
allies  having  been  marching  from  the  pre- 
ceding midnight.  In  pursuing  a  French 
division,  which  was  repulsed  early  in  the 
engagement,  some  British  troops  exposed 
themselves  unawares  to  a  body  of  cuiras- 
siers, who,  taking  advantage  of  an  ine- 
quality of  ground,  on  which  corn  was  grow- 
ing as  high  as  the  shoulders  of  the  tallest 
man,  were  posted  in  ambush ;  and  the  gal- 
lant forty-second  regiment  of  Highlanders, 
in  particular,  suffered  most  severely.  About 
three  o'clock  the  duke  of  Wellington  came 
on  the  field  with  the  British  guards.  At 
this  period  the  French  had  dispossessed  the 
Belgian  sharp-shooters  from  the  Bois  de 
Bossu,  which  enfiladed  the  British  position. 
General  Maitland,  with  the  guards,  was 
instantly  ordered  to  recover  this  wood,  and 
the  service  was  speedily  effected.  In  this 
obstinate  conflict  the  British  lost  many  ex- 
cellent officers ;  and  had  particularly  to  de- 
plore their  gallant  ally,  the  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick, who  was  killed  by  a  musket-ball. 

Marshal  Blucher,  who  found  himself  so 
much  weakened  by  the  battle  of  Ligny  as 
to  be  under  the  necessity  of  continuing  his 
retreat,  concentrated  his  army  near  Wavre, 
about  six  leagues  to  the  rear  of  his  former 
position,  and  considerably  farther  disjoined 
from  the  line  of  the  duke  of  Wellington's 
operations.  His  march  was  followed  by 
Grouchy,  whilst  Buonaparte,  with  the  rest 


GEORGE  IIL   1760—1820. 


599 


of  his  arm^,  made  a  movement  to  the  left, 
to  unite  himself  with  Ney,  and  attack  the 
English  at  Quatre  Bras.  Blucher's  move 
ment  obliged  the  duke  of  Wellington  to 
retire  upon  Genappe,  and  thence  upon 
Waterloo.  The  retreat  began  towards 
noon  on  the  seventeenth,  and  was  well 
covered  by  the  cavalry  and  horse  artillery. 
A  large  body  of  French  cavalry,  headed  by 
lancers,  followed  with  some  boldness,  espe- 
cially at  Genappe,  where  the  little  river 
which  runs  through  the  town  is  crossed  by 
a  narrow  bridge ;  but  the  pursuit  was  not 
vigorous,  and  between  five  and  six  in  the 
afternoon  the  whole  army  reached  the  ap- 
pointed ground. 

The  position  which  the  duke  of  Welling- 
ton occupied  was  in  front  of  the  village  and 
farm  of  Mont  St.  Jean,  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  in  advance  of  the  little  town  of  Water- 
loo. The  rain,  which  was  heavy  through- 
out the  night,  began  to  abate  about  nine  in 
the  morning,  when  Buonaparte,  whose 
head-quarters  were  then  at  Planchenois,  a 
farm  some  little  distance  in  the  rear  of  the 
French  line,  and  about  fifteen  miles  from 
Brussels,  put  his  army  in  motion.  His 
position  was  on  a  ridge  immediately  oppo- 
site to  that  of  the  British,  at  a  distance 
varying  fi-om  a  thousand  to  twelve  or  thirteen 
Imndred  yards;  the  right  on  the  heights  in 
front  of  Planchenois ;  the  centre  at  a  little 
country  tavern  and  farm,  famous  from  that 
day  in  history  for  its  appropriate  name  of 
I/i  Belle  Alliance ;  the  left  leaning  on  the 
road  to  Brussels  from  Nivelles.  The  cui- 
rassiers were  in  reserve  behind,  and  the 
imperial  guards  upon  the  heights.  Grou- 
chy and  Vandamme  had  been  detached  to- 
wards Wavre  against  the  Prussians;  and 
t!ie  sixth  corps,  under  count  Lobau,  with  a 
body  of  cavalry,  was  in  the  rear  of  the  right, 
ready  to  oppose  a  Prussian  corps,  "  which," 
jsays  an  official  French  account,  "  appeared 
to  have  escaped  marshal  Grouchy,  and  to 
threaten  to  fall  upon  our  right  flank." 
Thinking  to  bear  down  the  British  army  by 
tiint  of  numbers,  he  broui^ht  against  their 
force,  comprising  altogether  about  seventy- 
five  thousand,  of  which  the  British  did  not 
exceed  thirty-three  thousand,  three  corps  of 
infantry,  and  almost  all  his  cavalry,  amount- 
ing, with  artillery,  to  one  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  men,  forty  thousand  more  being 
in  rcscrv*:;,  or  awaiting  the  Prussians  on  the 
I  ight. 

The  two  points  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance in  the  British  position  were  the  farm 
.♦;f  Hougoumont,  with  its  wood  and  garden 
in  front  of  the  right,  and  that  of  I..'i  Haye 
ISainte,  in  front  of  the  left;  and,  about  ten 
o'clock,  Soult  and  Ney  attacked  the  former 
with  their  usual  impetuosity.  This  point 
VJie  duke  of  Wellington  liad  strengtijened 


as  much  as  possible  during  the  night ;  and 
so  severe  was  the  contest,  that,  within  half 
an  hour,  fifteen  hundred  men  were  slain  in 
an  orchard  not  exceeding  four  acres  in  ex- 
tent. Great  efforts  were  made  by  the  as- 
sailants, who  surrounded  the  house  on  three 
sides,  and  burnt  a  great  part  of  it  to  the 
ground ;  but  it  was  defended  with  the  ut- 
most gallantry  to  the  last.  The  assault 
upon  Hougoumont  was  accompanied  by  a 
heavy  fire  from  more  than  two  hundred 
pieces  of  artillery  upon  the  whole  British 
line ;  and,  under  cover  of  this  fire,  repeated 
attacks  had  been  made,  one  of  which  was 
so  serious,  and  made  with  such  numbers, 
that  it  required  all  the  skill  of  the  British 
commander  to  post  his  troops,  and  all  the 
courage  and  discipline  of  his  soldiers  to 
withstand  the  assailants.  In  this  attack 
Sir  Thomas  Picton  was  mortally  wound- 
ed, by  a  musket-ball  in  the  head,  and  Sir 
William  Ponsonby  was  slain  by  the  Polish 
lancers. 

On  the  left  of  the  centre  the  enemy  ob- 
tained a  temporary  success.  Some  light 
troops  of  the  German  legion  had  been  sta- 
tioned in  the  farm  of  La  Haye  Sainte ;  the 
French  succeeded  in  occupying  the  com- 
munication between  them  and  the  army ; 
and,  when  all  the  ammunition  of  the  be- 
sieged was  expended,  they  carried  the 
farm-house,  and  bayoneted  the  Hanoverians 
stationed  to  defend  it.  From  this  position 
they  were  never  driven,  till  the  grand  ad- 
vance of  the  British  in  the  evening.  The 
battle  continued  with  the  most  desperate 
intrepidity  on  both  sides,  Buonaparte  con- 
tinually bringing  forward  his  troops  in  con- 
siderable masses,  which  the  British  and 
their  allies  repulsed.  The  duke  of  Wel- 
lington was  every  where,  and  never  were 
his  exertions  more  needfiil ;  sometimes  he 
was  rallying  broken  infantry,  and  some- 
times placing  himself  within  the  squares. 
No  man,  indeed,  ever  had  more  confidence 
in  his  troops,  and  no  troops  ever  more  am- 
ply returned  the  confidence  which  they  so 
well  deserved.  On  this  day  both  men  and 
leaders  were  put  to  the  proof:  none  of  their 
former  fields  of  glory,  many  as  they  had 
seen  together,  had  been  so  stubbornly  con- 
tested, or  so  dearly  won.  The  carnage, 
owing  partly  to  the  confined  extent  of  the 
ground,  and  the  consequent  intermixture  of 
the  contending  forces,  was  such  as  the  Brit- 
ish army  had  never  before  experienced; 
but  it  would  liave  been  still  greater,  had 
not  the  ground  been  soaked  with  rain,  in 
consequence  of  which  the  balls  seldom 
rose  after  they  touched  it,  and  the  shells 
frequently  buried  themselves  in  the  mud. 

Buonaparte,  about  seven  in  the  evening, 
made  a  last  and  desperate  eftbrt  to  force  the 
left  of  Uie  British  centre  near   La  Haye 


600 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Sainte.  The  attack  was  led  by  marshal 
Ney  with  eagerness  and  precipitancy ;  gen- 
eral Friant  fell  by  his  side,  and  his  own 
horse  was  killed.  He  was  opposed  by  the 
duke  of  Wellington  in  person,  with  such 
resolution  that  the  assailing  columns  turn- 
ed and  fled  in  disorder.  At  this  time,  when 
the  thickening  cannonade  on  the  French 
right,  and  the  appearance  of  troops  emerg- 
ing from  the  woods,  announced  that  the 
Prussians  were  coming  up  in  full  force,  the 
British  army  was  ordered  to  advance,  the 
centre  being  formed  in  line,  and  the  battal- 
ions on  the  flanks  in  squares,  for  their  se- 
curity. The  duke  himself  led  them  on, 
and  in  every  point  the  success  was  most 
decisive.  The  enemy,  exhausted  by  their 
own  repeated  and  unsuccessful  attacks, 
scarcely  waited  the  charge  ;  their  first  line 
was  thrown  back  upon,  and  mingled  with 
the  second  ;  all  order  was  abandoned  ;  the 
panic  spread  rapidly  ;  and  the  whole  army, 
pressed  by  the  British  in  front,  and  by  the 
Prussians  on  the  right  and  in  the  rear,  fled 
in  irretrievable  confusion. 

Biucher,  on  proceeding  to  join  the  duke 
of  Wellington,  left  one  division  of  his  army 
at  Wavre,  under  general  Thielman,  to  op- 
pose marshal  Grouchy,  before  whom  he 
gradually  fell  back ;  and,  whilst  Buonaparte 
was  vainly  encouraging  his  army  with  the 
hope  of  being  succored  by  the  arrival  of  the 
marshal,  that  officer,  who  appears  not  to 
have  been  aware  of  the  movements  on  his 
left,  and  that  the  fate  of  his  master  would 
be  decided  at  Waterloo,  was  advancing  on 
the  road  to  Brussels,  exulting  in  his  un- 
profitable success.  It  was  about  half-past 
seven,  at  which  time  it  was  evident  that 
Buonaparte's  attack  upon  the  British  had 
failed,  that  the  duke  of  Wellington  took 
that  great  and  deri,':i'-e  step  which  crowned 
liis  glory  and  rsvod  Europe.  The  Prus- 
sians mad«?  their  pttack  shortly  after,  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances ;  and, 
even  if  the  British  army  had  not  repulsed 
the  enemy,  Blucher's  movement  would 
have  been  decisive.  If  the  French  had 
succeeded  in  their  efforts  against  the  duke 
of  Wellington,  it  would  have  prevented 
them  from  profiting  by  the  success :  but, 
being  made  at  the  critical  moment  of  their 
defeat,  it  rendered  the  victory  complete. 
A  total  rout  cannot  be  more  fully  acknow- 
ledged than  in  Buonaparte's  own  account. 
"A  complete  panic,"  he  says,  "spread 
through  the  whole  field  of  battle ;  the  men 
threw  themselves  in  the  greatest  disorder 
on  the  line  of  communication;  soldiers, 
•cannoneers,  caissons,  all  pressed  to  this 
point ;  the  old  guard,  which  was  in  reserve, 
was  infected,  and  was  itself  hurried  along. 
In  an  instant  the  whole  army  was  nothing 
but  a  mass  of  confusion ;  all  the  soldiers  of 


small-arms  were  mixed  pell-mell,  and  it 
was  utterly  impossible  to  rally  a  single 
corps.  The  enemy,  who  perceived  this 
astonishing  confusion,  immediately  attack- 
ed with  their  cavalry,  and  increased  the 
disorder;  and  such  was  the  confusion, 
owing  to  night  coming  on,  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  rally  the  troops  and  point  out  to 
them  their  error." 

Buonaparte's  station  during  the  battle 
had  been  upon  the  Charleroi  road,  at  the 
hamlet  of  La  Belle  Alliance  ;  near  which 
post,  by  a  singular  coincidence,  when  night 
had  closed  in,  and  the  rout  of  the  enemy 
was  complete,  Biucher  and  Wellington  met 
in  the  pursuit,  and  exchanged  congratula- 
tions. As  the  British  and  Prussians  were 
now  on  the  same  road,  and  the  former, 
having  been  twelve  hours  in  action,  were 
greatly  fatigued,  the  duke  readily  relin- 
quished the  charge  of  pursuit  to  his  gallant 
colleague,  who  declared  that  he  would  con- 
tinue it  throughout  the  night,  and  gave 
orders  to  send  the  last  man  and  the  last  horse 
after  the  enemy.  In  this  pursuit  the  Prus- 
sians took  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pieces  of  cannon,  Buonaparte's  travelling 
equipage,  and  the  whole  materiel  and  bag- 
gage of  the  army.  An  equal  number  of 
artillery  had  been  also  taken  by  the  British. 
Such  a  battle  could  not  be  fought  without 
great  loss  on  both  sides ;  and  this  victory 
was  indeed  achieved  by  a  severe  sacrifice. 
On  the  side  of  the  victors  the  total  of  killed 
and  wounded,  exclusive  of  the  Prussians, 
exceeded  thirteen  thousand  men;  among 
whom  were  six  hundred  officers,  including 
eleven  generals.  The  loss  of  the  French 
must  have  been  tremendous:  it  is  supposed 
that  they  left  at  least  twenty  thousand  men 
dead  on  the  field ;  and,  being  pursued  after 
the  battle  by  a  fresh  and  inveterate  enemy, 
their  numbers  were  so  greatly  thinned  by 
slaughter  and  desertion,  that  of  the  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  men  with  whom 
Buonaparte  commenced  this  campaign  of 
four  days,  not  a  third  part  remained  in 
arms,  though  the  prisoners  did  not  exceed 
seven  thousand. 

The  feeling  produced  in  England  by  this 
battle,  which  led  to  more  important  conse- 
quences than  have  resulted  from  any  in 
modern  times,  will  never  be  forgotten. 
Though  accustomed  to  victory,  upon  the 
land  as  well  as  upon  the  seas,  the  glory  of 
all  seemed  eclipsed  by  that  of  Waterloo. 
The  first  consideration  was,  how  to  express 
a  due  sense  of  this  great  exploit — how  to 
manifest  a  nation's  gratitude  to  the  army 
and  its  leaders.  There  remained  no  fresh 
distinctions  to  confer  on  the  duke  of  Wel- 
lington ;  but  two  hundred  thousand  pounds 
were  added  to  the  former  grant,  that  a  mag- 
nificent palace    might   commemorate   the 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


601 


event — Every   regiment  which  had  been 

E resent  was  permitted  from  thenceforth  to 
ear  the  word  Waterloo  upon  its  colors ;  all 
the  privates  were  to  be  distinguished  in  the 
muster-rolls  and  pay-lists  of  their  respec- 
tive corps  as  Waterloo  men,  and  every 
subaltern  officer  and  private  allowed  to 
reckon  that  day's  work  as  two  years'  ser- 
vice in  the  account  of  his  time  for  increase 
of  pay,  or  for  a  pension  when  discharged. 
A  benefit  not  less  important  was  extended, 
on  this  occasion,  to  the  whole  army,  by  a 
regulation  enacting,  that  henceforward  the 
pensions  granted  for  wounds  should  rise 
with  the  rank  to  which  the  officer  attained — 
so  that  he  who  was  maimed  when  an  en- 
sign should,  when  he  became  a  general, 
receive  a  general's  pension  for  the  injury 
which  he  had  endured. 

BUONAPARTES  RETURN  TO  PARIS.— HIS 
ABDICATION. 

The  allied  armies  moved  upon  Paris, 
where  the  proceedings  of  the  government 
evinced  how  little  ability  there  was  to  re- 
sist their  progress.  Buonaparte,  who  had 
twice  returned  to  the  capital  alone  after 
leading  armies  to  destruction,  again  has- 
tened thither,  and  informed  his  chamber  of 
peers  that  he  had  come  to  Paris  to  consult 
on  the  means  of  restoring  the  materiel  of 
the  army,  and  on  the  legislative  measures 
which  circumstances  required. — The  two 
chambers  hastily  assembled,  and,  after 
some  discussion,  declared  their  sittings  per- 
manent, and  that  any  attempt  to  dissolve 
them  was  high  treason.  The  ensuing  de- 
bates were  full  of  tumult:  one  speaker 
ventured  to  call  for  the  abdication  of  the 
emperor ;  several  voices  seconded  the  mo- 
tion ;  and  in  this  critical  juncture  his  adhe 
rents  suggested  various  projects,  even  pro- 
posing that  he  should  dissolve  the  mutinous 
assembly  with  an  armed  force,  and  assume 
the  dictatorship.  On  the  morning  of  the 
twenty-second,  the  chamber  of  representa- 
tives assembled  to  receive  his  act  of  abdi- 
cation, a  measure  considered  indispensably 
necessary  for  the  salvation  of  the  country. 
A  long  interval  of  feverish  impatience  elaps- 
ed. At  length  the  minister  of  police  ap- 
peared with  a  declaration,  in  which  Buona- 
parte announced  that  his  political  life  was 
terminated,  and  proclaimed  his  son  empe- 
ror of  the  French,  by  the  title  of  Napoleon 
the  second.  An  address  of  thanks  for  the 
sacrifice  he  had  made  was  presented  by 
the  president,  Lanjuinais,  at  the  head  of  a 
deputation;  and  the  two  chambers,  eluding 
any  express  recognition  of  the  young  Na- 
poleon, proceeded  to  nominate  a  provisional 
government,  of  which  the  members  were 
Carnot,  Fouche,  Caulincourt,  Grenier,  and 
Quinette. 

Vol.  IV.  51 


ADVANCE  OF  ALLIES.— CAPITULATION 
OF  PARIS. 
The  duke  of  Wellington  remained  at 
Waterloo  on  the  nineteenth  of  June  ;  and 
on  the  twentieth  he  marched  to  Malplaquet, 
and  crossed  the  French  boundary,  having 
issued  a  general  order,  apprizing  the  sol- 
diers that,  in  marching  through  the  domin- 
ions of  an  ally,  they  were  to  observe  the 
strictest  discipline.  This 'order  was  so  well 
obeyed,  that  the  inhabitants  acknowledged 
that  the  British  paid  more  respect  to  public 
and  private  property  than  had  even  marked 
the  conduct  of  their  own  troops.  Cambray 
surrendered  on  the  twenty-fourth;  the 
strong  fortress  of  Peronne  was  reduced  on 
the  twenty-sixth ;  on  the  twenty-eighth  thfj 
duke  was  at  St.  Just ;  and  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  and  thirtieth  he  passed  the  Oise.  Blu- 
cher,  after  carrying  Avesnes  by  escalade, 
marched  upon  Laon,  under  the  walls  of 
which  Soult,  with  about  four  thousand  strag- 
glers, was  joined  by  twenty  thousand  men, 
under  Grouchy  and  Vandamme,  who  had 
with  difficulty  and  loss  effected  their  retreat 
from  Wavre.  At  Villars  Coteret,  a  contest 
between  these  forces  took  place,  which  ter- 
minated favorably  to  the  Prussians,  who  im- 
mediately advanced  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Paris  ;  and,  having  passed  the  Seine,  by  a 
combined  movement,  the  two  generals  com- 
pletely invested  the  city  on  its  defenceless 
side.  In  the  mean  time  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  provisional  government  had 
repaired  to  the  camp  of  prince  Blucher,  and 
requested  a  suspension  of  arms  while  they 
proceeded  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  allies 
with  overtures  for  peace ;  but  he  would  only 
listen  to  unconditional  submission,  and  the 
possession  of  Paris ;  he,  however,  granted 
them  passports  to  proceed  to  Haguenau, 
where  the  allied  sovereigns,  who  were  ad- 
vancing with  a  large  army,  held  their  head- 
quarters. After  a  long  but  unsatisfactory 
conference,  they  returned  to  Paris,  and 
found  the  duke  of  Wellington  and  prince 
Blucher  ready  to  enter  the  capital,  in  pur- 
suance of  a  convention  concluded  in  their 
absence.  The  provisional  government  had 
invited  the  marshals  and  generals  to  a  coun- 
cil of  war,  at  which  it  was  decided  that  all  re- 
sistance must  be  fruitless;  and  Fouche  and 
Caulincourt  proposed  that  the  city  should  be 
surrendered  to  Louis  the  eighteenth,  argu- 
ing that  it  would  conciliate  a  family  under 
whose  power  it  was  evident  they  must  re- 
turn. It  was,  however,  finally  determined 
to  ofier  a  capitulation  as  a  mere  military 
transaction,  without  reference  to  any  politi- 
cal question.  The  convention  was  con- 
cluded on  tlie  third  of  July,  and  its  princi- 
terms  were,  that  tlie  French  army 
should,  on  the  following  day,  commence  'ts 
march  to  take  up  a  position   behind   t  e 


602 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Loire,  and  completely  evacuate  Paris  in 
three  days  ;  that  all  the  fortified  posts  and 
the  barriers  should  be  given  up ;  that  pub- 
lic property,  with  the  exception  of  that  re- 
lating to  war,  should  be  respected;  that 
private  persons  and  property  should  be 
equally  respected ;  and  that  all  individuals 
in  the  capital  should  continue  to  enjoy  their 
rights  and  liberties,  without  being  disturbed 
or  called  to  account,  either  as  to  situations 
held  by  them,  or  as  to  their  conduct  or  po- 
litical opinions. 

BUONAPARTE  SURRENDERS  TO  THE 
ENGLISH.— IS  SENT  TO  ST.  HELENA. 
Buonaparte's  abdication  was  accompan- 
ied by  a  kind  of  farewell  proclamation  to  the 
army,  after  which  he  occupied  himself  in 
preparing  for  a  voyage  to  America ;  and  on 
the  third  of  July  he  arrived  at  Rochefort, 
escorted  by  general  Beker,  whose  orders 
were  to  see  him  speedily  embarked  on 
board  a  small  squadron  which  the  pro- 
visional government  had  assigned  for  his 
conveyance.  On  the  eighth  he  went  on 
board  a  small  French  frigate ;  but  the  port 
was  so  closely  blockaded  by  English  ves- 
sels, tlmt  escape  was  impossible,  and  he  sent 
a  flag  of  truce  to  the  commodore  of  the 
British  squadron,  requesting  permission  to 
pass,  which  was  refused.  At  length,  on  the 
fifteenth,  after  endeavoring  to  make  terms 
with  captain  Maitland  of  the  Belierophon, 
who  could  only  reply  that  he  had  no  author- 
ity to  enter  into  any  kind  of  treaty,  he  sur- 
rendered at  discretion,  and  was  conveyed  to 
England  in  that  vessel,  which  arrived  in 
Torbay  on  the  twenty-fourth,  whence  he 
transmitted  a  letter  to  the  prince-regent, 
signed  "  Napoleon,"  in  these  terms : — "  Ex- 
posed to  the  factions  which  divide  my 
country,  and  to  the  enmity  of  the  great 
powers  of  Europe,  I  have  terminated  my  po- 
litical career ;  and  I  come,  like  Themisto- 
cles,  to  throw  myself  upon  the  hospitality  of 
the  British  nation.  I  place  myself  under 
the  safeguard  of  their  laws,  and  claim  the 
protection  of  your  royal  highness,  the  most 
powerful,  the  most  constant,  the  most  gen- 
erous of  my  enemies." 

Buoyed  up  by  the  expectation  of  obtain- 
ing an  asylum  in  England,  he  was  cheerful 
and  aftable,  and  soon  ingratiated  himself 
with  every  person  on  board ;  but  in  England 
Buonaparte  could  not  be  permitted  to  reside 
with  comfort  to  himself,  or  security  to  Eu- 
rope ;  nor  could  he  have  been  suffered  to 
emigrate  to  any  neutral  country,  however 
distant,  where  intercourse  with  his  adhe- 
rents would  be  practicable.  It  was  there- 
fore determined  that  the  island  of  St.  Helena 
should  be  the  place  of  his  residence.  Distant 
twelve  hundred  miles  from  the  nearest  con 
tinent,  containing  but  one  harbor  within  its 
circumference,  strong  by  nature,  impregna- 


ble by  art,  commanding  from  its  declivities 
a  view  of  the  ocean  on  every  side  for  more 
than  sixty  miles,  this  island,  from  its  soli- 
tude and  security,  seemed  created  for  the 
reception  of  some  illustrious  exile.  When 
informed  that  he  would  be  conveyed  to  St. 
Helena,  with  four  of  his  friends,  to  be 
chosen  by  himself,  and  twelve  domestics, 
he  received  the  intimation  without  surprise, 
but  protested  against  the  measure  with  the 
utmost  energy,  alleging,  that  he  had  been 
forced  to  quit  the  isle  of  Elba  by  the  breach 
of  the  treaty  made  with  him  by  the  sove- 
reigns of  Europe ;  that  he  had  endeavored 
to  avoid  hostilities,  but  had  been  forced  to 
commence  them  by  the  allies  themselves ; 
and  that  it  was  not  consistent  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  British  constitution  to  doom 
him  to  perpetual  banishment  without  accu- 
sation and  without  trial.  He  was  removed 
on  board  the  Northumberland  ;  and  the  offi- 
cers who  surrounded  him  were  instructed  to 
address  him  by  no  higher  title  than  that 
of  General.  Count  Bertrand,  the  countess, 
and  their  children,  count  and  countess 
Montholon,  count  Las  Cases,  and  general 
Gourgaud,  with  nine  men  and  three  women 
servants,  remained  with  Buonaparte,  and 
the  rest  were  sent  on  board  the  Eurotas 
frigate.  Buonaparte's  surgeon  alone,  of  all 
his  attendants,  refused  to  accompany  him, 
and  his  place  was  supplied  by  the  surgeon 
of  the  Belierophon.  The  Northumberland 
sailed  on  the  seventh  of  August,  and  ar- 
rived at  St.  Helena  in  the  middle  of  Octo- 
ber. Thus  terminated  the  career  of  this 
spoiled  child  of  fortune,  who,  had  he  known 
any  bounds  to  his  inordinate  ambition,  might 
have  been  seated  in  security  on  the  throne 
of  France,  with  far  greater  power  than  any 
of  her  monarchs  had  ever  enjoyed. 
MURAT  ATTEMPTS  NAPLES.— KILLED. 

Connected,  in  some  measure,  with  the 
movements  of  Buonaparte,  appears  to  have 
been  the  advance  of  Murat  against  Austria. 
Murat,  however,  was  still  more  unfortunate . 
than  his  master.  He  was  defeated  in  his 
object  of  revolutionizing  Italy;  he  failed  in 
his  attempt  to  cut  his  way  through  the  Aus- 
trians,  at  Tolentino,  on  the  third  of  May ; 
and  he  arrived  at  his  capital  just  in  time  to 
escape  from  it  in  disguise.  His  army  ca- 
pitulated on  the  twenty-first  of  May,  when 
the  Austrians  entered  the  city,  and  Ferdi- 
nand the  fourth  of  Sicily  was  restored  to  the 
throne.  Murat  effected  his  escape  to  Toulon, 
where  he  remained  some  time  in  disguise ; 
thence  he  proceeded  to  Corsica,  and  assem- 
bled about  four  hundred  followers,  at  the 
head  of  which,  mimicking,  as  it  were,  his 
master,  he  embarked  for  the  Neapolitan 
coast ;  but  his  vessels  were  dispersed  in  a 
storm,  and,  landing  with  only  thirty  follow- 
ers on  the  eighth  of  October,  he  failed  in 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


603 


exciting  an  insurrection  in  his  favor,  and 
was  arrested,  tried,  and  condemned  to  be 
shot.  The  sentence  was  put  in  execution 
on  the  fifteenth ;  and  his  behavior,  on  this 
occasion,  was  worthy  of  a  man  who  had  been 
elevated  to  an  exalted  station,  for  which, 
however,  he  possessed  few  qualities  except 
personal  bravery. 

PARLIAMENT  REASSEMBLED.— CORN 
LAWS. 

The  British  parliament  reassembled  on 
the  ninth  of  February,  when  the  state  of  the 
corn-laws  again  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  house  of  commons.  On  the  seventeenth, 
nine  resolutions  were  moved  in  a  commit- 
tee, which,  after  allowing  the  free  ware- 
housing of  grain  for  re-exportation,  or  to 
be  taken  for  home  consumption  when  the 
price  should  permit,  fixed  the  average  at 
eighty  shillings  per  quarter  for  wheat,  and 
proportionally  for  corn  ;  that  is  to  say,  when 
British  corn  should  not  be  below  that  price, 
foreign  might  be  admitted  duty  free.  A  bill 
framed  on  the  resolutions  was  introduced 
on  the  first  of  March,  and,  after  encounter- 
ing a  strong  opposition  in  both  houses  from 
the  manufacturing  and  commercial  inter- 
ests, was  passed  on  the  twentieth  by  the 
lords.  The  apprehension  of  dearth,  as  the 
immediate  consequence  of  this  law,  occa- 
sioned riots,  v;hich  were  not  quelled  with- 
out military  aid.  Experience,  however,  has 
shown  that  the  alarm  was  groundless,  the 
price  having  fallen  so  far  below  the  stand- 
ard as  to  leave  the  agricultural  part  of  the 
community  an  adequate  remuneration,  after 
paying  that  increase  of  rents  and  taxes 
which  had  taken  place  during  the  war. 

An  important  act  was  passed  for  extend- 
ing the  trial  by  jury  in  civil  causes  to  Scot- 
land. Its  provisions  differed  in  several  par- 
ticulars from  those  of  the  English  law,  and 
the  granting  such  a  trial  was  in  each  case 
optional  with  the  judges  :  but  it  was  hoped 
that  at  no  distant  period  a  further  extension 
of  the  principle  would  be  concurred  in,  the 
present  measure  being  favorably  received  in 
Scotland. 

A  bill  was  passed  for  continuing  the  re- 
striction of  cash  payments  by  the  bank  of 
England  till  the  fifth  of  July,  1816,  a  mo- 
tion for  inquiry  having  been  previously 
negatived. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  May  a  message 
was  delivered  to  both  houses  from  the  prince- 
regent,  occasioned  by  the  landing  of  Buo- 
naparte in  France,  wliich  was  followed  by 
documents  relative  to  the  engagements  con- 
cluded with  the  allies.  When  the  subsidies 
came  under  the  consideration  of  the  house 
of  common!?,  lord  Castlereagh  stated  that 
Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  were  each 
prepared  to  contribute  to  the  common  cause 
a  larger  force  than  they  had  engaged  for, 


and  that  several  of  the  inferior  powers  were 
also  to  furnish  very  considerable  contin- 
gents. The  sense  of  both  houses  was  very 
strongly  expressed,  not  only  by  the  usual 
supporters  of  ministers,  but  by  several  op- 
position members,  in  favor  of  resistance  to 
Buonaparte  ;  and  a  grant  of  five  millions, 
to  make  good  the  engagements  with  Aus- 
tria, Russia,  and  Prussia,  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  votes  to 
seventeen. 

The  property,  or  income  tax,  the  inquisi- 
torial nature  of  which  had  rendered  it 
highly  unpopular,  was  doomed  to  expire  in 
April ;  but,  as  suspicions  were  entertained 
that  it  was  in  the  contemplation  of  minis- 
ters to  continue  it  another  year,  meetings 
against  it  were  convened  all  over  the  coun- 
try, and  a  schedule  of  new  and  additional 
taxes,  as  a  partial  supply  for  the  deficiency 
to  be  occasioned  by  its  extinction,  was  ac- 
tually made  out,  when  suddenly,  tlie  irrup- 
tion of  the  Exile  of  Elba  rendered  its  re- 
vival, which  alone  produced  the  enormous 
sum  of  fourteen  million  pounds  per  annum, 
a  measure  of  imperative  necessity.  The 
supplies  for  the  year,  exclusive  of  the  Irish 
proportion  of  nine  million  seven  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  eight  hundred  and  four- 
teen pounds,  were  stated  at  seventy-nine 
million  nine  hundred  and  sixty-eight  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  twelve  pounds;  and, 
in  aid  of  this  enormous  demand,  a  vote  of 
credit  for  six  million  pounds,  and  two  loans 
for  forty-five  million  pounds  were  resorted  ta 

A  message  from  the  prince-regent  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  June,  announced  the 
marriage  of  the  duke  of  Cumberland  with 
the  widow  of  the  prince  of  Salms,  and  a 
motion  was  made  in  the  house  of  commons 
for  an  addition  to  the  duke's  income ;  but, 
as  it  appeared  that  the  queen  had  expressed 
strong  objections  to  the  union,  the  grant 
was  negatived  by  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  against  one  hundred  and  twenty-five. 
The  escape  of  lord  Cochrane  from  the  king's 
bench  prison,  his  recapture  and  subsequent 
liberation,  w^ould  scarcely  be  worth  noticing, 
were  it  not  for  the  remarkable  circumstance 
that,  on  this  occasion,  his  single  voice  de- 
termined the  question,  and  relieved  the 
speaker  from  the  unpleasantness  of  being 
called  upon  to  give  a  casting  vote  upon  a 
question  of  considerable  delicacy. 

Parliament  was  prorogued,  on  the  elev- 
enth of  July,  by  a  speech  from  the  throne. 
TERMS  IMPOSED  ON  FRANCE. 

On  the  twentieth  of  November,  a  treaty 
or  convention  between  the  allies  and  France 
received  the  final  signatures  of  the  con- 
tracting powers.  In  this  treaty  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  seven  fortresses  were  to  be  occu- 
pied by  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ot 
the  allied  troops,  at  the  expense  of  France, 


604 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


for  a  period  not  exceeding  five  years :  the 
pecuniary  ipdemnity  was  settled  at  seven 
hundred  million  francs;  and  the  Ionian 
islands  were  declared  independent,  under 
the  protection  of  England.  During  the  oc- 
cupation of  Paris,  the  various  states  which 
had  suffered  from  the  depredations  of  Buo- 
naparte, lost  no  time  in  recovering  the 
works  of  art  of  which  he  had  deprived 
them ;  and  a  great  number  of  valuable 
paintings  and  national  monuments  were  re- 
stored to  their  original  owners. 

On  the  re-establishment  of  the  kingly 
government  in  France,  measures  were  ta- 
ken for  the  punishment  of  those  who  had 
been  most  actively  engaged  in  the  late  re- 
bellion ;  and,  although  only  a  few  atoned 
for  their  offences  with  their  lives,  the  cele- 
brated marshal  Ney  was  among  the  number. 

An  act  of  confederation  was  signed  at 
Vienna  on  the  eighth  of  June,  by  which  the 
management  of  the  general  affairs  of  the 
German  states  was  confided  to  a  diet,  com- 
posed of  representatives  of  all  the  princes 
and  free  cities  of  the  empire ;  and  as  they 
severally  pledged  themselves  not  to  make 
war  upon  each  other,  but  to  submit  all  dif- 
ferences to  the  decision  of  the  diet,  the  fu- 
ture tranquillity  of  Germany  is  secured  so 
long  as  the  confederacy  shall  act  up  to  its 
declared  principles.  In  the  final  settlement 
of  Europe  by  congress,  Prussia  received 
some  important  territorial  accessions,  chiefly 
firom  Saxony,  whose  king  was  compelled  to 
submit  to  the  loss  of  Thuringia,  Upper  and 
Lower  Lusatia,  and  Henneberg.  This  ac- 
quisition, in  addition  to  Swedish  Pomerania, 


and  the  recovery  of  her  Polish  provinces, 
restored  Prussia  to  a  high  rank  among  the 
powers  of  the  continent. 

HOSTILITIES  IN  INDIA. 

In  the  East  Indies  some  disputes  between 
the  British  government  and  the  state  of 
Nepaul,  respecting  boundaries,  broke  out 
into  hostility.  Several  gallant  but  unsuc- 
cessful attempts  were  made  on  the  strong 
fort  of  Kalunga,  in  one  of  which  general 
Gillespie  was  slain ;  the  fort  was  at  length, 
however,  evacuated  by  its  garrison ;  and, 
after  a  campaign  of  unusual  difficulty,  the 
country  from  Kemaoon  to  the  river  Sut- 
ledge  was  ceded  to  the  English  company. 

About  this  period  the  whole  island  of 
Ceylon  came  under  the  British  dominion, 
the  king  of  Candy,  who  possessed  the  inte- 
rior, having  driven  the  inhabitants,  by  a  se- 
ries of  atrocities,  to  throw  off  his  yoke. 
Early  in  the  year  general  Brownrigg,  the 
governor  of  the  British  possessions  on  the 
coast,  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  that 
he  made  war  on  the  tyrant  alone,  and  prom- 
ising protection  to  his  oppressed  subjects. 
An  adequate  force  then  penetrated  to  the 
capital,  amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  in- 
habitants ;  the  king  was  delivered  up,  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  single  man ;  and  a  treaty 
was  concluded,  by  which  the  British  au- 
thority was  established  in  the  whole  island; 
the  rights  and  immunities  of  <:h<^.  chiefe 
were  secured,  the  reli:  iui^  >.:'  j\.o.ih  was 
established,  torture  and  muliiation  were 
abolished,  and  no  sentence  of  death  was  to 
be  executed  without  a  warrant  from  the 
British  governor. 


GEORGE  UI.   1760—1820. 


605 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 


Parliament  called — Holy  Alliance — Marriage  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  to  Prince 
Leopold — Distressed  State  of  the  Country — Riots  and  Tumults — Expedition  against 
Algiers — East  India  Affairs — Meeting  of  Parliament — The  Prince-Regent  attacked 
by  the  Populace — Message  as  to  Illegal  Meetings — Relinquishment  of  Income  by 
Prince-Regent  and  Ministers — Meeting  in  Spa-fields  and  Palace-yard — Commit- 
ments to  the  Tower — Loan  of  Exchequer-Bills  for  Public  Works — Catholic  Claims 
rejected — Lord  SidmoutKs  Circular — Messages  from  the  Prince-Regent — Disturb- 
ances at  Manchester — State  Trials — Death  of  Princess  Charlotte — Foreign  Affairs 
— Meeting  and  Proceedings  of  Parliament — Royal  Marriages — Education  of  the 
Poor  and  Charitable  Institutions — Army  of  Occupation  withdrawn  from  France — 
Disturbances  at  Manchester,  <^c. — Death  of  Queen  Charlotte. 


PARLIAMENT    CALLED.— HOLY    ALLI- 
ANCE. 

1816, — Parliament  assembled  on  the  first 
of  February,  1816.  Brougham  moved  for 
a  copy  of  a  treaty  concluded  at  Paris,  on 
the  twenty-sixth  of  September,  between 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  and  which 
had  received  the  name  of  the  Holy  Alliance. 
By  this  singular  document,  which  was 
couched  in  the  most  devout  and  solemn 
language,  and  consisted  of  three  articles, 
the  three  potentates,  members  of  difterent 
Christian  churches,  declared  their  resolu- 
tion, both  in  their  domestic  administration 
and  foreign  relations,  to  take  for  their  guide 
the  precepts  of  the  holy  religion  taught  by 
our  Savior.  They  bound  themselves  in  a 
fraternity  of  mutual  assistance,  regarding 
themselves  as  delegated  by  Providence  to 
govern  three  branches  of  one  and  the  same 
Christian  nation,  of  which  the  Divine  Being 
was  the  sole  real  Sovereign ;  and  they  de- 
clared that  all  such  powers  as  should  sol- 
emnly avow  the  sacred  principles  which 
had  actuated  them,  would  be  received  with 
ardor  into  this  "  holy  alliance."  Brougham 
observed,  that  there  was  something  so  sin- 
gular in  the  language  of  the  treaty,  as  to 
warrant  no  little  jealousy.  He  could  not 
think  that  it  referred  to  objects  merely 
spiritual :  the  partition  of  Poland  had  been 
prefaced  by  language  very  similar  to  that 
now  used ;  and  the  proclamation  of  the  em- 
press Catherine,  which  wound  up  that  fatal 
tragedy,  was  couched  in  almost  the  same 
words.  Lord  Castlereagh  vindicated  the 
motives  of  the  emperor  of  Russia,  and  stated 
that  the  prince-regent,  whose  accession  to 
this  alliance  had  been  solicited,  had  ex- 
pressed his  satisfaction  in  its  tendency.  He 
opposed  the  production  of  the  document 
itself,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  contrary  to 
the  practice  of  parliament  to  call  for  copies 
of  treaties  to  which  this  country  was  no 
party. 

51* 


FINANCE. 
From  an  abstract  of  the  net  produce  of 
the  revenue,  in  the  years  ending  the  fifth 
of  January,  1815,  and  the  fifth  of  January, 
1816,  it  appeared  that,  in  the  former,  it 
amounted  to  sixty-five  million  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  eighty-one  pounds;  and,  in  the 
latter,  to  sixty-six  million  four  hundred 
and  forty-three  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
two  pounds.  Notwithstanding  this  enor- 
mous produce,  the  chancellor  of  the  exche- 
quer acknowledged,  on  the  very  first  day 
of  the  session,  that  it  was  his  intention  to 
propose  a  reduced  income  tax  of  five  pounds 
per  cent.  This  intention  was,  however, 
frustrated  by  the  persevering  opposition  of 
the  people.  On  the  fifth  of  March,  Vansit- 
tart,  with  the  view  of  gaining  over  the 
poorer  classes,  announced,  amongst  his  pro- 
posed modifications,  that  incomes  of  less 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  and 
farms  of  less  rent  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds,  were  to  be  exempt  fi'om  the 
operation  of  the  tax ;  and  that,  upon  farms 
of  higher  rent,  the  assessment  was  to  be 
upon  one-third  instead  of  three-fourths  of 
the  rent.  On  that  reduced  scale,  he  esti- 
mated the  tax  to  produce  six  million  pounds 
annually.  It  had  been  proved,  however, 
that,  according  to  the  original  plan,  more 
than  half  of  the  tax  had  been  paid  by  in- 
comes of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
a-year  and  under.  Estimating  the  net  pro- 
duce of  the  tax  at  ten  per  cent,  to  be  twelve 
million  pounds,  at  five  per  cent,  it  would 
indeed  be  six  million  pounds ;  but,  by  tak- 
ing away,  at  one  stroke,  half  of  the  sources 
of  production — incomes  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  a-year  and  under — tlie  produce 
of  the  remaining  half  could  not  exceed  three 
million  pounds."  On  the  final  discussion  of 
the  subject,  on  the  eighteenth  of  March,  the 
motion  for  the  continuance  of  tlie  income 
tax  was  negatived  by  two  hundred  and 


606 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


thirty-eight  against  two  hundred  and  one. 
This  important  defeat  having  exempted  the 
opulent  from  a  heavy  assessment,  a  boon 
was  granted  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  by 
the  repeal  of  the  war  tax  on  malt,  which 
had  been  estimated  to  produce  two  million 
pounds  per  annum.  In  bringing  forward 
the  budget,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  May, 
the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  announced 
the  highly  gratifying  fact,  that  the  surplus 
of  the  preceding  year's  grants  in  hand 
amounted  to  five  million  six  hundred  and 
sixty-three  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fifty-five  pounds.  In  their  favorite  object 
of  maintaining  a  large  standing  army,  min- 
isters were  successful — the  situation  of  the 
continent  rendering  it  in  some  measure 
necessary. 

Among  the  additional  ways  and  means, 
the  sum  of  three  million  pounds  was  ad- 
vanced by  the  bank,  at  three  per  cent,  in- 
terest, on  condition  of  being  permitted  to 
increase  their  capital  by  one-fourth. — The 
restriction  on  cash  payments  was  subse- 
quently extended  until  July,  1818;  the 
English  and  Irish  exchequers  were  consoli- 
dated ;  and  a  bill  was  passed  for  a  new  sil- 
ver coinage,  in  which  the  denomination  of 
the  coin  was  raised  by  a  small  seignorage, 
sixty-six  instead  of  sixty-two  shillings  being 
allowed  to  the  pound  Troy. 

MARRIAGE  OF  PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE- 
PARLIAMENTARY  PROCEEDINGS. 

A  MESSAGE  from  the  prince-regent  to 
both  houses  of  parliament,  on  the  fourteenth 
of  March,  announced  the  marriage  contract 
of  his  daughter,  the  princess  Charlotte 
Augusta,  with  his  serene  highness  the 
prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg ;  and,  on  the 
motion  of  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
an  annual  sum  of  sixty  thousand  pounds 
was  voted  to  the  illustrious  pair  during  their 
joint  lives ;  of  which  ten  thousand  pounds 
was  to  form  a  sort  of  privy-purse  for  her 
royal  highness.  If  the  prince  should  die 
first,  the  whole  sum  was  to  be  continued  to 
her  royal  highness;  if  he  should  be  the 
survivor,  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  pounds 
was  to  be  continued  to  him:  the  sum  of 
sixty  thousand  pounds  was  also  granted 
by  way  of  outfit.  The  marriage  ceremony 
was  performed  on  the  second  of  May,  at 
the  queen's  palace  ;  and  the  event  called 
forth  the  sincere  cono-ratulations  of  the 
nation.  In  July,  another  royal  marriage 
took  place  between  the  princess  Mary, 
fourth  daughter  of  his  majesty,  and  her  cou- 
sin, the  duke  of  Gloucester.  Their  estab- 
lishments were  framed  on  a  scale  which 
rendered  an  application  to  the  public  purse 
unnecessary. 

The  state  of  Ireland  was  brought  under 
discussion  in  April,  by  Sir  John  Newport, 
who  moved  for  documents  to  explain  the 


extent  and  nature  of  those  evils  which  ren- 
dered it  necessary  to  maintain  there,  during 
peace,  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand 
men.  This  motion  was  superseded  by  an 
amendment,  proposed  by  Peel,  who  asserted 
that  the  disturbances  in  that  country  seemed 
to  be  the  effect  of  a  systematic  opposition 
to  all  laws.  The  debates  on  the  Catholic 
question  were  attended  with  the  same  re- 
sults as  on  former  occasions ;  but  an  expec- 
tation was  entertained  that  they  would  be 
renewed  in  the  ensuing  session  with  greater 
success.  A  bill  relative  to  the  registry  and 
regulation  of  slaves,  which  had  been  intro- 
duced by  Wilberforce  towards  the  close  of 
the  last  session,  became  the  subject  of  warm 
debates,  in  consequence  of  a  calamitous  in- 
surrection which  had  taken  place  at  Bar- 
badoes.  A  petition  from  the  merchants  of 
Bristol  deprecated  the  measure,  as  disclo- 
sing a  spirit  of  interference  with  the  local 
legislation  of  the  colonies ;  and,  on  the  sug- 
gestion of  lord  Castlereagh,  Wilberforce 
postponed  his  intended  motion,  and  moved 
for  papers  on  the  subject.  Palmer,  who 
argued  that  the  information  arose  from  ex- 
pectations, among  the  slaves,  of  entire  eman- 
cipation, fostered  by  the  proposed  registry 
bill,  moved  an  amendment,  which  was  car- 
ried, recommending  the  colonial  authori- 
ties to  promote  the  moral  and  religious  im- 
provement, as  well  as  the  comfort  and  hap- 
piness, of  the  negroes. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  second 
of  July,  when  the  prince-regent  expressed 
his  deep  regret  at  the  distresses  sustained 
by  many  classes  of  his  majesty's  subjects, 
which  he  hoped  would  be  found  to  have 
arisen  from  causes  of  a  temporary  nature. 

STATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY.— RIOTS. 

The  period  had  now  arrived  in  which  the 
consequences  of  so  long  and  expensive  a 
war  were  to  be  most  severely  felt.  The 
system  of  borrowing  could  no  longer  be  con- 
tinued, and  the  supplies  must  now  be  raised 
within  the  year.  The  pressure  of  agricul- 
tural and  commercial  distress  was  very  se- 
verely felt ;  and,  in  the  counties  of  Suffolk, 
Norfolk,  Cambridge,  and  various  other  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  tumults  of  a  very  serious 
nature  took  place.  In  the  Isle  of  Ely,  a 
kind  of  organized  insurrection  burst  forth, 
which  Was  not  suppressed  without  consid- 
erable difficulty,  and  between  seventy  and 
eighty  rioters  were  tried  by  a  special  com- 
mission, when  twentjr-four  were  found 
guilty,  of  whom  five  suffered  the  final  exe- 
cution of  the  law. 

Later  in  the  year,  the  inferior  produce 
of  the  harvest,  the  consequent  advance  in 
the  price  of  provisions,  and  the  continued 
depression  of  trade  and  commerce,  operated 
most  severely  upon  the  poorer  classes 
throuofhout  the  kingdom.    Numerous  meet- 


GEORGE  III. 

ings  were  hold  en  to  consider  the  means  of 
alleviating  the  general  distress,  and  large 
subscriptions  were  raised;  but  at  several 
of  the  assemblies  ostensibly  convened  for 
the  most  benevolent  purposes,  persons  of  se- 
ditious principles  came  forward  to  inflame 
the  minds  of  the  people,  by  asserting  that 
the  abolition  of  places  and  pensions,  and  a 
reform  in  parliament,  would  prove  a  remedy 
for  every  evil.  Of  the  meetings  of  this  na- 
ture, those  which  were  holden  in  Spa-fields, 
near  London,  are  the  most  remarkable. 
On  the  fifteenth  of  November,  many  thou- 
sand artisans  and  others,  assembled  for  the 
alleged  purpose  of  petitioning  for  relief  un- 
der their  distress,  were  addressed  by  a  per- 
son named  Hunt,  in  a  long  and  violent  ha- 
rangue, and  it  was  dcU  rmined  that  a  peti- 
tion to  the  prince-regent  should  be  pre- 
sented by  him,  accompanied  by  Sir  Fran- 
cis Burdett ;  but  the  latter  did  not  choose 
to  appear  in  the  business,  and  Hunt  was  in- 
formed that  it  could  only  be  presented  at  a 
levee,  or  through  the  medium  of  the  home 
secretary.  On  the  second  of  December, 
another  meeting  was  convened  to  receive 
the  answer  to  the  petition,  when  an  alarm- 
ing breach  of  the  peace  took  place.  A  young 
man,  named  Watson,  after  uttering  an  in- 
flammatory harangue,  seized  a  flag  from 
one  of  the  by-standers,  and,  heading  a  party 
of  the  populace,  led  them  into  the  city,  and 
attempted  to  plunder  the  shop  of  a  gun- 
smith on  Snow-hill.  He  fired  a  pistol  at  a 
gentleman  named  Piatt,  who  was  remon- 
strating with  him,  and  for  this  offence  was 
apprehended,  but  in  the  confusion  that  en- 
sued he  escaped  ;  and  the  riot,  which  might 
have  produced  incalculable  mischief,  was 
checked  by  the  spirited  conduct  of  the 
magistrates,  and  entirely  quelled  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  military  force.  During  this 
disturbance,  the  principal  part  of  the  assem- 
blage remained  in  Spa-fields,  where  another 
petition  was  determined  upon,  and  another 
meeting  appointed. 

EXPEDITION  AGAINST  ALGIERS. 
For  a  series  of  years,  the  pirates  on  the 
coast  of  Barbary  had  committed  great  de- 
predations on  almost  every  civilized  state, 
and  at  length  ventured  to  attack  the  Eng- 
^  lishflig.  Sir  Thomas  Maitland,  the  gover- 
nor of  Malta,  proceeded,  in  consequence,  to 
Tripoli,  the  government  of  which  acceded 
to  all  that  he  proposed ;  and  at  Tunis  every 
thing  was  amicably  settled  by  negotiation. 
These  arrangements,  however,  proving  in- 
eflectual,  admiral  lord  Exmouth,  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  Mediterranean  fleet,  proceeded, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  year,  first  to 
Tunis,  and  then  to  Tripoli,  At  both  these 
places  the  deys  appeared  disposed  to  accede 
to  any  terms ;  and  his  lordship  proposed  a 
treaty,  for  ever  prohibiting  the  making  of 


pnsonemfi^ 

1   bf  trf'?ite(r^ 


1760—1820. 

Christian  slav 
might  be  take 
according  to  the 
rope.  These  etipulationti.\verc  reatlil^'  agreed 
to :  treaties  were  signed,  ami  4i*4^  fleetTe- 
turned  to  Algiers,  where  lord  p]xmouth 
proposed  to  the  dey  a  similar  treaty,  against 
which,  however,  he  made  a  firm  and  reso- 
lute stand.  Lord  Exmouth,  therefore,  de- 
parted from  the  interview  with  a  determi- 
nation to  commence  hostilities;  on  which 
the  dey  ordered  the  British  consul,  M'Don- 
ald,  to  be  confined,  and  all  the  English  ves- 
sels at  Oran  to  be  seized.  Negotiations, 
however,  were  resumed,  which  ended  in  an 
agreement  that  three  months  should  be  al- 
lowed for  obtaining  the  sanction  of  the 
Grand  Seignior  to  the  proposed  treaty ;  and 
the  Tagus  fi-igate  was  appointed  to  take 
the  dey's  ambassador  to  Constantinople. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  lord  Exmouth 
reached  England,  when  intelligence  arrived 
of  a  new  and  horrible  outrage,  between 
three  and  four  hundred  Corsican,  Neapoli- 
tan, and  Sicilian  fishing-boats,  employed  in 
the  coral  fishery,  near  Tunis,  having  been 
attacked  by  an  Algerine  frigate,  the  fortress 
of  Bona  also  firing  upon  them.  At  the  same 
time  a  corps  of  cavalry  from  Bona  charged 
them  fiiriously,  and  the  slaughter  amongst 
these  poor  defenceless  creatures  was  most 
dreadful. 

Finding  it  impracticable  to  bind  the  bar- 
barians by  treaties,  it  was  at  length  resolved 
to  take  severe  vengeance  for  their  cruelty 
and  perfidy ;  and  lord  Exmouth  accordingly 
sailed  from  Plymouth,  on  the  twenty-eighth 
of  July,  in  the  Queen  Charlotte,  of  a  hun- 
dred and  ten  guns,  with  four  other  ships  of 
the  line,  five  fi-igates,  and  several  sloops, 
bombs,  &c.  Having  rendezvoused  at  Gib- 
raltar, where  he  was  joined  by  a  Dutch 
squadron,  his  lordship  proceeded  on  his  voy- 
age on  the  fourteenth  of  August.  The  Al- 
gerines,  it  appeared,  had,  ever  since  the  end 
of  May,  been  preparing  for  the  expected 
attack  of  our  fleet,  by  removing  every  arti- 
cle of  value  from  the  town,  which  was  well 
defended  by  about  one  thousand  pieces  of 
ordnance.  Algiers,  rising  abruptly  from 
the  water's  edge,  to  a  great  height,  was 
surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  the  southern 
side  of  which  was  adorned  with  men's 
heads.  The  batteries  were  one  above  another, 
strongly  constructed  and  fortified ;  and  along 
a  tongue  of  land,  which  defends  the  entrance 
into  the  inner  part  of  the  harbor,  and  also 
the  approach  to  it,  was  a  range  of  strong 
batteries,  which  our  ships  were  obliged  to 
pass,  to  take  their  station  near  the  town, 
for  the  purpose  of  bombarding  it  I^ord 
Exmouth  arrived  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
August ;  and,  all  proposals  for  conciliation 
having  proved  ineffectual,  the  fleet  passed 


608 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  batteries,  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  the  firing  commenced.  The 
Queen  Charlotte  took  her  station  off  the 
extreme  point  of  the  tongue,  by  which  she 
enfiladed  the  whole  line  of  Ijatteries  along 
it ;  and  so  near  was  she,  that  every  part 
of  the  mole,  and  what  was  called  the  Ma- 
rine, was  visible  from  her  quarter-deck. 
Both  w^ere  crowded  with  spectators,  and  lord 
Exmouth  waved  his  hat  to  them  to  retire, 
and  signified  that  he  was  about  to  begin 
hostilities ;  but  they  did  not  attend  to,  or 
perhaps  did  not  comprehend  the  meaning 
of  his  humanely  intended  warning,  and  the 
consequence  was,  that  our  first  broadside 
swept  off  from  five  hundred  to  one  thou- 
sand of  them.  The  most  advanced  of  the 
Algerine  navy  was  a  brig,  to  which  the 
queen  Charlotte  lashed  herself:  closer  in 
with  the  shore,  in  the  bosom  of  the  harbor, 
were  two  frigates,  and  the  rest  of  the  Alge- 
rine vessels  behind  them.  The  fury  and 
tremendous  nature  of  the  bombardment 
will  never  be  forgotten.  It  continued  till 
nearly  eleven ;  the  Algerines  fighting  all 
the  time  with  the  utmost  fury,  but  yet 
with  great  skill  and  effect.  About  ten,  the 
land-breeze  came  on,  and  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  take  a  larger  offing  during  the 
night.  It  was  extremely  dark;  but  the 
darkness  was  illuminated  by  a  violent  storm 
of  lightning,  with  thunder,  and  by  the  in- 
cessant fire  of  the  batteries.  Next  morning, 
the  city  and  harbor  exhibited  a  terrible  scene 
of  desolation ;  four  large  Algerine  frigates, 
five  corvettes,  a  great  number  of  smaller 
vessels  of  all  descriptions,  the  magazines, 
arsenals,  and  a  large  quantity  of  marine 
stores,  being  destroyed,  whilst  their  loss  in 
men  was  between  six  and  seven  thousand  : 
the  assailants  had  also  to  lament  a  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded  of  more  than  eight 
hundred.  Lord  Exmouth  now  repeated  with 
effect  the  proposals  which  had  before  been 
rejected;  and  the  result  of  this  splendid 
achievement  was,  that  the  dey  agreed  to- 
tally to  abolish  Christian  slavery  ;  to  deliver 
up  all  the  slaves  in  his  dominions,  to  what- 
ever nation  they  might  belong ;  to  return 
all  the  money  he  had  received  for  the  re- 
demption of  slaves  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year  ;  and  to  make  reparation 
and  a  public  apology  to  the  British  consul 
for  all  the  indignities  to  which  he  had 
been  subjected. 

After  the  treaties  had  been  negotiated, 
and  the  dey  had  refunded  three  hundred 
and  eighty-two  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars to  the  governments  of  Naples  and  Sar- 
dinia, and  had  released  ten  hundred  and 
eighty-three  Christian  slaves,  it  canie  to  the 
knowledge  of  lord  Exmouth  that  two  Span- 
iards, the  one  a  merchant,  and  the  other  the 
vice-consul  of  tliat  nation,  were  still  held 


in  custody,  on  pretence  that  they  were 
prisoners  for  debt.  His  lordship  immedi- 
ately insisted  on  their  unconditional  re- 
lease, and  prepared  for  the  recommence- 
ment of  hostilities ;  in  consequence  of  which 
they  were  set  at  liberty,  and  not  one  Chris- 
tian prisoner  remained  in  Algiers.  Our 
gallant  squadron  quitted  on  the  third  of 
September ;  and  lord  Exmouth,  who  was 
twice  slightly  wounded  during  the  action, 
was  raised  from  the  dignity  of  baron  to  that 
of  viscount,  for  his  services  on  this  occa- 
sion. A  considerable  promotion  also  took 
place  amongst  the  officers  who  had  so  no- 
bly participated  in  the  chastisement  of  an 
unprincipled  tyrant. 

EAST  INDIA  AFFAIRS. 

In  the  East  Indies  the  irritable  state  of 
the  popular  mind,  on  all  subjects  connected 
with  their  customs,  occasioned  some  dis- 
turbances, which  were  not  quelled  without 
bloodshed ;  and  disputes  with  several  of  the 
native  powers  in  the  course  of  the  year  also 
occupied  the  British  forces.  The  Pindarees 
made  an  inroad  into  Guntoer,  laid  waste 
that  rich  district,  and  committed  many  acts 
of  wanton  barbarity,  whilst  their  movements 
were  so  skilfully  conducted  that  they  es- 
caped with  most  of  their  booty.  The  refu- 
sal of  the  rajah  of  Nepaul  to  ratify  the 
treaty  which  had  been  concluded  occasion- 
ed a  severe  contest  between  the  British  and 
this  formidable  enemy,  which  was  termi- 
nated on  the  fourth  of  March,  by  his  ac- 
ceding to  the  former  terms,  after  being  de- 
feated in  a  decisive  action,  and  losing  an 
important  fortress.  For  these  successes  the 
thanks  of  parliament  were  voted  to  the  gov- 
ernor-general and  the  army,  and  the  earl 
of  Moira  was  created  marquis  of  Hastings. 

That  most  desirable  but  laborious  work, 
the  arrangement  of  the  statute  law  under 
distinct  and  proper  heads,  had  been  long 
studied  by  lord  Stanhope,  whose  life  had 
been  devoted  to  scientific  pursuits;  during 
the  last  session  he  had  moved  for  a  commit- 
tee to  consider  the  best  means  of  accom- 
plishing the  object;  but  death  unfortunately 
deprived  the  country  of  his  services  before 
the  development  of  his  plans:  and  it  is 
much  to  be  feared  that  a  considerable  time 
will  elapse  before  any  person  equally  qualified 
for  the  task  vAW  be  induced  to  undertake  it. 

We  must  not  quit  the  year  1816  without 
recording  the  death  of  Richard  Brinsley 
Sheridan,  the  last  of  that  great  constella- 
tion of  talent  which  adorned  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  As  an  orator 
he  yielded  not  even  to  Pitt  in  flow  of  dic- 
tion ;  whilst  in  force  and  acuteness  he  may 
be  compared  with  Fox,  and  in  splendor  of 
imagination  with  Burke.  At  the  early  age 
of  twenty-four  he  wrote  a  comedy,  which 
is  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  the 


GEORGE  m.  1760--1820. 


609 


English  language — The  School  for  Scan- 
dal; and,  had  he  employed  his  matchless 
endowments  with  ordinary  judfrment,  no- 
thing could  have  obstructed  his  progress  to 
the  highest  point  of  fame :  but,  attached  to 
convivial  pleasures,  crusted  over  with  indo- 
lence, and  depressed  by  fortune,  mischiev- 
ous habits  obscured  those  transcendent  pow- 
ers which  might  have  placed  him  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  statesmen.  He  was  the 
consistent  advocate  of  public  liberty ;  and, 
could  he  have  been  roused  to  more  frequent 
exertion,  would  doubtless  have  enjoyed  a 
still  larger  share  of  popularity. 

MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.— PRINCE-RE- 
GENT AITACKED. 

1817. — On  the  twenty-eighth  of  January, 
1817,  parliament  was  opened  by  the  prince- 
regent  in  person,  when  the  chief  topics  of 
the  speech  were,  the  continued  assurances 
of  amity  received  from  foreign  powers ;  the 
splendid  success  of  the  bombardment  of  Al- 
giers, with  the  consequent  renunciation  of 
the  practice  of  Christian  slavery ;  and  the 
successful  termination  of  the  campaign  in 
India.  The  annual  estimates  had  been 
formed  under  an  anxious  desire  to  make 
every  reduction  in  the  public  establishments 
which  the  safety  of  the  empire  and  true 
policy  would  allow  ;  but  his  royal  highness 
regretted  to  state  that  there  had  been  a  de- 
ficiency in  the  produce  of  the  last  year's 
revenue :  he  trusted,  however,  that  it  was 
to  be  ascribed  to  temporary  causes ;  and  he 
had  the  consolation  to  believe  that  it  would 
be  found  practicable  to  provide  for  the  ser- 
vice without  makhig  any  additions  to  the 
burdens  of  the  people. 

The  riotous  spirit  which  had  lately  dis- 
played itself  again  broke  out  on  this  occa- 
sion ;  and  the  prince-regent,  on  his  way  to 
the  house,  was  assailed  by  tumultuous  ex- 
pressions of  disapprobation  from  an  un- 
usually large  concourse  of  people,  whose 
conduct,  on  the  return  of  the  procession, 
became  more  violent,  the  royal  carriage  be- 
ing attacked  with  stones  and  other  missiles 
in  an  alarming  manner.  This  outrage  was 
communicated  to  the  house  of  peers  by  lord 
Sidmouth,  when  the  consideration  of  the 
usual  address  in  answer  to  the  speech  was 
postponed  till  the  following  day,  and  a  con- 
ference was  held  with  the  house  of  com- 
mons, at  which  a  joint  address,  congratu- 
lating his  royal  highness  on  his  escape,  was 
agreed  upon.  A  proclamation  was  issued,  of- 
fering a  reward  of  one  thousand  pounds  for 
the  apprehension  of  the  oftenders,  but  they 
were  never  discovered. 

On  the  ensuing  evening  earl  Grey  moved 
an  amendment  on  the  address  in  answer  to 
the  speech,  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
pressing an  opinion  that  the  prince-regent 
was  under  a  delusion  respecting  the  de^jree 


and  probable  duration  of  the  pressure  on 
the  resources  of  the  country,  which  was 
declared  to  be  much  more  extensive  in  its 
operations,  more  severe  in  its  effects,  more 
deep  and  general  in  its  causes,  and  more 
difficult  to  be  removed,  than  that  which  had 
prevailed  at  the  termination  of  any  former 
war.  To  this  declaration  was  added  a  pro- 
fession of  regret  that  his  royal  highness 
should  not  sooner  have  been  advised  to  adopt 
measures  of  the  most  rigid  economy  and 
retrenchment,  particularly  with  respect  to 
our  military  establishments;  and  a  resolu- 
tion that  the  house  should  go  immediately 
into  a  committee  on  the  state  of  the  nation. 
The  amendment  was  negatived  without  a 
division ;  and  a  similar  one,  moved  in  the 
commons  on  the  preceding  day,  was  reject- 
ed by  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  against 
one  hundred  and  twelve.  Yet  facts  ere  long 
proved  the  necessity  of  making  large  and 
general  retrenchments,  and  of  reducing 
taxation. 

ILLEGAL  MEETINGS. 
On  the  third  of  February  a  message  was 
communicated  to  both  houses,  announcing 
that  the  prince-regent  had  ordered  to  be 
laid  before  parliament  papers  containing  an 
account  of  certain  meetings  and  combina- 
tions held  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
tending  to  the  disturbance  of  the  public 
tranquillity,  the  alienation  of  the  affections 
of  the  people  from  his  majesty's  person  and 
government,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  whole 
frame  and  system  of  the  law  and  constitu- 
tion :  his  royal  highness  recommended  the 
papers  to  immediate  consideration,  and  they 
were  referred  by  each  house  to  a  secret 
committee. 

RELINQUISHMENT  OF  INCOME  BY  THE 
PRINCE-REGENT  AND  MINISTERS. 
Another  communication,  of  a  different 
nature,  was  made  to  the  house  of  commons 
by  lord  Castlereagh,  on  the  seventh  of  the 
same  month,  previously  to  his  moving  for 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  inquiry 
respecting  the  income  and  expenditure  of 
the  state.  His  lordship  said  that  he  had  it 
in  command  from  the  prince-regent  to  an- 
nounce, that,  sympathizing  with  the  suffer- 
ings of  a  generous  people,  he  had  deter- 
mined upon  a  cession  of  fiff:y  thousand 
pounds  per  annum  of  that  part  of  his  in- 
come which  related  to  his  personal  ex- 
penses, during  the  continuance  of  the  pres- 
ent difficulties.  At  the  same  time,  his  lord- 
ship communicated  the  intention  of  minis- 
ters voluntarily  to  dispense  with  one-tenth 
of  their  official  incomes,  while  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  state  should  require  such  a  con- 
cession. Lord  Camden,  one  of  the  tellers 
of  the  exchequer,  also  relinquished,  pro 
tempore,  the  whole  of  the  enormous  profits 
of  that  sinecure  office,  with  the  exception 


CIO 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


of  two  thoasand  five  hundred  pounds,  the 
regulated  income  of  the  other  tellers.  This, 
it  was  expected,  would  effect  a  saving  of 
sixteen  or  eighteen  thousand  pounds  a-year. 
On  the  reduced  scale,  the  expenditure  for 
the  year  was  estimated  at  six  million  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds  less  than  that  of 
the  preceding  year,  and  a  further  saving 
of  upwards  of  one  million  pounds  was  cal- 
culated upon  for  1818. 

The  first  report  of  the  committee  of  in- 
quiry into  the  income  and  expenditure,  re- 
lating to  the  abolition  of  sinecures,  was 
made  on  the  fifth  of  May,  when  Davies 
Gilbert  stated,  that,  in  recommending  the 
suppression  of  certain  offices,  it  was,  at  the 
same  time,  necessary  that  his  majesty  should 
be  enabled  to  reward  meritorious  services, 
by  granting  pensions  according  to  the  du- 
ration of  service  and  exertions  of  public 
officers.  A  bill,  entitled  the  Civil  Services' 
CompensatioH  Bill,  was  accordingly  intro- 
duced, together  with  another  for  abolishing 
the  offices  of  wardens  and  justices  in  Eyre ; 
and  they  passed  through  both  houses  with 
little  opposition. 

Notwithstanding  the  expectation  of  co- 
ercive measures  to  be  adopted  by  govern- 
ment, a  meeting  of  the  populace,  headed 
by  Hunt  and  his  friends,  under  the  ostensi- 
ble motive  of  petitioning  for  parliamentary 
reform,  was  held  in  Spa-fields  on  the  tenth 
of  February,  and  a  similar  meeting  in  Pal- 
ace-yard, Westminster,  on  the  thirteenth, 
at  neither  of  which  anything  remarkable 
occurred. 

COMMITMENTS  TO  THE  TOWER. 

The  report  of  the  secret  committee  of 
the  house  of  lords  was  presented  on  the 
eighteenth  of  February,  and  commenced 
by  stating  that  the  committee  found  that 
there  was  no  doubt  that  treasonable  con 
spiracies  had  been  formed  in  the  metropolis 
and  elsewhere,  which  had  for  their  object 
the  total  overthrow  of  the  laws  and  govern- 
ment, and  the  indiscriminate  plunder  and 
division  of  property.  That  in  August  last, 
different  meetings  had  been  held  in  the  me- 
tropolis, arms  were  purchased,  and  other 
measures  of  the  like  kind  resorted  to.  At 
subsequent  consultations  it  was  resolved  to 
call  a  public  meeting  in  Spa-fields,  which 
was  fixed  for  the  fifteenth  of  November. 
The  conspirators  had  prepared  addresses, 
and  circulated  them  in  the  gaols,  informing 
the  prisoners  they  would  shortly  be  liber 
ated,  when  they  would  be  armed  by  the 
provisional  government.  They  were  also 
desired  to  prepare  themselves  with  tri 
colored  cockades,  emblematic  of  the  ap- 
proaching revolution.  Plans  were  also 
formed  for  an  attack  upon  the  Tower,  pikei 
were  manufactured  to  arm  the  people,  lead 
ers  were  appointed  to  conduct  the  assaults 


in  different  districts,  and  fire-arms  were  dis- 
tributed amongst  those  who  were  consider- 
ed most  worthy  of  confidence.  While  these 
arrangements  were  forming,  the  leaders 
of  the  conspiracy  were  found,  night  after 
night,  in  public  houses,  working  up  the 
minds  of  the  people  whom  they  might  meet 
there,  so  as  to  render  them  ready  instru- 
ments to  execute  any  project,  however  des- 
perate. Exertions  were  also  made  to  win 
over  the  soldiers  to  their  cause.  Tri-colored 
flags  were  prepared,  together  with  a  ban- 
ner, on  which  was  inscribed,  "  The  brave 
soldiers  are  our  friends — treat  them  kindly ;" 
and  it  appeared  that,  down  to  the  second  of 
December,  they  had  the  fullest  confidence 
of  success.  Communications  regularly  took 
place  between  the  conspirators  in  the  me- 
tropolis, and  persons  actuated  by  similar 
feelings  in  other  parts  of  the  country ;  and 
matters  were  so  regulated  as  that  their  ef- 
forts should  be  devoted  to  the  same  purpose 
in  different  quarters  at  one  time  ;  for  which 
end  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  all  hold 
meetings  on  the  same  day,  and  thereby  ef- 
fect a  general  rising  at  once ;  and  this  waa 
to  be  done  under  the  pretence  that  they 
v/ere  to  petition  the  prince-regent,  the  real 
object  being  to  promote  a  spirit  of  insubor- 
dination ;  a  contempt  of  all  laws,  whether 
religious  or  otherwise;  an  equal  division 
of  all  property,  and  a  restoration  to  what 
was  termed  natural  rights.  The  next  point 
upon  which  the  report  touched  was  the  ex- 
istence of  societies  in  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  under  the  titles  of  Hampden  clubs, 
Spencean  philanthropists,  &c.  the  intent  of 
which  was,  under  the  disguise  of  constitu- 
tional proceedings,  to  extend  the  plans  of 
devastation  and  destruction  already  de- 
scribed. A  reference  was  then  had  to  the 
administration  of  secret  oaths,  and  to  the 
extraordinary  measures  which  were  talcen 
by  the  conspirators  to  prevent  a  discovery 
of  their  plots — plots  which  were  found  to 
have  existence  in  all  the  great  manufactur- 
ing towns  throughout  the  country,  Glasgow, 
Manchester,  Birmingham,  &c.  The  last 
topic  alluded  to  was  the  publication  of  in- 
flammatory and  seditious  works  at  a  cheap 
rate,  the  object  of  which  was  to  root  out  all 
feelings  of  religion  and  morality,  and  to 
excite  hatred  and  contempt  for  the  existing 
state  of  things.  The  committee,  in  fine, 
attributed  the  late  attack  upon  the  prince- 
regent  to  the  effect  produced  by  those  pub- 
lications ;  and  expressed  it  as  their  decided 
opinion,  that  the  civil  power,  as  at  present 
constituted,  under  all  the  circumstances 
stated,  was  insufficient  for  the  preservation 
of  the  public  peace.  On  the  following  even- 
ing a  report  similar  in  object  and  effect, 
was  presented  from  the  committee  of  the 
house  of  commons. 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


611 


In  consequence  of  the  circumstances  de- 
veloped by  the  secret  committees  of  par- 
liament, four  persons,  of  the  names  of  Wat- 
son, Preston,  Hooper,  and  Keene,  were  ap- 
prehended, and  committed  to  the  Tower  on 
a  charge  of  high  treason.  A  reward  of  five 
hundred  pounds  was  also  offered  for  the  ap- 
prehension of  a  man  of  the  name  of  This- 
tlewood ;  and  a  further  reward  of  five  hun- 
dred pounds  for  the  junior  Watson.  The 
metropolis,  indeed,  as  well  as  several  other 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  was  for  some  time  in 
a  state  of  great  alarm. 

The  first  parliamentary  consequence  of 
the  reports  of  the  secret  committees  was 
a  motion  by  lord  Sidmouth,  in  the  upper 
house,  for  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  cor- 
pus act  until  the  first  of  July,  then  next 
ensuing.  A  bill  to  this  effect  was  passed, 
and  ordered  to  the  commons,  where  it  went 
through  its  different  stages  with  rapidity ; 
and  on  the  fourth  of  March  received  the 
royal  assent.  In  the  lords  a  protest  against 
the  measure  was  signed  by  eighteen  peers, 
on  the  ground  that  the  existing  laws  were 
adequate  to  the  danger.  Lord  Castlereagh 
gave  notice  of  farther  measures  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  country  against  the  machina- 
tions of  the  disaffected.  These  were,  first, 
the  extending  of  the  act  of  1795,  for  the 
security  of  his  majesty's  person,  to  that  of 
the  prince-regent ;  secondly,  the  embodying 
into  one  act  the  provisions  of  the  act  of 
1795,  relative  to  tumultuous  meetings  and 
debating  societies,  and  the  provisions  of  the 
act  of  the  thirty-ninth  of  the  king,  which 
declared  the  illegality  of  all  societies  bound 
together  by  secret  oaths,  and  of  such  as  ex- 
tended themselves  by  fraternized  branches 
over  the  kingdom ;  and,  lastly,  the  making 
of  enactments  to  punish  with  the  utmost 
rigor  any  attempt  to  gain  over  soldiers  or 
sailors  to  act  with  any  association  or  set  of 
men,  or  to  withdraw  them  from  their  alle- 
giance. Numerous  petitions  against  these 
proposed  restrictions  on  public  liberty,  par- 
ticularly against  the  suspension  of  the 
habeas  corpus  act,  were  presented  to  par- 
liament ;  and  in  the  respective  houses  they 
were  opposed,  in  every  stage  of  their  rapid 
progress,  by  such  members  as  usually  stood 
forward  to  advocate  the  privileges  of  the 
people :  they,  however,  finally  received  the 
sanction  of  the  legislature. 
EXCHEQUER-BILLS.— CATHOLIC  CLAIMS. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  the  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  in  a  committee  of 
the  house,  proposed  that  exchequer-bills  to 
an  amount  not  exceeding  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  should  be  issued  to  com- 
missioners, to  be  by  tliem  applied  to  the 
completion  of  public  works  ia  progress,  or 
about  to  be  commenced  ;  to  encourage  the 


fisheries,  and  to  employ  the  poor  in  the  dif- 
ferent parishes  of  Great  Britain,  on  due  se- 
curity being  given  for  repayment  of  the 
sums  so  advanced.  He  also  moved  that 
the  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland  might  be  em- 
powered to  advance,  out  of  the  consolidated 
fund  of  that  kingdom,  a  sum  not  exceeding 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  for 
the  same  purposes,  under  condition  of  re- 
payment in  a  time  to  be  limited.  These 
resolutions  were  agreed  to,  and  a  bill  framed 
upon  them  was  passed. 

In  the  course  of  this  session  several  un- 
successful attempts  were  made,  by  the 
members  of  the  opposition,  to  procure  the 
abolition  of  unnecessary  offices,  and  the  re- 
duction of  enormous  salaries.  Grattan's 
annual  motion  in  favor  of  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics, was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  twenty- 
four  ;  and  lord  Donoughmore's  correspond- 
ing motion  in  the  upper  house  was  nega- 
tived by  one  hundred  and  forty-two  votes 
against  ninety. 

At  the  latter  end  of  May,  the  office  of 
speaker  of  the  house  of  commons  was  re- 
signed, on  the  ground  of  illness,  by  Abbot, 
on  whom  the  prince-regent  immediately 
conferred  the  title  of  baron  Colchester,  and 
the  right  hon.  Charles  Manners  Sutton  was 
elected  to  succeed  him  as  speaker. 

SIDMOUTH'S  CIRCULAR— MESSAGES 
FROM  PRINCE-REGENT 

On  the  assembling  of  the  peers,  after  the 
Easter  recess,  it  was  ordered,  on  the  mo- 
tion of  earl  Grey,  that  a  copy  of  the  circu- 
lar letter,  which  had  then  recently  been 
addressed  by  the  secretary  of  state  for  the 
home  department  to  the  lords-lieutenant 
of  counties,  relative  to  seditious  or  blasphe- 
mous publications,  be  laid  before  the  house. 
In  this  document  lord  Sidmouth  had  stated, 
that,  as  it  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to 
prevent  the  circulation  of  blasphemous  and 
seditious  pamphlets  and  writings,  he  had 
consulted  the  law  officers  of  the  crown, 
whether  a  person  found  selling  or  publish- 
ing such  writings  might  be  brought  imme- 
diately before  a  justice  of  the  peace,  by  war- 
rant, to  answer  for  his  conduct ;  and  their 
opinion  was,  that  a  justice  of  the  peace 
might  issue  his  warrant  for  the  apprehen- 
sion of  a  person  charged  before  him,  on 
oath,  with  the  publication  of  such  libels,  and 
compel  him  to  give  bail  to  answer  the 
charge.  Under  these  circumstances,  his 
lordship  desired  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
lords-lieutenant  particularly  to  the  subject, 
and  requested  that  they  would  notify  such 
opinion  to  the  chairman  at  the  quarter-ses- 
sions, in  order  that  magistrates  might  act 
upon  it.  Subsequently  to  the  production 
of  this  circular,  earl  Grey  introduced  the 
subject  to  the  peers,  in  a  speech  replete 


612 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


with  legal  information,  in  which  he  con- 
tended against  the  principle  that  a  justice 
of  the  peace  might  be  called  upon  by  any 
common  informer  to  decide  what  was  or 
was  not  a  libel,  and  to  commit  or  hold  to 
bail,  upon  his  sole  judgment,  the  party  ac- 
cused. His  lordship  further  held  that  such 
a  specific  intimation  to  magistrates,  as  to 
the  mode  in  which  they  were  to  construe 
the  law,  even  supposing  the  law  itself  to 
be  clear  and  undisputed,  would  have  been 
a  high  offence  against  the  constitution. 
Earl  Grey's  motion,  which  was  for  the  case 
which  had  been  submitted  to  the  law  offi- 
cers of  the  crown,  on  whose  opinion  lord 
Sidmouth's  circular  to  the  magistrates  had 
been  issued,  was  supported  by  lords  Erskine 
and  Holland,  and  opposed  by  lords  Ellen- 
borough  and  Eldon ;  and,  on  a  division,  it 
was  negatived  by  seventy-five  against  nine- 
teen. The  subject  was  introduced  into  the 
house  of  commons  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly, 
and  decided  in  a  similar  manner.  « 

The  country  continuing  to  be  in  an  alarm- 
ing state,  messages  from  the  prince-regent 
were  sent  down  to  both  houses  on  the  third 
of  June,  stating  that  his  royal  highness  had 
ordered  to  be  laid  before  parliament  papers 
containing  information  of  practices,  meet- 
ings, and  combinations,  carried  on  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  kingdom,  tending  to  dis- 
turb the  public  peace  and  tranquillity,  and 
to  endanger  the  constitution  of  these  realms; 
and  recommending  to  parliament  to  take 
the  same  into  its  immediate  consideration. 
The  papers  produced  were  accordingly  re- 
ferred, as  in  a  former  case,  to  committees 
of  secrecy.  The  report  of  the  lords'  com- 
mittee, presented  on  the  twelfth  of  June, 
stated,  in  substance,  that  having  taken  into 
their  consideration  the  subject  of  the  pa- 
pers communicated  to  them,  and  fully  con- 
sidered the  statements  on  which  the  com- 
munications were  founded,  they  were  of 
opinion  that  the  spirit  of  tumult  and  insur- 
rection which  gave  rise  to  the  bill  now  in 
operation,  for  suspending  the  habeas  corpus, 
had  by  no  means  subsided ;  and  it  was  only 
by  the  vigilance  of  the  magistrates,  aided 
by  the  operation  of  the  present  bill,  and 
their  communications  with  the  government, 
that  the  spirit  of  tumult  and  rebellion  was 
kept  down — that  active  preparations  were 
still  going  on  with  a  view  to  subvert  the 
constitution  of  this  country — and  that  the 
revival  of  the  said  bill  for  six  months  longer 
was  absolutely  necessary,  to  secure  the 
public  peace.  The  report  from  the  com- 
mittee of  the  house  of  commons,  presented 
eight  days  afterwards,  traced  the  history  of 
several  plots,  from  certain  proceedings  at 
Manchester,  in  the  month  of  March,  to 
others  in  Derbyshire  on  the  ninth  of  June, 


concluding  in  the  following  words : — "  Con- 
fidently as  they  (the  committee)  rely  on  the 
loyalty  and  good  disposition  of  his  majesty's 
subjects  (even  in  those  parts  of  the  country 
in  which  the  spirit  of  disaffection  has  shown 
itself  in  the  most  formidable  shape),  they 
cannot  but  express  their  conviction  that  it 
is  not  yet  safe  to  rely  entirely  for  the  pre- 
servation of  the  public  tranquillity  upon  the 
ordinary  powers  of  the  law."  It  was  ad- 
mitted, in  the  reports,  that  the  evidence 
laid  before  the  committee  had,  in  a  great 
measure,  been  derived  from  the  depositions 
and  communications  of  persons  who  were 
more  or  less  implicated  in  the  criminal 
transactions  under  consideration,  or  who 
had  apparently  engaged  in  them  with  a 
view  of  giving  information  to  government ; 
but  ministers  defended,  and  most  strenu- 
ously insisted  upon,  such  an  employment 
of  spies  as  had  been  alluded  to ;  and  a  fur- 
ther suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act, 
till  the  first  of  March  in  the  ensuing  year, 
was  agreed  to. 

On  the  ninth  of  July,  Wilberforce  moved 
for  an  address  to  the  prince-regent,  submit- 
ting, in  the  most  dutiful  but  urgent  terms, 
the  expression  of  our  continued  but  un- 
ceasing solicitude  for  the  universal  and  final 
abolition  of  the  African  slave-trade  amongst 
the  European  powers,  which  was  agreed  to 
without  a  dissentient  voice. 

During  a  discussion  on  matters  of  finance, 
the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  contended 
that,  if  the  income-tax  had  been  acted  upon, 
it  would  have  produced  a  considerable  dis- 
charge of  the  national  encumbrances ;  and 
he  could  not,  therefore,  help  regretting  its 
repeal.  If  the  encouraging  prospects  now 
opening  should  unhappily  fail,  he  was  de- 
cidedly of  opinion  that  vigorous  measures 
ought  to  be  resorted  to  for  the  improvement 
of  our  financial  situation.  That,  amidst  our 
difficulties,  the  improvement  in  the  funds 
was  considerable ;  and  that  the  present  ses- 
sion of  parliament  had  dispelled  for  ever 
the  suggestions  of  a  system  of  innovation 
and  bad  faith,  which,  for  a  time,  united  with 
other  circumstances  of  the  country  to  lower 
public  credit.  He  trusted  that  public  credit 
would  still  further  rise,  though  at  that  mo- 
ment the  country  was  not  actually  paying 
more  than  three  per  cent,  interest  on  the 
exchequer-bills.  Doubts  had  been  expressed 
as  to  the  resumption  of  cash  payments  by 
the  bank ;  but  nothing  less  than  an  extra- 
ordinary political  or  commercial  shock 
would  prevent  its  taking  place  in  July  next. 
The  national  prospect  was  improved  by  the 
hope  of  an  abundant  harvest;  and  he 
thought  we  might  reasonably  look  to  a 
more  extensive  and  productive  commercial 
intercourse. 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


613 


The  prorogation  of  parliament,  by  a 
speech  from  the  throne,  took  place  on  the 
twelfth  of  July. 

DISTURBANCES  AT  MANCHESTER.— 
STATE  TRIALS. 

The  disturbances  at  Manchester,  alluded 
to  in  the  last-mentioned  report  of  the  secret 
committee  of  the  house  of  commons,  ap- 
pear to  have  been  of  a  very  extraordinary 
description.  At  a  public  meeting  held  near 
St.  Peter's  church,  on  the  third  of  March, 
by  persons  denominating  themselves  friends 
of  parliamentary  reform,  notices  were  is- 
sued that  the  espousers  of  their  doctrines 
should  assemble  at  the  same  place  on  the 
tenth,  and  proceed  thence  to  the  metropo- 
lis, to  present  a  petition  to  the  prince-re- 
gent, that  they  might  be  enabled  to  unde- 
ceive him !  Accordingly,  on  the  appointed 
day,  crowds  of  people  flocked  into  Manches- 
ter, from  all  directions,  as  early  as  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning;  and  the  instiga- 
tors, from  their  temporary  stage  in  a  cart, 
liarangued  the  multitude,  till  their  vastly- 
increasing  numbers  suggested  the  expedi- 
ency of  putting  in  force  the  civil  and  mili- 
tary powers.  A  party  of  dragoons,  accom- 
panied by  the  magistrates  of  the  district, 
t'len  appeared  amongst  them,  surrounded 
tiie  erection,  and  immediately  conveyed 
tiie  entire  group  upon  it  to  the  New-Bailey 
prison.  The  concourse  of  auditors  was 
forthwith  dispersed  without  the  infliction 
of  any  severity.  Johnson  and  Ogden,  two 
of  the  leaders  upon  former  occasions,  had 
been  arrested  on  the  previous  morning,  and 
were  secured  in  the  New-Bailey.  Others 
were  seized  by  the  soldiers  on  their  way  to 
deliver  their  charge  in  Salford.  A  consid- 
erable number  of  people  set  out  on  their 
mission  to  London,  taking  the  rout  of  Stock- 
[HJrt ;  but  above  forty  of  them  were  recon- 
ducted to  Manchester,  and  others  were  se- 
cured in  Stockport.  Most  of  them  were 
provided  with  knapsacks,  &.c.  containing 
blankets  and  other  articles.  At  one  period 
there  was  an  assemblage  of  at  least  thirty 
thousand  people  at  the  meeting ;  not  more, 
however,  than  five  hundred  penetrated  so 
far  as  Macclesfield,  where  a  troop  of  the 
yeomanry  had  remained  to  provide  against 
such  a  contingency;  and  no  more  than 
twenty  persons  proceeded  into  Stafibrdshire. 
Nothing  could  be  more  wretched  and  pitia- 
ble than  the  appearance  of  the  few  who 
reached  Macclesfield ;  some  actually  faint- 
ing through  weariness,  and  all  of  them 
without  baggage,  or  any  apparent  resource 
with  which  to  proceed  twenty  miles  fur- 
ther towards  London.  Thus  ended  what 
has  since  been  known  under  the  quaint  ap- 
pellation of  the  Blanketeering  Expedition. 

In  the  montli  of  June  the  senior  Watson 
wag,  with  Thistlewood  and  some  others, 

Vol.  IV.  52 


put  upon  his  trial,  on  a  charge  of  hightrea- 
sori,  m  the  court  of  King's  Bench  ;  but, 
chiefly  from  the  discredit  thrown  on  the 
testimony  of  the  principal  witness,  named 
Castles,  an  accomplice  or  spy,  and  a  man  of 
bad  character,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict 
of  not  guilty.  In  the  course  of  the  sum- 
mer the  turbulent  disposition  of  the  manu- 
facturing classes  exhibited  itself  in  several 
of  the  northern  and  midland  counties,  par- 
ticularly in  those  of  Derby,  Nottingham, 
York,  and  Lancaster,  by  many  atrocious 
acts  of  tumult  and  outrage ;  and  it  was 
found  expedient  to  appoint  a  special  com- 
mission to  sit  at  Derby,  for  the  trial  of  the 
offenders.  The  first  four  prisoners  who 
were  tried  were  found  guilty  ;  nineteen  of 
the  others  were  then  allowed  to  plead 
guilty,  on  an  understanding  that  mercy 
would  be  extended  to  them;  and  twelve 
were  acquitted,  the  attorney-general  hav- 
ing declined  to  call  evidence  against  them. 
Sentence  of  death  was  formally  pronounced 
upon  twenty-three  of  these  deluded  men  ; 
of  whom  three — Brandreth,  Ludlam,  and 
Turner — suffered  the  full  penalty  of  the 
law.  .  To  the  machinations  of  a  govern- 
ment spy,  named  Oliver,  many  of  them 
ascribed  the  criminal  acts  into  which  they 
had  been  led ;  and  the  employment  of  such 
men  was  very  generally  condemned,  their 
interest  leading  them  to  foment  the  plots 
they  undertake  to  reveal. 

DEATH  OF  PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE. 

The  latter  part  of  the  year  1817  was 
marked  by  an  event  that  filled  the  nation 
with  mourning.  The  princess  Charlotte 
of  Wales,  whose  nuptials  had,  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  afforded  so  much  satisfaction 
to  the  country,  was  in  a  situation  likely  to 
aflbrd  an  eventual  heir  to  the  British  throne. 
Seldom,  perhaps,  had  the  hopes  and  wishes 
of  a  whole  people  been  so  deeply  interested 
on  a  similar  occasion.  At  nine  o'clock, 
however,  on  the  night  of  the  fifth  of  No- 
vember, her  royal  highness  was  delivered 
of  a  still-born  male  child  ;  and  at  half-past 
two  on  the  morning  of  the  sixth  she  ex- 
pired, to  the  inexpressible  grief  of  the  royal 
family ;  and  throughout  the  country  the  in- 
dications of  sorrow  were  unusually  general 
and  sincere. 

Her  royal  highness  was  about  the  middle 
size,  inclining  rather  to  the  em-hon-point, 
but  not  so  much  as  to  impair  the  symmetry 
of  her  form.  Although  possessing  a  lofty 
spirit,  she  had  nothing  of  high  or  fashiona- 
ble life  about  her,  and  preferred  the  retire- 
ment of  Claremont  to  the  splendor  of  a 
court  She  was  of  religious  habits;  an 
aflfectionate  child ;  and,  as  a  wife,  a  model 
for  her  sex. 

FOREIGN  AFFAIRS. 

France  was  this  year  relieved  from  Ksm 


614 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


fifth  of  the  army  of  occupation,  the  amount 
of  the  diminution  being  thirty  thousand 
men,  although  she  was  by  no  means  in  a 
tranquil  state.  Notwithstanding  the  re- 
straint imposed  upon  her  by  a  foreign  force, 
it  had  been  found  necessary  to  suspend  the 
law  for  securing  personal  liberty,  and  to 
revive,  for  a  time,  the  jurisdiction  of  pre- 
votal  courts,  for  the  sake  of  summary  pro- 
cedure against  persons  guilty  of  seditious 
practices.  In  Germany  and  the  other  states 
of  Europe,  as  well  as  in  France,  little  pro- 
gress was  made  in  the  establishment  of  free 
institutions,  and  in  the  emancipation  of  the 
press  from  that  thraldom  in  which  it  had  so 
long  been  held.  In  Prussia  a  strict  censor- 
ship was  exercised  over  all  political  publi- 
cations ;  and  the  Rhenish  Mercury,  a  jour- 
nal which  had  obtained  extensive  circula- 
tion, was  even  suppressed.  The  king  of 
Wirtemberg,  after  declaring  that  he  con- 
sidered a  representative  constitution  as 
necessary  to  the  happiness  of  his  people  and 
of  himself,  dissolved  the  assembly  of  his 
states  on  their  refusing  to  confirm  one  pro- 
posed by  himself,  and  took  the  administra- 
tion of  the  finances  into  his  own  hands.  In 
Austria  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  of 
the  government  were  very  great,  and  in 
Spain  the  finances  were  also  in  a  distressed 
condition,  which  the  want  of  cordiality  be- 
tween the  governors  and  the  governed  was 
little  calculated  to  relieve.  In  Valencia 
the  people  raised  the  cry  of  "  The  Consti- 
tution !"  and  were  with  difficulty  reduced 
to  submission,  whilst  at  Barcelona  a  formi- 
dable conspiracy  was  detected.  The  fanat- 
ical Ferdinand,  in  the  mean  time,  signalized 
his  most  Catholic  zeal  by  prohibiting  all 
books  which  impugned  the  authority  of  the 
pope,  and  the  holy  tribunal  of  the  inquisi- 
tion. In  South  America  the  contest  was 
protracted  with  various  success;  but  the 
thread  by  which  the  authority  of  Spain 
v/as  held  had  become  evidently  more  slen- 
der. In  Brazil  the  court  evinced  little  dis- 
position to  return  to  Europe  ;  and,  Portugal 
being  thus  degraded  into  the  rank  of  a 
tributary  state,  a  plan  for  the  establishment 
of  an  independent  government  was  secretly 
agitated,  but  was  discovered  in  time  to  de- 
feat its  object,  and  the  principal  promoters 
of  the  measure,  general  de  Andrada  and 
baron  Eben,  with  many  of  their  adherents, 
were  arrested.  In  the  United  States  Mon- 
roe succeeded  Madison  as  president,  and 
the  country  recovered  from  the  temporary 
pressure  which  the  recent  war  with  Great 
Britain  had  occasioned. 

PARLIAMENT. 
1818. — PABLiAMEirr  was  opened  by  com- 
mission, on  the  twenty-second  of  January, 
1818,  and  the  royal  speech  was  calculated 
10  aJiay  the  cpprfihe^gioas  of  tuujylt  aad 


conspiracy  which  had  been  long  enter- 
tained, and  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  re- 
sources of  the  country.  Its  principal  topics 
were — the  continued  indisposition  of  his 
majesty ;  the  lamented  death  of  the  princess 
Charlotte;  an  intimation  that  the  prince- 
regent  had  not  been  unmindfiil  of  the  effect 
which  that  sad  event  must  have  had  on  the 
interests  and  future  prospects  of  the  king- 
dom (alluding  to  negotiations  then  pending 
for  the  marriage  of  some  of  his  younger 
brothers);  an  assurance  of  the  continued 
friendly  disposition  of  foreign  powers ;  the 
improved  state  of  industry  and  public  credit ; 
the  restored  tranquillity  of  the  country ;  the 
treaties  with  Spain  and  Portugal  on  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade  ;  a  recommend- 
ation for  increasing  the  number  of  places 
of  public  worship,  &c.  An  address,  with 
very  little  discussion,  was  agreed  to  in  each 
house  :  in  the  commons,  however,  Sir  Sam- 
uel Romilly,  in  opposing  it,  severely  repro- 
bated the  conduct  of  ministers  under  the 
suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act,  re- 
marking that,  in  the  case  of  Brandreth,  the 
chief  of  the  Derby  insurgents,  they  had  not 
availed  themselves  of  the  powers  given 
them  by  that  measure  to  prevent  the  mis- 
chief which  had  been  threatened,  by  appre- 
hending and  putting  him  in  confinement, 
but  had  allowed  him  to  go  on  to  the  perpe- 
tration of  the  capital  crime,  for  which  his 
life  was  ultimately  exacted  as  the  forfeit. 
Lord  Castlcreagh,  in  defending  the  conduct 
of  ministers,  observed,  that  the  doctrine 
which  had  been  held  respecting  the  trials 
at  Derby,  and  the  assertion  that  Oliver,  the 
spy,  was  intimately  connected  with  those 
transactions,  were  pregnant  with  evil,  and 
did  not  rest  on  any  foundation. 

In  the  upper  house,  a  motion  for  the  im- 
mediate repeal  of  the  suspension  of  the 
habeas  corpus  act,  called  forth  some  strong 
remarks  from  lord  Holland,  respecting  the 
partial  and  suspicious  nature  of  the  evi- 
dence on  which  that  important  right  had 
been  suspended,  and  the  pernicious  prece- 
dent thus  established  in  a  time  of  profound 
peace,  when  nothing  had  appeared  in  the 
state  of  the  country  to  justify  such  a  pro- 
ceeding. 

On  the  fourth  of  February  lord  Castlc- 
reagh, by  command  of  the  prince-regent, 
brought  down  to  the  house  of  commons  a 
bag  of  papers  respecting  the  internal  state 
of  the  country,  for  the  examination  of  which 
his  lordship  proposed  that  a  select  commit- 
tee should  be  appointed.  As  this  was  un- 
derstood to  be  a  step  preliminary  to  a  gen- 
eral bill  of  indemnity  for  all  acts  performed 
under  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus 
act,  by  which  the  persons  then  imprisone<l 
and  since  liberated  without  trial,  would  bo 
depriv'jc  cf  dl  leg-al  reraody  for  Buch  ina- 


GEORGE  in.   1760—1820. 


615 


prisonmcnt,  however  unmerited,  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  secret  or  select  committee 
was  strenuously  resisted  by  the  members  of 
opposition,  who  contended  that  a  very  dif- 
ferent sort  of  inquiry  was  called  for  by  the 
conduct  of  ministers.  The  green  bag  and 
its  contents  formed  the  subject  of  much 
keen  sarcasm :  the  appointment  of  a  select 
committee  was,  however,  agreed  to,  and  a 
similar  committee  was  also  appointed  in  the 
upper  house.  At  this  period,  and  for  some 
time  afterwards,  numerous  petitions  were 
presented  to  parliament  by  persons  who 
had  been  imprisoned  under  the  late  suspen- 
sion of  the  habeas  corpus  law,  praying  for 
redress,  and  that  no  act  of  indemnity  might 
be  passed  in  favor  of  ministers.  On  the 
twenty-third  of  February,  however,  the  re- 
port of  the  secret  committee  of  the  house 
of  lords  was  presented :  it  related  chiefly 
to  the  recent  disturbances  in  the  counties 
of  Nottingham  and  Derby,  and  in  the  west 
riding  of  Yorkshire.  The  progress  of  in- 
surrection had  been  considerably  checked 
by  the  arrests  and  trials  which  had  taken 
place;  while  an  increase  of  employment 
had  rendered  the  laboring  classes  less  dis- 
posed to  embrace  the  desperate  measures 
of  the  disaftected.  Some  of  the  conspira- 
tors were  still  active,  especially  in  London, 
and  appeared  determined  to  persevere, 
though  with  decreasing  numbers  and  re 
sources:  the  committee  therefore  repre- 
sented that  vigilance  would  be  necessary  : 
the  report  proceeded  to  state  that  forty-four 
persons  appeared  to  have  been  arrested, 
under  warrants  of  the  secretary  of  state, 
who  had  not  been  brought  to  trial ;  but  that 
these  arrests  were  fully  justified  by  circum- 
Btances,  and  that  no  warrant  of  detention 
appeared  to  have  been  issued,  except  in 
consequence  of  information  on  oath.  The 
persons  detained  and  not  prosecuted  had 
been  at  different  times  discharged  ;  and  the 
committee  added  their  conviction  that  the 
government  had  exercised  the  powers  vest- 
ed in  them  with  due  discretion  and  mod- 
eration. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  a  bill  of  indemnity, 
founded  on  this  report,  was  brought  in  by 
the  duke  of  Montrose  ;  and,  on  the  motion 
for  its  second  reading,  the  marquis  of  Lans- 
downe  proposed  as  an  amendment,  that  it 
should  be  postponed  for  a  fortnight,  to  give 
time  for  all  the  petitions  from  persons  re 
cently  imprisoned  under  the  suspension  act 
to  be  brought  up.  This  amendment  was 
lost,  and  the  bill  was  carried.  When  intro- 
duced to  the  house  of  commons  by  the 
attorney-general,  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  justly 
observed,  that  it  was  improperly  called  a 
bill  of  indemnity  :  the  object  of  indemnity 
was  only  to  protect  individuals  against  pub- 
lic  prosecution,   without  interfering   with 


the  rights  of  private  men ;  but  the  object 
of  this  was  to  annihilate  such  rights — to 
take  away  all  legal  remedies  'from  those 
who  had  suffered  an  illegal  and  arbitrary 
exercise  of  authority  ;  and  to  punish  those 
who  presumed  to  have  recourse  to  such 
remedies,  by  subjecting  them  to  the  pay- 
ment of  double  costs.  The  bill  passed,  and 
received  the  royal  assent. 

At  an  early  period  of  the  session  Gren- 
fell  inquired  of  the  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer whether  any  occurrence  was  likely 
to  prevent  the  resumption  of  cash  payments 
by  the  bank  on  the  fifth  of  July.  He  also 
observed  that  the  public  stood  in  the  situa- 
tion of  debtor  to  the  bank  for  the  sum  of 
three  millions,  advanced  without  interest, 
and  for  six  millions,  at  an  interest  of  four 
per  cent. ;  and,  as  the  bank  had  secured  the 
undisturbed  possession  of  a  balance  of  the 
public  money  deposited  in  their  hands, 
which  for  the  last  twelve  years  had  amount- 
ed, on  an  average,  to  eleven  millions,  until 
the  repayment  of  these  sums,  he  desired 
to  know  whether  any  arrangement  was  in 
progress  for  discharging  them,  or  for  placing 
them  on  a  better  footing.  The  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  replied,  that  the  bank  had 
made  ample  preparation  for  resuming  its 
payments  in  cash  at  the  time  fixed  by  par- 
liament ;  but  that  pecuniary  arrangements 
with  foreign  powers  were  going  on,  which 
might  probably  require  a  continuance  of  the 
restriction.  As  to  the  loan  of  six  millions, 
he  should,  ere  long,  submit  a  proposition  for 
its  payment ;  but,  with  respect  to  the  three 
millions  without  interest,  he  thought  the 
house  would  not  be  reconciled  to  any  pro- 
position for  depriving  the  public  of  so  im- 
portant an  accommodation.  On  a  subse- 
quent occasion,  the  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, in  submitting  certain  propositions 
to  a  committee  of  the  house,  observed,  that, 
in  January,  1817,  the  bank  had  given  notice 
that  they  were  ready  to  pay  in  specie  out- 
standing notes  of  a  particular  description, 
by  which  cash  might  then  have  been  de- 
manded to  the  amount  of  about  one  million 
sterling ;  but  a  very  inconsiderable  sum 
was  called  for.  At  that  time  gold  bullion 
was  reduced  to  three  pounds  eighteen  shil- 
lings and  six-pence,  and  silver  to  four  shil- 
lings and  ten-pence  the  ounce.  In  October 
following,  the  bank  gave  notice  that  they 
would  be  ready  to  pay  in  cash  all  notes 
dated  prior  to  tiie  first  of  January,  1817 ; 
but  the  result  was  greatly  different  from 
that  of  the  former  experiment,  upwards  of 
two  millions  and  a  half  having  been  issued 
under  this  last  notice,  of  which  hardly  any 
part  remained  in  circulation.  The  differ- 
ence in  these  results  arose  from  the  large 
remittances  to  foreign  countries,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  importations  of  corn  render- 


616 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ed  necessary  by  the  scarcity,  the  migration 
of  Englishmen  to  the  continent,  and  the 
negotiation  of  a  large  French  loan  in  this 
country.  It  was  not,  therefore,  advisable 
for  the  bank  to  resume  cash  payments ;  and 
the  restriction  was  accordingly  continued 
until  the  fifth  of  July,  1819. 

The  treaty  with  Spain  respecting  the  Af- 
rican slave-trade,  by  which,  in  considera- 
tion of  a  subsidy  of  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  she  consented  to  the  abolition  of 
that  inhuman  traffic  on  all  the  coasts  to  the 
north  of  the  line,  (retaining  for  herself, 
however,  a  right  of  continuing  it  indefi- 
nitely to  the  south  of  that  limit,)  received 
the  sanction  of  parliament.  According  to 
its  regulations,  no  detention  under  the  stip- 
ulated right  of  search  was  to  take  place, 
except  in  the  case  of  slaves  being  found 
actually  on  board.  It  was  necessary  that 
each  nation  should  have  an  equal  right  of 
discovering  the  illicit  practices  which  had 
been  carried  on  by  the  other ;  and,  unhap- 
pily, the  guilt  in  the  present  instance  was 
chargeable  on  certain  British  subjects,  as 
well  as  on  those  of  Spain. 

On  the  motion  of  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  the  sum  of  one  million  pounds 
was  granted,  to  be  raised  by  exchequer- 
bills,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  defi- 
ciency of  places  of  worship  belonging  to 
the  establishment,  by  building  new  churches 
and  chapels  of  ease  where  the  increase  of 
inhabitants  rendered  such  accommodation 
necessary.  A  considerable  sum  was  also 
raised  by  subscription  in  furtherance  of 
this  laudable  object. 

ROYAL  MARRIAGES. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  April,  a  message 
from  the  prince-regent  to  both  houses  an- 
nounced the  approaching  marriages  of  the 
duke  of  Clarence  to  the  princess  of  Saxe 
Meiningen,  and  of  the  duke  of  Cambridge 
to  the  princess  of  Hesse,  and  expressed  his 
confidence  that  a  proper  provision  would  be 
made  by  parliament  on  the  occasion.  From 
the  discussion  which  ensued  in  the  com- 
mons, it  appeared  that  a  plan  had  been  sub- 
mitted by  ministers  to  their  parliamentary 
friends,  at  a  meeting  holden  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  that  the  proposition  had  met  a 
very  cold  reception;  and  several  gentle- 
men who  had  been  at  the  meeting  now  de- 
clared that  they  could  not  accede  to  its 
terms.  Brougham  proposed  an  amendment 
to  the  address,  which  amendment  was  sus- 
tained by  what  was  termed  the  alarm- 
ing minority  of  ninety-three  against  one 
hundred  and  forty-four.  The  address,  of 
course,  was  carried,  and  the  message  was 
ordered  to  be  taken  into  consideration  on 
the  following  evening.  On  the  following 
evening,  however,  contrary  to  all  precedent 


on  such  occasions,  the  proceedings  were 
postponed  till  Wednesday.  In  a  very  warm 
conversation  which  took  place  on  the  sub- 
ject, Tierney  stated  it  to  be  the  intention 
of  ministers  to  propose  an  annual  addition 
of  nineteen  thousand  pounds  or  twenty 
thousand  pounds  to  the  income  of  the  duke 
of  Clarence,  and  of  twelve  thousand  pounds 
respectively  to  the  dukes  of  Kent,  Cum- 
berland, and  Cambridge,  with  an  outfit  to 
each  to  the  amount  of  the  additional  in- 
come. On  Wednesday,  the  fifteenth,  lord 
Castlereagh,  admitting  Tierney's  statement 
to  have  been  substantially  correct,  informed 
the  house  that  the  intended  proposition  had 
been  modified ;  but  that  nothing  less,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  duke  of  Clarence's  income, 
than  ten  thousand  pounds,  could  possibly  en- 
able him  to  support  the  dignity  of  his  rank 
in  the  married  state.  His  lordship  moved 
a  resolution  accordingly.  An  amendment, 
however,  making  the  additional  sum  six- 
thousand  pounds  instead  of  ten  thousand 
pounds,  was  carried  against  the  ministers. 
On  the  Tuesday  evening  following,  having 
announced  that  the  duke  of  Clarence  couid 
not  accept  of  the  six  thousand  pounds,  lord 
Castlereagh  moved  a  resolution  for  a  simi- 
lar grant  to  the  duke  of  Cambridge.  This 
motion  was  strongly  opposed  by  Brougham, 
but  ultimately  carried. 

A  few  days  previously  to  these  discus- 
sions the  princess  Elizabeth  had  been  united 
to  the  prince  of  Hesse  Homberg ;  but,  as 
she  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  nine  thousand 
pounds  a-year  settled  on  her  by  the  state, 
no  proposal  was  made  tor  a  marriage  dowry. 
For  a  time  the  duke  of  Clarence,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  pecuniary  disappointment  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected,  relinquished, 
or  professed  to  have  relinquished,  his  in- 
tended marriage.  At  a  subsequent  period, 
however,  the  union  took  place.  In  the  en- 
suing month  an  announcement  of  the  in- 
tended marriage  of  the  duke  of  Kent  with 
the  dowager  princess  of  Leiningen,  sister 
of  prince  Leopold  of  Saxe  Cobourg,  pro- 
duced a  grant  to  the  royal  pair  to  the  same 
amount  as  in  the  cases  of  the  dukes  of  Cum- 
berland and  Cambridge. 

The  supplies  of  this  year  were  estimated 
at  the  sum  of  twenty  million  nine  hundred 
and  fifty-two  thousand  four  hundred  pounds ; 
to  meet  which,  in  addition  to  the  produce 
of  ways  and  means,  a  three  and  a  half  per 
cent,  stock  was  created  to  the  amount  of 
fourteen  million  pounds.  By  this  expedient 
no  new  taxes  were  levied,  nor  were  any  ad- 
ditions made  to  the  old  ones. 

The  alien  act  was  continued  for  two 
years,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  necessary 
to  keep  out,  as  well  as  to  send  out,  of  Great 
Britain,   those  persons  who    should   avail 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


617 


themselves  of  the  vicinity  of  France,  to 
foster  a  spirit  menacing  to  the  security  of 
this  and  the  other  governments  of  Europe. 
On  the  motion  of  the  lord  chancellor,  a 
clause  was  introduced,  by  which  all  per- 
sons who  might  have  been  naturalized  since 
the  twenty-eighth  of  April  by  the  purchase 
of  shares  in  the  bank  of  Scotland,  or  who 
might  claim  to  be  naturalized  by  becoming 
partners  in  that  bank,  after  the  passing  of 
this  act,  should  be  deemed  and  taken  to  be 
aliens,  notwithstanding  any  existing  act  of 
the  parliament  of  Scotland,  so  long  as  the 
provisions  of  this  law  respecting  aliens 
should  remain  in  force. 

EDUCATION  OF  THE  POOR. 

A  COMMITTEE  was  formed  in  the  house 
of  commons  early  in  the  year,  to  consider 
of  a  bill,  proposed  by  Brougham,  respecting 
the  education  of  the  poor ;  and  an  inquiry 
was  instituted  into  the  state  and  manage- 
ment of  charitable  funds.  For  this  inquiry 
fourteen  commissioners  were  to  be  appoint- 
ed by  the  crown,  six  of  whom  were  to  have 
no  salaries.  The  bill,  in  its  passage  through 
the  house  of  lords,  underwent  various 
changes.  The  commissioners  were  limited 
to  those  charities  connected  with  educa- 
tion ;  they  were  precluded,  by  circum- 
stances over  which  they  could  not  have 
control,  from  investigating  the  state  of  the 
education  of  the  poor  generally;  they  were 
directed  to  traverse  the  country,  and  to  call 
witnesses  before  them,  but  were  to  possess 
no  authority  for  enforcing  attendance,  or 
for  demanding  the  production  of  any  one 
document.  Brougham  observed  that  the 
bill,  as  it  now  stood,  left  everything  to  the 
good-will  of  those  who  had  an  interest  at 
variance  with  the  inquiry,  yet  much  good 
might  still  result  from  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  possessed  by  the  house.  The  means 
to  be  used  were,  that  the  commissioners 
should  proceed  and  call  witnesses;  that 
they  should  report  occasionally  to  the  house, 
and  make  returns  of  the  names  of  all  per- 
sons refusing  to  give  information,  or  to  pro- 
duce documents,  without  alleging  any  just 
cause  of  reftisal ;  and  the  committee,  which 
would  be  reappointed  next  session,  might 
be  empowered  to  call  those  persons  before 
them.  Brougham  then  proposed  an  ad- 
dress to  the  prince-regent,  praying  for  the 
appointment  of  a  commission  to  inquire  into 
the  state  of  education  of  the  poor  through- 
out England  and  Wales,  and  to  report 
thereupon.  On  this  address  the  previous 
question  was  moved  and  carried ;  and  the 
same  fate  attended  another  proposal,  that 
the  commissioners  should  inquire  into  the 
abuses  of  charities  not  connected  with  edu- 
cation. 

Parliament  was  dissolved  by  the  prince- 
52* 


regent  in  person,  on  the  tenth  of  June. 
Having  stated  his  intention  to  give  direc- 
tions for  calling  a  new  parliament,  his  royal 
highness  thus  proceeded: — "I  cannot  re- 
frain from  adverting  to  the  important  change 
which  has  occurred  in  the  situation  of  this 
country  and  of  all  Europe,  since  I  first  met 
you  in  this  place.  At  that  period,  the  do- 
minion of  the  common  enemy  had  been  so 
widely  extended  over  the  continent,  that 
resistance  to  his  power  was,  by  many, 
deemed  to  be  hopeless ;  and  in  the  extremi- 
ties of  Europe  alone  was  such  resistance 
effectually  maintained.  By  the  unexam- 
pled exertions  which  you  enabled  me  to 
make,  in  aid  of  countries  nobly  contending 
for  independence,  and  by  the  spirit  which 
was  kindled  in  so  many  nations,  the  conti- 
nent was  at  length  delivered  from  the  most 
galling  and  oppressive  tyranny  under  which 
it  had  ever  labored ;  and  I  had  the  happi- 
ness, by  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence, 
to  terminate,  in  conjunction  with  his  majes- 
ty's allies,  the  most  eventful  and  sanguinary 
contest  in  which  Europe  had  for  centuries 
been  engaged,  with  unparalleled  success 
and  glory.  The  prosecution  of  such  a  con- 
test for  so  many  years,  and  more  particu- 
larly the  efforts  which  marked  the  close  of 
it,  have  been  followed,  within  our  own  coun- 
try, as  well  as  throughout  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope, by  considerable  internal  difficulties 
and  distress.  But,  deeply  as  I  felt  for  the 
immediate  pressure  upon  his  majesty's  peo- 
ple, nevertheless  I  looked  forward  without 
dismay,  having  always  the  fullest  confi- 
dence in  the  solidity  of  the  resources  of 
the  British  empire,  and  in  the  relief  which 
might  be  expected  from  a  continuance  of 
peace,  and  from  the  patience,  public  spirit, 
and  energy  of  the  nation.  These  expecta- 
tions have  not  been  disappointed.  The  im- 
provement in  the  internal  circumstances  of 
the  country  is  happily  manifest,  and  prom- 
ises to  be  steadily  progressive ;  and  I  feel 
a  perfect  assurance  that  the  continued  loy- 
alty and  exertions  of  all  classes  of  his  ma- 
jesty's subjects  will  confirm  these  growing 
indications  of  national  prosperity,  by  pro- 
moting obedience  to  the  laws,  and  attach- 
ment to  the  constitution,  from  which  all 
our  blessings  have  been  derived." 

THE  ALLIED  ARMY  WITHDRAWN  FROM 
FRANCE— DISTURBANCES  AT  MAN- 
CHESTER, &c. 

On  the  fourth  of  November  a  notifica- 
tion was  addressed  to  the  duke  of  Riche- 
lieu, the  prime  minister  of  France,  bv  the 
plenipotentiaries  of  the  courts  of  Great 
Britain,  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  as- 
sembled at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  stating  that 
their  august  masters,  being  called  upon  by 
the  twentieth  article  of  the  treaty  of^  Parb 


618 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


to  examine,  in  concert  with  the  king  of 
France,  whether  the  military  occupation 
of  a  part  of  the  French  territory,  stipu- 
lated by  that  treaty,  ought  to  cease  at  the 
termination  of  the  third  year,  or  be  pro- 
longed to  that  of  the  fifth,  had  recognized, 
with  satisfaction,  that  the  order  of  things 
established  by  the  restoration  of  the  legiti- 
mate and  constitutional  monarchy  of  that 
country  gave  assurance  of  the  consolidation 
of  that  state  of  tranquillity  in  France  ne- 
cessary for  the  repose  of  Europe ;  and  that, 
in  Consequence,  they  had  commanded  the 
immediate  discontinuance  of  such  military 
occupation: — a  measure  which  they  re- 
garded as  the  completion  of  the  general 
peace.  This  information  was  received  with 
delight  by  the  French  people ;  and,  although 
some  slight  ebullitions  of  seditious  feeling 
have  since  occasionally  presented  them- 
selves, the  event  has  happily  proved  that 
the  presence  of  foreign  troops  was  no  longer 
necessary. 

Throughout  the  summer  the  cotton-spin- 
ners, and  other  laboring  classes  of  manu- 
facturers at  Manchester,  and  in  the  neigh- 
boring parts  of  the  country,  remained  in  a 
state  of  organized  opposition  to  their  mas- 
ters on  the  subject  of  wages.  From  this 
cause  several  partial  disturbances  arose ; 
one  m  particular  at  Burnley,  and  another 
at  Stockport.  Fortunately,  through  the 
prompt  exertions  of  the  Manchester  yeo- 
manry, these  irruptions  were  put  down, 
without  bloodshed  or  actual  violence.  It  is 
too  probable,  however,  that  much  hostility 
and  bitterness  of  feeling  were  thus  mutu- 
ally excited  between  the  lower  classes  and 
the  yeomanry,  the  eifects  of  which  burst 
forth  with  calamitous  fury  at  a  subsequent 
period. 

DEATH  OF  QUEEN  CHARLOTTE. 

In  consequence  of  the  queen's  declining 
health,  two  amendments  had  been  made  in 
the  regency  bill  during  the  last  session  of 
parliament ;  the  first  empowering  her  ma- 
jesty to  add  six  new  members,  resident  at 
Windsor,  to  her  council,  in  the  event  of  her 
absence  from  that  residence ;  and  the  sec- 
ond repealing  the  clause  which  rendered 
necessary  the  immediate  assembling  of  a 
new  parliament  in  the  event  of  the  queen's 
death.  These  amendments  were  very  op- 
portunely made ;  as,  after  a  lingering  ill- 
ness of  six  months,  which  was  sustained 
with  great  fortitude  and  resignation,  her 
majesty  expired  at  Kew  palace,  on  the 
seventeenth  of  November,  in  the  seventy- 
fifth  year  of  her  age.  She  had  been  blest 
by  nature  with  a  sound  and  vigorous  frame, 
having,  until  within  two  years  of  her  de- 
cease, enjoyed    an   almost  uninterrupted 


state  of  health.  Her  remains  were  interred 
at  Windsor  on  the  second  of  December. 

Queen  Charlotte  possessed  a  strong  and 
sound  judgment,  and  used  her  influence 
with  great  discretion.  Though  she  could 
boast  no  claim  to  beauty,  she  was  not  defi- 
cient in  those  accomplishments  which  add 
grace  and  dignity  to  an  exalted  station.  As 
a  wife  and  a  mother  she  was  a  pattern  to 
her  sex,  performing  all  the  tender  and  ma- 
ternal offices  of  a  nurse  to  her  royal  ofi- 
spring,  fifteen  in  number — an  example  but 
too  seldom  followed.  Durmg  the  long  pe- 
riod in  which  her  majesty  may  be  said  to 
have  presided  over  the  English  court,  it 
was  remarkable  for  the  steady  countenance 
uniformly  extended  to  virtue,  and  as  uni- 
formly withdrawn  from  its  opposite.  Mar- 
ried at  an  early  period  of  life,  it  required  a 
more  than  ordinary  effort  of  intellect  to  re- 
sist the  false  glare  which  surrounded  her ; 
yet  at  a  time  when  there  was  hardly  a 
court  in  Europe  that  was  not  marked  by  its 
licentiousness,  she  protected  hers  from  the 
contaminating  influence  of  splendid  vice. 

The  vices  of  the  French  court  led  to  the 
revolution  which  deluged  that  country  with 
blood ;  and  the  same  cause  occasioned,  in  a 
great  measure,  the  horrors  with  which 
Spain  and  Naples  were  subsequently  visited. 
During  that  time  England  presented  on  the 
throne  the  example  of  those  virtues  that 
form  the  great  and  binding  links  of  the  so- 
cial chain  ;  and  this  example  was  the  more 
salutary,  as  our  sudden  and  rapid  prosperity 
was  calculated  to  produce  the  greatest 
moral  relaxation.  In  public  her  majesty 
never  tolerated  any  person  in  her  presence, 
however  high  their  rank,  who  had  been 
guilty  of  any  gross  breach  of  those  laws 
which  refinement  has  introduced  amongst 
men,  for  the  preservation  of  society. 

In  her  attendance  on  divine  worship  her 
majesty  was  very  regular  and  exemplary. 
She  was  popular  when  lord  Bute's  adminis- 
tration had  rendered  the  king  very  much 
the  reverse,  and  was  considered  with  gen- 
eral regard  as  a  domestic  woman  :  so  much 
so,  that  colonel  Barre,  then  a  violent  oppo- 
sition speaker,  delivered  a  splendid  eulogi- 
um  on  her  "  mild,  tender,  and  unassuming 
virtues."  When  the  kmg  first  betrayed 
symptoms  of  insanity,  the  ministry,  in  ap- 
pointing a  regency,  proposed  restrictions  on 
the  regent,  which  raised  a  strong  spirit  of 
opposition.  At  this  critical  and  delicate 
juncture,  her  majesty's  affections  were  di- 
vided between  her  consort  and  her  son ; 
but,  with  this  exception,  we  do  not  know 
of  any  intermixture  on  her  part  with  the 
politics  of  the  day.  Even  Junius,  who  at- 
tacked the  court  with  so  much  rancor,  and 
who  was  not  likely  to  have  spared  any 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


619 


bnmch  of  the  royal  family,  is  wholly  silent 
as  to  her  majesty,  except  where  he  severely 
rebukes  the  duke  of  Grafton,  the  prime 
minister  at  that  time,  for  having  led  his 
mistress  through  the  opera-house,  in  the 
presence  of  the  queen.  This  rebuke  is  an 
additional  proof  of  the  high  sense  which 
that  popular  writer  entertained  of  the  pu- 
rity of  her  majesty's  character,  and  of  the 


decorum  which  ought  to  have  been  observed 
in  her  presence.  It  has  been  said  that  she 
was  penurious,  if  not  avaricious :  to  her 
pecuniary  affairs  she  was  certainly  very 
attentive,  and  it  is  not  a  little  creditable  to 
her  that  she  was  scrupulously  so  to  the  pay- 
ment of  her  own  tradesmen ;  but  there  are 
also  many  proofs  of  her  disposition  to  assist 
distress,  and  to  patronize  merit. 


620 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  XLIY. 

Parliament  convoked — Royal  Speech — Criminal  Code — Measures  for  return  to  Cash 
Payments — National  Income  and  Expenditure — State  of  the  Nation — Catholic 
Question — Foreign  Enlistment  Bill,  and  other  Proceedings — Emigration  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope — Radical  Reformers — Popular  Meetings — Arrests  for  Sedition — 
Violent  Dispersion  of  a  Meeting  at  Manchester — Hunt  and  his  Associates  found 
Guilty — Earl  Fitzwilliam  dismissed  from  Lord-Lieutenancy  of  the  West  Riding — 
Address  of  Corporation  of  London — Meeting  of  Parliament — Documents  on  State 
of  the  Country — Bill  to  prevent  Traversing  of  Informations  or  Indictments — 
Other  Restraining  Bills — Cession  of  Parga — Restoration  of  Java — Change  in  the 
King^s  Health — Death  of  the  Duke  of  Kent — Death  of  George  the  Third — Con- 
cluding Remarks. 


PARLIAMENT   CONVOKED.— ROYAL 
SPEECH. 

1819. — The  new  parliament  met  on  the 
fourteenth  of  January,  1819,  when,  in  the 
upper  house,  chief  baron  Richards  took  his 
seat  on  the  woolsack,  pro  tempore^  in  con- 
sequence of  the  lord  chancellor's  indisposi- 
tion. In  the  house  of  commons  Mr.  Man- 
ners Sutton  was  unanimously  re-elected 
speaker.  Of  the  royal  speech  the  main 
topics  were,  the  king's  health — the  demise 
of  the  queen — the  evacuation  of  France 
by  the  allied  troops — the  probability  of  a 
durable  peace — the  favorable  state  of  the 
revenue — the  improved  aspect  of  trade, 
manufactures,  and  commerce — the  favora- 
ble result  of  the  war  in  India — and  the  con- 
clusion of  a  treaty  with  the  United  States 
of  America,  for  extending,  to  a  further  term 
of  years,  the  existing  commercial  conven- 
tion. In  both  houses  the  usual  addresses 
were  agreed  to  without  a  division. 

The  death  of  the  queen  having  rendered 
necessary  the  appointment  of  a  new  guar- 
dian of  the  king's  person,  the  earl  of  Liver- 
pool, on  the  twenty-fifth  of  January,  intro- 
duced a  motion  for  the  purpose  of  nomina- 
ting the  duke  of  York  to  that  office ;  and, 
after  some  discussion  as  to  the  patronage  to 
be  enjoyed  by  his  royal  highness,  the  bill 
was  passed.  Several  debates  subsequently 
took  place  respecting  the  royal  establish- 
ment at  Windsor;  and  on  a  motion  for 
granting  ten  thousand  pounds  a-year  to  the 
duke  of  York,  as  custos  of  the  royal  per- 
son, from  the  public  instead  of  from  the 
privy-purse,  which  was  carried  by  a  small 
majority.  The  subject  also  excited  much 
freedom  of  remark,  both  in  and  out  of  par- 
liament. 

CRIMINAL  CODE. 

The  state  of  the  criminal  code,  a  topic 
deeply  interesting  to  the  best  friends  of  hu- 
manity, occupied  the  attention  of  parlia- 
ment at  an  early  part  of  the  session.  The 
astonishing  variety  and  appalling  multitude 


of  oifences,  more  than  two  hundred  in  num- 
ber, against  which  capital  punishment  was 
denounced  by  the  statute-book,  had  long 
been  reprobated  by  philanthropists,  both 
foreign  and  native,  as  a  national  disgrace, 
and  stigmatized,  by  philosophical  lawyers, 
as  a  fruitful  source  of  mischief  It  was  the 
certainty,  they  remarked,  rather  than  the 
severity  of  punishment,  which  tended  to 
deter  offenders  ;  and  those  penalties  which 
the  general  feeling  of  society  condemned  as 
incommensurate  with  offences  were  the 
most  uncertain  of  being  carried  into  effect. 
Principles  such  as  these  had  repeatedly 
been  brought  before  the  house  of  commons 
by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  who  had  proposed 
several  bills  founded  upon  them,  one  of 
which  had  passed  into  a  law ;  but  the  death 
of  that  distinguished  and  estimable  indi- 
vidual had  thrown  the  cause  into  other 
hands.  A  petition  from  the  corporation  of 
London,  complaining  of  the  increase  of 
crime,  and  pointing  out  the  commutation 
of  capital  punishment,  was  referred  to  a 
committee  for  the  examination  of  the  disci- 
pline and  police  of  the  different  prisons 
throughout  the  country,  the  appointment  of 
which  was  moved  by  lord  Castlereagh  on 
the  first  of  March.  It  was  the  opinion, 
however,  of  those  who  were  well  informed, 
and  who  felt  deeply  interested  in  the  busi- 
ness, that,  for  the  due  consideration  of  so  ex- 
tensive and  important  a  subject  as  the  penal 
code,  a  distinct  committee  should  be  ap- 
pointed ;  and  to  that  effect  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh made  a  motion  on  the  following  day. 
After  adducing  a  variety  of  observations 
and  facts,  illustrating  the  system  of  subter- 
fuge which  the  dreadfnl  severity  of  the 
laws  in  many  cases  had  produced  amongst 
prosecutors,  witnesses,  and  jurors,  and  the 
consequent  impunity  and  increase  of  crime, 
he  observed  that  it  was  by  no  means  his 
wish  or  intention  to  form  a  new  crimmal 
code :  to  abolish  a  system,  admirable  in  its 
principles,  interwoven  with  the  habits  of 


GEORGE  ni.  1760—1820. 


621 


the  people,  and  under  which  they  had  long 
and  happily  lived,  was  indeed  very  remote 
from  his  ideas  of  legislation.  He  did  not  even 
propose  to  abolish  capital  punishment :  on  the 
contrary,  he  held  it  to  be  a  part  of  that  right 
of  self-defence  with  which  societies  were  en 
dowed :  he  considered  it,  like  all  other  pun- 
ishments, as  an  evil,  when  unnecessary 
but  capable,  like  them,  of  producing,  when 
sparingly  and  judiciously  inflicted,  a  pre 
ponderance  of  good.  He  aimed  not  at  the 
establishment  of  any  universal  principle 
his  sole  object  was,  that  the  execution  of 
the  law  should  constitute  the  majority,  and 
the  remission  the  minority,  of  cases.  Sir 
James  subsequently  divided  capital  felonies 
into  three  classes:  those  on  which  the  pun- 
ishment of  death  was  always,  those  on  which 
it  vjn.s  frequently y  and  those  on  which  it  was 
never,  put  in  force.  He  proposed  to  leave, 
for  the  present,  the  first  and  second  divis- 
ions untouched :  the  third,  consisting  of  no 
fewer  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  different 
crimes,  ought,  he  conceived,  to  be  entirely 
expunged  from  the  list,  as  so  many  relics 
of  barbarous  times,  disgraceful  to  the  char 
acter  of  a  free,  a  thinking,  and  an  enlight- 
ened nation.  Lord  Castlereagh  compli 
mented  the  candid  and  moderate  spirit  in 
which  Sir  James  Mackintosh  had  brought 
forward  his  motion ;  notwithstanding  which, 
he  persisted  in  opposing,  as  unnecessary,  the 
appointment  of  a  separate  committee.  Other 
members,  however,  warmly  supported  the 
proposal,  which  was  ultimately  carried  by 
one  hundred  and  forty-seven  voices  against 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight ;  and,  before 
the  close  of  the  session.  Sir  James  had  the 
satisfaction  of  reporting  progress  as  chair- 
man. 

CASH  PAYMENTS. 
A  MOTION  by  Tierney,  on  the  second  of 
February,  for  a  committee  to  inquire  into 
the  effects  of  the  restriction  on  cash  pay- 
ments by  the  bank,  was  met  by  an  amend- 
ment proposed  by  the  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, directing  an  investigation  into  the 
state  of  the  bank  of  England  with  reference 
to  the  expediency  of  the  resumption  of  cash 
payments  at  the  fixed  period ;  such  informa- 
tion to  be  reported  by  the  committee  as 
might  be  disclosed  without  injury  to  the 
public  interests.  The  first  report  was 
brought  up  by  Peel  on  the  first  of  April :  it 
represented  that  the  bank,  having  been  in- 
duced to  pay  in  specie  all  notes  issued  prior 
to  1817,  had  been  drained  of  cash  to  the 
amount  of  upwards  of  five  million  pounds, 
most  of  which  had  found  its  way  to  the  con- 
tinent, and  been  there  recoined  into  foreign 
money ;  and  that,  to  prevent  a  continuance 
of  this  drain,  and  to  enable  the  bank  to  ac- 
cumulate a  greater  quantity  of  bullion,  with 
a  view  to  the  final  resumption  of  cash  pay- 


ments, it  was  expedient  to  restrain  the  fur- 
ther payment  of  the  notes  alluded  to  in  spe- 
cie. A  bill  was  accordingly  brought  in,  and, 
the  standing  orders  of  the  house  having  been 
suspended,  was  passed  through  all  its  stages 
the  same  evening.  In  the  course  of  the 
discussion  Manning,  a  bank  director,  attri!)- 
uted  the  drain  upon  the  bank,  and  the  pa.s- 
sage  of  our  specie  to  the  continent,  to  the 
French  loan,  and  a  deficient  harvest,  corn 
having  been  imported  intft  this  country  to 
the  amount  of  ten  million  pounds.  In  the 
upper  house,  lord  Harrowby  moved  the  sus- 
pension of  the  standing  orders,  that  the  bill 
might  be  passed  through  all  its  stages  at 
one  sitting,  which  earl  Grey  and  others  op- 
posed at  considerable  length,  contending 
that,  if  necessary,  it  would  have  been  bet- 
ter for  ministers  to  issue  an  order  of  council 
for  suspending  the  bank  payments  on  their 
own  responsibility:  on  the  following  day, 
however,  the  bill  was  read  three  times,  and 
passed.  A  similar  measure  was  also  carried 
for  the  protection  of  the  bank  of  Ireland. 
The  second  report  was  presented  on  the 
fifth  of  May,  when  two  bills  were  passed, 
founded  on  a  plan,  recommended  by  the 
committee,  for  the  gradual  return  to  cash 
payments,  and  of  which  the  principal  pro- 
visions were,  that  a  definite  period  should 
be  fixed  for  the  termination  of  the  restric- 
tion, and  that  preparatory  measures  should 
be  taken,  with  a  view  to  facilitate  and  in- 
sure, on  the  arrival  of  that  period,  the  pay- 
ment of  the  promissory  notes  of  the  bank  of 
England  in  the  legal  coin  of  the  realm ;  that 
provision  ought  to  be  made  for  the  gradual 
repayment  of  the  sum  of  ten  million  pounds, 
being  part  of  the  sum  due  to  the  bank  on 
account  of  advances  for  the  public  service ; 
that,  from  the  first  of  February  1820,  the 
bank  shall  be  liable  to  deliver,  on  demand, 
gold  of  standard  fineness,  having  been  as- 
sayed and  stamped  at  the  mint,  a  quantity 
of  not  less  than  sixty  ounces  being  required, 
in  exchange  for  notes  at  the  rate  of  four 
pounds  one  shilling  per  ounce ;  that,  from 
the  first  of  October  1820,  the  bank  shall  be 
liable  to  deliver  gold  at  the  rate  of  three 
pounds  nineteen  shillings  and  sixpence  per 
ounce,  and  from  the  first  of  May  1821,  three 
pounds  seventeen  shillings  and  tonpence 
half-penny ;  that  the  bank  may,  at  any  period 
between  the  first  of  February  and  the  first 
of  October,  1820,  undertake  to  deliver  gold, 
as  before  mentioned,  at  any  rate  between 
the  sums  of  four  pounds  one  shilling,  and 
three  pounds  nineteen  shillings  and  sixpence 
per  ounce ;  and,  at  any  period  between  the 
first  of  October  1820,  and  the  first  of  May 
1821,  at  any  rate  between  the  sums  of  three 
pounds  nineteen  shillings  and  sixpence,  and 
three  pounds  seventeen  shillings  and  ten- 
pence  half-penny  per  ounce ;  but  that,  such 


622 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAm. 


intermediate  rate  having  been  once  fixed, 
that  rate  shall  not  be  subsequently  increas- 
ed ;  that,  from  the  first  of  May  1823,  the 
bank  shall  pay  its  notes,  on  demand,  in  the 
legal  coin  of  the  realm ;  and  that  it  is  ex- 
pedient to  repeal  the  laws  prohibiting  the 
melting  and  the  exportation  of  the  coin. 
TvATIONAL  Ii>iCOME  AND  EXPENDITURE. 
Another  select  committee  was  appoint- 
ed, on  the  motion  of  lord  Castlereagh,  to  in- 
quire into  the  income  and  expenditure  of 
the  country,  from  which  he  anticipated  a 
most  favorable  result.  The  receipts  for  the 
year  ending  the  fifth  of  January  1818,  were 
"fifty-one  million  six  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
pounds ;  while  those  for  the  following  year 
were  fifty-foar  million  sixty-two  thousand 
pounds,  showing  an  increase  upon  the  latter 
of  two  million  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  thousand  pounds :  but  there  were  cer- 
tain arrears  of  war  duties  on  malt  and  prop- 
erty, which  reduced  the  income  of  1818  to 
forty-nine  million  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  pounds,  while  the  arrears  to  January 
1819,  amounted  only  to  five  hundred  and 
sixty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  pounds.  The  expenditure  was  also 
less  by  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
pounds  than  was  expected ;  and  the  result 
was,  his  lordship  said,  a  total  surplus  of  three 
million  five  hundred  and  fifty-eight  thou- 
sand pounds,  applicable  to  the  reduction  of 
the  national  debt.  Allowing  one  million 
for  the  interest  on  the  loan,  there  remained 
two  million  and  a  half  of  surplus  revenue. 
Tierney  observed  that  an  old  debt  upon  the 
sinking  fund  of  eight  million  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  which  must  be  liquidated 
before  one  farthing  of  the  surplus  in  ques- 
tion could  be  made  available  for  the  expenses 
of  the  current  year,  had  been  altogether 
thrown  out  of  view.  The  various  taxes, 
taken  together,  exceeded  seven  millions; 
but  this  was  the  extreme  of  the  amount  ap- 
plicable to  the  army,  the  navy,  the  ordnance, 
and  miscellaneous  services :  how,  then, 
could  it  be  possible,  he  asked,  that  with  an 
income  of  only  seven  millions,  and  an  ex- 
penditure of  twenty  millions,  both  ends 
should  be  made  to  meet,  and  a  surplus  be 
left  1  and  would  it  not  be  a  gross  delusion 
to  speak  of  the  sinking  fund  as  applicable 
to  the  public  service,  while  government 
were  obliged  to  borrow  thirteen  millions  a 
year  to  support  it  1  The  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  observed,  that  this  statement  in- 
cluded certain  particulars  which  could  not 
be  admitted  in  making  a  fair  comparison. 
By  taking  the  whole  charge  of  the  consoli- 
dated fund  and  the  sinking  fund,  it  had  been 
shown  that  our  expenditure  considerably 
exceeded  our  receipts.     This  must  neces-l 


sarily  be  the  case,  since  so  great  a  part  of 
the  war  taxes  had  been  abolished.  Parliar 
ment  had  thought  fit  to  relieve  the  country 
from  fifteen  millions  of  taxes,  and  thus  they 
unavoidably  prevented  the  efiect  which 
would  have  been  produced  in  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  debt  by  these  fifteen  millions  an- 
nually. With  respect  to  any  plans  of  finance 
for  the  present  year,  he  should  reserve  to 
himself  the  power  of  adopting  that  which 
the  situation  of  public  affairs  rendered  most 
expedient. 

On  the  third  of  June  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer  submitted  a  series  of  financial 
resolutions,  which  stated  that,  by  the  remo- 
val of  certain  taxes,  the  revenue  of  Great 
Britain  was  reduced  by  eighteen  million 
pounds ;  that  the  interest  and  charge  of  the 
funded  and  unfunded  debt  of  Ireland  ex- 
ceeded the  whole  revenue  of  that  country 
by  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand 
pounds ;  that  it  was  necessary  to  provide, 
by  a  loan  or  other  means,  for  the  service  of 
the  present  year,  tlie  sum  of  thirteen  million 
pounds,  which,  deducted  from  the  sinking 
fund  of  fifteen  million  pounds,  reduced  it  to 
only  two  million  pounds ;  and  that,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  this  sinking  fund  to  five 
million  pounds,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  impose  new  taxes  to  the  amount  of  three 
million  pounds  annually.  This  sum  parlia- 
ment ultimately  agreed  to  raise  by  a  con- 
siderable duty  on  foreign  wool,  and  by 
smaller  duties  on  various  other  articles, 
such  as  tobacco,  tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa-nuts. 
Two  loans  of  twelve  million  pounds  each 
were  also  made ;  one  of  them  supplied  by 
the  money  market,  the  other  derived  from 
the  sinking  fund.  Out  of  these  sums  there 
was  to  be  a  surplus,  of  which  five  million 
pounds  were  to  go  towards  the  repayment 
to  the  bank  recommended  by  parliament 
previously  to  the  resumption  of  cash  pay- 
ments, and  five  million  five  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  thousand  pounds  to  the  redu<)- 
tion  of  the  unfunded  debt.  "  In  adopting 
this  course,"  observed  the  ?peaker,  in  his 
address  to  the  prince-regent,  at  the  close  of 
the  session,  "  his  majesty's  faithful  commons 
did  not  conceal  from  themselves  that  they 
were  calling  upon  the  nation  for  a  great 
exertion;  but,  well  knowing  that  honor, 
and  character,  and  independence,  have  at 
all  times  been  the  first  and  dearest  objects 
of  the  hearts  of  Englishmen,  we  felt  assured 
that  there  was  no  difficulty  that  the  coun- 
try would  not  encounter,  and  no  pressure  to 
which  she  would  not  cheerfully  submit,  to 
enable  her  to  maintain,  pure  and  unimpair- 
ed, that  which  has  never  yet  been  shaken 
or  sullied, — her  public  credit  and  her  na 
tional  good  faith." 

CATHOLIC  QUESTION. 

Numerous  petitions  having  been  present- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


623 


ed  to  parliament,  both  for  and  against  the 
Catholic  claims,  this  great  question  of  inter- 
nal policy  was  again  brought  before  the 
house  of  commons  by  Grattan  on  the  third 
of  May.  The  causes  of  disqualification,  he 
observed,  were  of  three  kinds :  1.  the  com- 
bination of  the  Catholics ;  2.  the  danger  of 
a  Pretender ;  3.  the  power  of  the  pope.  He 
msisted  that  not  only  all  these  causes  had 
ceased,  but  that  the  consequences  annexed 
to  them  were  no  more ;  and  concluded  by 
moving  for  a  committee  of  the  whole  house, 
to  consider  the  state  of  the  laws  by  which 
oaths  or  declarations  are  required  to  be 
taken  or  made  as  qualifications  for  the  en- 
joyment of  offices  and  the  exerciso  of  civil 
functions,  so  far  as  the  same  affect  Roman 
Catholics ;  and  whether  it  would  be  expe- 
dient to  alter  or  modify  the  same.  The  mo- 
tion was  lost,  on  a  division,  by  a  majority  of 
only  two,  the  numbers  being  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  against  two  hundred  and 
forty-one.  On  the  seventeenth  a  corres- 
ponding motion  was  submitted  to  the  peers 
by  the  earl  of  Donoughmore,  who  contend- 
ed that  the  position  of  the  Catholic  question 
had  been  greatly  changed.  All  anti-chris- 
tian  principles  and  uncharitable  surmises 
were  disallowed  by  its  opponents ;  and  the 
great  objection  was  limited  to  an  arguable 
supremacy,  which  was  supposed  inherent  in 
a  foreign  state.  If  he  were  allowed  to  go 
into  the  committee,  he  would,  after  getting 
rid  of  the  declaration,  next  dispose  of  the 
oath  of  supremacy,  when  there  would  re- 
main no  vestige  of  such  tests,  except  the 
oath  of  abjuration,  now  of  no  practical  use, 
as  it  aimed  at  a  non-existent  family.  The 
bishop  of  Worcester  opposed  the  motion,  on 
the  ground  of  danger  to  the  church  and 
state.  That  danger,  it  was  argued  by  the 
bishop  of  Norwich,  did  not  exist ;  and  we 
ought  to  do  unto  others  as  we  would  that 
they  should  do  unto  us.  The  bishop  of  Pe- 
terborough said  that,  if  the  present  question 
were  one  merely  of  religion,  it  should  have 
his  support ;  but  it  was  evident  the  grand 
object  of  the  Catholics  was  political  power. 
The  earl  of  Liverpool  argued  that  the  con- 
cession would  not  operate  to  allay  animosi- 
ties in  Ireland,  and  that  the  interests  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  would  not  be  af- 
fected by  it  in  the  smallest  degree.  The 
lord  chancellor  also  strenuously  opposed  the 
motion,  chiefly  for  the  old  refuted  reason 
that  the  Catholics  could  give  no  security, 
by  oath,  which  could  reconcile  the  king's 
supremacy,  in  things  temporal,  with  the 
pope's  supremacy,  in  things  ecclesiastical. 
On  a  division,  the  motion  was  negatived  by 
one  hundred  and  forty-seven  ag-iinst  one 
hundred  and  six.  Another  effort  in  behalf 
of  the  Catholics  was  made  in  the  upper 
house  by  earl  Grey,  who  introduced  a  bill 


"  for  abrogating  so  much  of  the  act  of  the 
twenty-fifth  and  thirtieth  of  Charles  the 
Second  as  prescribes  to  all  officers,  civil  and 
military,  and  to  members  of  both  houses  of 
parliament,  a  declaration  against  the  doc- 
trines of  transubstantiation  and  the  invoca- 
tion of  saints."  The  bill  was  allowed  to 
proceed  to  the  motion  for  its  second  reading, 
when  it  was  thrown  out  by  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  against  eighty-two. 

FOREIGN  ENLISTMENT  BILL. 
A  BILL  was  brought  in  by  the  attorney- 
general  on  the  thirteenth  of  May,  for  pro- 
hibiting the  enlistment  of  British  subjects 
into  foreign  service,  and  the  equipment  of 
vessels  of  war  without  license.  The  first 
of  these  objects,  he  observed,  had  been  in 
some  measure  provided  for  by  the  statutes 
of  George  the  Second,  by  which  it  was  an 
offence  amounting  to  felony  to  enter  the 
service  of  any  foreign  state :  if  neutrality 
were  to  be  observed,  however,  it  was  im- 
portant that  the  penalty  should  be  extended 
to  the  act  of  serving  unacknowledged  pow- 
ers as  well  as  acknowledged  ones;  and 
part  of  his  intention,  therefore,  was  to 
amend  those  statutes,  by  introducing,  after 
the  words  "  king,  prince,  state,  potentate," 
the  words,  "  colony  or  district,  who  do  as- 
sume the  powers  of  a  government."  Sir 
James  Mackintosh  warned  the  house,  that, 
in  whatever  manner  the  motion  might  be 
worded,  and  its  real  object  concealed,  the 
bill  ought  to  be  entitled — "A  bill  for  pre- 
venting British  subjects  from  lending  their 
assistance  to  the  South  American  cause,  or 
enlisting  in  the  South  American  service." 
He  stated  that  the  statutes  of  George  the 
Second,  adduced  as  authority  on  this  occa- 
sion, were  intended  merely  for  the  tempo- 
rary purpose  of  preventing  the  formation 
of  Jacobite  armies  organized  in  France  and 
Spain,  against  the  peace  and  tranquillity 
of  England ;  and  he  concluded  by  repro- 
bating a  measure  which  was  virtually  ap 
enactment  to  repress  the  liberty  of  the  South 
Americans,  and  to  enable  Spain  to  reimpose 
that  yoke  of  tyranny  which  they  were  un- 
able to  bear,  which  they  had  nobly  shaken 
off*,  and  from  which  he  trusted  in  God  they 
would  finally,  and  for  ever,  be  enabled  to 
extricate  themselves.  Lord  Castlereagh 
contended  that  the  proposed  bill  was  neces- 
sary in  order  to  prevent  our  giving .  offence 
to  Spain,  whom  that  house  was  too  just  and 
too  generous  to  oppress,  because  she  was 
weak,  and  her  fortunes  had  declined.  Was 
not,  he  inquired,  the  proclamation  which 
had  been  issued  about  eighteen  months  be- 
fore approved  both  in  England  and  America, 
as  perfectly  just  in  tlie  principles  of  neu- 
trality which  it  declared  1  Was  it  not,  he 
also  asked,  a  breach  of  that  proclamation, 
when  not  only  individuals,  whom,  perhaps, 


624 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


it  might  have  been  impossible  to  restrain, 
not  only  officers  in  small  numbers  went  out 
to  join  the  insurrectionary  corps,  but  when 
there  was  a  regular  organization  of  troops 
— when  regiments  regularly  formed  left 
England — when  ships  of  war  were  fitted 
out  in  the  English  ports,  and  transports  were 
chartered  to  carry  out  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion'? In  the  subsequent  stages  of  the  bill, 
ministers  candidly  avowed  that  the  mea- 
sure had  been  suggested  by  the  stipulations 
of  a  treaty  with  Spain,  in  the  year  1814, 
and  by  the  representations  which  the  min- 
isters of  Ferdinand  the  Seventh  had  con- 
sidered themselves  as  entitled,  by  such 
stipulations,  to  address  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment. This  admission  excited  some  se- 
vere comments  on  the  character  of  Ferdi- 
nand. At  length,  however,  the  bill  was 
carried. 

An  act  of  grace,  on  the  part  of  the  prince- 
regent,  for  reversing  the  attainder  of  lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald,  by  which  the  blood  of 
his  two  children  had  become  corrupted,  was 
passed  without  opposition.  The  preamble 
of  the  bill  stated  that  his  lordship  had  never 
been  brought  to  trial ;  that  the  act  of  at- 
tainder did  not  pass  the  Irish  parliament  till 
some  months  afler  his  decease;  and  that 
these  were  sufficient  reasons  for  mitigating 
the  severity  of  a  measure  decreed  in  un- 
happy and  unfortunate  times. 

Wilberforce  complained  that  two  great 
powers  had  hitherto  shown  a  reluctance  to 
enter  into  the  arrangements  necessary  for 
carrying  into  eflect  the  total  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade.  It  grieved  him  to  cast  this  re- 
proach on  a  great  and  high-minded  people 
like  the  French ;  and  he  was  still  more  hurt 
to  find  that  America  was  not  free  from 
blame.  He  trusted  that  all  nations  would 
cordially  combine  in  insuring  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  Africa  a  progress  in  civilization 
equal  to  that  of  the  other  quarters  of  the 
world;  and  concluded  by  moving  an  ad- 
dress, entreatmg  the  prince-regent  to  renew 
his  endeavors  for  the  attainment  of  an  ob- 
ject so  generally  interesting.  The  address 
was  agreed  to  unanimously ;  and  a  similar 
one  was  voted  in  the  house  of  lords,  on  the 
motion  of  the  marquis  of  Lansdown. 

The  sum  of  fifty  thousand  pounds  was 
granted,  on  the  motion  of  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
government  to  divert  the  current  of  emi- 
gration from  the  United  States  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  the  colony  to  which  it  was 
considered  that  it  might  be  most  advan- 
tageously directed.  It  was  proposed  to  pay 
the  expense  of  the  passage,  and  to  afford  to 
the  emigrant  the  means  of  exercising  his 
industry  on  arriving  at  the  destined  spot. 
A  small  advance  of  money  would  be  re- 
quired from  each  settler  before  embarking. 


to  be  repaid  him  in  necessaries  at  the  Cape, 
by  which  means,  and  the  assistance  afforded 
by  government,  he  would  be  furnished  with 
a  comfortable  subsistence  until  he  gathered 
his  crops,  which,  in  that  climate,  were  of 
rapid  growth. 

The  session,  which  had  been  of  a  nature 
more  than  usually  busy,  was  closed  by  the 
prince-regent  in  person  on  the  thirteenth 
of  July.  The  royal  speech  expressed  a  con- 
fident expectation  that  the  measures  which 
had  been  adopted  for  the  resumption  of  cash 
payments  would  be  productive  of  the  most 
beneficial  consequences ;  regretted  the  ne- 
cessity of  additional  taxation;  anticipated 
important  permanent  advantages  from  the 
efforts  which  had  been  made  to  meet  our 
financial  difficulties;  and,  in  adverting  to 
the  seditious  spirit  which  was  abroad  in  the 
manufacturing  districts,  avowed  a  firm  de- 
termination to  employ  the  powers  provided 
by  law  for  its  suppression. 

RADICAL  REFORMERS— POPULAR  MEET- 
INGS—ARRESTS. 
About  this  time  a  party  which  had  re- 
ceived the  appellation  of  Radical  Reform- 
ers, obtained  much  notice  by  their  active 
exertions  among  the  lower  orders,  chiefly 
of  the  manufacturing  classes.  One  of  their 
first  steps  was  an  application  to  the  magis- 
trates of^  Manchester  to  convoke  a  meeting, 
for  the  alleged  purpose  of  petitioning  against 
the  corn  bill,  which  was  refused ;  and,  in 
consequence,  the  meeting  was  summoned 
by  an  anonymous  advertisement.  Hunt, 
who  had  been  selected  as  the  hero  of  the 
day,  was  conducted  to  tiie  place  of  meeting 
by  an  immense  multitude,  in  a  sort  of  tri- 
umphal procession,  and  a  strong  remon- 
strance to  the  prince-regent  was  adopted  : 
the  assemblage,  however,  dispersed  with- 
out tumult.  This  meeting  was  followed  by 
many  others  of  a  similar  nature  at  Glas- 
gow, Leeds,  Stockport,  and  other  manufac- 
turing neighborhoods :  the  strong  measures 
of  precaution,  however,  that  were  taken  by 
the  respective  local  authorities,  had,  in  most 
instances,  the  effect  of  preserving  order 
and  tranquillity,  though  there  was  a  marked 
contrast  between  the  peaceable  demeanor 
of  the  auditors  and  the  inflammatory  char- 
acter of  the  language  in  which  they  were 
addressed.  On  these  occasions,  the  want 
of  a  true  representation  of  the  people  was 
pronounced  to  be  the  grand  source  of  all 
our  evils;  for  which  annual  parliaments, 
universal  suffrage,  and  election  by  ballot, 
were  pointed  out  as  the  only  cure.  At  one 
meeting  there  was  a  discussion  whether  the 
people  had  a  right  to  destroy  the  bank  of 
England ;  and  some  suggestions  were  thrown 
out  as  to  the  expediency  of  a  division  of 
landed  property,  and  a  recurrence  to  phys- 
ical force.     By  some,  however,  it  was  con- 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


625 


tended  that  these  suggestions,  which  hap- 
pily produced  no  practical  results,  were 
made  by  spies;  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  agents  of  government,  whose  duty 
could  not  legitimately  extend  beyond  the 
office  of  observing  and  faithfully  reporting 
the  proceedings  which  took  place,  might 
occasionally  exceed  their  instructions.  One 
novel  and  censurable  feature  of  the  system 
was  the  formation,  in  Lancashire,  of  female 
reform  societies.  These  bodies  entered  into 
violent  resolutions,  and  called  upon  the 
wives  and  daughters  of  manufacturers  in 
different  branches  to  form  sister  societies, 
for  the  purpose  of  co-operating  with  the 
men,  and  of  instilling  into  their  children  a 
deep-rooted  hatred  of  our  tyrannical  rulers. 

At  Birmingham,  where  the  extensive  and 
almost  general  distress  of  the  working 
classes  had  given  greater  currency  to  the 
new  doctrines,  the  radical  reformers  hazard 
ed  a  bolder  experiment  than  any  they  had 
before  displayed.  This  was  the  election  of 
a  member,  or,  as  it  was  denominated  at  the 
tinie,  a  legislatorial  attorney,  to  represent 
that  great  and  populous  town  in  the  house 
of  commons.  At  a  meeting,  holden  for  this 
purpose  on  the  twelfth  of  July,  the  mana- 
gers stated  that,  the  issue  of  a  writ  being 
compulsory,  they  had  not  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  wait  for  a  mandate  on  this  occasion 
but  that,  in  the  exercise  of  their  constitu- 
tional rights,  and  of  the  duty  of  good  sub- 
jects, they  should  proceed  to  advise  the 
sovereign  by  their  representative.  Sir 
Charles  Wolseley,  who  had  previously  de- 
clared his  resolution  to  claim  his  seat, 
should  he  be  elected,  was  put  in  nomina- 
tion, and  instantly  chosen  by  an  assemblage 
of  fifteen  thousand  persons. 

A  few  days  after  this  performance  had 
been  acted,  it  was  resolved,  at  a  meeting  in 
the  great  unrepresented  town  of  Leeds, 
that  a  similar  election  should  take  place  as 
soon  as  an  eligible  member  should  be  found : 
but  the  government  at  length  interfered; 
Sir  Charles  Wolseley  was  taken  into  cus- 
tody, on  account  of  seditious  expressions 
used  at  a  meeting  at  Stockport,  in  Cheshire ; 
and  an  itinerant  preacher,  of  the  name  of 
Harrison^  for  a  similar  offence  at  the  same 
place,  was  soon  afterwards  arrested,  while 
he  was  attending  a  reform  meeting  in  Lon- 
don. On  these  charges  they  were  next 
year  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment 

The  Smithfield  meeting,  at  which  Har- 
rison was  arrested,  took  place  on  the  twen- 
ty-first of  July. — Some  degree  of  alarm  was 
naturally  felt  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  me- 
tropolis on  this  occasion ;  and,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preventing  riot  or  disorder,  very  ex- 
tensive and  judicious  precautions  were  ta- 
ken, both  by  the  government  and  the  police.  J 

Vol.  IV.  53 


Hunt  was  elected  to  the  chair,  and  a  num- 
ber of  resolutions  were  passed,  to  the  effect 
that,  as  the  persons  at  present  composing 
the  house  of  commons  had  not  been  fairly 
chosen,  the  meeting  could  not  consider 
themselves  bound  in  equity  by  any  of  their 
enactments,  after  the  ensuing  January. 
When  the  officers  took  Harrison,  a  few 
voices  proposed  resistance,  on  which  Hunt 
requested  them  to  let  him  go  quietly.  "  If 
tliev  apprehend  me,"  said  he,  "  I  am  ready 
with  bail,  and  will  try  the  question  with 
them.  Let  me  subpoena  all  of  you  here ; 
and  then,  though  they  may  get  three  vil- 
lains to  swear  away  my  life,  I  shall  not  be 
afraid  when  I  have  fifty  thousand  witnesses 
to  contradict  them.  If  only  thirty  of  you 
shotild  come  day  by  day,  the  trial  will  last  for 
three  years!"  The  remonstrance  to  the 
prince-regent,  which  had  been  agreed  to  at 
a  meeting  in  Palace-yard,  Westminster,  on 
the  eighth  of  September,  1818,  was  again 
adopted,  and  numerous  speeches  followed ; 
in  the  course  of  which  Hunt  stated  that  the 
penny  subscriptions  to  promote  the  cause 
of  reform,  which  had  been  calculated  to 
create^  in  a  year,  a  fund  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty-six  thousand  pounds,  amounted,  at 
the  expiration  of  ten  months,  to  only  four 
pounds  fourteen  shillings  and  sixpence. 
This  enormous  assemblage  finally  separated 
without  tumult. 

On  the  third  night  following,  an  atrocioua 
attempt  was  made  at  Stockport  to  assassi- 
nate Birch,  the  deputy  constable  for  that 
township,  by  whose  exertions  both  Sir 
Charles  Wolseley  and  Harrison  had  been 
apprehended.  Vigorous  measures  were  im- 
mediately adopted  by  government  for  the 
discovery  of  the  offenders;  and,  on  the 
thirtieth  of  July,  a  proclamation  against  se- 
ditious meetings  was  issued. 
DISPERSION  OF  MANCHESTER  MEETING. 

The  Manchester  reformers,  who  had 
posted  up  notices  of  a  meetmg  to  be  holden 
on  the  ninth  of  August,  for  the  purpose  of 
proceeding  to  the  election  of  a  representa- 
tive, as  at  Birmingham,  were  informed  by 
the  magistrates  that,  as  the  object  of  the 
proposed  assemblage  was  unquestionably  il- 
legal, it  would  not  be  suflfered  to  take  place. 
In  consequence  of  this  determination,  they 
relinquished  the  design,  and  issued  notices 
of  a  meeting,  for  the  avowedly  legal  object 
of  petitioning  for  a  reform  in  parliament, 
on  the  sixteenth  of  August.  An  open  space 
in  the  town,  called  St  Peter's  Field,  was 
selected  as  the  place  of  assembly;  and 
never,  upon  any  former  occasion  of  a  simi- 
lar nature,  was  so  great  a  number  of  per- 
sons known  to  be  present.  Some  hours  be- 
fore the  proceedings  were  to  commence, 
large  bodies  began  to  march  in  from  the 
neighboring  towns  and  villages,  formed  five 


626 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


deep,  many  of  them  armed  with  stout  staves, 
and  preserving  a  military  regularity  of  step. 
Each  body  had  its  own  banner,  bearing  a 
motto;  and,  under  a  white  silk  flag,  two 
clubs  of  female  reformers  appeared.  The 
numbers  collected  were  estimated  at  sixty 
thousand.  A  band  of  special  constables, 
stationed  on  the  ground,  disposed  them- 
selves so  as  to  form  a  line  of  communica- 
tion from  a  house  where  the  magistrates 
were  sitting  to  the  stage  or  wagon  fixed  for 
the  orators.  Soon  after  the  business  of  the 
meeting  had  been  opened,  a  body  of  yeo- 
manry cavalry  entered  the  ground,  and  ad- 
vanced with  drawn  swords  to  the  stage: 
their  commanding  officer  called  to  Hunt, 
who  was  speaking,  and  told  him  that  he 
was  his  prisoner.  Hunt,  after  enjoining  the 
people  to  be  tranquil,  and  offering  to  sur- 
render to  any  civil  officer  who  should  ex- 
hibit his  warrant,  was  taken  into  custody 
by  a  constable,  and  several  other  persons 
were  also  apprehended.  Some  of  the  yeo- 
manry now  cried  out,  "Have  at  their  flags !" 
and  they  began  to  strike  down  the  banners 
which  were  raised  in  various  parts  of  the 
field — when  a  scene  of  dreadful  confusion 
arose;  numbers  were  trampled  under  the 
feet  of  men  and  horses ;  many  persons,  even 
females,  were  cut  down  by  sabres;  some 
were  killed,  and  the  maimed  and  wounded 
amounted  to  between  three  and  four  hun- 
dred. In  a  very  short  time  the  ground  was 
cleared  of  its  former  occupants,  and  mili- 
tary patrols  were  stationed  in  the  princi- 
pal streets ,  of  the  town  to  preserve  tran- 
quillity. 

Much  difference  of  opinion  has  ever  since 
prevailed  on  this  subject;  and,  perhaps,  the 
Manchester  meeting  is  one  of  those  events, 
upon  which,  in  all  its  variety  of  details, 
historians  will  never  be  found  to  agree. 
Whether  the  riot  act  were  actually  read  is 
still  a  moot  point :  the  reformers  and  their 
friends  insist  that  it  was  not ;  the  magis- 
trates and  their  adherents  contend  that  it 
was.  And  certainly  if  it  was  read  the  af- 
firmative of  the  proposition  would  have 
been  more  easily  established  than  its  nega- 
tive. The  whole  appears  to  have  taken 
place  within  ten  minutes,  by  which  time 
the  field  was  entirely  cleared  of  its  recent 
occupiers,  and  filled  with  different  corps  of 
infantry  and  cavalry.  Hunt  and  his  col- 
leagues were,  after  a  short  examination 
conducted  to  solitary  cells,  on  a  charge  of 
high  treason.  On  the  following  day  notices 
were  issued  by  the  magistrates,  by  which 
the  practice  of  military  training,  alleged  to 
have  been  carried  on  in  secret,  by  large 
bodies  of  men,  for  treasonable  purposes, 
was  declared  to  be  illegal.  Public  thanks 
were,  by  the  same  auUioxity,  returned  to 


the  officers  and  men  of  the  respective  corps 
engaged  in  the  attack ;  and,  on  the  arrival 
in  London  of  a  dispatch  from  the  local  au- 
thorities, a  cabinet  council  was  held,  the 
result  of  which  was  the  return  of  official 
letters  of  thanks  to  the  magistrates,  for  their 
prompt,  decisive,  and  efficient  measures  for 
the  preservation  of  the  public  tranquillity, 
and  to  all  the  military  engaged,  for  the  sup- 
port and  assistance  afforded  by  them  to  the 
civil  power. 

For  some  days  the  town  of  Manchester 
and  its  neighborhood  were  in  a  state  of  con- 
strained quietness,  although  some  further 
disturbances,  in  which  one  or  two  lives  were 
lost,  had  taken  place.  At  a  meeting  held 
at  the  crown  and  anchor,  in  London,  a  string 
of  resolutions,  strongly  censuring  the  con- 
duct of  the  magistrates  and  military,  and 
returning  thanks  to  Hunt  and  his  colleagues, 
were  unanimously  adopted ;  as  was  also  a 
resolution  to  raise  a  subscription  for  defray- 
hig  the  expenses  of  counsel,  &.c.  in  defence 
of  the  prisoners.  In  the  same  spirit  a  meet- 
ing was  likewise  holden  in  Smithfield ;  and 
a  violent  letter  was  also  addressed  to  the 
electors  of  Westminster  by  Sir  Francis  Bur- 
dett,  for  the  writing  of  which,  as  a  libel,  he 
was  afterwards  tried  and  convicted. 

In  pursuance  of  this  letter,  an  immense 
multitude  assembled  in  Palace-yard,  West- 
minster, on  the  second  of  September,  for  the 
purpose  of  declaring  an  opinion  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  magistrates  and  yeomanry  of 
Manchester.  After  speeches  which  occu- 
pied three  hours  in  their  delivery,  by  Sir 
Francis  Burdett,  and  Hobhouse,  his  col- 
league in  the  representation  of  Westmin- 
ster, several  violent  resolutions  were  adopt- 
ed, declaring  the  assemblage  at  Manchester 
a  lawful  meeting ;  that  the  outrage  on  that 
occasion  was  an  attempt  to  destroy  by  the 
sword  the  few  remaining  liberties  of  Eng- 
lishmen, and  that  it  was  another  lament- 
able consequence  of  the  want  of  a  real  re- 
presentation ;  and  an  address  to  the  prince- 
regent,  founded  thereon,  was  unanimously 
agreed  to. 

The  circumstances  of  the  Manchester 
case  turned  out  to  be  such,  that  government 
found  it  expedient  to  abandon  the  threat- 
ened prosecution  of  Hunt  and  his  colleagues 
for  high  treason,  and  those  persons  were  ac- 
cordingly informed  that  they  would  be  pro- 
ceeded against  for  a  conspiracy  only,  which 
might  be  bailed ;  but  Hunt  refused  to  give 
bail,  even,  as  he  said,  to  the  amount  of  a  sin- 
gle farthing :  some  of  his  friends,  however, 
liberated  him.  His  return  from  Lancaster 
to  Manchester  was  one  long  triumphal  pro- 
cession, waited  upon  by  thousands,  on  horse, 
on  foot,  and  in  carriages,  who  hailed  him 
with  continued  shouts  of  applause. 


GEORGE  III.    1760—1820. 


627 


HUNT  FOUND  GUILTY.— EARL  FITZWII, 
LIAM. 

The  grand  jury  of  Lancaster  found  true 
bills  against  Hunt,  Johnson,  and  Moorhouse, 
and  the  others  who  were  committed  with 
them  on  the  charge  of  conspiracy.  The 
prisoners  availed  themselves  of  the  privi- 
lege of  traversing  till  the  spring  assizes  of 
1820;  and,  instead  of  Lancaster,  the  trial 
took  place  at  York.  After  ten  days'  dura- 
tion it  closed  on  the  tenth  of  April,  when 
the  jury  declared  Hunt,  Johnson,  Knight, 
Healy,  and  Bamford,  guilty  of  assembling, 
with  unlawful  banners,  an  assembly,  for  the 
purpose  of  moving  and  inciting  the  liege 
subjects  of  our  sovereign  lord  the  king  into 
contempt  and  hatred  of  the  government  and 
constitution  of  the  realm,  as  by  law  estab- 
lished, and  attending  at  the  same.  In  the 
ensuing  term,  Hunt  and  his  associates  re- 
ceived sentence ;  Hunt  to  be  imprisoned  in 
the  jail  of  Ilchester  two  years  and  six 
months,  and  then  to  find  securities  for  his 
good  behavior  for  five  years ;  and  Johnson, 
Bamford,  and  Healy,  to  be  imprisoned  each 
one  year  in  Lincoln  castle,  and  also  to  find 
sureties. 

The  reformers,  notwithstanding  the  tra- 
gical results  of  the  Manchester  meeting, 
still  ventured  to  assemble,  as  before,  at 
Leeds,  Glasgow,  and  other  towns.  The 
conduct  of  the  Manchester  magistrates  and 
yeomanry  was  there  the  prominent  theme ; 
ensigns  of  mourning  were  exhibited  ;  hor- 
rible details  were  given  of  the  barbarous 
acts  alleged  to  have  been  committed  ;  and 
the  sufferers  of  the  sixteenth  of  August 
were  eulogized  as  martyrs,  and  their  mem- 
ory classed  with  that  of  Russell,  Hampden, 
Sidney,  and  other  illustrious  names  of  an- 
cient times.  Rarely,  however,  where  the 
local  authorities  refrained  from  interposing, 
did  any  breach  of  the  peace  ensue ;  but  at 
Paisley,  where  the  flags  of  the  radicals  were 
seized  by  the  magistrates,  on  their  return 
from  the  meeting,  some  riots  occurred, 
which,  fortunately,  were  quelled  without 
bloodshed. 

The  regular  opposition,  or  whig  party, 
throughout  the  kingdom,  seized  with  avidity 
wpon  the  solemn  approval  which  had  been 
given  by  government,  so  hastily,  as  they 
said,  to  an  illegal  act  of  power ;  and  the  va- 
rious meetings  which  were  held  on  this  oc- 
casion were  numerously,  and  some  very 
respectably  attended.  A  large  assemblage 
of  the  county  of  York  was  sanctioned  by  the 
presence  of  earl  Fitzwilliam,  lord-lieutenant 
of  the  west  riding,  and  many  other  noble- 
men and  gentlemen  of  high  consideration, 
who  delivered  their  sentiments  in  very 
strong  language ;  and  a  petition  to  the 
prince-regent  was  adopted,  calling  loudly 


for  inquiry.  In  consequence  of  this  pro- 
ceeding, earl  Fitzwilliam  was  dismissed  from 
his  lord-lieutenancy ;  an  incident  which  ex- 
cited much  surprise,  and  was  strongly  ani- 
madverted upon.  An  address  of  the  corpo- 
ration of  London,  also  calling  for  inquiry, 
received  from  the  prince-regent  an  objurga- 
tory reply.  "  With  the  circumstances  which 
preceded  the  late  meeting  at  Manchester," 
said  his  royal  highness,  "  you  must  be  unac- 
quainted ;  and  with  those  which  attended  it 
you  appear  to  have  been  incorrectly  inform- 
ed. If,  however,  the  laws  were  really 
violated  on  that  occasion,  by  those  to  whom 
it  immediately  belonged  to  assist  in  the  ex- 
ecution of  them,  the  tribunals  of  this  coun- 
try are  open  to  aflford  redress ;  but  to  insti- 
tute an  extrajudicial  inquiry,  under  such 
circumstances  as  the  present,  would  be 
manifestly  inconsistent  with  the  clearest 
principles  of  justice." 

To  counteract  these  meetings,  loyal  ad- 
dresses, and  offers  for  the  raising  of  yeo- 
manry corps,  were  zealously  promoted  by 
the  friends  of  government.  A  veteran  bat- 
talion of  between  ten  and  eleven  thousand 
men  was  also  formed  from  the  Chelsea 
pensioners. 

At  Lancaster  the  grand  jury  threw  out 
all  the  bills  which  had  been  preferred  against 
individuals  by  the  sufferers  of  the  sixteenth 
of  August.  At  Oldham,  eight  miles  from 
Manchester,  the  coroner's  inquest  sat  for 
many  days  on  the  body  of  John  Lees,  one 
of  the  unfortunate  men  alleged  to  have  lost 
his  life  in  consequence  of  injuries  received 
on  that  memorably  fatal  day.  Great  tumult 
was  excited  on  this  occasion :  the  inquest 
was,  in  consequence,  adjourned  to  Manches- 
ter, where  it  occupied  some  weeks ;  but  the 
whole  proceedings  were  set  aside,  on  the 
ground  of  informality,  by  the  court  of  king's 
bench. 

MEETING  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT.— DOC- 
UMENTS ON  STATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 
Amidst  the  general  ferment  which  had 
been  produced  by  these  circumstances,  the 
meeting  of  parliament  was  impatiently  wait- 
ed for  by  all  parties,  and  it  assembled  on  the 
twenty-third  of  November.  "  I  regret  to 
have  been  under  the  necessity,"  observed 
the  prince-regent,  in  the  opening  speech, 
"  of  calling  you  together  at  this  period  of 
the  year ;  but  the  seditious  practices  so  long 
prevalent  in  some  of  the  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts of  the  country  have  been  continued, 
with  increased  activity,  since  you  were  last 
assembled  in  parliament.  They  have  led 
to  proceedings  incompatible  with  the  public 
tranquillity,  and  with  the  peaceful  habits  of 
the  industrious  classes  of  the  community ; 
and  a  spirit  is  now  fully  manifested,  utterly 
hostile  to  the  constitution  of  this  kingdom, 


628 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


and  aiming  not  only  at  the  change  of  those 
political  institutions  which  have  hitherto 
constituted  the  pride  and  security  of  this 
country,  but  at  the  subversion  of  the  rights 
of  property  and  of  all  order  in  society.  I 
have  given  directions  that  the  necessary  in- 
formation on  this  subject  shall  be  laid  before 
you ;  and  I  feel  it  to  be  my  indispensable 
duty  to  press  on  your  immediate  attention 
the  consideration  of  such  measures  as  may 
be  requisite  for  the  counteraction  and  sup- 
pression of  a  system,  which,  if  not  effect- 
ually checked,  must  bring  confusion  and 
ruin  on  the  nation." 

On  the  succeeding  day  the  promised 
documents  respecting  the  state  of  popular 
feeling  were  produced :  they  consisted,  in 
part,  of  the  correspondence  of  official  per- 
sons with  the  home-secretary ;  and,  in  part, 
of  communications  to  such  persons,  made 
by  individuals  whose  names  were  withheld. 
Such  of  the  letters  of  the  Manchester  ma- 
gistrates as  had  been  written  previously  to 
the  sixteenth  of  August,  expressed  appre- 
hensions that  a  formidable  insurrection  was 
in  contemplation:  at  the  same  time  they 
bore  testimony  to  the  deep  distresses  of  the 
manufacturing  classes,  and  assigned  hun- 
ger as  the  natural  cause  of  the  willingness 
of  the  poor  to  listen  to  any  project  for  the 
melioration  of  their  suiferings.  It  was 
stated,  in  numerous  depositions,  that  the 
practice  of  secret  military  training  prevail- 
ed to  a  very  great  extent  among  the  re 
formers;  but  only  with  the  view  of  en 
abling  themselves  to  march  in  the  sem- 
blance of  military  array  to  their  meetings, 
sticks  being  the  only  weapons  whicii  had 
been  employed.  A  communication  from 
lord  Fitzwilliam,  on  the  state  of  the  west 
riding  of  the  county  of  York,  represented 
that  the  last  reform  meeting  on  Hunslet 
Moor  had  been  less  numerously  attended 
than  the  former  ones,  and  intimated  that 
the  rage  for  holding  such  meetings  might 
safely  be  left  to  die  away  of  itself  Sir 
John  Byng,  the  military  commander  of  the 
district,  stated  that  simultaneous  meetings 
were  to  have  been  held  at  many  neighbor- 
ing towns,  but  that  the  plan  had  been  frus- 
trated by  disunion  amongst  the  leaders. 
The  distress  and  discontent  in  this  part, 
where  pistols,  pikes,  and  other  weapons, 
were  reported  to  be  manufacturing  in  con- 
siderable quantities,  formed  the  subject  of 
some  of  these  communications ;  and  simi- 
lar representations  from  the  south-west  of 
Scotland,  where  employment  and  wages 
had  fallen  off  in  a  still  more  deplorable  de- 
gree, were  afforded  by  others.  The  grand 
jury  of  Cheshire  also  expressed  the  alarm 
which  was  felt  for  their  lives  and  proper- 
ties by  the  loyal  part  of  the  king's  subjects. 


BILL  TO  PREVEJST  TRAVERSING  OF  IN- 
DICTMENTS.  OTHER    RESTRAINING 

BILLS. 

The  lord  chancellor  introduced  a  bill,  on 
the  twenty-ninth,  which  he  said  he  had 
long  contemplated.  It  had  been  the  prac- 
tice of  the  courts  to  allow  defendants,  in 
cases  of  information  or  indictments,  to  im- 
parle  or  traverse.  As  great  inconvenience 
had  arisen  from  this  practice,  as  trials  were 
sometimes  delayed  till  a  very  remote  pe- 
riod, and  as  the  ends  of  justice  might  thus 
be  defeated,  the  bill  would  take  away  from 
a  defendant  the  right  of  traversing ;  allow- 
ing the  court,  however,  to  postpone  his  trial 
upon  his  showing  ground  for  the  delay. — 
Earl  Grey  at  once  entered  his  protest 
against  the  whole  of  the  measures,  which, 
as  it  appeared,  were  in  preparation,  as  cal- 
culated to  bring  the  greatest  misery,  if  not 
ruin,  upon  the  country.  On  the  second 
reading  earl  Grosvenor  contended  that, 
whilst  the  attorney-general  was  allowed  to 
hold  informations  over  the  heads  of  defend- 
ants for  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  to 
abolish  the  right  of  traverse  was  greatly 
enhancing  the  grievance.  Lord  Erskinc 
also  objected  to  the  measure,  as  depriving 
the  people  of  an  ancient  and  important 
privilege.  On  the  other  hand,  the  earl  of 
Liverpool  contended  that,  if  their  lordships 
did  not  pass  this  bill,  they  had  better  at 
once  declare  that  every  description  of  sedi- 
tion and  blasphemy  should  be  invested  witii 
full  toleration.  Lord  Holland  urged  that, 
in  fairness,  tho  nieasure  ought  to  be  so  or- 
dered as  to  le.'isliile  on  both  sides,  by  pre- 
venting the  delays  which  occurred  by  pro- 
secutions on  ex-qfficio  informations,  as  well 
as  by  those  of  indictment ;  and,  agreeably 
to  this  suggestion,  the  lord  chancellor,  on 
the  third  reading,  proposed  an  additional 
clause,  compelling  the  attorney-general  to 
bring  a  defendant  to  trial  within  a  year,  or 
to  enter  a  noli  prosequi.  The  bill,  thus 
amended,  was  agreed  to  without  opposition. 

The  other  bills  rendered  necessary  by 
the  state  of  the  country  were  to  the  follow- 
ing effect : — An  act  to  render  the  publica- 
tion of  a  blasphemous  or  seditious  libel  pun- 
ishable, on  a  second  conviction,  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  court,  by  fine,  imprisonment, 
banishment,  or  transportation  ;  and  to  give 
power,  in  cases  of  a  second  conviction,  to 
seize  the  copies  of  the  libel  in  possession 
of  the  publisher ;  a  stamp-duty  equal  to  that 
paid  by  newspapers,  on  all  publications  of 
less  than  a  given  number  of  sheets,  with 
an  obligation  on  all  publishers  of  such  pieces 
to  enter  into  recognizances  for  the  pay- 
ment of  such  penalties  as  might  in  future 
be  inflicted  on  them.  The  press  being  thus 
restrained,  seditious  meetings  were  to  be 


GEORGE  III.   1760—1820. 


629 


controlled  by  the  following  provisions : — 
That  a  requisition  for  the  holding  of  any 
meeting,  other  than  those  regularly  called 
by  a  sherift^  boroughreeve,  or  other  magis- 
trate, should  be  signed  by  seven  household- 
ers; and  that  it  should  be  illegal  for  any 
persons,  not  inhabitants  of  the  place  in 
which  such  meeting  was  held,  to  attend  it : 
also,  that  magistrates  should  be  empower- 
ed, within  certain  limitations,  to  appoint 
the  time  and  place  of  meeting.  To  repel 
danger  from  the  mustering  of  an  illegal 
force,  it  was  proposed  to  prohibit  military 
training,  except  under  the  authority  of  a 
magistrate  or  lieutenant  of  a  county ;  and, 
in  the  disturbed  districts,  to  give  to  magis- 
trates the  power  of  seizing  arms  believed 
to  be  collected  for  unlawful  purposes,  and 
also  to  apprehend  and  detain  persons  so  car- 
rying arms.  The  only  one  of  these  bills 
which  passed  without  opposition  was  that 
for  the  prevention  of  secret  military  train- 
ing. The  bill  for  the  seizure  of  arms, 
which,  under  certain  circumstances,  and  in 
particular  districts,  authorized  search  to  be 
made  in  private  houses,  by  day  or  night, 
was  strenuously  resisted  in  both  houses; 
and,  upon  an  amendment  for  omitting  the 
words  "  or  night,"  the  house  of  commons 
divided — Ayes  forty-six.  Noes  one  hundred 
and  fifty-eight.  A  clause  of  the  blasphemous 
and  seditious  libel  bill,  by  which  offenders 
were,  upon  a  second  conviction,  subjected 
to  the  punishment  of  transportation,  passed 
the  house  of  lords,  but  ministers  found  it 
expedient  to  withdraw  it  in  the  commons. 
The  penalty  of  banishment,  however,  which 
had  been  previously  unknown  to  the  Eng- 
lish law,  was  allowed  to  be  enacted.  In  its 
progress  the  seditious  meeting  bill  was  sub- 
jected to  a  modification,  by  which  all  meet- 
ings held  in  any  room  or  building  were  ex- 
empted from  its  operation.  Several  limita- 
tions of  the  bill  for  subjecting  small  publi- 
cations to  the  newspaper  stamp-duty  were 
also  introduced. 

On  the  following  evening  the  marquis 
of  Lansdown  moved  for  a  select  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  nation,  and 
more  especially  of  those  which  were  called 
disturbed  districts.  The  principle  called 
radicalism,  his  lordship  said,  existed  in  ex- 
actly the  same  proportion  as  distress,  the 
agricultural  part  of  the  country  being  yet 
untainted,  whilst  in  the  cotton  manufactur- 
ing districts  of  both  England  and  Scotland 
the  spirit  of  radicalism  had  reached  its 
height.  The  distress  arose  from  the  long 
war,  which  gave  us  the  whole  carrying 
trade  of  the  world — which  created  a  fixed 
capital  that  still  existed — and  filled  the 
markets  without  the  possibility  of  finding 
a  vent  for  them.  It  was  also  increased  by 
the  poor  laws,  the  paper  currency,  and  the 
53* 


spirit  of  excessive  speculation.  Adverting 
to  the  expedients  which  liad  been  proposed 
for  the  alleviation  of  distress  by  the  ad- 
vancement of  temjKjrary  loans  to  encourage 
labor,  he  said  there  were  two  other  points 
of  a  more  extended  nature :  one  was  to 
take  off"  duties  on  articles  which  had  con- 
siderably decreased  in  various  districts — 
such  as  tea,  which  had  been  greatly  re- 
duced in  consumption,  and  was  subject  to 
much  smuggling  from  America  and  other 
parts ;  the  other  point  was  the  establishment 
of  favorable  commercial  treaties,  which 
government  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  ac- 
complishing. He  alluded,  in  particular,  to 
the  timber  trade  with  Norway,  which,  he 
said,  had  been  neglected,  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  an  inferior  article  in  Canada, 
which  prevented  Norway  taking  in  return 
many  of  our  articles  of  commerce.  The 
marquis  Wellesley  deprecated  the  seditious 
designs  and  views  of  the  reformers,  and 
thought  the  discussion  of  the  restriction  bills 
ought  to  be  proceeded  with  in  preference  to 
any  inquiry.  Lord  Erskine  contended  that 
the  country  was  by  no  means  in  so  alarming 
a  state  as  at  the  time  of  the  state  trials  in 
1794.  The  existing  laws  were  sufficient  to 
remove  the  evils  complained  of,  and  to  pun- 
ish the  guilty.  He  ridiculed  the  evidence 
which  appeared  in  the  papers  lately  laid  be- 
fore parliament,  with  a  view  to  prove  a 
treasonable  or  seditious  meeting  at  Man- 
chester ;  and  contended  that  there  was  no- 
thing illegal  in  marching  to  a  place  of  public 
meeting.  Lord  Grenville  could  not  consider 
the  designs  as  originating  in  the  distress, 
which  he  hoped  was  only  temporary.  Such 
distress  gave  facilities  to  factious  men,  which 
they  otherwise  would  not  possess ;  but  the 
root  of  the  evil  lay  much  deeper.  The  pro- 
moters of  the  new  system  here,  taking  the 
French  revolution  as  their  model,  had  de- 
luged the  country  with  blasphemous  publi- 
cations. On  the  Manchester  occasion,  he 
considered  the  conduct  of  the  magistrates 
to  have  been  not  only  free  from  blame,  but 
highly  meritorious.  The  motion  was  neg- 
atived. 

Unfavorable  as  the  time  appeared  for  a 
discussion  on  parliamentary  reform,  lord 
John  Russell  was  not  deterred  from  calling 
the  attention  of  the  house  of  commons  to 
the  unrepresented  towns,  many  of  which 
had  risen  into  great  commercial  wealth  and 
importance,  while  certain  boroughs  had 
sunk  into  decay,  and  had  become  unfit  to 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  sending  representa- 
tives. He  adduced  examples,  from  the  his- 
tory of  parliament,  to  show  that  the  principle 
of  change  had  been  often  acknowledged, 
and  the  suffrage  withdrawn  and  conferred 
on  various  occasions.  Afler  explaining  his 
views  he  proposed  several  resolutions,  tend- 


630 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ing  to  establish  the  principle  of  change  which 
he  had  laid  down,  and  some  rules  respecting 
the  voters  of  disfranchised  places,  on  whom 
corruption  should  not  have  been  proved. 
The  last  resolution  was  for  the  disfranchise- 
ment of  the  borough  of  Grampound,  the  cor- 
ruption of  which  had  already  been  proved 
to  the  house.  On  the  suggestion  of  lord 
Castlereagh,  who  manifested  a  willingness 
to  concur  in  the  objects  of  the  motion  to  a 
certain  degree,  lord  John  Russell  withdrew 
it,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  brought  in  a 
bill  for  the  disfranchisement  of  Grampound, 
and  the  transfer  of  its  representation  to 
some  populous  town. 

CESSION  OF  PARGA.— RESTORATION  OF 
JAVA. 

Much  animadversion  was  excited  in  the 
political  circles  by  the  fulfilment  of  a  con- 
vention, concluded  in  1815,  between  Great 
Britain  and  Turkey,  by  which  the  fortress 
and  territory  of  Parga,  on  the  western  coast 
of  Greece,  then  protected  by  the  British  flag, 
were  to  be  ceded  to  the  Porte,  under  a  stip- 
ulation that  those  inhabitants  who  chose  to 
emigrate  should  receive  an  indemnification 
for  the  fixed  property  which  they  would  be 
compelled  to  abandon.  This  spirited  people 
were  the  last  of  the  free  Christian  Greeks 
of  Epirus  who  had  resisted  the  intrigues  and 
aggressions  of  Ali  Pacha :  in  1807,  after  the 
treaty  of  Tilsit  had  given  the  Ionian  Isles 
to  Buonaparte,  they  had  solicited  and  obtain- 
ed a  French  garrison  from  Corfu ;  and  in 
1814  they  had  placed  themselves  under 
British  protection.  Finding  the  fate  of  their 
country  irrevocable,  they  all  chose  to  emi- 
grate, rather  than  expose  themselves  to  the 
vindictive  malignity  of  the  Turk ;  and  an 
estimate  was  made  of  their  buildings,  lands, 
and  plantations,  amounting  to  nearly  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds;  but  the  compen- 
sation ultimately  obtained  for  them  was 
less  than  a  third  of  that  sum. 

In  a  more  distant  quarter  discussions 
arose  which  likewise  exposed  the  foreign 
policy  of  England  to  severe  criticism.  Avail- 
ing themselves  of  certain  defects  in  the 
treaty  for  the  restoration  of  Java,  the  Dutch 
commissioners  committed  various  aggres- 
sions in  the  Malayne  Archipelago,  and  par- 
ticularly against  the  sultan  of  Palambang, 
which  drew  forth  a  strong  protest  from  the 
British  functionary.  Sir  Thomas  Raffles,  di- 
rected against  the  whole  political  system 
acted  upon  by  those  commissioners,  as  being 
exclusively  suited  to  the  views  of  their  own 
government,  and  hostile  to  existing  engage- 
ments with  the  native  princes. 

In  Hanover  various  salutary  reforms  were 
effected ;  in  Wirtemberg  the  plan  of  a  con- 
stitution was  accepted  by  the  representative 
assembly. 


CHANGE  IN  THE  KING'S  HEALTH- 
DEATH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  KENT. 

The  protracted  existence  of  the  venera- 
ble monarch  who  had  so  long  swayed  the 
British  sceptre  was  now  drawing  to  a  close. 
In  the  month  of  November  the  hitherto  firm 
health  of  his  majesty  underwent  a  sudden 
alteration;  and,  although  the  dangerous 
symptoms  were  for  a  time  removed,  a  gen- 
eral feebleness  and  decay  ensued,  which 
portended  no  very  distant  dissolution.  In 
the  midst  of  the  anxiety  caused  by  this 
change,  the  public  regret  was  excited  by 
the  loss  of  the  duke  of  Kent,  who  was  seized 
with  an  inflammation  on  the  lungs,  and  ex- 
pired, after  a  short  illness,  on  the  twenty- 
first  of  January  1820,  in  the  fifty-third  year 
of  his  age.  In  person  his  royal  highness 
was  manly  and  noble,  in  stature  tall,  in  man- 
ners dignified,  yet  affable.  He  was  easy  of 
access,  temperate  in  habits,  and  in  the  army 
acquired  the  reputation  of  personal  courage. 
In  politics  he  took  no  very  active  part,  but 
attached  liimself  to  the  whig  or  popular 
party :  and,  whenever  any  charitable  object 
was  to  be  promoted,  his  name  and  presence 
needed  little  solicitation.  He  left  an  infant 
daughter,  named  Alexandrina  Victoria. 

DEATH  OF  GEORGE  THE  THIRD— CON- 
CLUDING REMARKS. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  January,  eight 
days  after  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Kent,  his 
venerable  father  expired  without  a  struggle, 
in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  reign  and  the 
eighty-second  of  his  age.  Over  the  last 
nine  years  of  his  life  an  awful  veil  had  been 
drawn.  In  the  periods  of  the  deepest  na- 
tional solicitude  his  mind  had  felt  no  inter- 
est ;  in  the  hour  of  the  most  acute  domestic 
feeling  his  eye  had  been  tearless:  almost 
the  last  time  that  this  venerable  sovereign 
appeared  in  public  was  on  the  day  when  his 
people,  with  one  accord,  devoted  themselves 
to  rejoicing  in  honor  of  his  completion  of 
the  fiftieth  year  of  his  reign,  a  period  far 
beyond  the  common  term  of  dominion.  He 
was  blind ;  but,  as  he  rode  through  the  as- 
sembled thousands  of  his  subjects,  he  was 
indeed  the  object  of  veneration  and  love. 
In  a  few  weeks  a  most  afflicting  domestic 
calamity,  the  death  of  the  princess  Amelia, 
bowed  him  to  the  dust.  The  anguish  of  the 
father  was  too  great  for  a  wounded  spirit  to 
bear :  his  reason  forsook  him,  and  it  never 
returned. 

It  is  remarkable  of  the  departed  sover- 
eign, that,  although  he  felt,  and  frequently 
expressed,  an  anxious  desire  to  obtain  and 
preserve  to  his  subjects  the  blessings  of 
peace  with  other  nations,  and  was  untainted 
by  ambition,  yet  that  he  was  involved  for 
nearly  one  half  of  his  long  reign  in  wars 
more  extensive,  sanguinary,  and  costly,  than 


GEORGE  III.  1760—1820. 


631 


any  upon  record.  With  the  exception  of 
the  war  which  commenced  in  1756,  before 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  the  rest  may  be 
traced,  in  a  great  degree,  to  the  disposition 
of  his  majesty  to  assert  and  .maintain  his 
first  positions  upon  political  topics ;  hence 
the  prevailing  sentiments  of  the  general 
mass  of  his  subjects  did  not  always  concur 
with  his,  in  respect  of  the  expediency  of 
his  wars,  and  recourse  was  frequently  had 
by  his  ministers  to  artifices  and  delusions, 
for  the  purpose  of  exciting  popular  inter- 
ests and  feelings  in  support  of  wars,  the 
real  motives  of  which  were  not  always 
avowed. 

In  the  treaties  of  peace  which  were  ne- 
gotiated during  his  reign,  his  ministers 
were  remarkably  injudicious  and  unfortu- 
nate. 

By  the  peace  of  1763,  Great  Britain, 
though  triumphant,  surrendered  the  Ha- 
vannah  and  several  other  important  colo- 
nial acquisitions,  to  obtain  the  status  quo 
ante  bellum  for  German  allies,  whom  she 
had  previously  subsidized,  and  assisted  with 
a  large  army  to  fight  their  own  battles,  but 
who  have  never  since  made  or  manifested 
any  grateful  return  for  her  sacrifices. 

So  unfortunate  and  mismanaged  was  the 
first  war  with  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, that  the  peace  of  1783,  (of  which 
Sheridan  justly  observed,  that  "  every  per- 
son was  glad,  and  no  one  was  proud,")  was 
vindicated  by  one  of  the  then  ministers,  be- 
cause, "  if  peace  had  not  been  concluded, 
the  naval  superiority  of  France,  Spain,  and 
Holland,  would  have  enabled  them  to  take 
Jamaica,  or  to  invade  Great  Britain  within 
a  year, — because  defensive  w^ar  must  ter- 
minate in  certain  ruin, — because  to  hazard 
an  engagement  at  sea,  would  have  been 
equivalent  to  a  surrender  of  the  kingdom, 
— and  because  the  protraction  of  the  war 
would  have  endangered  public  credit,  and 
public  bankruptcy  might  have  dissolved  the 
government." 

The  peace  of  1801,  besides  having  been 
impracticable  in  its  provisions,  eifected 
anything  rather  than  the  ostensible  object 
of  the  war,  "  indemnity  for  the  past  and 
security  for  the  future ;"  and  the  peace  of 
1814,  and  the  subsequent  conventions,  ex- 
hibited to  the  world  the  before  incredible 
example  of  a  nation  at  the  zenith  of  power 
and  glory,  and  the  benefactor  or  conqueror 
of  all  those  with  whom  she  had  to  nego- 
tiate, voluntarily  and  unconditionally  sur- 
rendering the  most  valuable  possessions  in 
both  the  Indies  without  compensation,  or 
even  stipulating  for  any  local  commercial 
advantage,  though  she  well  knew  the  ava- 
ricious jealousy  of  some,  and  the  restless 
intrigues  of  others  of  the  powers  to  whom 
she  made  those  wanton  sacrifices.    Still 


more  unjustifiable  was  the  cession  of  Ge- 
noa and  Its  territory  to  the  house  of  Savoy, 
contrary  to  an  express  stipulation  upon 
which  Genoa  had  received  a  British  gar- 
rison. 

No  sovereign,  however,  enjoyed  the  af- 
fectionate loyalty  of  the  English  nation 
more  entirely ;  and  hence  the  influence  of 
his  personal  character  had  a  considerable 
and  evident  effect  in  countervailing  jacobin 
principles.  The  personal  character  of  a 
king  can  never  be  a  matter  of  indifference: 
in  private  life  the  example  of  George  the 
third  and  his  illustrious  consort  contributed 
much  to  the  improvement  of  public  morals. 
In  too  many  instances  the  rascination  of  the 
throne  has  been  sufficient  to  throw  a  veil 
of  factitious  splendor  over  the  vices  of  those 
who  occupied  it :  princes,  indeed,  appeared 
formerly  to  be  in  some  degree  exempted 
from  the  obligation  of  those  duties  of  de- 
cency and  morality  by  which  the  million 
were  bound ;  but,  during  the  reign  we 
have  been  recording,  station  and  rank  were 
viewed  with  jealous  scrutiny,  and  afforded 
little  protection  to  the  frailties  of  their  pos- 
sessors. If  the  example  of  George  the  third 
could  not  make  all  men  uniformly  moral, 
it  did  all  that  could  be  done  by  the  practice 
of  the  humblest  domestic  virtues,  the  most 
unaffected  piety,  and  the  most  exemplary 
regularity.  His  conduct  as  a  husband,  a 
father,  and  a  master,  secured  the  respect 
of  all  who  beheld  him  nearly,  and  was  ap- 
proved by  the  moral  feelings  of  the  whole 
nation. 

His  intellectual  faculties,  not  originally 
of  the  very  highest  order,  were  clouded  by 
the  constitutional  malady,  which  exhibited 
itself  at  rather  an  early  period  of  his  life; 
but,  though  the  powers  of  his  mind  were 
by  no  means  brilliant,  he  possessed  a  prac- 
tical understanding,  which,  as  far  as  ordi- 
nary affairs  were  concerned,  commonly  led 
him  to  a  right  judgment  of  men  and  things ; 
and  he  showed  remarkable  address  in  find- 
ing occasions  for  displacing  obnoxious  min- 
isters, and  in  ruling  through  the  medium 
of  subservient  parliaments.  In  his  applica- 
tion to  business  he  was  regular  and  steady, 
and  always  appeared  perfectly  competent 
to  the  subjects  submitted  to  his  considera- 
tion. His  education  had  been  rather  neg- 
lected ;  but  he  had  cultivated  a  habit  of 
continual  inquiry  in  his  intercourse  with 
others — an  intercourse  which,  from  the 
frankness  of  his  disposition,  was  less  lim- 
ited than  might  be  supposed ;  and,  aided 
by  a  retentive  memory,  he  had  thus  ac- 
quired a  variety  of  useful  knowledge,  of  a 
description  the  most  likely  to  turn  to  good 
account  in  the  exercise  of  the  duties  of  his 
station ;  for  he  was  systematic  in  all  his 
habits  of  life,  though  his  civil-list  was  so 


632 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


often  in  arrear  of  debt  from  some  unex- 
plained cause. 

On  coming  to  the  crown,  he  laid  his  com- 
mands upon  the  duke  of  York  to  discontinue 
card-playing  on  a  Sunday,  and  openly  to 
acknowledge  his  obedience  to  the  royal  will 
in  this  respect.  The  injunction  was  under- 
stood and  obeyed  in  the  politest  circles.  He 
also  did  his  utmost  to  suppress  those  perni- 
cious assemblies,  masquerades — a  species 
of  amusement  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will 
never  be  nationalized  in  England.  The 
king,  however,  was  neither  an  anchorite 
nor  a  recluse.  He  was  fond  of  the  theatre ; 
and  to  his  taste  and  judgment  the  amateurs 
of  the  histrionic  art  are  indebted  for  most 
of  those  improvements  which  constitute  the 
boast  of  modern  days.  The  costume  of 
the  stage  underwent  a  thorough  reform — 
the  licentiousness  of  dramatic  writers  was 
effectually  curbed — and  many  of  the  scenes 
which  Dryden  and  Congreve  did  not  blush 
to  avow,  would  not  for  a  moment  be  tole- 
rated by  an  audience  of  the  present  time. 
In  literary  taste  George  the  third  was  sup- 
posed to  be  somewhat  deficient ;  but  he  col- 
lected a  noble  library,  and,  during  his  reign, 
literature  certainly  was  not  neglected.  In 
addition  to  the  great  names  of  Johnson  and 
Goldsmith,  those  of  Cowper  and  Burns,  Pa- 
ley  and  Blair,  Robertson  and  Gibbon,  with 
innumerable  others,  will  testify  to  future 
ages  that  intellectual  pursuits  were  duly 
appreciated. 

The  graphic  arts  may  be  said  to  have  re- 
ceived a  character  and  establishment  in  this 
reign.  In  January,  1765,  a  charter  of  in- 
corporation was  given  to  a  society  of  art- 
ists, whose  exhibitions  had  been  commenced 
five  years  before ;  and  the  royal  bounty  pre- 
sented them  with  an  annual  donation  of  a 
hundred  pounds.  The  Royal  Academy  was 
instituted  some  years  afterwards.  Previ- 
ously to  that  period  there  was  no  such  thing 
as  an  English  school  of  art :  now  the  con- 
noisseur may  distinguish,  in  our  public  ex- 
hibitions, portraits  which  compete  with  the 
best  works  of  Vandyke,  and  historical  pieces 
that  are  not  unworthy  of  the  noblest  times 
of  Italy. 

Every  branch  of  domestic  and  commer- 
cial arts  rapidly  attained  to  excellence  du- 
ring his  reign.  The  furniture  and  fitting 
up  of  our  houses  partake  of  the  same  re- 
finement. ■  Formerly  the  originals  of  our 
cabinet  works,  even  to  the  tables  and  chairs, 
were  French ;  our  mantel-pieces,  our  mir- 
rors, and  our  pictures,  were  Italian.  The 
tide  has  turned :  our  manufactures  of  all 
sorts,  no  less  for  their  taste  in  imagination 
than  for  their  skill  in  execution,  are  now 
.admired  all  over  the  continent. 

Maritime  discovery  made  astonishing 
progress  in  the  reign  of  George  the  third. 


When  Jefferies  was  geographer  to  the  king, 
that  artist,  however  high  in  reputation  for 
talent  and  knowledge,  was  obliged,  by  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  to  inscribe  ^'^ parts 
unknown'^  over  a  great  portion  of  the  earth's 
superficies :  the  discoveries  of  the  immor- 
tal Cook,  Carteret,  King,  Vancouver,  and 
others,  have  reduced  the  terra  incognitcb 
within  narrow  limits,  which  become  every 
day  more  and  more  contracted.  By  those 
geographical  discoveries  our  knowledge  of 
natural  history,  of  the  vegetable  as  well  as 
of  the  animal  world,  has  been  greatly  aug- 
mented. Nor  was  the  royal  bounty  con- 
fined to  discoveries  on  the  face  of  the 
globe:  the  penetrating  telescope  of  Dr. 
Herschell  owes  its  powers  and  its  comple- 
tion to  the  munificence  of  the  king ;  and 
whatever  we  know  of  the  Georgium  Sidus 
and  other  newly-discovered  planets,  of  the 
lesser  satellites  of  Saturn,  of  the  celestial 
nebulffi,  and  of  other  astronomical  phe- 
nomena, must  be  attributed  to  the  zeal  for 
the  advancement  of  science  that  honored 
while  it  gratified  the  monarch  by  whom  it 
was  encouraged. 

In  every  branch  of  science  and  the  me- 
chanical artsj  this  reign  is  distinguished  by 
the  most  important  discoveries.  The  appli- 
cation of  the  steam-engine  to  every  branch 
of  manufactures,  and  even  to  propelling 
vessels  at  sea  ;  the  improvements  in  cotton 
and  other  machinery;  the  application  of 
gas  to  the  purposes  of  light ;  the  safety- 
lamp,  and  other  chemical  discoveries  of  Sir 
Humphry  Davy  and  others :  all  these,  and 
far  more  than  these,  had  their  origin  in  this 
reign. 

Agriculture,  the  basis  of  national  pros- 
perity, experienced  much  royal  attention, 
and  many  consequent  benefits.  Numerous 
statutes  were  passed  for  converting  barren 
wastes  into  arable  land,  for  draining  marshes, 
for  forming  roads,  constructing  bridges,  ca- 
nals, ports,  with  other  improvements,  all 
contributing  to  facilitate  the  intercourse  of 
the  kingdom,  and  consequently  favoring  the 
transit  of  agricultural  productions.  The 
king  made  a  point  of  obtaining  more  than 
a  theoretical  acquaintance  with  a  subject 
of  such  vital  importance.  He  established 
an  experimental  farm ;  he  procured  from 
Spain  the  most  valuable  specimens  of  the 
superior  races  of  Merino  sheep ;  and  he  al- 
lowed the  breed  to  be  disposed  of  to  noble- 
men and  gentlemen  who  were  inclined  to 
engage  in  the  speculation.  Several  letters 
in  Young's  "  Annals  of  Agriculture,"  un- 
der the  signature  of  John  Robinson,  are 
understood  to  have  been  furnished  by  George 
the  third. 

The  progress  of  great  public  works  in 
the  midst  of  apparently  interminable  wars 
was  truly  surprising.     In  London  a  new 


GEORGE  m.  1760—1820. 


633 


mint,  a  new  custom-house,  and  many  other 
splendid  structures,  were  erected  at  the  na- 
tional cost ;  whilst  three  bridges  over  the 
river  Thames,  docks  and  canals  in  every 
part  of  the  kingdom,  and  a  numberless  va- 
riety of  stupendous  undertakings,  were  car- 
ried into  effect  by  individual  subscription. 

The  system  of  education  invented  by  Jo- 
seph Lancaster,  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  was  first  introduced  under  the 
immediate  patronage  of  the  king,  who  on 
this  occasion  benevolently  expressed  his 
wish  "that  every  poor  child  in  his  domin- 
ions might  be  able  to  read  his  bible,  and 
have  a  bible  to  read."  The  merit  of  the 
system,  however,  though  first  introduced 
into  England  by  Lancaster,  was  said  to  be 
due  to  Dr.  Bell,  who  had  previously  prac- 
tised it,  or  a  somewhat  similar  method,  at 
Madras ;  and  a  national  society,  on  his  plan, 
was  formed  by  the  bishops  and  other  digni- 
taries and  members  of  the  church,  with 
the  duke  of  York  at  their  head,  the  chil- 
dren of  which  were  bound  to  conform  to 
the  ceremonies  of  the  established  religion  ; 
and  thus  was  a  laudable  and  zealous  rivalry 
excited  in  the  work  of  well-doing. 

In  an  age  vi'hen  education  was  thus 
eagerly  promoted,  the  growth  of  knowledge 
could  not  be  slow;  and  indeed  in  every 
branch,  political,  commercial,  and  literary, 
the  progress  of  improvement  was  unparal- 
leled. In  political  knowledge,  the  publica- 
tion of  the  debates  in  both  houses  of  par- 
liament, which  was  first  permitted  in  this 
reign,  but  which,  though  only  tacitly  per- 
mitted, can  never  now  be  withheld,  achiev- 
ed more  than  any  single  event  that  we  cp,n 
anticipate.  The  universal  diffusion  of  pub- 
lic papers,  and  the  spirit  of  political  inquiry, 
of  which  they  may  be  said  to  be  both  cause 
and  effect,  have  also  gone  far  to  remove  the 
mystery  in  which  politics  were  wont  to  be 
involved.  That  influence  behind  the  throne, 
which,  early  in  the  reign,  was  eloquently, 
but  with  some  exaggeration,  stated  to  be 
greater  than  the  throne  itself,  had  so  dimin- 
ished before  its  close,  that  the  secret  his- 
tory of  the  court  has  now  little  effect  on  the 
politics  of  the  day ;  and  whilst  the  admin- 
istration is  controlled  by  a  popular  assem- 
bly, the  proceedings  of  which  are  diurnally 
laid  before  the  public,  that  public  will  be 
nearly  as  competent  to  judge  of  the  mo- 
tives and  merits  of  the  various  measures 
pursued  as  those  with  whom  they  originate. 

It  has  been  popularly  objected  against 
the  late  king,  that  he  governed  too  much 
upon  tory  maxims,  and  was  too  little  mind- 
ful of  the  principles  which  placed  his  family 
on  the  throne.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the 
whig  party  was  excluded  throughout  nearly 
the  whole  of  his  reign ;  they  came  in  twice 


by  the  mere  force  of  circumstances,  but 
were  each  time  driven  out,  after  a  few 
months'  continuance  in  office,  on  the  first 
pretext  which  enabled  the  court  to  obtain 
the  co-operation  of  tlie  people  for  their  ex- 
clusion. The  first  and  second  Georges  were 
compelled,  by  the  circumstances  of  their 
situation,  and  the  peculiar  tenure  by  which 
they  held  the  crown,  sedulously  to  discoun- 
tenance the  old  tory  doctrines  of  passive 
obedience  and  divine  right;  but  with  the 
terror  of  the  Pretender,  it  might  always 
have  been  foreseen,  would  die  the  whiggism 
of  the  Brunswicks.  Assuming,  indeed,  that 
the  term  implies  the  support  of  the  popular 
rather  than  the  monarchical  part  of  our 
constitution,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  in 
what  sense  a  king  is  expected  to  be  a  whig. 
The  possession  of  power  so  naturally  cre- 
ates a  disposition  to  preserve,  and  even  to 
extend,  that  power,  that,  in  attributing  to 
princes  a  participation  of  this  our  common 
nature,  we  are  certainly  urging  no  objec- 
tion peculiar  to  monarchy.  The  counter- 
acting powers  vested  in  the  other  parts  of 
our  political  machinery  prove  that  the  ope- 
ration of  this  principle  was  fiilly  foreseen, 
and  adequately  provided  for.  It  cannot, 
however,  be  altogether  maintained  that  the 
tory  ministers  of  George  the  third  have 
been,  practically,  less  whigs  than  their  im- 
mediate predecessors ;  government,  on  the 
contrary,  has  considerably  abated  of  that 
high  tone  which  it  habitually  held  in  the 
former  reigns ;  and  this  was,  indeed,  to  be 
expected  when  the  great  aristocratic  fami- 
lies which  formed  the  strength  of  the  whig 
party  ceased  to  be  the  regular  organs  of  the 
will  of  the  crown,  their  opponents  being, 
both  by  connexion  and  property,  of  less  in- 
trinsic weight.  Yet  the  political  influence 
of  a  certain  portion  of  the  aristocracy  has 
been  increased  in  this  reign,  by  the  eleva- 
tion of  several  proprietors  of  borough  towns 
to  the  house  of  peers. 

The  increasing  influence  of  the  crown 
was  also  a  subject  of  popular  outcry  tlirough- 
out  this  reign ;  and  that  its  patronage  enor- 
mously grew  with  the  growth  of  our  estab- 
lishments and  the  augmentation  of  the 
revenue  and  expenditure,  is  certain;  but 
the  consequent  influence  of  government 
must  be  viewed  in  connexion  with  the 
great  increase  of  wealth  among  those  upon 
whom  that  influence  had  to  work ;  for  it  is 
obvious  that  the  same  amount  of  patronage 
that  would  bribe  a  poor  country,  would  be 
inadequate  to  affect  a  rich  one;  and,  al- 
though the  general  state  of  society  yet  pre- 
sents much  for  the  philanthropist  to  de- 
plore, that  Great  Britain  is  a  rich  one  would 
not  be  doubted  if  it  were  possible  to  de- 
scribe her  and  her  inhabitants  as  they  were, 


634 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


in  all  respects,  at  the  commencement  and 
at  the  close  of  the  reign ;  a  period  during 
which  no  country  and  no  people  that  ever 
existed  could,  we  are  convinced,  exhibit 
greater  alterations,  and,  in  general,  greater 
improvements.  The  state  of  the  country, 
as  it  is  displayed  in  its  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, and  commerce — the  state  of  the 
roads  and  the  means  of  internal  communi- 
cation— the  connexion  formed  with  foreign 
countries  for  commercial  purposes,  and  the 
means  by  which  that  was  carried  on,  as 
well  as  the  effects  it  produced  on  domestic 
life,  manners,  and  pursuits — the  great  ad- 
vances in  all  branches  of  science  and  arts ; 
— these,  and  a  thousand  other  points,  would 
form  the  topics  of  comparison  between 
Great  Britain  in  1760  and  Great  Britain  in 
1820. 

The  population  of  the  island,  which,  in 
the  former  reign,  was  little  more  than  eight 
millions,  was,  at  the  latter  period,  little 
less  than  doubled ;  and  if  to  this  we  add 
that  of  Ireland,  the  absentees  in  our  vari- 
ous colonies  and  dependencies,  and  the  na- 
tives of  those  distant  possessions,  upwards 
of  sixty  millions  of  persons  now  hold  alle- 
giance to  the  British  crown. 

During  the  first  and  the  last  wars  of  this 
reign,  Great  Britain  was  able  not  only  to 
make  the  most  unprecedented  military  ex- 
ertions, but  her  navy  proved  itself,  at  the 
same  time,  more  than  a  match  for  the  whole 
maritime  force  of  Europe.  It  destroyed  or 
blockaded  the  fleets  of  France,  Holland, 
Denmark,  and  Spain ;  and  when  Russia  for 
a  while  assumed  the  character  of  an  ene- 
my, it  met  the  fleet  of  Russia  also  with 
alacrity  and  success.  At  one  time  the  ships 
of  war  at  sea  exceeded  six  hundred,  which, 
added  to  those  in  ordinary,  building,  re- 
pairing, &c.  made  a  grand  total  of  more 
than  eleven  hundred.  To  man  this  navy 
required  a  force  of  nearly  one  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  seamen  and  marines ;  where- 
as, in  the  war  which  raged  when  his  ma- 
jesty came  to  the  throne,  seventy  thousand 
or  seventy-five  thousand  were  thought  to 
be  the  utmost  that  the  nation  could  furnish. 
That  the  mercantile  navy  of  Britain  has  in- 
creased in  a  wonderful  ratio  needs  no  other 
proof  than  the  necessity  felt  by  our  mer- 
chants for  enlarging  the  principal  ports  of 
the  kingdom  by  means  of  extensive  docks 
and  other  accommodations — as  at  Hull,  Liv- 
erpool, London,  and  elsewhere.  These 
were  found  to  be  absolutely  indispensable, 
not  only  for  the  accommodation  of  the  East 
and  West  India  trades,  but  for  the  recep- 
tion of  vessels  from  all  parts  of  the  globe. 
In  1760  the  amount  of  British  shipping  was 
stated  at  four  hundred  and  seventy-one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-one  tons ; 


and  in  1812  it  was  stated  by  Mr.  Colquhoun 
at  two  million  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
thousand  ninety-four  tons;  exclusive  of  the 
shipping  of  Ireland. 

In  the  year  1760,  the  net  customs'  duties 
paid  into  the  exchequer  amounted  to  only 
one  million  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-four 
pounds.  In  1815  the  consolidated  customs, 
with  the  annual  duties  and  war  taxes, 
amounted  to  ten  million  four  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  and 
twenty-two  pounds ;  the  consolidated  ex- 
cise, with  the  annual  duties  and  war  taxes, 
amounted  to  twenty-six  million  five  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  thousand  four  hundred 
and  thirty-two  pounds;  and  the  stamps, 
post-office,  assessed  taxes,  property-tax, 
land-tax,  &c.  produced  twenty-nine  million 
three  hundred  and  ninety-three  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-eight  pounds ;  ma- 
king a  total  net  revenue  of  sixty-six  million 
four  hundred  and  forty-three  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  two  pounds!  Pitt  estimated 
the  total  income  of  the  country  at  one  hun- 
dred million  pounds ;  but,  according  to  sub- 
sequent calculations,  more  accurately  made, 
it  is  considered  to  be  almost,  if  not  quite, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  million  pounds. 

That  a  great  debt,  whether  public  or  pri- 
vate, is  a  great  evil,  cannot  be  denied ;  and 
the  national  debt,  which  originated  in  the 
days  of  king  William,  has  certainly  been 
most  enormously  increased  during  this 
reign.  At  the  accession  of  queen  Anne  it 
amounted  to  upwards  of  sixteen  million 
pounds.  During  the  administration  of  Sir 
Robert  Walpole  it  was  thought,  by  well- 
informed  persons,  that  it  might  be  increas- 
ed to  one  hundred  million  pounds;  but  a 
hundred  millions  was  the  ne  plus  ultra; 
there  it  must  stop ;  and  that  was  the  point 
of  national  bankruptcy.  By  the  war  of 
the  American  revolution,  however,  to  the 
great  joy  of  the  foreign  enemies  and  rivals 
of  England — to  the  great  alarm  of  foreign- 
ers who  had  property  and  dealings  with 
her — and  to  the  terror  of  the  whole  king- 
dom— it  was  augmented  to  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  million  pounds ! 
and,  notwithstanding  the  operation  of  the 
sinking  fund,  the  amount  of  nominal  capi- 
tal of  the  public  debt  is  now  about  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  million  pounds,  including 
the  unfunded  debt. 

That  the  consciousness  of  the  nation  be- 
ing in  a  state  of  retrogression  since  the 
peace  of  1815,  should  have  spread  a  gloom 
over  the  concluding  years  of  the  reign, 
cannot  be  matter  of  surprise ;  but,  if  every- 
thing could  recede  in  its  due  proportion, 
relief  would  be  certain,  and  not  very  dis- 
tant :  whilst  the  prices  of  agricultural  pro- 


GEORGE  m.   1760—1820. 


635 


duce  and  of  mannfactures  were  gradually 
receding  towards  the  point  from  which  they 
started  at  the  French  revolution,  the  large 
sum  annually  payable  for  interest  on  the 
national  debt  not  only  afforded  slender 
scope  for  reduction,  but  became  the  more 
difficult  to  be  raised  as  the  value  of  pro- 
duce declined.  From  the  difficulties,  how- 
ever, which  have  been  overcome,  from  the 
triumphs  which  have  been  enjoyed,  the 
genuine  patriot  must  feel  warranted,  amidst 
a  season  of  temporary  ^loom,  in  looking 


forward  to  bright  and  golden  times,  bear- 
ing in  mind  that  the  progress  of  know- 
ledge, which  cannot  now  be  impeded,  must 
favor  the  pursuits  of  peace,  and  infuse  a 
hatred  of  war ;  and  that,  after  the  career 
of  glory  has  been  so  honorably  run  by 
Great  Britain,  her  rulers  are  more  than 
ever  bound,  now  that  her  swords  are  turn- 
ed into  plowshares,  and  her  spears  into 
pruning-hooks,  to  cultivate  peace  on  earth, 
and  go«d-will  towards  men. 


636 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  I, 

GEORGE  IV. 

Accession  of  King  George  IV. — The  King''s  Declaration  to  his  CcuncU — Proclamation 
of  his  Majesty — King^s  Illness  and  Recovery — Detailed  Ceremonial  of  the  late  King's 
lying  in  Slate  and  Royal  Funeral — Parliament  Dissolved  by  Commission — Discov- 
ery of  Cato-Street  Conspiracy — Detection,  Trial,  and  Execution  of  Thistlewood  and 
others — Tumultuous  Proceedings  in  the  North — Attack  on  the  Soldiery  at  Bonny- 
muir — Defeat  of  those  concerned  therein — Trial  of  disaffected  persons — Conduct  of 
Ministry — General  Election — New  Parliament — King''s  First  Speech — Proceedings 
in  Parliament — Lord  John  RussePs  Motion  on  Elective  Franchise — Allusion  to  the 
Queen's  Arrival — Revision  and  Amendment  of  Criminal  Code — Education  of  the 
Poor — State  of  Agriculture — Afflicting  position  of  Public  Affairs — Petition  of  Lon- 
don Merchants — Ways  and  Means  for  1820 — Delicate  situation  oftUeir  Majesties — 
Commission  of  Inquiry — Mr.  Brougham's  Proposition  to  Government — Proposed 
Compromise  with  the  Queen — Offer  of  fifty  thousand  pounds  a-year  to  the  Queen — 
Queen's  Narrative — Her  Majesty's  Progress — Mission  of  Lord  Hutchinson — Sudden 
departure  of  her  Majesty  from  St.  Omers — Landing  of  Queen  Caroline  in  England 
— The  King's  Message  to  Parliament — The  Queen's  Communication  to  House  of 
Commons — Proceedings  in  the  Commons — Statement  of  Ministers — Proceedings  in 
the  Hou^e  of  Lords — Bill  of  Pains  and  Penalties — Account  of  Trial — Speeches 
therein — Bill  abandoned  by  Ministers — Parliament  prorogued — State  of  Conti- 
nental Affairs 


ACCESSION  OF  KING  GEORGE  IV.— 1820. 
Called  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  by 
the  death  of  his  venerated  father,  George 
the  Fourth  took  upon  himself  the  actual 
sovereignty  of  these  realms,  which  he  had 
already  presided  over  many  years  as  regent, 
during  the  distressing  malady  of  his  august 
predecessor.  The  peculiarly  felicitous  fea- 
tures attending  his  persona]  assumption  of 
regality,  were  such  as  to  promise  to  the  na- 
tion something  proudly  pre-eminent  in  the 
history  of  reigns.  Differing  essentially  in 
each  particular  from  the  situation  of  his  pa- 
rent, at  a  similar  epoch,  who  came  to  the 
throne  in  the  midst  of  a  protracted  war,  at 
an  early  period  of  life,  with  a  character  lit 
tie  known  to  the  nation,  less  to  the  world, 
and  wholly  unused  to  govern,  or  any  of  the 
arts  of  polity — the  present  monarch,  from 
age,  habits  of  general  intercourse,  universal 
knowledge,  much  experience  as  a  ruler,  and 
at  the  blissful  period  of  profound  peace,  had 
to  contend  with  no  jarring  opinions  on  the 
probable  exercise  of  that  sway,  the  results 
of  which  the  people  had  often  witnessed ; 
and  being  generally  successful  through  a 
varied  series  of  political  difficulties  and  crit- 
ical emergencies,  and  graced  as  it  had  been 
by  a  long  career  of  surpassingly  splendid 
and  brilliant  victories,  flattering  to  the  na- 
tional pride,  they  had  as  long  admired. 

In  pursuance  of  established  usage,  the 
cabinet  ministers  assembled  on  the  morning 
subsequent  to  the  demise  of  the  late  king. 
When  his  majesty  held  his  first  court  at 
Carlton  house,  which  was  numerously  and 


brilliantly  attended  by  all  ranks  and  parties, 
who  eagerly  offered  their  homage  to  the 
reigning  monarch,  the  reappointment  of  the 
lord  chancellor,  and  several  ministers,  was 
the  first  exercise  of  sovereign  power,  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  being  administered  to 
those  present.  A  council  was,  in  compli- 
ance with  the  royal  ordinance,  immediately 
holden ;  and  all  his  late  majesty's  privy- 
counsellors  then  in  attendance  were  sworn 
as  members  of  his  present  majesty's  council, 
and  took  their  seats  at  the  board  according- 
ly. Thus  regularly  convened,  the  new  sov- 
ereign made  the  following  declaration. 

KING'S  DECLARATION  TO  COUNCIL. 

"  I  HAVE  directed  that  you  should  be  as- 
sembled here,  in  order  that  I  may  discharge 
the  painful  duty  of  announcing  to  you  the 
death  of  the  king,  my  beloved  father. 

"  It  is  impossible  for  me  adequately  to  ex- 
press the  state  of  my  feelings  upon  this  mel- 
ancholy occasion ;  but  I  have  the  consola- 
tion of  knowing,  that  the  severe  calamity 
with  which  his  majesty  has  been  afflicted 
for  so  many  years,  has  never  effaced  from 
the  minds  of  his  subjects  the  impressions 
created  by  his  many  virtues;  and  his  exam- 
ple will,  I  am  persuaded,  live  for  ever  in  the 
grateful  remembrance  of  his  country. 

"Called  upon,  in  consequence  of  his  ma- 
jesty's indisposition,  to  exercise  the  prerog- 
atives of  the  crown  on  his  behalf,  it  was  the 
first  wish  of  my  heart  to  be  allowed  to  re- 
store into  his  hands  the  powers  with  which 
I  was  intrusted.  It  has  pleased  Almighty 
God  to  determine  otherwise,  and  I  have  not 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


G37 


been  insensible  to  the  advantages  which  I 
have  derived  from  administerinir  in  my  dear 
fiither's  name  the  government  of  this  reahn. 

"  The  support  which  I  have  received  from 
parliament  and  the  country,  in  times  the 
most  eventful,  and  under  the  most  arduous 
circumstances,  could  alone  inspire  me  with 
that  confidence  which  my  present  station 
demands. 

"  The  experience  of  the  past  will,  I  trust, 
satisfy  all  classes  of  my  people,  that  it  will 
ever  be  my  most  anxious  endeavor  to  pro- 
mote their  prosperity  and  happiness,  and  to 
maintain  unimpaired  the  religion,  laws,  and 
liberties  of  the  kingdom." 

As  a  subsequent  act,  the  king,  with  the 
usual  solemnities,  and  in  conformity  to  the 
law,  took  the  customary  oaths,  including 
that  in  the  Scotch  ritual,  for  the  security  of 
the  national  church  of  Scotland.  These 
gracious  declarations,  with  the  form  for  the 
proclamation  of  the  new  monarch,  were  then 
agreed  upon,  and  signed  by  the  distinguished 
personages  present. 

PROCLAMATION  OF  HIS  MAJESTY. 

The  proclamation  of  his  majesty  took 

?lace  publicly  in  the  metropolis  on  Monday, 
anuary  thirty-first.  To  account  for  this 
apparent  delay,  it  is  only  necessary  to  call 
to  attention,  that  the  late  king  expired  on 
the  Saturday  evening,  the  following  morn- 
ing being  Sunday,  January  thirtieth,  the  an- 
niversary of  the  martyrdom  of  Charles  L,  a 
solemn  fast  is  appointed  by  our  church,  and 
consequently  this  pageant  would  have  been 
inadmissible.  On  the  same  day,  Monday, 
the  members  of  parliament  were  sworn  in, 
and  immediately  adjourned  till  the  seven- 
teenth of  February.   . 

KING'S  ILLNESS  AND  RECOVERY. 
During  this  recess,  and  treading  as  it 
were  upon  the  heels  of  the  ceremony  of 
proclamation,  the  public  attention  was  most 
powerfully  excited,  and  the  sympathies  of 
the  nation  aroused,  by  distressing  reports  of 
the  state  of  his  majesty's  health ;  an  illness 
supposed  to  have  originated  from  agitation 
of  spirits,  arising  from  the  domestic  afflic- 
tion he  had  sustained  in  the  rapidly  succeed- 
ing loss  of  two  such  near  relatives  as  a 
brother  and  a  father :  added  to  this,  his  ma- 
jesty, who  was  scarcely  recovered  from  an 
attack  of  gout,  had  incautiously  exposed 
himself  to  the  inclemency  of  the  season,  by 
standing  a  length  of  time  under  the  portico 
of  his  palace,  that  his  admiring  people  might 
behold  their  monarch,  while,  amidst  their 
enthusiastic  plaudits,  and  loudly  lengthened 
demonstrations  of  grateful  and  joyful  huzzas, 
they  hailed,  and  the  heralds,  for  the  first 
time,  proclaimed  him  by  his  royal  style  and 
titles  aa  George  the  Fourth.  The  appre- 
hensions respecting  his  majesty  were  not 
lessened,  when  the  official  bulletin  an- 
Vol.  IV.  54 


nounced  the  king's  illness  to  proceed  from 
inflammation  of  tJie  lungs — that  being  the 
identical  disease  which  had  so  unexpectedly 
proved  fatal  to  the  duke  of  Kent  only  a  week 
previous.  The  melancholy  ideas  which  this 
seeming  fatality  originated  were  fortunately 
not  confirmed.  The  king  was  declared  out 
of  danger  after  nine  days  ;  but  a  long  time 
passed  ere  he  gained  his  pristine  health.  To 
add  to  this  sombre  view  of  aftairs,  the  nation 
was  occupied  in  preparing  for  the  mournful 
rites  due  to  departed  worth  and  majesty, 
and  never  was  grief  more  strongly  indicated, 
or  sorrow  more  generally  manifested,  not 
more  by  the  universal  sable  habits  of  the 
people,  than  by  the  saddened  deportment  of 
all  ranks  concerned  in,  or  viewing  the  ob- 
sequies of  the  late  king,  which  took  place 
on  Wednesday  evening,  February  16th. 

CEREMONIAL  OF  LATE  KING'S  LYING  IN 
STATE  AND  ROYAL  FUNERAL. 

As  the  minutiae  of  these  funeral  transac- 
tions may  hereafter  be  deemed  interesting, 
without  further  apology  it  is  observed,  that 
soon  after  ten  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning, 
the  preparations  were  completed  for  the 
mournful  ceremonial  of  his  majesty's  re- 
mains lying  in  state ;  and  the  gates  of  Wind- 
sor castle  were  then  thrown  open  for  the 
admission  of  the  public,  many  hundreds  of 
whom  had  been  anxiously  waiting  for  some 
hours.  The  public  were,  in  the  first  place, 
admitted  by  the  grand  entrance  to  the  upper 
ward,  or  square  of  the  Black  Horse.  The 
entrance  was  parted  by  a  strong  railing, 
diverging  within  the  ward  to  the  right  and 
left,  so  that  the  stream  of  company,  which 
incessantly  poured  in,  was  by  that  means 
directed  at  once  to  the  north-eastern  tower 
of  the  quadrangle,  commonly  called  Eger- 
ton's  tower.  At  the  door  four  marshal's 
men  were  stationed,  with  their  silver-tipped 
staves,  and  Vi^earing,  in  addition  to  their 
state  uniforms,  ample  scarfs  of  black  silk, 
with  crape  hatbands,  and  sword-knots.  As- 
cending the  winding  stairs  of  the  tower,  the 
visitor,  after  passing  through  an  ante-cham- 
ber, filled  with  marshal's  men  and  yeomen 
of  the  guard,  entered  at  once  into  St 
George's  hall,  where  the  departed  sover- 
eign had  been  accustomed  to  hold  the  chap- 
ter of  the  knights  of  the  garter.  The  throne 
and  its  canopy  were  covered  with  black 
cloth,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  was  a  slight 
railing,  also  covered  with  black.  Over  the 
hall,  diagonally  to  the  door  of  the  guard- 
chamber,  matting  was  laid  down,  with  a 
black  cord  on  each  side,  to  confine  the  com- 
pany to  the  space  it  occupied ;  and  on  the 
other  sides  were  stationed  privates  of  the 
life-guards,  with  their  arms  reversed.  This 
apartment  had  a  very  impressive  eflTecL 
It  led  at  once  to  the  king's  guard-chamber 
and  state  apartments,  where  the  knights  of 


638 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


the  garter,  in  the  absence  of  the  sovereign, 
dine  at  an  installation.  The  lofty  walls  of 
this  apartment  were  entirely  covered  with 
the  armor  of  past  ages ;  bills  and  partizans, 
coats  of  mail,  helmets,  cuirasses,  and  glaives; 
bucklers  and  shields;  matchlocks,  broad- 
swords, pistols,  daggers,  muskets,  and  the 
armor  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince.  The 
visitors  were,  in  this  chamber  also,  separa- 
ted from  the  great  body  of  the  apartment  by 
a  cord  covered  with  black ;  and  in  the  open 
space,  yeomen  of  the  guard  were  assembled 
in  groups,  who,  not  being  immediately  upon 
duty,  waited  here  to  relieve  their  comrades. 
Their  costume  was  the  same,  in  form,  as 
their  ordinary  one,  save  that  it  was  entirely 
of  black  cloth,  with  crape  round  the  cap, 
and  the' arms  of  England  embroidered  in 
gold,  silver,  and  colors.  Their  partizans 
had  also  a  covering  of  black  cloth.  From 
this  apartment  the  spectator  passed  through 
an  ante-chamber;  the  floor,  ceiling,  and 
walls,  entirely  covered  with  sable  drapery, 
and  lighted  at  intervals  by  silver  sconces, 
each  bearing  two  small  wax-lights;  just 
sufficient  to  show  a  long  line  of  yeomen  of 
the  guard,  leaning  on  their  crape-clothed 
partizans  as  motionless  as  statues.  He  then 
entered  the  presence  chamber,  in  which  re- 
posed the  remains  of  the  beloved  monarch. 
The  whole  of  this  noble  apartment  was  en- 
tirely covered  with  fine  purple  cloth,  and 
illuminated  by  a  profusion  of  silver  sconces. 
On  a  raised  platform,  at  the  opposite  ex- 
tremity, appeared  the  coffin  supported  upon 
tressels,  and  covered  with  a  pall  of  rich  pur- 
ple velvet,  lined  with  white  satin,  and  orna- 
mented at  each  side  by  three  escutcheons, 
and  on  the  top  were  deposited  the  kingly 
crown  of  England,  and  the  electoral  one  of 
Hanover,  on  two  purple  velvet  cushions, 
superbly  fringed  and  tasseled  with  gold.  On 
each  side  of  the  coffin  were  three  stupen- 
dous wax-lights,  in  massive  silver  candle- 
sticks, and  over  it  a  radiated  canopy  of  pur- 
ple cloth ;  the  cornice  was  also  adorned  with 
escutcheons.  At  the  head  of  the  coffin  was 
seated  the  earl  of  Delawarr  and  lord  Graves, 
the  lords  in  waiting ;  and  colonel  Whatley, 
colonel  King,  Sir  George  Campbell,  and  Sir 
Cavendish  Bradshaw,  the  grooms  in  waiting. 
At  the  feet  stood  the  pursuivants,  in  official 
costume,  but  uncovered,  and  about  the  apart- 
ment were  a  number  of  the  band  of  gentle- 
men pensioners,  in  their  state  dresses,  with 
crape  scarfs.  Thence  the  company  passed 
through  the  king's  drawing-room  and  its 
ante-chambers,  and  descended  by  the  stair- 
ease  in  the  western  tower,  where  king  John 
resided  during  the  time  of  his  contest  with 
his  barons;  and  thence  out  through  the 
quadrangle,  by  the  grand  southern  entrance. 
At  four  o'clock,  the  hour  announced  for 


closing  the  public  ceremony  of  the  day,  the 
gates  were  shut. 

At  break  of  day  on  Wednesday,  the  sol- 
emn toll  of  the  great  bell  in  the  belfry  of 
the  castle  was  heard,  and  the  royal  standard 
was  seen  hanging  half-staff"  down,  on  the 
round  tower  of  the  keep.  At  sun-rise  the 
thunder  of  cannon  was  heard  in  the  park. 
From  that  period  till  sun-set,  the  artillery, 
without  intermission,  continued  firing  five- 
minute  guns  throughout  the  day ;  and  from 
sun-set  they  fired  minute-guns  till  the  con- 
clusion of  the  funeral  ceremony.  A  little 
before  ten  o'clock,  the  wax-lights  in  the  sil- 
ver sconces  having  been  replenished,  and 
the  lords  and  grooms  in  waiting,  the  pages 
of  the  bed-chamber,  the  heralds,  the  pur- 
suivants, the  gentlemen  pensioners,  and  the 
other  state  attendants,  having  taken  their 
station  around  the  royal  coffin,  the  grand 
entrance  to  the  upper  court  of  the  castle 
was  thrown  open  to  the  impatient  public, 
who  rushed  forward  in  all  directions ;  and, 
in  despite  of  the  utmost  exertions  of  the 
police  and  military,  the  pressure  continued 
more  or  less  throughout  the  morning.  At 
four  o'clock  the  ceremony  of  the  royal  re- 
mains lying  in  state  was  at  an  end,  and  the 
gates  were  closed  against  thousands  of  per- 
sons, who,  up  to  that  moment,  had  been 
pressing  forward  for  admission.  Through- 
out the  whole  of  the  preceding  night,  pre- 
parations had  been  making  in  St.  George's 
chapel.  Three  additional  chandeliers  were 
suspended  from  the  roof  along  the  centre 
of  the  choir,  and  a  double  sconce  affixed  to 
each  of  the  stalls.  Superb  communion  ser- 
vices of  plate,  from  the  different  chapels 
royal,  were  arranged  upon  the  communion 
table,  the  steps  of  which  were  covered  with 
fine  purple  cloth.  A  raised  platform  cover- 
ed with  black  cloth  was  erected  down  the 
south  aisle,  and  up  the  nave  of  the  choir, 
with  a  railing  on  each  side  to  prevent  inter- 
ruption to  the  procession  from  the  specta- 
tors. In  the  north  aisle  seats  were  erected, 
tier  above  tier,  for  the  accommodation  of 
those  persons  who  might  be  able  to  obtain 
tickets  from  the  lord  high  steward ;  and  the 
organ  loft,  which  was  not  capable  of  afford- 
ing accommodation  to  more  than  ninety 
persons,  was  fitted  up  for  the  nobility.  Be- 
fore the  communion  table,  and  over  the 
opening  of  the  subterraneous  passages  lead- 
ing to  the  mausoleum  of  the  royal  family,  a 
superb  canopy  of  roya'l  blue  velvet  was 
placed,  supported  by  four  slight  pillars, 
wreathed  with  velvet  and  gold.  The  can- 
opy was  in  the  shape  of  a  parallelogram, 
with  the  roof  of  the  sweeping  Chinese  con- 
tour, and  surrounded  with  a  Gothic  fretwork 
cornice  in  dead  gold.  From  this  cornice 
descended  a  festooned  drapery  of  royal  blue 


GEORGE  rv.— 1820. 


039 


velvet,  richly  fringed  and  tasseled,  of  the 
same  color,  and  each  festoon  was  further 
adorned  with  a  royal  escutcheon.  To  the 
right  and  left  of  the  altar,  diagonally,  seats 
were  placed  in  tiers  for  the  foreign  ambas- 
sadors, and  the  whole  floor  of  the  choir  was 
covered  with  black  cloth.  As  the  evening 
advanced,  the  Eton  scholars,  assembled  un- 
der their  respective  masters,  to  the  number 
of  more  than  five  hundred,  clothed  in  deep 
mourning-,  walked  two  and  two  to  the  gate 
of  the  hundred  steps,  where  they  were  ad 
mitted  through  the  cloisters  to  the  interior 
of  the  royal  chapel,  and  took  up  their  sta- 
tion in  the  north  aisle. 

After  the  public  ceremony  of  lying  in 
state,  and  when  the  visitors  were  all  ex- 
cluded from  the  castle,  the  lords  in  waiting 
and  the  other  state  attendants  still  remained 
with  the  royal  corpse  till  seven  o'clock, 
when  his  royal  highness  the  duke  of  York, 
as  chief  mourner,  took  his  seat  at  the  head 
of  the  coffin,  under  the  canopy,  in  lieu  of 
the  lords  in  waiting,  and  he  continued  sit- 
tmg  there  during  the  lapse  of  two  hours. 
In  the  interim,  the  persons  who  were  to 
take  part  in  the  procession  were  assembled 
in  St.  George's  hall,  and  there  marshalled 
by  Sir  George  Nayler,  the  Windsor  herald. 
At  nine  o'clock  the  duke  of  York  left  the 
presence-chamber,  and  the  yeomen  of  the 
guard,  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
Exon,  proceeded  to  remove  the  coffin  of 
their  royal  master  dov/n  the  grand  staircase 
to  the  vestibule,  where  it  was  placed  upon 
the  car;  and,  in  a  few  minutes  afterwards, 
the  procession  set  forward. 

The  covered  way  was  flanked  on  each 
side  by  a  double  rank  of  the  foot-guards, 
with  their  arms  reversed,  and  a  single  rank 
of  mounted  life-guards,  every  fourth  man 
having  a  lighted  flambeau.  As  the  proces- 
sion issued  from  the  palace,  the  silver  trum- 
pets of  the  household  commenced  the  per- 
formance of  the  "Dead  march  in  Saul," 
in  which  they  were  joined  by  the  bands  of 
the  several  regiments  on  duty  as  they  ad- 
vanced. The  progress  of  tlie  procession 
was  extremely  slow ;  the  discharge  of  the 
minute-guns  adding  greatly  to  the  effect  of 
the  grand  impressive  scene.  The  proces- 
sion having  reached  the  porch  of  the  chapel, 
the  knight-marshal's  men,  with  trumpets 
and  drums,  filed  off  without  the  doors.  At 
the  entrance,  the  royal  corpse  was  received 
by  the  very  reverend  the  dean,  attended  by 
the  choirs,  who  fell  in  immediately  before 
Blanc  Coursier,  king-at-arms,  bearing  the 
crown  of  Hanover.  The  whole  then  pro- 
ceeded down  the  south  aisle,  and  up  the 
nave  to  the  choir.  As  they  advanced,  the 
organ  performed  Dr.  Croft's  funeral  ser- 
vice, "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life, 
saith  the  Lord."     This  occupied  the  time 


till  the  royal  dukes,  their  supporters,  and 
the  other  members  of  the  procession,  had 
reached  their  respective  seats.  The  chief 
mourner  sat  on  a  chair  at  the  head  of  the 
corpse,  and  the  other  princes  of  the  blood- 
royal  were  seated  near  him.  The  lord 
chamberlain  of  his  majesty's  household  (the 
marquis  of  Hertford)  took  his  seat  at  the 
foot  of  the  corpse,  and  the  supporters  of  the 
pall  and  canopy  arranged  themselves  on 
each  side.  The  part  of  the  service  before 
the  interment  was  then  read  by  the  dean ; 
the  choir  chaunted  the  psalms.  Kent's  an- 
them, "  Hear  my  prayer,  O  Lord,"  was 
then  performed,  followed  by  "I  heard  a 
voice  from  heaven."  The  service  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  collect,  immediately  preceding 
which,  the  celebrated  anthem,  composed  by 
Handel  for  the  funeral  of  queen  Caroline, 
was  performed  by  the  whole  choir.  The 
royal  corpse  was  lowered  into  the  grave 
exactly  at  ten  minutes  after  ten ;  and  as 
the  consecrated  earth  was  sprinkled  upon 
its  cover,  the  guards,  who  during  the  cere- 
mony had  stood  with  their  arms  reversed, 
instantly  recovered  and  grounded  them  on 
the  pavement  of  the  north  and  south  aisle. 
At  this  solemn  moment.  Sir  Isaac  Heard, 
garter  king-at-arms,  came  forward  in  his 
superb  and  embroidered  mantle,  and  pro- 
nounced the  style  and  titles  of  his  late  ma- 
jesty. At  the  conclusion  of  the  mournful 
ceremony,  the  royal  dukes  slowly  quitted 
the  choir  at  the  side-door,  followed  by  a 
long  train  of  the  great  officers  of  state,  the 
nobility,  and  others,  and  proceeded  to  the 
chapter-house,  whence  they  immediately 
went  to  their  apartments  in  the  castle,  and 
the  nobility  repaired  to  their  carriages; 
but  it  was  long  after  midnight  before  the 
different  courts  of  the  castle  were  entirely 
cleared  of  the  sorrowing  multitude  who  at- 
tended to  see  their  late  royal  master's  re- 
mains deposited  in  a  mausoleum,  the  con- 
struction of  which  was  originally  designed 
under  his  own  superintendence,  and  com- 
pleted by  the  kind  orders  and  attention  of 
his  son,  our  present  beloved  monarch. 
PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED. 

The  illness  of  the  sovereign  was  a  two- 
fold source  of  regret  and  inconvenience,  as 
it  precluded  his  majesty  from  receiving  the 
addresses  of  the  house  of  lords  and  com- 
mons on  the  throne,  and  also  from  going  to 
dissolve  the  parliament  in  person.  Our 
constitutional  laws  requiring  the  dissolu- 
tion to  take  place  within  the  next  six  months 
following  the  demise  of  the  king,  it  was 
decided  that  the  parliament  should  be  closed 
by  commission  on  the  twenty-eiahth  of 
February — wlien  the  lord  chancellor  deliy- 
ered  the  subsequent  speech : 

"  My  Ij^rds  and  Gentlemen, 

"  We  are  commanded  by  his  majesty  to 


640 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


inform  you,  that  it  is  a  great  disappoint- 
ment to  his  majesty,  that  on  this  first  and 
solemn  occasion  he  is  prevented,  by  indis- 
position, from  meeting-  you  in  person. 

"  It  would  have  been  a  consolation  to  his 
majesty,  to  give  utterance  in  this  place  to 
those  feelings,  with  which  his  majesty  and 
the  nation  alike  deplore  the  loss  of  a  sove- 
reign, the  common  father  of  all  his  people. 

"  The  king  commands  us  to  inform  you, 
that  in  determining  to  call  without  delay 
the  new  parliament,  his  majesty  has  been 
influenced  by  a  consideration  of  what  is 
most  expedient  for  public  business,  as  well 
as  most  conducive  to  general  convenience. 
"Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons, 

"We  are  directed  by  his  majesty  to 
thank  you  for  the  provision  which  you  have 
made  for  the  several  branches  of  the  pub- 
lic service  from  the  commencement  of  the 
present  year,  and  during  the  interval  which 
must  elapse  before  a  new  parliament  can 
be  assembled. 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

"  We  are  commanded  to  inform  you,  that, 
in  taking  leave  of  the  present  parliament, 
his  majesty  cannot  refrain  from  conveying 
to  you  his  warmest  assurances  of  the  sense 
which  his  majesty  entertains  of  the  import- 
ant services  which  you  have  rendered  the 
country. 

"  Deeply  as  his  majesty  lamented  that 
designs  and  practices  such  as  those  which 
you  have  been  recently  called  upon  to  re- 
press, should  have  existed  in  this  free  and 
happy  country,  he  cannot  sufficiently  com- 
mend the  prudence  and  firmness  with  which 
you  directed  your  attention  to  the  means 
of  counteracting  them. 

"  If  any  doubt  had  remained  as  to  the 
nature  of  those  principles  by  which  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  the  nation  were  so 
seriously  menaced,  or  of  the  excesses  to 
which  they  were  likely  to  lead,  the  flagrant 
and  sanguinary  conspiracy  which  has  lately 
been  detected,  must  open  the  eyes  of  the 
most  incredulous,  and  must  vindicate  to  the 
whole  world  the  justice  and  expediency  of 
those  measures  to  which  you  judged  it  ne- 
cessary to  resort,  in  defence  of  the  laws 
and  constitution  of  the  kingdom." 

DISCOVERY  OF  CATO-STREET  CON- 
SPIRACY. 

The  conspiracy  thus  glanced  at  in  the 
speech  of  the  lords  commissioners,  was  one 
of  the  most  desperate  plots  that  could 
have  been  conceived  by  bad  men  for  the 
worst  of  purposes;  the  object  contemplated 
being  no  less  than  an  attempt  to  overthrow 
the  existing  government,  and  plunge  these 
realms  into  anarchy  and  lawless  confusion. 
I'T^iis,  as  it  appeared,  was  to  be  effected  by 
the  projected  assassination  of  his  majesty's 
ministers. 


The  chief  leader  implicated  in  this  ex- 
travagantly atrocious  and  absurd  plot,  was 
a  person  called  Arthur  Thistlewood ;  ori- 
ginally bred  to  the  drug  trade,  at  Newark, 
in  Nottinghamshire ;  then  a  subaltern  offi- 
cer in  the  militia,  and  subsequently  in  a 
regiment  of  the  line  in  the  West  Indies. 
Having  resigned  his  commission,  imbued 
with  republican  principles,  after  passing 
some  time  in  America,  he  visited  France, 
at  that  period  of  the  revolution  when  the 
sanguinary  despot  Robespierre  had  just  ex- 
piated his  guilty  career  on  the  public  scaf- 
fold ;  and  it  is  presumed  that  the  scenes  he 
there  witnessed  confirmed  the  opinions  upon 
which  he  finally  acted.  As  an  accomplice 
of  doctor  Watson,  he  was  tried  with  him  ; 
and  on  his  acquittal  he  challenged  lord 
Sidmouth,  then  secretary  of  state  for  the 
home  department: — this  drew  upon  him 
the  prosecution  of  his  lordship,  and  a  sen- 
tence of  fine  and  imprisonment.  When 
liberated,  he  seems  to  have  nourished  ideas 
of  the  utmost  turpitude ;  to  realize  which 
he  devoted  all  his  time — associating  with 
none  but  the  most  debased  of  the  lowest 
class,  who,  stimulated  by  similar  doctrines, 
were  worthy  coadjutors  in  such  a  cause.  A 
nucleus  of  disappointed  revenge,  he  gath- 
ered together  a  number  of  individuals  des- 
perate as  himself,  and,  with  their  aid,  re*- 
solved  to  destroy  the  ministers  and  aholish 
the  government. 

The  next  in  consequence  were  Ings,  a 
butcher;  Davison,  a  Creole;  Brunt  and 
Tidd,  shoemakers. — The  plan,  as  finally 
arranged  by  this  horde  of  assassins,  was  so 
detestably  wicked,  so  pregnant  with  dan- 
ger to  themselves  in  theory,  and  attended 
with  such  little  probability  of  success  in 
practice,  that  it  requires  all  the  strength 
of  corroborating  evidence — not  only  of 
spies,  accomplices,  and  more  creditable  wit- 
nesses— ere  the  human  mind  can  reconcile 
such  a  union  of  madness  and  delinquency. 

It  was  resolved,  after  a  series  of  meet- 
ings, that  delay  was  useless ;  and  poverty ,^ 
as  they  admitted,  goading  them  to  the  at- 
tempt, Wednesday,  twenty-third  of  Feb- 
ruary, was  fixed  upon  for  the  individual 
murder  of  the  ministers,  at  their  respective 
houses.  On  the  preceding  Sunday  the  plan 
was  arranged  as  follows: — Forty  or  fifty 
men  were  to  devote  themselves  to  the  task 
of  assassination ;  under  no  less  pledge  than 
a  forfeiture  of  their  own  lives,  in  case  of 
failure,  through  any  want  of  address  or  de- 
termination, while  executing  the  diabolical 
project.  Other  detachments  were  simul- 
taneously to  seize  upon  the  field-pieces,  at 
the  London  light-horse  station  in  Gray's  Inn 
Lane,  and  the  artillery  ground.  Possessed 
of  these  cannon,  the  Mansion-house  was  to 
be  used  as  the   palace  of  the  provisional 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


641 


government — the  bajik  was  to  be  attacked — 
and  the  metropolis  was  to  be  set  fire  to  in 
various  points.  Similar  meetings  were  held 
on  the  Monday  and  Tuesday ;  on  which  last 
day  one  of  the  conspirators,  named  Edwards, 
hitbrmed  Thistlewood  that  a  cabinpt  dinner 
would  take  place  on  the  morrow.  Thistle- 
wood's  doubts  being  removed  by  the  an- 
nouncement in  the  newspaper,  and  it  being 
specified  therein  that  the  dinner  w^ould  be 
^t^iven  at  lord  Harro why's  house  in  Grosve- 
nor  square,  on  the  Wednesday,  he  exultingly 
observed, — "  As  there  has  not  been  a  dinner 
for  such  a  length  of  time,  there  will  no  doubt 
be  fourteen  or  sixteen  there,  and  it  will  be 
a  rare  haul  to  dispatch  them  all  together !" 
Pursuant  to  the  plan  of  operations  now  set- 
tled, one  of  their  body  was  to  go  with  a  note 
addressed  to  lord  Harrowby :  when  the  house 
door  was  opened,  a  band  of  the  conspirators 
were  to  rush  in — and  while  one  party  were 
occupied  in  seizing  the  domestics,  and  pre- 
venting any  one  below  making  their  escape, 
another  was  to  effect  their  entrance  to  the 
room  which  contained  the  ministers,  and 
massacre  them  all.  It  was  a  peculiar  pro- 
vision that  the  heads  of  lords  Castlereagh 
and  Sidi:50uth  were  to  be  brought  away  as 
trophies  of  success.  From  the  house  of  lord 
Harrowby  a  few  of  the  number  were  instan- 
taneously to  repair  to  the  barracks,  in  King- 
street,  Portman-square,  where,  after  firing 
the  straw  depot  of  the  cavalry  by  means  of 
fire-balls,  they  were  to  co-operate  with  the 
remainder  in  executing  the  other  parts  of 
the  scheme  already  detailed.  In  the  interim 
strict  watch  was  kept  upon  lord  Harrowby's 
dwelling,  in  order  to  ascertain  that  none  of 
the  police  or  military  entered,  or  were  con- 
cealed in  its  neighborhood.  The  whole  of 
the  day  was  passed  by  them  in  preparations 
for  the  intended  plot :  weapons  and  ammuni- 
tion were  prepared,  and  proclamations  writ- 
ten, to  afiix  on  those  places  that  were  to  be 
set  fire  to.  Durhig  this  period  these  infat- 
uated wretches  rendezvoused  gradually; 
and  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  they 
met  in  a  stable,  in  an  obscure  street,  called 
Cato-street,  near  the  Edgeware  road.  This 
place  they  had  hired  a  short  time  previous : 
it  comprised,  besides  the  stable,  two  rooms 
above  it,  the  ascent  to  which  was  by  a  ladder 
only.  In  the  largest  room,  having  taken 
the  precaution  to  post  a  sentinel  below,  the 
conspirators  were  to  be  seen  to  the  number 
of  twenty-four  or  twenty-five,  by  the  glim- 
mering ray  of  one  or  two  small  candles,  ad- 
justing their  accoutrements  on  an  old  carpen- 
ter's bench,  and  exulting  in  the  fast  approach- 
ing consummation  of  this  scene  of  blood. 

DETECTION— TRIAL,  AND  EXECUTION  OF 
THISTLEWOOD. 
Amongst  their  number  was  one  disaffect- 
ed to  the  cause.   This  spy,  the  above  named 
54* 


Edwards,  had  for  some  time  been  in  the  pay 
of  the  administration,  and  gave  regular  in- 
telligence to  his  employers  of  all  particulars 
connected  with  this  foul  and  extraordinary 
transaction.  Every  precautionary  method 
was  adopted  to  lull  suspicion :  the  apparent 
preparations  for  the  banquet  were  continu- 
ed at  lord  Harrowby's  mansion,  till  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  by  these  means 
the  conspirators  were  detected  with  arms  in 
their  hands.  To  effect  this,  a  large  party 
of  constables,  under  the  direction  of  the  ma- 
gistrate Mr.  Birnie,  proceeded  to  Cato-street, 
where  it  was  intended  they  should  be  sup- 
ported by  a  detachment  of  the  Coldstream 
guards.  The  police  officers  reached  their 
destination  about  eight,  immediately  enter- 
ed the  stable,  ascended  the  ladder,  and  dis- 
covered the  conspirators  in  the  lofl,  (for  it 
was  nothing  better,)  on  the  point  of  setting 
out  to  execute  their  meditated  object.  The 
principal  officer  required  them  to  surrender, 
and  Smithers,  one  of  the  active  police  con- 
stables, dashing  forward  to  secure  Thistle- 
wood,  received  his  sword  through  his  body, 
and  instantly  fell.  The  candles  were  now 
blown  out,  the  conflict  became  general; 
some  of  the  gang  rushed  down  the  ladder, 
the  officers  grappling  with  them,  while 
others  forced  their  way  from  a  window  sit- 
uated in  the  back  of  the  loft.  At  this  junc- 
ture the  military,  commanded  by  captain 
Fitzclarence,  arriving,  two  conspirators  were 
secured  in  the  act  of  escaping ;  and  by  the 
co-operation  of  the  police  and  soldiers,  seven 
more  were  taken  that  evening,  and  securely 
conveyed  to  Bond-street.  Thistlewood,  who 
had  escaped  in  the  first  moment  of  confu- 
sion, was  seized  next  morning  in  bed,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Finsbury-square,  and  some 
others  were  apprehended  in  the  two  follow- 
ing days. 

March  the  twenty-seventh  true  bills  of 
indictment  for  the  charge  of  high  treason, 
were  returned  against  eleven  of  the  prison- 
ers. And  April  the  seventeenth,  a  commis- 
sion for  the  purpose  being  regularly  opened, 
Thistlewood  was  put  on  his  trial.  The  chief 
witness  adduced,  was  a  conspirator  named 
Adams,  who,  after  escaping  from  Cato-street, 
had  been  arrested  on  the  followinj;;f  Friday, 
and  kept  in  custody  until  he  was  orought 
forward  to  give  his  testimony  in  support  of 
the  prosecution.  The  trial  lasted  three  QOys, 
when  the  accused  was  found  guilty,  on  th.^t 
part  of  the  indictment  which  charged  him 
"  with  having  conspired  to  levy,"  and  with 
"  having  levied  war  against  the  king."  Ings, 
Tidd,  Brunt,  and  Davidson,  were  severa  ^y 
tried  and  convicted.  The  other  six  being 
permitted  to  withdraw  their  origmal  plea, 
now  pleaded  guilty ;  and  it  appearing,  that 
one  of  the  number  who  had  attended  the 
meeting  in  Cato-street,  was  ignorant  of  its 


642 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


destined  purpose,  he  was  graciously  pardon- 
ed ;  while  the  sentence  of  the  remaining 
five  was  commuted  into  transportation  for 
the  term  of  their  natural  lives. 

The  throng  of  spectators  assembled  at  the 
execution  of  the  criminals  was  immense ; 
and  commensurate  was  the  disgust  mani- 
fested at  that  part  of  the  sentence,  which 
displayed  the  horrid  spectacle  of  mangling 
and  decapitating  the  reeking  remains  of 
these  miserably  deluded  men.  This  tribute 
of  justice  to  violated  laws,  occupied  in  its 
shocking  details,  nearly  an  hour  and  a 
quarter;  during  which  a  strong  body  of 
cavalry  lined  the  streets  in  the  vicinity, 
and  very  considerable  augmentations  of  all 
branches  of  the  military,  w^ere  assembled  in 
the  metropolis,  pending  the  trial  until  the 
final  execution  of  the  sentence. 

TUMULTUOUS  PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE 
NORTH. 

This  extraordinary  and  desperate  plot, 
was  confined  to  a  very  limited  number  of 
infatuated  wretches,  unconnected  with  the 
revolutionary  partisans,  who,  in  this  instance, 
seemed  to  have  no  share  with  them.  Still 
little  doubt  remains  that  the  general  feeling 
of  discontent,  so  diffusively  spread  abroad, 
was  the  foundation  on  which  Thistlewood 
and  his  gang  confidently  looked  for  support 
and  triumph. 

The  spirit  of  discontent  had  been  a  length- 
ened time  smothering,  and  at  last  broke  forth 
in  some  districts  in  a  very  appalling  man- 
ner. About  the  middle  of  March  much 
alarm  prevailed  in  and  about  Glasgow ;  it 
being  known  that  numbers  of  the  class  of 
artisans,  and  others,  who  wished  to  pursue 
their  quiet  avocations,  unmixed  with  the 
noisy  turmoil  of  political  convulsions,  had 
been  repeatedly  menaced  by  the  adherents 
of  riot  and  confusion.  This  had  gained  such 
a  height,  that  they  imagined  they  could  not, 
without  endangering  the  safety  of  their  fam- 
ilies, persevere  in  the  conduct  of  peaceful 
and  loyal  subjects.  The  panic  which  was 
now  prevalent,  on  Sunday  the  second  of 
April  received  an  accession,  when,  on  that 
morning,  a  treasonable  proclamation  was 
discovered  posted  on  the  walls  of  Glasgow, 
its  neighboring  towns  and  villages. 

This  proclamation,  supposed  to  emanate 
from  "  the  Committee  for  the  formation  of  a 
Provisional  Government,"  recommended  the 
proprietors,  and  those  concerned  in  large 
manufactories,  to  suspend  their  employ- 
ments till  order  should  be  insured  by  the 
organization  alluded  to.  This  paper  like- 
wise enjoined  all  parties  to  desist  from  their 
avocations,  denouncing  as  enemies  and  trai- 
tors to  their  king  and  country,  whoever 
should  attempt  by  force  of  arms,  or  other- 
wise, aught  against  the  projected  political 
amelioration. 


The  fruits  of  this  inflammatory  placard 
exhibited  themselves  on  the  Monday.  The 
weavers  and  colliers,  in  Paisley  and  Glas- 
gow, declined  work;  and  this  baneful  ex- 
ample spread  through  the  numerous  bodies 
of  Wrights,  iron-founders,  masons,  and  ma- 
chine-makers, &c.  Several  of  the  cotton 
mills  commenced  their  usual  routine ;  but 
being  presently  disturbed  by  threatening 
visitors,  most  of  their  workmen  did  not  re- 
turn afler  breakfast,  or  absented  themselves 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  day.  Glasgow  now 
exhibited  a  most  extraordinary  aspect:  the 
streets  were  crowded  with  throngs  of  arti- 
sans, idly  loitering  away  their  time,  and 
waiting  in  anxious  suspense  for  the  first 
burst  of  the  promised  revolution,  which  was 
to  commence  at  a  moment,  and  to  emanate 
from  persons  and  powers  invisible,  and  un- 
known. As  these  persons  and  powers  re- 
mained shrouded  in  their  original  mystery, 
rumor,  at  the  time,  was  busy  in  imputing 
the  whole  as  a  fabrication  of  political  es- 
pionage, with  what  degree  of  truth  is  not 
evident.  Suffice  it  to  observe,  that  if  any 
secret  hope  of  disorder  was  nourished,  it 
happily  was  not  realized ;  the  people  then 
conjugated,  did  not  attempt  by  any  open 
act  to  violate  the  public  peace,  the  far 
greater  number  of  them  seeming  to  be 
swayed  more  by  motives  of  curiosity  and 
dread  of  these  secret  agitators,  than  by  any 
revolutionary  fervor  or  desire  of  change  to 
plunge  the  country  into  confusion. 
ATTACK  ON  SOLDIERY  AT  BONNYMUIR 

Resistance  to  the  public  authorities  did 
on  one  occasion  show  itself  On  the  Wed- 
nesday, an  individual  of  the  Stirling  yeo- 
manry, proceeding  from  Kilsyth  to  Falkirk, 
fell  in  with  a  radical  squad,  armed  in  a 
heterogeneous  manner  with  muskets,  pikes, 
and  pistols, — these  demanding  his  arms, 
which  he  refused  to  surrender ;  afler  seve- 
ral ineffectual  shots  were  discharged  at 
him,  he  escaped  uninjured  to  his  former 
quarters  at  Kilsyth.  The  commanding  offi- 
cer immediately  detached  eleven  cavalry, 
and  an  equal  number  of  yeomanry,  to  scour 
the  road  leading  to  Falkirk,  and  clear  it,  if 
possible,  of  the  insurgents.  The  military 
soon  came  in  sight  of  them.  The  insur- 
gents, augmented  in  number,  had,  in  the 
interim,  found  some  arms  and  food  in  the 
neighboring  houses,  and  were  now  posted 
advantageously  on  a  rising  ground  in  Bon- 
ny muir,  commanding  an  extensive  view  of 
country.  This,  on  the  advance  of  the  cav- 
alry, the  insurgents  subsequently  abandon- 
ed, and  now  sought  the  protection  of  a  wall, 
from  behind  which  they  fired  several  times: 
the  commander  of  the  detachment  requi- 
ring them  to  surrender  their  arms,  received 
in  answer  a  volley  therefrom,  accompanied 
witli  a  loud  cheer,  and  a  remark  that  they 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


643 


came  there  to  fight  Secured  by  the  stone 
wall  in  front  from  an  immediate  charge, 
the  cavalry  were  compelled,  as  well  by  that 
opposition  as  the  mossy  and  plashy  state  of 
the  ground,  to  make  a  circuitous  approach 
to  a  gap  which  offered  a  readier  access. 
Observing  this  intention,  the  rebels  hur- 
ried to  the  gap  for  the  purpose  of  disputing 
the  entrance,  but  the  better  half  hurried 
off  to  their  different  homea 

DEFEAT  AND  TRIAL  OF  DISAFFECTED 
PERSONS. 
Those  who  still  made  a  show  of  resist- 
ance, were  instantly  scattered;  many  of 
them  severely  wounded,  and  nineteen  pris- 
oners were  taken.  Besides  the  commander 
of  the  troops  who  was  wounded,  three  of 
the  soldiery  received  hurts,  one  horse  also 
being  killed,  and  three  wounded.  The 
majority  of  those  implicated  in  this  petty 
insurrection,  had  arrived  that  morning  from 
Glasgow,  hoping  to  find,  as  prearranged,  a 
considerable  number  from  the  neighboring 
districts,  associated  on  Bonnymuir.  The 
plan  it  appeared  was  to  have  marched  forth- 
with— to  have  taken  possession  of  the  Car- 
ron  iron-works — to  have  equipped  them- 
selves therefrom  with  arms,  particularly 
artillery,  and  thence  to  have  instituted  a 
regular  plan  of  offensive  military  opera- 
tions. These  intentions  were  defeated  by 
the  judicious  precautions  of  the  magistracy, 
who,  in  promptly  co-operating  with  the 
military,  prevented  the  evil-minded  from 
caching  the  proposed  rendezvous.  So  that 
mstead  of  the  four  or  five  thousand  expect- 
ed to  muster  there,  there  were  found  about 
fifty  only,  whose  strength  of  infatuation 
made  them  true  to  their  engagements,  in 
despite  of  rational  prudence.  Open  resist- 
ance was  thus  crushed.  The  failure  of  this 
Quixotic  attempt  tended  on  the  one  hand 
to  extinguish  the  hopes  of  the  deluders,  by 
the  defection  of  those  heretofore  deluded, 
who,  resuming  their  former  habits  of  indus- 
try, in  a  few  days  the  threatened  storm 
passed  over,  and  that  part  of  the  country 
displayed  no  further  signs  of  political  agi- 
tation. 

A  special  commission  being  held  in  the 
different  counties  where  these  treasonable 
acts  had  taken  place ;  all  persons  who  were 
in  custody  were  brought  to  trial :  and,  on 
this  occasion,  though  numerous  sentences 
were  recorded,  the  royal  clemency  evinced 
itself  by  extending  mercy  to  all  but  three. 
One  of  these  had  been  long  known  as  an 
organizer  of  sedition;  the  other  two  had 
been  taken  in  open  resistance,  at  the  affair 
with  the  cavalry  before-mentioned.  The 
execution  of  these  three  delinquents  differ- 
ed materially  from  that  of  Thistlowood  and 
his  coadjutors, — in  as  far  as  the  Scotch  reb- 
els died,  some  of  them  penitent  of  their  po- 


litical guilt,  and  all  of  them  sensibly  af- 
fected with  proper  feelings  of  morality  and 
religion. 

CONDUCT  OF  MINISTRY. 

In  taking  a  retrospect  of  the  many  mo- 
mentous cares  which  occupied  the  attention 
of  ministers;  the  earliest  transaction,  and 
one  which,  from  its  peculiar  delicacy,  ob- 
truded itself  on  the  public  eye,  was  the 
unhappy  prelude  to  those  proceedings 
against  the  consort  of  the  reigning  mon- 
arch, which  afterwards  convulsed  the  king- 
dom from  one  extremity  to  the  other.  After 
advising  the  queen's  name  to  be  omitted  in 
the  liturgy,  which  omission  was  sanctioned 
by  an  order  of  council ;  a  case  of  alleged 
misconduct  out  of  the  realms  was  submit- 
ted to  the  consideration  of  the  crown-law- 
yers, who  gave  it  as  their  decided  opinion, 
that  no  indictment  could  be  supported  on 
these  premised  grounds.  The  solidity  of 
which  opinion  can  be  alone  duly  estimated 
when  treating  hereafter  more  fiilly  on  this 
head. 

GENERAL  ELECTION. 

On  issuing  the  writs  for  the  return  of  in- 
dividuals to  sit  in  parliament,  the  cities  of 
London  and  Westminster  took  the  lead; 
and  during  their  elections,  as  well  as 
throughout  the  kingdom,  every  nerve  was 
strained,  every  influence  used  by  all  parties, 
to  bring  in  those  individuals  whose  after- 
exertions  promised  to  be  most  conducive  to 
their  several  views :  and  as  these  returns 
became  public,  the  characteristics  of  the 
various  members  elected  were  scrutinized, 
and  the  consequent  assemblage  of  the  sen- 
ate looked  for  with  considerable  anxiety  by 
the  great  class  of  the  community. 
NEW  PARLIAMENT. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  April,  the  new 
parliament  began  to  assemble,  till  the  twen- 
ty-third was  occupied  by  the  several  mem- 
bers taking  the  requisite  oaths. — On  that 
day  the  right  honorable  Charles  Manners 
Sutton  was  unanimously  rechosen  as  speaker 
of  the  house  of  commons.  And  on  the 
twenty-seventh,  his  majesty  opened  his  first 
parliament  in  person,  by  delivering  a  gra- 
cious speech  from  the  throne  in  the  follow- 
ing terms : 

KING'S  FIRST  SPEECH. 

"  I  HAVE  taken  the  earliest  occasion  of 
assembling  you  here,  after  having  recurred 
to  the  sense  of  my  people. 

"  In  meeting  you  personally  for  the  first 
time  since  the  death  of  my  beloved  father, 
I  am  anxious  to  assure  you,  that  I  shall  al- 
ways continue  to  imitate  his  great  example, 
in  unceasing  attention  to  the  public  inter- 
ests, and  in  paternal  solicitude  for  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  all  classes  of  my  sub- 
jects. 

"I  have  received  from  foreign  powers 


644 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


renewed  assurances  of  their  friendly  dispo- 
sition, and  of  their  earnest  desire  to  culti- 
vate with  me  the  relations  of  peace  and 
amity. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Commons, 

"  The  estimates  for  the  present  year  will 
be  laid  before  you. 

"  They  have  been  framed  upon  principles 
of  strict  economy ;  but  it  is  to  me  matter 
of  the  deepest  regret,  that  the  state  of  the 
country  has  not  allowed  me  to  dispense  with 
those  additions  to  our  military  force  which 
I  announced  at  the  commencement  of  the 
last  session  of  parliament, 

"  The  first  object  to  which  your  attention 
will  be  directed  is,  the  provision  to  be  made 
for  the  support  of  the  civil  government,  and 
of  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  crown. 

"  I  leave  entirely  at  your  disposal  my  in- 
terest in  the  hereditary  revenues:  and  I 
cannot  deny  myself  the  gratification  of  de 
daring,  that  so  far  from  desiring  any  ar 
rangement  which  might  lead  to  the  impo 
sition  of  new  burdens  upon  my  people,  or 
even  might  diminish,  on  my  account,  the 
amount  of  the  reductions  incident  to  my 
accession  to  the  throne,  I  can  have  no  wish 
under  circumstances  like  the  present,  that 
any  addition  whatever  should  be  made  to 
the  settlement  adopted  by  parliament  in  the 
year  1816. 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

"  Deeply  as  I  regret  that  the  machina- 
tions and  designs  of  the  disaffected  should 
have  led,  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  to 
acts  of  open  violence  and  insurrection,  I 
cannot  but  express  my  satisfaction  at  the 
promptitude  with  which  those  attempts 
have  been  suppressed  by  the  vigilance  and 
activity  of  the  magistrates,  and  by  the  zeal 
ous  co-operation  ef  all  those  of  my  sub' 
jects,  whose  exertions  have  been  called 
forth  to  support  the  authority  of  the  laws. 

"  The  wisdom  and  firmness  manifested 
by  the  late  parliament,  and  the  due  execu 
tion  of  the  laws,  have  greatly  contributed 
to  restore  confidence  tliroughout  the  king 
dom ;  and  to  discountenance  those  princi' 
pies  of  sedition  and  irreligion  which  had 
been  disseminated  with  such  malignant  per 
severance,  and  had  poisoned  the  minds  of 
the  ignorant  and  unwary. 

"I  rely  upon  the  continued  support  of 
parliament  in  my  determination  to  main 
tain,  by  all  the  means  intrusted  to  my 
hand?,  the  public  safety  and  tranquillity. 

"  Deploring,  as  we  all  must,  the  distress 
v^/hich  still  unha.])pily  prevails  among  many 
of  the  laboring  classes  of  the  community, 
und  anxiously  looking  forward  to  its  re- 
moval or  mitigation,  it  is,  in  the  mean  time, 
our  common  duty,  effectually -to  protect  the 
loyal,  the  peaceable,  and  industrious,  against 
those  practices  of  turbulence  and  intimida- 


tion, by  which  the  period  of  relief  can  only 
be  deferred,  and  by  which  the  pressure  of 
the  distress  has  been  incalculably  aggra- 
vated. 

"  I  trust  that  an  awakened  sense  of  the 
dangers  which  they  have  hicurred,  and  of 
the  arts  which  have  been  employed  to  se- 
duce them,  will  bring  back  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  those  who  have  been  un- 
happily led  astray,  and  will  revive  in  them 
that  spirit  of  loyalty,  that  due  submission 
to  the  laws,  and  that  attachment  to  the  con- 
stitution, which  subsist  unabated  in  the 
hearts  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and 
which,  under  the  blessing  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, have  secured  to  the  British  nation 
the  enjoyment  of  a  larger  share  of  practi- 
cal freedom,  as  well  as  of  prosperity  and 
happiness,  than  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any 
other  nation  in  the  world." 

PROCEEDINGS  IN  PARLIAMENT.— LORD 
JOHN  RUSSEL'S  MOTION  ON  ELECTIVE 
FRANCHISE. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  legislature 
referred  to  a  subject  of  vital  import  to  the 
constitution.  Proof  having  been  given  du- 
ring the  preceding  parliament,  that  the  ut- 
most venality  prevailed  in  the  borough  of 
Grampound,  wherein  it  was  substantiated, 
that  the  greater  portion,  nearly  amounting 
to  the  whole,  of  the  electors,  were  in  the 
habit  of  selling  their  votes ;  of  which  of- 
fence several  had  been  convicted ;  lord 
John  Russel,  upon  the  issue  of  these  indict- 
ments, had  brought  forward  a  bill  in  the 
house  of  commons,  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
franchising that  borough,  and  transferring 
the  right  of  election  to  Leeds.  This  im- 
portant measure,  his  lordship  seized  the 
earliest  opportunity  of  pursuing ;  and  the 
necessary  preliminaries  having  been  ad- 
justed, a  second  reading  of  the  bill  was 
moved  on  the  nineteenth  of  May,  though 
scarcely  any  opposition  disclosed  itself 
against  the  deserved  punishments  of  this 
highly  corrupted  borough  : — of  which  one 
of  their  corporate  body,  in  palliation,  made 
use  of  these  remarkable  words :  "  That 
there  'mi^ht  he  perhaps  two  or  three  voters 
who  hod  not  taken  bribes.''^  Yet  in  the 
mode  of  disposing  of  the  franchise,  much 
conflict  of  opinion  arose.  Before  any  dis- 
cussion could  take  place  on  the  essential 
point  of  forfeiture,  eventful  circumstances 
so  completely  engrossed  the  attention  of 
parliament,  that  the  measure  fell  through, 
the  session  havincr  closed,  without  any  final 
decision  on  the  bill  in  question. 

ALLUSION  TO  QUEEN'S  ARRIVAL. 

The  circumstances  referred  to  originated 
in  the  unexpected  arrival  of  her  majesty 
queen  Caroline,  who,  after  several  yeare 
travelling  in  foreign  countries,  now  return- 
ed to  England.     The  general  explosion  of 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


645 


sympathies  excited  by  this  event,  and  the 
ever-to-be-regretted  proceedings  instanta- 
neously following  it,  annihilated  as  it  were 
all  other  matters  of  import,  to  which  the 
attention  of  parliament  was  tributary.  Still, 
as  various  transactions  necessarily  preceded 
this,  we  must  continue  our  parliamentary 
records. 

REVISION  AND  AMENDMENT  OF  CRIMI- 
NAL  CODE. 

In  this  period.  Sir  James  Mackintosh 
distinguished  himself  as  a  philanthropist,  in 
benevolently  devoting  his  time,  and  great 
knowledge  of  jurisprudence,  to  a  renewed 
plan  for  ameliorating  the  system  of  crimi- 
nal laws ; — and  these  exertions,  on  renewal, 
met  with  much  success.  In  the  preceding 
session,  a  committee  had  been  deputed  to 
take  this  important  subject  under  their  con- 
sideration ;  and,  so  far  as  related  to  punish- 
ment of  a  capital  nature,  had  recommended 
considerable  modifications.  Complying  with 
these  suggested  ideas,  on  the  ninth  of  May, 
Sir  James  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  six 
bills  to  amend  our  penal  code.  Three  out 
of  these  six  different  bills,  afler  much 
and  lengthened  discussion,  and  some  alter- 
cation in  the  house  of  peers,  were  finally 
carried  through  both  houses  of  the  legisla- 
ture. Of  these  three  bills,  the  first  was  to 
repeal  the  acts  by  which  stealing  privately 
in  shops  to  the  value  of  forty  shillings  was 
made  a  capital  offence ;  but,  upon  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  lord  chancellor  Eldon,  it  still 
subjected  to  capital  punishment  those  who 
should  privately  steal  in  shops  to  a  value 
exceeding  ten  pounds. 

The  second  bill  which  passed  was  for  the 
repealing  certain  acts  of  parliament,  which 
visited  with  capital  punishment  a  class  of 
actions,  that  were  in  fact  either  no  moral 
offence,  or,  from  their  obsoleteness,  could 
at  most  be  deemed  but  misdemeanors ;  such 
as  rendering  it  a  capital  crime  for  an  Egyp- 
tian to  reside  or  remain  one  year  in  the 
kingdom;  notorious  thieves  residing  in 
Cumberland  or  Northumberland,  was  still 
a  capital  offence  by  the  statute-book ;  as 
was  any  one  being  found  in  disguise  in  the 
mint,  or  for  any  one  injuring  Westminster 
bridge. 

The  third  bill  went  to  repeal  those  clauses 
of  certain  acts  of  parliament  which  consti- 
tuted the  offences  specified  in  them  capital, 
and  which,  by  this  amended  act,  would  be 
converted  from  capital  into  simple  felonies. 
Of  the  offences  thus  modified  were  enu- 
merated the  taking  away  of  any  maid,  wife, 
or  widow,  for  the  sake  of  her  fortune ;  the 
receiving  of  stolen  goods;  the  destroying 
of  trees ;  the  breaking  down  the  banks  of 
rivers;  the  wounding  of  cattle;  sending 
threatening  letters;  and  all  the  capital  of- 
fences created  by  the  bankrupt  laws,  and 


the  marriage  act.  For  these  several  crimes, 
differing  as  they  did  in  consequence,  the 
indiscriminate  punishment  of  death  was  (as 
the  statute-book  stood  then  unrepealed)  still 
the  sentence  of  the  law.  By  this  bill,  with 
certain  exceptions  in  particular  cases,  that 
heaviest  punishment  death  was  now  com- 
muted for  transportation,  imprisonment,  or 
hard  labor,  within  the  discretionary  powers 
of  the  court. 

The  ultimate  success  of  these  bills,  ac- 
companied, as  they  were,  with  the  modifi- 
cations of  the  house  of  peers,  is  a  convinc- 
ing proof,  if  such  were  wanting,  of  the 
progressive  march  of  reason  and  humanity, 
which  in  the  present  time  may  be  looked 
upon  with  complacency  as  the  precursor  of 
more  triumphs  over  prejudices,  however 
inveterate.  England's  criminal  code  had 
too  long  been  disgraced  with  these  atro- 
cious anomalies:  at  length  those  blemishes 
in  the  statute-book  were  beheld,  acknow- 
ledged, and  partially  erased.  Sir  Samuel 
Romilly's  hand  may  be  said  to  have  wiped 
the  first  stains  therefrom  ;  and  his  name 
will  long  be  remembered  by  an  admiring 
posterity,  for  the  perseverance  with  which 
he  attacked  those  prejudices  which  protect- 
ed such  statutes,  and  for  the  strenuous  ef- 
forts he  made,  during  the  whole  of  his  life, 
to  ameliorate  our  criminal  jurisprudence. 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  worthily  pursuing 
the  steps  of  his  predecessor,  and  equally 
zealous  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  must  be 
cheered  by  the  progress  he  has  made  in  so 
righteous  a  cause ;  and  thus  encouraged,  a 
continuation  of  his  labors  will  doubtless  re- 
ward him  by  the  final  accomplishment  of 
his  virtuous  and  benevolent  attempt  The 
attention  given  to  this  subject  by  its  parti- 
sans is  a  source  of  eternal  renown.  Never- 
fading  wreaths  of  civic  honor  should  be  en- 
twined round  the  brows  of  Romilly  and 
Mackintosh — and  the  parliament  of  1820 
will  be  gratefully  hailed  by  every  friend  to 
the  honor  of  his  country,  for  having  passed 
these  laws,  so  much  milder  in  their  import, 
and  beneficial  in  their  influence. 

EDUCATION  OF  THE  POOR. 

Mr.  Brougham,  having  rendered  an  im- 
portant service  to  his  country  in  his  efforts 
to  establish  a  system  for  the  detection  and 
remedy  of  existing  abuses  in  the  manage- 
ment and  appropriation  of  various  charita- 
ble funds  and  establishments,  early  this  ses- 
sion brouofht  forward  a  plan  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  poor.  This  subject,  of  the  ut- 
most importance — embracing  so  much  to 
interest  the  better  feelings  of  society,  and 
opening  so  fine  a  field  for  discussion — was 
not  to  receive  the  desired  concurrence  of 
all  parties.  Accordinsrly  Mr.  Brougham's 
measure  did  not  at  this  period  experience 
the  support  it  needed :  and  having  obtained 


646  HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

leave  to  bring  in  his  bill,  which  was  read 
on  the  eleventh  of  July  for  the  first  time, 
the  measure  unfortunately  fell  to  the  ground, 
STATE  OF  AGRICULTURE. 
The  member  for  Surrey,  Mr.  Holme  Sum- 
ner, moved  for  a  select  committee  to  take 
into  consideration  the  agricultural  state  of 
the  country, — the  table  of  the  house  being 
loaded  with  petitions  from  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  complaining  of  its  agricultural 
distress.  The  general  prayer  of  these  pe- 
titions was  for  some  further  restriction  upon 
the  importation  of  foreign  corn,  under  a 
conviction  that  the  before-mentioned  ca- 
lamity was  much  aggravated  by  the  large 
importations  of  grain  from  different  parts 
of  the  continent.  These  views  of  intended 
relief,  gratifying  as  they  might  be  to  the 
agriculturalists,  were  not  indulged  with 
equal  complacency  by  the  classes  engaged 
in  manufactures  and  general  commerce — 
who,  equally  oppressed  by  the  peculiar 
spirit  of  the  times,  were  loud  in  their  out- 
cries of  distress,  which  could  not  meet  al- 
leviation, but  on  the  contrary  must  expe- 
rience much  increase  by  any  measure,  how- 
ever plausible,  tending  to  raise  the  price  of 
corn.  The  debates  resulting  from  the  mo- 
tion of  the  member  for  Surrey,  occupied 
the  house  for  a  considerable  time ;  and  when 
the  bill  came  to  be  argued,  those  debates 
were  protracted  to  a  considerable  length — 
and  every  minutia  connected  with  the  im- 
portant questions  which  that  motion  in- 
volved, elicited  the  best  endeavors  of  the 
commercial  and  landed  interests;  and  in 
their  conflicting  opinions,  as  well  as  those 
on  both  sides  of  the  house,  great  ability  was 
displayed. 

AFFLICTING  POSITION  OF  PUBLIC 

AFFAIRS. 
Though  this  bill  promised  much,  yet  it 
was  speedily  discovered  that  no  immediate 
remedy  for  existing  evil  could  possibly  be 
devised ;  and  the  only  hope  of  effectually 
removing  the  general  distress  must  arise 
from  the  lenient  hand  of  time — when  a 
continuance  of  peace,  and  a  perseverance 
in  rigid  economy  and  efficient  retrench- 
ment, might  authorize  a  gradual  and  liberal 
diminution  of  taxation,  and  a  general  and 
improved  increase  of  foreign  markets. — 
These  lengthened  discussions  were  humil- 
iating to  national  feeling,  and  painful  to 
humanity,  by  the  statements  adduced  of 
political  and  private  wretchedness,  appa- 
rently irremediable,  which  at  that  time  ex- 
isted in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom.  De- 
preciated as  our  landed  property  was  then 
in  value,  and  darkly  as  the  clouds  impended 
over  our  national  prosperity,  it  yet  was  a 
never-failing  source  of  true  consolation  to 
every  thinking  person,  who  contemplated 
with  a  great  degree  of  satisfaction  the  ex- 


panded views  of  liberal  and  enlightened 
policy  which  actuated  the  greater  mem- 
bers of  ministry  and  opposition,  whilst  ar- 
guing on  these  subjects  of  leading  import. 
And  the  natural  inference  deduced  from 
the  candor  manifested  by  all  parties  was 
such  as  to  warrant  the  well-grounded  hope 
of  the  most  beneficial  results  to  the  real 
interests  of  the  community,  from  the  lauda- 
ble endeavors  of  the  house  in  their  future 
parliamentary  labors. 

PETITION  OF  LONDON  MERCHANTS. 

As  the  period  of  misfortune  will  some- 
times achieve  miracles,  so  the  present  crisis 
produced  a  most  important  petition  from  the 
great  body  of  London  merchants,  enumer- 
ating the  many  and  serious  difficulties  un- 
der which  the  commerce  of  the  country 
labored,  which  was  introduced  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  commons  by  Mr.  A.  Ba- 
ring, preluded  by  an  able  and  well-digest- 
ed speech.  This  petition  possessed,  among 
other  remarkable  features,  the  abandonment 
of  many  ancient  errors  of  the  mercantile 
system,  and  the  consequent  prayer  for  a 
commerce  unrestricted  by  monopoly,  and 
fraught  with  an  entire  freedom  of  trade, 
which  it  recommended,  as  being  most  es- 
sentially conducive  to  promote  individual 
enterprise,  and  national  prosperity. 

WAYS  AND  MEANS  FOR  1820. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  June,  the  chancel- 
lor of  the  exchequer  brought  forward  the 
usual  statement  of  financial  arrangements 
for  the  service  of  the  year.  On  the  subject 
of  the  army  estimates,  its  expenditure, 
which  for  the  year  1819  had  been  taken  at 
eight  million  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  thousand  pounds,  received  an  increase 
of  eight  hundred  and  four  thousand  pounds ; 
which  made  an  aggregate  of  nine  million 
five  hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  pounds, 
a  sum  rendered  necessary  by  the  augment- 
ation of  force  the  situation  of  the  country 
demanded.  The  estimate  of  naval  expen- 
diture also  went  beyond  that  of  the  pre- 
ceding year  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds ;  being  now  calculated  at  six 
million  five  hundred  and  eighty-six  thou- 
sand pounds.  The  sum  total  for  the  service 
of  the  current  year,  including  the  interest 
of  the  national  debt,  was  estimated  at  fifty 
millions  five  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
The  ways  and  means  proposed  to  meet  this 
enormous  charge  upon  the  empire,  were, 
exclusive  of  permanent  revenues,  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  customary  annual  taxes, 
amounting  to  three  million  pounds, — the 
sum  of  two  million  five  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  from  the  produce  of  the  temporary 
excise  duties,  which  had  remained  in  force 
since  the  war, — two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  pounds  arising  from  lottery, — old 
naval  stores,  two  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


C47 


sand  pounds, — a  loan  of  five  million  pounds, 
— seven  million  pounds  of  exchequer-bills 
to  be  funded, — together  with  twelve  million 
pounds,  taken  from  the  sinking  fund.  These 
various  items  comprised  the  budget,  and 
will  be  found  to  form  in  the  aggregate  the 
required  sum,  amounting  to  thirty  million 
pounds. 

DELICATE  SITUATION  OF  THEIR  MAJES- 
TIES. 

The  attention  of  the  legislature  was  now 
aroused,  and  this  posture  of  parliamentary 
affairs  suddenly  arrested,  and  remained  so 
for  a  considerable  lapse  of  time,  being  al- 
most exclusively  devoted  to  the  unhapjjy 
situation  of  their  majesties.  The  reader 
will  remember,  that  reference  has  before 
been  had  to  the  proceedings  which  arose  in 
consequence  of  charges  exhibited  against 
the  queen,  whilst  in  her  subordinate  sta- 
tion, as  princess  of  Wales;  the  consequence 
of  which  proceedings  was  the  full  and  tri- 
umphant exoneration  and  acquittal  of  her 
royal  highness,  coupled  with  the  disgrace 
of  her  accusers.  From  that  period  she  had 
remained  in  great  privacy,  nearly  amount- 
ing to  total  seclusion;  though  afterwards 
when,  in  pursuance  of  the  advice  of  friends, 
or  her  own  inclinations,  she  went  abroad, 
her  mode  of  life  varied,  passing  in  rapid 
succession  through  many  distant  countries. 
Whilst  thus  occupied  in  travelling,  her 
name  wag  seldom  brought  before  the  pub- 
lic ;  and  except  in  the  casual  perusal  of  an 
occasional  extract  from  foreign  newspapers, 
none  seemed  to  remember  her  long  absence 
from  England.  Though  the  million  then 
appeared  so  regardless,  subsequent  disclo- 
sures have  evinced  that  the  conduct  of  her 
royal  highness,  during  her  residence  abroad, 
had  been  visited  with  strict  scrutiny,  and  a 
formal  inquiry  had  been  instituted,  in  or- 
der, if  possible,  to  ascertain  what  belief 
might  be  aflbrded  to  reports  which  had 
spread  about,  in  their  nature  affecting  her 
character  most  materially.  Rumors  of  an 
extremely  prejudicial  complexion  were  cur- 
rent on  the  continent,  charging  the  princess 
of  Wales  with  no  less  a  dereliction  of  her 
high  station,  than  that  of  living  in  a  state 
of  habitual  adultery,  with  an  individual 
whom  she  had  rapidly  raised  from  the  ob- 
scure situation  of  her  courier,  to  that  of  the 
first  post  in  her  household. 

COMMISSION  OF  INQUIRY. 

Av  inquiry  into  the  truth  or  falsehood  of 
so  serious  a  charge  was  now  absolutely  ne- 
cessary. And,  accordingly,  it  appears,  that 
the  English  government  appointed  commis- 
sioners, who  repaired  to  Germany  and  the 
Italian  states,  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
evidence,  touching  those  transactions,  which 
were  so  repeatedly  stated  to  have  occurred. 
The  labors  of  these  commissioners,  in  their 


collecting  of  evidence,  was  not  made  pub- 
lic, nor  were  any  measures  of  publicity 
then  adopted  by  the  government,  arising 
out  of  the  information  obtained  from  the 
Milan  committee. 

MR.  BROUGHAM'S  PROPOSITION  TO 
GOVERNMENT. 

In  consequence  of  these  reported  move- 
ments, it  is  supposed,  in  the  month  of  June, 
1819,  Mr.  Brougham,  the  acknowledged 
legal  adviser  and  confidential  servant  of  the 
princess  of  Wales,  communicated  a  propo- 
sition to  the  earl  of  Liverpool,  then  prime 
minister  to  the  prince-regent,  that  the  in- 
come of  thirty-five  thousand  pounds  per 
annum,  at  that  time  enjoyed  by  her  royal 
highness,  but  which  was  to  expire  at  the 
demise  of  the  late  king,  should,  in  lieu  of 
terminating  at  that  premised  period,  be  se- 
cured to  her  for  her  natural  life ;  and  that 
upon  this  arrangement  taking  place,  the 
princess  should  undertake  to  reside  abroad 
permanently;  and  not  assume,  at  any  fu- 
ture time,  the  title  or  rank  of  queen  of 
England.  This  singular  proposal  was,  at 
the  period,  stated  to  be  made  without  the 
cognizance  or  authority  of  the  princess,  or 
any  knowledge  of  it  on  her  part.  Such 
being  the  circumstances  attending  this  fact, 
government  accordingly  replied,  that  there 
would  be  no  indisposition  on  its  part,  at  the 
proper  epoch,  to  give  due  attention  to  the 
principle  on  which  the  proposal  rested,  pro- 
vided it  received  the  sanction  of  her  roya! 
highness ;  and  in  this  manner  was  that  ne- 
gotiation then  disposed  of 
PROPOSED  COMPROMISE  WITH  QUEEN. 

By  the  accession  of  the  king,  when  de 
facto,  the  princess,  his  consort,  became 
queen  of  England,  it  then  was  imperative, 
that  government  should  decide  upon  the 
line  of  conduct  which  was  to  be  observed 
respecting  her ;  and,  in  their  determina- 
tion, they  appear  to  have  selected  a  mode 
of  compromise,  which,  to  say  nothing  either 
in  extenuation  or  otherwise,  would  at  least 
have  prevented  the  odious  trial  that  after- 
wards took  place.  This  compromise  was 
founded  upon  the  basis  of  Mr.  Brougliam's 
former  proposal,  and  now  required  of  the 
queen  the  quiet  renouncement,  or  a  priori, 
the  non-assumption  of  her  title,  with  her 
permanent  exile  from  the  realm.  Such  a 
serious  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
ministry,  must  have  resulted  from  a  vei^' 
strong,  if  not  thorough,  conviction  on  their 
minds  of  her  majesty's  delinquency ;  with 
a  consequent  persuasion  of  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity for  such  compromise  v.-ith  guilt,  to 
insure  the  paramount  safety  and  welfare  of 
the  constitution  and  the  nation.  Upon 
weaker  grounds  than  these,  it  would  bo 
impossible  to  screen  the  conduct  of  minis- 
ters, by  urging  aught  in  their  defence. 


648 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


That  their  after-measures  were  concerted 
upon,  and  connected  with,  the  decision  to 
refuse  all  public  recognition  of  her  title,  as 
strongly  as  possible,  may  be  gathered  from 
their  very  first  act,  after  the  king's  acces- 
sion ;  when  her  name  as  princess  of  Wales 
was  as  a  preliminary  necessarily  expunged 
from  the  church  liturgy,  and  the  omission 
of  it  in  her  character  of  queen  was,  as  al- 
ready cursorily  mentioned,  wholly  omitted 
by  order  of  council. 

OFFER  OF  FIFTY  THOUSAND  A- YEAR  TO 
QUEEN. 

The  next  step  taken  by  ministers  was  an 
effort  to  obtain  some  declaration  from  her 
majesty,  recognizing  on  her  part  the  same 
principles.  To  effect  this,  Mr.  Brougham 
was  again  applied  to,  and  to  him  a  memo- 
randum was  confided  to  be  communicated 
to  the  queen.  This  memorandum  contain- 
ed the  terras  on  which  government  would 
treat  with  her  majesty,  and  which  was  an 
exact  transcript  of  those  Mr.  Brougham  had 
originated,  save  that  on  the  point  of  allow- 
ance, in  lieu  of  the  thirty-five  thousand 
pounds  proposed  by  him,  it  was  suggested 
to  augment  the  sum  to  fifty  thousand  pounds 
yearly.  The  verbiage  of  which  memoran- 
dum was  as  follows : 

"  15th  April,  1820. 

"  The  act  of  the  54th  George  III.  cap.  160, 
recognized  the  separation  of  the  prince-re- 
gent firom  the  princess  of  Wales,  and  allot- 
ted a  separate  provision  for  the  princess. 
This  provision  was  to  continue  during  the 
life  of  his  late  majesty;  and  to  determine  at 
his  demise.  In  consequence  of  that  event, 
it  has  altogether  ceased,  and  no  provision 
can  be  made  for  her,  until  it  shall  please  his 
majesty  to  recommend  to  parliament  an  ar- 
rangement for  that  purpose. 

"The  king  is  willing  to  recommend  to 
parliament  to  enable  his  majesty  to  settle  an 
annuity  of  fifty  thousand  pounds  a-year  upon 
the  queen,  to  be  enjoyed  by  her  during  her 
natural  life ;  and  in  lieu  of  any  claim  of 
jointure  or  otherwise,  provided  she  will  en- 
gage not  to  come  into  any  part  of  the  British 
dominions,  and  provided  she  engages  to  take 
some  other  name  or  title,  than  that  of  queen ; 
and  not  to  exercise  any  of  the  rights  or  priv- 
ileges of  queen,  other  than  with  respect  to 
the  appointment  of  law-officers,  or  to  any 
proceedings  in  courts  of  justice.  The  an- 
nuity to  cease  upon  the  violation  of  these 
engagements,  namely,  upon  her  coming  into 
any  part  of  the  British  dominions,  or  her 
assuming  the  title  of  queen,  or  her  exercis- 
ing any  of  the  rights  or  privileges  of  queen, 
other  than  above  excepted,  after  the  annuity 
shall  have  been  settled  upon  her.  On  her 
consent  to  an  engagement  on  the  above  con- 
ditions, Mr.  Brougham  is  desired  to  obtain 
a  declaration  to  this  effect,  signed  by  her- 


self, and  at  the  same  time  a  full  authority 
to  conclude  with  such  persons  as  his  majesty 
may  appoint  a  formal  engagement  upon 
these  principles." 

A  fact  no  less  extraordinary  avowed  itself, 
that  this  memorandum  transmitted  to  Mr. 
Brougham,  by  lord  Liverpool,  by  some  fatal- 
ity was  not  communicated  to  her  majesty, 
until,  in  the  course  of  subsequent  proceed- 
ings, some  allusion  being  made  to  it  by  his 
lordship,  in  a  note  addressed  to  the  queen 
on  the  ninth  of  June ;  when  in  her  reply 
thereto,  on  the  next  day,  she  commands  Mr. , 
Brougham  to  state,  "  that  the  memorandum 
of  April  fifteenth,  1820,  which  the  proposi- 
tion made  through  lord  Hutchinson  had  ap- 
peared to  supersede,  has  also  been  now  sub- 
mitted to  her  majesty  for  the  first  time." 

The  proposition  now  alluded  to,  as  made 
through  the  medium  of  lord  Hutchinson, 
arose  from  a  tissue  of  difficulties  and  ex- 
tremely delicate  circumstances,  which  will 
be  dilated  upon  as  the  history  proceeds.  In 
the  interim,  it  is  highly  necessary  and  prop- 
er to  observe,  the  great  distance  at  which 
Mr.  Brougham  was  stationed  from  his  illus- 
trious client,  offered  no  inconsiderable  bar 
to  that  prompt  dispatch,  which  was  so  pe- 
culiarly desirable  to  have  been  observed  on 
an  occasion  of  such  first-rate  importance. 
The  queen,  who  was  engaged  in  a  travel- 
ling excursion,  had  passed  about  three 
months  in  the  French  dominions,  and  on 
quitting  Toulon  on  the  twenty-sixth  Jan<i- 
ary,  had  returned  to  Tuscany  in  the  com- 
mencement of  February.  Up  to  that  period, 
no  official  intimation  was  afforded  her  of  the 
death  of  George  the  Third :  the  only  intel- 
ligence she  had  acquired  upon  that  subject, 
was  from  the  newspapers ;  to  which  channel 
of  information,  she  was  indebted  for  the  ap- 
prisal  that  her  name  had  been  omitted  in 
the  liturgy  of  the  church.  Towards  the 
latter  end  of  the  same  month,  February,  her 
majesty  visited  Rome,  and  upon  her  arrival 
in  that  city,  she  immediately  assumed  her 
title  of  queen  of  England,  demanding,  at  the 
same  time,  a  guard  of  honor  from  the  papal 
government.  Cardinal  Gonsalvi,  in  reply 
to  this  requisition,  stated,  "  that  as  no  com- 
munication on  the  subject  had  been  made  to 
the  papal  government  by  the  king  of  Eng- 
land and  Hanover,  or  his  ministers,  his  holi- 
ness did  not  know  that  the  queen  of  Eng- 
land was  in  Rome,  and  in  consequence  could 
not  grant  her  a  guard  of  honor." 
QUEEN'S  NARRATIVE. 

Incensed  by  this  answer,  her  majesty 
wrote  a  letter  dated  the  sixteenth  March, 
describing  thp  r/umerous  insults  which  she 
stated  as  having  received  from  different 
courts,  which  letter  appeared  in  all  the  Eng- 
lish newspapers  about  the  middle  of  April. 
"  During  my  residence  at  Milan,"  she  ob- 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


649 


serves,  "in  consequence  of  the  infamous 
behavior  of  Mr.  Ompteda,  (he  having  bribed 
my  servants  to  become  the  traducers  of  my 
character,)  one  of  my  English  gentlemen 
challenged  him ;  the  Austrian  government 
sent  off  Mr.  Ompteda.  I  wrote  myself  to 
the  emperor  of  Austria,  requesting  his  pro- 
tection against  spies  who  employed  persons 
to  introduce  themselves  into  my  house,  and 
particularly  into  my  kitchen,  to  poison  the 
dishes  prepared  for  my  table.  1  never  re- 
ceived any  answer  to  this  letter.  After  this 
I  was  obliged  to  go  into  Germany  to  visit 
my  relatives,  the  margravine  of  Baden,  and 
the  margravine  of  Bareuth.  The  shortest 
road  for  my  return  to  Italy  was  through 
Vienna,  and  I  took  that  road  with  the  flat- 
termg  hope  that  the  emperor  would  protect 
me.  Arrived  at  Vienna,  I  demanded  public 
satisfaction  for  the  public  insult  I  had  re- 
ceived in  Lombardy ;  this  was  refused  me, 
and  a  new  insult  was  offered.  The  emperor 
refused  to  meet  me,  or  to  accept  my  visit. 
Lord  Stewart,  the  English  ambassador,  hav- 
ing received  a  letter  from  me  informing  him 
of  my  intention  of  returning  by  Vienna,  and 
of  taking  possession  of  his  house  there,  (as 
it  is  the  custom  of  foreign  ambassadors  to 
receive  their  princesses  into  their  houses 
when  travelling)  absolutely  refused  me  his 
house,  left  the  town,  and  retired  into  the 
country.  Lord  Stewart  afterwards  wrote  a 
very  impertinent  letter  to  me,  which  is  now 
in  Mr.  Canning's  hands,  as  I  sent  it  to  Eng- 
land. Finding  the  Austrian  government  so 
much  influenced  by  the  English  ministers, 
I  sold  my  villa  on  the  lake  of  Como,  and 
settled  myself  quietly  in  the  Roman  estates. 
I  there  met  with  great  civility  for  some 
time,  and  protection  against  the  spy  Mr. 
Ompteda ;  but  from  the  moment  I  became 
queen  of  England,  all  civility  ceased. 

"  Cardinal  Gonsalvi  has  been  much  influ- 
enced since  that  period  by  the  baron  de 
Rydan,  the  Hanoverian  minister,  who  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Ompteda,  deceased.  The  baron 
de  Rydan  has  taken  an  oath  never  to  ac- 
knowledge me  as  queen  of  England ;  and 
persuades  every  person  to  call  me  Caroline 
of  Brunswick.  A  guard  has  been  refused  me 
as  queen,  which  was  granted  to  me  as  prin- 
cess of  Wales,  because  no  communication 
has  been  received  from  the  British  govern- 
ment announcing  me  as  queen.  My  mes- 
senger was  refused  a  passport  to  England. 
I  also  experienced  much  insult  from  the 
court  of  Turin. 

"  Last  year  in  the  month  of  September, 
(I  was  then  travelling  incognito,  under  the 
name  of  the  countess  Oldi,)  I  went  to  the 
confines  of  the  Austrian  estates,  to  the  first 
small  town  belonging  to  the  king  of  Sar- 
dinia, on  my  way  to  meet  Mr.  Brougham 
at  Lyons,  as  the  direct  road  lay  through 

Vol.  IV.  55 


Turin.  I  wrote  myself  to  the  queen  of  Sar- 
dinia, informing  her  that  I  could  not  remain 
at  Turin,  being  anxious  to  reach  Lyons  aa 
soon  as  possible,  and  also  that  I  was  travel- 
ling incognito ;  I  received  no  answer  to  this 
letter.  The  postmaster  at  Bronio,  the  small 
post-town  near  the  villa  where  I  then  re- 
sided, absolutely  refused  me  post-horses ;  in 
consequence  of  this  refusal,  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Hill,  the  English  minister  at  Turin,  de- 
manding immediate  satisfaction,  and  the 
reason  of  such  an  insult.  Mr.  Hill  excused 
himself  upon  the  plea  of  its  being  a  misun- 
derstanding; and  told  me  that  post-horses 
should  be  in  readiness  whenever  I  should 
require  them.  I  accordingly  set  out,  and 
arranged  to  go  through  the  town  of  Turin 
at  night,  and  only  to  stop  to  change  horses, 
but  I  received  positive  orders  not  to  go 
through  the  town,  but  to  proceed  by  a  very 
circuitous  road,  which  obliged  me  to  travel 
almost  the  whole  night  in  very  dangerous 
roads,  and  prevented  me  from  reaching  the 
post-town  (where  I  should  have  passed  the 
night)  till  five  in  the  morning,  when,  by 
going  through  Turin,  I  might  have  reached 
it  by  t«n  at  night. 

"  Finding  so  much  difficulty  attending  my 
travelling,  I  thought  the  most  proper  mode 
for  me  to  pursue  would  be  to  acquaint  the 
high  personages  of  my  intention  of  passing 
the  winter  at  Lyons,  or  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Lyons,  previous  to  my  intended  return  to 
England  in  the  spring.  I  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  French  minister  for  foreign  affairs, 
informing  him  of  my  intentions,  and  also 
that  I  wished  to  preserve  the  strictest  in- 
cognito. No  notice  was  taken  of  this  letter ; 
and  one  addressed  to  the  prefect  of  Lyons 
met  with  like  contempt.  In  fact,  from  the 
seventh  October  to  the  twenty-sixth  Janu- 
ary, the  day  I  embarked  from  Toulon  for 
Leghorn,  I  received  so  much  insult  from 
the  governor  and  prefect,  that  I  almost  con- 
sidered my  life  in  danger,  unprotected  as  I 
then  was  in  such  a  country.  Another  mo- 
tive induced  me  to  leave  it.  Mr.  Brougham 
could  not  fix  the  period  for  meeting  me  any- 
where in  France. 

"I  have  written  to  lord  Liverpool  and 
lord  Castlereagh  demanding  to  have  my 
name  inserted  in  the  liturgy  of  the  church 
of  England  ;  and  that  orders  be  given  to  all 
British  ambassadors,  ministers,  and  consuls, 
that  I  should  be  received  and  acknowledged 
as  the  queen  of  England;  and  after  the 
speech  made  by  lord  Castlereagh  in  the 
house  of  commons  in  answer  to  Mr.  Brough- 
am, I  do  not  expect  to  receive  further  in- 
sult. I  have  also  demanded  that  a  palace 
may  be  prepared  for  my  reception.  Eng- 
land is  my  real  home,  to  which  I  shall  im- 
mediately fly.  I  have  dismissed  my  Italian 
court,  retaining  only  a  sufficient  number  of 


650 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


persons  to  conduct  me  to  England  ;  and  if 
Buckingham  house,  Marlborough  house,  or 
any  other  palace  is  refused  me,  I  shall, take 
a  house  in  the  country  till  my  friends  can 
fi^d  a  house  for  me  in  London.  I  have  sent 
a  messenger  to  England  to  make  the  proper 
arrangements  for  that  purpose." 

The  letter  addressed  on  this  occasion  to 
lord  Liverpool,  was  as  follows : 

"  Rome,  16th  March,  1820. 
"  The  queen  wishes  to  be  informed  through 
the  medium  of  lord  Liverpool,  first  minister 
to  the  king,  for  what  reason  or  motive  the 
queen's  name  is  left  out  of  the  general 
prayers,  with  a  view  to  prevent  all  her  sub- 
jects from  paying  her  such  respect  as  is  due 
to  her.  And  it  is  an  equally  great  omission 
towards  the  king,  that  his  consort-queen 
should  be  obliged  to  submit  to  such  neglect, 
as  if  the  archbishop  was  in  perfect  ignorance 
of  the  real  existence  of  the  queen  Caroline 
of  England.  The  queen  is  desirous  that 
lord  Liverpool  should  communicate  this  let 
ter  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Lord 
Liverpool  will  with  difficulty  believe  how 
much  the  queen  was  surprised  at  this  first 
act  of  cruel  tyranny  towards  her ;  since  she 
had  been  informed  through  the  newspapers 
of  the  twenty-second  February ,  that,  in  the 
course  of  the  debates  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, lord  Castlereagh,  one  of  his  best 
friends,  assured  the  queen's  attorney-general 
tliat  the  king's  servants  would  not  use  to- 
wards the  queen  any  inattention  or  harsh- 
ness. And  after  that  speech  of  lord  Castle- 
reagh the  queen  is  surprised  to  find  her 
name  left  out  of  the  liturgy,  as  if  she  no 
longer  existed  in  this  world.  The  queen 
trusts  before  she  arrives  in  England  these 
matters  will  be  corrected,  and  that  she  will 
receive  a  satisfactory  answer  from  lord 
Liverpool. 

"  Caroline,  Queen." 

HER  MAJESTY'S  PROGRESS. 
The  diffusive  publication  of  these  letters 
naturally  excited  a  general  idea  that  her 
majesty  would  instantly  shape  her  course  for 
England :  it  was  confidently  asserted  that  her 
majesty  was  rapidly  proceeding  thither;  and 
even  the  public  journals  so  far  lent  them- 
selves to  busy  rumor  as  to  announce  that 
she  had  reached  Calais,  and  would  "  be  in 
Dover  on  the  following  day,  the  nineteenth 
of  April."  Concurring  reasons,  however, 
induced  her  majesty  to  prolong  her  visit  at 
Rome,  so  that  she  did  not  arrive  until  the 
ninth  of  the  next  month  at  Geneva.  At 
that  place  she  dispatched  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Brougham,  requiring  his  immediate  attend- 
ance, either  there,  or  at  one  of  the  French 
sea.-ports.  Upon  the  arrival  of  these  dis- 
patches from  her  majesty,  a  consultation  was 
held  in  London  by  Messrs.  Brougham  and 


Denman,  aided  by  others  the  friends  of  the 
queen,  the  result  of  which  deliberation  was, 
an  humble  request  from  Mr.  Brougham  that 
her  majesty  would,  without  any  loss  of  time, 
repair  to  Calais;  from  whence  she  would 
easily  hold  communications  with  the  shores 
of  England — it  being  at  that  juncture  ut- 
terly impossible  to  foretell  in  how  many  and 
various  points  it  might  be  requisite  for  her 
law  officers  to  have  access  to,  or  consult 
the  queen  respecting  her  wishes  and  views. 

Pursuant  to  this  advice  her  majesty  quit- 
ted Geneva,  directing  Mr.  Brougham  to 
meet  her,  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  May,  at 
St.  Omers.  To  further  this  interview,  the 
queen  proceeded  to  Dijon,  and  from  thence 
to  Montebard,  where  she  was  joined  by  Mr. 
Wood,  an  alderman,  and  one  of  the  repre- 
sentatives in  parliament  for  the  city  of  Lon- 
don. This  gentleman  was  a  great  favorite, 
and  highly  popular  among  the  working 
classes  and  the  lower  orders  of  the  people ; 
and  his  name  will  often  recur,  as  well  as 
that  of  Lady  Anne  Hamilton,  who  had 
formerly  belonged  to  her  majesty's  house- 
hold, and  who  now  at  the  same  place  hast- 
ened to  rejoin  her. 

Whatever  might  be  the  representations 
made  by  these  new  attendants,  or  whatever 
views  this  enlargement  of  her  suite  might 
elicit,  is  still  involved  in  mystery :  yet  it 
was  obvious  to  those  who  had  paid  attention 
to  her  movements — which,  prior  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  these  individuals,  had  been  slow 
and  apparently  of  uncertain  character — 
that  a  fresh  impetus  seems  to  have  resulted 
from  their  arrival,  as  thenceforward  the 
queen  pursued  her  route  in  a  more  rapid  and 
determined  manner.  On  the  twenty-ninth 
she  arrived  at  Villeneuve  le  Roi,  from 
whence  her  majesty  wrote  two  letters,  one 
addressed  to  the  duke  of  York — the  con- 
tents of  which  never  met  the  public  eye — 
the  other  to  lord  Liverpool,  declaring  her 
intention  of  being  in  London  in  five  days ; 
desiring  that  a  royal  yacht  should  be  in 
readiness  for  her  at  Calais,  the  port  she  pro- 
posed embarking  from ;  and  that  a  residence 
should  be  prepared  for  her  temporary  or 
more  permanent  habitation.  By  the  same 
dispatch  Lady  Anne  Hamilton  addressed  a 
letter,  in  her  majesty's  name,  to  the  first 
lord  of  the  admiralty,  lord  Melville,  request- 
ing him  to  give  the  necessary  orders  that 
one  of  the  royal  yachts  should  be  in  attend- 
ance at  Calais,  at  the  latest,  on  the  third  of 
June.  The  promptitude  of  these  wishes 
and  determinations  clearly  evidenced  that 
her  majesty  seemed  to  have  viewed  her  sit- 
uation in  a  different  point  than  heretofore ; 
for  the  courier  who  bore  her  commands  to 
Mr.  Brougham  to  attend  upon  her  at  St. 
Omers,  where  she  had  resolved  to  wait  for 
him,  could  barely  reach  London  sooner  than 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


651 


Wednesday  or  Thursday,  and  Mr.  Brough- 
am's arrival  at  St.  Omer's  could  not  by  any 
possibility  be  effected  at  the  earliest  before 
Friday ;  and  yet  her  majesty  apprized  lord 
Liverpool  with  her  full  intention  to  be  in 
London  on  the  Saturday.  Mr.  Brougham 
reached  Dover,  on  his  road  to  attend  her 
majesty,  on  Friday ;  and  on  the  same  day 
again  departed  for  St.  Omers,  accompanied 
by  lord  Hutchinson :  at  this  place  they  ar- 
rived on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  and 
took  up  their  abode  at  different  hotels. 
MISSION  OF  LORD  HUTCHINSON. 

This  nobleman,  who  went  in  company 
with  Mr.  Brougham  to  St.  Omers,  had  been 
formerly  one  of  the  queen's  friends,  and 
was  at  that  time  in  the  confidence  of  the 
king.  The  mission  confided  to  him  was  of 
a  highly  delicate  nature,  and  one  which  de- 
manded great  judgment  and  much  discre- 
tion to  discharge  it  properly.  The  minis- 
ters of  the  king  having  determined  upon 
the  evidence,  which  had  been  now  for  some 
length  of  time  in  their  possession,  had  re- 
solved that  the  queen  could  never  be  re- 
ceived in  England  with  the  dignified  hon- 
ors attendant  upon  her  royal  station ;  and 
being  anxious,  upon  every  consideration,  to 
avert  the  necessity  of  bringing  such  evi- 
dence before  the  public  eye,  they  to  the 
latest  moment  indulged  the  hope,  that  her 
majesty  would  ultimately  be  induced  to  con- 
sent to  rcraahiing  abroad  in  a  state  of  in- 
cognito, sooner  than  risk  the  alternative  of 
the  disclosures  in  their  power  to  make. 

The  communication  which  Mr,  Brougham 
had  been  directed  to  submit  to  the  queen 
on  this  subject,  so  long  back  as  April  the 
fifteenth,  was  understood  by  ministers  as 
forming  the  basis  of  that  gentleman's  nego- 
tiation, whenever  he  should  have  a  per- 
sonal interview  with  her  majesty ;  and  the 
duty  lord  Hutchinson  was  commanded  to 
undertake  was  to  be  considered  as  wholly 
unnecessary  to  be  proceeded  in,  in  the 
event  of  a  successful  issue  to  the  proposi- 
tion from  the  queen's  own  advocate.  As  a 
ne  plus  ultm  in  the  possible,  but  scarcely 
anticipated,  rejection  of  overtures,  on  the 
part  of  the  queen — overtures  which  the 
members  of  government  had  at  least  per- 
suaded themselves  met  with  no  opponent, 
in  her  legal  adviser,  and  attorney-general ; 
— to  meet,  however,  such  extreme  case, 
"lord  Hutchinson  was  directed  to  present 
himself  to  her  majesty,  and  in  considera- 
tion of  her  former  friendship,  and  also  in 
virtue  of  his  situation  as  the  friend  of  the 
king,  he  was  empowered,  as  tlie  last  re- 
source on  the  part  of  the  ministry,  as  well 
as  being  an  act  of  justice  due  to  the  queen 
herself,  to  impress  upon  her  in  the  most 
urgent  manner  the  important  resolve  which 
government  liad  been  compelled  to  take ; 


and  to  convince  her  that  no  other  alterna- 
tive remained,  if  she  persisted  in  her  de- 
termination of  landing  in  England,  than  to 
exhibit  against  her  a  public  accu.sation  of 
adultery.  A  mysterious  veil  has  to  the 
present  moment  shrouded  this  important 
period  of  the  history  of  the  unfortunate 
queen — the  introduction  of  lord  Hutchin- 
son to  her  majesty  by  Mr.  Brougham  ; 
which  took  place  immediately  on  their  ar- 
rival, and  before  the  official  communication 
intrusted  to  the  queen's  advocate  had  been 
presented  to  her,  is  an  event  that  has  never 
been  elucidated,  though  it  is  well  known 
such  was  the  extraordinary  course  that  was 
unhappily  pursued. 

Her  majesty  had  reached  St.  Omers  the 
day  before  the  arrival  of  Mr,  Brougham, 
who  waited  upon  her  without  delay,  and  at 
once  informed  her  that  lord  Hutchinson  had 
come  in  the  spirit  of  former  friendship  to 
make  some  proposals  to  her  in  the  name  of 
the  king.  Her  reply  was,  that  she  would 
be  happy  to  receive  him;  and  in  conse- 
quence his  lordship  was  immediately  intro- 
duced. A  situation  more  embarrassing  than 
that  of  lord  Hutchinson,  at  such  a  moment, 
can  scarcely  be  conceived  ;  for  it  appears, 
that  although  he  remained  for  some  time 
with  her  majesty,  no  conversation  arose, 
except  upon  topics  wholly  foreign  to  the 
intended  purpose  of  the  meeting.  Her  ma- 
jesty could  not  well  be  expected  to  com- 
mence such  a  subject;  and  his  lordship,  of 
course,  could  not  allude  to  it  himself  As 
the  part  specifically  assigned  to  his  per- 
formance, was  not  to  be  entered  upon,  till 
he  was  apprized  that  a  complete  failure  had 
attended  the  negotiation  of  Mr.  Brougham, 
from  whom,  on  the  following  day,  lord 
Hutchinson  received  this  note  : — 

"  Mr.  Brougham  having  humbly  submit- 
ted to  the  queen,  that  he  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  lord  Hutchinson  had  brought  over 
a  proposition  from  the  king  to  her  majesty, 
the  queen  has  been  pleased  to  command 
Mr.  Brougham  to  request  lord  Hutchinson 
to  communicate  any  such  proposition  as 
soon  as  possible  in  writing.  The  bearer  of 
this,  (count  Vassali)  will  wait  to  receive  it 
from  your  lordship. 
"June  4th,  1820." 

To  this  lottl  Hutchinson  sent  a  written 
answer,  stating  that  his  lordship  had  no 
written  proposals  in  his  possession,  but 
merely  some  scattered  memoranda  on  scraps 
of  paper.  Mr,  Brougham  instantly  returned 
the  following  reply : — 

"Mr.  Brougham  is  commanded  by  tlie 
queen  to  express  to  lord  Hutchinson  her 
majesty's  surprise  at  his  lordship  not  being 
ready  to  state  the  terms  of  the  proposition 
of  which  lie  is   t!ie  bearer;    but  as  lord 


652 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Hutchinson  is  desirous  of  a  few  hours'  de- 
lay, her  majesty  will  wait  until  five  o'clock, 
in  the  expectation  of  receiving  a  commu- 
nication from  his  lordship  at  that  hour. 
"  Two  o'clock,  4th  June,  1820." 

At  five  o'clock,  Mr.  Brougham  received 
the  answer  as  follows : — 

"  Sir — In  obedience  to  the  commands  of 
the  queen,  I  have  to  inform  you  that  I  am 
not  in  possession  of  any  proposition  or  pro- 
positions detailed  in  a  specific  form  of 
words,  which  I  could  lay  before  her  majes- 
ty ;  but  I  can  detail  to  you  for  her  informa- 
tion the  substance  of  many  conversations 
held  with  lord  Liverpool.  His  majesty's 
ministers  propose  that  fifty  thousand  pounds 
per  annum  should  be  settled  on  the  queen 
for  life,  subject  to  such  conditions  as  the 
king  may  impose.  I  have  also  reason  to 
know  that  the  conditions  likely  to  be  im- 
posed by  his  majesty  are,  that  the  queen  is 
not  to  assume  the  style  and  title  of  queen 
of  England,  or  any  title  attached  to  the 
royal  family  of  England.  A  condition  is 
also  to  be  attached  to  this  grant,  that  she  is 
not  to  reside  in  any  part  of  the  united 
kingdom,  or  even  to  visit  England.  The 
consequence  of  such  a  visit  will  be  an  im- 
mediate message  to  parliament,  and  an  en- 
tire end  to  all  compromise  and  negotiation. 
I  believe  that  there  is  no  other  condition — 
I  am  sure  none  of  any  importance.  I  think 
it  right  to  send  to  you  an  extract  of  a  let- 
ter from  lord  Liverpool  to  me ;  his  words 
are: — 'It  is  material  that  her  majesty 
should  know  confidentially,  that  if  she 
should  be  so  ill-advised  as  to  come  over  to 
this  country,  there  must  be  then  an  end  to 
all  negotiation  and  compromise.''  The  de- 
cision, I  may  say,  is  taken  to  proceed  against 
Jier  as  soon  as  she  sets  her  foot  on  the  Brit- 
ish shores. 

"I  cannot  conclude  this  letter  without 
my  humble,  though  serious  and  sincere 
supplication,  that  her  majesty  will  take 
these  propositions  into  her  most  calm  con- 
sideration, and  not  act  with  any  hurry  or 
precipitation  on  so  important  a  subject.  I 
hope  that  my  advice  will  not  be  misinter- 
preted. I  can  have  no  possible  interest 
which  would  induce  me  to  give  fallacious 
counsel  to  the  queen.  But  let  the  event  be 
what  it  may,  I  shall  console  myself  with 
the  reflection,  that  I  have  performed  a  pain- 
ful duty  imposed  upon  me,  to  the  best  of 
my  judgment  and  conscience,  and  in  a  case, 
in  the  decision  of  which  the  king,  the 
queen,  the  government,  and  the  people  of 
England  are  materially  interested.  Having 
done  so,  I  fear  neither  obloquy  nor  misre- 
presentation. I  certainly  should  not  have 
wished  to  have  brought  matters  to  so  pre- 
cipitate a  conclusion ;  but  it  is  her  majes- 


ty's decision  and  not  mine.    I  am  conscious 
that  I  have  performed  my  duty  towards  her 
with  every  possible  degree  of  feeling  and 
delicacy.    I  have  been  obliged  to  make  use 
of  your  brother's  hand,  as  I  write  with  pain 
and  difficulty,  and  the  queen  has  refused  to 
give  any,  even  the  shortest  delay. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be.  Sir, 
"With  great  regard, 
"  Your  most  obedient, 
"  Humble  servant, 

"  HUTCmNSON." 

SUDDEN  DEPARTURE  OF  HER  MAJESTY 
FROM  ST.  OMERS. 

Immediately  on  the  perusal  of  this  let- 
ter by  the  queen;  at  her  request,  Mr. 
Brougham  made  the  following  answer  in 
writing : — 

"Mr.  Brougham  is  commanded  by  the 
queen  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  lord 
Hutchinson's  letter;  and  to  inform  his  lord- 
ship, that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  her  ma- 
jesty to  listen  to  such  a  proposition. 

"  Five  o'clock,  4th  June,  1820." 

A  very  few  minutes  had  elapsed,  after 
this  communication,  when  the  queen  ab- 
ruptly left  Mr.  Brougham,  and  stepping 
into  her  carriage,  it  was  ordered  to  drive 
off"  with  the  utmost  speed.  So  sudden  and 
unexpected  was  this  departure  of  her  ma- 
jesty, that  Mr.  Brougham  wa«  scarcely  sen- 
sible that  she  had  quitted  the  room,  till  he 
beheld  her  in  the  carriage,  and  departing, 
as  he  was  standing  at  the  window. 

The  motive  which  induced  this  strange 
conduct  on  the  part  of  the  queen,  was  as- 
cribed to  a  sudden  suspicion  which  assailed 
her,  and  which  she  did  not  think  it  consist- 
ent with  prudence,  to  communicate  even 
to  her  attorney-general.  A  very  short  time 
previous  thereto,  it  had  been  cursorily  men- 
tioned by  lord  Hutchinson,  that  he  expect- 
ed a  courier  every  instant  to  arrive  from 
Paris.  This  casual  observation  led  her  ma- 
jesty to  conceive  the  erroneous  notion,  that 
hostility  must  be  the  intended  object  of  this 
courier,  from  a  court  which  had  invariably 
manifested  a  marked  disrespect  in  its  mea- 
sures toward  her,  and  that  as  a  climax,  it 
might  probably  end  in  an  interception  of 
her  journey,  by  the  agency  of  France.  She 
therefore  instantly  embracing  this  idea, 
took  the  resolution  of  setting  off"  with  such 
celerity,  lest  the  delay  of  a  few  minutes 
might  beget  time  for  the  arrival  of  a  mes- 
senger, fraught  with  powers  to  refuse  her 
the  means  of  travelling  unrestrained  ;  and 
influenced  by  this  apprehension,  she  lost  no 
time  in  hurrying  on  board  an  English 
packet-boat  the  moment  she  reached  the 
port  of  Calais.  This  courier  to  whom  lord 
Hutchinson  alluded,  had  been  dispatched  to 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


653 


Paris  with  letters  to  his  lordship's  nephew, 
at  that  time  residing  there,  requesting  him 
to  hasten  to  St.  Omers  to  assist  him,  in  case 
of  necessity,  as  his  confidential  amanuensis. 

At  the  very  moment  when  her  majesty, 
swayed  by  this  panic,  was  hurrying  away, 
lord  Hutchinson  was  employed  in  writing 
the  following  letter,  which,  after  the  queen's 
departure,  was  delivered  to  Mr.  Brougham : 
"St.  Omers, j^De  o'clock, 
4th  June,  1820. 

*'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  should  wish  that  you 
would  enter  into  a  more  detailed  explana- 
tion ;  but  to  show  you  my  anxious  and  sin- 
cere wish  for  an  accommodation,  I  am  will- 
ing to  send  a  courier  to  England  to  ask  for 
further  instruction,  provided  her  majesty 
will  communicate  to  you  whether  any  part 
of  the  proposition  which  I  have  made  would 
be  acceptable  to  her  ;  and  if  there  is  any- 
thing which  she  may  wish  to  offer  to  the 
English  government  on  her  part,  I  am  will- 
ing to  make  myself  the  medium  through 
which  it  may  pass. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

"  Hutchinson." 

This  letter  was  dispatched  immediately 
to  her  majesty  in  an  inclosure  from  Mr. 
Brougham,  and  was  received  on  board  by 
alderman  Wood ;  but  as  her  majesty  was 
then  laid  down  and  asleep,  a  couple  of  hours 
elapsed  ere  an  opportunity  presented  itself 
for  delivering  it  to  her  hands.  Having  pe- 
rused it,  her  majesty  desired  the  alderman 
to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  it,  and  to  add 
thereto,  that  she  saw  no  reason  for  altering 
the  course  adopted  by  her. 

The  individual  with  whom  the  crime  of 
adultery  was  alleged  to  have  taken  place 
so  repeatedly,  was  named  Bartolomeo  Ber- 
gami;  and  he  having  accompanied  her 
majesty  as  far  as  to  St.  Omers,  there  re- 
({uested  permission  to  withdraw  his  further 
services,  and  received  his  dismission  in  con- 
sequence. Mr.  Brougham  still  remained  at 
St.  Omers ;  and  the  only  persons  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  queen,  at  the  period  of  her 
embarking  for  England,  with  the  exception 
of  menial  servants,  were  her  protege  Mr. 
William  Austin,  of  whom  so  much  surmise 
has  taken  place,  lady  Anne  Hamilton,  al- 
derman Wood,  and  his  son. 

LANDING  OF  QUEEN  CAROLINE  IN  ENG- 
LAND. 
On  Tuesday  the  sixth  of  June,  at  one 
o'clock,  after  an  absence  of  six  years,  her 
majesty  set  foot  once  more  on  the  shores  of 
Britain.     The  queen  was  received,  on  her 
landing  at  Dover,  with  the  most  heartfelt 
expressions  of  joy,  and  demonstrations  of 
welcome,  by  myriads  of  people,  who  had 
assembled  on  the  beach  to  hail  her  return 
to  England.     A  triumphal  procession  was 
55* 


arranged,  preceded  by  a  variety  of  flags 
with  inscriptions  appropriate  to  the  occa- 
sion, from  the  place  of  landing  to  the  prin- 
cipal inn.  She  left  Dover  at  half-past  six 
in  the  evening,  and  slept  that  night  at  Can- 
terbury; which  place,  after  receiving  the 
compliments  of  the  corporation,  she  quitted 
the  next  morning,  and,  anxious  to  proceed, 
arrived  in  London  that  afternoon. 

Prior  to  the  queen  leaving  Dover,  she  re- 
ceived an  address  from  the  inhabitants,  con- 
gratulating her  on  her  reaching  this  country, 
as  well  as  on  her  accession  to  the  throne, 
as  queen-consort.  Her  answer  was  gracious, 
dignified,  and  appropriate  to  her  new  situa- 
tion. She  expressed  her  unfeigned  delight 
in  once  more  being  united  with  so  generous 
and  noble  a  nation ;  and  her  hope  that  the 
time  would  come,  when  she  would  be  per- 
mitted to  promote  the  happiness  of  ^  Aiw- 
hand's  subjects. 

On  each  part  of  the  road  her  progress 
was  marked,  and  her  presence  greeted  by 
the  congregated  masses  of  people,  with 
every  unequivocal  testimony  of  devotion, 
and  every  demonstration  of  triumph  and 
joy  that  time  and  possibility  could  achieve. 
On  her  nearer  approach  to  the  capital,  the 
cavalcade  which  preceded  her  carriage  in- 
creased to  such  a  surprismg  extent,  that  it 
might  be  thought  a  nation  of  cavaliers, 
winged  with  the  spirit  of  ancient  chivalry, 
had  flown  to  congratulate  her  arrival,  and 
become  her  escort ;  whilst  the  metropolis, 
at  the  same  time,  poured  forth  its  million 
from  all  quarters,  so  as  actually  to  retard 
the  procession.  The  queen  having  finally 
resolved  to  take  up  her  temporary  residence 
at  the  dwelling  of  alderman  Wood,  in  South 
Audley  street,  the  growing  cavalcade  took 
the  route  up  Pall  Mall,  passing  the  king's 
palace  with  shouts  of  triumphant  exultation, 
and  at  last  gained  the  alderman's  house; 
at  which  place  her  majesty  alighted,  and 
subsequently  came  forward,  at  the  loud  and 
reiterated  request  of  the  immense  concourse, 
to  the  balconies  of  the  house — and  by  this, 
and  other  acts  of  condescension,  testified  the 
grateful  sense  she  entertained  of  the  rap- 
turous reception  which  she  had  met  with 
during  her  journey.  Long  after  the  queen 
had  withdrawn  from  the  wmdows,  and  even 
during  the  chief  part  of  the  night,  multi- 
tudes of  the  lower  classes  still  remained 
collected  around  the  house,  discussing  the 
events  of  the  day :  illuminations  were  called 
for,  with  no  small  voice,  in  the  neighboring 
streets;  and  complied  with,  by  many  from 
a  spirit  of  real  exultation,  and  otiiers  from 
the  dread  of  refusing  what  the  clamors  of 
the  populace  demanded,  made  darkness  visi- 
ble, so  that  the  illumination  became  general 
— but  not  before  the  committal  of  divew 
outrages  had  taken  place. 


654 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


If  the  queen's  friends  were  thus  on  the 
alert,  no  supineness  could  be  ascribed  to  the 
ministers  of  the  king,  as  during  this  her 
majesty's  triumphant  progress  they  had 
been  engaged  in  deliberations  upon  the 
measures  which  her  sudden  and  almost  un- 
expected arrival  in  England  rendered  it 
expedient  for  them  to  pursue.  Intelligence 
had  been  received  by  them  of  the  queen's 
positive  refusal  to  negotiate  on  the  evening 
of  Monday  the  fifth  of  June,  at  which  time 
they  were  also  informed  of  her  embarkation 
at  Calais.  A  cabinet  council  was  held  at 
lord  Liverpool's  house,  on  the  same  night, 
which  assembled  at  nine  o'clock,  and  con- 
tinued till  past  twelve  in  close  conference. 
The  ministers  resumed  their  deliberations 
the  next  morning,  and  protracted  them  till 
near  one  ;  adjourning  only  for  the  dispatch 
of  other  business  till  half-past  nine  the  same 
night.  During  the  interval  of  this  adjourn- 
ment, the  two  houses  of  parliament  assem- 
bled at  their  usual  hour,  and  the  king  went 
in  state  to  the  house  of  lords  about  two 
o'clock,  and  gave  the  royal  assent  to  several 
bills,  including  the  civil-list  bill,  which  had 
then  first  passed. 
THE  KING'S  MESSAGE  TO  PARLIAMENT. 

Immediately  afterwards  lord  Liverpool 
brought  down  the  subsequent  message  from 
the  king,  which  was  read  from  the  wool- 
sack by  the  lord  chancellor  Eldon : 

"  George  R. 

"  The  king  thinks  it  necessary,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  arrival  of  the  queen,  to  com- 
municate to  the  house  of  lords  certain  papers 
respecting  the  conduct  of  her  majesty  since 
her  departure  from  this  kingdom,  which  he 
recommends  to  the  immediate  and  serious 
attention  of  this  house. 

"  The  king  has  felt  the  most  anxious  de- 
sire to  avert  the  necessity  of  disclosures 
and  discussions,  which  must  be  as  painful 
to  his  people  as  they  can  be  to  himself;  but 
the  step  now  taken  by  the  queen  leaves  him 
no  alternative. 

"  The  king  has  the  fullest  confidence, 
that  in  consequence  of  this  communication, 
the  house  of  lords  will  adopt  that  course  of 
proceeding  which  the  justice  of  the  case, 
and  the  honor  and  dignity  of  his  majesty's 
crown,  may  require." 

Lord  Liverpool  then  laid  on  the  table  the 
papers  referred  to  in  his  majesty's  message, 
contained  in  a  green  bag  ;  and  his  lordship 
proposed  that  his  majesty's  message  should 
be  taken  into  consideration  on  the  following 
day,  when  he  meant  to  move  an  address 
upon  it  "  The  terms  of  the  address,"  his 
lordship  observed,  "  would  be  such  as  not 
to  pledge  their  lordships  to  anything  fur- 
ther than  to  thank  his  majesty  for  his  com- 


munication, and  to  assure  him,  that  their 
lordships  would  adopt  that  course  of  pro- 
ceeding which  the  justice  of  the  case  and 
the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  crown  should 
appear  to  require."  His  lordship  added — 
"  that  he  should  then  move  to  refer  the 
papers  he  had  laid  on  the  table  to  a  secret 
committee,  having  for  its  object  to  inquire 
whether  any,  and  what  course  of  proceeding 
should  be  adopted." 

The  same  message  from  the  king,  accom- 
panied by  a  duplicate  bag  of  papers,  was 
carried  to  the  house  of  commons  by  lord 
Castlereagh ;  who  stated  that  he  should  pur- 
sue precisely  the  same  procedures  as  those 
which  lord  Liverpool  had  announced  in  the 
upper  house. 

The  notification  of  lord  Liverpool  origin- 
ated no  discussion ;  but  immediately  upon 
this  motion  of  lord  Castlereagh  being  put 
by  the  speaker,  Mr.  Grey  Bennett  com- 
menced an  attack,  by  assailing  the  conduct 
of  ministers;  in  which  he  demanded  to 
know,  whether  a  letter,  which  had  appeared 
in  a  public  journal,  purporting  to  be  a  letter 
from  lord  Hutchinson  to  Mr.  Brougham,  was 
a  genuine  document  or  not]  Whether  lord 
Hutchinson  had  been  instructed  by  his  ma- 
jesty's ministers  to  tender  to  the  queen  a 
proposal,  that  she  should  renounce  all  right, 
title,  and  claim  to  the  name,  dignity,  and 
honors  of  queen  of  England?  And  whether 
the  bribe  offered  her  for  making  this  renun- 
ciation was  an  income  of  fifty  thousand 
a-year  as  stated  therein  1  Lord  Castlereagh, 
in  a  vein  of  irony,  replied,  that  "  out  of  ten- 
derness to  the  honorable  gentleman,  and 
with  a  view  to  allow  him  time  to  reflect 
upon  the  subject,  he  should  decline  answer- 
ing the  questions  which  he  had  then  put; 
for  he  appealed  to  the  good  sense  of  the 
house,  whether  any  answer  was  necessary, 
considering  the  very  grave  communication 
which  had  just  been  made  to  it."  Mr. 
Brougham  complained  that  an  imperfect 
statement  of  the  transactions  at  St.  Omers 
had  that  morning  made  its  appearance  in 
the  newspapers,  and  also  censured  the  pub- 
lication of  lord  Hutchinson's  letter.  He  did 
not  however  elucidate  or  explain  away  any 
of  the  misrepresentations  or  misstatements. 
He  avowed  that  he  was  at  a  loss  to  conjec- 
ture to  whom  so  great  and  palpable  a  breach 
of  confidence  as  this  publication  of  lord 
Hutchinson's  letter  could  be  ascribed  ;  and 
observed  that  whatever  the  merits  of  the 
case  now  at  issue  against  the  queen  might 
be,  the  defence  of  ministers  must  solely 
rest  upon  their  clearly  proving,  that  her 
majesty's  landing  in  England  had  not  only 
precluded  other  measures,  but  rendered  im- 
possible all  further  forbearance  on  their 
parts. 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


THE  QUEEN'S  COMMUNICATION  TO 
HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 

The  following  day,  June  seventh,  prior 
to  the  taking-  the  king's  message  into  con- 
sideration, Mr.  Brougham  read  to  the  house 
the  communication  from  the  queen  which 
follows : 

"  The  queen  thinks  it  necessary  to  inform 
the  house  of  commons,  that  she  has  been 
induced  to  return  to  England,  in  consequence 
of  the  measures  pursued  against  her  honor 
and  her  peace  for  some  time  by  secret  agents 
abroad,  and  lately  sanctioned  by  the  conduct 
of  the  government  at  home.  In  adopting  this 
course,  her  majesty  has  had  no  other  purpose 
whatsoever  but  the  defence  of  her  charac- 
ter, and  the  maintenance  of  those  just  rights 
which  have  devolved  upon  her  by  the  death 
of  that  revered  monarch,  in  whose  high 
honor  and  unshaken  affection  she  had  al- 
ways found  her  surest  support. 

"  Upon  her  arrival,  the  queen  is  surprised 
to  find  that  a  message  has  been  sent  down 
to  parliament  requiring  its  attention  to  writ- 
ten documents;  and  she  learns  with  still 
greater  astonishment  that  there  is  an  inten- 
tion of  proposing  that  these  should  be  re- 
ferred to  a  select  committee.  It  is  this  day 
fourteen  years  since  the  first  charges  were 
brought  forward  against  her  majesty.  Then 
and  upon  every  occasion  during  that  long 
period,  she  has  shown  the  utmost  readiness 
to  meet  her  accusers,  and  to  meet  the  full- 
est inquiry  into  her  conduct.  She  now  also 
desires  an  open  investigation,  in  which  she 
may  see  both  the  charges  and  the  witnesses 
against  her ;  a  privilege  not  denied  to  the 
meanest  subject  of  the  realm.  In  the  face 
of  the  sovereign,  the  parliament,  and  the 
country,  she  solemnly  protests  against  the 
formation  of  a  secret  tribunal  to  examine 
documents,  privately  prepared  by  her  ad- 
versaries, as  a  proceeding  unknown  to  the 
law  of  the  land,  and  a  flagrant  violation  of 
all  the  principles  of  justice.  She  relies 
with  full  confidence  upon  the  integrity  of 
the  house  of  commons  for  defeating  the  only 
attempt  she  has  any  reason  to  fear. 

"  The  queen  cannot  forbear  to  add,  that 
even  before  any  proceedings  were  resolved 
upon,  she  had  been  treated  in  a  manner  too 
well  calculated  to  prejudge  her  case.  The 
omission  of  her  name  in  the  liturgy ;  the 
withholding  the  means  of  conveyance  usual- 
ly afforded  to  all  the  branches  of  the  royal 
family ;  the  refusal  even  of  an  answer  to 
her  application  for  a  place  of  residence  in 
the  royal  mansions;  and  the  studied  slight 
of  the  English  ministers  abroad,  and  of  the 
agents  of  all  foreign  powers  over  whom  the 
English  government  had  any  influence,  must 
be  viewed  as  measures  designed  to  preju- 
dice the  world  against  her,  and  could  only 
have  been  justified  by  trial  and  conviction." 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  COMMONS. 

When  this  communication  had  been  read, 
lord  Castlereagh  moved  the  order  of  the  day 
for  taking  the  message  of  the  king  into  con- 
sideration. His  lordship,  after  entering  at 
great  length  into  a  defence  of  the  conduct 
of  ministry,  concluded  a  speech  of  consid- 
erable ability,  with  moving,  that  the  papers 
contained  in  the  sealed  bag,  which  he  on  the 
preceding  day  presented  to  the  house,  should 
be  referred  to  a  select  committee,  in  order 
to  consider  fully  the  matter  thereof,  and  to 
report  thereon  their  opinions  to  the  house 
accordingly.  The  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee was  resisted  by  Mr.  Brougham,  who 
proceeded  to  a  minute  examination  of  the 
proposals  made  to  her  majesty  through  the 
intervention  of  lord  Hutchinson ;  these  he 
commented  upon,  and  in  the  severest  terras 
deeply  reprobated. 

STATEMENT  OF  MINISTERS. 

Mr.  Canning  rose  to  follow  Mr.  Brough- 
am. He  declared  that  next  to  the  desire 
which  was  nearest  his  heart,  that  this  in- 
quiry might  be  even  now  avoided,  he  cher- 
ished the  hope,  that  she,  who  was  chiefly 
interested  in  the  result  of  this  inquiry, 
would  come  out  of  the  trial  superior  to  the 
accusation.  He  next  defended  the  conduct 
of  ministers  in  proposing  terms  of  compro- 
mise to  her,  and  in  endeavoring  to  open  a 
negotiation  with  her.  He  then  alluded  very 
strongly  to  the  proposals  which  had  origin- 
ated with  Mr.  Brougham  in  1819.  He  said 
ministers  had  been  inadvertent  enough  to 
receive  a  communication  under  the  seal  of 
such  rigid  secrecy,  that  he  must  abstain 
from  stating  its  contents,  although  he  held 
the  paper  in  his  hand :  nor  could  he  even 
state  the  quarter  fi"om  whence  it  came, 
though  that  would  be  very  material ;  but 
when  goaded  by  wanton  and  unnecessary 
insult,  he  must  mention  to  the  house  that, 
in  July  1819,  a  statement  had  been  given  to 
government,  under  an  obligation  of  keeping 
it  secret,  discussing  every  one  of  the  propo- 
sitions which  had  been  made  in  the  present 
instance  to  her  majesty.  He  said  he  was 
precluded  from  stating  its  actual  contents ; 
but  thus  much  he  would  say  fearlessly,  that 
not  one  proposition  had  been  made  by  his 
majesty's  ministers,  which  had  not  its  pro- 
totype in  the  suggestion  thus  made  to  gov- 
ernment, for  the  eventual  guidance  of  its 
conduct.  When  drawing  his  speech  to  a 
conclusion,  Mr.  Canning  lamented,  that  the 
projected  and  much-to-be-desired  negotia- 
tion at  St.  Omers  had  failed,  and  in  continu- 
ation said,  "For  this  result,  no  blame  could 
be  attached  to  the  honorable  and  learned 
gentleman,  (Mr.  Brougham,)  or  to  the  noble 
lord  who  accompanied  him.  Other  advice, 
no  doubt,  had  been  given  to  iier  majesty, 
advice  which,  if  it  had  not  proceeded  from 


656 


HISTORi^  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


bad  intention,  was  not  characterized  by  ab- 
solute wisdom.  But  that  advice,  at  least 
the  failure  of  the  negotiation,  had  forced 
this  appeal  to  parliament." 

Several  other  members  having-  delivered 
their  consequent  opinions  on  this  subject, 
Mr.  Wilberforce  rose  to  recommend  a  short 
delay,  in  the  expectant  hope  of  some  mode 
of  compromise  being  yet  achievable,  and 
accordingly  moved  that  the  present  debate 
be  adjourned  until  the  Friday  next  follow- 
ing. Lord  Castlereagh  said  he  would  not 
oppose  the  motion  for  this  delay,  as  it  marked 
the  spirit  which  pervaded  the  house,  which 
spirit  was  perfectly  in  unison  with  that  upon 
which  ministers  had  themselves  acted.  He 
■could  not,  however,  he  added,  be  responsible 
for  the  effect  of  such  delay  ;  indeed  it  was 
his  full  conviction,  that  little,  if  any  good 
could  be  anticipated  or  expected  from  it: 
but  he  was  not  therefore  the  less  disposed 
to  bow  to  the  wisdom  of  those  who  professed 
a  different  view  of,  and  opinion  on,  this  sub- 
ject. The  adjournment  of  the  house  in  con- 
sequence took  place. 
PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS. 

In  the  house  of  peers,  the  motion  of  lord 
Liverpool  for  a  secret  committee  was  car- 
ried without  a  division.  His  lordship  ob- 
served, "  that  the  appointment  of  this  com- 
mittee would  in  no  respect  prejudge  the 
queen's  case,  as  their  business  would  be  not 
to  condemn,  but  merely  to  inquire  whether 
there  were  sufficient  reasons  for  ulterior 
proceedings.  The  adulterous  intercourse  of 
w^hich  her  majesty  was  suspected,  having 
been  committed  with  a  foreigner,  did  not 
amount  to  treason ;  it  was  not  even  an  indict- 
able offence;  it  was  a  mere  civil  injury.  The 
affair,  therefore,  could  not  come  before  their 
lordships  in  their  judicial  capacity,  accord- 
ing to  the  common  forms  of  law.  Neither 
could  they  be  called  upon  to  decide  upon  it 
in  the  shape  of  an  impeachment;  for  how 
could  any  person  be  impeached  for  that 
which  the  law  treated  as  a  simple  civil  in- 
jury] It  was,  therefore,  only  legislatively 
that  the  lords  could  have  to  deal  with  this 
matter,  and  before  any  definitive  legislative 
measure  should  be  proposed  with  respect  to 
it,  a  committee  should  inquire  whether  any, 
and  what  steps  were  necessary  to  be  taken." 

A  secret  committee,  consisting  of  fifteen 
peers,  was  accordingly  chosen  by  ballot ;  but 
in  consequence  of  a  negotiation  instituted 
by  the  house  of  commons,  the  meeting  of 
the  committee  was  postponed  by  various  ad- 
journments, in  the  hope  that  ulterior  pro- 
ceedings might  even  then  be  avoided.  All 
overtures  for  a  compromise  being  finally  re- 
jected by  her  majesty,  the  secret  committee 
rnade  its  report  on  the  fourth  of  July,  in  the 
following  terms : — 

"  By  the  lords'  committees  appointed  a 


secret  committee  to  examine  the  papers  laid 
before  the  house  of  lords  on  Tuesday  the 
sixth  of  June  last,  in  two  sealed  bags,  by 
his  majesty's  command,  and  to  report  there- 
upon as  they  shall  see  fit ;  and  to  whom  have 
been  since  referred  several  additional  papers 
in  two  sealed  bags,  by  his  majesty's  com- 
mand, relative  to  the  subject  matter  of  his 
majesty's  most  gracious  message  of  the 
sixth  of  June  last. 

"  Ordered  to  report,  that  the  committee 
have  examined,  with  all  the  attention  due 
to  so  important  a  subject,  the  documents 
laid  before  them ;  and  they  find  that  these 
documents  contain  allegations  supported  by 
the  concurrent  testimony  of  a  great  number 
of  persons  in  various  situations  of  life,  acd 
residing  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  which 
deeply  affect  the  honor  of  the  queen,  charg- 
ing her  majesty  with  an  adulterous  connex- 
ion with  a  foreigner,  originally  in  her  ser- 
vice in  a  menial  capacity,  and  attributing^ 
to  her  majesty  a  continued  series  of  conduct 
highly  unbecoming  her  majesty's  rank  and 
station,  and  of  the  most  licentious  ciiaracter. 

"  These  charges  appear  to  the  committee 
to  be  calculated  so  deeply  to  affect,  not  only 
the  honor  of  the  queen,  but  also  the  dignity 
of  the  crown,  and  the  moral  feeling  and 
honor  of  the  country,  that,  in  their  opinion, 
it  is  necessary  they  sliould  become  the  sub- 
ject of  a  solemn  inquiry,  which  it  appears 
to  the  committee  may  be  best  effected  in  the 
course  of  a  legislative  proceeding,  the  ne- 
cessity of  which  they  cannot  but  most  deep- 
ly deplore." 

On  the  subsequent  day,  lord  Dacre  pre- 
sented the  following  petition  from  the 
queen : — 

"  Caroline,  Regina. 

"  The  queen,  observing  the  most  extraor- 
dinary report  made  by  the  secret  committee 
of  the  house  of  lords,  now  lying  upon  the 
table,  represents  to  the  house  that  she  is 
prepared  at  this  moment  to  defend  herself 
against  it,  as  far  as  she  can  understand  its 
import.  Her  majesty  has  also  to  state,  that 
there  are  various  vv'eighty  matters  touching 
the  same,  which  it  is  absolutely  necessary, 
with  a  view  to  her  future  defence,  to  have 
detailed  in  the  present  stage  of  the  proceed- 
ing. The  queen,  therefore,  prays  to  be 
heard  this  day,  by  her  counsel,  regarding 
such  matters." 

Lord  Dacre  then  moved  that  counsel 
should  be  called  in,  but  the  motion  was 
negatived. 

The  earl  of  Liverpool  then  proposed  the 
following 

BILL  OF  PAINS  AND  PENALTIES. 

"  An  act  to  deprive  her  majesty  queen 
Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth  of  the  title,  pre- 
rogatives, rights,  privileges  and  exemption? 
of  Queen  Consort  of  this  realm,  and  to  dis^- 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


657 


solve  the  marriage  between  his  majesty  and 
ihe  said  Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth. 

"  Whereas,  in  the  year  1814,  her  majesty 
Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth,  then  princess 
of  Wales,  and  now  queen  consort  of  this 
realm,  being  at  Milan,  in  Italy,  engaged  in 
her  service,  in  a  menial  situation,  one  Bar- 
tolomeo  Bergami,  a  foreigner  of  low  station, 
who  had  before  served  in  a  similar  capacity. 
— And  whereas,  after  the  said  Bartolomeo 
Bergami  had  so  entered  the  service  of  her 
royal  highness,  the  said  princess  of  Wales,  a 
most  unbecoming,  degrading  intimacy  com- 
menced between  her  royal  highness  and 
the  said  Bartolomeo  Bergami. — And  where- 
as, her  royal  highness  not  only  advanced 
the  said  Bartolomeo  Bergami  to  a  high 
station  in  her  royal  highness's  household, 
and  received  into  her  service  many  of  his 
near  relations,  some  of  them  hi  inferior,  and 
others  in  high  and  confidential  situations 
about  her  royal  highness's  person;  but  be- 
stowed upon  him  other  great  and  extraordi- 
nary marks  of  favor  and  distinction ;  and 
conferred  upon  him  a  pretended  order  of 
knighthood,  which  her  royal  highness  had 
taken  upon  herself  to  institute  without  any 
just  or  lawful  authority. — And  whereas, 
her  royal  highness,  whilst  the  said  Bartolo- 
meo Bergami  was  in  her  said  service,  fur- 
ther unmindful  of  her  exalted  rank  and 
station,  and  of  her  duty  to  your  majesty, 
and  wholly  regardless  of  her  own  honor  and 
character,  conducted  herself  towards  the 
said  Bartolomeo  Bergami  both  in  public  and 
private,  in  various  places  and  countries 
which  her  royal  highness  visited,  with  in- 
decent and  offensive  familiarity  and  free- 
dotn ;  and  carried  on  a  licentious,  disgrace- 
ful, and  adulterous  intercourse  with  the 
said  Bartolomeo  Bergami,  which  continued 
for  a  long  period  of  time  during  her  royal 
highness's  residence  abroad ;  by  which  con- 
duct of  her  said  royal  highness  great  scan- 
dal and  dishonor  have  been  brought  upon 
your  majesty's  family  and  this  kingdom. 
Therefore  to  manifest  our  deep  sense  of 
such  scandalous,  disgraceful,  and  vicious 
conduct  on  the  part  of  her  said  majesty,  by 
which  she  has  violated  the  duty  she  owed 
to  your  majesty,  and  has  rendered  herself 
unworthy  of  the  exalted  rank  and  station 
of  queen  consort  of  this  realm  ;  and  to  evince 
our  just  regard  for  the  dignity  of  the  crown 
and  the  honor  of  the  nation,  we  your  ma- 
jesty's most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the 
Lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  Com- 
mons in  parliament  assembled,  do  humbly 
entreat  your  majesty  that  it  may  be  en- 
acted— And  be  it  hereby  enacted,  by  the 
king's  most  excellent  majesty,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual 
and  temporal,  and  the  commons  in  this 
present  parliament  assembled,  and  by  the 


authority  of  the  same,  that  her  said  majesty 
Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth,  from  and  after 
the  passing  of  this  act,  shall  be  and  hereby 
is  deprived  of  the  title  of  queen,  and  of  all 
the  prerogatives,  rights,  privileges  and  ex- 
emptions, appertaining  to  her  as  queen  con- 
sort of  this  realm ;  and  that  her  said  majesty 
shall,  from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  act, 
for  ever  be  disabled  and  rendered  incapable 
of  using,  exercising,  and  enjoying  the  same, 
or  any  of  them  ;  and  moreover  that  the  mar- 
riage between  his  majesty  and  the  said 
Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth  be,  and  the  same 
is  hereby,  henceforth  and  for  ever  wholly 
dissolved,  annulled,  and  made  void  to  all 
intents,  constructions,  and  purposes  what- 
soever." 

This  document  will  remain  as  a  lasting 
memorial  to  posterity  of  the  nature  of  those 
charges  which  were  exhibited  against  the 
queen,  and  of  the  serious  penalties  which, 
if  the  bill  had  finally  passed,  would  have 
followed  the  declaration  of  her  majesty's 
guilt.  According  to  the  forms  observed  in 
the  house  of  lords,  it  was  requisite  that  this 
bill  should  be  read  a  first  time,  as  a  prelimi- 
nary step  to  the  introduction  of  any  evi- 
dence to  be  adduced  in  support  of  such 
heavy  charges  at  the  bar  of  their  house ;  so 
that  it  was  not  until  the  seventeenth  of 
August  that  the  trial  of  her  majesty  upon 
this  bill  of  indictment  may  be  said  to  have 
actually  commenced. — On  that  day  there 
appeared  in  support  of  the  bill.  Sir  Rob- 
ert Gifford,  the  king's  attorney-general ; 
Sir  John  Copley,  the  king's  solicitor-gener- 
al ;  Sir  Christopher  Robinson,  the  king's 
advocate-general ;  doctor  Adams,  a  civilian ; 
and  Mr.  Parke,  an  outer  barrister.  On  the 
part  of  the  queen,  appeared  her  majesty's 
attorney-general,  Henry  Brougham,  Esq. 
her  majesty's  solicitor-general,  Thomas 
Denman,  Esq.;  Dr.  Lushington,  a  civilian; 
and  Messrs.  John  Williams,  Tindal,  and 
Wilde,  outer  barristers.  Mr.  Maule,  so- 
licitor to  the  treasury,  assisted  by  Mr.  Powel, 
an  attorney  who  had  been  employed  at 
Milan  in  collecting  the  evidence,  acted  as 
agent  for  the  bill,  and  Mr.  Vizard  as  agent 
for  the  queen. 

PREPARATORY  PROCEEDINGS  RELATIVE 
TO  QUEEN. 
Whilst  the  city  of  London,  followed  by 
various  other  cities,  towns,  villages,  corpo- 
rations, guilds,  and  associated  b(xlies,  were 
pouring  in  addresses  of  congratulation, 
which  stream  of  public  opinion  was  daily 
swelling  to  a  torrent,  foaming  and  impetu- 
ous, declaratory  to  her  majesty  of  the  peo- 
ple's sentiments,  and  assuring  her  of  their 
determined  and  affectionate  support,  the 
adverse  party  were  busily  employed  in  pre- 
paring for  the  approaching  investigation ; 
m  aid  of  which,  many  witnesses,  principally 


658 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


natives  of  the  Italian  states,  were  rapidly 
arriving  at  our  different  ports :  one  party 
of  these,  on  landing-  at  Dover,  received  a 
sample  of  British  feeling,  being  very  roughly 
handled  by  the  populace  ;  and  their  safety 
was  ultimately  provided  for,  by  congrega- 
ting them  in  a  spot  conveniently  contiguous 
to  the  houses  of  parliament,  known  by  the 
name  of  Cotton  Garden. 

LIST  OF  WITNESSES  REFUSED. 
Her  Majesty's  petitionary  application 
for  a  list  of  times  and  places,  referred  to  in 
the  several  charges,  as  well  as  names  and 
designation  of  witnesses  to  be  adduced  in 
support  of  such  charges,  having  been  re- 
fused by  the  house  of  lords,  they  adjourned 
until  the  fifteenth  of  August,  and  the  house 
of  commons  until  the  twenty-first ;  all  means 
of  accommodation,  in  the  interim,  being 
rejected,  and  the  legal  advisers  on  both 
sides  of  the  question  having  been  marshalled 
as  before  stated.  The  memorable  day, 
August  seventeenth,  1820,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the 

COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  QUEEN'S 
TRIAL. 

At  a  very  early  hour  on  that  day,  many 
individuals,  from  a  hope  that  assiduity  and 
perseverance  might  procure  them  an  op- 
portunity of  witnessing  this  interesting 
scene,  assembled  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
houses  of  parliament ;  all,  however,  who  did 
not  bear  with  them  the  passport  of  a  noble 
lord,  or  were  unconnected  with  the  public 
press,  were  disappointed.  Soon  after  nine 
o'clock,  the  peers  began  to  take  their  seats, 
and  several  members  of  the  lower  house 
occupied  stations  near  the  throne.  The 
space  reserved  for  the  queen's  counsel, 
ehort-hand  writer,  &c.  were  provided  with 
desks,  and  an  abundant  supply  of  writing 
materials.  The  peers  now  arrived  in  con- 
siderable numbers,  and  as  soon  as  the  lord 
chancellor  was  seated  on  the  woolsack, 
prayers  were  read  by  the  junior  bishop  of 
Landaff-  Soon  afterwards  Sir  Charles  Ab- 
bott, (chief  justice  of  the  king's  bench,) 
Mr.  Justice  Holroyd,  and  Mr.  Justice  Best, 
entered  the  house ;  they  were  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  lord  chief  baron  Richards,  Mr. 
Baron  Garrow,  and  the  lord  chief  justice  of 
the  common  pleas.  At  ten  o'clock,  pre- 
cisely, the  order  of  the  house  was  read,  for 
calling  over  the  names  of  the  peers,  by  Mr. 
Cooper,  deputy  clerk  of  parliament.  These 
preliminaries  concluded — the  earl  of  Liver- 
pool moved,  "  That  the  order  of  the  day  for 
the  second  reading  of  the  before  recited  bill 
of  pains  and  penalties,  be  now  read."  The 
duke  of  Leinster  opposed  this  measure,  in 
pursuance  of  the  previous  notice  given  by 
him,  and  moved,  "  That  the  said  order  be 
now  rescinded."  On  the  lord  chancellor's 
putting  the  question,  the  cry  of  "  content" 


was  feeble,  that  of  "  noncontent"  very  pow- 
erful. The  duke  then  demanded  a  division ; 
the  numbers  were  contents  forty-one,  non- 
contents  two  hundred  and  six — majority 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five.  The  earl  of 
Liverpool  then  moved  that  counsel  be  called 
in,  and  heard  in  support  of  the  preamble  of 
the  bill. 

The  earl  of  Caernarvon  having.  In  a 
speech  of  considerable  length  and  sound 
argument,  stated  his  reasons  for  opposing 
the  present  measure,  as  one  not  of  neces- 
sity ;  a  discussion  took  place,  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  the  course  about  to  be  pursued, 
towards  the  queen,  and  questioning  whether 
the  crime  imputed  to  her  did  not  amount  to 
high  treason  ;  and  therefore  subjected  her 
to  a  mode  of  proceeding,  different  to  a  bill 
of  pains  and  penalties.  In  this  discussion, 
earls  Grey,  Liverpool,  and  the  marquis  of 
Lansdowne  partook.  The  doubts  thus 
arising,  were  then  submitted  to  the  decis- 
ion of  the  judges,  who  retired,  and  on  their 
return,  the  lord  chief  justice  Abbott  de- 
livered their  united  opinion  as  under  : 

"The  judges  have  conferred  together 
upon  the  question  proposed  to  them  by  the 
house,  whether  if  a  foreigner,  owing  no  al- 
legiance to  the  crown  of  England,  violates 
in  a  foreign  country  the  wife  of  the  king's 
eldest  son,  and  she  consents  thereto,  she 
commits  high  treason,  within  the  meaning 
of  the  act  of  the  25th  Edward  III.  1  And 
we  are  of  opinion  that  such  an  individual, 
under  such  circumstances,  does  not  commit 
high  treason,  within  the  meaning  of  that 
act."  This  opinion,  his  lordship  continued, 
was  grounded  upon  the  language  of  that 
statute  of  Edward  III.,  which  declared  it  to 
be  treason  for  any  man  to  violate  the  wife 
of  the  king,  the  wife  of  the  king's  eldest 
son,  &LC. ;  the  judges  holding  that,  unless 
there  were  a  man  who  could  be  legally 
charged  with  such  a  violation,  the  charge 
being  that  he  did  the  act  against  his  alle- 
giance ;  it  could  not  be  said  that  treason 
had  been  committed.  An  act  done  by  a 
foreigner,  therefore,  owing  no  allegiance 
to  the  crown,  could  not  amount  to  that 
crime. 

The  question  that  counsel  be  called,  be- 
ing carried  in  the  affirmative,  it  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  appearance  of  her  majesty's 
law  officers,  and  those  retained  in  her  be- 
half; the  attorney  and  solicitor  general,  and 
others  on  the  side  of  the  prosecution.  On 
presenting  themselves  at  the  bar,  the  duke 
of  Hamilton  requested  to  know  by  what 
authority  the  king's  attorney-general  stood 
in  that  place  1  on  what  part  he  appeared  ? 
and  by  whom  he  had  been  instructed  to  ap- 
pear? 

The  earl  of  Liverpool  understood  the  at- 
torney-general appeared  in  consequence  of 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


659 


an  order  received  from  the  house.  He 
had  taken  those  steps  which  to  him  seemed 
hest  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining"  informa- 
tion. He  had  applied  for  information  to  the 
secretary  of  state  for  the  home  department, 
and  with  that  and  such  other  information 
as  had  been  obtained,  he  now  appeared  for 
the  purpose  of  opening  the  case. 

Mr.  Brougham  then  said,  that  he  humbly 
conceived  the  time  was  now  come  when, 
under  the  authority  of  their  lordships  them- 
selves, he  was  free  to  state  his  objections  to 
the  principle  of  the  bill  in  this  present  stage 
of  its  progress. 

Counsel  was  then  ordered  to  withdraw. 
After  a  few  minutes  it  was  communicated 
to  them  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  urge 
their  objections  to  the  principle  of  the  bill, 
either  at  that  time,  or  after  the  evidence 
was  concluded. 

Though  it  will  not  be  admissible,  to  enter 
at  full  into  the  proceedings  of  this  most  ex- 
traordinary trial,  by  giving  the  detailed 
evidence  adduced  on  the  occasion,  yet  as 
some  satisfaction  to  the  reader  at  this  point, 
and  in  trifling,  though  very  feeble,  testimony 
of  the  forensic  eloquence  displayed  by  the 
legal  gentlemen  engaged  in  the  prosecu 
tion,  as  well  as  the  defence,  and  the  legis- 
latorial acumen  elicited  during  this  mO' 
mentous  period,  some  copious  extracts  will 
be  hazarded  from  the  printed  proceedings, 
delivered  during  the  trial  from  day  to  day, 
for  the  use  of  the  house.  In  these  extracts, 
the  utter  impossibility  of  doing  justice  to 
the  zeal,  the  oratory,  and  the  persuasive 
force,  and  legal  argument  offered  at  the 
bar,  by  the  various  advocates,  would  deter 
the  attempt  in  persons  less  influenced,  to 
afford  more  than  a  bare  recital  of  dates  to 
their  readers ;  at  the  same  time  it  is  proper 
to  remark,  that  these  data  can  only  be  con- 
sidered as  scarcely  discernible  marks  of  the 
broad  track,  given  in  many  contemporane 
ous  accounts  of  the  trial  published  at  large 
at  the  period ;  and  in  particularly  referring 
the  intelligent  reader  to  that  well-digested 
account  written  by  Adolphus.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  peruse  it,  to  prove  that  it  is 
the  most  authentic,  as  well  as  succinct,  that 
can  be  obtained  of  all  the  matters  connected 
with  this  important  political  measure. 

THE  SPEECH  OF  MR.  BROUGHAM 
AGAINST  THE  BILL. 

Mr.  Brougham  then  commenced  his 
general  address  to  their  lordships  against 
any  further  proceedings  with  the  bill  of 
pains  and  penalties  on  the  queen.  Such 
laws  were  sometimes  passed  in  the  earlier 
periods  of  the  Roman  history,  and  were  de- 
nominated privilegia.  They  were  divided 
into  two  classes :  one  consisting  of  laws 
passed  against,  and  the  other  of  laws  pass- 
ed in  favor  of,  individuals.     The  great  Ro- 


man jurisconsults,  however,  who  well  knew 
the  value  of  their  expressions,  as  well  a» 
of  the  principles  which  they  established, 
had  called  all  such  laws  privilegia  odiosuj 
thereby  indicating  to  after-times,  that  they 
ought  never  to  be  resorted  to  except  in 
cases  of  absolute  necessity.  He  would  not 
say  that  all  those  whom  the  great  masters 
of  ancient  jurisprudence  served  had  gov- 
erned their  conduct  by  that  principle.  On 
the  contrary,  he  was  well  aware  that  no 
blacker  proceedings  were  to  be  found  than 
some  of  these  privilegia  odiosa.  Another 
objection  to  the  present  bill  was,  that  it  was 
an  ex-post  facto  law :  it  suflTered  a  deed  to 
be  done,  and  afterwards  pronounced  upon 
its  innocence  or  its  guilt.  Without  notice 
or  warning,  it  laid  hold  of  a  party,  and  in- 
flicted punishment  with  the  same  severity 
as  if  the  supposed  crime  had  been  distinctly 
defined  and  the  punishment  denounced. 
The  bills  passed  against  Mortimer  and 
others  at  the  commencement  of  Edward 
III.'s  reign,  were  afterwards  rescinded,  as 
was  also  the  case  with  most  of  those  passed 
during  the  reign  of  Richard  III.  The  suc- 
ceeding age  was  almost  sure  to  regard  them 
as  measures  adopted  to  serve  a  temporary 
purpose.  He  did  not  think  it  necessary,  at 
this  stage  of  the  proceeding,  to  make  any 
reference  to  the  reign  of  Henry  VIIL,  and 
he  should  therefore  pass  over  the  whole 
history  of  that  barbarous  and  detested 
prince ;  detestable  alike  for  his  spoliations 
of  property  and  his  cruelty  to  his  family ; 
but  still  more  detestable  for  his  violation  of 
the  dearest  and  most  sacred  charities.  He 
should  therefore  take  his  stand  upon  what 
had  passed  under  milder  reigns,  and  the 
case  of  lord  Strafford,  under  Charles  I. 
would  be  sufficient  for  his  argument.  He 
considered  the  bill  of  attamder  passed 
against  that  nobleman  as  the  greatest  dis- 
grace that  ever  sullied  the  purity  of  either 
house  of  parliament.  He  would  read  to 
them  the  recorded  sentiments  of  their  an- 
cestors, because  no  language  of  his  could 
make  so  deep  an  impression  as  this  was 
calculated  to  make  on  the  hearts  and  un- 
derstandings of  all  men.  After  stating, 
that,  under  various  pretexts,  the  turbulent 
party,  hostile  to  lord  Strafl^brd,  seeing  no 
mode  of  obtaining  their  object  by  any  ordi- 
nary procedure,  had  resolved  to  effect  that 
nobleman's  destruction  (meaning  not  only 
his  bodily  destruction,  but  that  of  his  char- 
acter), and,  therefore,  purposely  murdered 
him.  The  present  bill,  substituting,  for 
death,  deprivation  of  rank  the  most  illus- 
trious, removal  from  a  station  the  most  ex- 
alted, and  the  loss  of  privileges  the  most 
esteemed  amongst  women — ay,  and  what 
was  yet  dearer,  the  ruin  of  her  character 
and  happiness — ^belonged  strictly  and  tech- 


660 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


nically  to  that  class  of  enactments  which 
their  lordships'  predecessors  had  thus  char- 
acterized.— He  had  thus  stated  his  general 
objections  to  all  bills  of  this  nature,  and  he 
had  now  to  address  himself  to  the  one  im- 
mediately before  them.  He  should  form 
but  an  inadequate  approximation  to  the  un- 
derstanding of  this  libel,  if  he  believed  it 
to  be  only  like  other  bills  of  pains  and  pen- 
alties; for  he  would  venture  to  say,  that 
the  worst  of  those  bills  (not  excepting  even 
those  relating  to  the  wives  of  Henry  VIII.) 
was,  when  compared  with  the  present,  a 
regular,  consistent,  and  judicial  proceed- 
ing. In  the  first  instance  he  assumed  that 
nothing  illegal  could  be  laid  to  her  majes- 
ty's charge.  He  was  bound  to  assume  this 
by  the  decision  of  the  judges,  and,  indeed, 
from  the  very  face  of  the  proceeding.  He 
submitted,  therefore,  that  some  satisfactory 
reasons  ought  to  be  stated  why  impeach- 
ment was  not  resorted  to  in  this  instance. 
Was  the  case  such,  that  no  house  of  com- 
mons could  be  expected  to  pass  a  vote  upon 
it  1  or  was  the  evidence  so  lame  and  de- 
fective, that  no  committee  would  recommend 
any  proceedings  in  relation  to  it  1  Why  had 
they  not  confidently  trusted  to  that  house, 
and  taken  their  papers  and  their  witnesses 
where  an  impeachment  might  be  founded 
upon  them,  and  where  their  lordships  would 
have  to  administer  justice  in  the  regular 
and  established  form  1  Her  majesty  was  de- 
prived of  many  advantages  by  this  adoption 
of  a  different  course.  In  the  other  case 
she  would  have  been  furnished  with  some 
specification  of  the  charges,  or  at  least  they 
would  have  been  set  forth  with  more  pecu- 
liarity of  detail  as  to  the  various  points  of 
the  accusation.  Perhaps  also  a  list  of  wit- 
nesses could  not  then  have  been  withheld, 
and,  in  a  word,  the  queen  would  have  had 
all  the  advantages  of  a  real  judicial  pro- 
ceeding. The  case  of  lord  Strafford,  and 
the  proceedings  to  which  it  led,  as  well  as 
the  protests  of  the  virtuous  minority  who 
opposed  the  bill, — all  went  to  prove  that 
such  measures  could  only  be  justified  in  or- 
der either  to  save  the  state  from  ruin,  or 
because  justice  had  failed  from  some  posi- 
tive default  in  a  court  competent  to  admin- 
ister it.  The  burden  of  proof  on  the  neces- 
sity of  this  bill  being  thrown  on  the  other 
side,  he  would  ask,  where  was  that  impel- 
ling and  overruling  necessity  (he  did  not 
say  motive,  for  that  might  be  guessed)  which 
alone  could  prescribe  and  justify  this  mea- 
sure 1  Was  the  succession  or  its  purity  en- 
dangered, or  was  there  even  a  possibility 
of  its  being  put  in  jeopardy "?  Here  he  was 
entitled  to  ask.  Why  proceed  with  this  bill 
without  necessity?  Why  attack  the  queen 
for  acts  which,  if  committed,  could  not  en- 
danger the  succession  1  This  was  not  a  trial 


under  any  known  law ;  and  if  the  possi- 
bility of  danger  of  this  kind  were  estab- 
lished, he  allowed  that  one  of  the  prelimi- 
nary objections  to  the  bill  had  been  re- 
moved. But  he  called  upon  its  supporters 
to  show  how  the  succession  was  endanger- 
ed. If  there  were  a  chance  that  the  suc- 
cession might  fail  for  want  of  heirs,  some 
such  change  might  be  desirable;  but  it 
could  not  be  contended  that  such  a  contin- 
gency was  at  all  likely  here  to  happen.  It 
was  said  that  the  exalted  station  of  her  ma- 
jesty rendered  her  conduct  an  object  of 
peculiar  solicitude  with  her  family,  and 
that  the  legislature  was  bound  to  protect 
the  honor  of  that  family ;  that  her  majes- 
ty's conduct  tended  to  degrade  the  throne 
on  which  she  sat,  and  the  nation  over  which 
she  was  placed ;  and  it  was  contended, 
therefore,  that  the  connexion  existing  be- 
tween her  and  the  nation  must  be  broken, 
because  her  conduct  would  sully  its  purity. 
First  of  all,  he  might  be  permitted  to  ask, 
whether  it  had  never  struck  their  lordships 
that  these  charges  all  referred  to  the  con- 
duct of  her  majesty  before  she  became 
queen,  when  she  had  no  royal  dignity  to 
support,  when  she  had  no  immediate  con- 
nexion with  the  diadem,  and  when  she  was 
only  the  wife  of  a  subject,  though  filling 
the  highest  station  in  the  realm  1  But  see 
how  this  operated  on  another  most  import- 
ant part  of  the  question.  If  the  queen  had 
been  brought  before  the  house  when  prin- 
cess of  Wales,  and  charged  with  offences 
alleged  to  be  done  in  that  capacity,  could 
any  man  deny  that  a  bill  of  divorce  from 
her  royal  husband  must  have  been  the 
remedy,  and  that  divorce  could  only  be  ob- 
tained with  the  ordinary  forms'?  All  the 
preliminary  forms  must  have  been  observ- 
ed ;  the  party  claiming  the  bill  must  have 
come  into  the  house  by  petition,  and  he 
would  come  in  vain,  if  he  did  not  enter  it 
with  clean  hands.  But  here  the  promoters 
of  this  measure  waited  till  the  queen  had 
lost  her  rank  as  princess  of  Wales,  and 
until  that  rank  was  almost  forgotten ;  and 
then  they  said,  because  she  is  now  queen 
we  will  proceed  against  her  for  offences  al- 
leged to  have  been  committed  when  she 
was  princess  of  Wales — thus  taking  espe- 
cial care  not  to  take  one  step  while  she 
possessed  those  rights  against  her  husband 
which  every  private  wife  enjoyed.  He  did 
not  say  that  those  rights  were  extinct,  but 
some  persons  did  assert  it,  and  that  was 
enough  for  his  argument.  Thus  the  ques- 
tion now  was,  not  between  man  and  wife, 
but  between  king  and  queen,  and  the  pro- 
moters of  this  bill  delayed  till  they  thought 
at  least  that  she  was  deprived  of  one  pro- 
tection. Either,  then,  this  bill  must  be  dis- 
missed for  having  been  brought  in  too  late, 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


661 


or  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  justice  in  not 
giving-  her  nunc  pro  tunc.,  as  lawyers  ex- 
pressed it,  the  benefit  of  her  situation  as 
princess  of  Wales.  This  brought  him  to 
implore  their  lordships  to  pause  a  while  on 
the  threshold  of  this  proceeding. — "I  put 
out  of  view,"  said  Mr.  B.  "  at  present  the 
question  of  recrimination :  I  raised  it  for 
the  purpose  of  my  argument,  and  I  shall 
pursue  it  no  farther.  I  should  be  most 
deeply,  and  I  may  say  with  perfect  truth 
unfeignedly  afflicted,  if  in  the  progress  of 
this  ill-omened  question  the  necessity  were 
imposed  upon  me  of  mentioning  it  again ; 
and  I  should  act  directly  in  the  teeth  of 
the  instructions  of  this  illustrious  woman 
[pointing  to  the  queen,  who  sat  immediately 
below  him],  I  should  disobey  her  solemn 
commands  if  I  again  used  even  the  word 
recrimination  without  being  driven  to  it  by 
an  absolute  and  overruling  compulsion.  In 
obedience  to  the  same  high  command  I  lay 
out  of  view,  as  equally  inconsistent  with 
my  own  feelings  and  those  of  my  client,  all 
arguments  of  another  description,  in  which 
I  might  be  tempted  to  show  that  levity  or 
indiscretion,  criminality,  or  even  criminal 
intercourse  (for  why  should  I  be  afraid  to 
use  the  term  V)  cannot-  be  held  to  be  fatal 
to  the  character  of  the  country,  or  to  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  the  illustrious  family 
governing  it.  Here  nothing  is  or  has  been 
proved ;  and  is  it  because  calumnies  have 
been  bruited  and  gossipped  about — because 
such  a  jealous  watch  has  been  kept  upon 
the  queen  abroad,  that  we  are  to  think  they 
are  to  have  more  force  than  conduct  less 
equivocal  at  home?  That  argument,  and 
everything  resulting  from  it,  I  willingly 
postpone  till  the  day  of  necessity  ;  and  in 
the  same  way  I  dismiss  for  the  present  all 
other  questions  respecting  the  conduct  or 
connexions  of  any  parties  previous  to  mar- 
riage. These  I  say  not  one  word  about : 
they  are  dangerous  and  tremendous  ques- 
tions, the  consequences  of  discussing  which, 
at  the  present  moment,  I  will  not  even 
trust  myself  to  describe.  At  present  I  hold 
them  to  be  needless  to  the  safety  of  my 
client ;  but  when  the  necessity  arrives,  an 
advocate  knows  but  one  duty,  and,  cost 
what  it  may,  he  must  discharge  it.  Be  the 
consequences  what  they  may  to  any  other 
persons,  powers,  principalities,  dominions, 
or  nations,  an  advocate  is  bound  to  do  his 
duty;  and  I  shall  not  fail  to  exert  every 
means  in  my  power  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
bill.  But  when  I  am  told  that  a  case  of  ab- 
solute necessity  for  the  measure  is  made 
out,  because  the  queen  has  been  guilty  of 
improper  familiarities  (though  I  must  look 
at  the  bill  itself  for  the  nice  distinctions  and 
refined  expressions  found  in  it) — because 
she  has  thought  fit  to  raise  from  low  eitua- 
Voi.  IV.  56 


tions  officers  who  had  served  other  people 
in  menial  capacities — because  she  had  treat- 
ed them  with  unbecoming  intimacy — be- 
cause she  had  advanced  them,  and  bestowed 
marks  of  favor  and  distinction  upon  them — 
because  she  had  created  an  order,  and  con- 
ducted herself  in  public  and  private  with 
offensive  familiarity — I  cannot  help  asking, 
if  these  matters  are  so  fatal  to  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  the  crown,  nay,  to  the  very 
peace  of  the  nation  (for  what  else  can  jus- 
tify a  bill  like  this  1)  why  is  it  only  resorted 
to  at  the  present  moment  ?  The  bill  charges 
even  a  licentious,  disgraceful,  and  adulter- 
ous intercourse,  and  therefore  its  supporters 
say,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  house 
to  interpose.  But  I  appeal  to  the  house — 
for  I  am  compelled  to  do  so — whether  this 
is  not  only  untrue,  but  whether  it  is  not 
known  to  be  untrue.  The  bill  itself  speaks 
falsely,  and  I  will  tell  you  why  I  say  so. 
Are  we  arrived  in  this  age  at  that  highest 
pitch  of  polish  in  society,  when  we  shall 
be  afraid  to  call  things  by  their  proper 
names,  yet  shall  not  scruple  to  punish  by 
express  laws  an  offence  in  the  weaker  sex 
which  has  been  passed  over  in  the  stronger? 
Have  we  indeed  reached  that  stage "?  I  trust 
I  shall  not  hear  it  said  in  this  place :  I  hope 
that  spirit  of  justice  which  I  believe  per- 
vades this  house  at  large  will  prevent  it. 
But  if  not  I  will  appeal  to  the  spirit  of  ho- 
liness, and  to  the  heads  of  the  church  now 
ranged  before  me,  whether  adultery  is  to 
be  considered  only  a  crime  in  woman.  I 
make  the  same  confident  appeal,  and  to  the 
same  quarter,  when  I  ask  whether  the 
crown  can  be  dishonored,  the  fame  of  the 
country  tarnished,  and  the  morals  of  the 
people  put  in  jeopardy,  if  an  adulterous  in- 
tercourse (which  no  one  ventures  to  call 
adultery)  shall  be  proved  against  a  lady, 
when  that  which  I  venture  to  call  adultery, 
because  the  exalted  individual  himself  has 
confessed  it  to  be  so,  has  actually  been  com- 
mitted by  a  prince.  It  is  with  the  utmost 
pain  that  I  make  this  statement:  it  is 
wrung  from  me  by  hard  compulsion;  for 
there  is  not  a  man  who  acknowledges  with 
a  deeper  sense  of  gratitude  than  I  do  all 
the  obligations  which  this  country  and  Eu- 
rope owes  to  that  illustrious  individual.  I 
say  it  not — God  forbid  I  should — to  visit 
harshly  upon  him  any  of  the  failings  of  our 
common  nature,  much  less  to  alter  in  one 
iota  my  recorded  sense  of  the  baseness  of 
that  conspiracy  by  which  those  failings  were 
dragged  before  the  public.  I  bring  it  for- 
ward because  it  is  in  truth  an  answer  to 
this  case.  Why  was  no  bill  of  degradation 
brought  in  in  1809,  aft;er  the  resolution  of 
the  house  of  commons,  and  a  full  confes- 
sion on  behalf  of  the  party  accused,  that  he 
had  been  guilty  of  "  most  immoral  and  un- 


662 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


becoming  conduct?"  All  this,  I  say,  was 
well  known  to  the  authors  of  the  present 
bill ;  for  one  of  themselves  penned  the  very 
words  I  have  just  read  to  the  house.  I  ask, 
therefore,  whether  there  is  any  possibility 
of  replying  to  this  objection,  but  in  one 
short  way — that  all  men  may  do  all  they 
please,  however  exalted  their  station,  how- 
ever intimately  connected  with  the  crown, 
and  with  the  highest  interests  of  the  state, 
that  their  conduct  is  perfectly  indifl'erent ; 
but  let  the  tooth  of  slander  once  fix  upon  a 
defenceless  female  of  the  family,  who  has 
been  residing  abroad,  who  has  been  allowed 
to  expatriate  herself;  who  has  been  assisted 
in  removing  from  the  country,  and  even 
cherished  to  keep  away  from  it ;  then,  at 
that  instant,  the  venom  must  distil,  and  she 
must  be  persecuted  and  prosecuted,  under 
the  canting,  hypocritical,  and  disgusting 
pretence  that  the  character  of  the  country 
and  the  honor  of  the  crown  are  at  stake. 
Whether  all  of  us,  nearer  to  the  object,  do 
or  do  not  see  through  the  flimsy  pretext,  be 
assured  that  the  good  sense  of  the  nation 
cannot  be  deceived,  and  that  those  at  a  dis- 
tance Vv^ill  be  both  shocked  and  astonished 
The  people  at  large  must  look  upon  it  as 
something  too  ridiculous  to  be  examined, 
I  myself  can  hardly  use  decorous  terms  in 
speaking  of  it,  and  they,  in  their  homely 
language,  will  assert  that  it  is  an  attempt 
to  accomplish  one  purpose  under  the  color 
of  another.  "  Here  is  a  man,"  they  will 
say,  "  who  wishes  to  get  rid  of  his  wife ; 
he  talks  of  the  honor  and  safety  of  the 
country  ;  yet  its  dearest  interests,  its  peace, 
its  morals,  and  its  happiness,  are  to  be  sacri- 
ficed to  gratify  his  desires."  He  would  ask 
who  had  encouraged  the  queen  to  go  abroad 
When  that  illustrious  personage,  worn  out 
by  all  she  had  experienced  in  this  country 
naturally  began  to  think  repose  a  blessing, 
who  had  recommended  that  she  should  seek 
it  on  the  continent?  Who  had  opposed  the 
advice  given  by  the  friends  of  the  queen,  to 
which  they  had  set  their  hands,  and  he 
(Mr.  Brougham)  among  them,  that  they 
would  answer  with  their  heads  for  her 
safety  while  in  England,  but  that  when 
abroad  she  would  be  surrounded  by  foreign- 
ers, spies,  and  informers )  Who  had  coun 
teracted  this  faithful  suggestion  ?  Who  but 
those  who  were  now  arrayed  against  her, 
with  a  green  bag  of  documentary  evidence 
in  the  one  hand,  and  this  bill  of  degrada- 
tion in  the  other  1  How  happened  it  that 
they  never  before  thought  of  the  character 
of  the  country,  the  honor  of  the  royal  fam- 
ily, and  the  dignity  of  the  throne?  Where 
was  their  boasted  sagacity,  when  these  evil 
counsellors  could  not  foresee  what  might 
be  the  consequences  of  the  step  they  were 
so  earnestly  recommecding  ?  Then  there 


was  no  whisper  of  anything  of  the  sort , 
all  was  to  be  ease,  tranquillity,  and  liberty, 
for  the  rest  of  her  majesty's  life :  there  was 
to  be  no  watching,  no  prying,  no  spying,  no 
asking  "  why  do  you  do  so  or  so  ?"  but  all 
was  to  be  kindness  and  toleration.  With 
these  promises,  the  next  thing  was  to  assist 
the  queen  to  depart.  The  ship  of  war, 
which  was  refused  to  bring  her  back,  had 
been  readily  granted  to  take  her  away. 
Money  was  also  offered,  with  equal  liberali- 
ty, for  her  outfit,  and  her  residence  abroad 
commenced  under  the  happiest  auspices. 
Yet  reports  soon  came  over ;  they  increased 
by  degrees;  the  slander  became  blacker 
and  more  malignant ;  and  as  early  as  four 
years  ago  it  had  assumed  a  certain  consist- 
ency. Still  there  was  no  jealous  watching, 
no  hunting  for  evidence,  and  no  hint  given 
to  the  queen  that  it  would  be  fit  to  be  more 
guarded  in  her  conduct :  the  character  of 
the  country  and  the  honor  of  the  crown 
were  then  never  dreamed  of  Ministers 
had  never  said,  "Return;  this  is  danger- 
ous— the  country  suffers — the  crown  is  dis- 
honored— the  royal  family  degraded  by 
these  calumnious  reports."  On  the  con- 
trary, they  had  done  everything  to  encour- 
age her  staying ;  and  he  (Mr.  Brougham) 
would  venture  to  stake  his  existence  that 
any  man  would  have  been  deemed  an  ene- 
my, and  have  had  the  court-doors  flung  in 
his  face,  who  should  have  had  the  hardihood 
to  counsel  that  her  royal  highness  should 
have  been  requested  to  revisit  this  country. 
Yet  these  very  men,  after  forcing  her  away 
— after  aiding,  abetting,  and  encouraging 
a  foreign  residence — after  taking  no  one 
step  to  put  an  end  to  that  which  they  them- 
selves alleged  to  be  the  sole  cause  of  the 
evil:  even  at  the  twelfth  hour,  and  when 
the  twelfth  hour  was  about  to  toll,  did  they 
then  come  with  a  request  that  she  should 
return?  Did  they  then  suggest  that  her 
majesty,  having  changed  her  station,  could 
no  longer  live  abroad  with  safety — that 
what  might  be  good  for  a  princess  was  evil 
for  a  queen  ?  Did  they  come  forward  with 
any  plain,  frank  disclosure  that  some  in- 
quiry might  be  rendered  necessary — that 
reports  had  got  abroad  so  malignant  that 
they  could  not  be  overlooked — that  suspi- 
cion attached,  and  that  that  suspicion  must  be 
removed  ?  Was  anything  of  this  sort  done, 
not  in  kindness  to  the  queen,  but  in  com- 
passion to  the  long-suffering  people  of  Eng- 
land, now  agitated  by  this  great  question  ? 
No  such  thing :  to  the  last  moment  she  was 
warned  not  to  come  back:  she  was  to  be 
pensioned,  largely  pensioned,  for  not  commg 
home;  and  she  was  to  enjoy  the  rank  she 
had  degraded  and  the  privileges  she  had 
forfeited.  She  was  to  have  an  income  to 
enable  her  to  be  wicked  on  a  largex  scale — 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


663 


all  levity,  all  indiscretion,  even  "adulterous 
intercourse,"  was  to  be  pardoned  on  one 
condition,  and  that  condition  was,  that  she 
should  continue  abroad,  before  the  eyes  of 
foreigners,  who  envied  and  hated  us:  she 
was  to  be  the  degrading"  spectacle  of  the 
queen  of  this  country,  without  one  of  the 
virtues  that  ought  to  belong  to  her  sex  and 
her  condition.  With  these  facts  before  him, 
he  must  have  a  mind  capable  of  swallowing 
the  most  monstrous  improbabilities,  who 
could  lend  himself  for  one  moment  to  the 
belief  that  mir  inters  gave  credit  to  the  pre- 
amble of  the  bill.  It  would  never  have  been 
heard  of,  if  the  queen  had  returned  from 
Calais ;  but  her  landing  at  Dover  called  up 
all  those  phantoms  of  national  degradation 
and  insulted  honor,  of  which  so  much  had 
recently  been  heard :  they  were  all  raised 
by  the  foot  which  she  set  upon  the  English 
shore ;  and  if  she  had  consented  to  restrain 
it,  she  might  still  have  lived  without  impu- 
tation, at  least  from  the  quarter  in  which  it 
now  originated.  "  I  end  here,"  said  Mr. 
Brougham,  "  what  I  have  to  urge — not  that 
I  have  nothing  more  to  bring  forward,  but 
because  1  am  sure  that  your  lordships  are 
men  of  justice,  that  you  are  men  of  princi- 
ple, men  of  ordinary  sagacity,  and,  above 
all,  that  you  are  men  of  honor.  I  have 
made  my  appeal  to  you  upon  this  bill,  and 
I  feel  confident  that  I  have  not  made  it  in 
vain.  True  it  is  that  your  committee  has 
reported  in  its  favor,  but  that  cannot  pledge 
the  house,  and  he  is  the  greatest  of  all  fools 
who  consults  his  apparent  consistency  at 
the  expense  of  his  absolute  ruin.  The 
sooner  you  retrace  the  step  into  which  you 
may  have  been  led  at  an  unwary  moment, 
the  greater  will  be  the  service  you  render 
your  country :  if  you  decide  that  this  bill 
ought  not  to  proceed,  you  will  be  the  sa- 
viors of  the  state,  and  indeed  promote  the 
substantial  welfare  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
truest  honor  of  the  crown." 

MR.  DENMAN  AGAINST  THE  BILL  OF 

PAINS  AND  PENALTIES. 
Mr.  Denman  presented  himself  at  the 
bar,  and  in  a  speech,  distinguished  as  much 
for  eloquence  as  it  was  for  sound  argument, 
argued  against  the  principle  of  the  bill. 
"  I  trust,"  said  the  learned  counsel,  "  your 
lordships  will,  above  all  things,  seriously 
weigh  the  balance  of  evil  which  is  likely 
to  arise  from  this  measure.  I  trust  also, 
that  you  will  not,  yourselves,  overlook  any 
matter  which  is  calculated  to  injure,  or  pro- 
duce a  disregard  for  the  marriage  tie.  Look, 
my  lords,  to  the  moral  feelings  of  the  coun 
try,  which  this  measure  is  calculated  to  out- 
rage. Observe  that  all  this  cannot  be  pro- 
ductive of  any  good — but  must,  be  the  result 
what  it  may,  produce  infinite  harm  to  the 
country.     I  must  here,  on  the  part  of  her 


majesty,  protest  against  any  proceeding  by 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties,  when  the  scene 
is  laid  in  a  foreign  and  distant  land,  when 
the  inquiry  is  to  be  into  a  life  of  more  than 
six  years,  and  when  the  accused  has  been 
refused  a  list  of  the  witnesses  against  her. 
This  last  refusal  placed  her  majesty  in  a 
worse  situation  than  any  person  taking  his 
trial  in  one  of  the  lower  courts.  The  re- 
quest made  to  your  lordships  was,  in  fact, 
that  this  great  principle  might  be  preserved, 
but  modified  according  to  your  lordships' 
pleasure,  so  as  to  avoid  inconvenience.  This, 
however,  has  been  refused.  In  the  case  of 
a  charge  in  the  lower  courts,  the  witnesses 
appeared  before  a  grand  jury,  and  the  ac- 
cused had  an  opportunity  of  ascertaining  the 
character  of  the  persons  by  whom  the  accu- 
sation was  to  be  supported.  But  her  majesty 
has  been  denied  this  right.  Therefore  in- 
stead of  having  received  any  favor  at  the 
hands  of  your  lordships,  she  has  every  right 
to  complain.  Again,  I  say,  that  in  her  ma- 
jesty's name,  I  protest  against  this  bill  of 
pains  and  penalties  in  a  case  which  admits 
of  impeachment.  I  also  protest  against  your 
lordships'  not  discharging  the  duties  im- 
posed on  you,  as  well  as  your  exercise  of  a 
power  not  contemplated  by  the  constitution. 
Your  lordships  may  meet  with  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature ; 
but  be  it  remembered,  that  you  may  also 
meet  with  its  check  and  control.  I  must 
here  guard  myself  from  any  imputation, 
from  what  I  have  said,  that  either  I  or  my 
learned  friends  are  declining  the  contest 
No ;  we  do  not  shrink  from  the  combat — 
we  are  ready  and  anxious  to  meet  it.  Here 
I  feel  it  my  duty  to  state,  that  I  owe  to  my 
illustrious  client  an  apology,  for  having,  in 
the  line  of  argument  which  I  have  been 
obliged  to  take,  allowed  even  a  possibility 
of  the  truth  of  the  charges  against  her.  I 
feel  a  perfect  conviction  of  her  innocence ; 
I  feel  also,  that  there  cannot  be  brought 
against  her  anything  which,  to  an  honorable 
mind,  will  be  a  proof  of  her  guilt.  But 
whatever  be  the  consequences  which  follow 
this  investigation,  whatever  may  be  the 
sufferings  inflicted  on  her  majesty,  I  shall 
never  withdraw  from  her  that  homage  and 
respect  which  I  owe  to  her  high  station,  her 
superior  mind,  and  those  resplendent  virtues 
which  have  shone  through  a  life  of  perse- 
cution and  of  suffering.  I  shall  never  pay 
to  any  other  who  may  usurp  her  place,  that 
respect  and  duty  which  belong  to  her,  whom 
the  laws  of  God  and  man  have  made  the 
consort  of  his  present  majesty,  and  the  part- 
ner of  his  throne." 

Her  majesty  entered  the  house  during  the 
learned  counsel's  speech,  and  at  its  conclu- 
sion withdrew. — She  was  treated  by  the 
house  with  every  mark  of  respect 


664 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


SPEECH  OF  fflS  MAJESTY'S  ATTORNEY- 
GENERAL. 

The  attorney-general  then  rose  and  said, 
the  question  to  be  considered  was,  whether 
they  would  entertain  the  grave  and  solemn, 
but  disgusting  charges  preferred  against 
her  majesty,  or  whether  they  were  pre- 
pared to  say,  that  notwithstanding  the  proof 
to  be  adduced,  there  was  something  in  this 
bill  that  it  ought  not  to  be  followed  up  by 
the  enactments  contained  in  the  preamble  ? 
This  was  his  view  of  the  question  before 
their  lordships.  But  see  how  it  had  been 
argued  by  his  learned  friends.  They  had 
argued  the  question  as  if  the  preamble  had 
not  been  proved,  and  yet  they  had  indulged 
themselves  in  talking  of  spies,  informers, 
perjured  and  suborned  witnesses.  When 
those  witnesses  had  given  their  testimony, 
the  time  would  come  to  speak  of  their  char- 
acter, and  the  nature  of  their  testimony. 
This  line  of  proceeding  was,  in  fact,  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  tampering  with  their 
lordships'  feelings,  and  doubtless  it  must 
have  made  an  impression  upon  their  minds, 
His  learned  friends  had  also  placed  another 
ditRculty  in  his  way.  They  had  found  fault 
with  the  framing  of  the  preamble,  and,  not 
satisfied  with  that,  had  gone  through  its 
whole  history.  They  attacked  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  secret  committee,  and  went  on 
to  show  the  disadvantages  under  which  her 
majesty  labored,  in  consequence  of  not  hav' 
ing  her  case  brought  before  a  grand  jury 
But  their  lordships  had  decided  that  this 
was  the  only  mode  of  proceeding; — they  had 
decided,  that  the  crime  with  which  her  ma- 
jesty was  accused,  though  if  committed  in 
England  would  be  treason,  could  not  be  so 
construed,  having  been  committed  abroad 
and  with  a  foreigner.  They  had  in  fact 
decided  that  her  majesty  was  not  amenable 
to  any  of  our  courts  of  justice,  and  this  was 
the  only  mode  of  proceeding  which  could 
be  instituted.  Their  lordships  instituted 
this  inquiry  on  the  report  of  a  secret  com- 
mittee; this,  it  was  urged,  deprived  her 
majesty  of  the  benefit  derived  from  a  grand 
jury.  But  did  the  committee  find  her  ma- 
jesty guilty  of  any  one  charge  1  They  mere- 
ly said,  that  from  what  had  been  laid  before 
them,  they  were  of  opinion,  that  there  was 
serious  ground  of  charge  against  her  majes- 
ty, affecting  the  dignity  of  the  crown,  and 
they  recommended  the  house  to  proceed  to 
an  inquiry.  See  then,  how  the  arguments 
of  his  learned  friends  were  applied — first, 
they  found  fault  with  the  preamble  of  the 
bill ;  and  secondly,  they  quarrelled  with  the 
measure  itself,  which  their  lordships,  by 
their  having  read  it  the  first  time,  had  sanc- 
tioned. It  was  urged  that  the  secret  com- 
mittee had  reported  upon  unvouched  docu- 
ments.   He  had  no  means  of  knov/ing  upon 


what  statements  the  secret  committee  re- 
ported, nor  did  he  know  from  whence  his 
learned  friends  drew  their  information ;  but 
he  was  much  mistaken  if  the  select  com- 
mittee had  not  had  the  sworn  testimony  of 
witnesses  in  support  of  the  statements  laid 
before  them.  But  whether  they  had  or  not, 
such  testimony  was  not  now  the  question ; 
their  lordships  had  decided  upon  that  report, 
and  that  decision  could  not  now  be  called 
in  question.  The  grounds  alleged  in  the 
preamble  of  the  present  bill  were  of  the 
same  public  nature  and  import  as  those 
stated  in  the  bill  against  the  bishop  of 
Rochester.  When  the  facts  recited  were 
proved  in  evidence,  the  great  question 
which  their  lordships  would  have  to  decide, 
would  be,  whether  such  a  substantiation  of 
the  truth  of  the  facts  should  be  followed 
by  the  enactment  of  the  bill  1  It  had  been 
endeavored  by  his  learned  friends  to  raise 
an  objection  to  the  bill,  on  the  ground  that 
the  charges  which  it  alleged  against  her 
majesty,  had  flowed  from  slander  and  per- 
jury. In  the  present  stage  of  the  proceed- 
ing, what  right,  he  would  ask,  had  they  to 
argue  upon  such  a  gratuitous  and  unpro- 
voked assumption  '\  Where  were  the  proofs 
to  justify  it  1  Their  lordships  knew  nothing 
of  them — they  could  not  know  anything  of 
them ;  and  for  what  purpose  such  a  line  of 
observation  was  introduced,  he  would  leave 
to  their  lordships  to  decide.  In  the  same 
spirit,  it  was  objected  by  his  learned  friend, 
that  the  present  bill  originated  in  a  commit- 
tee of  that  house,  where  no  decisive  opinion 
had  been  forniod,  lie  could  not  see  the 
least  strength  in  such  an  objection.  The 
decisive  opinion  of  their  lordships  had  yet 
to  be  formed.  It  would  be  doing  a  great  i 
injustice  to  her  majesty  had  their  lordships, 
in  that  previous  part  of  the  proceeding,  ven- 
tured to  pronounce  a  decisive  opinion;  it 
would  then  be  imputed  to  them  that  they 
had  forestalled  and  prejudged  the  question. 
Their  lordships  had  wisely  abstained  from 
such  a  course.  All  that  they  had  done  was 
to  express  their  opinion  that  there  existed 
grounds  for  a  serious  charge  against  her 
majesty.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  ar- 
gument of  his  learned  friends,  that  had  been 
assumed,  which,  at  least,  was  extremely 
doubtful,  namely,  that  in  proceeding  against 
her  majesty,  an  impeachment  could  have 
been  founded.  The  whole  of  the  argument, 
against  proceeding  by  bill  of  pains  and  pen- 
akies,  rested  on  the  grounds  of  their  lord- 
ships acting  in  that  case  in  their  legislative, 
and  not  in  their  judicial  capacity.  When, 
therefore,  his  learned  friends  deprecated 
such  a  course,  and  contended  for  an  im- 
peachment, they  were  bound  to  have  shown, 
that  in  the  present  case  an  impeachment 
could  have  been  maintained.     That  proof 


GEORGE  rV.   1820. 


665 


they  had  declined ;  and  their  lordships,  he 
trusted,  would  agree  with  him,  that  the 
wisest  course  which  could  have  been  pur- 
sued, was  the  one  which  was  the  least  subject 
to  doubt  and  uncertainty.  Besides,  he  would 
confidently  say,  that  notwithstanding  all 
those  airs  of  triumph  with  which  those  ob- 
jections were  introduced — notwithstanding 
all  the  inflammatory  language  which  ac- 
companied their  statement,  that  a  very  dif- 
ferent character  would  have  been  given  to 
the  measure  of  proceeding  by  bill  of  pains 
and  penalties,  had  not  that  been  the  very 
measure  which,  in  the  present  case,  had 
been  adopted.  It  was  adopted  because  it 
adverted  to  certain  charges  against  her  ma- 
jesty, which,  though  of  the  gravest  import, 
were  not  a  violation  of  any  law,  while  the 
best  authorities  supported  the  doctrine  that 
an  impeachment  could  not  be  maintained 
but  for  a  breach  of  the  law.  Sure,  then,  he 
was,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  challenges 
now  so  heroically  thrown  out,  notwithstand- 
ing all  those  allusions  to  the  morality  of  the 
country,  and  all  those  various  topics  so  lib- 
erally brought  into  view,  had  impeachment 
been  the  proceeding  adopted,  the  very  same 
objectors  would  have  deprecated  it,  and 
have  said,  that  the  proceeding  in  the  case 
of  an  adultery  should  have  been  by  bill, 
and  not  by  impeachment,  because  by  the 
adoption  of  the  latter  course,  the  accused 
party  was  deprived  of  the  power  of  recrimi- 
nation. They  complained  of  the  proceed- 
ing by  bill,  because  they  were  now  shut  out 
from  recrimination,  and,  strange  to  say,  re- 
gret that  the  impeachment  was  not  adopted 
— a  course  of  proceeding  which  no  lawyer 
would  venture  to  assert,  allowed  the  accused 
to  recriminate.  All  this  contradiction  had 
its  purposes ;  it  was  to  terrify  and  to  alarm, 
and  to  withdraw  the  minds  of  their  lord- 
ships from  the  real  question  on  which  they 
liad  to  decide.  His  learned  friends  had,  it 
was  to  be  recollected,  taken  this  course,  not 
in  the  exercise  of  a  duty  compulsive  with 
them,  but  acting  under  an  indulgence  so 
very  rarely  allowed  by  that  house — so  rarely 
indeed,  that  the  divorce  case  of  the  duke  of 
Norfolk  was  the  only  one  to  be  found  where 
the  counsel  of  the  accused  was  allowed  to 
interfere  before  the  evidence  was  produced. 
It  was  not,  then,  too  much  to  expect  that 
those  sweeping  charges  should  have  been 
deferred  until  the  character  of  the  evidence 
to  be  produced  was  ascertained  ;  before  the 
charge  of  corruption  was  thrown  out  against 
witnesses  to  be  examined,  surely  his  learn- 
ed friends  should  wait  until  enabled  to  sus- 
tain sach  imputations  by  proof  His  learned 
friends  may  prejudge,  they  may  prejudice, 
they  may  assail  the  characters  of  the  most 
eminent  and  illustrious  in  rank  and  station ; 
they  may  rake  from  the  shades  of  oblivion, 
56* 


all  those  prejudices,  or  failings,  over  which 
the  healing  spirit  of  time  and  more  correct 
feeling  had,  in  consideration  of  his  many 
virtues,  thrown  a  veil;  they  may  select 
the  moment  when  an  illustrious  individual 
(the  duke  of  York  we  presume)  was  next 
in  succession  to  the  throne,  when  the  re- 
mains of  his  illustrious  partner  have  just  been 
consigned  to  the  grave,  to  wound  his  feel- 
ings, and  revive  recollections  which  a  better 
feeling  had  never  disturbed :  all  these  things 
his  learned  friends  may  do  with  impunity — 
to  him  it  was  only  to  state  the  facts  which 
he  should  call  upon  evidence  to  sustain. 
They  may  declaim  on  the  bribes  by  which 
that  evidence  was  obtained,  and  animadvert 
on  the  nature  of  the  motives  which  they 
presumed  to  operate  on  the  minds  of  some 
of  their  lordships.  All  that  remained  for 
him  was  to  conjure  their  lordships,  and  he 
knew  he  did  so  not  in  vain,  to  dismiss  all 
such  inapplicable  statements  from  their 
minds,  and  to  apply  themselves  to  the  great 
and  important  question,  on  which,  in  fact, 
they  were  called  in  their  judicial  character 
to  pronounce. 

The  solicitor-general  was  next  heard  at 
considerable  length. 

Mr.  Brougham,  in  reply,  urged  a  variety 
of  arguments  in  favor  of  his  original  propo- 
sition, and  showed  the  impolicy  of  the  prin- 
ciple contended  for  by  the  counsel  for  the 
crown. 

The  public  expectation  was  now  at  its 
height,  when  lord  King  gave  notice  of  a 
motion  to  stop  all  further  proceedings ;  and 
on  Saturday  the  nineteenth,  moved,  "  That 
it  appears  to  this  house  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary for  the  public  safety  or  the  security  of 
the  country,  that  the  bill  entitled,  '  An  act 
to  deprive  her  majesty,'  &c.  should  pass 
into  a  law." 

On  which  lord  Liverpool  moved  as  an 
amendment,  "  That  the  attorney-general 
be  directed  to  be  called  in."  Earl  Grey 
opposed  the  amendment ;  the  house  divided, 
— for  the  amendment  one  hundred  and 
eighty-one,  against  it  sixty-five,  majority 
one  hundred  and  sixteen. 

Earl  Grey  then  moved,  "  That  it  appears 
that  the  bill  now  before  the  house  does  not 
afford  the  most  advisable  means  of  prosecu- 
ting the  charges  against  her  majesty,  and 
that  therefore,  under  the  present  circum- 
stances it  is  not  necessary,  or  expedient,  to 
proceed  further  with  it." 

This  resolution  was  put  as  an  amend- 
ment to  the  motion  of  lord  Liverpool,  "  That 
counsel  be  called  in,"  and  was  negatived 
by  a  division  as  follows, — for  the  amend- 
ment gixty-four,  against  it  one  hundred  and 
seventy-nine,  majority  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen. 

The  lord  chancellor  having  desired  the 


606 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


attorney-general  to  open  his  case,  he  im- 
mediately commenced  his  address  to  the 
house : 

"  My  lords, — I  now  attend  at  your  bar  to 
fulfil  the  duty  which  you  have  demanded, 
of  stating-  to  your  lordships  the  circumstan- 
ces which  are  to  be  adduced  in  evidence  in 
support  of  the  charges  which  are  contained 
in  the  preamble  of  the  bill  now  under  your 
lordships'  consideration.  A  duty,  my  lords, 
more  painful  or  more  anxious,  I  believe,  was 
never  imposed  upon  any  individual  to  ac- 
complish. 

"  I  have,  my  lords,  to  state  to  your  lord- 
ships the  circumstances  which  are  to  be 
adduced  in  evidence  to  your  lordships  in 
support  of  those  serious  and  heavy  charges 
which  are  made  in  the  preamble  of  the  bill, 
which  has  already  been  so  much  the  sub- 
ject of  discussion : — charges  which,  in  the 
language  of  the  preamble,  not  only  reflect 
the  greatest  scandal  and  disgrace  upon  the 
individual  against  whom  they  are  made, 
but  also  reflect  the  greatest  disgrace  upon 
the  country  itself  The  highest  individual, 
as  a  subject,  in  the  country,  is  charged  with 
one  of  the  most  serious  offences  both  against 
the  laws  of  God  and  man.  It  is  that  of  an 
adulterous  intercourse — an  adulterous  in- 
tercourse carried  on  under  circumstances 
of  the  greatest  aggravation. 

"  My  lords,  it  is  well  known  to  your  lord- 
ships and  the  courtry,  that  in  the  year  1814, 
her  majesty,  for  reasons  operating  upon  her 
mind,  and  not  by  compulsion,  as  has  been 
insinuated  by  my  learned  brothers,  thought 
fit  to  withdraw  herself  from  this  country  to 
a  foreign  land. 

"  My  lords,  her  majesty,  when  she  quitted 
this  country,  quitted  i'c  witli  persons  about 
her  who  were  precisely  such  persons  as 
should  be  about  an  individual  of  her  exalted 
rank.  She  was  accompanied  by  individuals 
connected  with  distinguished  families  in 
this  kingdom.  Among  these  were  lady 
Charlotte  Lindsay  and  lady  Elizabeth 
Forbes,  who  were  her  maids  of  honor; 
Mr.  St.  Ledger,  who  was  her  chamberlain ; 
and  Sir  William  Gell,  and  the  Hon.  Kep- 
pel  Craven,  who,  I  believe,  were  attached 
to  her  in  a  similar  character.  She  was  also 
accompanied  by  captain  Hesse,  as  her 
equerry,  and  Dr.  Holland  as  her  physician ; 
besides  other  persons  whom  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  enumerate.  With  this  suite  her 
majesty  arrived  at  MUan.  She  remained 
at  Milan  for  a  space  of  three  months  ;  and 
during  that  period  a  person  was  received 
into  her  service,  whose  name  occurs  in 
the  preamble  of  this  bill,  and  whose  name 
will  as  frequently  occur  in  the  course  of 
these  proceedings — a  person  of  the  name 
of  Bergami,  who  was  received  into  her  ser- 
vice as  a  courier,  or  footman,  or  valet  de 


place.  It  was  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  days 
previous  to  her  majesty's  departure  from 
Milan  that  Bergami  entered  into  the  situa- 
tion I  have  described.  Her  majesty,  on 
quitting  Milan,  proceeded  to  Rome,  and 
from  thence  she  went  to  Naples,  where  she 
arrived  on  the  eighth  of  November,  1814  ; — 
and  I  believe  that  I  shall  be  able  to  satisfy 
your  lordships  that  on  the  evening  of  the 
ninth  of  November,  that  intercourse,  which 
is  charged  between  her  majesty  and  Ber- 
gami by  the  present  bill,  commenced,  and 
was  continued  from  that  time  till  he  quit- 
ted her  service."  That  Bergami  having 
gained  this  ascendency  over  her  royal  high- 
ness, as  he  inferred,  from  a  continuation  of 
adulterous  intercourse,  which  was  facilita- 
ted in  everyone  of  the  various  changes  of  res- 
idence, that  took  place  during  several  years 
passed  in  the  visiting  of  different  countries, 
by  tlie  invariable  arrangements  of  a  contigui- 
ty of  sleeping  apartments ;  and  as  he  further 
stated,  by  the  command  of  the  princess ;  he 
from  his  brief  of  instructions  also  stated, 
that  a  constant  repetition  of  similar  scenes 
had  taken  place  till  she  established  herself 
at  Deste,  near  Cairo :  that  there  Bef-gami 
was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  her  majesty's 
chamberlain,  when  he  invariably  dined  at 
her  majesty's  table,  together  with  his  sister 
the  darne  d'honneur :  that  on  board  the  ships 
Leviathan,  Clorinde,  as  well  as  the  much 
famed  Polacca,  the  recurrence  of  these  li- 
centious proceedings  would  be  substan- 
tiated, accompanied  by  many  public  demon- 
strations of  affection,  such  as  the  princess 
calling  Bergami  "  her  dear,  her  love,'^  and 
other  unequivocal  terms,  and  acts  of  en- 
dearment and  partiality :  that  she  procured 
several  titles  and  dignities  for  him — pre- 
sented him  her  picture — and  that  he  now 
entered  her  bed-room  at  all  hours,  without 
the  slightest  previous  notice,  and  there  re- 
mained alone  with  her  for  a  considerable 
portion  of  time,  and  at  many  periods  :  that 
not  contented  with  heaping  honors,  digni- 
ties, and  favors  on  him,  her  majesty,  at  Je- 
rusalem, instituted  an  order,  called  the 
Order  of  St.  Caroline,  of  which  she  made 
Bergami  grand  master:  and  that,  after  hav- 
ing on  every  occasion,  as  well  by  sea  as 
upon  land,  continued  to  act  in  this  extraor- 
dinary manner,  subject  to  the  observation 
of  the  lower  classes  in  particular — after 
having  on  board  the  Polacca  exhibited  her- 
self to  the  attention  of  the  crew,  during  the 
voyage  from  .Taffa  to  Italy,  and  having  often 
been  seen  during  the  day  sitting  on  Ber- 
gami's  knee,  and  embracing  him;  "after 
this,"  said  the  attorney-general,  "nobody 
could  doubt  for  what  purpose  the  tent  was 
fitted  up  on  the  deck.  At  this  time  her 
majesty  seemed  to  cast  off"  all  the  restraints 
of  female  delicacy.    It  would  be  proved  that 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


667 


at  one  period  during  the  voyage  she  had  a 
bath  prepared  for  her  on  board  the  vessel, 
and  into  this  bath  she  went,  no  person  being 

S resent,  or  in  attendance  on  her,  except 
•ergami : — what  but  the  absolute  banish- 
ment, the  total  oblivion  of  all  remains  of 
virtue  and  modesty,  could  have  prevailed 
on  a  woman  to  admit  a  man  and  a  servant 
at  such  a  moment  1  From  tliis  fact  every 
man  must  be  satisfied  that  the  last  inti- 
macy must  have  taken  place  betvveen 
two  persons  of  different  sexes,  before  any 
female  would  allow  a  man  to  attend  on 
her  in  such  a  situation."  In  this  vessel 
she  causes  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew 
to  be  observed  with  great  festivity,  in  hon- 
or of  Bero^ami, — his  name  being  Bartolo- 
meo, — as  it  had  been  done  in  the  preceding 
year  at  Villa  Deste :  that,  not  satisfied  with 
having  previously  lavished  titles  and  honors 
on  him,  she  finally  expends  several  thou- 
sand pounds  in  the  purchase  of  the  estate 
now  called  Villa  Bergami,  or  Barona,  for 
him,  situated  near  Milan. 

After  a  recital  of  most  disgusting  matter, 
to  be  borne  out  by  after  evidence,  the  attor- 
ney-general concluded  a  very  able  and 
lengthened  address  by  observing :  "  Let 
their  lordships  look  at  the  general  nature 
of  the  case,  and,  besides  this,  let  them  look 
at  some  of  those  strong  facts  which  more 
especially  confirm  the  charge.  This  Ber- 
gami was  a  man  in  the  greatest  poverty. 
In  October,  1814,  he  was  received  into  her 
majesty's  service,  and  in  the  short  course 
of  five  or  six  months,  he  was  not  only  in 
habits  of  the  greatest  familiarity  with  her, 
but  his  whole  family  surrounded  her.  Their 
lordships  would  allow  him  to  call  their  at- 
tention to  the  state  of  her  majesty's  estab- 
lishment, while  settled  at  Pesaro.  There 
was  Bergami  himself,  the  grand  chamber- 
lain ;  his  mother,  who  did  not  appear  to  have 
held  any  particular  situation  in  her  house- 
hold ;  his  brother  Lewis,  who,  from  the  hum- 
ble station  of  a  courier,  had  been  promoted 
to  be  her  equerry ;  the  countess  of  Oldi,  the 
.''ister,  who  was  only  maid  of  honor ;  Francis 
Bergami,  their  cousin,  was  dignified  with 
the  title  of  the  director  of  the  palace ;  Faus- 
tina, the  sister ;  Martin,  a  page ;  Francis,  a 
relation ;  and  the  house-steward,  besides  the 
Piccaroon.  So  that  their  lordships  would 
see  that  there  were  ten,  as  he  might  say, 
of  this  family  retained  in  her  service.  And, 
to  account  for  the  striking  fact  of  their  be- 
ing advanced  in  this  way  in  favors  and 
honors,  what  was  to  be  said  1  How  was  it 
to  be  accounted  for  1  It  might  well  be  said, 
indeed,  in  answer  to  that  question,  '  Don't 
from  these  facts  alone  infer  guilt—don't 
from  these  infer  adulterous  intercourse.' 
Why,  no,  he  would  not :  if  he  did  infer  it 
from  these  alone,  he  should  be  betraying 


that  duty  which  they  had  imposed  upon 
him,  and  which  he  was  pledged  to  perform. 
But  when,  in  addition  to  these  circumstan- 
ces, their  lordships  found  that  all  these  fa- 
miliarities continued  between  them,  they 
could  not  leave  the  slightest  doubt  of  the 
disgraceful  conduct  charged  in  the  pream- 
ble, and  of  the  shameful  and  wicked  inter- 
course which  took  place  between  count 
Bergami  and  her  majesty. 

"  In  cases  of  criminal  conversation,  they 
never  had — at  least,  it  was  very  frequently 
quite  impossible  and  impracticable  to  have 
— any  other  evidence  but  that  of  servants, 
or  others  whose  duties  called  them  to  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  house. 

"  But  it  was  said,  and  with  something 
like  an  air  of  exultation,  'Ay,  but  these  are 
foreign  witnesses.'  Foreign  witnesses !  Let 
them  look  at  her  majesty's  conduct :  why 
was  it  that  her  majesty  was  abandoned  by 
all  her  other  suite,  by  all  her  English  ser- 
vants?— why,  but  that,  after  her  arrival 
from  Milan,  she  seemed  anxious  to  forget 
that  she  was,  or  should  be,  an  English  wo- 
man. Could  she  complain  of  those  foreign 
witnesses,  when  she  had  shown,  by  her 
conduct,  what  she  thought  of  Italian  ser- 
vants— what  she  thought  of  this  man,  her 
favored  Bergami  1  Should  it  be  said,  '  Don't 
hear  foreign  witnesses,  there  is  the  strong- 
est objection  to  them ;  they  are  not  to  be 
believed  :' — he  would  ask  them,  what  did 
this  hold  out  to  the  public  ]  Was  it  not  to 
say,  '  Go  abroad,  commit  what  crime  you 
please,  carry  on  what  conduct  you  please ; 
however  flagitious,  you  never  can  be  con- 
victed in  an  English  court  of  justice.'  And 
why  1  because  the  fact  can  only  be  proved 
by  foreign  witnesses,  and  they,  we  tell  you 
before  we  hear  them,  are  branded  with  in- 
famy. They  are  marked  for  discredit ; 
therefore  '  go  abroad,  abandon  yourself  to 
the  most  dissolute  profligacy  you  please; 
it  can  never  be  proved  in  a  court  of  this 
country,  for  foreign  witnesses  are  unworthy 
of  belief 

"  Upon  the  circumstances  of  tlie  case,  it 
was  hardly  necessary  for  him  to  add,  their 
lordships  were  to  decide  under  a  sacred  ob- 
ligation. It  had  been  said  that  the  wit- 
nesses, being  foreigners,  their  testimony 
ought  to  be  received  with  suspicion  and 
distrust :  but  the  conduct  of  her  majesty, 
and  the  nature  of  the  case,  made  such  evi- 
dence indispensable.  Their  lordships  would 
decide  upon  its  value,  and,  he  doubted  not, 
calmly  and  firmly  pronounce  their  judg- 
ment. He  should  now  proceed  to  call  his 
witnesses."  The  examination  of  which  con- 
tinued to  occupy  the  uninterrupted  atten- 
tion of  the  house  from  the  twenty-first  of 
August  till  the  sixth  of  September :  on  the 
following  day,  the   solicitor-general  sura- 


668 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


med  up  the  evidence  which  had  been  ad- 
duced in  support  of  the  bill  in  the  following 
speech. 

SUMMING  UP  OF  EVIDENCE. 
The  solicitor-general  then  rose  to  sum 
up  the  evidence  to  the  house.  He  com- 
menced by  stating,  that  his  learned  friend 
(Mr.  Brougham)  having  closed  the  long  and 
elaborate  cross-examination  of  Theodore 
Majochi,  and  as  the  whole  of  the  evidence 
in  support  of  the  bill  was  now  before  their 
lordships,  the  duty  devolved  upon  him  of 
summing  up  to  their  lordships  the  leading 
points  of  that  evidence,  in  support  of  the 
allegations  contained  in  the  preamble  of  the 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties  against  her  ma- 
jesty the  queen.  He  trusted  that,  before 
he  entered  upon  this  summing  up,  their 
lordships  would  allow  him  a  few  moments 
to  justify  himself,  and  his  learned  friends 
who  acted  with  him,  as  to  the  course  pur- 
sued by  them,  and  the  principles  by  which 
they  were  actuated,  in  conducting  this  most 
painful  and  anxious  inquiry.  The  moment 
the  attorney-general  had  received  his  in- 
structions to  support  this  bill,  he,  together 
with  his  learned  friends  who  were  appoint- 
ed to  assist  him,  directed  their  most  minute 
and  anxious  attention  to  collect  all  the  evi- 
dence that  it  would  be  their  duty  to  adduce 
before  their  lordships  upon  such  an  occa- 
sion. They  lost  not  a  moment  in  weighing 
well  and  considering  all  the  materials,  and 
every  other  evidence  which  could  bear  upon 
this  great  question.  They  collected  to- 
gether and  digested  everything  which  they 
thought  material  to  this  paramount  inquiry, 
without  regard  to  either  the  influence  or 
the  impression  which  any  parts  of  that  evi- 
dence were  calculated  to  create  when  it 
came  before  their  lordships.  They  felt  that 
in  the  progress  of  this  cause  they  were  not 
to  make  themselves  a  party  to  the  inquiry ; 
but  to  pursue  it  according  to  their  lordships' 
instructions,  fairly,  candidly,  and  honestly. 
Having  said  thus  much  in  behalf  of  him- 
self and  his  learned  colleagues,  the  duty 
now  devolved  upon  him  of  pointing  their 
lordships'  attention  to  the  leading  facts,  as 
disclosed  in  the  evidence  before  them,  and 
to  enforce  upon  their  lordships'  attention 
the  manner  in  which  the  case  at  present 
stood,  and  how  the  evidence  adduced  made 
out  and  supported  the  allegations  in  the 
preamble  of  the  bill.  His  duty  was  not  to 
impose  or  to  influence  by  any  distorted 
statement;  all  that  was  required  of  him 
was,  that  he  should  sum  up  the  evidence 
with  truth  and  accuracy,  and  then  point  out 
how  it  applied  to  the  charges  upon  which 
the  bill  was  founded.  If  it  were  not  ex- 
pected of  him  to  incur  any  charge  of  this 
mis-statement,  still  less,  he  hoped,  was  it 
e.xpected  of  him  to  use  the  slightest  ex- 


pression derogatory  from  the  station  and 
dignity  of  her  majesty  the  queen.  No  such 
expressions  should  escape  his  lips.  The 
queen  was  here  on  trial  before  their  lord- 
ships :  one  side — and  that  the  case  against 
her — had  only  been  heard.  He,  therefore, 
was  bound  in  strict  law,  and  so  were  their 
lordships,  to  consider  her  majesty  innocent 
of  those  foul  charges  ascribed  to  her  until 
they  heard  her  defence.  None  could  pro- 
nounce her  guilty  until  their  lordships'  ver- 
dict decided  and  justified  that  imputation. 
He  and  his  learned  friends  had  been  charged 
with  scattering  calumnies  abroad,  and 
throwing  dirt  against  the  character  of  the 
queen.  But,  though  this  charge  had  been 
insidiously  disseminated,  he,  and  those  with 
him,  felt  guiltless  of  the  imputation.  They 
had,  throughout,  stated  nothing  which  they 
had  reason  to  believe  would  not  be  satisfac- 
torily proved.  If  calumnies  had  been  ut- 
tered, they  belonged  to  another  quarter ; 
that  quarter  alone  ought  to  be  called  upon 
to  account  for  them.  Before  he  went  fur- 
ther, he  would  beg  leave  to  call  their  lord- 
ships' attention  to  the  nature  of  the  charges 
set  forth  in  the  preamble  of  the  bill  of 
pains  and  penalties  against  her  majesty  the 
queen.  That  preamble  began  by  stating, 
that  her  majesty  in  the  year  1814  had,  in 
Milan,  engaged  in  the  capacity  of  a  menial 
servant,  a  man  named  Bartholomew  Ber- 
gami ;  that  she  had  immediately  after  that 
time,  committed  disgraceful  and  unbecom- 
ing familiarities  with  that  person ;  that  she 
had  raised  him  in  her  household,  and  loaded 
him  with  honors ;  that  she  had  placed  sev- 
eral members  of  his  family  in  various  situa- 
tions of  honor  and  rank  about  her  person ; 
and  that  she  had  afl;erwards  carried  on,  for 
a  considerable  period,  an  adulterous  inter- 
course with  him.  That  was  the  head  of 
the  charges  against  the  queen,  as  contained 
in  the  preamble  of  the  bill ;  and  it  was  his 
duty  to  ask  their  lordships  if  that  charge 
had  not  been  substantially  made  out  in  evi- 
dence. He  must  now  beg  leave  to  carry 
back  their  lordships'  attention  in  point  of 
time  to  what  was  done  by  her  majesty  when 
she  first  set  out  from  Milan  to  Naples.  Ho 
thought  it  right,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity, 
to  take  up  the  subject  at  the  time  he  had 
just  mentioned,  and  then  pursue  it  from 
that  period  up  to  the  latest  time  that  the 
queen's  conduct  had  been  mentioned  in 
evidence.  It  appeared,  from  the  evidence 
before  their  lordships,  that  her  majesty  took 
Bergami  into  her  service  as  a  courier,  at 
Milan,  in  the  year  1814 ;  he  had  previously 
lived  in  a  menial  situation  with  general 
Pino,  his  wages  then  being  three  livres 
a-day.  It  was  also  staged  by  the  witness, 
that  for  the  first  fortnigh.^  after  the  queen 
took  Bergami  into  her  seiyice,  he  waited 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


GGii 


behind  her  majesty's  table.  At  that  time  a 
youth,  of  whom  their  lordships  had  heard, 
named  William  Austin,  was  in  the  constant 
habit  of  sleeping"  in  her  majesty's  apart- 
ment ;  but  the  queen  gave  directions  when 
she  set  out  from  Milan,  that  another  bed- 
room should  in  future  be  provided  for  him, 
as  he  was  advancing  to  a  period  in  life  when 
it  would  be  unfit  for  him  to  sleep  any  longer 
in  the  chamber  she  occupied.  A  separate 
apartment  was  accordingly  provided  for 
Austin  on  the  arrival  of  the  queen  at  Na- 
ples. When  her  majesty  arrived  there,  she 
slept  at  a  country-house.  On  the  night 
after  her  arrival  at  Naples,  the  queen  went 
to  the  opera.  It  was  here  most  material 
for  their  lordships  to  attend  throughout  to 
all  the  relative  situations  of  the  queen's 
bed-room  and  Bergami's,  who  was  then  her 
courier.  At  Naples,  the  communication 
between  them  was  of  this  kind.  There 
was  a  private  passage,  which  terminated  at 
one  side  in  a  cabinet,  that  led  to  Bergami's 
sleeping-room  ;  while  on  the  other  side  of 
the  same  passage  was  the  bed-room  of  the 
queen ;  so  that  the  occupant  of  either  one 
or  the  other  room  could  traverse  this  pas- 
sage without  interruption,  for  the  passage 
had  no  communication  with  any  other 
apartments  than  the  two  he  had  mentioned. 
The  witness,  their  lordships  would  recol- 
lect, had  stated,  that  on  the  evening  upon 
which  her  majesty  went  to  the  opera  at 
Naples,  she  returned  home  at  a  very  early 
hour,  and  went  from  her  apartment  into  the 
cabinet  contiguous  to  Bergami's.  That  she 
soon  returned  to  her  own  room,  where  her 
female  attendant  was  in  waiting,  and  gave 
strict  orders  that  young  Austin  should  not 
be  admitted  into  her  room  that  night.  The 
manner  and  conduct  of  the  queen  upon  that 
occasion  attracted  the  notice  of  the  ser- 
vant, who,  excited  by  what  she  had  noticed 
on  the  preceding  night,  examined  the  state 
of  the  beds  on  the  following  morning.  And 
what  was  the  result  of  that  examination  ? 
She  bed  stated  that  the  small  travelling-bed 
had  not  been  slept  upon  at  all  on  that  night, 
but  that  the  larger  bed  had  the  impression 
of  being  slept  in  by  two  persons ;  and  she 
further  said,  in  answer  to  a  question  from 
one  of  their  lordships,  which  could  not  be 
evaded,  that  she  had  also  observed  in  the 
bed  two  marks  of  a  description  which  but 
too  clearly  indicated  what  had  passed  there 
in  the  course  of  the  night.  He  had  indeed 
heard  that  none  of  the  witnesses  had  de- 
posed before  their  lordships  to  the  actual 
fact  of  adultery ;  but  to  such  an  assertion 
he  would  reply,  that  if  those  facts  were 
true,  no  person  of  rational  mind  could  doubt 
that  on  that  night  the  adulterous  inter- 
course was  commenced  which  formed  the 
subject  of  the  present  unhappy  investiga- 


tion. Upon  the  sort  of  proof  required  in 
cases  of  adultery,  he  should  merely  ol>- 
serve,  that  he  did  not  recollect  a  single  in- 
stance, in  cases  of  adultery,  where  the  ac- 
tual fact  was  fully  proved  in  evidence. 
The  crime  was  always  to  be  inferred  from 
accompanying  circumstances,  which  left  no 
doubt  of  the  fact  upon  the  mind  of  a  ra- 
tional and  intelligent  man.  On  this  point 
of  proof  he  would  beg  leave  to  quote  the 
opinion  of  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
judges  that  ever  sat  in  this  country.  He 
had  received  this  opinion  from  one  of  his 
learned  friends,  who  had  taken  notes  of  it 
at  the  time  it  was  pronounced  by  the  learn- 
ed judge.  It  was  in  the  case  of  Loveden 
v.  Loveden,  before  Sir  William  Scott,  in 
the  consistory  court,  in  the  year  1809.  The 
learned  judge  then  stated,  that  there  was 
no  necessity  in  a  case  of  that  nature  to 
prove  the  actual  fact  of  the  adultery,  for 
that  could  not  be  proved  in  ninety-nine 
cases  out  of  a  hundred,  where  there  was 
still  no  doubt  of  its  having  taken  place. 
The  uniform  rule  was,  that  where  facts 
were  proved  which  directly  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  act  of  adultery  had  been 
committed,  such  proof  must  be  taken  as 
sufficient.  Now  let  the  house  for  a  moment 
look  at  the  case  in  this  light : — Suppose  an 
adulterous  intercourse  really  to  have  ex- 
isted, how  would  that  intercourse  have  man- 
ifested itselfl  How  but  from  the  habitual 
conduct  of  the  parties  ]  To  screen  such  an 
intimacy  from  the  eyes  of  attendants  was 
impossible;  and  let  their  lordshij^  direct 
their  attention  to  the  scenes  which  had 
been  constantly  occurring — to  the  scenes 
which,  in  continued  detail,  had  been  de- 
scribed by  the  witnesses.  Their  lordships 
would  remember  the  ball  which  took  place 
at  the  house  upon  the  sea-shore,  while  the 
princess  was  at  Naples.  To  that  ball  her 
royal  highness  went,  accompanied  only  (for 
the  purpose  of  dressing  and  preparation)  by 
the  waiting-maid  Dumont,  and  by  Bergami ; 
two  apartments,  a  dressing-room  and  an 
ante-room,  being  allotted  to  her  use.  For 
her  first  character,  that  of  a  Neapolitan 
peasant,  the  princess  was  dressed  by  the 
waiting-maid ;  she  went  into  the  ball-room, 
stayed  a  short  time,  returned  for  the  pur- 
pose of  changing  her  dress,  and  did  change 
it  entirely ;  the  chamber-maid  all  the  while 
being  left  in  the  ante-room,  and  the  courier 
being  in  her  dressing-room  during  the  ope- 
ration. Now  the  house  could  not  but  have 
noticed  the  style  of  Mr.  Williams's  cross- 
examination  as  to  that  transaction.  The 
witness  had  merely  been  asked  whether 
there  were  not  persons  of  rank  and  consid- 
eration in  the  ball-room  below.  But  it  had 
been  said  that,  even  admitting  all  these 
facts,  they  did  not  amount  to  evidence  of 


670 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


adultery.  Could  any  man  look  at  a  prin- 
cess, locked  up  in  her  bed-room  for  nearly 
an  hour,  and  changing  her  dress  with  the 
assistance  of  her  courier,  and  entertain  any 
doubt  upon  the  subject  1  The  thing  did  not 
stop  there;  there  was  another  change  of 
dress;  her  royal  highness  assumed  the 
character  of  a  Turkish  lady ;  and  in  that 
character,  for  the  second  time,  went  down 
stairs  arm-in-arm  with  this  courier,  this 
common  footman,  this  man  accustomed  to 
wait  behind  her  chair ;  and  what  happened 
tlieni  why,  almost  instantly,  the  courier 
returned.  (The  solicitor-general  then  re- 
peated the  other  heads  of  Majochi's  testi- 
mony.) All  this,  however,  rested  upon  the 
testimony  of  Majochi,  who  was,  of  course, 
a  witness  unworthy  of  belief  That  wit- 
ness had  been  cross-examined  once,  twice, 
and  because  Carlton-house  had  been  some- 
how introduced,  he  had  just  now  been  cross- 
examined  for  the  third  time :  he  (the  soli- 
citor-general) had  attended  most  diligently 
to  the  first  cross-examination ;  he  had  since 
read  the  evidence  as  it  appeared  upon  the 
minutes;  and  he  did  declare  that,  as  it  ap- 
peared to  him,  during  a  cross-examination 
of  seven  hours,  extending  over  a  period  of 
three  years,  and  going  through  a  variety  of 
complicated  facts,  in  no  one  instance  had 
that  witness  been  betrayed  into  inconsist- 
ency. Certainly  the  witness  had  repeatedly 
used  the  phrase  (perhaps  of  equivocal  im- 
port,) "I  do  not  remember;"  and  the 
changes  which  had  been  rung  upon  that 
circumstance  might  produce  an  impression 
upon  low  minds,  although  it  could  produce 
none  upon  the  minds  of  their  lordships. 
But  it  was  impossible  not  to  perceive  the 
artifice — the  let  us  have  a  few  more  "  non 
mi  ricordos ;"  and  it  was  equally  impossible 
not  to  perceive  that  to  the  questions  pro- 
posed the  witness  could  return  no  other 
answer.  The  learned  counsel  then  reca- 
pitulated the  evidence  of  Grotano  Paturzo, 
which,  he  contended,  was  calculated  to 
make  a  deep  and  lasting  impression.  Be- 
fore he  quitted  Naples  he  begged  to  allude 
to  what  had  taken  place  at  the  theatre  of 
Saint  Carlos.  The  wife  of  the  heir  appa- 
rent of  the  throne  of  Great  Britain,  at  that 
time  holding  the  supreme  government  of 
the  country,  having  about  her  a  suite  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  was  desirous  of  going 
in  private.  Surely  she  might  have  selected 
some  respectable  person  of  her  suite,  some 
respectable  inhabitant  of  Naples,  some 
proper  and  decent  companion,  without  ma- 
terially infringing  upon  the  privacy  of  the 
transaction;  but  she  chose  her  chamber- 
maid and  her  courier.  It  was  a  rainy  night ; 
dark,  gloomy,  and  tempestuous;  a  hired 
carriage  was  drawn  up  at  a  private  door  at 
the  bottom  of  the  garden ;  they  traversed 


the  terrace,  the  garden ;  got  into  the  hired 
carriage  at  the  private  door,  proceeded  to 
the  theatre,  and  there  met  with  such  a  re- 
ception as  obliged  them  to  retreat  and  re- 
turn home.  To  what  conclusion  did  this 
occurrence  lead  the  mind  of  every  man  ac- 
quainted with  such  transactions.  He  next 
adverted  to  the  occurrences  at  Genoa,  where 
the  chamber  of  Bergami  was  again  imme- 
diately contiguous  to  that  of  the  princess, 
and  where  numerous  instances  occurred, 
clearly  demonstrating  the  familiarity  which 
subsisted  between  them.  There  too  she 
became  surrounded  with  the  family  of  her 
favorite,  and  received  his  child,  his  mother, 
and  his  sister,  into  her  suite.  To  another 
point. — It  appeared  that  the  princess,  while 
at  Genoa,  had  gone  to  look  at  a  house  in  a 
secluded  spot,  and  at  some  distance  from 
the  city.  What  was  the  recommendation 
of  that  house  ]  that  it  was  far  from  Genoa ; 
far  from  the  English.  Let  their  lordships 
look  to  the  evidence  of  Sacchi,  and  they 
would  find — what?  why,  that  during  the 
whole  of  the  journey  through  Germany  and 
through  the  Tyrol,  the  greatest  anxiety  had 
been  shown  by  her  royal  highness  to  avoid 
the  English  upon  every  occasion  :  the  first 
question  to  be  put  on  arriving  at  any  place 
was,  whether  English  of  rank  were  at 
hand?  If  that  question  was  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  the  party  proceeded  to  other 
quarters.  From  Genoa,  being  joined  by 
lady  Charlotte  Campbell,  the  princess  pro- 
ceeded to  Milan.  Lady  Charlotte  Camp- 
bell, however,  did  not  travel  with  her  royal 
highness,  and  shortly  after  quitted  her  alto- 
gether ;  from  which  time  no  English  lady 
of  rank  or  station  remained  in  her  suite.  A 
lady  of  honor  was  then  it  appeared  to  be 
procured  at  Milan.  And  who  had  been 
chosen  to  fill  that  situation '?  The  sister  of 
Bergami.  No  foreigner  of  rank ;  no  Eng- 
lish lady  of  respectability ;  but  the  sister 
of  Bergami,  the  countess  of  Oldi.  Was 
that  lady  in  any  way  fitted  for  the  office  1 
The  princess  spoke  little  Italian ;  the  count- 
ess spoke  only  the  Italian  of  the  lower  or- 
ders, and  no  French.  They  were  so  situ- 
ated, that  little  communication,  and  no  con- 
versation, could  take  place  between  them. 
It  was  upon  these  facts,  which  had  been 
called  trifling  by  the  other  side,  but  which 
he  did  not  look  upon  as  trifling;  it  was 
upon  those  incidental  facts — facts  which 
could  not  be  invented  or  exaggerated  by 
witnesses,  that  the  learned  gentleman  re- 
lied for  confirmation  of  his  case ;  and  those 
persons  must  wilfully  shut  their  eyes  against 
conviction,  whose  inferences  and  conclu- 
sions were  other  than  his  own.  These  facts 
were  followed  by  others,  not  less  conclu- 
sive. There  was  one  circumstance  of  the 
gold  chain  at  Venice — and  the  still  more 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


671 


prominent  fact  of  Dumont  having  actually 
seen  Bergami  pass  through  her  chamber 
into  the  room  of  the  princess.  In  cases 
like  the  present,  everything  was  to  be  in- 
ferred from  the  general  conduct  of  the  par- 
ties; and  it  had  been  clearly  shown  that 
the  princess  and  Bergami  were  constantly 
conducting  themselves  like  lovers,  or  like 
man  and  wife,  during  the  day,  while  every 
preparation  was  made  to  prevent  the  inter- 
ruption of  their  intercourse  during  the  night. 
The  familiarities  at  the  Villa  d'Este  were 
not  spoken  to  by  one,  two,  or  three  wit- 
nesses, but  by  such  a  body  of  testimony  as 
set  doubt  at  defiance.  Walking  arm-in- 
arm in  the  gardens,  alone  in  a  canoe  upon 
the  lake — embracing  and  kissing  each  other 
— where  such  intimacies  were  proved  even 
between  persons  in  an  equal  rank  of  life, 
accompanied  by  a  constant  anxiety  for  ac- 
cess to  the  bed-chamber  of  each  other,  no 
court  could  refuse  to  draw  the  inference 
that  adultery  had  been  committed.  To  go 
through  the  whole  series  of  evidence  would 
only  be  to  fatigue  the  house:  but  what 
would  be  said  to  the  testimony  of  Ragaz- 
zoni  with  respect  to  the  statues,  to  the  fig- 
ures of  Adam  and  Eve  1  He  remembered 
that  in  the  very  case  upon  which  he  had 
already  stated  to  the  house  the  judgment 
of  Sir  William  Scott — in  that  very  case  a 
letter  had  been  produced  written  by  the 
lady  to  her  lover,  in  which  she  related  some 
circumstances  of  an  indecent  nature.  To 
th9,t  letter,  as  evidence,  the  learned  judge 
had  most  particularly  adverted ;  saying, 
that  no  woman  would  hive  so  written  to  a 
man  unless  an  adulterous  intercourse  had 
taken  place  between  them.  That  observa- 
tion applied  most  fully  to  the  case  in  point. 
Her  royal  highness  went  subsequently  to 
Catania,  and  he  begged  to  call  their  lord- 
ships* attention  to  what  passed  there,  be- 
cause It  was  most  important.  There  was 
a  particular  arrangement  of  apartments, 
which,  in  consequence  of  the  indisposition 
of  Bergami,  was  afterwards  altered.  Her 
royal  highness  slept  in  the  room  adjoining 
that  of  Mademoiselb  Dumont  and  her  sis- 
ter Marietta  Bron,  ard  on  the  other  side  of 
that  room  slept  the  countess  of  Oldi.  Ber- 
gami being  ill,  he  was  put  into  the  room 
previously  occupied  bj^  the  countess  of  Oldi, 
and  the  countess  was  placed  in  the  apart- 
ment of  her  royal  highness.  It  would  be 
seen,  therefore,  that  up  to  this  period  Du- 
mont and  her  sister  slept  between  the  apart- 
ment occupied  by  Bcrg&mi  and  that  allotted 
to  her  royal  highness^  They  were  in  the 
habit  of  going  to  breakfast  about  nme 
o'clock ;  the  door  which  communicated  with 
their  room  was  sometimes  open,  sometimes 
closed ;  but  on  one  particular  morning,  hap- 
pening to  remain  beyond  the  ueual  time  (to 


the  best  of  her  recollection,  her  sister  be- 
ing present,)  about  the  hour  of  ten,  her 
royal  highness,  carrying  the  pillows  on 
which  she  was  accustomed  to  sleep,  came 
out  of  the  room  of  Bergami,  She  saw  Du- 
mont— she  eyed  her,  and  passed  into  her 
o^yn  room,  contrary  to  her  usual  custom, 
without  saying  anything.  He  believed  that 
no  questions  were  put  as  to  that  part  of  the 
case  by  the  learned  counsel  on  the  other 
side;  but  their  lordships,  in  the  discharge 
of  that  important  duty,  which  had  been  casJ, 
upon  them,  thought  it  necessary  that  some 
questions  should  be  asked,  to  ascertain 
whether  a  large  portion  of  time  had  not 
been  passed  by  her  royal  highness  in  the 
bed-room  of  Bergami.  Their  lordships  ask- 
ed, whether  Dumont  had  quitted  the  room 
that  morning  1  To  which  she  answered,  that 
she  had  not.  How  long  had  she  been 
awake?  She  answered  two  hours.  Whether, 
during  that  time,  her  royal  highness  passed 
through  the  rooml  Her  answer  was,  no. 
Then  the  inference  was,  that  certainly  for 
two  hours  her  royal  highness  had  been  in 
the  bed-room  of  the  courier.  When  he 
stated  this  fact,  he  was  aware  that  it  would 
be  again  said,  that  it  depended  on  the  evi- 
dence of  Dumont,  and  therefore  it  became 
necessary,  as  much  of  what  he  had  to  in- 
troduce rested  on  her  credit,  fortified  and 
supported  as  it  was  by  corroborative  state- 
ments, to  say  a  word  or  two  with  respect  to 
what  had  been  thrown  out  on  the  other 
side,  for  the  purpose  of  impeaching  her  tes- 
timony.— The  learned  counsel  then  in- 
geniously commented  on  the  letters  which 
had  been  produced  on  the  cross-examina- 
tion of  Dumont,  and  contended  that  they 
were  clearly  written  by  her,  not  in  sin- 
cerity, but  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the 
eye  of  the  princess  and  Bergami,  with  a 
view  to  promote  the  interests  of  her  sister. 
If  what  the  counsel  on  the  other  side  were 
saying  was  correct — if  there  were  no 
ground  for  casting  an  imputation  on  the 
character  of  her  royal  highness — if  there 
were  nothing  mysterious  in  the  conduct  of 
this  courier — if  Bergami  were  advanced  in 
the  service  solely  on  account  of  his  merits, 
and  the  respect  he  bore  to  an  honorable 
mistress — if  such  were  his  situation,  and 
the  character  of  his  connexion,  what  was 
the  inevitable  conclusion  to  which  it  led  1 
Could  there  be  a  more  desirable  witness 
than  that  man  himself,  to  contradict  the 
testimony  of  Dumont?  She  spoke  of  his 
conduct  when  the  three  parties  only  were 
present,  not  on  one  occasion,  but  many.  If 
the  connexion  of  Bergami  with  her  royal 
highness  were  such  as  was  alleged  in  the 
bill,  he  certainly  could  not  appear  at  their 
lordships'  bar :  but  if  it  were  a  pure  con- 
nexion, unsullied  by  those  circumstances 


672 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


which  he  (the  solicitor-general)  had  stated, 
why  was  he  not  opposed  to  this  witness] 
Why  was  he  not  brought  forward  to  contra- 
dict Dumoni — to  show  that  a  base  attack 
was  made  on  the  character  and  honor  of  the 
most  amiable  princess  in  the  world — to 
prove  that  Dumont  had  been  falsely  accusing 
her  royal  highness  with  crimes  that  were 
never  committed  1  Having  made  these  ob- 
servations on  the  statement  of  his  learned 
friend,  relative  to  the  testimony  of  this  wit- 
ness, he  called  on  their  lordships  to  consider 
the  whole  of  the  evidence,  to  take  all  the 
story  together,  and  to  see  whether  she  was 
ultimately  contradicted  in  any  point  that 
could  destroy  the  inference  to  which  her 
testimony  must  evidently  lead.  He  asked 
of  their  lordships  to  mark  the  evidence  on 
both  sides,  and  to  mark  how  the  case  then 
stood.  At  Milan  this  man  had  been  em- 
ployed as  a  courier  in  general  Pino's  ser- 
vice. He  afterwards  was  admitted  to  the 
t'ame  rank  in  her  royal  higness's  household. 
But  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  he  be- 
came her  royal  highness's  equerry,  then  her 
chamberlain,  then,  by  her  influence,  knight 
of  Malta,  then  Baron  de  la  Franchini,  then 
knight  of  the  holy  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem, 
and  then  grand  master  of  the  order  which 
her  royal  highness  herself  created.  They 
would  find  him  also  possessed  of  a  consid- 
erable property  at  the  very  gates  of  Milan. 
The  man  who  had  been  a  few  years  before 
living  in  a  prison  (for  what  reason  he  knew 
not),  who  had  received  three  livres  a  day 
from  general  Pino — they  found  this  man 
suddenly  covered  with  orders  and  honors. 
For  what  ca,use  ?  for  what  service  1  for  what 
talents?  He  asked  this  because,  when  their 
lordships  considered  it  together  with  the 
other  facts,  it  strengthened  and  confirmed 
the  statement  of  the  witnesses,  and  made  it 
almost  impossible  to  adduce  any  other  cause 
for  the  extraordinary  love  which  her  royal 
highness  manifested  towards  this  man  but 
that  which  was  alleged.  But  to  proceed. 
A  vessel  was  hired  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing a  long  voyage,  and  her  royal  highness 
went  on  board  at  Augusta.  [The  solicitor- 
general  here  repeated  the  evidence  relative 
to  the  transactions  on  board  the  polacre.] 
Here  were  five  witnesses  speaking  of  what 
passed  on  board  the  polacre — deposing  to 
circumstances  that  took  place  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  person  who  was  in  the  suite  of  her 
royal  highness  at  the  time,  and  who  was 
still  in  her  service.  Why  then  were  they 
not  contradicted  1  As  the  case  now  stood, 
had  he  not  stated  sutficient  to  convince  their 
lordships'  minds  of  what  was  passing,  at 
that  important  period,  between  those  par- 
ties'? The  learned  gentleman  now  recapitu- 
lated the  remainder  of  the  evidence,  ad- 
verting to  the  licentiousness  which  marked 


the  proceedings  at  the  Barona ;  the  dance 
of  the  man  Mahomed ;  the  midnight  occur- 
rences at  Charnitz,  where  Dumont  was 
driven  from  her  royal  highness's  chamber 
to  make  way  for  Bergami;  the  events  at 
Carlsrhue ;  and  the  subsequent  transactions 
at  Baden,  Vienna,  and  Trieste, — at  which 
latter  place  Bergami  was  seen  coming  out 
of  his  own  room  in  his  drawers  and  slippers, 
and  going  into  that  of  the  countess  of  Oldi, 
which  had  a  communication  with  the  cham- 
ber of  the  princess.  All  those  facts  proved 
an  adulterous  intercourse  at  that  period,  and 
by  circumstances  too  which  mutually  con- 
firmed each  other.  He  would  now  call 
their  lordships'  recollection  to  the  evidence 
of  two  witnesses — the  last  that  were  called 
before  them — he  meant  Rastelli  and  Sacchi. 
[Here  he  restated  their  evidence,  and  con- 
tended with  great  force  that  they  confirmed 
in  every  particular  the  testimony  of  those 
persons  who  had  gone  before  them.] 

On  the  ninth  of  September,  upon  the  ap- 
plication of  her  majesty's  counsel,  the  far- 
ther consideration  of  the  bill  was  adjourned 
to  Tuesday  the  third  of  October ;  at  which 
time  it  was  stated  they  would  be  prepared 
to  enter  upon 

HER  MAJESTY'S  DEFENCE. 

Mr.  Brougham  accordingly  commenced 
his  address  to  the  house  on  behalf  of  her 
majesty,  —  a  speech  which  occupied  the 
whole  of  that,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
following  day.  This  speech  has  been  so 
much  admired,  that  any  attempt  at  abbrevi- 
ating it,  would  only  spoil  what  is  considered 
too  fine  and  perfect  an  example  of  legal 
oratory,  to  admit  of  mutilation.  Suffice  it 
to  observe,  his  lengthened  address  contained 
a  summary  of  events  during  twenty-six 
years,  from  the  period  of  her  majesty's  first 
arrival  in  this  country,  "as  niece  of  our 
sovereign,  intended  consort  of  his  royal  heir, 
and  herself  not  remote  in  title  to  the  crown 
of  England."  After  detailing  all  the  occur- 
rences which  took  place  between  her  arri- 
val in  1794,  and  her  departure  for  the  con- 
tinent in  1814,  he  then,  in  a  most  able  man- 
ner, commented  on  the  several  evidences 
brought  forward  in  support  of  the  prosecu- 
tion, ably  contrasting  the  discrepancies  be- 
tween their  respective  depositions  in  chief, 
and  those  which  were  extracted  by  the  in- 
genious mode  of  cross-examinations  adopted 
by  her  majesty's  advocates — commenting 
most  powerfully  on  these  contradictions  as 
they  arose,  and  witli  the  coruscations  of  a 
luminous  display  of  forensic  and  impassioned 
eloquence,  bearing  down  all  opposition  to 
truth,  wherever  such  appeared. — Adverting 
to  former  proceedings  instituted  against  his 
illustrious  client,  he  took  occasion  to  eulo- 
gize Pitt,  Perceval,  and  Whitbread,  as  her 
early  defenders — her  firm,  dauntless,  and 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


678 


able  advocates.  And  when  death  had  swept 
all  these  away,  the  approaching  rumbling- 
of  the  storm,  he  said,  commenced,  though 
it  was  stayed  by  her  last  friend,  her  daugh 
ter :  when  that  sole  support  was  gone,  all 
that  might  be  dreaded  by  her  immediately 
took  place,  had  she  not  possessed  the  con 
Bciousness  of  innocence.  After  ridiculing 
most  forcibly  the  evidence,  from  Majochi  to 
Dumont,  in  a  strain  of  irony  so  levelled  that 
it  cannot  be  shortened  without  losing  all  its 
point, — he  next,  with  equal  felicity,  assails 
the  Milan  commission ;  the  proffer  of  the 
increased  annuity  by  ministers ;  and  deduces 
from  her  majesty's  rejection  of  it  an  irref 
ragable  presumption  of  her  innocence.  Then 
he  attacks  the  character  of  the  Italian  wit 
nesses,  developing  the  motives  which  might 
naturally  induce  them  to  enlist  in  a  cause 
of  persecution,  for  filthy  lucre — with  the 
power  exercised  to  bring  them  to  the  bar 
of  their  lordships'  house,  and  the  pains  taken 
in  drilling  them  for  the  manoeuvres  dis 
played  there:  contrasting  the  proceedings 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  with  the 
present  time.  By  these  commentaries  upon 
the  mass  of  evidence,  after  entering  into 
a  line  of  defence  too  voluminous  to  be  here 
repeated,  he  concludes  his  elaborate  address 
in  the  manner  hereunder  recited : 

"  The  queen  is  now,  and  has  been  long 
placed  in  a  singular,  in  a  most  embarrassing 
eituation.  Her  mind,  from  recent  as  well 
as  former  events,  must  be  naturally  disposed 
to  put  a  painful  construction  on  the  conduct 
and  motives  of  all  by  whom  she  is  surround 
ed.  She  has  been  inured  to  this  by  a  long 
and  uninterrupted  course  of  persecution — 
by  much  and  severe  oppression,  abroad  and 
at  home,  by  manifold  frauds  upon  her  be- 
nevolence and  generous  credulity — by  the 
malice  and  treachery  of  spies  and  servants 
— ^by  those  hidden  artifices  which  it  was  im- 
possible always  to  trace.  This  last  scene 
was  not  calculated  to  form  an  exception  in 
her  mind  to  the  conduct  habitually  pursued 
by  those  who  surrounded  her.  All  she  had 
witnessed  in  Italy,  all  she  witnessed  since 
her  arrival  here,  down  to  the  last  day  of 
this  proceeding — the  witnesses  who  ap- 
peared against  her,  the  manner  in  which 
tliey  conducted  themselves,  the  nature  of 
their  testimony,  were  all  calculated  to  fill 
with  general  suspicion  and  distrust,  an 
otherwise  unsuspecting  breast.  It  is  the 
portion  of  those  who  have  been  persecuted 
by  enemies — it  is  their  unhappy,  but  un- 
avoidable lot,  to  be  liable  to  suspicion — not 
to  know  to  whom  they  dare  trust.  This 
distrust,  forced  on  the  mind  by  a  recollec- 
tion of  unceasing  plots  and  artifice,  must, 
no  doubt,  render  her  majesty  extremely 
fearfiil  and  circumspect  with  respect  to  any 
witness  she  mar  be  disposed  to  call  in  her 

Vol.  IV.  57 


defence.  Her  majesty,  for  aught  I  know, 
may  now  be  harboring  in  her  breast  a  viper 
of  the  same  brcwd  as  Dumont,  I  mean  the 
sister  of  that  person,  one  with  whom  she 
corresponded,  and,  as  she  said,  in  cipher ; 
but  this  I  do  not  believe.  All  these  circum- 
stances are  calculated  to  prescribe  suspicion, 
as  a  duty,  in  her  majesty's  present  situation. 
It  is  alien  to  an  innocent  creature,  but  it  is 
one  of  these  guards  that  innocence  is  obliged 
to  have  recourse  to,  when  surrounded  by 
such  persons  as  the  Grimms,  tlie  Omptedas, 
the  Douglases,  and  the  still  less  scrupulous 
Majochis,  Dumonts,  and  Sacchis.  We  shall 
show,  that  at  the  time  Dumont  represented 
Bergami  as  having  returned  with  a  passport, 
and  spending  the  night  in  the  princess's 
rooms,  that  preparations  were  then  actually 
making  for  the  journey ;  that  so  for  from 
remaining  there  during  the  night,  they  en- 
tered the  carriage  in  an  hour  and  a  half 
after  his  arrival;  that  the  whole  of  this 
period  was  employed  in  getting  ready  the 
baggage ;  and  that  while  this  business  was 
going  forward,  the  queen's  door  continued 
always  open :  her  servants  were  constantly 
passing,  so  that  they  might  easily  have  seen 
anything  that  occurred  in  the  room.  They 
all  came  in  and  out  as  often  as  Bergami, 
making  preparations  for  the  journey,  whilst 
the  princess  was  reclined  on  the  bed  in  a 
travelling-dress,  in  which  she  had  lain  down, 
determined  at  whatever  hour  the  passport 
arrived  to  resume  her  course.  How  has  it 
happened  that  in  no  one  instance  have  two 
witnesses  been  called  to  establish  a  single 
fact  1  Why  was  this  omitted,  when  it  might 
be  done  without  difliculty?  Why,  but  for 
this  plain  reason,  that  it  would  not  be  pru- 
dent to  call  forward  one  for  the  purpose  of 
swearing,  and  another  with  a  view  to  con- 
firmation. If  two  witnesses  had  been  called 
to  one  fact,  it  was  likely  that  in  the  cross- 
examination  they  might  contradict  each 
other,  and  therefore  it  was  that  my  learned 
friends  prudently  abstained  from  having  re- 
course to  so  dangerous  an  experiment.  One 
circumstance  was  alluded  to,  to  the  truth  of 
which,  if  true,  a  number  of  witnesses  might 
have  been  called.  The  circumstance  I 
mean,  is  that  which  is  stated  to  have  taken 
place  at  the  masquerade.  It  must  have  been 
known  to  numbers  that  her  majesty  appeared 
there ;  that  she  was  hissed  in  consequence 
of  the  indecency  of  her  dress.  These  were 
circumstances  which,  upon  a  public  occa- 
sion, could  not  possibly  have  been  concealed. 
The  hissing  must  ere  long  have  been  known 
at  Naples,  and  not  only  there,  but  to  the 
surrounding  country,  and  all  the  cities  round 
about,  "Et  omnibus  aliis  opidis."  What 
has  become  of  V.  Tyson  ?  Why  has  she  not 
been  called?  I  will  tell  you  the  reason — 
she  is  Dot  an  Italian.    If  the  facts  stated  be 


674 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


true,  there  were  the  most  important  reasons 
for  calling  this  witness :  she  was  one  of  the 
queen's  servants — she  had  the  care  of  the 
linen,  superintended  it ;  the  practice  of  call- 
ing  washerwomen   was   not  novel ;   they 
were  called  in  the  Douglas  plot ;  rendered 
wise,  however,  by  experience,  no  attempt 
was  made  to  bring  them  forward  on  the 
present  occasion.     I  contend,  that  as  the 
case  now  stands,  I  am  not  bound  to  call  wit- 
nesses ;  and  I  submit  that  there  is  no  neces- 
sity for  it.     If  your  lordships  believe  what 
has  been  stated  by  the  witnesses  against 
her  majesty,  there  is  proof  positive  of  adul 
tery.     If  you  believe  Sacchi,  Bergami  has 
been  seen  twice  going  into  the  bed-room  of 
the  princess,  and  not  returning.    If  you  be- 
lieve him,  and  some  more  of  the  witnesses, 
in  all  they  have  sworn  to,  she  is  not  only 
guilty  of  the  crime  alleged  against  her  in 
the  bill,  but  she  is  as  bad  even  as  Messalina. 
If,  however,  they  are  not  worthy  of  credit — 
if  they  have  sworn  to  these  circumstances, 
knowing  them  to  be  false,  we  must  conclude 
them  to  be  more  vile  than  those  jacobins 
who,  in  the  progress  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion, attempted  to  affix  so  unnatural  a  charge 
upon  Marie  Antoinette.     The  fairest  repu- 
tation, when  attacked  in  this  manner,  can- 
not possibly  escape  but  in  one  way.     It  is 
not  possible  to  overturn  the  charge  by  con- 
tending testimony,  because  the  plotter,  on 
such  occasions,  takes  care  that  there  is  only 
one  who  can  swear — he  selects,  for  exam- 
ple, the  time  and  place  in  which  any  of  your 
lordships  may  be  found  alone.     You  may 
be  in  the  place  at  the  time  mentioned.     A 
direct    contradiction    under   such   circum- 
stances is  impossible.    What  does  the  court 
do  before  whom  such  a  case  is  brought  1 
They  will  direct  the  acquittal  of  the  person 
accused,  if  the  most  trifling  falsehood,  and 
in  the  most  unimportant  particular,  should 
be  detected  in  the  evidence  of  the  base  in- 
former.    I  call  upon  your  lordships  now  to 
act  upon  the  same  principle.     I  ask  only 
this  protection  for  her  majesty — a  protection 
which  justice  and  innocence  demand.  Much 
has  been  said  of  the  situation  of  Bergami 
previous  to  his  entering  the  service  of  the 
queen :  it  has  been  said  that  this  circum- 
stance alone,  contrasted  with  the  sphere  of 
life  in  which  he  now  moves,  is  quite  suf 
ficient  to  excite  suspicion.     My  lords,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  he  has  been  elevated 
to  a  situation  by  his  illustrious  mistress,  far 
above  that  in  which  he  formerly  moved,  and 
sorry  I  should  be,  indeed,  if,  in  this  country, 
such  a  circumstance  could  lay  a  foundation 
for  a  serious  charge.     If  raising  a  meritori- 
ous servant  to  a  place  of  trust,  was  to  be 
insinuated  as  matter  of  criminality,  God  for- 
bid we  should  ever  see  the  day  when  all 
stations  may  not  be  open  to  all  men  accord- 


ing to  their  merits.  I  beg,  however,  to  re- 
mind your  lordships,  that  the  rapidity  of  his 
promotion  was  quite  overstated.  The  man- 
ner of  it  shows,  that  he  earned  it  gradually 
by  the  faithfulness  of  his  character  and  the 
propriety  of  his  conduct,  and  it  tends  also 
to  show  the  little  credit  that  is  to  be  given 
to  some  part  of  the  evidence.  Dumont 
stated,  if  she  is  to  be  believed,  that,  in  the 
short  space  of  three  weeks  after  he  was 
taken  into  service,  the  princess  promoted 
him  to  her  bed ;  yet  after  this  he  still  con- 
tinued to  act  as  courier ;  he  dined  with  the 
servants  at  Genoa,  and  only  once  sat  at  the 
princess's  table  by  accident.  It  was  only 
towards  the  close  of  the  period  immediately 
previous  to  their  voyage,  that  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  her  table.  He  proceeded  by  slow 
degrees  in  the  service  of  the  queen,  travel- 
ling first  on  horseback  as  courier,  then  in  a 
carriage  by  himself,  and  subsequently  made 
chamberlain.  This  is  utterly  inconsistent, 
if  you  suppose  the  queen  to  be  that  insane, 
infatuated  woman,  she  has  been  described. 
Would  she,  if  thus  violently  attached,  al- 
low her  paramour  to  remain  even  a  day  in 
a  degrading  situation.  This  does  not  re- 
semble the  manner  in  which  love  usually 
rewards  the  object  on  whom  it  is  fixed.  It 
rather  resembles  the  slow  progress  by  which 
merit  struggles  through  difficulties  to  the 
place  it  is  worthy  of  Bergami  was  no  com- 
mon man,  but  a  person  of  merit.  His  origin 
was  not  low,  for  his  father  possessed  a  mod- 
erate property  in  the  north  of  Italy.  He 
got  into  difficulties,  like  many  Italian  gen- 
tlemen, and  soon  sold  his  estate  to  pay  his 
father's  debts.  He  was  certainly  reduced, 
but  still  a  reduced  gentleman,  and  recog- 
nized as  such  in  general  Fine's  service,  for 
he  dined  at  his  table  during  the  Spanish 
campaign.  The  general  respected  him,  and 
he  was  universally  esteemed  by  all  those 
whom  he  served.  They  encouraged  him 
to  hope  for  better  things,  els  knowing  his 
former  situation  and  his  present  merit.  It 
was  an  Austrian  nobleman  who  proposed 
him  as  a  courier  in  the  service  of  the  queen, 
and  he  was  hired  by  the  chamberlain  with- 
out her  majesty's  knowledge.  This  noble- 
man expressed  a  hope  that  he  would  be  pro- 
moted, as  he  had  seen  better  days.  It  was 
almost  a  condition  of  his  engagement  that 
he  should  go  as  a  courier,  and  be  subse- 
quently raised  to  a  better  station,  if  he  ren- 
dered himself  worthy  of  it.  My  lords,  I 
do  not  dwell  upon  this  as  an  important  cir- 
cumstance. I  do  not  think  it  is  material  to 
the  defence.  I  think  I  have  already  dis- 
posed of  the  case  by  the  comments  I  have 
made  upon  the  evidence.  I  thought  it  ne- 
cessary, however,  to  dwell  on  the  circum- 
stance, as  it  had  been  a  common  topic  of 
conversation.      If  her  majesty  had   been 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


075 


charged  with  secret  guilt,  against  which  it 
is  not  easy  to  provide  defence — had  she 
been  charged  with  what  could  have  fallen 
under  the  observation  of  those  with  whom 
she  could  have  associated  as  friends  or 
equals — with  any  improper  courses  in  pub- 
lic intercourse,  I  could  have  stood  upon  high 
ground  indeed.  I  could  have  easily  refuted 
every  insinuation  of  this  kind,  to  whatever 
period  of  her  life  it  might  have  been  at- 
tached— whether  before  she  visited  this 
country,  or  while  she  continued  in  it.  I 
hold  in  my  hand  a  testimonial,  written  by  his 
late  majesty,  which  cannot  be  read  without 
the  deepest  feelings  of  sorrow  and  respect 
for  his  character.  It  proves  the  light  in 
which  he  viewed  her  at  that  time,  and 
whom,  both  then  and  ever  after,  he  loved 
with  a  more  tender  recollection  than  any 
of  the  rest  of  her  family.  The  plainness, 
the  honesty,  intelligence,  and  manly  sense 
of  this  note,  written  in  1804,  could  not  be 
sufficiently  admired :  it  is  thus — 

"  Windsor  Castle,  Nov.  13,  1804. 
*'  My  dearest  Daughter-in-law  and  Niece, 
"  Yesterday,  I  and  the  rest  of  my  family 
had  an  interview  with  the  prince  of  Wales 
at  Kew :  care  was  taken  on  all  sides  to  avoid 
all  subjects  of  altercation,  or  explanation ; 
consequently,  the  conversation  was  neither 
instructive  or  entertaining:  but  it  leaves 
the  prince  of  Wales  in  a  situation  to  show 
whether  his  desire  to  return  to  his  family 
'  is  only  verbal  or  real,  which  time  alone  can 
show.  I  am  not  idle  in  my  endeavors  to 
make  inquiries  that  may  enable  me  to  com- 
municate some  plan  for  the  advantage  of 
the  dear  child.  You  and  I  with  so  much 
reason  must  interest  ourselves:  and  its  ef- 
fecting my  having  the  happiness  of  living 
with  you,  is  no  small  incentive  to  my  form- 
ing some  idea  on  the  subject,  but  you  may 
depend  upon  their  not  being  decided  upon 
without  your  thorough  and  cordial  concur- 
rence ;  for  your  authority  as  mother,  it  is 
my  object  to  support.  Believe  me  at  all 
times,  my  dearest  daughter-in-law  and 
M'  niece,  your  most  affectionate  father-in-law 
and  uncle, 

"  George  R." 

This  was  the  opinion,  and  these  were  the 
sentiments,  of  a  man  not  ignorant  of  the 
rules  of  society,  or  deficient  in  his  know- 
ledge of  the  human  heart.  Here  he  showed 
all  the  anxiety  of  a  tender  and  affectionate 
parent  for  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  a 
child,  and  evinced  all  those  sentiments  in 
favor  of  the  interests  of  the  princess  of 
Wales,  which  the  consciousness  alone  of 
the  purity  of  her  conduct,  and  the  extent  of 
her  merits,  could  have  excited.  I  mi^ht 
now  read  to  your  lordships  a  letter  from  his 
illustrious  successor,  not  in  the  same  tone, 


not  indicative  of  the  same  regard — but  by 
no  means  indicative  of  any  want  of  confi- 
dence, or  any  desire  to  trammel  his  royal 
consort  in  that  course  of  life  which  her  own 
feelings  might  suggest.  I  allude  to  that 
letter  which  has  been  so  often  before  your 
lordships  in  other  shapes,  and  which  I  do 
not  think  necessary  now  to  repeat.  In  that 
letter  he  expressed  his  wish  that  they  should 
live  apart.  Their  inclinations,  he  said, 
were  not  in  their  power,  and  their  mutual 
happiness  would  be  best  consulted  by  their 
living  asunder,  under  any  plan  which  might 
seem  most  conducive  to  their  comforts. 
There  was  no  indication  that  her  conduct 
should  be  made  a  subject  of  observation,  or 
that  her  seclusion  should  be  interrupted  by 
the  rigor  of  a  scrutinizing  agency — such  as 
had  brought  the  present  bill  of  pains  and 
penalties  into  life.  (A  cry  of  "  Read  the 
letter,"  from  the  ministerial  benches.) 

Mr,  Brougham  immediately  read  the  fol- 
lowing letter : — 

"  Madam — As  lord  Cholmondeley  informs 
me  that  you  wish  I  would  define,  in  writing, 
the  terms  upon  which  we  are  to  live,  I  shall 
endeavor  to  explain  myself  upon  that  head 
with  as  much  clearness,  and  with  as  nmeh 
propriety,  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  will 
admit  Our  inclinations  are  not  in  our 
power ;  nor  should  either  of  us  be  held  an- 
swerable for  the  other,  because  nature  has 
not  made  us  suitable  to  each  other.  Tran- 
quil and  comfortable  society  is,  however,  in 
our  power;  let  our  intercourse,  therefore, 
be  restricted  to  that ;  and  I  will  distinctly 
subscribe  to  the  condition  which  you  re- 
quired through  lady  Cholmondeley,  that, 
even  in  the  event  of  any  accident  happen- 
ing to  my  daughter,  which  I  trust  Provi- 
dence will  in  its  mercy  avert,  I  shall  not 
infringe  the  terms  of  the  restriction,  by 
proposing,  at  any  period,  a  connexion  of 
a  more  particular  nature.  I  shall  now 
finally  close  this  disagreeable  correspond- 
ence ;  trusting  that,  as  we  have  completely 
explained  ourselves  to  eac'.i  other,  the  rest 
of  our  lives  will  be  passed  in  uninterrupted 
tranquillity.  I  am,  madam,  with  great  truth, 
very  sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)  "George  P." 

My  lords, — I  do  not  mean  to  call  this,  as 
it  has  been  termed  by  others,  a  letter  of^  li- 
cense ;  but  I  think  that  such  an  epistle  must 
make  it  a  matter  of  natural  wonder  to  the 
minds  of  all  by  whom  it  has  been  heanl,  to 
find  that  ever  after  the  individual  by  whom 
it  had  been  received  should  have  been 
made  the  object  of  a  more  especial  watch- 
fulness, and  should  have  been  exposed  to  an 
increased  rigor  of  observation.  Such,  how- 
ever, my  lords,  is  the  state  of  this  case ;  and 
it  is  under  these  circumstances  tliat  her 


676 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


majesty  is  now  unexpectedly  drag-ged  to 
your  bar.  The  secret  agency  by  which 
she  has  been  haunted,  at  length  effected  the 
first  step  towards  her  destruction ;  but, 
thank  God !  their  machinations  must  here 
cease.  The  innocence,  and  the  purity  of 
my  illustrious  client  have  been  assailed,  but 
I  trust  with  confidence,  that  the  base  efforts 
of  her  calumniators  will  recoil  upon  them 
selves.  Your  lordships  have  attentively 
regarded  the  evidence  as  it  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  your  notice.  You  have  no  doubt 
watched  the  character  of  the  witnesses,  and 
I  am  satisfied  you  will  agree  with  me,  that 
not  one  of  those  witnesses  is  entitled  to  the 
slightest  credit.  No  single  fact  of  the  hei- 
nous charges  which  have  been  made  has 
been  supported  by  a  single  individual  en- 
titled to  credit.  Good  witnesses  were  within 
the  reach  of  her  majesty's  accusers,  persons 
entitled  to  confidence  and  belief;  but  these 
had  been  studiously  avoided.  The  plot  has 
been  discovered  by  the  means  of  those  prin- 
ciples which  invariably  apply  to  such  cases. 
It  has  been  exposed  to  the  open  glare  of 
day,  by  the  case  breaking  down  in  some  of 
those  parts  which,  however  ingeniously  got 
up^s  a  whole,  were  left  exposed  to  attack. 
The  great  features  of  the  plan  have  been 
preserved  with  a  studious  regard  to  ulti- 
mate success ;  but  some  of  the  minor  fortifi- 
cations, from  a  belief  that  their  weakness 
would  not  be  discovered,  were  left  unpro- 
tected. It  is  by  this  means  that  justice  has 
triumphed— it  is  by  such  trifles  that  the 
weightiest  and  most  serious  accusations 
have,  even  after  having  received  the  sup- 
port of  great  and  good  men,  been  laid  pros- 
trate. I  shall  be  excused  by  your  lordships 
for  quoting  an  authority  from  Scripture,  in 
support  of  this  proposition.  The  passage 
to  which  I  allude,  recites  a  case  in  which 
the  judges  of  that  day,  the  elders,  were  ar- 
raigned against  the  accused — and  in  which, 
when  they  were  on  the  eve  of  pronouncing 
an  unjust  judgment,  with  the  full  persuasion 
of  its  justice,  the  victim  was  rescued  from 
the  gripe  of  destruction  which  was  about  to 
grasp  her,  by  the  simple  circumstance  of  a 
contradiction  respecting  a  tamarisk  tree. 
Such  had  been  the  case  in  the  present  in- 
stance. Majochi,  Dumont,  Sacchi,  and  all 
the  other  herd  of  witnesses,  who  had  been 
called,  deposed  with  unblushing  confidence 
and  with  an  undeviating  accuracy  to  all  the 
main  features  of  the  charges,  which  it  was 
their  object,  as  well  as  their  interest,  to 
sustain,  and  might  have  eventually  suc- 
ceeded, but  for  the  aid  and  interposition  of 
that  Divine  Providence  which  wills  not 
that  the  guilty  shall  triumph.  When  such 
a  case  as  this  is  before  you — when  such 
evidence  is  brought  to  support  it,  can  you 
hesitate  as  to  the  opinion  which  it  becomes 


your  bounden  duty  to  forral  Can  you, 
upon  evidence  which  would  be  inadequate 
to  prove  the  most  trifling  debt — which 
would  be  too  impotent  to  deprive  a  subject 
of  the  commonest  civil  right — which  would 
be  rejected  in  the  most  ordinary  court  of 
justice  as  insufficient  to  establish  the  lowest 
offence — can  you,  I  say,  upon  such  scandal- 
ous and  barefaced  perjury,  in  this,  the 
highest  court  which  is  known  to  the  law  of 
the  land,  entertain  a  charge  so  monstrous 
as  that  which  has  for  its  object  the  ruin  of 
the  honor  of  an  English  queen]  What 
would  be  said  by  the  people  of  England — 
what  would  be  said  by  the  world  at  large — 
if,  upon  this  species  of  proof,  acting,  as  you 
do,  as  judges  and  legislators,  you  v/ere  to 
pass  a  bill,  which  must  for  ever  debase  and 
degrade  an  injured,  an  innocent  woman  1 

My  lords, — I  pray  your  lordships  to  pause, 
standing  as  you  do  on  the  brink  of  a  preci- 
pice, before  you  form  your  judgment — a 
judgment  which,  if  pronounced  in  favor  of 
the  bill  now  under  your  lordships'  consider- 
ation, will  fail  in  its  object,  and  will  return 
upon  those  who  give  it.  Save  the  country, 
my  lords,  from  the  horrors  of  such  an  oc- 
currence ;  save  yourselves  from  the  conse- 
quences of  an  event  by  which  you  would 
risk  the  situation  you  hold  in  that  country 
of  which  you  are  the  ornament,  but  in  which 
you  would  cease  to  flourish  if  no  lo!]ger 
served  by  the  people.  Like  the  blos^^om 
torn  from  its  parent  stem,  and  dragged  from 
the  root  by  which  its  beauties  were  sus- 
tained, once  deprived  of  the  confidence,  and 
esteem,  and  support  of  your  fellow-men, 
you  must  wither  and  decay.  Then,  my  lords, 
I  say,  save  that  country,  that  you  may  con- 
tinue to  adorn  it — save  the  crown,  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  aristocracy — shake  not  the  al- 
tar itself,  which  would  not  be  less  endan- 
gered than  its  kindred  throne.  Your  lord- 
ships willed — the  king  willed  that  the  queen 
of  these  realms  should  be  left  without  the 
solemn  service  of  the  church.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  this  solemnity,  she  sustained  no 
loss,  for  she  still  enjoyed  the  heartfelt  pray- 
ers of  the  people.  Her  majesty  wants  not 
my  prayers — but  I  now  ardently  and  sin- 
cerely supplicate  the  throne  of  grace,  that 
mercy  may  be  poured  down  on  the  people 
in  a  larger  proportion  than  their  rulers  de- 
serve, and  that  your  hearts  may  be  turned 
towards  justice." 

He  was  followed  by  Mr.  Williams,  in  an 
equal  strain  of  impressive  eloquence ;  in 
which  the  learned  counsel  adverted  to  a 
great  variety  of  prominent  points,  sworn  to 
in  the  prosecution,  which  he  stated  he 
should  be  enabled  to  give  the  clearest  con- 
tradiction to,  by  the  testimony  that  would 
now  be  adduced.  The  examination  of  wit- 
nesses on  behalf  of  her  majesty  then  began 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


677 


on  the  fifth  of  October,  and  was  continued 
till  the  twenty-fourth — when  Mr.  Denman 
proceeded  to  sum  up  the  evidence  for  the 
defence  in  a  speech  which  lasted  two  suc- 
cessive days,  and  which  it  is  wholly  im- 
practicable to  give  even  an  outline  of,  be- 
ing, as  it  was,  a  retrospective  view  of  the 
whole  proceedings,  as  contrasted  in  de- 
fence and  prosecution,  with  the  compre- 
hensive and  ably  applied  illustrative  re- 
marks of  such  a  counsellor  and  such  an 
orator  as  her  majesty's  solicitor-general,-^ 
who,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  eloquent 
harangue,  made  use  of  the  following  re- 
markably nervous  language : 

"  There  is  one  topic,  my  lords,  on  which 
it  is  impossible  for  me  not  to  comment. 
We  have  been  told  that  the  conduct  of  her 
majesty  furnishes  an  inference  in  support 
of  the  charges  in  the  preamble.  I  am  ready 
that  the  defence  shall  stand  or  fall  by  that 
test ;  and  I  ask,  whether  it  is  possible  for  a 
person  so  depraved,  in  the  first  place,  to 
have  turned  away  all  her  servants,  at  the 
moment  when  they  had  possessed  them- 
selves of  the  most  important  and  damning 
secrets,  and  afterwards  to  have  proceeded 
in  that  \o\v  attachment,  that  disgusting  de 
bauchery  with  an  individual  who  had  been 
elevated  for  the  most  criminal  purposes,  in 
defiance  of  all  the  principles  with  which 
human  nature  was  ever  acquainted?  It  is 
one  of  the  consequences  of  such  an  infatu- 
ation that  it  destroys  all  worldly  considera- 
tions— 

'  Not  Caesar's  empress  would  I  deign  to  prove.' 

And  if  so,  would  her  majesty  not  have  been 
willing  to  hide  her  head  in  any  part  of  the 
continent,  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  luxuri- 
ous profusion,  in  which  she  had  been  tempt- 
ed, by  offers  from  this  country,  to  continue 
even  with  great  splendor  ]  Would  she  not 
have  been  most  anxious  to  retire  to  Pesaro, 
or  to  the  Lake  of  Como,  and  there  to  ex- 
pend upon  her  favorite  the  vast  income  to 
be  appropriated  to  her  use  1  Is  it  possible 
to  believe,  that,  after  the  loss  of  all  that 
makes  life  dear,  and  character  valuable — 
after  vice  and  profligacy  had  become  her 
daily  habits — that  her  majesty  would  have 
«?prung  to  this  country,  irritated  and  stung 
by  nothing  but  this  detestable  accusation  1 
Look,  my  lords,  at  the  conduct  of  her  name- 
less and  unseen  persecutor,  and  then  at  the 
conduct  of  my  illustrious  client.  For  a  se- 
ries of  years  she  has  been  the  object  of  un- 
ceasing persecution.  The  death  of  her  only 
daughter  was  immediately  followed  by  this 
frightful  conspiracy.  The  decease  of  her 
last  remaining  protector,  whose  life,  while 
it  was  prolonged,  was  still  a  protection, 
though  his  affection  could  no  longer  be  dis- 
played, succeeded  not  long  afterwards.  It 
was  announced  to  her,  not  in  the  language 
57* 


of  kind  respect,  or  even  of  decent  condo- 
lence, but  in  a  shape  which  forestalled  the 
decision  of  parliament  upon  this  great  ques- 
tion. Cardinal  Gonsalvi  was  the  mstrument 
of  stripping  her  of  her  rank,  and  of  de- 
priving her  of  those  honors  to  which  her 
station  in  society  laid  claim.  Her  title  as 
princess  Caroline  of  England  was  stated  in 
the  face  of  her  passport ;  and  the  first  trans- 
action of  this  new  reign,  in  which  even 
traitors  were  spared  and  felons  pardoned  by 
a  lavish  exertion  of  the  royal  prerogative 
of  mercy,  was  the  most  illegal  and  unchris- 
tian act  yet  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the 
British  monarchy.  To  the  queen  it  was  no 
new  reign  of  peace  and  amnesty,  but  the 
commencement  of  a  prosecution  in  which 
malignity  and  falsehood  were  united  for  her 
destruction.  Her  name  was  excluded  from 
the  liturgy ;  but  when  it  was  forbidden  that 
the  prayers  of  the  people  should  be  offered 
up  for  her,  their  hearts  made  a  full  com- 
pensation for  that  odious  exercise  of  unjust 
authority.  Under  such  circumstances,  what 
shall  we  say  to  the  bill  before  the  house  1 
As  a  divorce  bill  it  exists  no  more ;  the 
mere  fact  that  the  crime  imputed  was  com- 
mitted six  years  ago,  dismisses  it  with  con- 
tempt ;  and  the  fact  of  the  letter  of  license, 
written  so  recently  after  the  marriage  cere- 
mony was  performed,  is  of  itself  an  an- 
swer to  any  claim  on  the  part  of  the  hus- 
band. But  it  is  a  bill  of  pains  and  penal- 
ties— a  bill  of  degradation,  dethronement, 
and  disgrace ;  and,  if  your  lordships  shall 
determine  to  proceed  against  this  perse- 
cuted and  injured  woman,  I  can  only  say, 
that  it  is  your  pleasure  to  do  so.  But  sure 
I  am  that  your  honor  as  peers,  your  justice 
as  judges,  and  your  feeling  as  men,  will 
compel  you  to  take  part  with  the  oppressed, 
instead  of  giving  the  victory  to  the  op- 
pressor. I  was  about  to  observe  that  there 
were  certain  individuals,  who  had  not  been 
called  as  witnesses — simply  for  this  reason 
— that  our  case  is  already  proved,  and  that 
we  do  not  think  it  decent,  or  consistent 
with  the  principles  of  justice,  to  overload 
the  minutes  already  so  unwieldy,  by  ad- 
mitthig  that  we  are  bound  to  go  a  single 
step  ferther.  We  have  often  heard  of 
challenges  and  defiances — we  have  been 
told  that  Bergami  might  be  called  to  the 
bar,  to  state  that  the  whole  charge  was  a 
fiction ;  but  this  is  one  of  the  unparalleled 
circumstances  of  this  extraordinary  case. 
PVom  the  beginning  of  the  world  no  in- 
stance is  to  be  found  where  an  individual 
charged  with  adultery  has  been  called  to 
disprove  it  Yet,  for  the  first  time,  we  are 
to  be  compelled  to  put  him  to  his  oath ! 
The  answer  is  in  a  word — there  is  either  a 
case  against  us,  or  there  is  no  case ;  if  there 
is  no  case,  there  is  no  occasion  for  us  to  caU 


678 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


a  witness ;  and  if  there  be  a  case,  no  man 
would  believe  the  supposed  adulterer,  when 
he  was  put  forward  to  deny  the  fact.  On 
this  subject  the  nicest  casuists  might  per- 
haps dispute,  with  a  prospect  of  success, 
on  either  side  of  the  proposition ;  but  I 
firmly  believe  that  the  feelings  of  mankind 
would  justly  triumph  over  the  strictness  of 
morality,  and  that  a  witness  so  situated 
would  be  held  more  excusable  to  deny  upon 
liijs  oath  so  dear  a  confidence,  than  to  be- 
trtiy  the  partner  of  his  guilt.  Even  perjury 
would  be  thought  a  venial  crime,  compared 
with  the  exposure  of  the  victim  of  his  adul- 
tery.— Surely,  for  the  sake  of  dragging  for- 
ward such  a  witness,  the  principles  of  our 
nature  and  of  the  heart  of  man  are  not  to 
be  repealed  even  upon  this  occasion,  to 
which  so  many  principles  have  been  made 
the  sacrifice.  Recollect,  my  lords,  that  this 
is  a  criminal  prosecution  of  the  highest 
kind,  and  requiring  the  clearest  and  strong- 
est evidence — evidence  collected  and  manu- 
factured during  six  years  of  unceasing  vigi- 
lance and  unremitting  persecution.  We 
have  heard  of  the  distinction  of  a  queen  of 
grace  and  favor,  and  a  queen  of  right  and 
law ;  but  her  majesty  has  been  taught,  by 
bitter  experience,  the  wide  diflference  be- 
tween a  husband  of  affection  and  guardian- 
ship, and  a  husband  of  jealousy  and  perse- 
cution! After  all  ties,  divine  and  human, 
have  been  broken  upon  his  part,  he  still 
thinks  it  possible  to  exact,  from  the  alien- 
ated and  injured  object  before  you,  the  most 
scrupulous  attention,  not  only  to  the  sub- 
stantial virtues  of  her  sex,  but  to  the  most 
insignificant  appearances  of  feminine  deco- 
rum. Let  me  ask  you,  then,  what  is  it  that 
can  justify  you  in  passing  such  a  bill? 
Without  looking  to  the  principle  (for  your 
lordships  know  that  I  am  not  at  liberty  to 
do  so,  and  I  only  advert  to  it  that  I  may  not 
be  supposed  to  waive  any  objection,)  I  say 
that  there  is  not  one  page  of  evidence  in 
this  whole  volume  to  warrant  you  in  giv- 
ing it  your  sanction.  There  is  not  a  single 
piece  of  evidence  proceeding  from  any  re- 
spectable quarter,  which  has  not  been  an- 
swered or  explained,  and  the  inventors  of 
the  most  minute  fabrications  have  been  fol- 
lowed with  success  through  many  of  their 
windings  and  minute  ramifications. — I  know 
that  rumors  are  abroad  of  the  most  vague, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  most  injurious 
character ;  I  have  heard  them  even  at  the 
very  moment  we  were  defending  her  ma- 
jesty against  charges,  which,  compared 
with  the  rumors,  are  clear,  comprehensible, 
and  tangible.  We  have  heard,  and  hear 
daily,  with  alarm,  that  there  are  persons, 
and  these  not  of  the  lowest  condition,  and 
not  confined  to  individuals  connected  with 
the  public  press — ^not  even  excluded  from 


your  august  assembly — who  are  industri- 
ously circulating  the  most  odious  and  atro- 
cious calumnies  against  her  majesty.  Can 
this  fact  be?  and  yet  can  we  live  in  the 
world,  in  these  times,  and  not  know  it  to 
be  a  fact?  We  know,  that  if  a  juryman, 
upon  such  an  occasion,  should  be  found  to 
possess  any  knowledge  on  the  subject  of 
inquiry,  we  should  have  a  right  to  call  him 
to  the  bar  as  a  witness.  "  Come  forward," 
we  might  say,  "and  let  us  confront  you 
with  our  evidence  :  let  us  see  whether  no 
explanation  can  be  given  of  the  fact  you 
assert,  and  no  refutation  effectually  appli- 
ed." But  to  any  man  who  could  even  be 
suspected  of  so  base  a  practice  as  whisper- 
ing calumnies  to  judges,  distilling  leprous 
venom  into  the  ear  of  jurors,  the  queen 
might  well  exclaim,  "  Come  forth,  thou 
slanderer ;  and  let  me  see  thy  face  !  If  thou 
wouldst  equal  the  respectability  even  of  an 
Italian  witness,  come  forth  and  depose  in 
open  court.  As  thou  art,  thou  art  worse 
than  an  Italian  assassin,  because  while  I 
am  boldly  and  manfully  meeting  my  accu- 
sers, thou  art  planting  a  dagger  unseen  in 
my  bosom,  and  converting  thy  poisoned 
stiletto  into  the  semblance  of  the  sword  of 
justice."  I  would  fain  say,  my  lords,  that 
it  is  utterly  impossible  that  this  can  be  true ; 
but  I  cannot  say  it,  because  the  fact  stares 
me  in  the  face ;  I  read  it  even  in  the  public 
papers,  and  had  I  not  known  of  its  exist- 
ence in  the  debasement  of  human  nature, 
I  would  have  held  it  impossible  that  any 
one,  with  the  heart  of  a  man,  or  with  the 
honor  of  a  peer,  should  so  debase  his  heart 
and  degrade  his  honor  ?  I  would  charge  him 
as  a  judge — I  would  impeach  him  as  a  judge ; 
and,  if  it  were  possible  for  the  blood  royal 
of  England  to  descend  to  a  course  so  dis- 
graceful, I  should  fearlessly  assert,  that  it 
was  more  just  that  such  conduct  should  de- 
prive him  of  his  right  to  succession,  than 
that  all  the  facts  alleged  against  her  ma- 
jesty, even  if  true  to  the  last  letter  of  the 
charge,  should  warrant  your  lordships  in 
passing  this  bill  of  degradation  and  divorce. 
I  well  know  that  there  are  persons,  to  whom, 
under  the  circumstances,  I  think  it  right  to 
allude,  who  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
reading  a  vast  variety  of  depositions  against 
the  conduct  of  the  queen.  To  those  noble 
individuals  I  may  distinctly  say,  "  You,  at 
all  events,  must  vote  for  an  acquittal.  I 
know  nothing  of  the  facts  brought  before 
your  secret  committee,  but  I  know  that  it 
is  impossible  for  any  rational  or  honorable 
man  to  have  presented  such  a  case  as  has 
been  proved  at  the  bar,  as  a  ground  for  de- 
grading and  dethroning  the  majesty  of  Eng- 
land." ^  The  facts  proved  before  that  com- 
mittee must  have  been  of  a  more  grave, 
more  disgusting,   and   more  infamous  de- 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


679 


scription,  and  whether  they  have  been 
proved,  or  whether  the  witnesses  publicly 
examined,  have  not  dared  to  swear  up  to 
their  original  depositions,  I  am  confident 
that  the  committee  never  meant  it  to  go 
forth,  that  a  case  of  key-holes  and  chamber- 
pots, but  of  notorious  and  undeniable  guilt, 
ought  to  be  the  ground-work  of  this  public 
prosecution.  Then,  I  ask  your  lordships, 
has  that  case  been  made  out  ]  Is  there  any 
man,  who  can  read  the  evidence  brought 
against  the  queen  without  a  perfect  con- 
viction that  she  has  been  most  malignantly 
traduced  ]  What  the  boatmen  on  the  Lake 
of  Como  may  have  said  to  those  who  were 
gaping  wide  for  slander,  I  know  not :  what 
reports  may  have  been  circulated  by  her 
enemies,  I  know  not ;  what  the  result  would 
have  been,  had  the  facts  stated  been  estab- 
lished, I  know  not;  but  I  do  know,  that 
they  have  not  been  proved — that  they  are 
false,  calumnious,  and  detestable.  Nay,  I 
say  one  word  more  to  your  lordships — I 
know  that  a  supposition  prevails,  that  a 
spirit  has  gone  abroad,  dangerous  to  the 
constitution  and  government.  I  have  heard 
it  said,  that  a  spirit  of  mischief  was  ac- 
tively jSit  work  among  the  friends  of  her 
majesty  :  but  the  same  person  who  uttered 
that  memorable  expression,  in  a  few  weeks 
was  obliged  to  admit  that  it  was  false,  be- 
cause the  truth  could  not  be  concealed,  that 
■the  whole  of  the  generous  population  of 
England  had  enlisted  themselves  with  ar- 
dor on  the  side  of  the  innocent  and  the  in- 
jured. At  the  same  time,  it  is  possible  that 
both  may  be  true ;  the  sound  and  middling 
classes  of  society  may  feel  acutely  for  the 
situation  of  her  majesty ;  and  there  may 
be,  also,  some  apostles  of  mischief  lurking 
in  a  corner,  meditating  a  blow  at  the  con- 
stitution, and  ready  to  avail  themselves  of 
any  opportunity  for  open  violence.  If  that 
be  so,  the  generous  sympathy  to  which  I 
have  alluded  would  be  aggravated  by  a  ver- 
dict of  guilty ;  while  those  mischievous  and 
disaffected  men  woul^  deprecate  nothing 
half  so  much  as  to  see  your  lordships,  in 
the  face  of  the  power  of  the  crown,  ven- 
turing to  pronounce  a  verdict  of  acquittal 
for  a  defendant  so  prosecuted.  I  trust  your 
lordships  will  not  allow  the  idea  of  having 
fear  imputed  to  you  to  divert  you  from  the 
straight  course  of  your  duty ;  it  would  be  the 
worst  of  injustice  to  the  accused,  and  the 
worst  of  cowardice  in  yourselves.  I  say, 
therefore,  if  your  own  minds  are  satisfied 
that  all  that  has  been  proved  has  been  scat- 
tered "  like  dew-drops  from  the  lion's 
mane,"  you  will  never  hold  yourselves  jus- 
tified in  pronouncing  a  verdict  contrary  to 
the  evidence,  because  your  conduct  may  be 
imputed  to  the  dread  of  a  mob,  or,  to  use 
tne  jargon  of  the  day,  which  I  detest,  the 


apprehension  of  a  radical  attack.  You 
have  but  one  course  to  pursue,  and  that 
course  is  straight  forward — it  is  to  acquit 
her  majesty  at  once  of  those  odious  charges. 
We  may  truly  say,  that  as  there  never  was 
such  a  trial,  so  there  never  existed  such 
means  of  accusation.  Before  I  conclude, 
I  must  be  permitted  to  say,  that  during  the 
whole  of  this  proceeding  (though  person- 
ally I  have  every  reason  to  thank  the  house 
for  its  kindness  and  indulgence)  the  highest 
gratification  resulting  to  my  mind  has  been, 
that  with  my  learned  friend  I  have  been 
joined  upon  this  great  occasion.  We  have 
tbught  the  battles  of  morality,  Christianity, 
and  civilized  society,  throughout  the  world ; 
and,  in  the  language  of  the  dying  warrior, 
I  may  say : 

"  In  this  glorious  and  well  foughten  field 
We  kept  together  in  our  chivalry." 

While  he  was  achieving  the  immortal 
victory,  the  illustrious  triumph,  and  protect- 
ing innocence  and  truth,  by  the  adamantine 
shield  of  his  prodigious  eloquence,  it  has 
been  my  lot  to  discharge  only  a  few  random 
arrows  at  the  defeated  champions  of  this 
disgraceful  cause.  The  liouse  will  believe 
me  when  I  say,  that  I  witnessed  the  dis- 
play of  his  surprising  faculties  with  no  other 
feelings  than  a  sincere  gratification  that  the 
triumph  was  complete :  and  admiration  and 
delight,  that  the  victory  of  the  queen  was 
accomplished.  This  is  an  inquiry,  my  lords, 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the  world : 
the  down-sitting  and  up-rising  of  this  illus- 
trious lady  have  been  sedulously  and  anx- 
iously watched :  she  uttered  no  word  that 
had  not  to  pass  through  this  severe  ordeal. 
Her  daily  looks  have  been  remarked,  and 
scarcely  even  her  thoughts  escaped  the  un- 
paralleled and  disgraceful  assiduity  of  her 
malignant  enemies.  It  is  an  inquisition, 
also,  of  a  most  solemn  kind.  I  know  no- 
thing in  the  whole  race  of  human  affairs, 
nothing  in  the  whole  view  of  eternity,  which 
can  even  remotely  resemble  it;  but  the 
great  day  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts 
shall  be  disclosed ! 

"  He  who  the  sword  of  heaven  will  bear 
Should  be  as  holy  as  severe !" 

And  if  your  lordships  have  been  furnished 
with  powers,  which  I  might  almost  say 
scarcely  omniscience  itself  possesses,  to  ar- 
rive at  the  secrets  of  tliis  female,  you  will 
think  that  it  is  your  duty  to  imitate  the 
justice,  beneficence,  and  wisdom  of  that 
benignant  Being,  who,  not  in  a  case  like 
this,  where  innocence  is  manifest,  but  when 
guilt  was  detected,  and  vice  revealed,  said, 
"  If  no  accuser  can  come  forward  to  con- 
demn thee,  neither  do  I  condemn  thee ;  go, 
and  sin  no  more." 

Dr.  Lushington  followed,  on  October 
twenty-sixth,  and  here  an  abstract  of  hut 


680 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


speech  can  be  given :  He  commenced  by 
stating,  that  if  he  had  been  left  to  the  free 
exercise  of  his  own  discretion  on  the  pres- 
ent occasion,  he  should  certainly  decline 
offering  any  observations  to  their  lordships, 
because  he  felt  conscious  that  it  was  utterly 
impossible  for  his  humble  exertions  to  add 
anything  to  the  great  and  splendid  address 
of  his  learned  friend  (Mr.  Denman)  who 
had  preceded  him.  He  now,  however,  ad- 
dressed their  lordships  by  the  desire  of  his 
learned  coadjutors,  and  he  felt  a  consolation 
under  his  conscious  inability  to  the  task, 
that  her  majesty's  defence  rested  on  a  basis 
so  solid  that  the  observations  even  of  an 
unskilful  advocate  could  scarcely  weaken 
it.  In  surveying  this  case,  and  the  charges 
on  which  it  was  founded,  some  observations 
occurred  to  his  mind  which  he  would  shortly 
lay  before  the  house.  The  first  was  the 
age  of  the  royal  accused.  Was  ever  an  in- 
stance known  in  the  annals  of  accusations 
of  this  kind,  that  the  person  against  whom 
the  charge  was  made  was  of  the  age  of 
fifty  ?  No :  he  would  defy  any  one  to  cite 
a  precedent  so  preposterous  or  ridiculous. 
But  who  ever  imagined  a  case  like  the 
present  1  In  addition  to  the  circumstance 
of  the  age  of  the  accused,  there  was  here 
that  of  a  husband,  who  had  been  for  twenty- 
four  years  separated  from  his  wife ;  sepa- 
rated, not  by  any  desire  on  her  part,  but  by 
his  own  caprice,  by  his  own  act  and  choice 
— not  in  consequence  of  any  misconduct  of 
that  wife,  but  by  his  pursuit  of  some  way- 
v/ard  indulgence — some  capricious  fancy. 
In  this  way  had  been  broken,  for  self-grati- 
fication, those  bonds  which  the  laws  of  God 
and  man  had  formed.  How,  then,  did  the 
case  stand  1  Were  his  majesty  a  simple 
subject,  was  there  a  man  in  the  world  who 
would  say  that  he  was  entitled  to  any  con- 
sideration whatever  in  an  application  for  di- 
vorce— that  it  was  possible  he  could  have 
an  injury  founded  on  such  a  complaint,  for 
v/hich  he  could  claim  redress  1  As  a  hus- 
band, then,  the  king  had  no  right  to  seek 
redress.  But  then  it  was  said  that  this  ap- 
plication was  not  in  the  name  of  the  king, 
and  that  the  law  in  the  case  of  a  subject  was 
not  applicable  to  the  sovereign.  Let,  how- 
ever, no  one  presume  to  say  that  he  is  eman- 
cipated from  obedience  to  the  laws  of  God ; 
for  that  assertion,  of  whomsoever  it  be  made, 
was  founded  in  untruth  and  falsehood.  It 
was  also  said  that  rank  and  station  in  the 
wife  required  a  more  rigid  observance  of 
duties  than  in  the  husband ;  but  was  there 
any  duty  which  was  not  reciprocal  ?  Was 
it  not  so  with  respect  to  matrimonial  rights  ? 
And  was  it  to  be  said  that  there  was  one 
law  for  women  and  another  for  men  1  Or 
did  superiority  of  rank  make  the  engage- 
ment taken  at  the  altar  of  God  less  binding  ] 


Was  the  private  individual  to  be  told  that 
there  was  one  divine  law  for  him,  and  an- 
other for  the  sceptered  monarch?  What 
was  the  plighted  troth  of  the  husband — what 
the  promise  made  at  the  altar  1  To  love 
and  to  comfort.  But  how  was  that  promise 
observed]  Where  was  the  love]  where 
the  comfort]  Where  should  he  look  for 
one  or  the  other]  The  comfort: — what 
traces  were  there  of  it  ]  If  he  went  back 
to  1806,  was  it  to  be  found  there  ]  or  must 
he  look  for  it  in  1813,  at  that  period  of  cruel 
interference,  when  the  intercourse  between 
the  mother  and  the  daughter  was  prohibited] 
Was  it  to  be  sought  for  at  the  period  when 
the  mother  was  exiled  to  a  foreign  land  ? 
No :  there  it  did  not  exist ;  for  wherever 
she  went  the  spirit  of  persecution  followed 
her.  It  was  inconceivable  that  a  wife  thus 
deserted,  thus  persecuted,  should  now  be 
told  that  she  has  been  unmindful  of  her 
duty,  whilst  the  husband  who  was  pledged 
to  protect  her,  had  allowed  her  to  pass 
through  the  world  without  a  friend  to  guard 
her  honor.  He  regretted  the  discussion 
of  these  topics.  He  knew  well  that,  when 
the  acts  of  kings  were  brought  before  the 
public,  there  were  individuals  who  dwelt 
with  triumphant  satisfaction  on  the  expo- 
sure. No  man  could  feel  the  difficulty  of 
his  situation  more  than  he  did,  when  called 
upon,  in  the  performance  of  a  solemn  duty, 
to  dwell  ujwn  such  painful  considerations: 
but  he  owed  it  to  himself  and  to  his  client 
to  speak  out  boldly.  There  were  individuals 
without  number,  always  anxious  to  see  the 
failings  of  kings,  that  they  might  turn  them 
into  derision.  He  would,  therefore,  say  as 
little  as  possible  upon  this  ungrateful  sub- 
ject. It  was  almost  needless  to  follow  it 
through  all  its  bearings ;  but  if  he  were  in 
one  of  those  courts  where  cases  of  this  kind 
are  usually  decided,  what  should  he  say  to 
the  husband  who,  insensible  of  his  own 
honor,  allows  his  wife  for  a  series  of  years 
to  live  unprotected,  and  then  to  offer  her 
fifty  thousand  pounds  a-year  to  live  abroad, 
knowing,  as  he  did,  that  she  is  in  a  course 
of  adultery,  but  without  giving  one  direc- 
tion that  the  adulterous  intercourse  should 
cease  before  she  enjoys  the  large  income 
proffered  to  her  ]  What  would  he  say  to 
an  individual  so  acting  towards  his  wife  ] 
who  said  to  her,  not  in  the  language  of  par- 
don and  admonition,  which  his  learned  friend 
had  repeated,  *  Go,  and  sin  no  more,' — but 
'Go  and  indulge  your  appetites,  continue 
your  adulterous  intercourse,  and  you  shall 
be  furnished  with  ample  means  for  living  in 
splendor  with  your  paramour!'  lie  was 
happy  that  he  was  not  under  the  necessity 
of  introducing  another  topic.  He  was  glad 
to  state  that  in  this  case  he  was  not  called 
upon  by  any  consideration  of  duty  towards 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


681 


his  illustrious  client,  to  say  one  word  by 
way  of  recrimination  ;  he  thanked  God,  and 
the  wisdom  of  his  learned  colleagues,  who 
had  so  advised  her  majesty,  that  the  case 
upon  which  they  built  their  hopes  of  ac- 
quittal was  one  of  perfect  innocence,  and 
that,  by  avoiding-  recrimination,  he  should 
save  the  house  and  the  country  from  all  its 
consequences.  Their  lordships  could  not, 
unless  fully  prepared  to  violate  the  laws  of 
God  and  man,  declare  against  his  client. 
That  venerable  bench  of  bishops,  who  formed 
part  of  the  judges,  could  not,  without  vio- 
lating the  holy  tenets  of  that  gospel  which 
they  preached  and  inculcated,  pronounce 
against  the  wife  of  their  sovereign.  The 
laws  of  God  and  of  the  country  were  upon 
her  side,  and  he  was  sure  that  it  was  not 
there  that  they  would  be  violated. 

The  learned  counsel  then  proceeded  to 
take  a  luminous  and  comprehensive  view 
of  the  whole  of  the  evidence  for  and  against 
her  majesty,  applying  himself  particularly 
to  those  topics  which  might  have  escaped 
Mr.  Denman,  and  arguing,  in  the  clearest 
and  most  conclusive  manner,  that  the  only 
correct  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the 
whole  was  the  innocence  of  his  illustrious 
client.  He  concluded  by  saying,  that  he 
left  the  honor  and  character  of  the  queen  in 
the  hands  of  the  house: — with  the  most 
perfect  confidence  he  left  her,  not  to  the 
mercy,  but  to  the  justice  of  their  lordships. 
On  the  twenty-seventh  and  twenty-eighth, 
the  king's  attorney-general,  and  solicitor- 
general,  replied  with  much  diffusiveness  to 
the  arguments  of  the  counsel  for  the  queen. 

The  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  and  de- 
fence, with  the  several  pleadings  of  the  re- 
spective council,  being  gone  through,  the 
lords,  on  the  second  of  November,  proceed- 
ed to  debate  the  question,  "  Whether  the 
Bill  of  Pains  and  Penalties  should  be  read 
a  second  time)" — In  this  discussion,  all  the 
principal  speakers,  as  well  as  many  other 
peers,  delivered  their  opmions  at  consider- 
able length,  such  as  to  occasion  adjourn- 
ments from  day  to  day,  until  the  sixth  in 
stant — when  the  house  divided  upon  the 
important  question  of  the  second  reading  of 
the  bill,  equivalent  to  the  question  in  other 
courts,  of  GUILTY,  or  NOT  GUILTY,  accordiug 
to  the  evidence. 

THE  DIVISION. 

The  lord  chancellor  having  called  upon 
each  peer,  he  rose  in  his  place,  and  said, 
"  Content,"  or  "  Non-content."  The  result 
was : — Contents,  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  ;  non-contents,  ninety-five ;  majority 
for  the  second  reading,  twenty-eight. 

List  of  Peers  who  voted  for  and  against 
the  second  reading  of  the  Degradation  and 
Divorce  Bill. 


For  the  second  reading. 

Dukes  of  York,  Clarence,  Beaufort,  Rut- 
land, Newcastle,  Northumberland,  Welling- 
ton, Athol,  and  Montrose. 

Marquises  Conyngham,  Anglesea,  Cam- 
den, Northampton,  Exeter,  Headfort,  Tho- 
mand,  Cornwallis,  Buckingham,  Lothian, 
Queensberry,  Winchester. 

Earls  Harcourt,  Brooke  and  Warwick, 
Portsmouth,  Pomfret,  Macclesfield,  Ayles- 
ford,  Balcarras,  Hume,  Coventry,  Rochford, 
Abingdon,  Shaftesbury,  Cardigan,  Winchel- 
sea,  Stamford,  Bridgewater,  Huntingdon, 
Westmoreland,  Harrowby,  St  Germains, 
Brownlow,  Whitworth,  Verulam,  Cathcart, 
Mulgrave,  Lonsdale,  Orford,  Manvers, 
Rosse,  Nelson,  Powis,  Limerick,  Donough- 
more,  Belmore,  Mayo,  Longford,  Mount 
Cashel,  Kingston,  Liverpool,  Digby,  Mount 
Edgecombe,  Abergavenny,  Aylesbury,  Bath- 
urst,  Chatham. 

Viscounts  Exmouth,  Lake,  Sidmouth, 
Melville,  Curzon,  Sydney,  Falmouth,  and 
Hereford. 

Barons  Somers,  Rodney,  Middleton,  Na- 
pier, Colville,  Gray,  Salfoun,  Forbes,  Prud- 
hoe,  Harris,  Ross  or  Glasgow,  Meldrum, 
Hill,  Combermere,  Hopetoun,  Gambler, 
Manners,  Ailsa,  Lauderdale,  Sheffield,  Red- 
esdale,  St.  Helens,  Northwick,  Bolton,  El- 
don,  C.  Baynmg,  Carrington,  De  Dunsta- 
ville,  Brodrick,  Stewart  of  Garlics,  Stewart 
of  Castle  Stewart,  Douglas,  Morton,  Green- 
ville, Suffield,  Montagu,  Gordon,  (Huntley), 
and  Saltersford. 

Archbishops  Canterbury  and  Tuam. 

Bishops  London,  St.  Asaph,  Worcester, 
St.  J)avids,  Ely,  Chester,  Peterborough, 
Llandaft)  Cork  and  Rosse,  and  Gloucester. 

Against  the  second  reading. 

Dukes  of  Gloucester,  Somerset,  Hamil- 
ton, Argyll,  Leinster,  Graflon,  Portland, 
Devonshire,  Bedford,  Richmond,  (St.  Albans, 
absent  from  illness). 

Marquises  Bath,  Stafford,  and  Lans- 
down. 

Earls  de  Lawarr,  Ilchester,  Darlington, 
Egremont,  Fitzwilliam,  Stanhope,  Cowper, 
Dartmouth,  Oxford,  Roseberry,  Jersey,  Al- 
bemarle, Plymouth,  Essex,  Thanet,  Den- 
bigh, Suffolk,  Pembroke,  Derby,  Blesington, 
Morley,  Minto,  Harewood,  Grey,  Gosford, 
Romney,  Rosslyn,  Caledon,  Enniskillen, 
Farnham,  Carrick,  Carnarvon,  Mansfield, 
Fortescue,  Grosvenor,  Hilsborough,  (Mar- 
quis of  Downshire). 

Viscounts  Granville,  Anson,  Duncan, 
Hood,  Torrington,  Bolingbroke. 

Barons  Ashburton,  Bagot,  Walsinghara, 
Dynevor,  Foley,  Hawke,  Ducie,  Holland, 
Grantham,  King,  Belhaven,  Cliflon  (Darn- 
ley),  Say  and  Sole,  Howard  of  Effingham, 
De  la  Zouch,  Clinton,  Dacre,  Audley,  D« 


682 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


Clifford,  Breadalbane,  Erskine,  Arden,  El- 
lenborough,  Alvanley,  Loftus,  (M.  Ely), 
Fitzgibbon,  Calthorpe,  Dawnay,  Yarbo- 
rough,  Dandas,  Selsea,  Mendip,  Auckland, 
Gage,  Fisherwick,  (M.  Donegall),  Amherst, 
Kenyon,  Sherborne  and  Berwick. 
Archbishop  of  York. 

PROTESTS  AGAINST  THE  SECOND  READ- 
ING OF  THE  BILL  OF  PAINS  AND  PEN- 
ALTIES. 
Dissentient,  No.  I.  Nov.  6,  1820. 

Because  the  second  reading  of  the  bill  is 
equivalent  to  a  decision  that  adulterous  in- 
tercourse (the  only  foundation  on  which  the 
bill  can  rest)  has  been  satisfectorily  proved. 

Because  that  adulterous  intercourse  has 
been  inferred,  but  not  proved ;  and  in  a 
doubtful  case,  in  which  the  imputed  guilt 
is  not  proved,  although  innocence  be  not 
established,  the  benefit  of  that  doubt,  con- 
formably to  the  principles  of  British  justice, 
must  be  given  to  the  defendant. 

Essex  (first  reason  only),  Hilsborough 
(first  reason  only),  Kenyon,  Orford,  Somer- 
set, Selsea,  Roseberry,  Morley  (first  reason 
only),  Leinster,  Mansfield,  Enniskillen, 
Richmond  and  Lenox,  Jersey  (first  reason 
only),  Carrick,  Grafton  (first  reason  only), 
Anson  (ditto),  Darlington  (ditto),  Belhaven 
(ditto). 

Dissentient,  No.  II. — Because  this  pro- 
ceeding, from  its  nature,  cannot  be  assimi- 
lated to  a  common  indictment,  in  which  a 
conviction  upon  one  count  alone,  out  of 
many,  is  sufficient. 

And  because,  although  enough  has  been 
proved  in  evidence  to  satisfy  us  of  the  ex- 
istence of  guilt,  yet  as  evidence  on  many 
of  the  allegations  has  been  contradicted,  in 
some  disproved,  and  in  others  is  so  suspi- 
cious as  to  be  laid  wholly  out  of  the  case, 
we  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  inexpedient  to 
proceed  further  in  this  measure. 

Plymouth,  Dynevor,  Grantham,  Denbigh, 
Clinton,  (second  reason  only).  Gage  (second 
reason),  Ilchester. 

The  following  peers  also  protested  against 
the  bill  upon  general  grounds : 

Dissentient,  No.  III. — William  Freder- 
ick, Lansdown,  Jersey,  Grey,  Plymouth, 
Fitzgibbon,  Albemarle,  Hamilton  and  Bran- 
don, Duncan,  Hilsborough,  Wentworth 
(Fitzwilliam),  Derby,  Anson,  Yarborough, 
Sherborne,  Cowper,  Audley,  Kenyon,  Car- 
rick, Selsea,  Foley,  Arden,  Egremont,  Tor- 
ringiton,  Suffolk  and  Berks,  Loftus  (Ely), 
Morley,  Granville,  Richmond  and  Lennox, 
Bedford,  Fortescue,  Darlington,  Belhaven, 
Grafton,  Breadalbane,  Auckland,  Dawnay 
(Downe),  Mendip  (Clifden),  Leinster, 
Hawke,  Gosford,  Romney,  Roseberry,  Scott 
(Portland),  Thanet,  Hood,  Ashburton,  How- 
ard of  Effingham,  Alvanley,  Carnarvon, 
Dundas,  Caledon,  Sundridge  (duke  of  Ar- 


gyll,) Ducie,  King,  Rosslyn,  Bacre,  Cal- 
thorpe, Grantham  and  Ellenborough. 

PROTEST  FROM  HER  MAJESTY. 
Tuesday,  November  7. — We  believe  the 
order  of  the  day  was  about  to  be  read,  when 
lord  Dacre  stated,  that  since  he  had  cora^ 
into  the  house  this  morning,  a  protest,  with 
respect  to  its  proceedings,  on  the  part  of 
her  majesty  the  queen,  had  been  unexpect- 
edly put  into  his  hands  to  be  presented.  It 
might,  perhaps,  surprise  their  lordships  that 
such  a  paper  should  have  been  placed  in 
his  hands,  as  he  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
proceedings  on  this  important  case  ;  and  he 
ought  to  apologize  to  their  lordships  for  not 
having  at  an  earlier  stage  expressed  his 
opinion  of  it.  His  objection  to  bills  of 
pains  and  penalties  for  the  punishment  of 
moral  turpitude  long  since  committed,  was 
so  invincibly  strong,  that  he  never  felt  the 
least  hesitation  in  declaring  it.  He  hoped 
that  the  protest  which  had  been  placed  in 
his  hands  would  be  liberally  heard  by  the 
house ;  but  whatever  were  his  sentiments 
on  the  proceedings  in  general,  he  must  ob* 
ject  to  the  practice  of  judges,  jury,  and 
prosecutors,  all  voting  in  this  case  against 
the  queen.  With  respect  to  the  protest 
now  intrusted  to  him,  he  would  acknow- 
ledge that  there  was  no  precedent  for  re- 
ceiving it;  but  the  country  would  form 
their  opinion  of  the  conduct  of  the  house, 
and  precedent  ought  never  to  interrupt  the 
equitable  course  of  justice  and  of  truth. 
He  had  scarcely  had  time  to  read  over  the 
protest  of  the  queen,  but  it  appeared  that 
in  the  face  of  her  family,  the  house,  and 
the  country,  she  solemnly  protested  against 
the  proceedings  in  that  house,  as  contrary 
to  the  constitution,  to  the  spirit  of  the  laws, 
and  the  principles  of  common  justice.  The 
noble  lord  concluded  with  reading  her  ma- 
jesty's protest,  which  was  couched  in  the 
following  terms : 

PROTEST. 
"  Caroline,  Regina. 
"  To  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  in 

parliament  assembled. 

"  The  queen  has  learnt  the  decision  of 
the  lords  upon  the  bill  now  before  them.  In 
the  face  of  parliament,  of  her  family,  and 
of  her  country,  she  does  solemnly  protest 
against  it. 

"  Those  who  avowed  themselves  her  pros- 
ecutors have  presumed  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  the  question  between  the  queen  and 
themselves. 

"Peers  have  given  their  votes  against 
her  who  have  heard  the  whole  evidence  for 
the  charge,  and  absented  themselves  during 
her  defence. 

"  Others  have  come  to  the  discussion 
from  the  secret  committee,  with  minds  bi- 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


683 


assed  by  a  mass  of  slander,  which  her  ene- 
mies have  not  dared  to  bring  forward  in  the 
light. 

"The  queen  does  not  avail  herself  of  her 
right  to  appear  before  the  committee,  for  to 
her  the  details  of  the  measure  must  be  a 
matter  of  indifference ;  and  unless  the  course 
of  these  unexampled  proceedings  should 
bring  the  bill  before  the  other  branch  of  the 
legislature,  she  will  make  no  reference 
whatever  to  the  treatment  experienced  by 
her  during  the  last  twenty-five  years. 

"  She  now  most  deliberately,  and  before 
God,  asserts,  that  she  is  wholly  innocent 
of  the  crime  laid  to  her  charge,  and  she 
awaits  with  unabated  confidence  the  final 
result  of  this  unparalleled  investigation. 

(Signed)  "  Caroline,  Regina." 

The  four  following  days  were  passed  in 
debating  the  expediency  of  the  divorce 
clause,  and  on  this  point  the  lords  spiritual 
took  the  chief  part.  On  a  division  there 
appeared,  contents  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine,  non-contents  sixty-two,  majority  in 
favor  of  the  divorce  clause  sixty-seven. 

The  minority  in  the  house  of  lords  that 
voted  for  expunging  the  divorce  clause, 
were  lords  Hill,  Rodney,  Yarborough,  Sal- 
toun,  Bayning,  Kenyon,  Hopetoun,  Suffield, 
Calthorpe,  Combermere,  Sidney,  Curzon, 
Falmouth ;  bishops  of  Chester,  Cork,  Peter- 
borough, Gloucester,  St.  Asaph,  St.  David's, 
Ely,  Worcester ;  earls  of  Winchelsea,  Cour- 
town,  Mount  Cashel,  Romney,  Stamford, 
Brownlow,  Fitzwilliam,  Stanhope,  Balcar- 
ras,  Dartmouth,  Aylesford,  Verulam,  Mor- 
ton, Portsmouth,  Caledon,  Lauderdale,  St. 
Germains,  Aylesbury,  Macclesfield,  Lons- 
dale, Mount-Edgecombe,  Famham,  Pomfret, 
Whitworth,  Mayo,  Shaftesbury ;  marquis 
Cornwallis;  dukes  of  Clarence,  Portland, 
Beaufort ;  archbishops  of  York  and  Tuam ; 
cabinet-ministers — Sidmouth,  Melville,  Ba- 
thurst,  Harrowby,  Mulgrave,  Liverpool, 
Westmoreland,  Wellington,  Eldon  C. 

On  the  tenth  of  November,  the  order  of 
the  day  for  the  third  reading  of  the  bill  of 
divorce  and  degradation,  against  the  queen, 
being  moved  by  the  earl  of  Liverpool,  there 
appeared  on  a  division  of  the  house, — for 
the  third  reading,  one  hundred  and  eight, 
against  it  ninety-nine,  majority  in  favor  of 
the  measure  nine. 

On  declaring  which,  lord  Dacre  observed, 
that  he  had  been  intrusted  with  a  petition 
from  her  majesty,  praymg  to  be  heard  by 
counsel  against  the  passing  of  the  bill. 
RILL  ABANDONED  BY  MINISTER& 

The  earl  of  Liverpool  said  that  he  appre- 
hended such  a  course  would  be  rendered 
unnecessary  by  what  he  was  about  to  state. 
He  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  state  of  pub- 
lic feeling  with  regard  to  this  measure,  and 


it  appeared  to  be  the  q)inion  of  the  house 
that  the  bill  should  be  read  a  third  time  only 
by  a  majority  of  nine  votes.  Had  the  third 
reading  been  carried  by  as  considerable  a 
number  of  peers  as  the  second,  he  and  his 
noble  colleagues  would  have  felt  it  their 
duty  to  persevere  with  the  bill,  and  to  send 
it  down  to  the  other  branch  of  the  legisla- 
ture. In  the  present  state  of  the  country, 
however,  and  with  the  division  of  sentiment, 
so  nearly  balanced,  just  evinced  by  their 
lordships,  they  had  come  to  the  determina- 
tion not  to  proceed  further  with  it  It  was 
his  intention,  accordingly,  to  move  that  tlie 
question  "  that  the  bill  do  pass  now,"  be  al- 
tered to  "  this  day  six  months." 

His  lordship's  motion  was  agreed  to,  and 
the  house  immediately  adjourned  to  the 
twenty-third  of  November.  The  house  of 
commons  had  also  adjourned  to  the  same 
day,  and  Mr.  Brougham  sent  a  written  com- 
munication to  the  speaker,  as  also  to  lord 
Castlereagh,  that  a  message  would  be  de- 
livered from  her  majesty.  The  speaker  re- 
turned for  answer,  that  he  should  take  the 
chair  at  a  quarter  before  two  o'clock.  In 
pursuance  of  which  arrangement,  he  en- 
tered the  house  punctually,  and  immediately 
after  two  new  members  had  been  sworn  in, 
and  two  new  writs  had  been  moved  for,  Mr. 
Denman  rose  with  a  paper  in  his  hand, 
which  he  stated  was  a  communication  from 
her  majesty;  at  this  moment,  the  deputy- 
usher  of  the  black  rod  entered  the  house, 
amidst  the  loudest  cries  for  "  Mr.  Denman, 
and  read,  read,"  from  near  fifty  members. 
Mr.  Denman  continued  standing  with  the 
queen's  message  in  his  hand,  whilst  the 
usher  of  the  black  rod  attempted  to  deliver 
a  message  from  the  lords,  but  it  was  only 
in  dumb  show,  for  though  his  lips  appeared 
to  move,  not  a  syllable  met  the  ear.  The 
usher  then  withdrew,  and  after  a  short 
pause,  Mr.  Tierney  rose,  and  remarked  that 
as  not  one  word  of  what  the  deputy-usher 
had  delivered  could  have  been  heard,  from 
whence  could  the  speaker  know  what  the 
message  was  ]  or  whether  he  was  wanted 
at  all  in  the  other  house  ?  Mr.  Bennett  ex- 
claimed, "  this  is  a  scandal  to  the  country ;" 
during  which,  the  speaker  rose,  and  proceed- 
ed down  the  body  of  the  house,  amidst  cries 
of  "  shame,  shame,"  and  loud  hisses  from 
the  opposition  benches,  lord  Castlereagh,  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and  other  min- 
isterial members  accompanying  him  to  the 
house  of  lords,  where  the  commission  for 
the  prorogation  of  parliament  was  read,  and 
the  chancellor,  in  his  majesty's  name,  imme- 
diately prorogued  the  parliament  to  the 
twenty-third  of  January. 

So  terminated  the  proceedings  of  the 
legislatorial  trial  in  the  house  of  lords, 
against  her  majesty  Caroline  Amelia  Eliza- 


684 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


beth,  queen-consort  of  king  George  the 
Fourth.  That  this  procedure  should  elicit, 
as  it  manifestly  did,  great  and  extraordinary 
displays  of  feeling  in  all  quarters,  cannot 
be  denied.  For  though  by  our  wisely  de- 
vised state  axiom,  we  are  taught  to  believe, 
that  by  no  possibility  "can  the  king  do 
wrong ;"  neither  would  the  gallant  princi- 
ples of  Britons  suffer  them  to  credit,  to  the 
extent  adduced,  that  a  queen  could  be  so  far 
lost  to  herself,  and  her  situation.  While 
therefore  one  party  imputed  to  her  crimes 
of  a  deeper  dye  than  appertained  to  a  Messa- 
lina, — another  exalted  her  beyond  the  com- 
mon lot  of  humanity.  And  though  different 
bodies  of  the  community  were  so  decidedly 
at  variance  on  the  respective  merits  of  the 
case,  as  to  be  wholly  blinded  by  their  pas- 
sions and  prejudices  according  to  the  side 
they  politically  espoused,  there  was  not 
wanting  an  intermediate  and  most  valuable 
class  of  reflective  beings,  who  could  not  help 
deploring  such  development  had  ever  been 
advised ;  as  besides  the  discordant  feuds 
that  it  had  introduced  into  the  bosom  of 
many  a  hitherto  peaceful  family — decorum 
and  morals  had  been  daily  violated,  in  the 
grossest  manner,  by  details  of  a  most  brutal 
description,  which  defaced  the  columns  of 
the  public  prints,  and  defiled  the  journals  of 
the  house  where  the  trial  pended.  Inde- 
pendent of  the  abstract  positions  that "  there 
is  one  law  for  all  classes,"  that  when  "  mar- 
ried persons  separate  by  consent,  they  be- 
come free,  and  that  the  complaining  party 
should  come  into  court  with  clean  hands," 
as  inquiry  was  instituted,  according  to  min- 
isterial statements,  merely  to  secure  a  purity 
of  succession  ;  there  could  be  no  necessity 
for  such  inquiry,  when  time  had  prevented 
any  hope  or  fear  of  children  being  produced 
by  the  queen ;  and  the  insidious  set-off  on 
^e  other  side,  that  his  majesty  wished  this 
measure  to  pass,  that  he  might  marry  again, 
has  proved  delusive  and  nugatory,  no  such 
desire  or  event  having  taken  place,  since 
death  has  severed  that  tie,  which  proved  too 
strong  to  be  dissolved  by  any  other  power. 
Of  the  necessity  of  these  proceedings, 
under  every  feature  of  the  case,  and  after 
the  failure  of  conciliatory  measures,  little 
doubt  remains;  but  the  policy  of  it  may 
surely  be  discussed,  and  the  question  of  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  the  allegations,  pro- 
duced against  an  unfortunate  queen,  will 
long  be  disputed  by  posterity.  They  who 
give  credence  to  the  evidence  brought  for- 
ward in  support  of  the  bill  of  pains  and  pen- 
alties, will  be  compelled  to  accede  to  a  ver- 
dict of  guilty ;  while  they,  who  deem  the 
greater  part  of  the  witnesses  as  corruptly 
perjured,  will  not  only  at  once  acquit  her  ma- 
jesty, but  gladly  anathematize  the  wretches, 
howerer  exalted,  who,  itimulated  by  any 


view  of  power,  place,  or  provocation,  could 
descend  to  the  far  greater  crime  of  suborn- 
ing them  for  so  base  a  purpose. 

Those  who  feel  any  curiosity  to  become 
more  acquainted  with  this  ever-to-be-regret- 
ted exposure  of  royal  domestic  misery  and 
affliction,  can  refer  to  the  authentic  records 
of  the  trial  at  large.  Whilst  commenting 
upon  this  subject  it  must  be  stated,  that  the 
public  feeling  expressed  on  this  abandon- 
ment of  the  bill,  and  the  thereby  implied 
triumph  of  her  majesty,  was  most  imequivo- 
cal.  On  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which 
the  bill  was  left  to  its  fate,  as  well  as  on 
the  following  Saturday  and  Monday,  illu- 
minations took  place  in  all  parts  of  the  me- 
tropolis; and  the  demonstrations  of  joy,  ex- 
ultation, and  triumph,  were  on  these  nights 
as  strongly  exhibited  by  the  populace,  and 
bore  an  equal  resemblance  to  those  display- 
ed on  any  occasion  of  general  rejoicing.  In 
most  parts  of  the  kingdom  similar  scenes 
took  place;  and  congratulatory  addresses 
were  abundantly  voted  to  her  majesty  from 
various  corporations,  fraternities,  and  pub- 
lic bodies,  who  for  a  lengthened  period  filled 
the  approaches  to  Brandenburgh  house,  with 
all  the  pageantry  of  processions,  on  the 
days  appointed  for  their  reception  by  the 
queen. 

November  twenty-ninth. — Her  majesty, 
preceded  by  a  numerous  cavalcade  of  gen- 
tlemen on  horseback,  led  by  Sir  Robert 
Wilson,  went  in  state  to  the  metropolitan 
church  of  St.  Paul's,  to  return  public  thanks; 
on  which  occasion,  the  concourse  of  per- 
sons assembled  was  so  immense,  rallying 
round  the  different  illustrative  banners 
borne  in  the  line  of  march,  that  with  the 
most  extreme  difficulty  could  the  queen's 
carriage  proceed  from  Temple  Bar  to  the 
cathedral.  The  acclamations  of  the  count- 
less multitude  were  loud,  and  continued, 
but  the  greatest  attention  to  order  was  ob- 
served ;  and  the  day  concluded,  contrary  to 
the  predictive  fears  of  many,  without  the 
slightest  accident  or  indecorum  taking 
place.  During  the  entire  year  of  1820, 
the  public  attention  in  Great  Britain  was 
thus  powerfully  excited,  and  almost  ab- 
sorbed, by  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  royal 
family.  In  the  endeavor  to  achieve  impos- 
sibilities, by  proving  too  much,  politicians, 
in  common  with  other  men,  generally  over- 
reach themselves — the  event  verifies  the 
remark :  for,  had  the  propounders  of  this 
trial  contented  themselves  with  half  a  case, 
or  at  least  one  containing  half  the  alleged 
criminality,  it  would  have  worn  a  face  of 
greater  probability,  and  compelled  those 
engaged  in  the  defence  to  gainsay  the  evi- 
dence by  fact  more  than  declamation.  As 
it  was,  the  chivalric  disposition  of  English- 
men, ever  eager  to  espouse  the  weaker 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


685 


Bide,  and  championize^  if  the  term  may  be 
allowed,  the  cause  of  what  was  made  to 
appear,  in  glowing  colors,  a  highly  op- 
pressed, helpless,  and  deserted  female,  en- 
listed all  the  generous  sentiments  of  JBrit- 
ons  in  aid  of  the  impassioned  oratory  of 
the  queen's  advocates ;  and  thus  the  names 
of  Brougham,  Denman,  Williams,  and  Lush- 
ington,  were  entwined  together,  as  a  wreath 
of  perennial  bloom,  by  the  independence 
of  civism, — resounded  at  public  meetings, 
and  crowned  the  goblets  of  convivial  boards 
in  every  corner  of  these  realms,  long  after 
their  three  months'  labor  in  the  cause  of  a 
royal  mistress  had  terminated.  Controver- 
sies and  heart-burnings  did  not  expire  with 
this  famed  trial ;  but,  as  while  pending,  this 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties  had  engrossed 
all  attention,  and  obstructed  all  business, 
so,  now  it  was  withdrawn,  it  unfortunately 
continued  to  occupy  the  private  as  well  as 
public  mind,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  sub- 
jects, more  intimately  connected  with  the 
domestic  interests  and  foreign  relations  of 
Uie  nation  and  the  individual. 
DEATH  OF  THE  DUTCHESS  OF  YORK. 

On  the  sixth  of  August  in  this  highly 
momentous  year,  expired  Frederica  Char- 
lotte Ulrica,  the  consort  of  his  royal  high- 
ness the  duke  of  York,  the  eldest  brother 
of  the  king.  The  dutchess  was  in  the  fifty- 
fourth  year  of  her  age.  Her  royal  highness 
was  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  late  king  of 
Prussia,  by  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Ulrica 
Christiana,  princess  of  Brunswick  Wolfen- 
buttel.  The  dutchess  of  York  was  a  pat- 
tern of  the  milder  and  retiring  virtues, 
strongly  devoted  to  exercises  of  charity, 
and  diffusive  benevolence.  She  passed  her 
time  almost  wholly,  except  when  public  oc- 
casions called  her  forth,  in  a  state  of  com- 
parative seclusion  at  the  country-seat  de- 
nominated Oatland's  Park,  in  Surrey,  where 
she  died ;  and  in  the  neighboring  village 
church  of  Walton  was,  at  her  express  de- 
sire, privately  interred. 

FRANCE.— HER  POLITICS. 

Reverting  to  foreign  affairs,  from  the 
domestic  aspect  of  Great  Britain,  we  are 
led  to  contemplate  the  general  posture  of 
Europe  at  this  period ;  and  in  so  doing,  we 
discern  in  the  position  of  the  neighboring 
nation  of  France  the  gradual  development 
of  measures,  in  the  progressive  operation 
of  that  change,  which  a  lengthened  chain 
of  imperious  circumstances  had  effected  in 
that  so  strangely  agitated  country.  The 
restoration  of  the  ancient  dynasty  of  the 
Capets,  consequent  on  those  important  wars 
which  had  so  lon^  convulsed  the  world,  re- 
quired the  adoption  of  many  new  schemes 
of  government ;  and  the  alteration  of  the 
laws  respecting  elections  appeared  to  be  a 
paramount  object  with   tlie  ministers  of 

Vou  IV.  58 


Louis  XVni.  M.  Decases,  who  at  this  pe- 
riod was  deemed  the  minister  possessed  of 
the  greatest  influence,  had  prepared  a  new 
projet  of  laws  on  this  important  matter, 
which  he  was  prevented  by  indisposition 
alone  from  propounding  to  the  chamber  of 
deputies.  Pending  this  delay  the  due  de 
Berri  was  assassinated  by  one  Louvel,  as 
he  was  coming  forth  from  the  opera-house. 
Whether  the  murderer,  a  ci-devant  soldier, 
was  to  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  fanat- 
ical enthusiast,  or  as  a  political  tool,  re- 
mains as  yet  a  secret ;  but  certain  it  is,  that 
the  untimely  death  of  this  prince,  who  was 
the  younger  nephew  of  the  king,  and  the 
sole  member  of  the  immediate  family  of 
Louis  XVIII.,  who  promised  to  continue  his 
line  of  heirs  to  the  throne,  was  much  de- 
plored. The  horror  excited  by  this  event 
gave  great  strength  to  the  ultra-royalists ; 
and  an  extreme  fermentation  of  opinion  en- 
sued in  the  chamber  of  deputies,  which 
finally  spread  itself  through  every  part  of 
the  kingdom.  The  ministers,  in  conse^ 
quence,  considered  it  a  measure  of  pru- 
dence to  yield  somewhat  to  public  preju- 
dice, and  to  content  themselves  with  a  part 
of  the  projected  measure ;  well  knowing, 
that  if  they  persisted  in  carrying  every- 
thing, they  ran  the  mortifying  risk  of  not 
effecting  anything.  Accordingly,  M.  de 
Serre,  who  had  been  reappointed  to  his  for- 
mer post  of  keeper  of  the  seals,  informed 
the  chamber,  that  he  and  his  colleagues 
were  willing  to  abandon  the  plan  proposed 
to  such  extent  as  to  put  an  end  to  the  pres- 
ent system  of  direct  election,  provided  that 
an  additional  number  of  deputies,  to  be  se- 
lected by  the  wealthiest  class  of  voters, 
were  allowed  an  introduction  to  the  legisla- 
tive body.  This  alteration  of  direct  elec- 
tion, or  in  fact  nomination,  of  senators, 
though  apparently  bettered  by  the  new 
mode  proposed,  tended  to  introduce  re- 
straints of  no  small  importance  on  the  free- 
dom of  election  to  the  house  of  deputies ; 
and  after  a  trial  for  superiority,  the  two 
contending  parties  at  length  effected  a 
compromise.  According  to  the  plan  finally 
adopted,  while  the  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  members  (being  the  original  number 
of  the  chamber  as  it  then  was  constituted) 
were  to  be  returned  by  the  electoral  col- 
leges of  the  several  districts,  comprising 
all  persons  of  thirty  years  old  and  upwards; 
one  hundred  and  seventy-two  additional 
deputies  were  to  be  chosen  by  departmental 
colleges,  which  were  to  be  composed  of  one- 
fourth  of  the  body  of  electors,  that  fourth 
being  made  up  of  those  who  paid  the  larg- 
est contributions  to  the  public  service — so 
that,  in  addition  to  the  three  estates  already 
represented,  in  some  degree  in  imitation  of 
the  British  constitutionid  assemblies  and  its 


686 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


monarch,  France  now  presented  to  view  in 
her  lower  house  the  political  anomaly  of 
two  species  of  deputies,  or,  in  fact,  a  fourth 
estate.  The  trial  of  liOuvel,  who  had  mur- 
dered the  due  de  Berri,  which  had  been  so 
long  delayed,  in  the  delusive  hope  that  he 
would  reveal  his  accomplices,  or  at  least 
make  some  political  discoveries,  took  place 
so  late  as  the  fifth  and  sixth  days  of  June, 
before  the  chamber  of  peers.  This  assassin 
continued  stedfast  to  his  former  declara- 
tion, that  he  had  no  accomplice  whatever ; 
but  added,  that  he  had  long-  brooded  in  si- 
lent meditation  over  the  deed  of  horror, 
without  communicating  the  slightest  hint 
of  his  intention  to  a  single  human  being  : 
and  had  perpetrated  it,  because  he  thought 
such  an  act  essentially  necessary  to  the 
welfare  of  France,  in  whose  cause  he  died. 
He  was  consequently  pronounced  guilty, 
and  sentenced  to  decapitation,  which  he 
underwent,  being  executed  on  the  seventh 
of  June. 

ATTEMPT  TO  DESTROY  THE  DUTCHESS 
DE  BERRI. 
The  dutchess  de  Berri  was  pregnant  at 
the  period  of  her  husband's  assassination. 
This  unborn  infant  was  the  only  hope  of 
the  zealous  royalists,  being  now  the  sole 
remaining  chance  of  a  lineal  male  decend- 
ant  of  Louis  XIV. ;  as  the  cr'own,  in  failure 
of  issue  by  the  dutchess,  would  have  de- 
volved upon  the  Orleans  family,  the  idea 
of  which  was  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the 
zealous  partisans  of  the  house  of  Bourbon. 
Attempts  of  a  diabolical  nature  were  twice 
made  to  frustrate  the  regular  course  of 
natural  probabilities  on  this  occasion — the 
first  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  and  the 
last  on  the  sixth  of  May — by  placing  light- 
ed petards  close  to  the  apartments  occupied 
by  the  dutchess,  so  that  their  violent  and 
unexpected  explosion,  as  it  was  n)ost  atro- 
ciously imagined,  could  not  fail  to  throw 
her  into  such  a  sudden  state  of  terror  as 
must  induce  a  miscarriage.  Both  attempts, 
however,  failed ;  and  in  the  second  the  un- 
manly culprit  was  seized.  He  was  named 
Gravier,  and  had  formerly  been  an  officer 
under  Napoleon.  He  and  an  accomplice 
were  both  condemned  to  suffer  death ;  but 
in  consequence  of  the  intercession  of  the 
dutchess,  their  punishment  was  commuted 
into  that  of  hard  labor  for  life.  On  Sep- 
tember the  twenty-ninth,  the  widowed 
dutchess  de  Berri  vv^as  safely  delivered  of 
a  posthumous  son,  who  immediately  re- 
ceived the  title  of  duke  of  Bourdeaux,  and 
who  is  the  declared  legitimate  heir  to  the 
crown  of  France.  The  loyalists  were  de- 
lighted in  an  extreme  degree  at  the  birth 
of  a  prince,  as  by  the  Saliquc  lav/  of  that 
kingdom,  females  are  excluded  from  inher- 
iting the  throne — and  consequently,  bad  it 


been  so,  the  succession  must  have  gone 
away  from  the  Capet  line,  which  would 
then  have  become  extinct. 

STATE  OF  SPANISH  AFFAIRS. 
Spain  at  this  epoch,  after  her  long  and 
arduous  struggle  for  liberty  and  her  king, 
was  groaning  under  the  oppressive  yoke  of 
the  ungratefiil  and  bigoted  despot,  Ferdi- 
nand the  "seventh, — with  whom,  in  contra- 
diction to  many  political  declarations,  the 
fanaticism  of  mopks  had  more  credit  than 
the  valor  of  soldiers.  An  American  expe- 
dition was  still  contemplated  by  the  besot- 
ted councils  of  the  Spanish  government; 
and,  preparations  being  completed,  an  army, 
comprising  upwards  of  sixteen  thousand 
men,  was  assembled  in  the  vicinity  of  Ca- 
diz, the  beginning  of  the  month  of  Decem- 
ber, 1819.  Transactions  which  took  place 
in  the  preceding  June  incontestably  proved 
the  general  spirit  of  the  officers  as  hostile 
to  the  men  and  measures  included  in  the 
sway  of  Ferdinand.  Though  that  conspi- 
racy failed  in  its  ultimate  object,  the  very 
troops  who  had  eflected  the  suppression  of 
it  were  now  in  a  state  of  extreme  insubor- 
dination themselves,  insomuch  as  to  have 
made  their  own  terms,  and  amongst  those, 
terms  had  obtained  an  exemption  from  serv- 
ing in  the  new  world.  Count  Abisbal,  even 
that  individual  who  had  arrested  the  pro- 
gress of  the  former  revolt,  was  at  this  junc- 
ture considered  so  little  deserving  of  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  royal  confidence,  that  the 
command  of  the  army  had  been  taken  from 
him,  and  he  was  gone  into  retirement.  Ac^ 
cordingly,  in  the  month  of  December,  a 
new  plan  of  insurrection  was  matured 
among  the  troops  then  cantoned  in  and 
round  about  Cadiz ;  at  the  head  of  which 
conspiracy  were  prominent  colonel  Riego 
and  lieutenant-colonel  Quiroga.  It  was 
planned,  amongst  other  things,  that  the  lat- 
ter should  effect  his  escape  from  a  convent 
in  the  neighborhood,  wherein  he  was  de- 
tained under  arrest — immediately  join  two 
battalions  quartered  at  Alcala  los  Gazules, 
and  march  with  them  on  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary towards  Cadiz.  On  the  same  day, 
Riego,  who  was  stationed  at  Los  Cabezas 
with  the  second  battalion  of  the  regiment 
of  the  Asturias,  was  to  proceed  with  that 
corps  to  the  head-quarters  at  Arcos,  and 
there  seize  the  persons  of  the  commander- 
in-chief,  count  de  Calderon,  and  such  of  the 
other  superior  officers  as  could  not  be  trust- 
ed. Riego,  on  the  first  of  January,  having 
proclaimed,  amid  the  enthusiastic  acclama- 
tions of  his  troops,  the  constitution  as  adopt- 
ed by  the  cortes  in  1812,  reached  Arcos 
early  on  the  following  morning, — when  he 
surprised  the  commander-in-chief,  with  his 
whole  staff.  Joined  by  tlje  garrison  of  tliat 
t.iwn,  and  the  ssecond  battalion  of  the  Se- 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


687 


ville  regiment  from  Villa  Marten,  he  lost 
no  time,  but  entered  Bornos  on  the  third  of 
January,  and  was  there  strengthened  by  a 
battalion  of  the  regiment  of  Arragon  ;  and 
at  Xeres  and  Port  St.  Mary,  he  received  a 
farther  accession  of  force.  With  this  body 
of  troops  he  hastened  directly  to  effect  a 
juncture  with  Quiroga,  who  had  made  his 
escape ;  but  was  delayed  in  his  march  by 
the  sudden  swelling  of  the  rivers  and  the 
bad  state  of  the  roads ;  so  that  he  was  not 
able  to  arrive  at  the  Isle  of  Leon  before  the 
magistracy  of  Cadiz  had  manned  and 
strengthened  the  lines  called  Cortadura, 
and  by  those  means  arrested  for  a  time  his 
progress  in  that  quarter.  The  united  forces 
before  these  lines  consisted  of  seven  bat- 
talions, and  assumed  the  title  of  the  na- 
tional army.  Quiroga  was  commander-in- 
chief,  with  Riego  as  second  in  command. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  days  this  national 
army  was  joined  by  a  detachment,  com- 
prising the  brigade,  artillery,  cavalry,  and 
infantry,  which  had  been  detached  for  the 
purpose  of  occupying  Port  St.  Mary.  On 
the  twelfth  of  January,  at  midnight,  the 
troops  obtained  the  possession  of  the  arsenal 
of  the  Caraccas ;  which  step  was  followed 
by  two  successive  attacks  made  on  the  Cor- 
tadura, the  first  by  the  troops  without  the 
lines,  and  the  second,  on  January  twenty- 
fourth,  by  their  partisans  in  the  city ;  but 
neither  of  them  were  attended  by  success. 
— Such  were  the  first  movements  of  the 
revolution  in  Spain. 

Ferdinand's  adherents  were  in  the  rp.Qnn 
time  very  active.  Don  Manuel  Freyre, 
-vho  had  beBn  declared  captain-general  of 
Andalusia,  issued  several  proclamations  in 
reply  to  those  proceeding  from  the  patriotic 
party ;  and  having  assembled  such  troops 
at  Seville  as  he  thought  reliance  might  be 
placed  upon,  after  throwing  some  succors 
into  Cadiz,  established  his  head-quarters  at 
Port  St.  Mary  by  the  twenty-seventh  of 
January. — The  patriots,  from  being  baffled 
in  all  their  attempts  upon  Cadiz,  now 
changed  their  plan  of  operations.  March- 
ing with  a  detachment  of  fifteen  hundred 
men,  Riego  entered  Algesiras  on  the  first 
of  February,  where,  though  meeting  with 
much  cordial  reception  and  good  wishes,  he 
was  unable  to  recruit  his  forces;  and  in  the 
attempt  to  rejoin  Quiroga  he  found  himself 
suddenly  intercepted  by  Don  Joseph  O'Don- 
nel,  the  brother  of  count  Abisbal,  who  had 
cut  off  all  communication  between  the  Isle 
of  Leon  and  Algesiras.  Thus  situated,  the 
patriot  general  resolved  to  march  into  Gren- 
ada ;  and  on  the  eighteenth  of  February 
gained  Malaga,  though  closely  pursued  by 
O'Donnel.  Accordingly,  he  passed  the 
Guadalquivir  at  Cordova,  on  the  eighth  of 
March,  having  been  constantly  harassed  by 


the  close  pursuit  of  the  opposing,  and  su- 
perior force.  On  his  arrival  at  Bienvoinda, 
on  the  eleventh,  Riego's  troops  were  by  all 
these  casualties  broken  and  reduced  in  num- 
ber to  about  three  hundred  men.  This  be^ 
ing  too  inconsiderable  a  force  to  act  any 
longer  together  as  an  army,  the  patriot 
band,  after  many  privations  and  difficulties, 
were  compelled  to  separate  at  the  foot  of 
the  Ronda  mountains,  for  the  purpose  of 
each  individual  saving  himself  by  conceal- 
ment or  flight. — In  the  mean  time  Quiroga 
found  himself  in  a  situation  of  no  less 
jeopardy ;  being  in  fact  shut  up  in  the  Isle 
of  Leon,  with  the  skeleton  of  an  army,  by 
various  privations  and  hardships  reduced  in 
numerical  strength  to  less  than  four  thou- 
sand men,  and  these  becoming  hourly  more 
and  more  depressed  through  inactivity,  and 
in  imminent  danger  of  suffering  total  de- 
struction by  the  want  of  provisions,  which 
now  became  dreadfully  apparent. 

Though  these  disastrous  mischances  so 
gloomily  frowned  upon  the  primary  leaders 
of  the  revolution,  the  sun  of  success  fetill 
gleamed  upon  the  patriotic  cause,  and  was 
gradually  diffusing  its  radiance  in  other 
parts  of  the  Spanish  kingdoms.  Gallicia 
witnessed  an  energetic  rising  of  the  peo- 
ple, who  fully,  and  indeed  from  predisposi- 
tion perhaps,  without  difficulty,  ultimately 
triumphed  over  the  executive  and  its  au- 
thorities. This  branch  of  the  revolt  had 
been  concerted,  and  was  chiefly  effected, 
by  some  officers  of  the  garrison  at  Corun- 
na;  who,  at  the  time  that  Venegas  the 
captain-general  of  the  province  was  in  the 
act  of  holding  a  levee,  raised  the  cry  of 
"  The  nation  for  ever  !"  and,  after  disarm- 
ing the  guards  of  state,  entered  the  room 
where  Venegas  was  surrounded  by  his  vis- 
itors. Those  officers  who  were  present  at 
the  levee  immediately  joined  their  party, 
and  simultaneously  with  drawn  swords  pro- 
claimed that  constitution  which  they  de- 
clared themselves  ready  to  die  in  the  de- 
fence of.  The  patriots  invited  Venegas  to 
assume  the  command,  by  placing  himself  at 
the  head  of  this  new  order  of  aflairs ;  but 
this  he  refused ;  and  accordingly,  both  him- 
self and  his  staff  were  put  under  arrest, 
though  at  the  same  time  they  were  treated 
in  the  most  respectful  manner.  A  new  cap- 
tain-general of  the  province  was  appointed, 
in  the  person  of  colonel  Acevedo — a  su- 
preme junta  constituted — and  the  garrison 
received  in  addition  a  patriotic  corps  of  two 
thousand  militia.  Ferrol,  Vigo,  and  Pente- 
vedra,  displayed  a  similar  enthusiastic  spirit 
of  devotional  patriotism,  and  about  the 
same  period  the  since  justly  celebrated  and 
esteemed  Mina  appeared  in  Navarre,  in 
support  of  the  constitution,  which  he  so  ef- 
fectually aided  and  there  proclaimed.     At 


688 


HISTORY  OP  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


this  important  crisis,  count  Abisbal,  who 
had,  with  the  skill  of  a  consummate  politi- 
cian, carefully  watched  the  progress  of 
these  events  from  their  development,  now 
openly  espoused  the  patriotic  cause,  and 
from  his  powerful  co-operation,  achieved 
the  triumph  of  the  revolutionary  party.  By 
his  influence,  a  plan  was  matured  for  pro- 
claiming the  constitution,  with  the  assist- 
g,nce  of  the  officers  commanding  in  La  Man- 
cha ;  in  this  plan  was  included  Don  Joseph 
O'Donnel,  the  brother  of  Abisbal,  who  was 
at  that  moment  following  up  the  overthrow 
of  Riego,  but  who,  by  this  new  arrange- 
ment, was  to  lend  important  assistance  to 
the  cause  of  the  patriots.  Count  Abisbal, 
for  these  purposes,  left  Madrid  on  the  third 
March,  was  joined  by  some  of  the  body 
guard  at  Aranjuez,  and  on  the  next  day, 
with  the  support  of  his  brother's  regiment, 
surprised  the  governor  of  Ocana,  whom  he 
placed  in  arrest,  and  followed  this  step  with 
a  proclamation  of  the  constitution.  From 
the  instant  of  count  Abisbal's  defection, 
Ferdinand  could  only  screen  himself  by  ap- 
parent submission.  The  power  that  had 
declared  in  favor  of  the  constitution,  and 
which  was  now  arrayed  against  Ferdinand, 
was  composed  of  his  own  household  troops, 
commanded  by  the  same  individuals,  whose 
influence  with  the  soldiery  had  once  before 
saved  him,  and  from  whose  hands  alone 
safety  could  be  rationally  anticipated  again. 
In  this  posture  of  affairs,  delay  must  have 
been  fatal.  The  king  lost  no  time  in  pub- 
lishing an  official  document,  in  which  he 
set  forth  his  royal  intention  of  immediately 
assembling  the  cortes,  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
dressing grievances  and  remedying  every 
national  abuse.  The  populace  of  Madrid, 
upon  the  first  promulgation  of  this  testi- 
mony of  the  weakness  of  the  royal  cause, 
assembled  without  delay  in  vast  multitudes 
in  the  immediate  precincts  of  the  palace, 
and,  with  the  fervor  of  those  meetings,  de- 
manded the  constitution,  with  such  outcries 
of  violent  clamor,  that  great  apprehensions 
were  entertained  for  the  king's  personal  se- 
curity. Influenced  by  these  terrors,  Ferdi- 
nand issued  the  same  evening  a  circular 
letter  to  the  different  authorities  of  Madrid, 
declaring  that "  the  will  of  the  people  having 
been  pronounced,"  he  had  resolved  to  swear 
to  the  constitution,  as  sanctioned  by  the 
cortes  in  1812.  This  circular  was  followed 
by  the  immediate  establishment  of  a  su- 
preme junta,  composed  of  men  of  principles 
known  to  be  favorable  to  the  new  order  of 
things.  All  persons  implicated  in  the  late 
proceedings,  and  imprisoned  for  state  offen- 
ces, were  liberated ;  the  liberty  of  the  press 
was  henceforward  declared,  and  the  total 
abolition  of  the  inquisition  resolved  upon. 
Tidings  of  the  transactions  which  had  taken 


place  in  La  Mancha  and  Gallicia,  now 
reached  Cadiz,  where  general  Freyre  had 
just  arrived.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  peo- 
ple was  wrought  to  such  height,  that  Freyre 
wisely  determined  to  yield  to  their  wishes. 
On  the  ninth  of  March,  the  very  day  of  his 
arrival,  he  gave  public  intimation  in  the 
square  of  Antonio,  that  he  would  put  up  the 
stone  of  the  constitution  at  ten  o'clock  on 
the  following  morning,  and  that  it  should 
be  sworn  to  immediately  when  done.  The 
populace,  not  contented  with  this  declaration, 
vehemently  exclaimed  "  No  delay ! — now, 
now !"  which  was  reiterated  with  such  ar- 
dor and  earnestness,  that  the  general  drew 
from  his  pocket  the  book  of  the  constitution, 
which  having  kissed,  he  concluded  by  say- 
ing, "  Now,  then,  the  oath  is  taken ;  to- 
morrow the  remaining  and  requisite  solem- 
nities shall  be  performed."  A  flag  was 
subsequently  unfurled  with  this  inscription, 
"  The  constitution  for  ever,  and  Freyre  our 
Regenerator." 

MASSACRE  AT  CADIZ. 
On  the  following  day  a  most  disgraceful 
and  horrid  outrage  was  committed  by  the 
troops  in  Cadiz,  which  must  tend  to  entail 
upon  them  disgrace,  coeval  with  the  pen 
of  history,  which  hesitates  while  it  records 
such  perfidy.  In  this  infamous  breach  of 
faith,  however,  it  is  on  all  sides  admitted, 
that  general  Freyre  had  no  participation. 
The  stone  of  the  constitution  was  carried 
into  the  midst  of  the  square  of  St.  Antonio, 
as  the  preparatory  step  to  the  ceremony. 
The  municipal  authorities  were  to  form 
themselves  into  a  procession,  as  assistants 
at  the  regular  proclamation  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  orders  had  been  issued  from  the 
head-quarters  of  the  general,  that  all  the 
houses  should  be  decorated,  and  the  city 
publicly  illuminated  for  three  successive 
nights.  A  message  had  been  dispatched 
to  the  island  of  St.  Leon,  inviting  general 
Quiroga  and  his  staff"  to  be  present  on  the 
occasion.  The  general  himself  did  not  at-- 
tend  the  invitation,  but  deputed  four  of  his 
personal  staff"  to  witness  this  celebration  of 
popular  triumph.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  joy  and  felicity  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Cadiz,  on  this  memorable  morning,  the  tenth 
of  March,  when  the  whole  city  exhibited 
one  scene  of  pleasure  and  hilarity.  Smiles 
enlightened  every  face,  and  gladness  shone 
around,  while  each  eye  was  waiting  the 
arrival  of  the  general,  each  ear  strained  to 
catch  the  appointed  hour  of  ten.  This  grati- 
fying spectacle  was  soon,  however,  to  be 
converted  into  one  of  far  different  complex- 
ion, for  as  the  clock  struck,  the  troops  rushed 
forth,  and  firing  volleys  upon  the  gazing 
throng,  dealt  death  promiscuously  around, 
whilst  shouting  forth  "  Ferdinand  for  ever, 
and  down  with  the  constitution."    The  ut- 


GEORGE  IV.   1820. 


689 


most,  consternation  and  appalling  terror  now 
took  possession  of  the  crowds  assembled, 
and  the  defenceless  people  flying  from  their 
murderous  assailants,  trampled  down  each 
other  to  avoid  death.  The  officers  disap- 
peared with  the  dispersion  of  the  populace; 
the  brutal  soldiery,  left  without  control, 
threw  off  all  subordination  and  revelled  in 
every  unjustifiable  excess  ;  and  the  whole 
city,  from  a  scene  of  universal  joy  and  prom- 
ised security,  was  in  one  instant  converted 
into  the  resemblance  of  a  place  delivered  over 
to  all  the  horrors  of  military  execution  and 
pillage,  after  a  protracted  siege.  This  out- 
rageous violation  of  public  faith,  this  hor- 
rible exhibition  of  savage  policy  and  brutal 
violence,  continued  from  ten  in  the  morn- 
ing until  eight  in  the  evening,  when  the 
officers  once  more  interfered,  and  finally 
succeeded  in  withdrawing  the  infuriated 
troops  to  their  several  quarters,  after  a  car- 
nage of  ten  hours,  which  bestrewed  the 
streets  with  four  hundred  dead  bodies  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  whose  number 
of  wounded  was  fully  proportionate.  Tran^ 
quillity  was  not  restored  in  the  town,  ere 
the  lapse  of  two  days,  at  which  time  in 
formation  was  received,  that  Ferdinand  had 
accepted  the  constitution.  The  troops 
having  no  further  pretext  for  resistance, 
submitted  in  sullen  silence.  No  more  acts 
of  open  violence  occurred,  but  yet  it  can 
not  be  wondered  at,  that  neither  soldiers 
or  citizens  deemed  themselves  safe,  until 
they  were  removed  to  a  distance  from  each 
other.  The  governor  Valdeo,  and  the 
military  commander  Campania,  were  dis- 
placed, and  within  a  week  after  the  exe 
crable  massacre  of  their  fellow-countrymen 
the  troops  were  marched  away,  to  the  great 
relief  of  the  suffering  inhabitants.  The 
army  of  the  Isle  of  Leon,  which  was  now  of 
considerable  force,  on  the  united  suggestion 
of  Riego  and  Quiroga,  was  ordered  not  to 
separate  until  the  assembly  of  the  cortes ; 
and  at  the  same  time,  in  some  recompense 
of  their  services,  the  rank  of  field-marshal 
was  bestowed  on  both  these  chiefs  of  the 
revolution.  Very  soon  afterwards,  field- 
marshal  Quiroga  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  cortes,  and  the  sole  command  of  this 
army  devolved  upon  Riego.  On  the  ninth 
of  July,  the  functions  of  the  supreme  junta 
expired,  at  which  period  the  cortes  assem- 
bled, and  the  revolution  was  thought  to  be 
finally  and  solidly  established  through  every 
part  of  the  kingdom. 

KING  OPENS  THE  CORTES. 
A  SPEECH  from  the  king  opened  the 
cortes,  which  immediately  proceeded  to  the 
fulfilment  of  their  various  and  important 
duties.  During  their  sittings,  divers  politi- 
cal schemes  appeared  in  overt  act,  and 
many  disturbances  broke  out  in  Andalusia, 
58* 


Catalonia,  Estremadura,  Gallicia,  and  Va- 
lencia; in  Estremadura,  an  individual  named 
Morales,  having  prevailed  upon  some  of  the 
Bourbon  cavalry  to  join  him,  acquired  by 
such  accession  an  importance  far  beyond 
his  deserts.  These  occurrences  induced 
several  of  the  most  zealous  revolutionists 
among  the  body  of  the  cortes,  to  urge  min- 
isters to  the  adoption  of  stronger  and  more 
decisive  measures  against  the  adversaries 
of  the  new  constitution.  The  grasping 
ambition  of  some  of  their  own  partisans  was 
another  fertile  source  of  embarrassment  to 
the  constitutionalists,  which  tended  to  para- 
lyze their  efforts  for  the  public  good. 
RIEGO'S  DISGRACE. 

Among  these  discontented  chiefs,  Riego 
particularly  distinguished  himself.  It  had 
been  resolved  that  the  army  of  the  Isle  of 
Leon  should  be  disbanded ;  and  as  a  com- 
pensation for  the  loss  of  that  military  com- 
mand, Riego  was  nominated  captain-general 
of  Gallicia.  This  change  not  suiting  with 
the  powerful  ambition  of  his  mind,  he  re- 
paired- to  the  capital  to  protest  against  the 
measure ;  but  finding  all  his  arguments  and 
endeavors  useless,  and  wholly  failing  in  his 
remonstrances  with  the  administration,  he 
essayed  to  overawe  the  cortes  by  dint  of  his 
popularity  with  the  lower  orders  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  his  influence  in  the  several  political 
clubs  with  which  Madrid  at  that  time  abound- 
ed. Government,  however,  acted  with  be- 
coming firmness,  refusing  to  submit  to  a  dic- 
tator :  laws  were  enacted  to  prevent  the 
recurrence  of  abuses  originating  from  fac- 
tious clubs  and  assemblies — several  of  the 
most  active  rioters  were  subjected  to  pun- 
ishment— and  Riego  himself,  being  stript  of 
his  office  of  captain-general,  was  banished 
to  his  native  town  of  Oviedo. 
CORTES  CLOSES. 

The  first  session  of  the  cortes  closed  on 
the  ninth  of  November,  when  a  speech  was 
read  to  them  in  the  name  of  the  king,  who, 
under  the  pretext  of  sickness,  remained  at 
the  Escurial.  Previous  to  their  final  sepa- 
ration, however,  the  cortes  resolved,  among 
many  other  measures  strongly  indicating 
distrust  of  the  monarch,  that  three-fourths 
of  their  whole  number  should  invariably  re- 
main at  their  posts,  to  be  in  readiness  to 
counteract  any  scheme  which  might  arise 
prejudicial  to  public  welilire.  The  long  and 
continued  absence  of  this  infatuated  sove- 
reign from  the  capital  gave  great  umbrage 
to  the  populace  and  constitutionalists,  as  his 
m.otions  could  not  be  so  well  ascertained  at 
the  Escurial  as  they  might  be  at  Madrid. 
Nor  did  it  appear  tiiat  this  jealousy  was  with- 
out foundation ;  for  on  the  sixteenth  of  No- 
vember, only  one  week  after  the  closing  of 
the  cortes,  Ferdinand  being  still  resident  at 
the  Escurial,  nominated  general  Carvajal 


690 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


to  the  government  of  New  Castile,  without 
causing  the  appointment  to  be  duly  counter- 
signed, as  was  requisite,  by  the  proper  min- 
isters. The  permanent  deputation  of  the 
cortes,  in  conjunction  with  the  municipal 
body  of  the  capital,  immediately  met ;  and, 
whilst  the  whole  population  of  the  city  was 
in  a  state  of  the  utmost  exasperation,  they 
drew  up  and  presented  to  his  majesty  a  most 
energetic  and  decisive  remonstrance,  in 
which,  among  various  other  matters,  they 
pointed  out  the  absolute  necessity  of  the 
king's  residing  at  Madrid.  In  one  part  of 
this  timely  address  they  observed — "  Your 
majesty's  absence  has  occasioned  apprehen- 
sions that  are  aggravated  by  nominations  to 
important  employments,  of  persons  noto- 
riously opposed  to  the  constitutional  system, 
which  your  majesty  has  sworn  to  preserve, 
and  which  we  are  all  ready  to  defend  to 
the  last  drop  of  our  blood.  We  are  com- 
pelled, sire,  to  say,  that  without  some  pub- 
lic manifestation  to  the  new  institutions,  of 
a  nature  to  destroy  every  hope  in  their  most 
determined  enemies,  confidence  cannot  be 
re-established.  This  manifestation,  in  our 
opinion,  can  be  none  other  than  your  ma- 
jesty's return  to  the  midst  of  your  children, 
and  the  immediate  extraordinary  convoca- 
tion of  the  cortes." 

FERDINAND  RETURNS  TO  MADRID. 

The  king,  in  apparent  compliance  with 
this  address,  returned  unwillingly  on  the 
twenty-first  of  November  to  the  capital  ; 
and  shortly  after,  the  commands  in  the  dif- 
ferent provinces  were,  with  an  increased 
spirit  of  reluctance  on  his  part,  bestowed 
on  the  most  violent  partisans  of  the  revolu- 
tion.— Among  those  so  distinguished,  the 
ambitious  Riego  was  appointed  captain-gen- 
eral of  Arragon :  whilst  Morales,  the  leader 
of  the  Estremaduran  disturbances,  with  a 
few  of  his  adherents,  fled  for  safety  into 
Portugal;  but  being  taken  by  the  Portu- 
guese, he  was  delivered  over  by  them  to  the 
Spanish  authorities.  The  army  was  now 
completely  organized,  arid  received  the 
king's  sanction :  it  was  arranged  as  a  peace 
establishment,  to  consist  of  sixty-six  thou- 
sand, eight  hundred  and  twenty-eight  men, 
which  was  to  be  doubled  in  the  event  of 
war.  The  three  regiments  of  Swiss  sol- 
diers were  suppressed ;  and  throughout  the 
different  provinces  large  enrolments  of  mi- 
litia took  place. — Such,  at  this  eventful  pe- 
riod, was  the  political  state  of  Spain,  towards 
which  all  Europe  turned  its  eyes  with  an 
extreme  anxiety  of  expectation,  viewing  the 
extraordinary  spectacle  of  a  country  in  which 
the  spirit  of  firm  resistance  to  a  faithless, 
cruel,  and  bigoted  monarch  had  displayed 
itself  in  such  an  unparalleled  manner,  and 
hitherto  with  such  successful  and  triumph- 
ant results. 


REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENTS  IN  POR- 
TUGAL. 
The  neighboring  state  of  Portugal  could 
not  remain  long  unaffected  by  the  eruption 
which  had  shaken  the  Spanish  kingdom. 
Similar  causes  produce  similarity  of  effects. 
The  removal  of  the  monarch  and  his  court 
to  the  Brazils  had  tended  to  make  the  no- 
bles less  loyal  in  their  inclinings ;  and  the 
community,  seeing  themselves  as  it  were 
abandoned  by  the  royal  family,  now  that  the 
necessity  for  their  exile  no  longer  existed, 
were  more  easily  swayed  by  the  resident 
nobility;  whilst  the  army,  in  addition  to 
many  othet  causes  of  discontent,  were  sorely 
mortified  by  the  circumstance  of  marshal 
Beresford  being  continued  in  the  supreme 
command,  and  about  a  hundred  British  offi- 
cers still  retaining  their  commissions,  now 
that  the  war  was  concluded,  and  during  a 
period  which  promised  a  long  continuance 
of  peace.  Marshal  Beresford  had  sailed  for 
Rio  Janeiro  in  the  month  of  April,  and 
during  his  absence  the  spirit  of  revolution  i 
first  manifested  itself  at  Oporto ;  which  was 
ripened  into  open  revolt  against  the  author- 
ities, under  the  auspices  of  Don  Bernardo 
Correa  de  Castro  Sepulveda,  a  young  noble- 
man, and  commander  of  the  eighteenth  regi- 
ment. On  the  twenty-fourth  of  August  an 
address  was  read  to  the  regiments  stationed 
there,  inviting  them  to  assist  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  constitutional  government. 
This  invitation  was  hailed  by  the  assembled 
troops  with  loud  acclamations ;  and  subse- 
quently, in  the  presence  of  the  governor, 
the  bishop,  and  the  city  magistrates,  a  pro- 
visional junta  was  appointed,  consisting  of 
sixteen  members,  charged  with  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country  until  the  cortes  should 
meet.  This  junta,  as  a  preliminary  mea- 
sure, made  a  declaration  of  their  reverence 
for  the  rights  and  immunities  of  the  church, 
and  of  all  the  constituted  authorities,  joined 
to  a  most  devoted  attachment  to  the  mon- 
archy established  in  the  house  of  Braganza. 
The  English  officers  were  informed  that 
they  were  to  enjoy  a  continuance  of  their 
respective  ranks  and  emoluments  until  the 
meeting  of  the  cortes  should  take  place : 
but  they  were  strictly  enjoined  not  to  take 
any  part  whatever  in  the  events  then  pass- 
ing. On  the  other  hand,  the  regency 
at  Lisbon  sent  forth  a  proclamation,  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  August,  deprecating 
the  whole  of  the  transactions  which  had 
taken  place  at  Oporto — condemning  it  as  an 
illegal  conspiracy,  and  declaring  that  it  was 
vested  in  the  sovereign  alone,  the  right  of 
convoking  the  cortes.  Ultimately  discover- 
ing that  the  defection  of  the  soldiery  waa 
general  in  all  the  provinces,  they  yielded 
to  necessity,  and  published  a  proclamation 
fgr  the  speedy  assemblage  of  the  cortes. — 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


691 


Don  Sepulveda  had  in  the  interim  marched 
to  attack  count  Amarante,  the  commander 
of  Trosos  Montes,  who,  finding  himself 
abandoned  by  his  troops,  soug-ht  refuge  in 
Gallicia ;  by  which  Sepulveda  reached  Co- 
imbra  unopposed,  and  proceeded  forthwith 
to  the  capital,  followed  by  the  provisional 
junta.  September  fifteenth — a  day  always 
celebrated  with  military  pomp  by  the  gar- 
rison of  Lisbon,  as  the  anniversary  of  the 
deliverance  of  Portugal  from  the  oppres- 
sion of  a  foreign  yoke,  in  defiance  of  the 
attempts  of  the  regency  to  prevent  it — the 
sixteenth  regiment  mustered  in  the  Rocio, 
the  principal  square  of  the  metropolis,  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  were 
speedily  joined  by  the  tenth  regiment  from 
the  castle,  the  fourth  from  Campo  D'Ou- 
rique,  the  artillery  from  the  Caes  dos  Sal- 
vados,  and  the  cavalry  from  Alcantara — 
until  both  the  Rocio  and  the  Praca  were 
filled  with  troops,  headed  by  their  officers, 
and  in  full  order  of  march.  Aided  by  this 
army,  the  constitution  was  proclaimed ;  the 
regency-halls  were  opened ;  and  a  new  set 
of  governors  appointed.  During  these  pro- 
ceedings the  troops  remained  quietly  on  the 
ground  till  near  eleven  at  night,  when  they 
marched  back,  according  to  orders,  to  their 
several  quarters,  in  the  highest  regularity : 
— and  thus  was  this  great  change  brought 
about,  without  the  most  trifling  disturbance, 
or  slightest  indication  of  riot.  The  Oporto 
junta  entered  Lisbon  on  the  first  of  Octo- 
ber, and  the  northern  and  southern  armies 
arrived  shortly  after.  This  was  followed  by 
the  union  of  the  two  juntas,  who  were  then 
divided  into  two  sections,  one  of  them  be- 
ing charged  with  the  ordinary  cares  of  ad- 
ministration, and  the  other  with  such  duties 
as  were  necessary  for  assembling  the  cortes. 

MARSHAL  BERESFORD  ARRIVES  BE- 
FORE LISBON. 

Nine  days  from  this,  lord  Beresford  re- 
turned from  Rio  Janeiro,  in  his  Britannic 
majesty's  ship  the  Vengeur,  and  cast  an- 
chor in  the  Tagus.  His  lordship  expressed 
an  extreme  desire  to  land,  and  requested 
permission  to  be  allowed  so  to  do,  in  the 
capacity  of  a  simple  British  subject,  having 
various  affairs  of  a  private  nature  to  settle 
in  Portugal.  The  public  alarm  excited  by 
his  arrival  was  so  great,  that  it  was  deemed 
necessary  from  motives  combining  the  mar- 
shal's personal  safety,  as  well  as  to  pre- 
serve the  public  tranquillity,  to  refuse  a 
compliance  with  this  request,  as  well  as  to 
use  every  possible  means  to  hasten  his  de- 
parture, without  suffering  him  to  have  any 
private  communication  with  the  shore. — 
Finding  matters  thus  imperatively  conduct- 
ed, marshal  Beresford  at  length  sailed  for 
England  in  the  Arabella  packet;  and  after 
his  departure,  captain  Maitland  delivered  a 


sum  of  money  to  the  junta,  from  the  Ven- 

feur,  which  he  had  conveyed  from  Rio 
aneiro,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  army. 
Strong  and  serious  differences  of  opinion 
were  now  elicited  between  the  two  junta* 
of  Lisbon  and  Oporto;  the  former  one  be- 
ing desirous  of  adhering  without  deviation 
to  the  ancient  forms  and  principles  of  the 
constitution,  while  the  latter,  far  more  tend- 
ing to  democracy,  was  anxious  to  adopt  the 
constitution  of  Spain  in  its  most  ample  form. 
The  leader  of  the  violent  party  was  Sil- 
veira,  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  decree, 
that  the  cortes  should  be  elected  as  in  Spain, 
according  to  the  population,  and  that  one 
deputy  should  be  returned  for  every  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.  Not  content  with 
this  success,  they  prevailed  with  the  troops 
to  assemble  on  the  eleventh  of  November, 
round  the  palace,  where  the  junta  were 
then  engaged  in  deliberation,  and  in  obe- 
dience to  their  tumultuous  clamors,  the 
junta  also  decreed,  that  the  constitution  of 
Spain  should  be  adopted  in  its  fiillest  ex- 
tent. The  command  of  the  army  was  then 
conferred  upon  one  of  their  most  active 
and  zealous  partisans,  whilst  Silveira  him- 
self assumed  the  department  of  foreign  af- 
fairs. In  consequence  of  these  measures, 
the  more  moderate  party  of  the  junta  now 
withdrew  from  the  council,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  officers  of  the  army  threw  up 
their  commissions.  These  events  filled  the 
kingdom  with  consternation,  and  Texeira, 
commander-in-chief  at  Lisbon,  by  whose 
influence  they  had  been  consummated,  soon 
saw  cause  to  repent  the  part  he  had  achiev- 
ed. Sepulveda  now  strenuously  exerted 
himself  to  make  the  army  sensible  of  their 
erroneous  proceeding  on  the  eleventh,  and 
was  so  far  successful,  that  on  the  seven- 
teenth November  a  military  council  was 
convened,  consisting  of  general  officers,  and 
others,  commanders  of  divisions,  who  came 
to  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  enumerated, 
"  that  the  public  welfare  required  that  those 
members  who  lately  desired  their  discharge, 
should  resume  their  fiinctions;  that  the 
election  of  deputies  to  the  cortes  be  made 
according  to  the  Spanish  system,  but  that 
no  other  part  of  the  Spanish  constitution 
be  enacted,  except  when  the  cortes  shall 
meet  and  adopt  it,  with  such  alterations  aa 
they  shall  judge  proper."  The  effect  of 
these  declaratory  resolutions,  was  the  im- 
mediate reascendancy  of  the  moderate  party, 
by  whom  Silveira  was  stript  of  all  power, 
ordered  to  quit  the  city  within  two  hours, 
and  to  retire  to  his  estates  at  Canal es,  from 
whence  he  was  not  to  depart,  upon  any 
pretext,  without  first  having  obtained  per- 
mission of  the  executive.  These  changes 
were  hailed  with  unbounded  applause  by 
the  people  at  large,  who  now  began  to  look 


692 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


forward  with  confidence  and  hope  to  the 
meeting  of  the  cortes ;  which  expectation 
was  not  then  to  be  realized,  as  they  did  not 
assemble  till  nearly  a  year  afterwards.  In 
several  other  parts  of  Europe,  the  minds  of 
the  people  were  also  much  agitated  by  the 
spirit  of  free  and  bold  inquiry ;  and  conse- 
quently the  system  of  governments  em- 
bracing general  representation,  obtained 
numerous  proselytes  wherever  such  opin- 
ions were  suffered  to  be  promulgated. 
POLITICAL  MOVEMENTS  AT  NAPLES,  &c 

Naples  made  an  effort  at  obtaining  a 
constitution,  founded  on  the  representative 
system,  and  the  king  was  compelled  to  cede 
to  the  remonstrances  of  the  people,  backed 
as  they  were  by  the  military.  On  the  sixth 
of  July,  he  issued  a  proclamation,  promis- 
ing to  publish  the  basis  of  a  constitutional 
code  within  a  week.  A  deputation  from 
the  army  was  immediately  sent  to  Naples, 
to  insist  that  his  majesty  should  adopt  the 
broad  principle  of  the  Spanish  constitution, 
within  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours. 
Upon  receiving  this  demand,  he  instantly 
resolved  to  lay  aside  the  exercise  of  his 
royal  functions ;  and  on  the  same  evening, 
he  declared  his  eldest  son,  the  duke  of  Ca- 
labria, vicar-general  of  the  kingdom. 

On  the  following  day,  the  vicar-general 
announced  his  acceptance  of  the  Spanish 
constitution,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  king 
confirmed  this  act  of  his  son,  and  for  the 
due  observance  of  it,  pledged  his  royal 
faith.  On  the  ninth,  the  revolutionary  army 
made  its  triumphal  entry  into  Naples;  the 
vicar-general  named  the  provisional  junta  ; 
and  on  the  thirteenth,  both  himself  and  his 
royal  father  swore  fidelity  to  the  new  con- 
stitution, in  the  presence  of  the  assembled 
junta.  The  leaders  of  the  revolution  im- 
mediately dispatched  ambassadors  to  the 
principal  European  courts,  but  their  envoys 
were  received  and  acknowledged  only  at 
Madrid ;  Austria  did  not  even  attempt  to 
disguise  her  feelings,  or  dissemble  her  hos- 
tile intent,  but  sent  forth  the  most  violent 
proclamations  against  the  new  government, 
anathematizing  the  Carbonari,  the  supposed 
instigators  of  the  revolutionary  proceed- 
ings, forbidding  the  exportation  of  any 
military  stores  to  Naples,  and  ultimately 
sealed  this  frank  avowal  of  her  sentiments, 
by  preparations  for  assembling  a  large  army 
in  Italy  in  the  most  prompt  and  effective 
manner. 

MEETLNG  OF  SOVEREIGNS. 

In  the  latter  end  of  October,  a  meeting 
of  the  emperors  of  Russia  and  Austria,  with 
the  king  of  Prussia,  took  place  at  Troppau, 
to  deliberate  on  the  necessary  measures 
which  the  existing  state  of  Naples  called 
upon  them  imperiously  to  adopt.  The  re- 
sult of  which  conference  was,  that  the  re- 


gal triumvirate,  by  letters  dated  the  twen- 
tieth November,  invited  the  Neapolitan 
monarch  to  give  them  the  meeting  at  Lay- 
bach  ;  and  on  the  thirteenth  of  December, 
he  accordingly  embarked  on  board  the  Eng- 
lish ship  Vengeur,  from  whence  he  landed 
at  Leghorn,  and  arrived  at  Lay  bach  on  De- 
cember the  twenty-eighth.  The  parliament 
of  Naples,  although  they  did  not  at  all  ap- 
prove of  the  sovereign's  removal,  ventured 
no  measures  in  opposition  thereto. 
REVOLUTION  IN  SICILY. 
Whilst  these  occurrences  were  taking 
place  in  Naples,  scenes  of  greater  anarchy 
and  more  sanguinary  disorder,  were  trans- 
acting in  Sicily.  The  news  of  the  acceptr 
ance  and  adoption  of  the  Spanish  constitu- 
tion, reached  Palermo  on  the  fourteenth, 
and  the  intelligence  gave  rise  to  the  most 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  exulting  joy. 
On  the  following  morning,  which  happened 
to  be  the  grand  national  festival  of  the  Si- 
cilians, some  trivial  circumstance  roused 
the  popular  indignation  against  general 
Church,  an  Englishman,  employed  in  the 
Neapolitan  army,  which  ended  in  his  being 
assaulted,  and  the  plundering  of  his  house. 
The  multitude  having  by  these  acts  com- 
menced a  career  of  misguided,  lawless  per- 
secution and  outrage,  proceeded  to  the  most 
desperate  excesses  ;  eight  hundred  galley- 
slaves  were  immediately  liberated  and  arm- 
ed ;  and  this  insurrection  being  led  on  by 
a  Franciscan  monk,  called  Vaglica,  suc- 
cessfully attacked  the  garrison.  The  regu- 
lar troops  being  overpowered  by  this  brutal 
force,  every  species  of  atrocity  was  with- 
out hesitation  committed;  many  persons 
were  killed  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict,  be- 
sides a  considerable  number,  among  whom 
were  the  princes  Aci  and  Cattolica,  who 
were  deliberately  butchered  after  it  was 
concluded.  On  the  seventeenth  July,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  form  some  sort  of  pro- 
visional government ;  a  junta  was  appoint- 
ed, a  civic  guard  established,  and  the  gal- 
ley-slaves were  commanded  to  surrender 
their  arms  and  depart  from  the  city.  These 
arrangements  were  but  of  short  duration, 
being  subsequently  overthrown,  and  a  new 
junta  formed,  of  which  prince  Pateno  was 
nominated  the  president;  till,  on  the  twen- 
ty-fifth September,  a  Neapolitan  army,  com- 
manded by  Floristan  Pepe,  arrived  before 
Palermo,  which  capitulated  on  the  fifth  of 
October ;  on  the  next  day  Pepe  took  pos- 
session of  the  town,  and  immediately  pro- 
claimed the  Spanish  constitution.  It  was 
expressly  stipulated  by  the  capitulation,  that 
the  Sicilian  states-general  were  to  decide, 
whether  the  parliament  of  Sicily  should  be 
declared  independent,  or  be  united  to  that 
of  Naples.  The  Neapolitan  legislature, 
however,  wholly  annulled  this  article  ;  and 


GEORGE  IV.  1820. 


693 


a  new  general,  with  large  reinforcements 
for  the  army,  was  speedily  sent  to  succeed 
Pejpe,  who  was  thus  removed. 

The  junta  being  first  dissolved,  the  Nea- 
politans gave  the  earliest  proof  of  the  prac- 
tical application  of  their  ardent  love  of  free- 
dom, and  their  devotion  to  liberal  principles, 
by  levying  the  most  unjustifiable  contribu- 
tions, and  treating  Palermo,  not  as  an  in- 
tegral part  of  their  states,  but  in  all  re- 
spects as  a  foreign  town  subjugated  by  the 
success  of  their  arms,  and  entitled  thereby 
to  endure  every  severity  from  the  hands  of 
a  triumphant  and  savage  conqueror. 
ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  POLISH  DIET. 

Whilst  the  more  genial  shores  of  France, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy,  were  subjected 
to  divers  political  explosions,  whilst  liberty 
was  attenjpting  some  amelioration  of  men 
and  manners  in  those  realms,  the  north  of 
Europe  remained  in  a  comparatively  qui- 
escent state,  unvisited  by  any  occurrence 
of  material  interest,  unless  indeed  the  trans- 
actions of  the  diet  of  Poland  be  deemed 
worthy  of  consideration. 

The  Autocrat  of  all  the  Russias,  with  a 
policy  replete  with  worldly  wisdom,  had 
continued  as  a  boon  to  this  annexation  to 
his  widely-extended  dominions,  the  title  of 
an  independent  kingdom ;  flattering  this 
ancient  (though  dismembered)  nation,  with 
the  right  of  having  its  own  military  force, 
and  its  diet  or  legislative  assembly,  com- 


posed as  formerly  of  two  separate  cham- 
bers. In  conformity  with  this  arrangement, 
or  act  of  sovereign  grace,  the  emperor  Al- 
exander himself  opened  the  session  with  an 
address,  highly  adapted  to  beget  full  confi- 
dence in  the  various  measures  he  therein 
propounded  to  their  legislatorial  considera- 
tion. The  measures  he  recommended  were 
of  an  extremely  popular  aspect,  consisting 
in  "a  modification  of  the  constitution  of  the 
senate,"  a  "  plan  of  a  criminal  as  well  as  a 
civil  code."  None  of  these  measures,  though 
strenuously  debated,  met  with  final  adop- 
tion ;  and  on  the  closing  of  the  sessions  on 
the  first  of  October,  his  imperial  majesty,  in 
his  speech,  expressed  his  extreme  disap- 
pointment at  the  rejection  of  these  minis- 
terial projets.  Notwithstanding  the  resist- 
ance of  the  diet  to  his  will,  this  powerful 
monarch  continued  the  same  line  of  polit- 
ical forbearance,  and  far  from  visiting  Po- 
land with  any  further  indications  of  his  an- 
ger, pursued  that  laudably  wise  path  towards 
it,  which,  by  upholding  and  patronizing 
every  scheme,  likely  to  extend  the  com- 
mercial intercourse  of  that  nominal  king- 
dom, with  the  other  parts  of  his  vast  do- 
minions, is  rapidly  tending  to  consolidate 
his  colossal  power,  as  supreme  ruler  of  that 
empire,  of  almost  unnumbered  millions  of 
civilized  and  barbaric  subjects  committed  to 
his  sway. 


694 


fflSTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Opening  of  Parliament — His  Majesty's  Speech — Debates  on  the  Conduct  of  Ministers 
relative  to  the  Queen — Country  Petitions  to  restore  Queen^s  Name  to  Liturgy — 
Queen's  Message  to  the  House  of  Commons — Provision  for  her  Majesty — Discussion 
on  the  Question  of  Emancipating  the  Catholics — Bill  for  Relief  of  Catholics  intro- 
duced and  passed  through  the  House  of  Commons — Rejected  in  the  House  of  Lords- 
Borough  of  Grampound  disfranchised — The  Franchise  transferred  to  the  County  of 
York — Committee  to  inquire  into  Cause  of  Agricultural  Distress — Report  of  Com- 
mittee— Bank  of  England  resumption  of  Cash  Payments— Ways  and  Means  for  the 
current  Year — Parliament  prorogued — Death  of  Napoleon,  ex-Emperor  of  France, 
in  Captivity  at  St.  Helena — Situation  of  the  Queen — Her  Conduct,  and  Correspond- 
ence with  Officers  of  State — Coronation  of  George  IV. 


OPENING  OF  PARLIAMENT. 
1821. — The  first  public  occurrence  which 
took  place  this  year  was  the  assembly  of 
parliament;  on  which  occasion  the  king 
went  in  state  to  the  house  of  lords,  and 
opened  the  session  by  delivering  a  most 
g-racious  speech  from  the  throne. 

DEBATES  ON  THE  CONDUCT  OF  MINIS- 
TERS RELATIVE  TO  QUEEN. 
The  debates  in  both  houses,  consequent 
on  the  usual  motions  for  addresses  of  thanks 
to  the  sovereign  in  grateful  return  for  the 
royal  speech,  were  long,  and  warmly  con- 
tested ;  and  strongly  indicated  the  feelings 
and  opinions  of  the  ministerial  partisans,  as 
well  as  of  those  adhering  to  the  opposition, 
on  the  various  important  topics  touched  upon 
therein  ;  and  chiefly  upon  the  line  of  con- 
duct which  government  had  displayed  to- 
wards the  queen  : — a  conduct  which  was 
more  scrutinizingly  developed,  and  severely- 
commented  on,  by  the  members  in  opposi- 
tion to  ministers  in  the  house  of  commons, 
than  in  the  lords.  Immediately  after  the 
assembled  house  had  heard  the  speech  read 
by  the  speaker,  on  their  return,  lord  Ar- 
chibald Hamilton  gave  notice  of  a  motion 
touching  the  omission  of  her  majesty's  name 
in  the  liturgy  ;  and  he  was  followed  by  Mr. 
Wetherell — a  gentleman  eminent  in  the 
law,  and  who  to  this  period  had  invariably 
supported  the  ministry — who  immediately 
moved  for  the  production  of  certain  papers 
and  documents  relating  to  the  mode  of  in- 
sertion of  the  names  of  the  king,  queen,  and 
other  branches  of  the  royal  family,  in  the 
collects  and  litanies  of  the  Liturgy,  inclu- 
ding the  period  from  the  reign  of  James  the 
first  to  the  present  day ;  and  for  the  several 
orders  of  council  for  the  insertion,  omission, 
or  change  of  such  names,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  reign  of  Henry  the  eighth. 
An  objection  was  made  by  lord  Castlereagh 
to  such  a  motion  being  brought  forward 
without  previous  notice — suggesting  the 
propriety  of  his  withdrawing  it  for  the  pres- 


ent. This  suggestion  was  not  attended  to ; 
Mr.  Wetherell  persisted  in  his  motion;  on 
which  lord  Castlereagh  moved  the  previous 
question,  and  thus  pressed  to  a  division.  Mr. 
Wetherell's  motion  was  negatived  by  a  ma- 
jority of  ninety-one :  the  numbers  being  two 
hundred  and  sixty  votes  against  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-nine.  The  marquis  of  Ta- 
vistock, on  the  following  day,  gave  notice, 
that  on  the  fifth  of  February  it  was  his  in- 
tention to  move  a  resolution  expressive  of 
the  opinion  of  the  house  on  the  conduct  of 
ministers,  in  the  late  proceedings  which 
they  had  instituted  against  the  queen. 
COUNTRY  PETITIONS. 
During  this  period  the  attention  of  the 
house  was  daily  occupied,  for  a  considerable 
portion  of  its  time,  with  listening  to  the 
multifarious  petitions  which  were  presented 
from  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  complain- 
ing of  the  late  proceedings  against  her 
majesty.  Most  of  these  numerous  petition- 
ers expressed  in  the  strongest  terms  of 
reprobation  their  dislike  of  the  government- 
al measures ;  and  prayed  for  the  restoration 
of  her  majesty's  name  to  the  Liturgy,  and 
that  the  house  would  exert  its  utmost  in- 
fluence in  advising  the  king  to  dismiss  from 
his  councils  his  present  ministers — whose 
misconduct,  as  they  alleged,  had  very  se- 
riously endangered  the  dignity  of  the  crown, 
and  greatly  disturbed  the  peace,  harmony, 
and  welfare  of  the  nation,  by  their  pernicious 
advice.  Several  of  the  members  to  whom 
the  presentation  of  these  petitions  had  been 
intrusted,  embraced  the  opportunity  of  de- 
livering their  own  sentiments  upon  the 
subjects  thereof;  and  many  speeches  were 
embued  with  all  the  warmth  of  feeling, 
flow  of  language,  and  force  of  eloquence, 
which  such  an  occasion  might  be  expected 
to  produce.  Lord  Archibald  Hamilton's 
motion,  of  which  he  had  given  due  notice, 
came  before  the  house  on  the  twenty-sixth 
of  January ;  and  was  couched  in  the  follow- 
ing form  : — "  That  the  order  in  council  of 


GEORGE  IV.   1821. 


695 


the  twelfth  of  February,  1820,  under  which 
the  name  of  her  majesty,  Caroline,  queen- 
consort,  has  been  omitted  in  the  liturgy,  and 
in  the  accustomed  prayers  of  the  church, 
appears  to  this  house  to  have  been  a  measure 
ill  advised  and  inexpedient."  This  motion 
orig-inated  a  very  long  and  animated  debate, 
during  which  much  legal  lore,  and  deep  as 
well  as  antiquarian  research  into  history, 
were  elicited  by  Sir  James  Mackintosh  and 
Mr.  Wetherell — who  severally  supported 
the  motion,  and  argued  in  strong  and  able 
terms,  that  the  said  order  in  council  was  not 
only  inexpedient  but  illegal.  In  reply  to  these 
assertions  the  attorney-general  and  solici- 
tor-general contended  the  point  of  necessity, 
and  also  that  it  was  not  illegal ;  and  the  form- 
er learned  gentleman  observed,  that  the  act 
of  uniformity  gave  a  power  to  omit  as  well 
as  to  alter  or  change^  as  was  evident  from 
the  fact,  that  the  Liturgy  annexed  to  that 
act,  and  which  Mr.  Wetherell  had  so  rightly 
considered  as  part  of  it,  contains  a  blank  in 
the  place  of  the  name  of  queen,  which, 
without  such  vested  power  of  addition  or 
omission,  could  never  have  been  supplied. 
The  conduct  of  government  was  defended 
by  lord  Castlereagh,  in  a  most  luminous 
speech,  in  which,  after  ably  refuting  the 
several  allegations  adduced,  he  concludes 
in  the  following  remarkable  terms : 

"  For  myself,"  said  his  lordship,  "  I  can 
safely  affirm,  that  I  have  acted  as  the  nature 
of  the  case  absolutely  required ;  and  were 
that  act  to  be  done  again,  I  would  pursue 
exactly  the  same  line  of  conduct — a  line 
which  I  feel  to  be  in  no  degree  a  matter  of 
option,  but  an  imperative  duty.  In  a  case 
so  surrounded  by  difficulties,  government 
did  not  act  without  deliberation.  No  doubt 
they  were  embarrassed  by  the  prospect  of 
the  use  which  would  be  made  o^  the  ques- 
tion by  the  seditious  and  disaffected.  It  is 
to  be  regretted,  too,  that  the  law  on  the 
case  is  not  more  clear;  but  as  the  case 
stood,  had  they  at  first  inserted  her  name 
in  the  Liturgy,  while  such  heavy  charges 
against  her  lay  on  the  council  table,  and 
had  afterwards  been  compelled  to  erase  it 
on  account  of  the  confirmation  of  those 
charges,  the  moral  indignation  of  the  coun- 
try would  have  overwhelmed  us.  But  it 
was  said,  that  the  queen  was  now  proved 
innocent — that  she  had  been  tried  and  ac- 
quitted— and  that  her  name  should  now  be 
restored  as  matter  of  course.  As  to  the 
opinion  of  gentlemen  opposite  on  this  point, 
it  has  not  with  me  much  weight:  and  I  will 
tell  them  why;  because  their  conviction 
was  as  strong  before  the  evidence  was  given 
as  after.  I  will  admit,  however,  that  tech- 
nically she  may  be  said  to  be  acquitted  ; 
and  therefore  may  claim  the  posoession  of 
those  privileges  to  which  she  had  strictly  a 


legal  ri^ht ;  but  the  insertion  of  her  name 
in  the  liturgy  is  not  a  matter  of  right;  and 
when  her  character  has  been  eo  far  affected 
by  the  evidence  in  support  of  the  charges 
against  her,  that  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  peers  had  pronounced  her  guilty,  the 
crown  cannot  be  advised  to  grant  this  or 
any  other  matter  of  grace  and  favor,  which 
it  is  at  the  pleasure  of  the  crown  to  grant 
or  withhold.  Towards  the  queen,  person- 
ally, I  repeat,  I  feel  compassion.  When 
once  the  proceedings  against  her  had  closed, 
ministers  were  resolved  to  move  no  further 
measures  on  the  subject;  but  since  they 
who  affect  to  be  her  friends  have  renewed 
the  discussion,  be  theirs  the  odium,  and 
theirs  the  mischief  which  must  result  from 
its  useless  agitation.  But  I  cannot  be  silent 
upon  her  conduct,  since  she  has  been  so  in- 
fatuated as  to  deliver  herself  into  the  hands 
of  a  party  which  I  believe  to  have  views 
dangerous  to  the  public  tranquillity  and  the 
constitution.  I  jfeel  I  cannot  honor  her 
more  in  a  political  than  in  a  moral  point  of 
view.  Has  she  not,  in  her  answers  to  ad- 
dresses, reviled  the  king,  degraded  the 
crown,  and  vilified  both  houses  of  parlia- 
ments But,  thank  God,  the  country  is  com- 
ing to  its  senses.  I  do  not  doubt,  that  if 
parliament  pursue  its  tone  of  dignified  de- 
termination, the  efforts  of  that  party  will 
soon  expire  in  despair.  Your  path  of  duty 
is  plain.  You  ought  either  to  sustain  the 
actual  government  in  unimpaired  honor  and 
character,  that  its  usefulness  to  the  country 
may  not  be  diminished  ;  or  you  should,  by  a 
fair,  tangible,  and  manly  proceeding,  put  an 
end  at  once  to  the  present  cabinet." 

When  this  statement  of  his  lordship  was 
ended,  Mr.  Brougham  followed  in  favor  of 
lord  A.  Hamilton's  motion.  In  allusion  to 
his  assertion  on  a  previous  occasion,  that  the 
queen  was  not  degraded  by  the  omission  of 
her  name  in  the  liturgy,  he  confessed  that 
he  was  then  unwilling  to  allow  that  the 
queen  was  degraded  by  that  act :  "  It  was 
not  for  me,  at  that  time,  to  declare  that  my 
royal  mistress  was  degraded,  when  she  had 
to  meet  all  the  terrors  of  the  threatened  in- 
vestigation ;  I  say,  the  '  terrors'  of  the  in- 
vestigation ;  not  that  innocence  should  be 
exposed  to  danger  from  injustice  or  inquiry, 
but  her  majesty  was  on  the  brink  of  an 
investigation  in  which  innocence  was  no 
security ;  in  which  she  was  to  be  met  by 
perjured  men  and  perjured  women ;  and  by 
bribing  men  and  bribing  women  ;  where  the 
long  arm  of  power,  and  the  long  puree  of«.n 
administration  stretched  their  influence  over 
Italian  hands  and  Italian  hearts ;  over  hearts 
ready  to  crouch  to  the  one,  over  hands 
greedy  to  snatch  at  the  other.  From  such 
trial,  from  such  a  threatened  prosecution 
the  most  guiltless  might  shrink  without  in- 


696 


fflSTORY  OP  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


•currin^  for  a  moment  the  imputation  of 
crime i"  In  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  Mr. 
Brougham  happily  contended,  that  gentle- 
men, who  thought  variously  on  one  point, 
but  who  agreed  on  others,  should  choose  the 
point  on  which  they  could  unite,  not  that  on 
which  th«y  differed.  Most  of  them  thought 
the  omission  of  the  queen's  name  illegal, 
«ome  doubted  its  illegality ;  all  were  clear 
as  to  its  being  inexpedient  and  ill-advised. 
"The  queen,"  said  Mr.  Brougham,  "has 
been  acquitted — she  must  be  treated  as  if 
she  Md  never  been  tried:  or  there  is  no 
justice  in  England.  What  is  the  object  of 
ray  noble  friend's  motion? — To  call  back 
the  attention  of  parliament  to  the  weighty 
affairs  from  which  it  had  been  distracted, 
to  give  opportunity,  (which,  while  this  over- 
whelming subject  occupied  the  country, 
could  not  be  afforded,)  to  consider  the  dis- 
tresses of  a  people,  who  now,  unmindful  of 
their  own  sufferings,  poured  forth  their  gen- 
erous and  disinterested  petitions  in  favor  of 
their  persecuted  queen." 

The  result  of  this  motion  of  lord  Archi- 
bald Hamilton,  was  evaded  by  the  question 
of  adjournment  being  carried,  which  pro- 
duced ayes  three  hundred  and  ten,  noes  two 
hundred  and  nine,  leaving  a  ministerial  ma- 
jority of  a  hundred  and  one  votes. 

So  died  the  first  attempt  to  bring  before 
parliament  the  conduct  of  ministers,  as  re- 
lating to  her  majesty.  A  second  endeavor 
was  then  made  in  the  shape  of  a  distinct 
and  specific  charge  of  misconduct,  which 
was  ushered  to  the  notice  of  the  house  by 
the  marquis  of  Tavistock,  in  the  shape  of  a 
motion  for  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  entire 
proceedings  held  by  government  towards 
her  majesty.  His  lordship  stated,  "  his  pur- 
pose was  not  merely  to  obtain  from  the 
house  an  expression  of  their  sense  of  the 
late  proceedings  against  her  majesty,  but 
to  drive  the  present  ministers  from  power." 
Mr.  Lambton  seconded  this  motion,  and 
while  so  doing,  roundly  charged  ministers 
with  being  guilty  of  the  grossest  inconsist- 
ency and  mismanagement,  throughout  the 
whole  of  these  proceedings,  which  he  fully 
and  ably  detailed  from  the  omission  of  her 
majesty's  name  in  the  liturgy,  to  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  prorogation  of  the 
last  session  of  parliament.  After  a  lengthen- 
ed debate,  which  occupied  two  entire  even- 
ings, the  house  on  its  division  presented  the 
following  appearance,  ayes  one  hundred  and 
seventy-eight,  noes  three  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-four ;  thus  was  the  motion  of  the  marquis 
lost  by  a  majority  against  it  of  one  hundred 
and  forty-six  votes. 

The  third  and  last  attack  during  the  ses- 
sion, which  ministers  had  to  combat  against, 
respecting  the  lamentable  procedure  against 
the  queen,  was  in  consequence  of  a  motion 


brought  forward  by  Mr.  John  Smith,  and 
seconded  by  Mr.  Tennyson,  the  form  of 
which  was  as  follows :  "  That  the  house 
having  taken  into  consideration  the  circum- 
stance of  the  queen's  name  not  being  in- 
serted in  the  collects,  prayers,  and  litanies 
of  the  church ;  and  also  the  numerous  pe- 
titions from  the  people,  addressed  to  this 
house,  complaining  thereof;  is  of  opinion, 
that  under  all  existing  circumstances,  it  is 
highly  expedient  that  her  majesty's  name 
should  be  inserted  in  the  said  collects, 
prayers,  and  litanies ;  and  that  such  a  mea- 
sure would  greatly  tend  to  remove  the  dis- 
contents that  exist  on  that  subject  in  the  pub- 
lic mind."  The  numbers,  on  a  division  of  th 
house,  were  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
in  favor  of  the  motion ;  against  it,  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety-eight ;  being  a  majority  on 
the  side  of  ministers  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty. 

The  above  majorities  having  so  decisively 
declared  the  sentiments  of  the  house  upon 
the  conduct  of  ministers,  as  connected  with 
the  late  proceedings  against  her  majesty,  it 
was  deemed  by  their  opponents  as  useless 
to  persist,  and  the  matter  went  to  rest  for 
the  present,  the  question  not  being  resumed 
during  the  session. 

THE  QUEEN'S  MESSAGE. 

On  the  point  of  the  future  provision  for 
the  queen,  the  ministry  had  come  to  a  reso- 
lution to  propose  in  the  house  of  commons, 
that  his  majesty  should  be  enabled  to  grant 
an  annual  sum  not  exceeding  fifty  thousand 
pounds,  out  of  the  consolidated  fund,  for  the 
separate  use  and  establishment  of  her  ma- 
jesty. When  the  day  arrived  for  the  house 
to  go  into  a  committee  on  this  subject,  Mr, 
Brougham  rose  and  stated,  that  he  had  re- 
ceived the  queen's  commands  to  present  to 
the  hcuse  the  following  message : 
"  Caroline,  R. 

"  The  queen  having  learned  that  the 
house  of  commons  has  appointed  this  day 
for  taking  into  consideration  the  part  of  the 
king's  most  gracious  speech,  which  relates 
to  her,  deems  it  necessary  to  declare,  that 
she  is  duly  sensible  of  his  majesty's  conde- 
scension in  recommending  an  arrangement 
respecting  her  to  the  consideration  of  par- 
liament She  is  aware  that  this  recom- 
mendation must  be  understood  as  referring 
to  a  provision  for  the  support  of  her  estate 
and  dignity;  and  from  what  has  lately 
passed,  she  is  apprehensive  that  such  a 
provision  may  be  unaccompanied  by  the 
possession  of  her  rights  and  privileges  in 
the  ample  manner  wherein  former  queens- 
consort,  her  royal  predecessors,  have  been 
wont,  in  times  past,  to  enjoy  them.  It  is 
far  from  the  queen's  inclination  needlessly 
to  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  settle- 
ment, which  she  desires,  in  common  with 


GEORGE  IV.   1821. 


697 


the  whole  country,  and  which  she  feels  per- 
iuaded,  the  best  interests  of  all  parties 
equally  require :  and  being  most  anxious  to 
avoid  anything  that  might  create  irritation, 
»he  cautiously  abstains  from  any  observation 
on  the  unexampled  predicaments  in  which 
she  is  placed ;  but  she  feels  it  due  to  the 
house,  and  to  herself,  respectfully  to  declare 
that  she  perseveres  in  the  resolution  of  de- 
clining any  arrangement,  while  her  name 
continues  to  be  excluded  from  the  liturgy." 

Some  warmth  of  debate  ensued  upon 
reading  this  message ;  and  upon  discussing 
the  grant  to  her  majesty,  to  which  it  had 
reference,  lord  Castlereagh  remarked,  that 
undoubtedly  the  queen  had  a  right  to  ab- 
stain from  receiving  any  benefit  from  the 
grant.  Her  majesty,  on  a  former  occasion, 
had  declared  that  she  would  not  take  any 
money  except  from  parliament.  "  She  is 
misinformed,"  observed  his  lordship ;  "  she 
is  travelling  into  those  unconstitutional  er- 
rors she  had  been  before  led  into.  Her  law 
advisers  might  have  informed  her  that  it 
was  from  the  crown  only,  and  not  from  par- 
liament, that  she  could  receive  any  pecuni- 
ary grant.  With  respect  to  her  majesty, 
parliament  could  not  be  disturbed  from  its 
course  by  her  interference :  she  might,  if 
she  plepsed,  reject  the  grant,  when  it  came 
ro  her  in  a  proper  shape ;  but  the  house  had 
nothing  to  do  with  her  objections  now ;  it 
was  for  them  to  proceed  to  the  order  of  the 
day  on  his  majesty's  gracious  communica- 
tion." 

Mr.  Brougham,  in  defending  the  message, 
observed — "  the  noble  lord  charges  upon  it 
a  want  of  respect  to  this  house,  and  an  at- 
tempt to  dictate  as  to  its  proceedings.  The 
message  appears  to  me  perfectly  unobjec- 
tionable on  this  head.  The  interpretation 
of  its  language  was,  that  her  majesty  under- 
stood from  the  votes  of  the  house,  which  she 
was  entitled  to  read,  that  provision  was  to 
be  made  for  her  that  night ;  and  she  says, 
that  under  the  circumstances  in  which  she 
has  been  placed,  she  cannot  barter  her  honor 
for  money;  and,  therefore,  in  respectful 
language,  she  warns  the  house  against  the 
grant." 

PROVISION  FOR  HER  MAJESTY. 

The  motion  of  lord  Castlereagh  was  then 
carried,  securing  to  her  majesty  an  annual 
provision  of  fifty  thousand  pounds,  during 
the  term  of  her  natural  life ;  and  this  grant 
parliament  eventually  voted. 

DISCUSSION  ON  THE  QUESTION  OF 
CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION. 

Catholic  emancipation  was  the  next  sub- 
ject of  import  which  engrossed  the  atten- 
tion of  parliament.  On  the  twenty-eighth 
of  February,  Mr.  Plunkett  (who  now  ap- 
peared as  chief  advocate  of  the  Catholic 
claims,   in  consequence  of  Mr.  Grattan's 

Vol.  rV.  59 


death),  prefaced  this  question  by  a  most  able 
and  lucid  speech,  which  received  the  accla- 
mations of  all  parties  in  the  house,  and  in 
concluding  moved, — "That  the  house  do 
resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole 
house,  to  consider  the  state  of  the  laws  by 
which  (3aths  or  declarations  are  required  to 
be  taken  for  the  enjoyment  of  offices,  or  the 
exercise  of  civil  functions,  so  far  as  the 
same  affect  his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic 
subjects,  and  wliether  it  would  be  expedient 
in  any,  or  what  manner,  to  alter  or  modify 
the  same;  and  subject  to  what  provisions 
or  regulations."  The  motion  was  favored 
by  a  majority  of  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven,  whilst  the  minority  was  two  hundred 
and  twenty-one ;  consequently  it  was  gained 
by  six  votes.  On  the  second  of  March,  the 
house,  in  pursuance  of  the  success  attend- 
ant on  the  former  motion,  resolved  itself 
into  a  committee,  to  take  into  consideration 
the  various  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholics ; 
and  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Plunkett,  certain 
resolutions  were  agreed  to  without  discus- 
sion— of  which  the  following  may  be  deemed 
an  abstract :  "  First,  that  those  parts  of  the 
oaths  required  to  be  taken  as  qualifications 
for  certain  offices,  which  related  to  the  be- 
lief of  transubstantiation,  the  invocation  of 
saints,  and  the  idolatrous  nature  of  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  mass,  might  be  safely  repealed, 
as  concerning  opinions  merely  speculative 
and  dogmatical,  not  affecting  the  allegiance 
or  civil  duty  of  the  subject.  Secondly,  that 
that  part  of  the  oath  of  supremacy,  which 
expressed  the  denial  of  all  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion or  authority  in  these  realms,  might  be 
so  explained,  as  to  remove  the  scruples  en- 
tertained by  the  king's  Roman  Catholic 
subjects  with  respect  to  taking  it ;  by  de- 
claring that  the  sense  in  which  the  word 
spiritual  is  used,  accordmg  to  the  injunc- 
tions issued  by  queen  Elizabeth  in  the  first 
year  of  her  reign,  and  explained  by  the 
thirty-seventh  article  of  the  church,  im- 
ports merely,  that  the  kings  of  this  realm 
should  govern  all  estates  and  degrees  com- 
mitted to  their  charge  by  God,  whether 
they  be  ecclesiastical  or  temporal,  and  re- 
strain with  the  civil  sword  the  stubborn  smd 
evil-doer.  By  another  resolution,  the  com- 
mittee declared  the  necessity  of  accompany- 
ing such  act  and  repeal  by  such  exceptions 
and  regulations  as  were  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Protestant  succession  to 
the  crown,  and  maintaining  inviolate  the 
Protestant  churches  of  England,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland,  as  by  law  established." 

BILL  FOR  RELIEF  OF  CATHOLICS  PASSED 
IN  THE  COMMONS,  REJECTED  IN  THE 
LORDS. 

Bills  framed  on  the  basis  of  the  above 
resolutions  were  subsequently  introduced 
by  Mr.  Plunkett;  and  after  many  discus- 


698 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


sions  (of  which  the  utter  impracticability 
of  furnishing  even  an  outline  must  be  re- 
gretted), these  bills  were  finally  passed,  and 
transmitted  to  the  house  of  peers.  Fortune 
did  not  continue  to  smile  so  favorably  upon 
the  measure  in  this  new  arena.  Lord  Don- 
ouohmore  undertook  the  conduct  of  the  first 
bill  in  the  upper  house,  where,  though  he 
advocated  the  cause  with  great  zeal,  it  was 
doomed  to  receive  strenuous  opposition  from 
the  earl  of  Liverpool  and  the  lord  chancel- 
lor; and  in  the  second  day's  debate,  his 
royal  highness  the  duke  of  York,  the  pre- 
sumptive heir  to  the  throne,  declared  him- 
self as  decidedly  hostile  to  the  bill — con- 
sidering it  as  a  measure  pregnant  with  dan- 
ger, not  only  to  the  throne,  but  to  the  church 
and  constitution.  "  Educated,"  said  his  royal 
bigness,  "  in  the  principles  of  the  established 
church,  the  more  I  inquire,  and  the  more  I 
think,  I  am  the  more  persuaded  that  her  in- 
terests are  inseparable  from  those  of  the 
constitution :  I  consider  her  as  an  integral 
part  of  that  constitution,  and  I  pray  that  she 
may  long  remain  so.  At  the  same  time, 
there  is  no  man  less  an  enemy  to  toleration 
than  myself,  but  I  distinguish  between  the 
allowance  of  the  free  exercise  of  religion, 
and  the  granting  of  political  power."  This 
bill,  embracing  in  its  enactments  so  much 
to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  statesman  and 
the  subject  in  general — on  which  such  con- 
flict of  opinion  prevails — and  w^hich,  inter- 
esting as  it  does  every  class  of  society  in 
the  kingdom,  can  never  be  duly  understood 
in  theory — afler  it  had  undergone  a  discus- 
sion, though  long,  yet  scarce  adequate  to 
its  consequence,  was  thrown  out  by  a  major- 
ity of  thirty-nine ;  the  house  dividing  on  the 
question  of  its  second  reading,  contents,  one 
hundred  and  twenty,  non-contents,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine.  On  this  momentous 
occasion,  many  of  the  peers  took  part  in  the 
debate,  and  twenty-seven  bishops  voted  on 
tlie  occasion  either  personally  or  by  proxy — 
of  which  number  two  only,  the  bishops  of 
Norwich  and  Rochester,  were  among  the 
contents. 

PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM. 

During  this  session,  the  question  of  par- 
liamentary reform  was  on  two  occasions 
agitated,  in  pursuance  of  plans  introduced 
to  the  house  by  its  most  efficient  advocates; 
the  first  by  Mr.  Lambton,  member  for  Dur- 
Iiam,  and  the  second  by  lord  John  Russel. 
It  is  only  to  be  observed,  that  these  measures 
met  with  rejection. 

BOROUGH  OF  GRAMPOUND. 

An  act  of  practical  reform,  however,  took 
place,  which  ought  to  be  regarded  as  a  con- 
vincing proof  of  the  desire  of  the  "major  part 
of  our  representative  body  to  utterly  dis- 
countenance and  remedy  the  system  of  cor- 
ruption, so  long  a  prevailing  error  in  the 


election  of  members  returned  for  boroughs. 
On  the  twelfth  of  February  lord  John  Rus- 
sel, with  the  pertinacity  of  doing  good, 
moved  that  the  house  resolve  itself  into  a 
committee  on  the  bill  for  the  disfranchise- 
ment of  the  borough  of  Grampound,  and 
proposed,  in  lieu  thereof,  that  the  franchise 
so  lost  should  be  transferred  to  Leeds.  This 
proposition  received  the  assenting  voice  of 
the  house  of  commons ;  but  in  the  house  of 
lords  the  earl  of  Liverpool  raised  objections 
to  the  franchise  being  transferred  to  Leeds, 
on  account  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  es- 
tablishing a  due  and  proper  scale  of  quali- 
fication for  voters.  His  lordship  subse- 
quently moved  as  an  amendment,  that,  in 
place  of  this  proposed  transfer,  two  addi- 
tional members  should  be  returned  for  the 
county  of  York.  This  amendment  was  car- 
ried ;  and  with  this  alteration  the  bill,  upon 
being  returned  to  the  commons,  passed. 

DISTRESSFUL  STATE  OF  COUNTRY. 

A  CONTINUATION  of  depreciated  prices 
still  prevailing,  considerable  distress  was 
felt  by  all  classes  of  the  community ;  but 
though  most  individuals  sufl:ered,  it  bore 
with  more  than  common  pressure  on  those 
engaged  in  pursuits  connected  with  agri- 
culture; and  important  as  it  was  to  both 
landlord  and  tenant,  to  ameliorate  their  re- 
spective conditions,  the  difficulty  was  in 
devising  the  requisite  means;  arid  in  the 
comprehensive  wisdom  of  the  legislature, 
alleviation  could  alone  be  hoped  for.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  session,  numerous  pe- 
titions had  been  presented  from  every  cor- 
ner of  the  kingdom,  praying  that  the  house 
would  interpose  for  the  investigation  and 
removal  of  the  embarrassments,  which  fell 
so  heavily  upon  agricultural  property  and 
agriculturists.  In  furtherance  of  these  pe- 
titions, Mr.  Gooch,  on  the  seventh  March, 
moved  for  "a  select  committee  to  whicli 
these  petitions  should  be  referred,  which 
should  investigate  the  allegations  contain- 
ed in  them,  and  report  their  observations 
thereon  to  the  house."  The  motion  being 
agreed  to,  a  committee  was  accordingly 
nominated. 

THE  REPORT  OF  AGRICULTURAL  COxM- 
MITTEE. 
The  report  of  this  committee  was  pre- 
sented to  tlie  house  on  the  eighteenth  June ; 
it  stated  that  the  complaints  of  the  petition- 
ers were  founded  in  fact,  in  so  far  as  they 
represented,  that  at  the  present  price  of 
corn,  the  returns  to  the  occupier  of  an  ara- 
ble farm,  after  allowing  for  the  interest  of 
his  investments,  are  by  no  means  adequate 
to  his  charges  and  outgoings;  it  also  ac- 
knowledged, "  that  the  committee,  after  a 
long  and  anxious  inquiry,  had  not  been  able 
to  discover  any  means  calculated  immedi- 
ately to  relieve  the  present  pressure." 


GEORGE  IV.   1821. 


GU9 


"  >So  far,"  the  report  stated,  "  as  the 
pressure  arises  from  superabundant  har- 
vests, it  is  beyond  the  application  of  any 
letjislative  provision ;  so  far  as  it  is  the  re- 
sult of  the  increased  vahie  of  money,  it  is 
not  one  peculiar  to  the  farmer,  but  extends 
to  many  other  classes  of  society.  That  re- 
sult, however,  is  the  more  severely  felt  by 
the  tenant,  in  consequence  of  its  coinci- 
dence with  an  overstocked  market,  espe- 
cially if  he  be  farming  with  a  borrowed 
capital,  and  under  the  eng-agements  of  a 
lease ;  and  it  has  hitherto  been  further  ag- 
gravated  by  the  comparative  slowness  with 
which  prices  generally,  and  j)a,rticularly 
the  price  of  labor,  accommodate  themselves 
to  a  change  in  the  value  of  money.  From 
this  last  circumstance,  the  departure  from 
our  ancient  standard,  in  proportion  as  it  was 
prejudicial  to  all  creditors  of  money,  and 
persons  dependent  upon  fixed  incomes,  v/as 
a  benefit  to  the  active  capital  of  the  coun- 
try ;  and  the  same  classes  have  been  oppo- 
sitely affected  by  a  return  to  that  standard. 
The  restoration  of  it  has  also  embarrassed 
the  land  owner  in  proportion  as  his  estate 
has  been  encumbered  with  mortgages  and 
other  fixed  payments  assigned  upon  it,  du- 
ring the  depreciation  of  money.  The  only 
alleviation  for  this  evil  is  to  be  looked  for 
in  such  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  rate  of 
t!ie  interest  of  ironey  belmv  the  legal 
'minimum,  as  may  iii  il:e  those  encumbrances 
a  lighter  burden  upon  the  landed  interests 
of  the  kingdom ;  and  this  reduction,  if 
peace  continues,  there  is  every  room  to 
i'ope  for.  The  difficulties  in  which  the  al- 
terations of  our  currency  have  involved  the 
farming,  the  manufacturing,  and  the  tra- 
ding interests  of  the  country,  must  diminish 
in  proportion  as  contracts,  prices,  and  labor, 
adjust  themselves  to  the  present  value  of 
money." 

In  commenting  upon  this  public  docu- 
ment, it  may  be  necessary  to  attempt  the 
reconcilement  of  some  apparent  contradic- 
tions, and  this  is  an  act  of  great  delicacy, 
inasmuch  as  being  unacquainted  with  the 
precise  data  on  which  this  legislatorial  pro- 
duction was  founded,  the  arguments  con- 
tained therein  can  alone  be  scrutinized,  un- 
connected with  the  evidence  which  sjave 
rise  to  it.  The  subject  being  of  import- 
ance, necessarily  originates  a  commensu- 
rate diffidence  in  the  inquiry.  There  is  at 
first  a  seemin.iy  paradox,  in  ascribing  the 
distressful  pressure  of  this  period  to  the 
:  uperabundant  harvest,  as  it  might  be  con- 
onded,  that  the  superabundance  of  any 
commodity,  however  low  in  its  price,  in  the 
hands  of  its  pof>£;essor,  must  be  compensated 
for  by  that  very  superabundance.  So 
though  the  over  supply  of  grain  in  the  mar- 
ket lowers  the  price  to  the  grower,  yet  the 


capability  of  abundance  to  bring  such  sup- 
ply, counterbalances  its  lowness  of  price 
by  the  ratio  of  increase,  which  a  sujH.ra- 
bundant  harvest  supplies  him  witli  to  carry 
to  that  market.  On  the  contrary,  it  may 
be  observed,  that  the  expense  of  niising  and 
preparino-  the  grain  for  sale,  in  a  measure 
met  the  idea  contained  in  this  report,  since 
though  commodities  were  lowered  in  value 
on  the  peace,  labor  still  maintained  nearly 
its  war  price.  Again,  in  agreeing  with  the 
committee,  that  the  pressure  of  the  distress 
was  not  peculiarly  confined  to  the  farmer, 
but  extended  to  many,  indeed,  it  might  with 
truth  be  alleged,  to  all  classes  of  society ; 
for  the  variation  in  the  price  of  corn  must 
necessarily  affect  all  other  articles ;  and 
agreeing  that  the  general  pressure  then 
experienced  was  occasioned  by  the  increas- 
ed value  of  money ;  yet  the  doctrine  does 
not  appear  to  be  fiilly  substantiated,  that 
such  increase  in  the  value  of  money  was 
the  consequence  of  a  restoration  of  the  an- 
cient standard.  Viewing  this  assertion, 
barely  in  connexion  with  this  document, 
unsupported  by  other  facts,  it  might  be  im* 
agined  that  some  amazing  change  had 
arisen  in  the  currency  of  the  realm :  that 
it  had  been  deteriorated  by  authority  till 
now,  when  by  some  act  of  state  it  had  been 
restored  to  its  original  value.  Such  has 
not  been  the  case ; — no  order  of  the  coun- 
cil, no  edict  of  the  king,  no  parliamentary 
act  exists,  or  can  he  traced,  by  which  the 
least  alteration  in  the  British  guinea,  or  its 
aliquot  parts  in  gold  or  silver,  has  been  al- 
lowed ;  their  Vv'eight  and  fineness  remained 
immutable,  during  the  adverse  periods  of 
penury  and  prosperity.  But  though  so  un- 
changed, in  the  sterile  season  of  the  bank 
restrictions,  coin,  from  its  scarcity,  com- 
manded a  higher  price  than  its  relative 
value;  and  when  a  metallic  currency  was 
restored,  its  intrinsic  worth  was  conse- 
quently, by  the  fruitfulness  of  the  supply, 
lowered.  A  contemporary  writer  has  ob- 
served, that  "there  must  then  be  some 
other  cause,  which  lessened  the  compara- 
tive value  of  money,  in  regard  to  commodi- 
ties, totally  distinct  from  a  diminution  of 
the  intrinsic  value  of  the  coin ;  and  this 
cause  may  be  found  in  the  proceedings  of 
Mr.  Pitt  in  the  year  1797,  when,  interfering 
further  than  any  among  the  most  absolute 
of  our  monarchs  had  ever  dared  to  do  witli 
the  coin  of  the  realm  ;  this  bold  financier, 
though  he  did  not  deteriorate  its  intrinsic 
\Vorth,  or  raise  its  nominal  value,  as  some 
had  done,  suspended  its  use  altogether. 
From  the  moment,  therefore,  tlint  the  u?t3 
of  gold  coin  was  thus,  by  law,  dispensed 
with,  until  the  period  of  the  resumption  of 
cash  payments  by  the  Imnk  of  England, 
there  v/as  no  i-eal  standard  in  Great  Britain 


700 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


by  which  tlie  owner  of  any  commodity,  or 
the  possessor  of  lands  or  houses,  could  se- 
cure to  themselves  a  certain  profit,  or  a 
steady  income  from  their  property  :  for  such 
was  the  monstrous  mischief  of  Mr.  Pitt's 
suspension  act,  that,  by  compulsively  sub- 
stituting- a  circulation  of  paper  credit  in  the 
place  of  gold,  it  subjected  all  real  property 
to  the  uncertain  fluctuation  of  a  rise  or  fall 
of  prices  merely  nominal,  according-  as  the 
horizon  of  public  credit  appeared  bright  or 
stormy  to  the  greedy  eye  of  speculative 
avarice.  A  direct  debasement  of  the  coin 
to  any  fixed  intrinsic  value,  by  which  the 
worth  of  property  and  the  price  of  labor 
might  still  have  been  correctly  measured, 
would  have  been  a  blessing  to  the  country, 
compared  with  all  the  private  miseries  and 
public  mischiefs  that  have  resulted,  and  are 
yet  to  follow  the  fatal  order  of  council  of 
the  twenty-seventh  February,  1797.  In- 
stead of  characterizing  that  measure,  there- 
fore, as  a  departure  from  the  ancient  stand- 
ard, or  an  alteration  of  the  currency,  as 
this  report  does,  it  is  our  fervent  hope,  that 
some  future  committee  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  will  not  hesitate  to  call 
it  by  its  right  name,  affix  some  public  stig- 
ma upon  a  policy  so  devoid  of  justice  and 
of  wisdom,  and  discover  some  means  of  ren- 
dering it  impossible  for  any  future  minis- 
ter, by  a  similar  act,  to  complete  the  ruin 
of  the  country." 

When  this  report  of  the  before-mention- 
ed committee  was  made  public,  it  extin- 
guished the  hopes  which  had  been  enter- 
tained from  their  labors,  and  despondent 
indeed  was  the  common  mind,  that  no  dis- 
covery for  the  distresses  of  the  agricultural 
classes  could  be  made.  It  now  became 
more  and  more  evident  to  the  unprejudiced 
observer,  that  the  chain  of  events  which 
had  induced  the  fatal  policy  of  Mr.  Pitt,  in 
suspending  the  use  of  coin,  and  thereby  in- 
undating this  country  with  a  floating  paper 
medium,  in  too  many  instances  nominal, 
and  consequently  easily  attained  by  the 
speculatist, — w^as,  now  things  had  returned 
to  their  original  level  of  solid  metallic  cur- 
rency, productive  of  chief,  if  not  of  all  the 
evils,  which  oppressed  and  nearly  over- 
whelmed, not  alone  the  agricultural  but  de- 
pendent thereon,  the  manufacturing,  com- 
mercial, and  every  other  branch  of  the  com- 
munity. In  this  state  no  remedy  could  be 
applied,  no  effectual  relief  contemplated, 
but  from  the  gradual  progression  of  time 
and  remission  of  taxation,  which  might  re- 
store tlie  coin  of  the  realm  to  its  ancient 
and  natural  mode  of  operation  and  value. 

RESUMPTIOX  OF  CASH  PAYMENTS. 

At  such  a  crisis,  fortunately  for  the  coun- 
try, the  governor  and  directors  of  the  bank 
of  England,  true  to  the  interest  of  their 


establishment  and  the  community — boldly 
renouncing  all  the  former  ideas  which  in- 
terest, presumption,  or  power  had  induced 
them  to  adopt,  and  so  long  persevere  in — 
swayed  by  this  enlightened  policy,  they 
anticipated  the  period  prefixed  by  law  for 
the  resumption  of  cash  payments,  and  not 
only  voluntarily  opened  their  hoards  to  the 
holders  of  their  notes,  but  in  this  session  of 
parliament  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  act 
which  hastened  the  final  removal  of  the  re- 
striction by  a  whole  year.  By  this  act  it 
was  made  imperative  on  the  bank  of  England 
to  pay  all  demands  upon  it  in  cash,  after 
the  first  of  May  1822,  in  the  place  of  the 
first  of  May  in  the  next  year  of  1823. 

The  remaining  transaction  of  this  session 
which  from  its  import  demands  especial  re- 
cord, was  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer's 
statement  of  the  supplies  required  for  the 
year,  and  his  estimated  ways  and  means. 
The  total  amount  of  supplies  voted  for  the 
various  services  constituted  the  sum  of 
eighteen  million  twenty-one  thousand  eight 
hundred  pounds,  to  which  was  added,  in- 
terest of  exchequer-bills  one  million  pounds ; 
with  two  hundred  and  ninety  thousand 
pounds  for  the  sinking  fund  on  the  same ; 
as  well  as  seven  hundred  and  six  thousand 
four  hundred  pounds  for  Irish  treasury  bills 
and  public  works — making  in  the  whole 
twenty  million  eighteen  thousand  two  hun- 
dred pounds. 

BUDGET  FOR  1S21. 

The  ways  and  means  were  stated  as  fol- 
lows : — Annual  taxes,  four  million  pounds ; 
temporary  excise  duties,  one  million  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds;  lottery,  two  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds ;  old  stores,  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three  thousand  four  hundred 
pounds ;  from  the  pecmiiary  indemnity  paid 
by  France,  five  hundred  thousand  pounds ; 
repayment  of  exchequer-bills  lent  for  public 
works,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
pounds ;  surplus  of  ways  and  means  for  1820, 
eighty-one  thousand  six  htmdred  and  thirty 
pounds.  In  further  aid  of  the  ways  and 
means,  there  was  taken  from  the  sinking 
fund  of  Great  Britain  a  loan  of  twelve  mil- 
lion five  hundred  thousand  pounds;  and 
from  the  sinking  fund  of  Ireland,  five  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds;  increase  of  capital 
of  bank  of  Ireland,  four  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
pounds — making  a  total  of  ways  and  means, 
twenty  million  thirty-one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  pounds.  Supplies 
voted,  twenty  million  eighteen  thousand 
two  hundred  pounds — excess  of  ways  and 
means,  thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  pounds. 

After  this  view  of  the  ways  and  means 
for  the  year,  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
proceeded  to  state  the  probable  amount  of 


GEORGE  IV.  1821. 


701 


ihe  revenue,  and  deduced  thorofrom  that 
the  g-eneral  rev.enue  would  be  fifty-five  mil- 
lion eleven  thousand  one  hundred  and  four- 
teen poun'Js ;  while  the  total  expenditure, 
including  the  supplies,  was  sixty-eight  mil- 
lion two  hundred  and  twenty-ono  thousand 
eight  hundred  pounds.  Thus  exhibiting  the 
pleasing  prospect  of  an  expenditure  under 
that  of  the  foregoing  year,  of  no  less  a  sum 
than  three  million  pounds — a  view  of  finance 
highly  gratifying  in  itself,  as  indicative  of 
what  might  be  anticipated  from  a  continua- 
tion of  the  joint  system  of  peace  and  re- 
trenchment. 

VOTE  OF  INCREASED  ANNUITY  TO  DUKE 
OF  CLARFNCE. 

Nearly  the  last  act  of  this  parliamentary 
session  was  the  vote  of  an  annuity  of  six 
thousand  pounds  to  the  duke  of  Clarence. 
His  royal  highness  had  declined  a  similar 
grant  on  a  former  occasion ;  but  on  the  sixth 
of  June  lord  Castlereagh  informed  the  house, 
that  as,  since  the  period  of  the  aforesaid 
declining,  the  situation  of  tlie  royal  duke 
had  materially  changed,  (being  now  mar- 
ried,) he  was  desirous  of  availing  himself 
t)f  the  favorable  intentions  of  parliament,  for 
the  augmentation  of  his  income  to  an  equal 
amount  with  that  of  his  royal  brother. 

The  labors  of  the  session  being  finished, 
parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  eleventh 
of  July,  when  a  speech  was  delivered  in  his 
majesty's  name  by  commission. 

DEATH  OF  NAPOLEON,  EX-EMPEROR  OF 
FRANCE,  IN  CAPTIVITY  AT  ST.  HELENA. 

From  the  eventful  period  that  Napoleon, 
the  ex-eniiperor  of  France,  became  the  cap- 
tive of  St.  Helena,  the  wonderful  and  almost 
talismanic  influence  connected  for  so  many 
years  with  the  bare  mention  of  his  name, 
gradually  diminished ;  and  even  the  intelli- 
gence of  his  death,  which  reached  England 
in  the  beginning  of  July  in  this  year,  created 
but  a  slight  sensation,  in  comparison  with 
the  effect  that  would  have  been  produced 
all  over  Europe  by  the  same  event,  had  it 
occurred  before  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  or 
at  any  time  that  he  exercised  absolute  rule 
over  that  immense  nation,  swelled  by  those 
tributary  kingdoms  which  aclmowledged 
his  power. 

Various  and  contradictory  accounts  of  the 
state  of  his  health,  and  of  his  mode  of  life, 
had  been  propagated  in  England  and  France, 
during  his  detention  at  St.  Helena;  and 
many  complaints  were  made  to  the  British 
government  respecting  the  regulations  en- 
forced upon  the  ex-emperor,  the  partners  of 
his  exile,  and  the  servants  who  followed 
him  in  his  misfortunes.  It  was  alleged  that 
restraints  were  imposed,  and  privations  ex- 
acted, which  the  most  timid  caution  against 
escape  could  not  justify ;  and  that  a  system 
of  petty  insults  and  puerile  annoyances  was 
59* 


adopted  towards  tlie  imperial  prisoner,  which 
produced  upon  such  a  mind  as  Napoleon's 
more  cruel  tortures  than  if  his  body  had 
been  fottered  with  the  heaviest  chains. 

Many  volumes  detailing  the  treatment 
of  Napoleon  were  published — according  to 
which,  and  if  the  facts  related  be  strictly 
true,  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  the  honor  of 
Great  Britain  will  suffer  in  the  opinion  of 
posterity  for  the  absence,  on  this  occasion, 
of  the  usual  national  generosity  to  a  pros- 
trate foe.  The  custody  of  Napoleon  was  a 
trust,  which  demanded  in  its  exercise  the 
most  magnanimous  feelings,  combined  with 
the  highest  principles  of  chivalric  honor, 
and  an  understanding  soaring  far  above  the 
petty  prejudices  of  the  vulgar  politician. 

Upon  these  points,  as  well  as  for  a  detail 
of  the  transactions  of  St.  Helena  subsequent 
to  the  arrival  of  Napoleon,  we  must  refer 
our  readers  to  divers  contemporary  publica- 
tions ;  and  shall  leave  them  to  form  their 
own  opinion  upon  circumstances  too  loosely 
stated,  and  of  too  recent  occurrence,  to  re- 
ceive the  seal  of  history,  countersigned  by 
truth  and  impartiality. 

Whatever  opinion  posterity  may  pro- 
nounce upon  the  line  of  conduct  pursued  by 
the  government  of  Great  Britain  towards 
the  most  formidable  enemy  that  ever  ap- 
peared in  arms  against  her,  when  that  enemy 
was  subjugated  to  her  power,  and  held  his 
life  in  her  hands,  however  busy  malevolent 
report  had  been,  it  was  in  a  great  degree 
gratifying  to  the  feelings  of  Englishmen  to 
find  the  odious  and  infamous  msinuation 
that  his  dissolution  was  accelerated  by 
poison  for  ever  annihilated  by  the  infallible 
evidence  produced  on  the  inspection  of  the 
body  after  his  decease. 

The  official  detail  of  these  circumstances 
was  transmitted  to  tlie  earl  of  Bathurst,  one 
of  his  majesty's  secretaries  of  state,  by  Sir 
Hudson  Lowe,  in  the  following  dispatch : — 

"  St.  Helena,  6th  May,  1821. 
"  My  Lord, 

"  It  falls  to  my  duty  to  inform  your  lord- 
ship, that  Napoleon  Bonaparte  expired  at 
about  ten  minutes  before  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  5th  instant,  afler  an  illness 
which  had  confined  him  to  his  apartments 
since  the  17th  of  March  last  He  was  at- 
tended during  the  early  parts  of  his  indis- 
position, from  the  17th  to  the  31st  March 
by  his  own  medical  assistant,  professor 
Automarchi,  alone.  During  the  latter  pe- 
riod from  the  1st  April  to  the  5th  May,  he 
received  the  daily  visits  of  Dr.  Arnott,  of 
his  majesty's  20th  regiment,  generally  in 
conjunction  with  professor  Automarchi,  Dr. 
Short,  physician  to  the  forces,  and  Dr.  Mit- 
chell, principal  medical  officer  of  the  royal 
navy  on  the  station,  whose  services,  as  well 


702 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


as  those  of  any  other  medical  persons  on  the 
island,  had  been  offered,  were  called  upon 
in  consultation  by  professor  Automarchi,  on 
the  3d  of  May ;  but  they  had  not  an  oppor- 
tunity afforded  to  them  of  seeing  the  patient 
Dr.  Arnott  was  with  him  at  the  moment  of 
his  decease,  and  saw  him  expire.  Captain 
Crokatt,  orderly  officer  in  attendance,  and 
Drs.  Short  and  Mitchell,  saw  the  body  im- 
mediately afterwards.  Dr.  Arnott  remained 
with  the  body  during  the  night.  Early  this 
morning,  at  about  seven  o'clock,  I  proceeded 
to  the  apartment  where  the  body  lay,  accom- 
panied by  rear-admiral  Lambert,  naval  com- 
mander-in-chief on  this  station ;  the  marquis 
de  Montchenu,  commissioner  of  his  majesty 
the  king  of  France,  charged  with  the  same 
duty  also  on  the  part  of  his  majesty  the  em- 
peror of  Austria ;  brigadier-general  Coffin, 
second  in  command  of  the  troops ;  Thomas 
H.  Brooke  and  Thomas  Greentree,  Esqrs. 
members  of  the  council  in  the  government 
of  this  island;  and  captains  Brown,  Henry, 
and  Marryat  of  the  royal  navy.  After  view- 
ing the  person  of  Napoleon  Buonaparte, 
which  lay  with  the  face  uncovered,  we  re- 
tired. An  opportunity  was  afterwards  af- 
forded, with  the  concurrence  of  the  persons 
who  had  composed  the  family  of  Napoleon 
Buonaparte,  to  as  many  officers  as  were 
desirous,  naval  and  military,  to  the  hon.  the 
East  India  company's  officers,  and  civil  ser- 
vants, and  to  various  other  individuals  resi- 
dent here,  to  enter  the  room  in  which  the 
body  lay,  and  to  view  it 

"  At  two  o'clock,  this  day,  the  body  was 
opened  in  the  presence  of  the  following 
medical  gentlemen : — 

"  Dr.  Short,  M.  D. ;  Dr.  Mitchell,  M.  D. ; 
Dr.  Arnott,  M.  D. ;  Dr.  Burton,  M.  D. ;  of 
his  majesty's  sixty-sixth  regiment,  and  Mat- 
thew Livingstone,  Esq.  surgeon  in  the  East 
India  company's  service.  Professor  Auto- 
marchi assisted  at  the  dissection:  general 
Bertrand  and  count  Montholon  were  pres- 
ent. After  a  careful  examination  of  the 
several  internal  parts  of  the  body,  the  whole 
of  the  medical  gentlemen  concurred  in  a 
report  on  their  appearance.  This  report  is 
inclosed.  I  shall  cause  the  body  to  be  in- 
terred with  the  honors  due  to  a  general 
officer  of  the  highest  rank.  I  have  intrusted 
this  dispatch  to  captain  Crokatt,  of  his  ma- 
jesty's twentieth  regiment,  who  was  the 
orderly  officer  in  attendance  upon  the  per- 
son of  Napoleon  Buonaparte  at  the  time  of 
his  decease.  He  embarks  on  board  his 
majesty's  sloop  Heron,  which  rear-admiral 
Lambert  has  detached  from  the  squadron 
under  his  command  with  the  intelligence. 
"  I  have,  &c. 

"H.  Lowe,  Lieiit.-Geny 

The  medical  report  in  the  above  dispatch 
was  couched  in  the  followinfr  terms: — 


"  LoNGWooD,  St.  Helena, 
»  Qth  May,  1821. 
"  Report  of  appearance  on  dissection  of 
the  body  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

"  On  a  superficial  view,  the  body  appear- 
ed very  fat,  which  state  was  confirmed  by 
the  first  incision  down  its  centre,  where  the 
fat  was  upwards  of  an  inch  and  a  half  over 
the  abdomen.  On  cutting  through  the  car- 
tilages of  the  ribs,  and  exposing  the  cavity 
of  the  thorax,  a  trifling  adhesion  of  the  left 
pleura  was  found  to  the  pleura  costalis. 
About  three  ounces  of  reddish  fluid  were 
contained  in  the  left  cavity;  and  nearly 
eight  ounces  in  the  right  The  lungs  were 
quite  sound.  The  pericardium  was  natural, 
and  contained  about  an  ounce  of  fluid.  The 
heart  was  of  the  natural  size,  but  thickly 
covered  with  fat.  The  auricles  and  ven- 
tricles exhibited  nothing  extraordinary,  ex- 
cept that  the  muscular  part  appeared  rather 
paler  than  natural.  Upon  opening  the  ab- 
domen the  omentum  was  found  remarkably 
fat,  and  upon  opening  the  stomach,  that 
viscus  was  found  the  seat  of  the  disease. 
Strong  adhesions  connected  the  whole  su- 
perior surface,  particularly  about  the  pyloric 
extremity  to  the  concave  surface  of  the  left 
lobe  of  the  liver ;  and  on  separating  these, 
an  ulcer,  which  penetrated  the  coats  of  the 
stomach,  was  discovered  one  inch  from  the 
pylorus  sufficient  to  allow  the  passage  of 
the  little  finger.  The  internal  surface  of 
the  stomach  to  nearly  its  whole  extent  was 
a  mass  of  cancerous  disease  or  schirrous 
portions  advancing  to  cancer ;  this  was  par- 
ticularly noticed  near  the  pylorus.  The 
cardiac  extremity,  for  a  small  space  near 
the  termination  of  the  cesophagus,  was  the 
only  part  appearing  in  a  healthy  state.  The 
stomach  was  filled  with  a  large  quantity  of 
fluid  resembling  coftee-grounds.  The  con- 
vex surface  of  the  left  lobe  of  the  liver  ad- 
hered to  the  diaphragm.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  adhesions  occasioned  by  the  dis- 
ease in  the  stomach,  no  one  unhealthy  ap- 
pearance presented  itself  in  the  liver.  The 
remainder  of  the  abdominal  viscera  were 
in  a  healthful  state.  A  slight  peculiarity 
in  the  formation  of  the  left  kidney  was  ob- 
served. 
(Signed) 

THOMAS  SHORT,  M.  D.  and  principal 
medical  officer. 

ARCHD.  ARNOTT,  M.  D.  surgeon,  twen- 
tieth regiment. 

CHARLES  MITCHELL,  M.  D.  surgeon, 
H.  M.  S.  Vieo. 

FRANCIS    BUF.TON,  M.   D.    surgeon, 
sixtv-sixth  regiment. 

MATTflEW  LIVINGSTONE,  surgeon, 
H.  C.  service." 
This  report  clearly  shows,  that  the  dis- 
order which  occasioned  the  death  of  Napo- 
leon was  a  cancer  in  the  stomach,  to  which 
it  is  probable  he  had  an  hereditary  disposi- 


GEORGE  rv.   1821. 


703 


tion,  his  father  having  died  of  the  same 
disease  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-five.  The 
pain  which  the  ex-emperor  endured  from 
this  complaint  for  a  long  period  prior  to  his 
dissolution,  was  very  acute,  being,  according 
to  his  description,  as  if  a  knife  had  been 
thrust  into  his  body,  and  broken  short  off! 
Whatever  impetuosity  he  formerly  display- 
ed, he,  however,  bore  this  excruciating  tor- 
ture with  remarkable  patience,  and  never 
was  heard  to  utter  a  single  complaint.  His 
thoughts  in  his  last  hours  were  apparently 
fixed  upon  his  son,  and  upon  France.  The 
bust  of  the  young  prince  was  placed  by  his 
express  command  at  the  foot  of  the  bed 
upon  which  he  expired ;  it  was  the  object 
to  which  his  eyes  constantly  turned,  and  to 
which  his  ideas  may  be  supposed  as  con- 
stantly to  have  reverted.  The  last  words 
which  were  heard  to  fall  from  him  were  in 
conformity  to  this  idea,  being  a  repetition  of 
"  Tefe"— "  ilrmee"— »  Fife"—"  France:' 

Publicity  being  now  courted,  it  was  de- 
termined that  the  body  of  Napoleon  should 
lie  in  state,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  island 
in  general  might  have  an  opportunity  of 
viewing  his  remains.  The  corpse,  dressed 
in  a  green  uniform,  which  the  ex-emperor 
had  worn,  was  extended  on  the  small  tent- 
bedstead,  on  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
rest  during  his  campaigns,  and  on  this  bed- 
stead was  spread  the  blue  cloth  cloak  which 
he  wore  at  the  battle  of  Marengo;  the 
decoration  of  the  legion  of  honor  was 
placed  on  his  side ;  and  a  small  crucifix  upon 
his  heart. 

The  climate  of  the  island  rendered  it  ex- 
pedient to  hasten  the  interment,  and  the 
ninth  of  May  was  appointed  for  that  cere- 
mony. Napoleon  himself  had  marked  out 
the  spot  in  which  it  was  his  desire  to  be 
buried,  in  a  wild  sequestered  little  valley, 
about  a  mile  distant  from  his  residence,  and 
very  near  a  spring,  over  which  the  branches 
of  two  willow-trees  formed  a  delightful 
shade.  To  this  secluded  place  it  was  the 
fi-equent  custom  of  Napoleon  to  retire  alone ; 
and  among  the  meditations  which  he  in- 
dulged in  that  "  rude  solitude,"  it  is  now 
evident  that  the  consideration  of  his  mor- 
tality was  one.  There  is  not  perhaps  to  be 
found  in  the  whole  range  of  history  a  more 
striking  contrast  than  the  condition  of  this 
individual  thus  presents  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  mankind — the  captive  of  the  rock 
of  St  Helena,  measuring  out  a  little  space 
of  ground  to  form  his  secluded  grave ;  and 
the  captain  of  millions  of  idolizing  war- 
riors, the  imperial  potentate,  the  arbiter  of 
nations,  to  whose  ambitious  mind  the  dream 
of  universal  empire  seemed  within  his 
grasp. 

MUitary  honors  due  to  the  remains  of  a 


general  of  the  first  rank  were  paid  to  thoee 
of  the  late  emperor. 

The  selected  spot  having  been  previously 
consecrated,  the  funeral  procession  was  ar- 
ranged in  the  following  order : 

Napoleon  Bertrand,  The  Priests  in  full 

son  Robes. 

of  the  Marshal. 

Dr.  Amott,  20th  Regt.         Napoleon's  Physician. 

THE  BODY, 

Grenadiers.    In  a  car,  drawn  by    Grenadiers. 

four  horses. 

Twenty-four  grenadiers  to  carry  the  body  down  a 

steep  hill  where  the  car  could  not  go. 

Count      Napoleon's  horse  led  by      Marshal 

Montholon.  two  servants.  Bertrand. 

Madame  Bertrand  and  Daughter  in  an 

open  vehic  e. 

Servants. 

Naval  Officers.  / 

Staff  Officers. 

Members  of  Council. 

General  Coffin.  Marquis  de  Montchenu. 

The  Admiral.  The  Governor. 

Lady  Lowe  and  Daughter,  in 

Servants.  an  open  vehicle.  Servants 

Servants. 

Dragoons. 

St.  Helena  Volunteers. 

St  Helena  Regiment 

St  Helena  Artillery. 

Sixtv-sixth  Regiment 

Royal  Marines. 

Twentieth  Regiment 

Royal  Artillery. 

The  grave  was  fourteen  feet  deep,  very 
wide  at  the  top,  the  lower  part  chambered 
to  receive  the  coffin.  The  body  was  in- 
closed in  three  coffins,  mahogany,  lead,  and 
oak ;  the  heart  in  a  silver  cup,  filled  with 
spirits,  and  the  stomach  preserved  in  an- 
other silver  cup,  were  both  deposited  in  the 
coffin ;  notwithstanding  the  earnest  desire 
of  counts  Bertrand  and  Montholon  to  be 
permitted  to  take  the  former  to  Europe,  and 
the  request  of  Napoleon's  surgeon  to  retain 
the  latter.  One  large  stone  covered  the 
whole  of  the  lower  chamber,  which  thus  n 
received  the  entire  remains  of  Napoleon 
Buonaparte  ;  and  the  grave  was  then  filled 
up  with  solid  masonry,  clamped  with  iron. 

Immediately  afl;er  the  funeral  of  Napo- 
leon, the  establishment  which  had  been  so 
expensive  to  Great  Britain,  amounting  to 
nearly  half  a  million  per  annum,  was  bro- 
ken up.  Counts  Bertrand  and  Montholon, 
with  the  rest  of  the  faithful  followers,  and 
the  household  of  the  late  emperor,  repaired 
to  Europe.  On  his  arrival  in  France,  count 
Bertrand  was  received  in  a  manner  which 
reflects  much  honor  on  the  restored  mon- 
arch of  that  kingdom,  who  justly  appre- 
ciating the  merits  of  that  fidelity  the  count 
had  so  nobly  proved  to  his  chosen  master, 
rewarded  it,  by  restoring  to  him  his  rank 
and  honors  in  the  army  by  a  royal  ordi- 
nance.   The  will  of  Napoleon  was  brought 


704 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


over  by  the  count,  and  was  duly  registered 
in  the  prerogative  court  of  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  It  bears  date  April  four- 
teenth, 1821 ;  and  there  are  three  codicils 
annexed  dated  seven  days  later.  This  will 
appears  principally  to  have  been  made  for 
the  purpose  of  rewarding,  as  far  as  Jiis 
means  permitted  him,  such  of  his  friends, 
officers,  and  domestics,  as  the  testator  con- 
ceived to  have  the  most  peculiar  claims 
upon  his  remembrance ;  and  the  funds  out 
of  which  these  legacies  were  to  be  paid, 
consisted  of  the  sum  of  six  millions  of 
francs,  which  he  had  deposited  with  the 
banker,  La  Fitte,  at  the  period  of  his  de- 
parture from  Paris,  in  1815. 

The  common  lot  of  mortality  having 
overtaken  Napoleon,  it  may  be  instructive 
to  the  human  mind  to  comment  shortly  upon 
his  extraordinary  elevation ;  nor  is  it  wholly 
unworthy  of  remark,  that  he  furnishes  an 
additional  example  and  monition  to  despe- 
rate politicians,  that  it  is  not  the  originally 
factious  character  which  gains  by  tumult, 
but  that  in  general  they  become  speedy  vic- 
tims at  the  altar  of  ambition,  and  are  usu- 
ally, after  the  first  tide  of  success,  swept 
away  by  the  million  into  their  original 
state ;  happy  only  should  they  escape  ulti- 
mate destruction,  during  the  evanescent 
reign  of  anarchy  and  confusion,  which  pre- 
ludes and  rules  most  revolutionary  pro- 
ceedings. So  was  it  with  Napoleon, — 
whilst  France  was  deluged  in  blood  by  the 
successive  mobs  and  usurping  demagogues 
of  a  day, — he,  in  the  humble  capacity  of  a 
sublieutenant  of  artillery,  contemplated  the 
storm  safe  in  his  obscurity.  The  siege  of 
Toulon  first  evinced  his  skill  in  gunnery ; 
his  talents  as  an  engineer  :  and  the  era  of 
liberty  and  ecjuality  opposing  no  bar  to  pro- 
motion, his  rise  was  extremely  rapid  to  the 
chief  command  of  the  army  of  Italy ;  his 
victories  were  as  surprising ;  fortune  favor- 
ed all  his  schemes,  and  seemed,  while  hold- 
ing the  balance,  to  smile  on  her  favorite 
child;  for  into  whichever  scale  he  threw 
his  sword,  it  as  surely  and  speedily  prepon- 
derated against  all  opposing  powers  of  sin- 
gle or  allied  forces,  at  that  period.  His 
Egyptian  campaign  sullied  his  former  suc- 
cesses ;  yet  he  returned  to  his  adopted  coun- 
try at  an  eventful  period,  in  time  to  com- 
mand her  destinies,  first  as  consul,  and  sub- 
sequently as  emperor ;  to  this  he  added  the 
titles  of  king  of  Italy,  protector  of  the  con- 
federates of  the  Rhine,  and  the  Helvetic 
confederacy ;  instituting  two  orders  of  chiv- 
alry, he  bestowed  the  iron  crown  and  le- 
gion of  honor  on  all  his  military  and  other 
dependants  deserving  favor,  and  created  a 
halo  of  enthusiasm  throughout  France,  fa- 
vorable to  his  views  of  universal  and  abso- 
lute sovereignty ;  his  nobles,  his  marshals, 


his  dignitaries  and  savans,  rallied  round  and 
supported  his  cause  to  the  last,  with  their 
councils,  their  treasures,  and  their  lives; 
nor  at  Elba  was  his  welfare  neglected, — or 
even  in  his  final  exile  was  he  deserted  by 
them ;  he  possessed  the  skill  of  Elizabeth, 
in  availing  himself  by  every  means  of  the 
talents  of  the  country,  and,  by  fostering, 
made  them  appear  his  own,  and  subservient 
to  the  splendor  of  his  career.  Resemblin;;- 
Cromwell  in  many  particulars  of  religious 
and  subservient  policy,  skill  as  a  command- 
er, and  knowledge  as  a  negotiator,  he  went 
beyond  him  in  assuming  the  purple  robe  of 
imperial  sway;  and  while  he  pursued  his 
game  of  political  chess,  he  not  only  check- 
mated a  king  whenever  he  pleased,  but 
played  with  kingdoms,  and,  considering 
crowns  as  baubles,  transferred  the  regal 
-dignity  at  his  caprice  to  various  brandies 
of  his  own  family,  having  at  one  period 
Naples,  Spain,  Holland,  Westphalia,  and 
Italy,  erected  into  kingdoms,  and  governed 
by  his  brothers  and  near  relatives;  his 
mother  and  sisters  were  queens  and  prin- 
cesses ;  his  uncle  a  cardinal ;  nor  did  his 
aggrandizement  rest  here,  but  by  his  matri- 
monial alliance  with  the  house  of  Austria, 
he  consolidated  his  power,  so  that  ,had  not 
his  own  destructive  ambition  undermined 
the  splendid  edifice  which  his  talents  and 
his  fortune  had  erected,  it  must  have  stood 
against  ordinary  events  and  combinations, 
in  perennial  and  overtowering  pride.  As  it 
proved.  Providence  wisely  ordained  the  poi- 
son sliould  contain  its  own  antidote ;  and 
his  sudden  rise,  declension,  and  fall,  will 
long  stand  as  a  lesson  of  morality,  while  it 
hands  down  to  after  ages  the  unparalleled 
biography  in  the  greater  class  of  heroes, 
rulers,  and  uncommon  men, — of  Napoleon, 
cidevant  emperor  of  the  Gauls. 

SITUATION  OF  THE  QUEEN. 
DujiufG  the  period  that  the  utmost  atten- 
tion of  parliament  was  devoted  to  the  various 
subjects,  of  which  a  mere  outline  has  been 
attempted,  the  public  mind  was  excited  to 
a  very  extraordinary  degree,  by  the  violence 
of  party  writers,  both  for  and  against  the 
government.  At  this  momentous  era,  the 
state  of  the  public  press  of  England  was  a 
source  of  melancholy  regret  to  every  un- 
prejudiced mind  and  well-wisher  to  the 
country.  The  sordid  lust  of  gain  had  so 
entirely  vanquished  the  cause  of  truth,  so 
completely  subjugated  the  spirit  of  candid 
inquiry,  on  which  the  value  of  a  free  press 
alone  depends,  that  the  best  feelings  of  Eng- 
lishmen were  wantonly  sported  with,  by  the 
hirelings  of  party ;  and  public  opinion,  by 
dint  of  venal  pens,  was  as  frequently  the 
result  of  error  a.s  of  truth.  In  this  position 
of  affairs,  the  popular  indignation  was  a  roused 
by  the  peculiarly  unfortunate  situation  of 


GEORGE  IV.  1821. 


705 


the  queen;  a  situation  which  roused  the 
passions  of  the  people  in  a  surprising  man- 
ner. Her  majesty,  by  the  result  of  her 
trial,  was  left  in  a  state  of  an  unforeseen  and 
very  delicate  nature ;  possessed  of  her  pre- 
rogatives of  queen-consort,  whilst  the  dis- 
closures made  during  the  examination  of 
witnesses,  added  to  the  influence  of  the 
highest  example,  precluded  her  from  that 
class  of  society,  from  which  alone  it  might 
naturally  be  expected  a  queen  of  England 
ought  to  select  her  circle  of  associates  and 
friends.  Such  combination  of  circumstances 
operating  as  an  exclusion,  threw  this  ill- 
fated  princess  into  close  alliance  with  a  party 
notoriously  opposed  to  the  then  existing  ad- 
ministration ;  and  which  party,  biassed  by 
political  motives,  did  not  disdain  to  add  to 
their  phalanx,  on  this  occasion,  the  conjunc- 
tive aid  of  the  radical  faction,  who  eagerly 
embraced  so  rare  an  opportunity  of  assailing 
royalty  itself,  under  the  wily  paradox  of  es- 
pousing a  royal  cause. 

The  kingdom  now  presented  the  un pleas- 
ing appearance  of  a  house  divided  against 
itself;  and  doubtless  much  art  had  been 
resorted  to  on  all  sides  to  widen  a  breach 
which  fatally  existed,  and  which  Providence 
ruling  the  predominant  good  sense  of  the 
nation  at  large,  prevented  from  becoming 
as  mischievous  in  its  results  as  it  was  por- 
tentous in  its  opening.  If,  under  the  dire- 
ful influence  of  deeply  lacerated  feeling, 
and  encouraged  by  the  evil  counsel  and  ill- 
timed  flatteries  of  those  surrounding  her, 
her  majesty  was  induced  to  consider  her 
cause  as  one  for  which  the  people  at  large 
were  willing  to  incur  all  risks,  and  brave 
all  dangers,  it  is  a  subject  rather  begetting 
regret  than  surprise.  Some  such  fallacious 
persuasion  must  doubtless  have  caused  her 
to  cherish,  by  every  possible  means,  that 
popularity  which  she  viewed  as  the  strength 
that  upheld  her,  and  which  she  invariably 
resorted  to,  whenever  occasion  presented 
itself  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  in  unison 
with  the  warm-heartedness  of  the  British 
nation,  the  feelings  of  the  populace,  in  com 
mon  with  a  great  majority  of  the  public  at 
large,  continued  firmly  in  favor  of  the 
queen ;  and  even  when  she  finally  drew  for 
the  allowance  voted  to  her,  in  contradiction 
to  her  solemn  pledge  to  parliament  that  she 
never  would  accept  it, — even  then  excuses 
for  her  dilemma  were  sought  for,  in  the  mis 
takes  into  which  it  was  presumed  certain 
advisers  had  plunged  her.  This  was  the 
public  sentiment  held  respecting  her  ma 
jesty,  when  an  approaching  event  opened  a 
new  field  for  general  discussion. 

The  ceremony  of  the  king's  coronation 
had  been  originally  fixed  for  the  first  of 
August  in  the  year  now  past:  the  return 
of  her  majesty  Iiad  rendered  this  arrange- 


ment nugatory,  by  the  necessity  to  postpone 
the  ceremony  ;  and  it  had  become  a  ques- 
tion much  debated,  whether,  under  the  va- 
riety of  circumstance,  and  in  the  existing 
state  of  the  public  mind,  a  coronation  would 
take  place  or  not. — On  this  subject  each 
party  had  opinions ;  and  in  these  the  com- 
munity participated.  It  was  observed  that 
the  king  had  of  late  appeared  more  fre- 
quently in  public ;  and  when  he  visited  in 
state  the  three  principal  theatres  of  the  me- 
tropolis, the  acclamations  of  the  audiences 
equalled,  if  they  did  not  surpass  in  enthusi- 
asm, those  which  were  heard  within  tlie  same 
walls  in  honor  of  the  queen's  presence.  In- 
deed his  reception  was  so  highly  flattering 
that  it  realized  lord  Castlereagh's  prognos- 
ticated assertion  in  the  house  of  commons, 
on  the  close  of  the  late  trial,  "  That  in  six 
months  he  had  no  doubt  his  majesty  would 
be  the  most  popular  man  in  his  dominions." 
ANNOUNCED  CORONATION. 

Early  in  the  month  a  proclamation  was 
issued,  which  announced  his  majesty's  plea- 
sure, that  this  much-discussed  solemnity  of 
coronation  should  take  place  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  July ;  and  the  consequent  prepa- 
rations for  its  celebration  were  immediately 
proceeded  in. 

CONDUCT  OF  THE  QUEEN. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  a  memorial 
was  presented  to  the  privy-council  from  her 
majesty,  preferring  a  formal  claim  to  be 
crowned  in  like  manner  with  her  royal  pre- 
decessors. An  answer  was  returned  to  her 
majesty,  that  the  law  officers  of  the  crown 
would  be  consulted  on  the  subject.  In  fijr- 
therance  of  this  procedure,  on  the  third  of 
July  a  memorial  was  addressed  by  her  ma- 
jesty to  the  king,  praying  to  be  heard  by 
her  law  officers  before  the  privy-council — 
which  accordingly  assembled  at  Whitehall, 
for  the  purpose  of  hearing  counsel  on  both 
sides. 

Mr.  Brougham  contended  for  the  queen's 
legal  right  to  be  crowned,  evincing  great 
research,  learning,  and  ability,  but  resting 
his  chief  argument  on  the  plea  of  long  and 
uniform  practice.  Mr.  Denman  strength- 
ened Mr.  Brougham's  argument  in  a  very 
able  and  eloquent  speech,  which,  together 
with  that  of  his  colleague,  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  coimcil  during  two  sittings. 

On  the  ninth,  the  council  again  assem- 
bled, and  the  attorney-general  argued  against 
the  claim  preferred  by  her  majesty.  He 
"admitted  that  usage  would  be  evidence  of 
right ;  but  if  it  could  be  shown  tliat  such 
usage  had  originated  in  the  permission  of 
another  party,  there  would  be  an  end  of 
that  right.  There  was  an  evident  distinction 
between  the  coronation  of  a  king,  and  that 
of  a  queen.  The  former  was  accompanied 
by  important  political  acts;  the  recognition 


706 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


by  the  people,  and  the  engagement  by  the 
king  to  maintain  the  laws.  The  latter  was 
a  mere  ceremony.  But  even  the  coronation 
of  the  king  was  not  necessary  to  his  posses- 
sion of  the  crown ;  that  act  emanated  from 
himself;  and  he  had  the  sole  direction  of  the 
time,  manner,  and  place  of  its  performance. 
The  right  assumed  as  inherent  in  the  queen- 
consort,  was  not  once  alluded  to  by  any 
writer  on  the  law  and  constitution  of  the 
country ;  or  by  any  of  those  who  had  treat- 
ed of  the  privileges  peculiar  to  the  queen- 
consort.  With  respect  to  usage,  the  coun- 
sel on  the  other  side  must  admit,  that  since 
the  reign  of  Henry  the  eighth,  the  majority 
of  instances  was  against  them  ;  there  were 
since  that  period  seven  instances  of  queens- 
consort  who  had  not  been  crowned ;  and 
only  six  who  had."  The  solicitor-general 
followed  his  learned  colleague  nearly  in  the 
same  line  of  argument;  and  Mr,  Brougham 
having  replied,  the  privy-council  adjourned 
The  decision  of  the  council,  delivered  at 
its  next  meeting,  on  the  tenth,  was,  that 
"  as  it  appeared  to  them  that  the  queens- 
consort  of  this  realm  are  not  of  right  enti- 
tled to  be  crowned  at  any  time,  her  majesty 
the  queen  is  not  of  right  entitled  to  be 
crowned  at  the  time  specified  in  her  majes- 
ty's memorial." 

CORRESPONDENCE  OF  THE  QUEEN  WITH 
OFFICERS  OF  STATE. 

When  the  queen,  on  the  morning  of  the 
eleventh  of  July,  received  through  the  me 
dium  of  her  chamberlain,  lord  Hood,  this 
decision  of  the  privy-council,  she  instantly 
returned  an  answer  in  her  own  name  to 
lord  Sidmouth,  stating  to  his  lordship  "  her 
fixed  determination  of  being  present  on  the 
nineteenth,  and  therefore  demanding  that  a 
suitable  place  might  be  appointed  for  her." 
His  lordship,  in  answer  thereto,  informed 
her  majesty,  that  he  was  commanded  by  the 
king  to  refer  her  majesty  to  the  earl  of 
Liverpool's  letter,  in  which  the  earl  had  al 
ready  stated  "  that  the  king  having  deter- 
mined that  the  queen  should  form  no  part 
of  the  ceremonial  of  his  coronation,  it  was, 
therefore,  his  royal  pleasure  that  the  queen 
should  not  attend  the  said  ceremony."  Lord 
Sidmouth  further  stated,  that  it  was  not  his 
majesty's  pleasure  to  comply  with  the  ap- 
plication contained  in  her  letter, — Still  per 
severing  in  her  resolution,  her  majesty 
caused  the  following  letter  to  be  addressed 
to  his  grace  of  Norfolk,  as  earl  marshal : 

*'  My  lord, — Her  majesty  has  command- 
ed me  to  say,  as  it  is  her  intention  to  be  hi 
Westminster  Abbey  on  the  nineteenth  in 
stant,  during  the  ceremony  of  the  corona 
tion  of  the  king,  your  grace  is  required  to 
appoint  persons  to  receive  her  majesty  at 
the  door  of  the  Abbey,  to  conduci  her  to 
her  seat.  The  hour  her  majesty  has  named 


to  be  there  is  half-past  eight  o'clock.     I 
have  the  honor  to  be,  &lc. 

"Hood." 

"  Brandenburgh  House,  July  15. 
"  To  his  grace  the  duke  of  Norfolk." 

To  this  letter  the  duke  of  Norfolk  re- 
plied, that  having  delegated  his  authority 
at  the  ensuing  ceremony  to  a  deputy,  (lord 
Howard  of  Effingham),  he  had  transmitted 
to  him  her.  majesty's  letter,  which  he  doubt- 
ed not  would  receive  immediate  attention  ; 
and  on  the  next  day  the  acting  earl  mar- 
shal sent  to  lord  Hood  the  following  reply 
to  the  queen's  application  : 

"  9,  Mansfield  Street,  July  16. 

"My  lord,— The  duke  of  Norfolk  having 
transmitted  to  me,  as  appointed  to  do  the 
duties  of  the  office  of  earl  marshal  of  Eng- 
land at  the  ceremony  of  the  approaching 
coronation,  your  lordship's  letter  to  his 
grace,  of  the  fifteenth  instant,  I  thought  it 
incumbent  on  me  to  lay  the  same  before 
viscount  Sidmouth,  the  secretary  of  state 
for  the  home  department ;  and  have  just 
learnt  from  his  lordship  in  reply,  that  hav- 
ing received  a  letter,  dated  the  eleventh 
instant,  from  the  queen,  in  which  her  ma- 
jesty was  pleased  to  inform  him  of  her  in- 
tention to  be  present  at  the  ceremony  of 
the  nineteenth,  the  day  fixed  for  his  majes- 
ty's coronation,  and  to  demand  that  a  suita- 
ble place  should  be  appointed  for  her  majes- 
ty, he  was  commanded  by  the  king  to  ac- 
quaint her  majesty,  that  it  was  not  his  ma- 
jesty's pleasure  to  comply  with  the  appli- 
cation contained  in  her  majesty's  letter  ;  I 
have  accordingly  to  request  that  your  lord- 
ship will  make  my  humble  representation 
to  her  majesty  of  the  impossibility,  under 
these  circumstances,  of  my  having  the  hon- 
or of  obeying  her  majesty's  commands,  i 
have  the  honor  to  be,  my  lord, 

"  Your  lordship's  most  obedient 
"  humble  servant, 

"Howard  of  Effingham, 
"  Acting  as  earl  marshal  of  England." 
"  The  lord  viscount  Hood." 

Her  majesty  next  applied  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  as  follows  : — 

"  Her  majesty  communicates  to  his  grace 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  that  as  his 
majesty  the  king  has  thought  fit  to  refuse 
her  being  crowned  at  the  same  time  with 
the  king,  the  queen  must  trust  that  there 
can  be  no  objection  to  her  majesty's  receiv- 
ing that  right  on  the  following  week, 
whilst  the  Abbey  still  remains  in  a  state  of 
preparation  for  the  august  ceremony,  with- 
out any  additional  expense  to  the  nation  ; 
that  her  majesty  does  not  wish  it  from  any 
desire  of  participating  in  the  mere  form 
and  ceremony  of  a  coronation,  but  as  a  just 
right,  which  her  majesty  would  not  aban- 
don without  doing  a  manifest  injury,  not 


GEORGE  IV.  1821. 


707 


only  to  herself,  but  to  future  queens-con- 
sort, to  the  British  nation,  and  to  posterity. 

"  Brandenbiirgh  House^  July  15//i." 

This  notification  was  instantly  replied  to 
by  his  grace. 

^^  Lambeth  Place,  July  Ibth. 

"  The  archbishop  of  Canterbury  has  the 
honor  to  acknowledge,  with  all  humility, 
the  receipt  of  her  majesty's  communica- 
tion. Her  majesty  is  undoubtedly  aware 
that  the  archbishop  cannot  stir  a  single  step 
in  the  subject  matter  of  it  without  the  com- 
mands of  the  king." 

Thus  repulsed  in  her  various  applica- 
tions to  the  different  authorities,  which  the 
queen  was  instigated  to  make,  lest  her  ene- 
mies might  suppose  her  deficient  in  any  of 
the  legal  means  of  securing  a  reception  in 
Westminster  Abbey  on  the  day  of  the  king's 
coronation,  suitable  to  her  high  rank  and 
dignity,  no  other  way  seemed  open  for  her 
majesty,  but  the  publication  of  the  follow- 
ing high-spirited  and  well-written  protest, 
on  the  seventeenth  of  July : — 

HER  MAJESTY'S  PROTEST  AGAINST  THE 
DECISION  OF  THE  PRIVY-COUNCIL  RE- 
LATIVE TO  HER  CORONATION. 

"  Caroline  R. 

"  To  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty. 

"  The  protest  and  remonstrance  of  Caroline 

queen  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

"  Your  majesty  having  been  pleased  to 
refer  to  your  privy-council  the  queen's  me- 
morial, claiming  as  of  right  to  celebrate 
the  ceremony  of  her  coronation  on  the 
nineteenth  of  July,  being  the  day  appointed 
for  the  celebration  of  your  majesty's  royal 
coronation,  and  lord  viscount  Sidmouth,  one 
of  your  majesty's  principal  secretaries  of 
state,  having  communicated  to  the  queen 
the  judgment  pronouncing  against  her  ma- 
jesty's claim  ;  in  order  to  preserve  her  just 
rights,  and  those  of  her  successors,  and  to 
prevent  the  said  minute  being  in  after 
times  referred  to,  as  deriving  validity  from 
her  majesty's  supposed  acquiescence  in  the 
determination  therein  expressed,  the  queen 
feels  it  to  be  her  bounden  duty  to  enter  her 
most  deliberate  and  solemn  protest  against 
the  said  determination ;  and  to  affirm  and 
maintain,  that  by  the  laws,  usages,  and  cus- 
toms of  this  realm,  from  time  immemorial, 
the  queen-consort  ought  of  right  to  be 
crowned  at  the  same  time  with  the  king's 
majesty.  In  support  of  this  claim  of  right 
her  majesty's  law  officers  have  proved  be- 
fore the  said  council,  from  the  most  ancient 
and  authentic  records,  that  queens-consort 
of  this  realm  have,  from  time  immemorial, 
participated  in  the  ceremony  of  the  corona- 
tion with  their  royal  husbands.  The  few 
exceptions  that  occur  demonstrate,  from 
the  peculiar  circumstances  in  Avhich  they 
originated,  tliat  the  right  itself  v/as  never 


questioned,  though  the  exercise  of  it  was 
from  necessity  suspended,  or  from  motives 
ot  policy  declined. 

"  Her  majesty  has  been  taught  to  believe 
that  the  most  valuable  laws  of  this  country 
depend  upon,  and  derive  their  authority 
from  custom  ;  that  your  majesty's  royal 
prerogatives  stand  upon  the  same  basis : 
the  authority  of  ancient  usage  cannot  there- 
fore be  rejected  without  shaking  that  foun- 
dation upon  which  the  most  important 
rights  and  institutions  of  the  country  de- 
pend. 

"  Your  majesty's  council,  however,  with- 
out controverting  any  of  the  facts  or  rea- 
sons upon  which  the  claim  made  on  the 
part  of  her  majesty  has  been  supported, 
have  expressed  a  judgment  in  opposition  to 
such  right.  But  the  queen  can  place  no 
confidence  in  that  judgment,  when  she  re- 
collects that  the  principal  individuals  by 
whom  it  has  been  pronounced  were  former- 
ly her  successful  defenders  ;  that  their 
opinions  have  varied  with  their  interest, 
and  that  they  have  since  become  the  most 
active  and  powerful  of  her  persecutors: 
still  less  can  she  confide  in  it,  when  her 
majesty  calls  to  mind  that  the  leading 
members  of  that  council,  when  in  the  ser- 
vice of  your  majesty's  royal  father,  report- 
ed in  the  most  solemn  form,  that  documents 
reflecting  upon  her  majesty  were  satisfac- 
torily disproved  as  to  the  most  important 
parts,  and  that  the  remainder  was  unde- 
serving of  credit.  Under  this  declared  con- 
viction, they  strongly  recommended  to  your 
majesty's  royal  father  to  bestow  his  favor 
upon  the  queen,  then  princess  of  Wales, 
though  in  opposition  to  your  majesty's  de- 
clared wishes.  But  when  your  majesty  had 
assumed  the  kingly  power,  these  same  ad- 
visers, in  another  minute  of  council,  re- 
canted their  former  judgment,  and  referred 
to  and  adopted  these  very  same  documents, 
as  a  justification  of  one  of  your  majesty's 
harshest  measures  towards  the  queen — the 
separation  of  her  majesty  from  her  affec- 
tionate and  only  child. 

"  The  queen,  like  your  majesty,  descend- 
ed from  a  long  race  of  kings,  was  the 
daughter  of  a  sovereign  house,  connected 
by  the  ties  of  blood  w^ith  the  most  illustri- 
ous families  in  Europe,  and  her  not  unequal 
alliance  with  your  majesty  was  formed  in 
full  confidence  that  the  faith  of  the  king 
and  the  people  was  equally  pledged  to  se- 
cure to  her  all  those  honors  and  rights 
which  had  been  enjoyed  by  her  royal  pre- 
decessors. In  that  alliance  her  majesty  be- 
lieved that  she  exchanged  the  protection 
of  her  femily  for  that  of  a  royal  husband, 
and  of  a  free  and  noble-minded  nation. 
From  your  majesty  the  queen  has  experi- 
enced 'only  the  bitter  disappointment  of 


708 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


every  hope  she  had  indulged.  In  the  at- 
tachment of  the  people  she  has  found  that 
powerful  and  decided  protection  which  has 
been  her  steady  support  and  her  unfailing 
consolation.  Submission  from  a  subject  to 
injuries  of  a  private  nature  may  be  matter 
of  expedience — from  a  wife  it  may  be  mat- 
ter of  necessity — but  never  can  it  be  the 
duty  of  a  queen  to  acquiesce  in  the  in- 
fringement of  those  rights  which  belong 
to  her  constitutional  character. 

"The  queen  does  therefore  repeat  her 
most  solemn  and  deliberate  protest  against 
the  decision  of  the  said  council,  considering 
it  only  as  the  sequel  of  that  course  of  per- 
secution under  which  her  majesty  has  so 
long  and  so  severely  suffered,  and  which 
decision,  if  it  is  to  furnish  a  precedent  for 
future  times,  can  have  no  other  effect,  than 
to  fortify  oppression  with  the  forms  of 
law,  and  to  give  to  injustice  the  sanction 
of  authority.  The  protection  of  the  sub- 
ject, from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  is  not 
only  the  true,  but  the  only  legitimate  ob- 
ject of  all  power ;  and  no  act  of  power  can 
be  legitimate  which  is  not  founded  on  those 
principles  of  eternal  justice,  without  which 
law  is  but  the  mask  of  tyranny,  and  power 
the  instrument  of  despotism. 

"  Queen's  House,  July  17th." 

The  publication  of  this  protest  immedi- 
ately preceded  her  majesty's  endeavor  to 
deliver  it  personally  into  the  hands  of  the 
king  on  the  day  of  his  coronation,  in  which 
attempt  her  majesty  wholly  failed. 


The  above  public  acts  of  the  queen,  de- 
tailing her  avowed  and  fixed  determina- 
tion, under  all  hazards  and  circumstances, 
to  be  present  at  the  coronation,  occasioned 
expectations,  that  the  celebration  of  that 
august  ceremonial  would  be  interrupted,  if 
not  prevented,  by  some  infraction  of  the 
public  peace :  but  these  expectations  were, 
highly  to  the  honor  and  wisdom  of  the 
nation,  wholly  falsified. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  July,  the  ceremony 
of  the  king's  coronation  was  performed  with 
a  degree  of  magnificence  unequalled  upon 
any  former  occasion.  In  the  course  of  the 
day,  the  queen  presented  herself  at  the 
door  of  Westminster-hall,  and  demanded 
admission  ;  but  this  was  refused  by  the 
door-keepers,  and  her  majesty  was  thus  de- 
barred from  any  participation  in  the  cere- 
monies. 

In  the  metropolis,  the  public  were  ad- 
mitted gratis  to  all  the  principal  theatres ; 
a  balloon  ascended,  with  an  ssronaut,  about 
noon,  from  the  Green  Park;  and  after  a 
variety  of  entertainments  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  populace  in  Hyde  Park  during 
the  day,  in  the  evening  there  was  a  display 
of  the  most  brilliant  fire-works  in  the  same 
place,  under  the  direction  of  Sir  William 
Congreve.  All  classes  of  the  people,  in 
every  part  of  the  kingdom,  partook  of  the 
festivity  of  this  memorable  day :  the  de- 
monstrations of  joy  being  general  through- 
out the  kingdom. 


NOTES  TO  MILLER. 


Note  A,  p.  69. 

"  We  thought  it  our  duty,"  said  one  of  those  par- 
liaments, "  to  remonstrate  to  your  majesty,  that  the 
registering  that  edict  and  declaration  is  irrecon- 
cilable with  your  glory,  the  good  of  the  sUite,  amd 
the  rights  of  mankiivd.  Whatsoever  savors  of  con- 
straint, wounds  the  honor  of  the  throne.  A  manly 
and  respectful  freedom  has  always  been  the  glory 
of  every  prince,  under  whose  reign  the  subjects 
have  made  it  their  guide. 

"Your  people,  sire,  are  unhappy :  all  things  pro- 
claim this  sad  truth.  Your  courts  of  parliament, 
the  only  voice  of  the  nation,  cease  not  to  tell  it. 
No,  sire,  it  is  but  too  true ;  and  we  cannot  too  often 
repeat  it, — ^your  people  are  miserable. 

"  Itis  not  from  this  day,  that  we  are  to  date  the 
calamities  which  desolate  the  several  parts  of 
your  state.  Your  parliaments  have  found  them- 
selves more  than  once  under  a  necessity  to  lay  be- 
fore you  the  sad  description  of  them.  Your  ma- 
jesty could  not  behold  it,  without  being  affected. 
But  what  does  it  signify  to  the  felicity  of  French- 
men, that  their  sovereign  shares,  by  reflection,  in 
the  evils  they  really  suffer,  if  the  mercenary  spirit, 
v/hich  devours  them,  is  substituted  to  that,  which 
ought  to  proscribe  and  punish  it  ? 

"  The  termination  of  the  war  ought  to  put  an 
end  to  our  misery.  Peace  should  have  introduced 
in  France  the  sweets,  with  which  it  is  attended 
among  all  other  nations.  The  capital  of  the  king- 
dom was  preparing  to  celebrate  the  return  thereof, 
and  with  shouts  of  joy  to  dedicate  a  monument 
t!e.<<igned  to  eternize  its  sensibility,  and  the  mem- 
ory of  a  beloved  monarch.  But,  instead  of  this, 
nothing  but  sighs  of  grief  appeared. 

"  It  is  to  promote  the  happiness  of  those,  who 
are  placed  under  your  care,  that  you  are  invested 
with  the  supreme  authority.  Your  subjects  have 
a  right  to  your  beneficence.  They  have,  there- 
fore, a  right  to  the  easiest  and  least  burdensome 
method  of  contributing  to  the  wants  of  the  state. 
This  right,  which  is  founded  in  nature,  belongs  to 
every  nation  in  the  world,  whatever  may  be  its 
form  of  goverrmienL  It  is  principally  the  right 
of  France,  and,  in  a  more  especial  manner,  that 
of  your  province  of  Normandy.  The  Norman 
charter  furnishes,  on  this  head,  the  most  respect- 
able monuments  of  our  national  immunities,  and 
of  the  justice  of  the  kings,  your  august  predeces- 
sors. We  there  find,  that  no  tax  can  be  laid  on 
your  subjects  of  this  province,  unless  it  be  agreed 
to  m  the  assembly  of  the  people,  of  the  three  es- 
tates. This  charter  subsists  in  its  full  force:  it 
makes  part  of  your  people's  rights,  which  you 
swore  to  maintain  before  him  by  whom  kings 
reign." 

Note  B,  p.  305. 

As  the  principal  stipulations  in  these  treaties 
have  been  detailed  in  the  text,  it  is  thought  suffi- 
cient to  subjoin  only  a  copy  of  the  definitive  treaty 
with  the  United  States,  because  the  first  in  which 
their  independence  was  acknowledged  by  Great 
Britain,  and  as  being  virtually  the  basis  of  the 
general  pacification. 

The  definitive  treaty  of  peace  and  friendship,  be- 
tween his  Britannic  majesty,  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  signed  at  Paris  Oie  third  day 
of  September,  178a 

In  the  name  of  the  most  holy  and  uadiTidod 
Trinity. 

It  having  pleased  the  divine  providenoe  to  dis- 
poBe  the  hearts  of  the  most  sereae  and  most  potent 

Vol.  IV.  60 


prince  George  the  third,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king 
ot  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  defender  of 
the  faith,  duke  of  Brunswick  and  Lunenburg, 
arch-treasurer  and  prince  elector  of  the  holy  Ro- 
man empire,  &c.  and  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  to  forget  all  past  misunderstandings  and 
differences  that  have  unhappily  interrupted  the 
good  correspondence  and  friendship  which  they 
mutually  wish  to  restore,  and  to  establish  such  a 
beneficial  and  satisfactory  intercourse  between  the 
two  countries  upon  the  ground  of  reciprocal  ad- 
vantages and  mutual  convenience  as  may  promote 
and  secure  to  both  perpetual  peace  and  harmony; 
and  having  for  this  desirable  end  already  laid  the 
foundation  of  peace  and  reconciliation  by  the  pro- 
visional articles  signed  at  Paris  on  the  thirtieth  of 
November,  1782,  by  the  commissioners  empower- 
ed on  each  part,  which  articles  were  agreed  to  he 
inserted  in,  and  to  constitute  the  treaty  of  peace 
proposed  to  be  concluded  between  the  crown  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  said  United  States,  but  which 
treaty  was  not  to  be  concluded  until  terms  of 
peace  should  be  agreed  upon  between  Great  Brit- 
ain and  France,  and  his  Britannic  majesty  should 
be  ready  to  conclude  such  treaty  accordingly;  and 
the  treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  France  hav- 
ing since  been  concluded,  his  Britannic  majesty 
and  the  United  Slates  of  America,  in  order  to  car- 
ry into  full  effect  the  provisional  articles  above 
mentioned,  according  to  the  tenor  thereof,  have 
constituted  and  appointed,  that  is  to  say,  his  Brit- 
annic majesty  on  his  part,  David  Hartley,  esq. 
member  of  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain ;  and 
the  said  United  States  on  their  part,  John  Adams, 
esq.  late  a  commissioner  of  the  United  States  of 
America  at  the  court  of  Versailles,  late  delegate 
in  congress  from  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  and 
chief  justice  of  the  said  state,  and  minister  pleni- 
potentiary of  the  said  United  States  to  their  high 
mightinesses  the  States-General  of  the  United 
Netherlands ;  Benjamin  Franklin,  esq.  late  dele- 
gate in  congress  from  the  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
president  of^the  convention  of  the  said  state,  and 
minister  plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States  of 
America  at  the  court  of  Versailles ;  and  John  Jay, 
esq.  late  president  of  congress,  and  chief  iustice 
of  the  state  of  New- York,  and  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary from  the  said  United  States  at  the  court 
of  Madrid  ;  to  be  the  plenipotentiaries  for  the  con- 
cluding and  signing  the  present  definitive  treaty ; 
who  after  having  reciprocally  communicated  their 
respective  full  powers,  have  agreed  upon  and 
confirmed  the  following  articles : 

Art.  I.  His  Britannic  majesty  acknowled|e8  the 
said  United  States,  viz.  New-Hampshire,  Massa- 
chusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island  and  Providence  Plant- 
ations, Connecticut,  New- York,  New-Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  to  be  free, 
sovereign  and  independent  states ;  that  he  treats 
with  them  as  such,  and  for  himself,  his  heirs  and 
successors,  relinquishes  all  claims  to  the  govern- 
ment, propriety  and  territorial  rights  of  the  same, 
£Lnd  every  part  thereof 

Art  II.  And  that  all  disputes  which  might  arise 
in  future  on  the  subject  of  the  boundaries  of  the 
said  United  States  may  be  prevented,  it  is  herebr 
agreed  and  declared,  that  the  following  are  and 
shall  be  their  boundaries,  viz.  From  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  viz.  that  angle  which 
is  formed  by  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the 
eowrce  of  St  Croix  river  to  the  highlands,  along 
the  aaid  highlands,  wluch  divide  those  riven  tiiat 


710 


HISTORY  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


empty  themselves  into  the  river  St.  Laurence,  from 
those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the 
north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  river; 
thence  down  along  the  middle  of  that  riv«r  to  the 
forty-lifih  degree  of  north  latitude ;  from  thence 
by  a  line  due  west  on  said  latitude,  until  it  strikes 
the  river  Irroquois  or  Caatraquy;  thence  along 
the  middle  of  said  river  into  lake  Ontario;  through 
the  middle  of  said  lake  until  it  strikes  the  commu- 
nication by  water  between  that  lake  and  lake 
Erie ;  thence  along  the  middle  of  the  said  commu- 
nication into  lake  Erie,  through  the  middle  of  said 
lake,  until  it  arrives  at  the  water  communication 
between  that  lake  and  lake  Huron ;  thence  through 
the  middle  of  said  lake  to  the  water  communica- 
tion between  that  lake  and  lake  Superior;  thence 
through  lake  Superior  northward  of  the  Isles  Royal 
and  Philapeaux  to  the  Long  Lake ;  thence  through 
the  middle  of  said  Long  Lake  and  the  water  com- 
munication between  it  and  the  lake  of  the  Woods, 
to  the  said  lake  of  the  Woods ;  thence  through  the 
said  lake  to  the  most  north-westernmost  point 
thereof,  and  from  thence  on  a  due  west  course  to 
the  river  Mississippi ;  thence  by  a  line  to  be  drawn 
along  the  middle  of  the  said  river  Mississippi  until 
it  shall  intersect  the  northernmost  part  of  the 
thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude.  South,  by  a 
line  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  determination 
of  the  line  last  mentioned  in  the  latitude  of  thirty- 
one  degrees  north  of  the  equator,  to  the  middle  of 
the  river  Apalachiola  or  Catahouche ;  thence 
along  the  middle  thereof  to  its  junction  with  the 
Flint  river;  thence  straight  to  the  head  of  St. 
Mary's  river,  and  thence  down  along  the  middle 
of  St.  Mary's  river  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  East, 
by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  river 
St.  Croix  from  its  mouth  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to 
its  source,  and  from  irs  source  directly  north  to  the 
aforesaid  highlands  w^hich  divide  the  rivers  that 
fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall 
into  the  river  St.  Laurence,  comprehending  all 
islandb  within  twenty  leagues  of  any  part  of  the 
shoree  of  the  United  States,  and  lying  between 
lines  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  points  where 
the  aforesaid  boundaries  between  Nova  Scotia  on 
the  one  part,  and  East  Florida  on  the  other,  shall 
respectively  touch  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  excepting  such  islands  as  now  are  or 
heretofore  have  been  within  the  limits  of  the  said 
province  of  Nova  Scotia. 

Art  III.  It  is  agreed  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  shall  continue  to  enjoy  unmolested 
the  right  to  take  fish  of  every  kind  on  the  Great 
Bank,  and  on  all  the  other  banks  of  Newfound- 
land ;  aI;;o  in  the  gulf  of  St.  Laurence,  and  at  all 
other  places  in  the  sea  where  the  inhabitants  of 
both  countries  used  at  any  time  heretofore  to  fish. 
And  also  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
shall  have  liberty  to  take  fish  of  every  kind  on 
such  part  of  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  as  British 
fishermen  shall  use,  (but  not  to  dry  or  cure  the 
same  on  that  island,)  and  also  on  the  coasts,  bays, 
and  creekfi,  of  all  other  of  his  Britannic  majesty's 
dominions  in  America;  and  that  the  American 
fishermen  shall  have  liberty  to  dry  and  cure  fish 
in  any  of  the  unsettled  bays,  harbors,  and  creeks 
of  Nova  Scotia,  Magdalen  Islands  and  Labrador, 
so  long  as  the  same  shall  remain  unsettled  ;  but 
so  soon  as  the  same  or  either  of  them  shall  be  set- 
tled, it  shall  not  be  lawfiil  for  the  said  fishermen 
to  dry  or  cure  fish  at  such  setdement,  without  a 
previous  agreement  for  that  purpose  with  the  in- 
habitants, proprietort;,  or  possessors  of  the  ground. 

Art  IV.  It  is  agreed  that  the  creditors  on  either 
side  shall  meet  with  no  lawful  impediment  to  the 
recovery  of  the  foil  value  in  sterling  money  of  all 
bona  fide  diebts  heretofore  contracted. 

Art  V.  It  is  agreed  that  congrfes  sbg'I  eames:!y 


recommend  it  to  the  legislatures  of  the  respective 
states,  to  provide  for  the  restitution  of  all  estates, 
rights,  and  properties,  which  have  been  confis- 
cated, belonging  to  real  British  subjects ;  and  also 
of  the  estates,  rights,  and  properties,  of  persons 
resident  in  districts  in  the  possession  of  his  ma- 
jesty's arms,  and  who  have  not  borne  arms  against 
the  said  United  Stales;  and  that  persons  of  any 
other  description  shall  have  free  liberty  to  go  to 
any  part  or  parts  of  any  of  the  thirteen  United 
States,  and  therein  to  remain  twelve  months  un- 
molested in  their  endeavors  (o  obtain  the  restitu- 
tion of  such  of  their  estates,  right*:,  and  properties, 
as  may  have  been  confiscated  ;  and  that  congress 
shall  also  earnestly  recommend  to  the  several 
states  a  reconsideration  and  revision  of  all  acts  or 
laws  regarding  the  premises,  so  as  to  render  the 
said  laws  or  acts  perfectly  consistent  not  only  with 
justice  and  equity,  but  with  that  spirit  of  concili- 
ation which  on  the  return  of  the  blessings  of 
peace  should  universally  prevail:  and  that  con- 
gress shall  also  earnestly  recommend  to  the  sev- 
eral states,  that  the  estates,  rights,  and  properties, 
of  such  last  mentioned  persons  shall  be  restored 
to  them,  they  refunding  to  any  persons  who  may 
be  now  in  possession  the  bona  fide  price  (where 
any  has  been  given),  which  such  persons  may 
have  paid  on  purchasing  any  of  the  said  lands, 
rights,  or  properties,  since  the  confiscation. 

And  it  is  agreed  that  all  persons  who  have  any 
interest  in  confiscated  lands,  either  by  debts,  mar- 
riage settlements,  or  otherwise,  shall  meet  with 
no  lawful  impediment  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
just  rights. 

Art.  VI.  That  there  shall  be  no  future  confisca- 
tions made,  nor  any  prosecutions  commenced 
against  any  person  or  persons  for  or  by  reason  of 
the  part  which  he  or  they  may  have  taken  in  the 
present  war ;  and  that  no  person  sh^l  on  that  ac- 
count suffer  any  future  loss  or  damage  either  in 
his  person,  liberty,  or  property,  and  that  those  who 
may  be  in  confinement  on  such  charges  at  the 
time  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  in  America, 
shall  be  immediately  set  at  liberty,  and  the  prose- 
cutions so  commenced  be  discontinued. 

Art.  VII.  There  shall  be  a  firm  and  perpetual 
peace  between  his  Britannic  majesty  and  the  said 
United  States,  and  between  the  subjects  of  the 
one  and  the  citizens  of  the  other ;  wherefore  all 
hostilities  both  by  sea  and  land  shall  from  hence- 
forth cease  ;  all  prisoners  on  both  sides  shall  be  set 
at  liberty,  and  his  Britannic  majesty  shall,  with  all 
convenient  speed,  and  without  causing  any  de- 
struction, or  carrying  away  any  negroes  or  other 
property  of  the  American  inhabitants,  withdraw 
all  his  armies,  garrisons,  and  fleets,  from  the  said 
United  States,  and  from  every  post,  place  and  har- 
bor, within  the  same  ;  leaving  in  all  fortifications 
the  American  artillery  that  may  be  therein ;  and 
shall  also  order  and  cause  all  archives,  record?!, 
deeds,  and  papers  belonging  to  any  of  the  said 
states,  or  their  citizens,  which  in  the  course  of  the 
war  may  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  his  officers, 
to  be  forthwith  restored  and  delivered  to  the  proper 
states  and  persons  to  whom  they  belong. 

Art.  VIII.  The  navigation  of'tho  river  Missis- 
sippi, from  its  source  to  the  ocean,  shall  for  ever 
remain  free  and  open  to  the  subjects  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

Art.  IX.  In  case  it  should  v.o  happen  that  any 
place  or  territory  belonging  to  Great  Britain  or  to 
the  United  States,  should  have  been  conquered  by 
the  arms  of  either  from  tlie  other,  before  tjie  arri- 
val of  the  said  provisional  articles  in  America,  it 
is  agreed  that  the  same  shall  be  restored  without 
dilTicuhv,  and  without  requiring  any  compensation. 

Art.  X.  The  solemn  rntificaiion  of  the  present 
treaty,  expedited  in  go-xl  and  due  form,  shall  be 


NOTES  TO  MILLER. 


711 


exchanged  between  the  contracting  parties  in  the 
space  of  six  months,  or  sooner,  if  possible,  to  be 
computed  from  the  day  of  the  signature  of  the 
present  treaty.    In  witness  whereof  we  the  under- 
signed, their  ministers  plenipotentiary,  have,  in 
their  name,  and  in  virtue  of  our  full  powers,  signed 
with  our  hands  the  present  definitive  treaty,  and 
caused  the  seals  jf  our  arms  to  be  affixed  thereto. 
Done  at  Paris,  this  third  day  of  September,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-three. 

David  Hartley.       (L.  S.) 
John  Adams.  (L.  S.) 

B.  Franklin.  (L.  S.) 

John  Jay.  (L.  S.) 

Note  C,  p.  647. 

Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  was  fifth  son  of  the 
earl  of  Mornington,  in  Ireland,  and  was  bom  in 
Dubhn  in  May,  1769.  He  was  at  an  early  age 
destined  to  the  military  profession,  having  been 
educated  at  the  military  academy  of  Angers  in 
France ;  fortunately  his  genius  seconded  his  early 

I)redilection,  and  he  acquired  a  thorough  know- 
edge  of  the  theory  of  the  art  of  war.  He  obtained 
the  rank  of  a  field-officer  before  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  distinguishing  himself,  which  did  not 
occur  till  the  year  1794,  when  he  displayed  mili- 
tary talents  in  conducting  the  retreat  of  three 
British  battalions,  part  of  the  army  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  duke  of  York,  by  Bois  le  due  and 
Arnheim.  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  having  been  ap- 
pointed lieutenant-colonel  of  the  thirty-third  regi- 
ment, accompanied  that  corps  to  India,  soon  after 
his  eldest  brother  Richard,  then  earl  of  Morning- 
ton,  had  been  appointed  governor  general  of  Ben- 
gal. On  the  arrival  of  his  regiment  in  India,  he 
embarked  with  it  on  an  expedition  then  intended 
against  Manilla,  but  was  recalled  and  relanded  to 
check  the  aggression  of  Tippoo  Sultan,  through 
the  intrigues  of  the  French  under  Buonaparte, 
who  was  then  in  Egypt.  In  the  Madras  army 
destined  against  Tippoo  Sultan,  Sir  Arthur  coiii- 
innnded  the  subsidiary  forces  of  ilie  Nizam,  and 
at  the  storm  of  Seringapatam  he  commanded  the 
reserve  during  the  ever  memorable  assault ;  for 
his  intrepidity  on  that  occasion  he  was  thanked  in 
public  orders,  wao  appointed  commissioner  for  the 
division  of  prize-treasure  taken  in  Seringapatam, 
and  governor  of  that  conquered  capital ;  for  his 
conduct  in  that  arduous  employment,  he  received 
the  thanks  of  the  governor  general  in  council. 
Soon  afterwards  he  was  intrusted  with  the  com- 
mand of  an  expedition  against  Dhondia  Waugh,  a 
freebooter,  who,  with  a  large  force,  had  commit- 
ted many  excesses  on  the  British  possessions ;  him, 
Sir  Arthur,  by  a  series  of  rapid  movements,  inter- 
cepted at  Conaghuill,  and  defeated  and  slew  by  a 
vigorous  and  intrepid  attack  with  cavalry  only, 


before  the  British  infantry  could  come  up.  For 
his  unremitting  activity  m  these  operations,  ho 
was  thanked  by  general  Braithwaite  and  by  ihe 
governor  general  in  council.  In  the  Mahratta 
war,  lieutenant-colonel  Wellesley,  then  a  major- 
general  by  brevet,  was  appointed  to  command  a 
lx)dy  of  troops,  which  was  detached  lo  protect 
Poonah,  the  capital  of  the  Peishwah,  a  British  ally, 
against  Schindeah  and  Ilolkar.  General  Welles- 
ley at  the  head  of  twelve  thousand  men,  having 
heard  that  Holkar  was  in  possession  of  Poonah 
and  of  the  person  of  the  Peishwah,  and  had  de- 
termined to  bum  that  capital  on  the  approach  of 
the  British  army,  pushed  forward  over  a  difficult 
country  and  through  a  dangerous  pass,  by  a  forced 
march  of  sixty  miles  in  thirty-two  hours  ;  the  un- 
exampled celerity  of  this  movement  saved  Poonah 
from  destruction.  After  taking  the  fortress  of  \t- 
neduagar.  Sir  Arthur  finding  the  combined  Mah- 
ratta army  within  six  miles  of  his  position,  but 
breaking  up  camp  to  retreat,  he  boldly  resolved  to 
force  the  enemy  to  a  general  action,  although  col- 
onel Stephenson's  subsidiary  division  had  not  yet 
come  up.  There  he  achieved  the  victory  of  Assye 
with  a  force  of  four  thousand  five  hundred  men, 
of  whom  only  two  thousand  were  Europeans,  over 
Schindeah's  army  composed  of  fifty  thousand  men, 
and  one  hundred  and  ninety  pieces  of  ordnance, 
of  whom  twelve  hundred  were  killed,  the  wound- 
ed covered  the  country  for  many  miles,  and  nine- 
ty-eight pieces  of  cannon,  all  the  camp  equipages, 
bullocks  an'  camels  of  the  enemy,  with  a  vast 
quantity  of  ammunition,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victor. 

General  Wellesley  then  pursued,  overtook,  and 
defeated  the  army  of  the  rajah  of  Berar,  on  the 
plain  of  A  gram,  as  decisively  as  he  had  defeated 
that  of  Schindeah's  at  Assye,  and  having  taken 
his  only  remaining,  but  almost  impregnable  fort- 
ress, Gawilghar,  by  escalade,  both  the  rajah  of 
Berar  and  Schindeah  sued  for  peace,  which  was 
concluded  by  Sir  Arthur  with  a  celerity  and  skill, 
which  proved  that  he  possesses  talents  for  the 
cabinet  as  well  as  for  the  field. 

Having  returned  to  Europe,  Sir  Arthur  com- 
manded a  brigade  in  the  army  which,  under  the 
command  of  lord  Cathcart,  invested  Copenhagen, 
and  removed  the  Danish  navy  from  the  grasp  of 
Buonaparte.  Soon  afterwards  he  was  appointed, 
on  the  decease  of  marquis  Comwallis,  to  be  col- 
onel of  the  thirty-third  regiment,  in  which  he  had 
served  thirteen  years  as  Heutenant-colonel ;  with 
this  high  and  well-earned  fame,  general  Sir  Ar- 
thur Wellesley  assumed  the  command  of  the  al- 
lied forces  in  Portugal  and  Spain,  where,  and  on 
both  the  extremities  of  France  itself,  he  succes- 
sively baffled  her  much  vaunted  generals  and 
marshals,  and  finally  defeated  and  dethroned  her 
spurious  emperor  Napoleon. 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


^bbot,  ChtLTlea,  Esq.  elected  speaker,  482. 

Jibdication  of  Buonaparte,  585. 

yihercrombie.  Sir  Ralph,  noticed,  410.  His  success,  416. 
Lands  at  Helder,  4tJ0.    Killed  in  battle,  475. 

,  major-general  J.  noticed,  553. 

,  colonel,  his  sortie,  289. 

Abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  525. 

Accession  of  George  III.,  11. 

Ackland,  major,  attacked,  wounded,  and  taken  pris- 
oner, 203. 

Acquisitions  in  St.  Domingo,  402. 

Acquittal  of  admiral  Keppel,  228. 

of  Warren  Hastings,  407. 

Acre,  siege  of,  its  gallant  defence,  454.  Its  siege  rais- 
ed, 455. 

Acts  of  Insolvency  passed,  14.  For  registering  parish 
children,  41.  American  Stamp,  passed,  89  ;  how  re- 
ceived at  Boston,  98;  repeal  of  it,  101.  To  restrain 
assembly  at  New-York,  110.  Of  the  American  con- 
vention, 116.    Of  amnerty,  440. 

Actions,  on  the  Brandywine,  193.  Between  a  British 
and  American  frigate,  528.    At  sea,  570. 

Adams,  major,  his  victorious  career,  conquers  Bengal 
after  a  four  months'  campaign,  94. 

,  Mr.  noticed,  116. 

Address  of  lords  and  commons  on  occasion  of  first 
speech  of  king  George  III.,  12.  Of  commons  to  his 
Majesty's  speech,  33.  Of  commons  to  her  Majesty, 
on  her  nuptials,  ib.  Of  parliament,  on  birth  of 
prince  of  Wales,  63.  Of  congratulation,  to  the  na- 
tional assembly,  359.  Of  the  English  society  at 
Paris  to  the  convention,  364.  Of  Constitutional 
Society  of  London,  presented  by  its  deputies  to  the 
French  convention,  ib.    Debates  on  the,  471. 

Administration,  changes  in,  59.  Change  of,  75.  New 
one,  91.    New,  302. 

Admiralty,  board  of,  its  misconduct,  294. 

Advance  of  British  army  in  America,  178,  179. 

Advantageous  position  of  the  French,  16. 

Affairs  of  Europe,  survey  of,  67.    Of  Ireland,  230, 238. 

Aa-grandiicment  of  Hanover,  favorite  scheme  of 
George  II.,  11. 

Aids,  to  commerce,  385.  From  France  to  America,  287. 

Aitken,  John,  (the  painter,)  188.  Confesses  his  guilt ; 
executed  ;  remarks  on  his  case,  ib. 

A'rx,  archbishop  of,  president  of  the  national  assem- 
bly, 360. 

Alarming  scarcity  of  provisions,  results,  105. 

Albemarle,  lord,  noticed,  50.  Commands  against  Ha- 
vannah,  ib.    Besieges  the  Moro,  51. 

Albuera,  battle  of,  563. 

Ale,  additional  duty  on,  14. 

Alexander  I.  emperor  of  Russia,  succeeds  his  father, 
474.    Visits  England,  587. 

Alexandria,  battle  of,  475.  Capitulates,  522.  Attack 
on,  594. 

Algiers,  expedition  against,  607. 

Allen,  colonel,  noticed,  155. 

Alliance  between  France  and  America,  213. 

Allied  powers,  measures  of,  596. 

Alliances,  continental,  remarks  on,  35. 

Allies,  their  victory  at  Graebenslein,  45.  Enter 
France,  581.    Advance  of,  601. 

Allied  army  withdrawn  from  France,  617. 

Allotment  of  American  land,  granted  otficers  and  sol- 
diers, 84. 

Allowances  to  prince-regent,  566.  To  princesses,  ib. 
Voted  to  royal  family,  616. 

Amadeus,Yic.XoT,  king  of  Sardinia,  dies;  succeeded 
by  his  son,  418. 

Ambassador,  Spanish,  unsatisfactory  explanation  of, 
30.  Instructions  sent  to  Madrid,  33.  At  Madrid 
recalletl,  37.  Spanish,  recalled,  ib.  His  manifesto 
previous  to  leaving  court  of  London,  38. 

Ambayna,  capture  of,  55:-;. 

Amelia,  princess,  death  of,  £57. 

America,  NoTlh,  disturbances  n,  98.  I;s  fit«alion. 
and  political  feeling,  ib.  New  government  arrange- 
ments, 170.  Peace  with  recommended  by  parlia- 
ment, 12.  Rejects  plans  of  conciliation,  218.  Pre- 
liminaries of  peace  with.  .i04.    Disputes  with,  com- 

60 


promised,  405.  Campaign  in,  579.  Negotiations 
with,  592.     Peace  with,  595. 

American,  North,  compensation,  14.  AMomblien  re- 
fuse compensation  for  the  Stamp  Act,  88.  Revo- 
lution predicted,  99.  Atfairs  disriissed  in  parlia- 
ment, 119.  Petition  to  the  king,  152.  Affairs,  aspect 
of,  158.  Defeat  at  Long  Island,  175.  Forts  taken, 
196.  Successes  at  sea,  207.  Defeat  on  LakeCbam- 
plain,  166.  Affairs  in  1779,  258.  Rally.  259.  Army, 
its  disposition,  202.  Prospects  brighten,  263.  Cur- 
rency, depreciation  of,  2rJ4.  Campaign  of  1781,  276. 
War,  petition  against  its  continuance,  2D4.  Loyal- 
ists noticed,  305.  Differences  with  the,  545.  Dis- 
putes, 560.  Declaration  of  war,  568.  South  af- 
fairs, 587. 

Amherst,  Sir  Jeffery,  noticed,  137. 

,  lord,  called  on  for  his  opinion  by  lord  Chat- 
ham, 211. 

Anderson,  major,  killed,  282. 

Andre,  major,  noticed,  266.  Taken,  and  executed  as 
a  spy,  ib.,  267. 

Anholt,  isle,  its  gallant  defence,  554. 

Anson,  lord,  noticed,  59. 

Antwerp,  council  at,  387. 

Arcon,  his  floating  batteries,  301. 

Arcot,  nabob  of,  noticed,  125. 

Armament  against  Havannah,  50. 

Armed  neutrality,  269. 

Arnold,  colonel,  noticed,  155.  Wounded  at  Quebec, 
158;  at  Stillwater,  203;  Made  general,  his  defec 
tion,  265.  Attempts  to  seduce  the  Americans,  268. 
Expedition  to  Virginia,  277. 

Arrests  of  public  orators,  625. 

./3r<ic/es,  thirty-nine,  the, petition  against  rejected,  136. 

Artifices  of  ministers  to  inflame  the  people  against 
the  French,  364. 

Arrears  claimed  by  prince  of  Wales,  481. 

Arbuthnot,  admiral,  abandons  his  convoy,  244. 

Arrival  of  Rochambeau,  265. 

Asghans,  noticed,  97. 

Ash,  general,  surprised,  238. 

Assignats,  French,  issued  by,  393. 

Associations,  against  republicans,  &.C.,  365.  Against 
the  war,  248.    Volunteer,  432. 

Assurances  of  effectual  support  from  house  of  com- 
mons, 13. 

Athol,  duke  and  duchess  of,  noticed,  90. 

Atlee,  colonel,  noticed,  176. 

Attack  on  Jersey,  274. 

Attempt  to  destroy  British  vessels  in  America.  175. 
On  Rhode-Island,  223  ;  failure  of  it,  224.  To  kill 
made  capital,  488.  To  burn  a  British  squadron,  56. 
To  assassinate  the  king,  325. 

Auckland,  lord,  letter  to  states,  383.  Censure  on  bis 
conduct,  385. 

Augsburg,  congress  at,  18. 

Augmentation  of  land  tax,  161.  Of  army  and  navy, 
394.     Of  British  forces.  396. 

Augusta,  princess  royal  of  England,  proposed  to  mar 
ry  the  hereditary  prince  of  Brunswick,  78.  Dowry 
voted  her  by  house  of  commons,  79. 

Austin,  Sophia,  noticed,  572. 

Austerlitz,  battle  of,  506. 

Austria  makes  peace  with  France,  468.  Declares  war 
against  England,  536.    Joins  the  alliance,  577. 

Austrians.  overthrow  of  the,  542.  Expulsion  of,  from 
Italy,  426. 


Babes  "  in  the  wood,"  441. 

Badajos,  capture  of,  564. 

Bailiie,  colonel,  defeated  at  Perimbancura,  271. 

Baird,  Sir  David,  his  conduct  at  the  Cape,  516 
Wounded  at  Corunna,  5:13. 

,  Sir  James,  surprises  Americans,  226. 

Baker,  W.  noticed.  3J2. 

Balfe,  printer  of  North  Briton,  76. 

Baltimore,  attack  on.  594. 

Ballot  for  militia  produces  riot  at  Hexbam,  14. 

Balcarras,  lord,  attacked,  203. 

Barclay,  David,  noticed,  145.  His  plan  of  union  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  America,  146. 

Barras,  count  de,  noticed,  286. 


714 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


BarrS,  colonel,  his  eulogium  on  lord  Chatham,  216. 

Barrivgton,  admiral,  noticed,  231. 

,  lord,  his  motion  to  expel  Wilkes,  121. 

Basque  Road,  attempt  to  burn  British  fleet  at  anchor 
there,  5B. 

Battle  of  Stillwater,  202.    Of  Guildford,  281. 

Baum,  colonel,  defeated,  201. 

Baylis,  Mr.  his  escape,  301. 

Baylor,  lieutenant-colonel,  noticed,  225.  His  party 
surprised  and  massacred,  ib.    Wounded,  ib. 

Bangalore  stormed,  356. 

Bantry  Bay,  mutiny  in,  483. 

Bcauharnois,  Eugene,  married,  520. 

Bedford,  duke  of,  sets  off  for  Paris,  60. 

Beer,  duty  on,  causes  tumult,  41. 

Beckford,  lord  mayor,  presents  city  remonstrance  to  the 
king,  127.    Second  do.  and  reply  to  the  king,  130. 

Bellecombe,  M.  governor  of  Pondicherry,  234. 

Belleisle,  expedition  against,  24.  Its  capitulation,  25. 
Restored,  62. 

Bellingham,  shoots  Perceval ;  tried  and  executed,  567. 

Belligerants,  situation  of,  58. 

Bengal,  its  conquest,  94. 

Bernadotte,  prince  of  Ponte  Corvo,  elected  successor 
to  the  throne  of  Sweden,  555. 

Bernard,  Sir  Francis,  noticed,  115. 

Berne,  entered  by  French,  444. 

Beresford,  general,  noticed,  563.    Wounded,  565. 

,  lord,  noticed,  588. 

Bills,  for  militia  amendments,  41.  For  restraining 
cruelty,  ib.  For  extension  of  duke  of  Bridgewaters 
canal,  ib.  To  regulate  slave  trade,  331.  In  favor 
of  Catholics,  344.    Against  treason,  412. 

Bingham,  captain,  noticed,  560. 

Birmingham,  disgraceful  riots  at,  347.  Rioters  tried 
and  executed,  348. 

Birth  of  prince  of  Wales,  54.  Of  princess  Charlotte, 
413. 

Blucher  visits  England,  587. 

Bouquet,  colonel,  notice  of,  85^  His  campaign  and 
success,  87. 

Boston,  proceedings  at,  noticed,  98.  Further  particu- 
lars on  receiving  Stamp  Act,  ib.  Policy  of  its  in- 
habitants, 148.    Evacuated  by  the  British,  163. 

Bottetourt,  lord,  dissolves  the  American  assemblies, 
126. 

Bougainville,  the  navigator,  noticed,  131. 

Bouille,  marquis  de,  captures  St.  Eustatia,  291. 

Boundaries  of  American  settlements,  61. 

Bourbon,  Isle  of,  capitulates,  545. 

Bousscl,  Monsieur,  his  opinion,  292. 

Boyd,  colonel,  killed,  238. 

Bradstreet,  colonel,  advances  against  American  sav- 
ages, 86. 

Brandt,  count,  noticed,  137. 

Bradley,  Mr.  and  party  taken  prisoners,  261. 

Brazils,  royal  family  of  Portugal  emigrate  to,  528. 

Breton,  Cape,  Isle  of,  ceded  to  Britain,  61. 

Breyman,  colonel,  attempts  to  reinforce  Baum,  201. 
Retreats,  ib.    Killed,  203. 

Bridewell,  New,  burnt,  255. 

Bristol,  earl  of,  ambassador  to  Madrid,  30.  Orders 
sent  to  him,  ib.  His  dispatches  in  reply,  31.  His 
recall,  37. 

Britain  aids  Portugal,  46.  Attempts  negotiation  with 
America,  174. 

Briton,  North,  paper,  published,  72.  Burnt  by  hang- 
man, 76. 

British,  repulsed  at  Fort  Schuyler,  200.  Commission- 
ers to  America  foiled  by  congress,  220.  Publish  their 
manifesto  to  the  people,  221.  Enthusiasm  against 
France,  223.  Successes,  237.  Failure  at  Charles- 
town,  239.  Settlements  in  Africa  captured,  241. 
Ambassador  leaves  France,  486.  Success  in  West 
Indies,  416.  Travellers  in  France  made  prisoners 
nf  war,  491.  Expedition  to  Portugal,  530.  Advances 
into  Spain,  5'Xl. 

Braddock,  general,  noticed,  153. 

Brock,  general,  noticed,  570.     His  gallant  death,  ib. 

Broglio,  marshal,  retreats,  10. 

Brokerage  of  officers  in  army,  church,  or  state,  penal, 
5.39. 

Brown,  major,  noticed,  158. 

Brunswick,  prince  of,  marries  princess  Augusta,  78. 
Troops  of,  arrive  in  America,  165.  Duke  of,  his 
eelebrated  manifesto,  362.  Oels,  duke  of,  his  tal- 
ents, 542. 

Brush,  Crean,  Esq.  noticed,  164. 

Bryan,  colonel,  his  party  dispersed,  260. 

M9«i$iwr^,  eoHBt  de  la  Lippe,  notie«<l,  47. 


Budget,  539,  560,  568. 

Buenos  Ayres,  failure  of  expedition  against,  55.  Un- 
successful attack  on,  522. 

Buford,  colonel,  defeated,  2.58. 

Bulow,  general,  visits  England,  587. 

Bullion  question,  552.     Report  on  it,  553. 

Bunker's  Hill,  battle  of,  150. 

Buonaparte,  Napoleon,  noticed,  393.  His  conduct,  410. 
His  operations  in  Italy,  414.  His  proclamation 
against  the  pope,  426.  Signs  treaty  with  emperor 
of  Germany,  427.  His  expedition  to  Egypt ;  cap- 
tures Malta  and  Alexandria,  445.  Defeats  the  beys ; 
his  proclamation  respecting  Mahomet,  446.  Hia 
conduct  in  Egypt,  453.  Raises  siege  of  Acre,  455. 
Q,uits  his  army,  and  returns  to  France,  456.  His 
arrival  greeted  at  Paris,  ib.  Made  first  consul,  462. 
Makes  proposals  of  peace,  ib.  His  concordat  viith 
the  pope,  476.  Created  first  consul  for  life,  483.  Im- 
poses a  new  constitution  on  France,  ib.  Institutes 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  ib.  Assumes  the  presidency 
of  the  Italian  republic,  485.  Detains  the  English  in 
France  prisoners  of  war,  491.  Seizes  the  due  d'Eng- 
hien,  498.  Elected  emperor  of  the  French,  499. 
Writes  a  letter  to  king  of  England,  501.  Crowns 
himself  king  of  Italy  at  Milan,  505.  Enters  Vien- 
na, 506.  Gains  battle  of  Austerlitz  ;  consequences, 
507.  Chosen  protector  of  the  Rhenish  confedera- 
tion, 519.  Confers  titles  on  his  relations  and  fol- 
lowers, ib.  Gains  battle  of  Jena,  520.  Subsequent 
successes,  ib.  Issues  his  "Berlin  Decree,"  521. 
Places  his  brother  Joseph  on  the  throne  of  Spain, 
529.  His  Spanish  campaign,  530.  Battle  of  Eck- 
muhl,  541.  Retreats  to  Lobau,  542.  Gains  battle 
of  Wagram,  543.  Excommunicated  by  the  pope, 
ib.  Divorced  from  Josephine,  ib.  Marries  arch- 
duchess of  Austria,  554.  His  son  born,  and  entitled 
king  of  Rome,  561.  Makes  overtures  to  England, 
569.  Invades  Russia,  ib.  Retreats,  570.  Flees  to 
Paris,  ib.  Leaves  Paris,  582.  Abdicates,  585.  Re- 
turns from  Elba,  596.  His  success,  ib.  Returns  to 
Paris  after  battle  of  Waterloo,  601.  Abdicates ; 
proclaims  his  son  emperor,  ib.  Surrenders  to  the 
English;  is  sent  to  St.  Helena,  602. 

,  Lucien,  president,  noticed,  461. 

,  Louis,  noticed,  498.  Elected  king  of  Hol- 
land, 519.    Resigns  his  crown,  554. 

,  Jerome,  his  ship  stranded,  516.    Made 

king  of  Westphalia,  521. 

-,  Joseph,  signs  treaty  of  peace,  478.    Made 


king  of  Naples,  518.    Transferred  to  Spain,  529. 

Burdiitt,  Sir  Francis,  his  motion  on  admiralty  droits, 
535.  Motion,  552.  Committed  to  the  Tower;  his 
conduct,  ib. 

Burgoyne,ger\(iTaA,  noticed,  48.  Penetrates  into  Spain, 
ib.  His  success,  ib.  Further  noticed,  149.  His  cam- 
paign, 197.  Surrenders,  205.  Arrives  in  England  ; 
demands  an  inquiry,  218. 

Burke,  his  picture  of  Pitt's  administration,  104.  Ili.^ 
allusion  to  genius  and  power  of  Charles  Townsend, 
110.  His  plan  of  economical  regulation,  248.  Re- 
form bill,  273.  Charge  against  Warren  Hastings, 
324.  His  philippic  against  France,  336.  Second 
invective  on  the  revolution,  345.  Breach  of  his 
friendship  with  Fox,  ib.  Speech  in  favor  of  the  ad- 
dress, 370.    His  death,  428. 

Burrard,  Sir  Harry,  arrives  in  Portugal ;  his  conduct, 
531. 

Bute,  earl  of,  added  to  privy-council,  12.  Resigns 
office,  71. 

Buzar,  battle  of,  95. 

Byland,  count,  his  squadron  taken,  270. 

Byron,  admiral,  noticed,  218. 


Cabinet,  changes  in  the,  62,  102.  Changes  in  minis- 
terial, 111,504. 

Cadwallader,  general,  noticed,  181. 

Castries,  Monsieur,  noticed,  44. 

Calabria,  cardinal  Ruffo  heads  army  in,  457. 

Caldcr,  Sir  Robert,  his  engagement,  508. 

Cambridge,  duke  of,  sent  commander-in-chief  to  Han- 
over, 400.    His  marriage,  616. 

Camden,  lord,  noticed,  90.  Made  lord  chancellor,  104, 
noteQ.  Opposes  indemnity  bill,  107.  Opinion  of  In- 
dia bill,  312.    Made  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  406. 

Cameron,  captain,  killed,  226. 

Campaign  in  Germany,  vicissitudes  of,  17.  Of  Bour- 
bon courts  against  Portugal  commencea,  47.  In 
America,  1777.  191;  Burgoyne's,  197;  of  1779,  234. 
In  Italf  aod  Switzerland,  457. 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


715 


Campbell,  colonel,  noticed,  158. 

Canada,  /[government  of,  345.  Invasion  of,  570.  Cam- 
pai^n  in,  5!)2. 

Canal,  duke  of  Bridgewater's,  41.  Bill  for  its  exten- 
sion passeci,  ib. 

Canninff,  Mr.  advocates  Catholic  cause,  568. 

Captors  of  major  Andre  rewarded  by  congress,  2f)6. 

Capture  of  Fritzlar  and  magazines,  16.  Of  Belleisle, 
25.  Of  Manilla  and  the  Philippines,  55.  Of  the 
richlv  freighted  galley  to  Acapulco,  ib.  Of  French 
merchant  fleet,  56.  Of  Eliabad,  96.  Of  Stoney 
Point,  236.  Of  Mr.  Lawrens,  270.  Of  lord  Corn- 
vvallis,  289.  Of  Martinique,  402.  Of  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  411,  516.  Of  Cura9oa,  523.  Of  the  President 
frigate,  595. 

Caribbs,  the  expedition  against,  140. 

Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  plan  of,  156.  His  escape  to  Que- 
bec, ib. 

Carlisle,  earl  of,  appointed  commissioner  to  America. 
214. 

Carnac,  general,  noticed,  95. 

Caroline  Matilda,  princess  of  England,  noticed,  107. 
Married  to  the  kingof  Denmark,  Christian  VII.,  ib. 
Her  misfortunes,  ib.    Her  death,  137. 

Cash  payments  by  the  bank,  suspension  of,  421.  Pay- 
ments. <i21. 

Cnssel,  Hesse,  makes  peace  with  France,  408. 

Castries,  marquis  de,  his  knowledge  of  naval  force,287. 

Cathcart,  noticed,  410. 

Catherine  II.,  empress  of  Russia,  43.  Behavior  to- 
wards her  husband ;  political  conduct,  ib.  Her 
death,  418. 

Catholic  chapels  demolished  by  London  mob,  254. 
Cluestion  agitated,  and  occasions  change  of  minis- 
try, 471.  Question  renewed,  623.  Committee 
formed,  559. 

Catholics,  Roman,  relief  granted  them,  217.  Bill  in 
favor  of,  344.  Their  discontent,  407.  Act  for  re- 
lief of  the,  488.  Present  petitions,  553.  Their 
claims,  611. 

Causes  and  effects  of  sincere  disposition  of  all  parties 
towards  peace,  58.    Of  rupture  with  Holland,  269. 

Cavendish,  lord  Frederick,  noticed,  45. 

Cawdor,  lord,  his  conduct,  426. 

Cayenne  taken, 545. 

Celebrated  vote  on  the  influence  of  the  throne,  252. 

Chanda  Oeer,  fort  of,  attacked  and  taken,  95,  96. 

Charctte,  Vendean  chief,  408.    Executed,  416. 

Charles  III.  king  of  Spain,  dies,  340. 

IV.  succeeds  to  the  throne,  340. 

IV.  archduke  of  Austria,  resigns  to  his  son, 

who  accepts  as  Ferdinand  VII.,  529. 

XIII.  ascends  Swedish  throne,  544. 

C^arZ^s^ozcn,  unsuccessful  attack  upon,  167.  Taken, 257. 

Charlotte,  princess  of  Wales,  her  birth,  413.  Mar- 
riage, 606.     And  death,  613. 

,  queen  of  England,  her  death  and  charac- 
ter, 618. 

Chastelleux,  chevalier,  noticed,  287. 

Chatham,  lord,  opposes  Indemnity  Bill,  107.  Declines 
all  interference  with  business,  109.  Remarkable 
si)eeches  of,  210.     His  death  and  character,  216. 

,  earl  of,  noticed,  544.    Resigns  his  ofllce  of 

master  general  of  ordnance,  551. 

Chaumont,  treaty  of,  583. 

Chcesman,  captain,  killed,  158. 

Cherokee  chiefs  arrive  in  England,  05. 

China,  embassy  to,  405. 

Choisy,  general  de,  noticed,  289. 

Christian  VII.  king  of  Denmark,  his  death,  536.  Suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  ib. 

club,  noticed,  134. 

Cintra,  convention  of,  531.  Discussed  in  parliament, 
537. 

Circumstances  attending  accession  of  George  III.  to 
the  throne,  11. 

City  feast  to  their  majesties,  30. 

Civil  list,  13.  Revenues  of,  17,  note  1.  Debates  on  it, 
119.    Debt  noticed,  318.     In  arrears,  324,  495. 

Clarence,  duke  of,  noticed,  91.    His  marriage,  616. 

Clark,  Sir  James,  mortally  wounded,  203. 

Clarke,  Mary  Anne,  noticed,  537. 

Clergy  of  New-England  preach  for  the  independence 
of  America,  149. 

Clerk,  Sir  P.  Jennings,  his  motion  to  disqualify  con- 
tractors for  a  seat  in  parliament,  230. 

Clerkenwell  prisons  forced  during  London  riots,  255. 

Clinton,  general,  noticed,  149. 

Clinton,  general  James,  effects  bis  escape,  384. 


Clive,  lord,  noticed,  90.  His  conduct,  97.  Character 
acHailed  ;  death,  139. 

Coalition  ministry,  308.  New,  againiit  the  French,  448. 
Against  France,  505.     Fourth,  ogainst  France,  520. 

Coblentz,  the  rcMidezvous  of  the  French  emigrants,  362. 

Cochrane,  Sir  Alexander,  noticed,  554. 

,  lord,  his  transactions,  5H9.  Conduct  toward* 

him,  ib.    His  casting  vote,  ib. 

Cockbum,  admiral,  noticed,  594. 

Coke,  Mr.  his  motion,  229.    Address  to  king,  308. 

Colchester,  lord,  noticed,  611. 

Collingwood,  admiral,  created  a  peer  with  a  pension, 
for  his  great  services,  509. 

Collyer,  Sir  G.  noticed,  234. 

Colonies,  right  of  taxing  them,  99. 

Colonists,  dissatisfaction  of  the,  87. 

Comartin,  Chonan,  general,  noticed,  408. 

Combermere,  lord,  noticed,  588. 

Commerce,  restrictions  on,  527.  Measures  against 
British,  561. 

Commercial  distress,  aid  voted  to  relieve,  558. 

Commissioners  for  peace,  304. 

Commons,  assemble  during  London  riots  un  ^er  milita- 
ry protection,  255.  Their  alacrity  in  providing  for 
service  of  ensuing  year,  34. 

Commutation  tax,  317. 

Compact,  family,  avowed,  36. 

Compensation  to  North  Americans,  14. 

Compulsive  clause  in  new  Insolvent  Act,  15.  Conse- 
quences attending,  ib.    Opposition  to  it,  ib. 

Conde,  prince  of,  noticed,  44. 

Conduct  of  France  and  Spain  towards  Portugal,  45. 

Confederacy  of  Indian  powers  against  England,  271 
Of  northern  nations,  469. 

Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  519. 

Conferences  with  Spain,  30. 

Congress,  at  Augsburg,  proposal  of,  18.  General,  at 
Philadelphia,  142.  How  constituted — nature  of  its 
deliberations,  143.  American,  second  meeting — its 
acts,  151,  152.  Attempts  to  detach  foreign  troops 
from  pay  of  England,  174.  Its  manifesto,  221.  Re 
solve  to  burn  British  towns,  by  way  of  reprisal,  235. 
A  general  one,  590. 

Connor,  Arthur  O',  tried  and  acquitted,  434. 

Contest,  between  the  printers  and  the  house  of  com- 
mons, 133.  Between  the  crown  and  the  commons, 
313.  Between  military  and  insurgents  in  Ireland, 
436. 

Continental  alliances,  remarks  on,  34.  Engagements. 
330. 

Conreniron,  American,  116.  Acts  of  it,  117.  Between 
France  and  Genoa,  500. 

Conway,  general,  dismissed,  82.  Joins  the  opposition, 
11)0.     His  motion  against  the  war,  295. 

Coote,  Eyre,  Sir,  his  conduct,  291. 

Copenhagen  house,  field  meeting,  411. 

expedition  against,  526. 

Corbet,  major,  governor  of  Jersey,  taken  prisoner. 
274;  ratifies  capitulation  of  island — resumes  his 
command — censured  by  court  martial — dismissed 
his  office,  ib. 

Cordi,  Charlotte,  assassinates  Marat,  390. 

Com.,  scarcity  of,  412.    Bill,  495.    Laws,  603. 

Cornish,  rear  admiral,  noticed,  54. 

Cornwall,  Mr.  chosen  speaker,  272. 

Comwallis,  lord,  noticed,  178.  Appointed  to  command, 
258.  His  policy,  as  a  conqueror,  262.  Retreats,  26:1. 
His  plans  defeated,  280.  Proceeds  to  Virginia,  284. 
Taken  prisoner,  289.  His  campaign  against  Tippoo 
Saib — grants  peace,  receives  his  sons  as  hostages 
for  performance  of  treaty.  3,'>7.  Appointed  viceroy 
of  Ireland,  440.  Issues  "act  of  amnesty,  ib.  Goe.x 
ambassador  to  France,  478.  Signs  treaty  of  peac*-. 
ib.  Appointed  governor  general  of  India,  second 
time,  dies  there,  510. 

,  admiral,  distinguished  retreat,  408. 

Coronation  of  George  III.  and  queen,  30. 

Corsica,  annexed  to  the  British  crown,  400.  Evacu- 
ated, 416. 

Co.<<.tim  Mir,  his  attempt  against  India  r<>mp«ny.  9a 
His  cruelties,  massacres  prisoners  at  Patna.  94. 

Cotton,  Charles,  Sir,  noticed,  532. 

,  Stapylton,  Sir,  his  success,  565. 

County  delegates,  273. 

Country,  disturbed  state  of  the.  613. 

Craig,  major,  noticed,  282. 

Craone,  battle  of,  583. 

Crawford,  general,  noticed,  48. 

CrilUm,  due  de,  conducts  siege  of  Gibraltar,  301. 


716 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


Criminal  law,  noticed,  536.    Code,  620. 

Crosby,  Brass,  lord  mayor,  discharges  Millar,  the 
printer ;  orders  the  deputy  serjeant-at-arms  into  cus- 
tody, who  finds  bail,  133.  Is  sent  to  the  Tower,  134 ; 
refuses  to  back  press-warrants,  ib. 

Cruden,  John,  appointed  commissioner  with  extraor- 
dinary powers,  262. 

Cruger,  lieutenant-colonel,  his  defence  of  Ninety-six 
in  America,  283. 

Cuba  restored  to  Spain,  63. 

Cumberland,  duke  of,  noticed,  dies,  91. 

,  2d  do.  marries  Mrs.  Horton,  136. 

,  3d  do.  his  marriage,  603. 

Ctmningham,  the  American  privateer,  his  conduct,  209. 
Imprisoned  by  France,  released,  &c.,  ib. 

Curtis,  captain,  his  heroism  and  humanity,  302. 

Cushing,  Mr.  noticed,  116. 

Cast,  John,  Sir,  illness  and  death  of,  126. 

Cyder,  duty  on,  levied,  70. 

Czernicheff,  visits  England,  587. 


Dalrymplc,  Sir  Hew,  noticed,  531 . 

Dalyel,  captain,  his  plan  for  surprising  the  American 
savages,  84. 

Danish  fleet,  capture  of,  526.  West-India  Islands, 
surrender  of,  528. 

Darby,  admiral,  escapes,  292. 

Dartmouth,  lord,  receives  American  petition,  153. 

Dashwood,  Sir  Francis,  resigns  ofiice,  71.  Created 
lord  Despencer,  74. 

Daun,  marshal,  noticed,  43. 

Davies,  captain,  discovers  the  Falkland  islands,  131. 

Davison,  general,  killed,  280. 

Deane,  Silas,  noticed,  188. 

Death  of  earl  Egremont,  75.  Of  lord  Chatham,  216. 
Of  the  emperor  Paul  of  Russia,  474.  Of  the  prin- 
cess Charlotte,  613.  Q,ueen  Charlotte,  618.  Duke 
of  Kent,  630.  Of  George  the  3d,  king  of  England ; 
his  character,  ib. 

Debates  on  the  expediency  of  the  German  war,  34. 
Defence  of  it,  35.  On  the  proclamation  of  the  Brit- 
ish commissioners  in  America,  186.  On  the  peace, 
482.  In  cabinet  on  Mr.  Pitt's  proposal  of  war  with 
Spain,  31.  On  the  address,  210.  On  the  manifesto 
of  American  commissioners,  229.  On  Irish  affairs, 
246.    On  the  peace,  305.    On  the  war,  464. 

Debts,  of  the  civil-list,  481. 

Decan,  Nizam  of,  noticed,  124. 

Decatur,  captain,  noticed,  59.5. 

Declaration  of  war  with  Spain,  39.  Of  American  in- 
dependence, 168.    Of  war  with  France,  215. 

Decline  of  lord  North's  influence,  293. 

Decree  of  fraternization,  364. 

Defeat  of  the  hereditary  prince,  17.  Total  of  the 
Spaniards  at  Gibraltar,  302.  Of  the  ministry,  296. 
Its  dissolution,  297. 

Defection  of  Arnold  from  America,  265. 

Defenders  in  Ireland,  433. 

Deficiencies  of  the  civil-list,  17.  JVote  to  chapter  1. 

Delawares,  nation  of,  noticed,  84. 

Delegates,  county,  273. 

Democratic  societies,  395. 

Dempster,  friendly  to  hawkers  and  pedlars,  321. 

Denmark,  Frederick  V.  king  of,  noticed,  67.  Chris- 
tian VII.,  noticed,  68.  Neutrality  of,  405.  Peace 
with,  580. 

Dennevitz,  battle  of,  577. 

Descent  on  Martinico,  49. 

Despard's  conspiracy,  484. 

Dickenson,  John,  noticed,  168. 

Dieppe,  bombarded,  491. 

Differences  in  the  ministry,  117.  Between  France  and 
America,  417.  With  the  United  States  of  America, 
556. 

Difficulties  about  the  mutual  retaining  of  possessions, 
19. 

Digby,  admiral,  captures  French  man-of-war,  256. 

Directory  of  France  elected,  410.    Overthrown,  461. 

Disasters  to  royal  cause  in  America,  158. 

Discussions  on  the  peace,  63.  On  American  affairs, 
119.    Of  quarrel  with  Russia,  347. 

Dismission  of  general  Conway,  82.    Of  ministry,  313. 

Dispute  between  directors  of  East  India  company  and 
proprietors,  106.  With  Spain  about  the  Falkland 
Lslands,  131.  With  Spain  settled,  341.  Between 
France  and  Russia,  500.    With  Holland,  190. 

Disaffection  in  America,  115. 

Dissenters,  bill  for  relief  of,  136.  Protestant  bill  to 
relieve,  230.    To  secure  their  privileges,  bill,  569. 


Dissolution  of  parliament,  17.   Of  parliament  whether 

it  affects  impeachment,  343. 
Distilleries,  536. 

Distresses  of  the  Americans,  262. 
Disturbances  on  account  of  Wilkes,  114. 

in  La  Vendee  terminated,  415. 


Dividends,  unclaimed,  proposal  to  seize,  343. 

Documents  on  state  of  the  country,  627. 

Dol,  bishop  of,  murdered,  409. 

Domingo,  St.  expedition  to,  483. 

Donop,  count,  mortally  wounded  and  taken  prisoner, 

196. 
Dougal,  M',  general,  noticed,  176. 
Douglas,  Sir  James,  noticed,  50. 

Sir  John  and  lady,  noticed,  571. 


Doula  Sujah,  noticed,  94.    Arms  against  English,  95. 

Surrenders  unconditionally,  96. 
Dowdeswell,  Mr.  appointed  chancellor  of  exchequer, 

91.    Noticed,  104. 
Drake,  admiral,  noticed,  287. 

,  ambassador  at  Munich,  499. 

Draper,  colonel,  his  plan  for  invading  the  Philippine 

islands,  54. 
Drayton,  W.  H.  noticed,  220. 
Dresden,  battle  of,  577. 
Droits  of  admiralty,  535. 
Duckworth,  admiral,  sent  against  Minorca,  448.    His 

victory, 516.  Advances  through  the  Dardanelles,  522. 
Duel,  between  Wilkes   and  Martin,   78.     Between 

Pitt  and  Tierney,  432.    Between  Castlereagh  and 

Canning,  546. 
Dumouriez,  general,  noticed,  386.    His  conduct,  ib. 
Duncan,  doctor,  noticed,  79. 

lord,  his  victory,  425. 


Dunkirk,  its  fortifications  and  harbor  to  be  demol- 
ished, 62. 
Dundas,  his  escape,  316. 

,  Sir  David,  retires,  560. 


Dunning,  resigns  his  ofiice  of  solicitor-general,  126. 

His  motion  on  the  influence  of  the  crown,  252. 
Dutch  fleet  captured,  416.    Delivered  up  by  admiral 

Story,  460.    Commissioners,  540. 
Duty,  additional,  on  ale  and  strong  beer,  14.    On  beer, 

causes  tumult  in  London,  41. 

E. 

Easton,  colonel,  noticed,  156. 

Eckmuhl,  battle  of,  541. 

Eden,  Mr.  appointed  American  commissioner,  214. 

Edinburgh  convention,  391.  Its  secretary  and  two 
members  transported,  ib. 

Education  of  the  poor,  617. 

Effects  of  the  late  king's  partiality  to  his  native  do- 
minions, 11.    Ruinous,  of  American  war,  159. 

Egmont,  lord,  continues  in  office,  91. 

EgremonVs,  lord,  refutation  of  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor's manifesto,  38. 

Egypt,  affairs  of,  453,  468.    Expedition  to,  474. 

Elbert,  colonel,  his  surrender,  238. 

Eldon,  lord-chancellor,  noticed,  471. 

Elections,  new,  526. 

Elholm,  captain,  noticed,  241. 

Eliabad,  capture  of,  96. 

Elizabeth,  princess,  sister  to  the  king  of  France,  exe- 
cuted, 404. 

,  princess,  her  marriage,  616. 

Eloquence  of  Burke  and  Grenville  contrasted,  121. 

Elliott,  lieutenant-general,  noticed,  51. 

,  general,  his  conduct,  275.    Great  foresight,  301 

Defeats  all  attempts  against  Gibraltar,  302. 

Ellis,  Welbore,  noticed,  272.  Appointed  secretary,  295. 

Embarrassments  of  the  prince  of  Wales,  326. 

Embargo  on  Russian,  Swedish,  and  Danish  vessels, 
472. 

Emmett  and  others  executed,  489. 

Emperor  of  Germany  declared  "  Emperor  of  Austria," 
500. 

Engagement  between  Keppel  and  d'Orvilliers,  227. 

Enghien,  due  d',  murder  of,  498. 

England  declares  war  against  Holland,  411.  Assists 
Portugal,  46. 

English  ambassador  recalled  from  Madrid,  37.  Gov- 
ernment offer  assistance  to  Holland,  364.  Refused, 
ib.    Army  return  from  the  Continent,  410. 

Enlistment,  535.     Foreign,  bill,  623. 

Entertainment  given  to  royal  family  at  Guildhall,  30. 

Envoys,  British,  complaint  against,  499. 

Equipment  of  squadron  of  men-of-war  and  trans 
ports,  24. 

Erskint  moves  an  address,  313. 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


717 


Escape  of  the  stadtholder,  405. 

Establishment  of  civil-list,  13. 

Estaing,  d',  his  fleet  noticed,  218.    Wounded,  241. 

Estauches,  d',  his  command,  278. 

Etries,  marshal  d',  noticed,  44. 

Europe,  movements  iii,  490.    State  of,  511. 

Eustatia,  St.  taken,  275.  Its  prodigious  wealth,  ib. 
Conduct  obi^erved  on  its  capture,  276. 

Ewi,\fr,  general,  noticed,  181. 

ExchtifUer- Bills,  611. 

Exertions  of  congress,  180. 

Exmoulh,  lord,  his  expedition,  607. 

Expedition  against  Belleisle,  24.  Against  East  Flori- 
da, 225.  To  North  Holland,  460.  Of  commodore 
Johnstone,  290. 

Expenditure,  national,  622. 

Expulsion  of  Wilkes  from  house  of  commons,  80.  Of 
the  Austrians  from  Italy,  426. 

Eyre,  captain,  noticed,  554. 


Failure  at  Porto  Rico  and  Santa  Cruz,  425. 

Falkland  Islands,  disputes  with  Spain  respecting  them, 
131. 

Family  compact,  some  account  of  it,  27.  How  avow- 
ed, 36. 

Farmer,  captain,  noticed,  132. 

Fayette,  marquis  de  la,  wounded,  194.  Marches  into 
Virginia,  285.  His  military  conduct,  ib.  Further 
noticed,  397. 

Ferdinand,  prince,  his  plan  of  attack,  21. 

IV.  king  of  Naples,  abdicates,  and  comes 

on  board  an  English  man-of-war,  448. 

VII.  of  Spain,  restoration  of,  567. 


Ferguson,  governor,  noticed,  291. 

,  doctor,  noticed,  219. 

Fielding,  commodore,  captures  a  Dutch  squadron,  270. 

Mnaiiccs,  431,  463,  487,  524,  5:«,  589,  605.  Flattering 
state  of,  349,  420,  481. 

Fishery,  Newfoundland,  rights  established,  61. 

Fitzgerald,  Edward,  lord,  taken,  434. 

Fitzherbert,  appointed  plenipotentiary  for  peace,  304. 

.  Mrs.  noticed,  327. 

Fitzwilliam,  lord,  affirms  India  companv's  bankruptcy, 
309.     Recalled  from  Ireland,  406.    Displaced,  627. 

Fleet  prison  burnt,  255. 

Fletc/fer;'co\rtnc\,  his  disaster,  271. 

,  Sir  Robert,  commands  Indian  army,  95.  Cap- 
tures fort  of  Chanda  Gheer ;  its  governor's  remark- 
able speech,  96.    Takes  Eliabad,  ib. 

Fleury,  lieutenant-colonel,  236. 

Flood,  Mr.  his  motion  for  parliamentary  reform,  338. 

Florida  ceded  by  Spain,  61. 

Forbes,  lieutenant,  noticed,  53. 

Ford,  colonel,  noticed,  125. 

Foreign  affairs,  614.  Troops  landed  on  Isle  of  Wight, 
396. 

Forest,  New,  bill,  352. 

Fortescue,  lord,  his  remarks  on  the  house  of  peers,  299. 

Fortifications,  proposed  new  plan  of,  ;i22. 

Forts  reduced  by  marquis  of  Granby,  16. 

Fothergill,  doctor,  noticed,  145.  His  letter  to  Frank- 
lin, 147. 

Fox,  Charles,  noticed,  62.  Appointed  lord  of  the  ad- 
miralty, 126.  His  ironical  speech,  212.  His  re- 
marks, 231.  Remarkable  oration,  254.  Introduces 
his  Marriage  Act.  274.  India  Bill  thrown  out  by 
the  peers,  312.  Elected  for  Westminster,  though 
not  returned  by  high  bailiff.  315.  Obtains  damages 
f^r  this  in  King's  Bench.  316.  His  remarks  on  Irish 
bill,  321.  Amends  Sinking  Fund,  324.  His  senti- 
ments on  slave  trade,  335.  His  sentiments  on  French 
revolution,  337.  Feelings  on  Burke's  breach  of 
friendship,  346.  In  opposition  to  the  address,  368. 
Opposes  address,  380.  His  motion  to  ascertain  the 
precise  grounds  of  war,  384.  Sends  intelligence  to 
Talleyrand  of  plot  to  assassinate  Buonaparte,  514. 
His  wish  for  peace  ;  death  and  character,  515. 

France,  duplicity  of  her  ministry,  19.  Negotiation  for 
peace  with,  resumed,  25.  Her  conduct  towards  Por- 
tugal, 45.  Declaration  of  war,  46.  Disasters  sus- 
tained by,  56.  Sends  warlike  stores  to  America,  192. 
Preliminaries  of  peace  with,  304.  Commercial 
treaty  with,  325.  Considered  by  the  commons,  326. 
Affairs  of,  glanced  at,  336.  Its  revolution,  337.  So- 
licits offices  of  Britain  in  preserving  peace,  361. 
Delivered,  ib.  Manifestoes  against,  362.  National 
convention  of,  constituted,  363.  Declares  war 
against  Britain  and  Holland,  383.  Queen  of,  her 
trial  and  execution,  392.    Makes  peace  with  Spain, 


408.  Hesse  Casael  and  Tuicanv,  ib.  Princetf  of, 
exchanged  for  deputies  delivered  to  Austria  by  Du 
mouriez,  409.  State  of,  417.  Her  measures  against 
British  commerce,  4)H.  Internal  affairs  of,  428 
Makes  peace  with  Austria,  468.  With  Austria. 
Russia,  and  Prussia,  507.  AnnexationH  to,  554. 
Terms  imposed  on,  605. 

France,  Isle  of,  capitulates.  553. 

Franklin,  doctor,  noticed.  141.  His  effort  at  concilia- 
tion, 145.  Plan  founded  thereon,  ib.  Appointed 
head  of  post-office  in  America,  152.  His  reply  to 
lord  Howe,  177.     Ambassador  to  France,  213. 

Fraier,  general,  killed,  203. 

Frederick,  William,  brother  to  George  III.,  dies,  91. 

VI.  ascends  the  throne  of  Denmark,  538. 

,  William,  king  of  Prussia,  dies,  428. 


Frederica,  princess  of  Prussia,  married  to  duke  of 
York,  .350. 

French,  advantageous  position  of  the,  15.  Squadron 
arrives  in  America,  222.  Ambassador  to  congress, 
ib.  Fleet  on  the  English  coast,  242.  Fleet  defeated 
by  Rodney,  300.  Ambassador,  official  complaint  by, 
361.  Disposition  of  the  king,  363.  Priests  arrive 
in  multitudes  in  England,  ib.  Ambassador's  me- 
morial on  situation  of  England  and  France  answer- 
ed by  lord  Grenviile,  373.  Ambassador  ordered  to 
leave  England,  374.  Convention,  proposes  to  treat 
for  peace,  385.  Declares  war  against  Spain,  388. 
Affairs,  391.  Calendar,  393.  Extraordinary  efforts 
of,  to  recruit  army,  394.  Government,  state  of,  404. 
Its  sanguinary  proceedings,  ib.  Progress  in  Hol- 
land, 405.  Successful  in  West  Indies,  408.  Makes 
peace  with  Prussia,  ib.  New  constitution,  409. 
Land  in  Wales,  426.  Compel  the  emperor  to  make 
peace,  427.  Land  at  Killala,  and  surrender,  441. 
Ho.stile  movement  of,  against  Switzerland,  444. 
Enter  Berne,  enforce  a  new  constitution,  ib.  Re- 
turn- from  Syria  to  Egypt,  455.  Directory  over- 
thrown, 461.  Evacuate  Egypt,  476.  New  consti- 
tution, 483.  Driven  from  St.  Domingo,  490.  Fleets 
attempt  to  capture  West  India  islands,  507.  En- 
ter Portugal,  528.  Fleet,  attack  on,  545.  Convoy 
destroyed,  ib. 

captain,  deceived  into  a  surrender  of  his 


post,  241. 

Friends  of  the  people,  society  of,  353. 
Fritzlar,  capture  of,  with  several  magazines,  6J6. 
Fucntes,  count  de,  his  manifesto,  38. 

G. 

Oage,  general,  noticed,  117.  His  judicious  conduct,  ib. 
Appointed  governor,  142. 

Oalloway,  his  charge  against  general  Howe,  232. 

Oalves,  Bernardo,  don  de,  takes  Mobile,  268. 

Oansevort,  colonel,  his  message,  200. 

Gardiner,  major,  noticed,  238. 

Gates,  general,  his  conduct  towards  Burgoyne's  army, 
206.    Defeated,  261.    Succeeded  by  Greene,  278. 

Galleon,  from  Manilla  to  Acapulco,  taken,  55. 

Oaudaloupe,  isle  of,  capitulates,  554.  Restored  to 
France,  61. 

Geary,  admiral,  captures  a  rich  squadron,  274. 

Genoa,  evacuated,  467. 

Gentoos,  distressed  state  of,  138. 

George  III.  king  of  England,  accession  to  the  throne. 
11.  First  meets  his  council  at  Carlton-house;  his 
declaration  to  them ;  subscribes  instrument  to  main- 
tain church  of  Scotland;  proclamation  of;  adds 
duke  of  York  and  earl  of  Bute  to  list  of  privy -coun- 
sellors, 12.  Prorogues  parliament ;  his  first  speech 
to  both  houses  of  parliament,  ib.  Proposes  plan  for 
securing  independence  of  judges,  15.  His  speech  on 
closing  parliament,  ib.  His  sentiments  on  the  prop- 
er use  of  conquests,  17.  Exempt  fVom  personal  or 
political  prejudices,  29.  His  choice  of  a  consort,  ib. 
Speech  to  parliament,  33.  Message  to  commons, 
announcing  proposed  nuptials  of  his  sister  princess 
Augusta  with  prince  duke  of  Brunswick.  78.  Be- 
stows 72,300/.  French  prize-moneys  in  aid  of  the 
nation  ;  illness  and  recovery,  90.  Institutes  royal 
academy.  118.  His  death,  630.  Character  of  bis 
reign,  631. 

Germaine,  lord  George  Sackville,  appointed  secretary 
for  America,  162.  His  information  to  parliament. 
294.    Created  a  peer,  295. 

German  confederacy,  sums  voted  for  support  of,  13. 
War  debated  on  the,  31.  Protested  against,  40 
Auxiliaries,  384. 

Germany,  campaign  of,  17.  Empress  queen  of,  notic 
ed,  68.    Emperor  of,  mediator  for  peace,  384.    Eiu- 


718 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


peror  of,  his  manifesto  against  France,  362.  Makes 
peace  with  Fiance,  507.    Campaign  in,  550. 

Oibraltar,  its  siege  raised,  302.  Conipietelj'  relieved,  ib. 

Ooddard,  general,  storms  Ahmedabah,  270. 

Gordon,  lord  George,  president  of  the  Protestant  as- 
sociations, 254.  Presents  petition  to  house  of  com- 
mons, ib.  Committed  to  the  Tower,  255.  Tried  for 
high  treason,  and  acquitted,  ib. 

Ooree  restored  to  France,  62.    Taken,  496. 

Oower,  lord,  noticed,  103.  His  charge  against  lord 
Chatham,  211. 

Oovernment,  form  of  independent  American,  170.  Of 
Canada,  345. 

Grafton,  duke  of,  resigns  office,  102.  Joins  opposi- 
tion, 160. 

Graham,  lieutenant-general,  his  exploits,  562.  Ac- 
tivity, 565. 

Graiihj,  marquis  of,  reduces  forts  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Fritzlar,  16,  Recommends  accommodation  with 
America,  210. 

Grant,  captain,  noticed,  84. 

,  noticed,  175. 

— ,  general,  his  expedition,  241. 

Granville,  lord,  noticed,  75. 

Grattan,  his  address,  298.    Vote  of  money  to  him,  ib. 

Graves,  admiral,  fleet  of,  265. 

Grcathead,  Henry,  rewarded  for  his  invention  of  life- 
boat, 482. 

Greenwich  hospital,  abuses,  232. 

Greene,  colonel,  presented  with  a  sword  by  congress, 
196.    Succeeds  Gates,  278. 

Gregory,  general,  his  brigade,  262. 

Grenada,  island  of,  its  capture,  50.    Taken,  416. 

Grenville,  Mr.  George,  noticed,  59.  His  speech  in  fa- 
vor of  taxing  America,  99. 

,  bill  for  determining  disputed  elections,  128. 

Receives  royal  assent,  ib. 

,  lord,  reply  to  Prince-Regent,  629. 

Grey,  lord,  do.  629. 

,  major-general,  225.    His  nickname,  ib. 

,  De,  appointed   lord  chief-justice;  resigns  the 

bench,  256. 

Gnichen,  count  de,  joins  Spanish  fleet,  292. 

Guildhall,  entertainment  given  to  their  majesties,  30. 

Gustavus,  king  of  Sweden,  expelled  the  throne,  544. 

H. 

Habeas  corpus  act,  suspended,  187.   Suspension  of,  395. 

Continued,  406.    Suspended  in  Ireland,  492. 
Hadjield,  fires  at  the  king,  466. 
Halifax,  earl  of,  noticed,  59.    Appointed  privy-seal ; 

his  death,  135. 
Hall,  lieutenant-colonel,  noticed,  198. 
Hammond,  Sir  Andrew  Snape,    examined  by  com- 
mons, 231. 
Hancock,  John,  noticed,  116.    Elected  president  of 

congress,  151. 

,  general,  noticed,  223. 

Hanomer,  makes  peace  with  France,  408.    Occupation 

of,  472,  518.     Invasion  of,  490. 
Harcourt,  earl  of,  appointed  lord-lieutenant,  137. 

,  lieutenant-colonel,  takes  general  Lee,  179, 

Hardships  of  American  campaign,  184. 

Hardwicke,  lord-chancellor,  noticed,  126. 

Hardy,  Sir  Charles,  retires  with  his  fleet,  242.    Dies, 

279. 
Harkimer,  general,  assembles  militia,  200.    Killed,  ib. 
Hartland,  admiral,  noticed,  227. 
Harlcy,  sheriff",  wounded  by  London  mob,  78. 
Harrison,  his  invention  of  time-piece,  41.    Rewarded 

by  parliament  for  it,  ib. 
Harvey,  captain,  noticed,  52. 
Haslet,  colonel,  killed,  183. 
Hastings,  Warren,  vote  of  censure  on,  299.    Burke's 

charge  against  him,  324.    His  trial,  331.    Resumed, 

344.    Trial  adjourned  till  next  session,  384.    And 

acquittal,  407. 
Hatche,  colonel,  noticed,  176. 
Havannah,  armament  against  it,  50.    Description  of 

its  harbor,  51.    Surrender  of,  53.    Immense  booty 

found  there,  54. 
Hawke,  Sir  Edward,  removed,  133. 
Hawkers'  tax,  320.    Much  relieved,  334. 
Hawkeshury,  lord,  signs  preliminary  treaty,  478. 
Hawkins,  doctor,  noticed,  79. 
Heherden,  doctor,  noticed,  79. 
Heister,  general  de,  commander  of  Hessians  in  Ame 

rica,  175. 


Helder,  battle  of  the,  460. 

Helvetic,  republic,  formed  by  France,  444. 

Hermione,  Spanish  register-ship,  captured,  54. 

Hertford,  earl  of,  noticed,  91. 

Hessians,  captured  at  Trenton,  181. 

Hexham,  riot  at,  14. 

High  bailiff  of  Westminster,  his  conduct  in  refusing 
to  return  Fox,  316. 

Hill,  general,  his  conduct,  564. 

,  lord,  noticed,  588. 

Hillsborough,  earl  of,  noticed,  75.  Appointed  colonial 
secretary,  HI.    His  circular  letter.  119. 

His  Majesty  George  III.  first  speech  to  both  houses  of 
parliament,  12. 

Hoche,  general,  noticed,  409. 

Hofer,  the  Tyrolese  chief,  his  talents,  543. 

Holland,  lord,  creation  of,  71. 

,  noticed,  91.    Concludes  alliance,  offensive 

and  defensive  with  France,  411.  Made  a  republic, 
417.  Declares  war  against  Britain,  ib.  Its  annex- 
ation to  France,  554.  Revolution  in,  578.  Treaty 
with,  590. 

Holy  ^alliance,  605. 

Honduras,  right  of  cutting  logwood  ceded  to  England, 
62.    Convention  relative  to,  325. 

Honors  conferred  on  officers,  588. 

Hood,  admiral,  created  an  Irish  peer,  300. 

Hope,  captain,  noticed,  595. 

,  general,  do.  533. 

Hopkins,  commodore,  blockaded  by  English,  179. 

Horner,  noticed,  532. 

Horton,  Mrs.  noticed  as  marrying  the  duke  of  Cum- 
berland, 136. 

Hoste,  captain,  his  victory,  561. 

Hotham,  commodore,  sailing  of  his  squadron,  240. 
His  v'3tory,  407. 

Houghton,  general,  his  gallant  death,  563. 

Howard,  general,  wounded,  282. 

Howe,  colonel,  noticed,  51. 

,  general,  do.  149. 

,  Sir  William,  do.  167. 

,  general  Robert,  noticed,  225. 

,  lord,  his  victory,  400. 

Huger,  general,  left  in  command  of  American  army, 
279.    Wounded,  282. 

Hughes,  Sir  Edward,  noticed,  291.  Destroys  shipping 
of  Hyder  Ally,  ib.    Takes  Trincomal6,  301. 

Hull,  general,  his  surrender,  570. 

Humbert,  general,  noticed,  441. 

Hunt,  captain,  noticed,  131. 

,  member  of  parliament,  expelled  for  peculation, 

553. 

,  orator,  noticed,  625.    Found  guilty,  627. 

Huntingdon,  earl  of,  leaves  office,  126. 

Hutchinson,  governor,  noticed,  141.  Leaves  America 
for  England,  142. 

Hyde,  lord,  appointed  chancellor  of  Lancaster,  135. 

Hyder,  Ally,  noticed,  124  His  character  and  conduct, 
ib.    Defeated,  29L    His  death,  309. 

I. 

Ulegal  meetings,  609. 

Illegality  of  general  warrants,  79. 

Illness  of  king  George  III.,  90,  332. 

Illuminations  on  king's  recovery,  334. 

Impeachment  of  Hastings,  voted  by  house  of  com- 
mons, 329.  In  parliament,  whether  affected  by  its 
dissolution,  ;M3. 

Impey,  Sir  Elijah,  chief-justice  of  India,  proceedings 
of,  273. 

Impolitic  proceedings  in  North  Carolina,  2.58. 

Income,  relinquishment  of,  by  ministers,  69.  Na- 
tional, 622. 

Income,  tax,  449.    Repealed,  481. 

Independency  of  the  judges  secured,  15. 

India  company,  Mir  Cossim's  attempt  against,  92. 
Stock  debates,  105.  Indemnity  bill  of,  107.  Scru- 
tiny of  it^  affairs,  109.  Its  proposals  accepted,  ib 
Petition  parliament,  110.  Restrained  from  increas- 
ing their  dividend,  ib.  Act  renewed,  111.  Extra- 
ordinary fall  of  stock,  124.  Loan  bill  passed,  137. 
Traflic  in  appointments,  539. 

India,  court  of  judicature,  instituted  in,  137.  Successes 
in,  291.  Fox's  bill,  310.  Thrown  out  by  the  peers, 
312.  Declaratory  act,  331.  State  of  339.  War  in, 
341.  Statement  of  its  revenues,  355.  Successful 
war  in,  356.  Insurrection  in,  523.  Hostilities  in 
604.    Affairs  of,  608. 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


719 


Iihiian  affairs,  271,  273,  309. 

Indiana,  of  America,  cause  of  diPtnrbances  with.  83. 
Commence  hostilities,  84.  Treaty  with,  86.  Join 
Biirgoyrie's  army,  198.  Their  barbarities,  ib.  Dis- 
mayed by  Schuyler's  account,  200. 

Indies,  West,  proceedings  in,  484. 

Indisposition  of  the  kin?,  493. 

Infiexihility  of  the  Ensjlish  secretary  Chatham,  26. 

Influence,  secret,  alluded  to,  91. 

Inglejield,  captain,  noticed,  300. 

Inquiries,  as  to  failure  of  negotiation,  27. 

Insolvent  act,  15.     Repeal  of  compelling  clause,  34. 

Instructions  to  ambassador  at  Madrid,  39. 

Insurrection  of  royalists  in  Brittany  and  Poitou,  388. 

Intelligence  of  Burgoyne's  defeat,  211. 

Interference  with  affairs  of  Holland,  329. 

Inundations,  remarkable,  in  consequence  of  heavy 
rains,  135. 

Invasion  of  England,  476. 

Ireland,  advantageous  acts  in  favor  of,  147.  Offers 
to  raise  volunteer  force,  1G2.  Accepted  and  raised, 
242.  Its  trade  relieved,  217.  Affairs  of.  2r(8.  French 
attempt  to  invade,  416.  Union  with,  proposed,  450. 
Proceedings  thereon,  451.  Martiallaw  in,  4i)2.  Bill 
respecting,  52t).    State  of,  580. 

Irish  parliament  make  overtures.  111.  Commercial 
propositions,  322.  Parliament,  proceedings  of,  386. 
Origin  and  progress  of  Rebellion,  432.  Rebellion, 
objects  of  it,  440.    Insurrection,  close  of  it,  442. 

Irishmen,  united  societies  of,  433. 

Irnham,  lord,  noticed,  136. 

Irwin,  inventor  of  the  marine  chair,  41.  Receives  re- 
ward from  parliament,  ib. 

Italy,  campaign  in,  457.    Affairs  of,  537. 


Jackson,  (spy)  his  employment  by  France,  433. 

Jaffa,  capture  of,  453. 

Jaffier,  Mir,  noticed,  93. 

James  II.  king,  noticed;  opinion  of  hia  abdication, 

108. 
Jameson,  lieutenant-colonel,  receiveg  Andr6  prisoner, 

2i)6. 
Jay,  ambassador  from  America,  405. 
Java,  capture  of,  585.    Restoration  of  it,  630. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  noticed,  213. 
Jena,  battle  of,  520. 
Jcvkinson,  Charles,  Esq.  appointed  lord  of  treasury ; 

his  talents.  111. 
Jenner,  doctor,  receives  vote  of  parliament  for  his 

invaluable  discovery  of  vaccination  (or  cow  pox), 

482. 
Jernis,  Sir  John,  his  victory;  created  a  peer,  424. 
John,  (the  painter)  his  plot,  188. 
John,  St.  island,  ceded  to  Britain,  63. 
Johnson,  Sir  W.  noticed,  86. 

,  Sir  John,  do.  197- 

Johnstone,  governor,  named  commissioner  to  America, 

214.    His  attempts  by  private  correspondence  pre- 
judicial, 220. 

,  commodore,  his  expedition,  290. 

Jointure  granted  to  the  c(ueen,  33. 

Jones,  Paul,  his  conduct,  242.    His  naval  actione,  243. 

His  surrender  demanded  as  a  pirate,  245. 
Jonrdan,  noticed,  415. 

Jubilee  of  reign  of  king  George  III.  obserTcd,  546. 
Judges  made  independent,  15. 
Juries,  rights  of,  in  libel  cases,  344. 


Kalb,  baron  de,  general,  noticed,  260. 

Kearsley,  George,  printer  of  North  Briton,  Ti. 

Keatinfr,  colonel,  noticed,  553. 

Kempevfelt,  admiral,  retreats,  292. 

Kent,  duke  of.  his  marriage,  616.    Death  and  cbarac< 

ter,  630. 
Kcppel,  major-general,  noticed.  51. 
,  commodore,  noticed,  51.    Capture*  a  fleet  of 

French  nieruharitmen.  56. 
,  admiral.  comnin'idH  prand  fleet,  2?M.    Tal  ps 

two  French  frigates.  227.    Engages  D'OrviJIiers;  his 

trial  and  acquittal,  228. 
Kilwardcn,  lord,  murder  of,  489. 
Kinir  George  III.  hie  iinsl  speech.  12.     I!liif«  '/',  90. 

Proc«>eriing8  thereon  ;  recovery,  ib.    SabstaiM'C  of 

his  speech.  107.    Reply  to  city  remonstrance,    130. 

Royal  conduct,  ib.    Reviews  navy  at  Portsoi  outb, 

140.     Speech  to  parliament, 293.    Dp.  3i0.    A  J  CQipt 


to  assassinate  him,  325.  His  humanity  thereon,  ib. 
Speech  to  both  houses,  .3.32.  lndiap<^mition,  ib.  Re- 
covery, 334.  Returns  thanks  at  St.  Paul's  cathe- 
dral, ib.  Speech,  STW.  Message  to  commons  on 
French  affairs,  374.  Presents  sword  and  medal  to 
earl  Howe,  401.  Transmits  medals  to  flag  officers 
and  captains,  ib.  Speech,  407.  Assaulted  going  to 
parliament,  412.  His  sp^-ech  there,  ib.  Attempt  on 
his  life,  466.  Return  of  illness,  472.  His  regard 
to  his  coronation-oath,  470.  Indisposition  of,  493. 
Speech,  502.  Completes  fifty  years'  reign,  54(5.  Re- 
joicings in  consequence,  ib.  Malady,  557.  Increase 
of  it,  566.  Change  in  the  health  of,  630.  His  death 
and  character,  ib. 

King's  Bench  Prison,  burnt,  255. 

Kingsborough,  lord,  set  at  liberty ;  Wexford  delivered 
to  him,  4.39. 

Kinnon,  general  M',  mortally  wounded,  564. 

Kniphausen,  general,  noticed,  178. 

Knox,  colonel,  noticed,  176. 

,  general,  takes  St.  Vincent,  416. 


Lake,  lord,  his  services,  510. 

Land  Tax,  reduced,  108 ;  increased,  138 ;  redemption 

of,  431. 
Langara,  Don  Juan,  defeated  and  taken  prisoner,  256. 
Langdale,  Mr.  (distiller)  house  burnt  by  rioters,  256. 
Lauderdale,  lord,  proceeds  to  Paris  to  negotiate,  515- 
Laudohn,  marshal,  noticed,  44. 
Laurens,  Henry,  elected  president  of  congress,  197. 

His  letter  to  the  British  commissioners,  219.  Taken 

prisoner,  270.    Committed  to  the  Tower  for  high 

treason,  271. 
,  lieutenant-colonel,  remarkable  situation  of. 


Lauriston,  colonel,  arrives  with  treaty  of  peace,  478. 

Laws  of  Militia,  amended,  41. 

Lee,  colonel,  noticed,  49. 

,  Mr.  do.  153. 

,  general,  do.  154. 

,  Henry  Richard,  first  mover  of  American  inde- 
pendence, 167. 

,  major,  noticed ;   captures  British  garrison  at 

Powles  Hook,  237. 

Lefebvre.  general,  his  conduct,  461. 

Leipsic,  battle  of,  557. 

Lennox,  lord  George,  48. 

Leslie,  major-general,  takes  possession  of  Charles- 
town,  257. 

Lexington,  battle  of,  148. 

Libel  cases,  rights  of  juries  in,  344. 

bill  passes,  352. 

Life-boat  noticed,  482. 

Lincoln,  general,  wounded,  201. 

Linois,  admiral,  repulsed,  497. 

Livingstone,  colonel,  noticed,  158. 

Loan  of  1,200,000/.,  14.  Interest  provided  for  by  ad- 
ditional duty  on  ale,  ib.  To  India  company  of 
1,400,000/.,  137.    To  Germany,  406. 

Logwood,  right  of  cutting  it  ceded  to  Britain,  62. 

London,  negotiation  at,  19.  City  of,  its  remonstrance 
to  the  king,  127.  Sends  up  a  second,  130.  A  third 
and  fourth,  VM    Petitions  in  favor  of  America,  146. 

Loudon,  earl  of,  noticed,  48. 

Longitude,  reward  for  ascertaining  the,  41. 

Lffughborough,  lord,  (Wedderburne)  tries  London  riot- 
ers by  special  commission,  256.  Made  lord-chan- 
cellor, 370. 

Louis  XVII.  dies  in  the  temple,  409. 

XVIIL  withdraws  from  Venetian   territories, 

414.     His  entrance  into  Paris,  586. 

Lovel,  general,  noticed,  237. 

Lowndes,  president,  noticed,  240. 

Lowther,  Sir  James,  his  motion,  293. 

Lucia,  St.  taken,  416. 

Luekner,  general,  noticed,  44. 

Luttrell.  colonel,  vacates  his  seat  in  parliament ;  ofh 
poses  Wilkes ;  state  of  the  poll ;  consequences,  121 

Lutzen,  battle  of,  576. 

Lynch,  Sir  William,  noticed,  117. 

Lynedoch,  lord,  noticed,  588. 

Lyf.tlef.4m,  lord.  78.  Celebrated  speech  of,  ib.  His 
patriotism,  107. 

M. 

Macurtnef,  earl,  sent  ambasMdor  to  China,  40S. 
Mack,  general,  surrender  of,  505. 


720 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  noticed,  620. 

Macleane,  colonel,  noticed,  237.  - 

Macnamara,  captain,  noticed,  55. 

Madeira,  occupied  by  Britain,  474. 

Madrid,  insurrection  at,  52D.  Evacuated  by  the 
French,  ib.    Capture  of,  565. 

Mafraw,  colonel,  capitulates  at  Fort  Washington,  179. 

Mahrattas,  noticed,  97. 

Maida,  battle  of,  518. 

Maitland,  lieutenant-coionel,  noticed,  240. 

,  lord,  his  splendid  talents,  273. 

Marlborough.,  duke  of,  noticed,  75. 

Malmsbury,  lord,  sent  ambassador  to  France,  429. 

Malta  taken,  469. 

Maltby,  captain,  noticed,  132. 

Maltese,  proj)erty  in  Spain  seized,  483. 

Man,  Isle  of,  its  sovereignty  purchased,  90. 

Manchester,  disturbances  at,  613,  615.  Meeting,  dis- 
persion of,  625. 

,  duke  of,  resolution  in  house  of  peers,  ICO. 

Manilla,  governor  of,  his  character,  54.  Its  capt'jre, 
55.  Saved  from  justly  merited  pillage,  though  taken 
by  storm,  ib. 

Mauley,  captain,  captures  an  ordnance  vessel  from 
England,  154. 

Mansfield,  lord,  his  patriotism,  107.  His  opinion  of 
the  American  war,  161.  House  in  London  destroy- 
ed during  riots,  255. 

Mantua,  its  surrender,  426. 

Marat,  death  of,  390. 

Marengo,  battle  of,  467. 

Maria  Louisa,  archdutchess  of  Austria,  her  marriage, 
554. 

Marion,  general,  noticed,  263. 

Maroon  war  terminates,  408. 

Marriage  bill  proposed,  273. 

of  the  duke  of  York,  350. 

of  the  prince  of  Wales,  407. 

Martial  Law,  489. 

Martinico,  isle  of,  descent  on,  49.  Its  surrender,  50. 
Restored  with  Marigalante  to  France,  61.  Taken, 
402. 

Massachusetts,  votes  an  army  to  defend  her  state,  149. 

Matthews,  general,  noticed,  178. 

Maxwell,  general,  surprises  Elizabeth  Town,  183. 

MPherson,  John,  captain,  killed,  158. 

Mecklenburg,  princess  Charlotte  of,  chosen  by  George 
III.  as  queen,  29. 

Meeting  of  new  parliament,  33.  Of  parliament,  209, 
229,  336.    In  the  navy,  422. 

Mehee  de  la  Touche,  noticed,  499. 

Melville,  lord,  proceedings  against,  502.  Resigns 
situation,  503.  Erased  from  privy-council,  505. 
Impeached,  514. 

Memo-nal  of  navy  officers  presented  to  the  king,  228- 

of  French  executive,  373.     Replied  to  by 

lord  Grenville,  ib. 

Mends,  captain,  hi.s  squadron,  sources  of,  550. 

Mercer,  general,  receives  three  bayonet  wounds,  whiiii 
occasion  his  death,  183. 

Message  r<3spectinff  France,  486. 

Messages,  from  Prince-Regent,  611. 

Mettemich,  prince,  visits  England,  587. 

Middleton,  surgeon,  noticed,  79. 

Miles,  colonel,  noticed,  175. 

Military  events  on  the  Continent,  386.  Operations  on 
the  Continent,  397.  Preparations,  487.  Arrange- 
ments, 512.    Plan  of  lord  Castlereagh,  526. 

Militia,  ballot,  productive  of  riot,  14.  New,  uncon- 
stitutional, 161.  Bill  to  raise  Scotch,  162.  Reject- 
♦"d,  ib.  Regulations,  232.  Called  out,  365.  Extend 
their  services,  432.  Consolidation  of  laws,  482. 
Local,  noticed,  535.    Augmentation  of,  537. 

Ministers,  relinquish  income,  609. 

Ministerial  appointments,  515.  Disputes  and  changes, 
S-lfi.  Differences,  566.  Negotiations,  567.  Profu- 
sion, 188. 

Ministry,  conduct  of,  32,  Steps  taken  by,  33.  Change 
of,  102.  Defeat  of,  297.  Di.ssolved,  ib.  New,  ib. 
Oatvoted  and  resign,  305.  A  new  one,  313.  New 
one  formed,  471.  New,  its  members,  494.  Appoint- 
ments in  the,  501.    New,  512.    Change  of  the,  525. 

Minorca,  restored,  C2.    Taken,  299.    Capture  of,  448, 

Jifiquelon,  ishi  of,  given  to  France,  63. 

Miraheau,  count  de,  report  of,  340. 

Miranda,  general,  noticed,  516. 

Mir  Cossim,  noticed,  92,  Hia  attrropt  a^atcet  the 
India  company,  details  of  it,  ib. 

Miscondtut  of  the  Ada^iralty,  aW 


Mifford,  Sir  John,  resigns  the  situation  of  speaker  on 
accepting  the  office  of  lord-chancellor  of  Ireland, 
with  title  of  lord  Redesdale,  4B1. 

Monckion,  general,  commands  successful  expedition 
against  Martinico,  50. 

Mora,  besieged,  surrender  of  island.  63. 

Motion  on  American  war,  274.  Of  censure  on  lord 
Sandwich,  230.  For  abolition  of  slave-trade,  335. 
Of  Mr.  Flood,  for  parliamentary  reform,  338.  For 
reform  in  parliament,  354.  For  negotiation  with 
France,  371.  For  sending  minister  to  Paris,  ib. 
For  peace,  barracks,  &;c.  384.  Against  American 
war,  274. 

Monte- Fideo,  capture  of,  522. 

Moore,  Sir  John,  noticed,  532.  Retreat,  battle  of  Co- 
runna,  &.c.  533. 

Moscow,  destruction  of,  570. 

Mosquito  settlers  c-vacuate  Honduras,  326. 

Motives  of  national  policy  for  encouraging  pacific 
proposals,  59. 

for  a  general  peace,  304. 

Movements  of  French  forces,  597.    Of  allied  forces,  ib 

Murders  in  metropolis,  567. 

Murat,  joins  the  allies,  580.  Advances  against  Aus- 
tria, 602.    Returns  to  Naples ;  killed,  603. 

N. 

J^aples,  made  a  republic,  456. 
J^ational  force,  increase  of,  420. 

income,  C22. 

expenditure,  622. 

Jfaval  preparations,  226.  Affairs,  407.  Mutiny,  422 
Operations,  424,  468.  Actions,  476,  594,  561.  En- 
gagements, 580. 

J^egapatam,  surrender  of,  291. 

J^egotiation  for  peace  with  France,  25.  Main  points 
of  disputes  in,  ib.  Candid  inquiry  into,  27.  For 
peace,  unsuccessful,  418.  Renewed  and  broken  off, 
429. 

JVei^,  lord  O',  mortally  wounded,  439. 

JVctZsora,  Samuel,  rebel  chief,  436. 

J^Telson,  commodore,  his  gallantry,  424.  Bombards 
Cadiz,  425.  His  victory  of  the  Nile,  446.  Goza 
capitulates  to  his  squadron,  449.  His  victory  at 
CoiKjnhagen,  472.  Attacks  Boulogne  Flotilla,  476. 
His  celebrated  signal,  509.  Gains  victory  of  Tra- 
falgar ;  death,  ib. 

JVew  ministry,  its  memb'ers,  297.  Administration,302. 
Parliament,  315. 

J^ewcastle,  duke  of,  his  death,  118. 

J^cwfoundlan d,  taken  by  the  French;  retaken,  56. 
Right  of  fishing  settled,  61.  Loss  of  vessels  at, 
417. 

J^ewgate  prison  burnt  during  riots,  265. 

J^icholson,  Margaret,  lier  attempt  to  assassinate  the 
king,  325. 

JVivernois,  duke  de,  arrives  in  London  to  negotiate 
peace,  62.     His  speech  to  the  king,  ib. 

JVoailles,  M.  de,  his  declaration,  215. 

JiTootka  Sound,  settlement  at,  339. 

J^orth,  lord,  appointed  chancellor  of  exchequer.  111. 
Elected  chancellor  of  Oxford,  137.  His  conciliato- 
ry bills,  211.  Announces  the  dissolution  of  minis- 
try, 297. 

jsTorthington,  lord-chancellor,  condemns  ministerial 
measures,  102. 

Jforthumberland,  duke  of,  his  dismissal,  91. 

JVorton,  Sir  Fletcher,  speech  on  the  increasing  influ- 
ence of  the  crown,  252. 

Norway,  transfer  of,  580. 

JSTullum  Tempus  Jlct  introduced,  opposed  by  minis- 
ters, 111. 


Objects  of  the  rebellion  in  Ireland,  440. 

Oliver,  alderman,  committed  to  the  Tower,  134. 

Operations  of  the  French  fleet,  240.    In  Virginia,  28.1. 

In  the  Weet  Indies,  290.      On  the  frontiers,  21t3. 

In  La  Vendue,  408.    On  the  Rhino.  410.    In  Italy 

and  Germany,  414.    In  Silesia,  521.     In  Swedish 

Piimerania,  ib. 
Opv,tsition,  its  efforts,  126.    Reduced  by  desertion,  370. 

"I'o  a  repeal  of  the  test  and  corfwration  acts,  337 
Orange  Siteieties,  433. 
Ordeni  in  couiuil,  repeal  of,  568. 
Orlaans,  New,  failure  at^  S&5. 
Gi1h-<*,.  batUe  of,  581. 


INDEX  TO  MILLER, 


721 


OrvilHcrs,  count  de,  sails  from  BrcBt,  227. 

Ossory,  Upper,  earl  of,  his  motion  on  Irish  affairs,  346. 

Ostnnd.  expedition  against,  448. 

Otto,  M.  signs  preliminary  treaty  in  London,  478. 

Oude,  nabob  of,  treaty  with,  97. 

Outcry,  violent,  against  new  duty  on  beer,  14. 

Outrage  against  the  king,  411. 

Overtures  made  by  courts  of  Madrid  and  Versailles, 

57. 
Oxford,  mayor  and  bailiffs,  sent  to  Newgate,  111. 


Paine,  Thomas,  his  answer  to  Burke,  360. 

Pallister,  Sir  H.  his  trial,  228. 

Palm,  murder  of,  520. 

Papal  authority  ended,  445. 

Parga,  cession  of,  630. 

Paris,  negotiation  at,  18.  Insurrection  in,  409.  Oc- 
cupation of,  584.  Convention  of,  586.  State  of,  596. 
Capitulation  of,  601. 

Parker,  Sir  H.  engages  Dutch  fleet,  292. 

Parliament  dissolved,  15.  Assembly  of  a  new,  33. 
Closes,  42.  Opened  with  speech  from  throne,  63. 
Closed,  71.  Opens,  75.  Proceedings  respecting 
Wilkes,  ib.  Privileges  of,  ib.  Assembles,  99.  Al- 
ways existing,  108.  Dissolved,  111.  Of  Ireland 
made  octennial,  ib.  Its  language  as  regards  lord 
Townshend,  112.  Prorogued  at  a  remarkable  crisis, 
124.  A  new  one  assembled,  144.  Meeting  of,  159. 
Meets,  244.  Dissolved,  315.  Meeting  of,  319. 
Meeting  of,  330.  Regularly  opened,  334.  Meeting 
of,  336.  Dissolved,  340.  Whether  its  dissolution 
affects  impeachment,  343.  Meeting,  349.  Assem- 
bled, 365.  Meets,  367.  Prorogued,  385.  Meeting 
of,  394.  Meeting  of,  406.  Proceedings  of,  ib.  Pro- 
rogued, 407.  Dissolved,  413.  New,  418.  Meeting 
of,  430.  Meeting  of,  471.  Meeting  of,  480.  New, 
485.  Meeting  of,  492.  Prorogation  of,  495.  Open- 
ing of,  501.  Meeting,  511.  Prorogued,  514.  Dis- 
solution of  515.  New,  524.  Dissolution  of,  525. 
New  assembly  of,  526.  Prorogued,  ib.  Assembles, 
535.  Prorogation  of,  536.  Corrupt  practices  in,  539. 
Assembled,  566.  Meeting  of,  571.  Proceedings  of, 
573.  Closed,  575.  Reassembles,  588.  Opened,  596. 
Reassembled,  603.  Called,  605.  Meeting  of,  609. 
Opened,  614.  Dissolved,  617.  Convoked,  621. 
Meeting  of,  627. 

Parliamentary  privilege,  77.  Reform,  320.  Proceed- 
ings, 535,  .588,  606.    Supplies,  81. 

Partiality  of  George  II.  for  his  native  dominions,  11. 

Parties  in  France,  389. 

Patva,  taken  by  India  company,  93. 

Paul,  emperor  of  Russia,  succeeds  his  mother,  418. 
His  death,  474. 

Peace,  overtures  for,  from  France  and  Spain,  57.  Uni* 
versally  desired,  60.  Negotiations  for,  ib.  Prelim- 
inaries signed,  62.  General  motives  for,  304.  With 
the  Mahrattas,  309.  Negotiations  for,  unsuccess- 
ful, 419.  Between  Austria  and  France,  468.  Be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  France,  477.  Of  Amiens, 
478.  Sentiments  on  the,  480.  Negotiation  for,  514. 
Signed,  586. 

Perceval,  assassination  of,  567.  Character;  provision 
for  his  family,  ib. 

Peter  III.  succeeds  to  empire  of  Russia,  42.  Mild  and 
popular  regulations;  foreign  politics;  desire  of 
peace  ;  alliance  with  Prussia,  ib.  Principles  of  re- 
form ;  deposition  and  death,  43. 

Petition  of  Wilkes  to  commons,  118. 

Petitions  in  favor  of  debtors  produce  Insolvent  Act, 
14.  In  favor  of  America,  100.  Of  county  delegates, 
273.     Against  American  war,  294. 

Philippine  islands,  invasion  of,  and  capture,  54. 

Philadelphia  taken,  194.    Evacuated,  222. 

Pichegru,  his  campaign,  405. 

Pierson,  major,  killed,  274. 

Pitt,  (lord  Chatham)  unfavorable  to  peace,  19.  His 
proposal  of  war  with  Spain,  31.  Interview  with 
the  king,  and  resignation  of  office,  32.  His  conduct, 
ib.  Remarkable  speech  on  taxing  America,  99.  Sent 
for  by  king  to  form  new  ministry,  102. 

,  Mr.  Thomas,  his  speech  on  influence  of  the 

crown,  253. 

,  William,  his  eloquence,  99.    Reform  bill,  309. 

His  communication  to  the  commons,  314.  India 
bill,  316.  Sinking  fund,  323.  Motion  for  parlia- 
mentary reform,  320.  Remarks  on  slave-trade,  331. 
Proposal  to  seize  unclaimed  dividends,  343.    Speech 

Vol.  IV.  61 


on  moving  address,  383.  Message  relative  to  peace 
412.  His  duel,  431.  Speech  on  the  right  of  searclv 
471.  Resigns,  ib.  Motion  on  naval  defence,  493. 
Returns  to  office,  494.  His  illness,  505.  Death, 
511.  Vote  of  ujoney  to  pay  his  debts;  public  fu- 
neral, 512. 

Plan  of  attack  of  prince  Ferdinand.  16. 

Plans  of  conciliation  rejected  by  America,  218.  Of 
lord  Cornwallis  defeated,  286. 

Points  of  dispute  in  negotiation  with  France,  26. 

Poland,  kingdom  of,  dismembered,  137. 

Pondicherry  capitulates,  2:M.    Taken,  386. 

Poor,  education  of  the,  617. 

Pope,  the,  dies  at  Valence,  445.    Restoration  of,  587. 

Popham,  Sir  Home,  his  expedition  to  Buenos  Ayres, 
51().    Recalled ;  tried  and  reprimanded,  517. 

Popular  meetings,  624. 

Population  of  England,  ascertained  by  authority,  470. 
Returns  of,  ib.    Act,  returns  of,  569. 

Porto  Rico,  failure  at,  425. 

Portugal,  relief  of,  vote  for,  41.  Conduct  of  France 
and  Spain  towards,  45.  Receives  the  assistance  of 
Great  Britain,  46.  Invasion  of,  474.  Operations 
in,  549. 

Pownall,  governor,  his  speech  on  America,  129. 

Powys,  Mr.  motion  against  American  war,  293. 

Poynings'  law  protested  against  in  Ireland,  298. 

Pratt,  lord  chief-justice,  73.  His  opinion  on  Wilkes's 
commitm«!nt  to  Tower,  ib.  Remarkable  charge  to 
jury,  79. 

Preparations  for  funeral  of  George  II.,  12.  War,  365. 
By  France  for  invasion  of  England,  487. 

Price,  Dr.  his  sermon,  359. 

Priestley,  Dr.  his  house  destroyed  by  mob,  348.  De- 
clared a  member  of  convention  of  France,  363. 

Princess  Royal  of  England,  marriage  of,  428. 

Printers,  contest  between,  and  commons,  133. 

Privilege,  breach  of,  5.')2. 

Proclamation  of  George  III.,  11.  Of  commissioners 
to  America,  179. 

Progress  of  French  in  Holland,  405. 

Prohibitory  bill,  American,  161. 

Property  tax  augmented,  501. 

Proposal  of  a  congress  at  Augsburg,  18. 

Proposals  of  French  for  peace,  rejected,  462. 

Proposed  marriage  bill,  274. 

Proposition  for  peace,  298. 

Protest,  popular,  against  the  continuation  of  German 
war,  40.  Of  lords  against  repealing  the  Stamp  Act, 
101.     In  house  of  peers,  160. 

Provision  for  service  of  ensuing  year,  34. 

Prussia,  subsidy  to,  14.  Of  extraordinary  change  in 
situation  of,  42.  Success  of,  43.  Makes  peace  with 
France,  408.  King  of,  his  manifesto  against  France, 
428.  King  Frederick  William  III.  dies,  362.  De- 
Clares  war  against  France,  576.  King  of,  visits 
England,  587.  Makes  peace  with  France,  507. 
Occupies  Hanover,  518.  Subserviency  to  Franca, 
519. 

Prussian  operations  in  campaign,  44. 

Public  testimony  of  joy  on  accession  of  George  III., 
12. 

Privy-conncW  assemble  on  death  of  George  IT.,  IL 
Take  oath  of  fidelity  to  king  George  III.,  ib. 

a. 

Quakers,  petition  against  the  slave-trade,  310. 
Quebec,  expedition  against,  156.  Attack  of,  158.  Siege 

of,  raised,  164. 
Queen  Charlotte  of  England,  nuptials  of,  33.    Message 

of  commons  to  her  majesty,  ib.    Dowry  granted 

her,  ib.    Jointure  granted  to  her,  34.    Council  of, 

its  members,  587. 
Quibcron  bay,  unsuccessful  expedition  to,  406. 


Radical  reformers,  624. 

Randolph,  Peyton,  chosen  president  of  congress,  151. 
Rawlings\  colonel,  destructive  riflemen,  179. 
Reason  for  a  negotiation  at  London  and  Paris,  18. 
Rebellion  in  Ireland,  its  origin,  progress,  432.    Sui>- 

pression  of,  439,  4^. 
Recall  of  British  ambassador  from  Madrid,  37.    Span 

ish  from  London,  ib. 
Recovery  of  the  king,  334. 

Reduction  of  forts  by  Granby,  16.    Of  land-tax,  108. 
Refiutioju  on  commercial  intercourse,  322. 


722 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


Reform  hills,  298.  Parliamentary  motion  for,  338. 
Societies  in  Great  Britain,  391. 

Regency  act,  90.    Bill  noticed,  334.    Bill,  557. 

Relief  to  Roman  Catholics,  217.  To  the  trade  of  Ire- 
land, ib. 

Remarks  on  the  alliances  with  continental  powers,  35. 
Concluding  ones,  631. 

Repeal  of  shop  tax,  334.  Of  compelling  clause  of  in- 
solvent act,  34. 

Result  of  American  campaign,  184. 

Restoration  of  the  forfeited  estates  in  Scotland,  318. 

Restraining  Bills,  628. 

Retreat  of  marshal  Broglio,  16.  Of  the  Spaniards  from 
Portugal,  49.    Its  consequences,  ib. 

Return  of  English  army  from  the  continent,  410. 

Revolt  of  America  predicted,  99.  Of  Pennsylvania 
Line,  276. 

Revolution  Society,  359.     In  France,  336. 

Rewards  for  ascertaining  the  longitude,  41. 

Rhode- Island,  tumultuous  proceedings  at,  141. 

Richmond,  duke  of,  appointed  minister,  102.  Signs 
protest  against  proceedings  of  lords,  160.  His  plan 
of  fortifications,  322. 

Righy,  arraigns  the  speaker's  conduct,  190. 

Riots  at  Hexham,  14.  At  Boston,  129.  In  Scotland 
against  Catholicism,  244.  In  London,  254.  At  Bir- 
mingham, 347.  In  various  parts  of  England,  568. 
In  Spa  fields,  607. 

Rochambeau,  general  count,  arrives  in  America  with 
army  from  France,  265. 

Rochford,  earl  of,  remonstrates  at  Madrid,  89. 

Rockingham,  marquis  of,  appointed  minister,  91.  La- 
mented death,  302. 

Rodney,  admiral,  relieves  Gibraltar,  256.  Takes  Span- 
ish convoy,  ib.  Defeats  Don  Juan  de  Langara,  ib. 
Takes  St. "Eustatia,  275.  Defeats  French  fleet,  300. 
Created  a  peer,  ib. 

Roleia,  battle  of,  531. 

Romana,  marquis,  landed  in  Spain,  530. 

Rome,  revolution  at,  445.  Annexed  to  France,  543. 
King  of,  created,  561. 

Ross,  general,  destroys  Spanish  batteries,  275.  Killed, 
594. 

Rose,  Mr.  tried  and  acquitted,  352. 

Royal  academy  instituted,  118.  Marriage  act,  136. 
Annuities,  218.  Proclamation  against  seditious 
writings,  355. 

Rulle,  baron  de,  attacks  Jersey,  274.  Mortally  wound- 
ed, ib. 

Rumbold,  Sir  Thomas,  bill  of  pains  and  penalties 
against,  299. 

,  Sir  George,  seizure  of,  498. 

/Jy-ptwre  with  Spain,  339.  Settled,  341.  Russia,  346. 
Discussion  on  it,  347. 

Russia,  death  of  empress  of,  42.  Succession  of  Peter 
III.  to  the  throne  of,  ib.  Deposition  and  death; 
succession  of  Catherine  II.,  43.  Mediates  for  a 
peace,  304.  Makes  peace  with  France,  507.  De- 
clares war  with  England,  527.    Invasion  of,  569. 

Rutledge,  John,  elected  governor,  238. 

S. 

Sackville,  lord,  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  295.  Pro- 
ceedings thereon, ib. 

Salamanca,  battle  of,  565. 

Salt  tax,  augmented,  501. 

Santa  Cruz,  failure  at,  425. 

Maura,  taken,  554. 

Sardinia,  subsidy  to,  385. 

Sartine,  his  assurances  to  America,  210. 

Savannah,  taken  by  the  English,  226.  Its  siege  rais- 
ed, 240. 

Saumarez,  Sir  James,  his  action,  477. 

Savoy,  duchy  of,  made  a  French  department,  364. 

Saville,  Sir  George,  biil  in  favor  of  Roman  Catholics, 
217.     House  destroyed  by  rioters,  2.54. 

Sayre,  Mr.  committed  to  the  Tower,  159. 

Scarcity  of  corn,  412. 

,  great,  46G.    A  renewal  of  it,  470. 

Scottish  Episcopalians,  bill  in  favor  of.  352. 

Secret  intrijraes  of  Fr^^nch,  at  court  of  Madrid,  19. 

Secession  of  the  minority  in  parliament,  187. 

Senegal,  secured  to  England.  G2. 

Seringapaiam,  capture  of,  45S. 

Sheriffs  of  London,  assaulted  while  attending  the 
burning  of  Wilkes's  North  Briton,  78. 

Sheridan's  remarks  on  India  bill,  317.  On  fortifica 
tione,  323.    Sentiments  on  French  principles,  337. 


Shirley,  takes  Dutch  forts,  301. 

Shop  tax,  repealed,  334. 

Shoreham,  Jifew,  electors  disfranchised  for  venality, 
134. 

Sicily,  attempt  on  it,  555. 

Sickness,  uncommon  in  American  army,  184. 

Sidmouth,  lord,  his  circular,  611. 

Siege  of  Quebec  raised,  164.  Of  Gibraltar,  256,  275. 
Extraordinary  fatigues  of  garrison,  275. 

Sierra  Leone,  settlement  of,  345. 

Sinking  fund,  323. 

Slave  merchants  of  Germany,  159. 

trade,  petition  of  Quakers  against,  310.    Bill  to 

regulate  it,  331.  Its  abolition  moved,  335.  Evi- 
dence on,  345.  Its  gradual  abolition  carried  in 
commons,  350.  Delayed  by  the  lords,  351.  Pro- 
ceedings in,  495.  Further  steps  to  abolish,  513. 
Its  abolition,  525. 

Smith,  general,  his  motion  on  Indian  affairs,  273. 

,  colonel,  defeats  Hyder  Ally,  124. 

,  the  publican,  his  connexion  with  Rose,  353. 

,  Sir  Sydney,  W.  his  services  at  Toulon,  393. 

Defence  of  Acre,  454.  Destroys  Turkish  squadron, 
522. 

Smolensko,  burnt,  569. 

Smuggling,  measures  for  preventing,  90. 

Spain,  conferences  with,  30.  Propose  war  with  ;  pro- 
ductive of  warm  debates  in  cabinet,  31.  Conduct 
of,  towards  Portugal,  45.  Declares  war,  46.  Disas- 
ters sustained  by,  56.  Preliminaries  of  peace  with, 
.304.  Convention  with,  325.  Rupture  with,  339. 
Settled,  341.  Makes  peace  with  France,  408.  De- 
clares war  against  Britain,  417.  Rupture  with,  497. 
Campaign  in,  546.    Successes  in,  547,  578. 

Spaniards,  their  success,  47. 

Spanish  ambassador  recalled,  37.  His  manifesto  on 
leaving  London,  38.  War  declared,  39.  Cause, 
536. 

America,  state  of,  556. 


Speaker  of  house  of  commons  retires,  15.  Gives  cast- 
ing vote  against  fortification  bill,  323.  Abbott 
gives  casting  vote  agaijist  lord  Melville,  503.  Re- 
signs office,  611. 

Speech  of  George  III.  for  making  judges  independent, 
15.  Of  his  majesty  on  closing  parliament ;  its  re- 
markable features,  ib.    Royal,  620. 

Stadtholder,  escapes,  405. 
/Itamp  act,  American,  passed,  89.    Repealed,  102. 

St.  Lucia,  island  of,  captured,  50.  Restored  to  France 
61. 

St.  Pierre,  isle  of,  given  to  France,  61. 

Stattnf  India,  496. 

of  Great  Britain,  185,  606. 

trials,  395. 

St.  Vincent,  island  of,  captured,  50.  Restored  to 
France,  61. 

Stormont,  lord,  his  application  to  the  French  court, 
209. 

Strelitz,  princess  Charlotte  of  Mecklenburg,  selected 
by  George  III.  as  his  queen,  29. 

Stuart,  Sir  John,  his  victory  at  Maida,  518. 

Subsidy  to  Prussia,  14,  397.    Several,  463. 

Successes  in  India,  291. 

Successive  disasters  of  the  British  army,  202. 

Sums  granted  for  the  support  of  the  German  confede- 
racy, 13. 

Sumter,  colonel,  a  distinguished  partisan,  his  success, 
259. 

Supervisors  of  India  leave  England,  125. 

Supply  of  parliament  voted,  13.  For  the  year,  412. 
For  service  of  ensuing  year,  34,  501. 

Supplies,  413.  The  second,  estimate  for  the  year, 
553. 

Suppression  of  the  Irish  rebellion,  439. 

Surinam,  capture  of,  461.     Surrenders,  496. 

Surrender  of  general  Burgoyne,  205. 

Survey  of  hostile  operations  during  suspension  of 
treaty,  20. 

Suspension  of  habeas  corpus  act,  394. 

Suwarrow,  general,  his  command,  457.  Conduct,  459. 
Dies,  ib. 

Sutton,  Manners,  elected  speaker,  611. 

Sweden,  affairs  of,  544.  Charles  XIII.  ascends  the 
throne  of,  ib.    Elects  Bernadotte  king,  555. 

Swedes,  efforts  of  the,  536.    Conduct  of  their  king,  ib. 

Switzerland,  hostile  movements  of  French  against, 
444.  Its  constitution  changed,  ib.  Campaign  in, 
457.     Affiirs  of,  483. 

Symptoms  of  hostility  with  France,  484. 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


723 


Tdlavera,  battle  of,  547. 

Tarleton,  colonel,  victory  of,  258.  His  manoeuvre  and 
success,  261.    Defeated,  279. 

Tarragona,  loss  of,  564.    Failure  of,  579. 

Tax  on  cider  and  perry,  70.  On  land  reduced,  108. 
On  shops  repealed,  334. 

Taxes,  new,  rejected  by  commons,  297. 

Taxing  colonies,  debates  and  proceedings  in  England 
as  to  rights,  100. 

Tea  destroyed  at  Boston,  141. 

Temple,  his  resignation,  32.  Confers  with  Pitt,  103. 
His  patriotism,  107.  Remarkable  card  sent  to  him, 
312. 

Test  and  corporation  acts,  334.  Their  repeal  op- 
posed, 337. 

Thanksgiving  for  recovery  of  the  king,  334. 

Tliurlow,  appointed  solicitor-general,  26.  Created  a 
baron  on  being  made  lord-chancellor,  244. 

Ticonderoga,  fort,  taken,  155.    Evacuated,  198. 

Time-piece,  Harrison's,  41. 

Tippoo  Saib,  his  success,  271.  Conduct,  341.  War 
against  him,  356.  His  conduct  in  the  field,  ib.  Cap- 
ital invested,  ib.  Sues  for  peace ;  terms  granted ; 
reflections  thereon,  357.  Hostile  preparations,  455. 
Conduct  and  death,  456. 

Title,  royal,  new,  470. 

Titles  conferred  by  Buonaparte,  520. 

Tobago,  surrender  of,  50.    Taken,  386. 

Toleration  act,  proposed  alteration,  559. 

Toll-gates  at  Blackfriars-bridge  burnt,  255. 

Toulouse,  battle  of,  586. 

Tooke,  John  Home,  tried  and  acquitted,  395.  Elected 
member  of  parliament,  &c.  472. 

Tortosa,  surrender  of,  562. 

Total  defeat  of  Spaniards  at  Gibraltar,  301. 

Toulon,  its  port  and  fleet  surrender  to  the  British,  392. 
Evacuated,  393. 

Tower,  commitments  to,  610. 

Townsend,  marquis,  made  master  of  ordnance,  137. 

Trafalgar,  victory  of,  508. 

Traitorous  correspondence  bill,  384. 

Travancore,  rajah  of,  treats  to  purchase  Dutch  forts, 
341. 

Traversing  of  indictments ;  bill  to  prevent,  628. 

Treasure-ships,  detention  of,  497. 

'Treaty  for  peace  with  France  broken,  28.  With  the 
Indians,  86.  With  the  nabob  of  Oude,  97.  With 
the  elector  of  Hesse  and  the  duke  of  Brunswick,  for 
having  soldiers,  162.  Commercial,  with  France,  325. 
Considered  by  commons,  ib.  Of  Campo  Formio, 
427.  Of  Tilsit,  521.  Of  peace  between  Austria 
and  France,  543. 

Trial  of  Hastings,  331. 

Trials,  state,  613.    And  executions  for  treason,  440. 

Trinidad,  capture  of,  425. 

Triple  assessment,  431. 

Tumult  in  London  occasioned  by  duty  on  beer,  41. 

Turkey  declares  war  against  Russia,  522. 

Turk's  islands,  89. 

Tuscany  makes  peace  with  France,  408. 

Tyrawley,  lord,  recalled  from  Portugal,  48. 

Tyrolese,  efl!brts  of  the,  543. 

U. 

Union  with  Ireland,  proposed,  450.  Proceedings  there- 
on, ib.    Completed,  465. 
Universal  disposition  towards  peace,  58. 
Unsuccessful  attack  on  Penobscot,  237. 


Vaccination,  noticed,  482. 

Valencia  d' Alcantara  surprised  by  general  Burg03Tie, 
48. 

,  loss  of,  564. 

Valletort,  lord,  his  contrast  of  England  and  France, 
3.36. 

Vaughan,  general,  burns  Esopus,  204.  Takes  St. 
Eustatia,  275. 

Vendee,  La,  civil  war  of,  415.    Termination,  416. 

Vendean  successes,  388. 

Vergcnnes.  count  de,  confers  with  American  commis- 
sioners, 213. 

Vcmon,  Sir  Edward,  sails  from  Madras,  234. 

Vice-chancellor  appointed,  573. 


Vicissitudes  of  the  campaign  in  Germany,  17 
Ficfory  of  Graebcnstein,  44.    Of  lord  Howe,  401.    Of 

the  Nile,  446. 
Victories,  naval,  49. 
Vienna,  congress  at,  590. 
Vimiera,  battle  of,  531. 

Violent  debates  respecting  Wilkes,  120.    Debates,  244. 
Vincent,  St.  taken,  416. 
Virginia,  descent  on,  234. 
Visitors,  royal,  to  England,  587. 
Vittoria,  battle  of,  578. 
Voluntary  contributions,  396. 
Volunteer  companies,  233.    Associations,  487. 
Volunteers,  vote  of  thanks  to,  488. 
Volunteering  of  militia,  432. 
Vote  for  the  relief  of  Portugal,  41. 
Votes  of  censure  on  various  persons  connected  with 

India,  299. 
Vyner  institutes  parliamentary  inquiry  into  conduct 

of  Burgoyne  218. 

W. 

Walcheren,  expedition  to,  544.  Inquiry  into  the  policy 
and  conduct  of  it,  551. 

Wales,  princess  dowager  of,  mother  to  George  III. 
her  death,  136. 

,  prince  of,  his  birth,  54.    His  embarrassments, 

326.  Consequences,  ib.  Answer  to  Pitt,  334.  Mar- 
riage, 407.  Debts  arranged,  ib.  Claims  of  his  for 
arrears ;  grant  to  him  of  60,000/.  for  three  years 
and  a  half,  486.  Refused  military  promotion,  488. 
Made  regent,  557.  Retains  old  ministry,  558.  His 
letter  approving  them,  ib.  Delivers  speech  from 
throne,  575.  His  letter  to  the  queen,  588.  Ad- 
dresses parliament,  596.  Attacked  going  to  house, 
609.  Relinquishes  income,  ib.  Speech  to  parlia- 
ment, 614. 

,   princess  of,  charges  against,  571.     Writes 

letter  to  the  king,  572.  To  the  speaker,  573.  Re- 
port of  commissioners,  ib.  Receives  letter  from 
queen ;  answer ;  her  letter  to  her  husband,  588. 
Letter  to  the  speaker,  ib.  Allowance  voted  her,  589. 
Leaves  England,  ib. 

Wall,  general,  his  letter,  37. 

Wallace,  attorney  general,  recommends  a  truce  with 
America,  296. 

,  Sir  James,  his  services,  204.    Captured  by 

D'Estaing,  240. 

Want  of  harmony  in  the  cabinet,  504. 

War,  German,  debate  on  the  expediency  of,  34.  In- 
genious defence  of  it,  36.  Declared  against  Spain. 
39.  In  Germany  protested  against,  ib.  Declared 
by  France  and  Spain  against  Portugal,  46.  De- 
clared by  Spain,  232.  In  India,  233,  341.  With 
Tippoo  Saib,  356.  With  Holland,  411.  Unpopular- 
ity of  the,  ib.  With  Russia,  469.  With  Holland, 
490.  In  India,  490.  Between  Austria  and  France, 
540. 

Wardle,  colonel,  noticed,  538. 

Warrants,  general,  72.    Declared  illegal,  79. 

Washington,  general,  appointed  to  chief  command  of 
American  army.  153.  His  biography,  ib.  Diflicul- 
ties  attending  his  situation,  154.  Establishes  a 
war  of  pests,  173.  Refuses  to  receive  letter  from 
royal  commissioners,  ib.  His  reason  for  such  re- 
fusal to  congress,  ib.  His  patriotic  conduct,  178. 
Retreats  to  Newark,  ib.  His  question  to  colonel 
Reed,  ib.  Continues  his  retreat,  ib.  Invested  with 
extraordinary  powers,  180.  Retreats  to  Princeton, 
182.  Heroism,  183.  State  of  his  army,  195.  Ad- 
vantages of  his  position  at  Whitemarsh,  206.  His 
situation,  236.  His  general  order,  288.  Resigns  his 
government,  417. 

,  expedition  to,  594. 

Warren,  Sir  John  Borlase,  captures  French  ftigates, 
402.    Naval  victorv.  442. 

Waterloo,  battle  of,  598. 

Watson,  colonel,  reinforces  lord  Rawdon,  383. 

Watt,  (the  state  spv,)  executed,  395. 

Ways  and  means,  120,  214,  384. 

Webb,  (late  secretary  to  treasury,)  charges  against 
him,  118. 

Wechabitts,  sect  of,  556. 

Welderen,  count,  delivers  memorial  toGeorge  HI.,  191 

Wellesley,  marquis,  his  preparations  against  Tippoc 
Saib,  456. 

.  general,  his  success  in  India.  496.    Arrives 

at  Corunna,  530.    Gains  battles  of  Roleia  and  Vi 


^24 


INDEX  TO  MILLER. 


miera;  sails  from  England;  arrives  at  Lisbon,  531. 
Takes  Oporto,  546.  Gains  battle  of  Talavera,  547. 
Created  viscount  Wellington,  ib.  Forms  the  lines 
of  Torres  Vedras,  549.  Quits  Basaco,  550.  Falls 
back  to  Torres  Vedras,  ib.  Raises  siege  of  Ba- 
dajoz,  564. 

Wellington,  captures  Ciudad  Rodrigo;  created  by 
Cortes  duke  thereof,  564.  Captures  Badajoz,  ib. 
Enters  Spain,  565.  Gains  victory  of  Salamanca, 
ib.  Captures  Madrid,  ib.  Appointed  generalissimo 
of  Spain ;  created  earl  and  marquis,  566.  Gains 
battle  of  Vittoria,  578.  Enters  France,  579.  Crosses 
the  Adour,  581.  Gains  battle  of  Toulouse,  586. 
Created  marquis,  duke,  &c.  588.  Gains  battle  of 
Waterloo,  598.  Further  grant,  600.  Enters  Paris, 
601. 

West  Indies,  operations  in,  290, 408.  Islands  lost,  299. 
British  success  in  the,  416.  Attempt  on,  by  French 
fleets,  507. 

Westminster  scrutiny  closed,  319.  Police  bill  passed, 
351. 

Weymouth,  lord,  his  letter  to  chairman  of  Lambeth 
quarter  sessions,  120. 

Whittam,  messenger,  city  proceedings  against  him, 
134. 

White,  colonel  John,  remarkable  exploit  of,  241. 

Whitehill,  president  suspended,  291. 

Whitelock,  general,  cashiered,  522. 

Wilkes,  John,  his  North  Briton,  75.  No.  45  of  it,  ib. 
Committed  to  the  Tower,  ib.  Brought  up  to  West- 
minster hall  by  Habeas  Corpus,  73.  His  speech  to 
the  judges,  ib.  Discharged  from  custody,  74.  Re- 
turns thanks  to  the  court,  ib.  Dismissed  from  com- 
mand of  militia,  ib.  His  North  Briton  ordered  by 
commons  to  be  burnt  by  common  hangman,  76. 
Wounded  in  a  duel  with  Mr.  Martin,  78.  Avoids 
house  of  commons,  79.  Goes  to  France,  ib.  Ex- 
pelled the  house,  80.  His  essay  on  women ;  con- 
demned; outlawed,  ib.  Starts  as  a  candidate  for 
London ;  elected  member  for  Middlesex,  113.  Ad- 
dresses court  of  king's  bench,  ib.  Disturbances  on 
his  account,  114.  Imprisoned  and  fined  500^.,  ib. 
Petitions  house  of  commons,  118.  Appeals  on  a 
writ  of  error  to  lords,  ib.  Violent  debates  respect- 
ing him,  120.  Motion  for  expelling  him  house  of 
commons,  121.  Expelled  and  re-elected  for  Middle- 
sex, 123.    Subscriptions  raised  for  him,  130.    Elect- 


ed for  Middlesex  a  third  time,  131.  Discharged  from 
prison,  ib.  Chosen  alderman,  sheriff,  lord-mayor, 
and  chamberlain,  ib.  Rcchosen  twice  more  for 
Middlesex;  obtains  the  expunging  of  proceedings 
of  commons  from  journal  subsequent  to  declension 
of  popularity,  ib.  Discharges  Wheble  the  printer. 
133.  Ordered  to  appear  at  bar  of  house  of  commons; 
his  letter  to  speaker  ;  declining  to  obey,  134. 

William  Henry,  prince,  third  son  of  George  III.  cre- 
ated duke  of  Clarence,  91. 

Windows,  new  duty  on,  317. 

Winter,  admiral  de,  defeated,  425. 

Wirtemburg,  prince  of,  his  marriage,  428. 


Xavier,  prince  of  Saxony,  44. 


Yarmouth,  lord,  arrives  from  captivity  in  France,  514. 
Communicates  message  from  Talleyrand,  ib. 

Yeomanry,  force,  of  Ireland,  434. 

York,  duke  of,  added  to  privy-council  on  accession  of 
George  III.,  12. 

,  duke  of,  second  son  of  George  III. ;  his  mar- 
riage, 350.  Allowance  granted  him  thereon,  ib. 
His  campaign,  '^SS.  Returns  to  England,  405.  Ap- 
pointed field-marshal  and  commander-in-chief,  411. 
Lands  in  Holland,  460.  Campaign,  ib.  Negotiates 
and  reaches  England,  461.  Charges  preferred  against 
him,  537.  Resigns  office,  539.  Restored  as  com- 
mander-in-chief, 560. 

York,  J\rew,  act  passed  to  restrain  its  assemblies,  110. 
Preparations  against,  167.  Do.  for  its  defence,  173. 
Taken,  177. 

Yorke,  Charles,  accepts  the  great  seal ;  elevated  to 
peerage  ;  sudden  death,  126. 

,  Sir  Joseph,  presents  memorial  to  states-gen- 
eral, 190. 

,  archbishop  of,  his  political  language,  211. 

Yorck,  d',  visits  England,  587. 


Zaddah,  Sha,  noticed,  92.    Arms  against  England,  96. 
Zoutman,  admiral,  noticed,  292. 


THE  END. 


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